.... the jackal rides and run....

Trying to put back more cycling into my exercise regime. Its tough since we have only so many days and so many hours in that day to fill. Anyway, its a good time to increase cycling for now as my legs are STILL recovering from the previous trail run. I'm experiencing the same discomfort on my right leg (knee area) that got me to stop running months back. Did a 10km run which felt ok on Wednesday but I think I should rest a bit more. The trail run probably did more 'damage' that I had hoped. Should have stuck to my old running shoes instead! Cycled with Ryo on Tuesday and Thursday, same route (ECP-Coastal-Loyang-Siglap). The first time round we did it with ave of 30km/h but we were needlessly attacking each other a bit along the way thus the not too optimal time. I remarked that we did this route much faster on Nov 2010 (32.2km/h) which prompted Ryo to raise the challenge for Thursday to ensure that we beat this time by cooperating. Well, cooperate we did. Started out at t...

Did my last ride of the year this morning with KL and Ben. Just a friendly 65km of Eastern Loop followed by a sell deserved milo-ping at Siglap kopitiam. It was good also to see Mark and Stefan there (with the PC group). 2011 career-wise was an up and down for me. Very numbing experience from the start till end and it continues! Well, I have plans for 2012, just you wait and see. Let's get on with the interesting stuff : Cycling AND Running. This of course is the year where I completed quite a lot of cycling events....starting off with the NTU Bike Rally, JMFR2011, Cameron's + Ipoh Century and finally TdB2011. I did a lot of solo rides kicking off at 5am and doing many of these in excess of 110km per ride. Its also the year where I managed to keep an average speed of 30km/h+ for distances above 100km....solo! It was tough but it was all worth it, just for the experience and the torture :) Completing the century ride under 5hrs was also quite a feat for me. TdB 2011 was pure...

Finally, this is OVER. Anticipation of this event was quite bothersome (well, most events to me are anyway!) and I am so glad that I managed to complete this. Quite frankly, prior to the race, I was pretty confident on qualifying for Cat 3's 'Premier Top 80' since by last year's data, even a 6hr completion of Day 1 could have qualified. Oh, I WAS SO WRONG! What I did not anticipate though, was that this year, the participants ballooned more than two-fold. Veterans were also back for blood (training at site!) plus due to Cat 1 and 2 being filled up quite early, some super riders had to settle for Cat 3. So we really had a mixed group in Cat 3. Needless to say, I was happy to complete all 3 stages safely, still in one piece. The rolling hills at Bintan are B.R.U.T.A.L.....1411m ascent over 154km is no joke. To complete the route leisurely is already quite a mammoth task. To complete it in a race situation, it takes a lot of guts. So real kudos to RYO and BEN (aka STEFAN  ...

Here's the rig I've been riding. So far since early this year, I've changed from 7800 to 7900 to right not 7970 Di2. Everything else is pretty much the same. I swapped out the Fizik saddle in favour of the Charge Knife which I had on previously. Much more comfortable and conforming to my ass and at a fraction of the price!

Kinda feel bad as this new toy has made me neglect running. I will start running again this week! Promise. I did a solo 115km on Saturday to test out the Di2 setup. Started at 5am and things looked very promising....hitting ride average of 31km/h at Jalan Buroh, on my own. As usual, going up Jalan Boon Lay slowed me down. Still managed a respectable 30.5km/h ride average after the hilly Mandai sections. Jousted a little with another group at Mandai. Basically I broke up the 8 man group by going into the gaps that were forming between their 'fast 3' and the rest. Went at it with their leading young rider on one of the slopes and took the lead, with the intention to lead them through. Apparently they did not like this and promptly started a sprint fest. No problem, I just tailed, went side by side to a Tri Bike and the guy promptly looked at my relaxed posture and said "don just suck on our wheels! take the lead!". I was thinking OK, so I took the lead and they start...

Those who know me knows that I'm a firm supporter of electronic shifting. I was so excited when Di2 was announced 2 years ago...alas....the price point was way beyond what I was willing to put on at that point in time. Now, I have a good deal on a set and I've sort of gone bonkers on bike spending anyway, I took the plunge. Just couldn't wait for Ultegra (which by the way, IMHO, looks too bulky but I do acknowledge it should be better and DA7970 since its built with the experience of 7970!) and the DA7900 group just was not a mark up in performance enough compared to the 7800 series. It was still drizzling when I went out; a good chance to test out the water-resistance of Di2. It was initially a weird experience, clicking on mouse-like buttons instead of doing the the usual lever sweeps to shift gears. Fortunately, after a couple minutes, I got the hang of it and actually enjoyed the simplicity of it all! Granted its just my first time out (only 20km) but here's the...

Got a sweet deal on a full (well semi-full, came with 7800 brakes iso 7900) lightly used Di2 set and got it installed yesterday at TEF (good guys over there!). Since the Z3 is not Di2 specific, wires and the cable guides look slightly out of place but not hideous. Had a bit of a problem in installing the battery though...due to the compact geometry and the extremely low water bottle location, the battery could not be mounted at the usual place without sacrificing the bottle cages.  This, I cannot accept and promptly suggested that they place the batt on the chainstay. Well I did one up as I got home, I put it BELOW the chainstay just like in most of the pro bikes! Some comments on shifting later. The 7970 shifters are much sleeker compared to 7900 and has snake-skin-like texture on the rubber grips. DIY Chainstay battery mount. The NDS chainstay now looks kinda busy with the speed/cadence and Di2 batt.. The FD makes a really nice whirring noise when it shi...