Missed my training today

Well, it's only the second day and I had to skip my training. Too bad, but hopefully it becomes regular from tomorrow.

Was checking out some biking routes in Singapore and there are quite a few. Will try to post them here once I get to mark them on a map. The only thing I dislike about biking on Singapore roads is that there are too many traffic lights and it really kills your pace. The Changi road route is something I like best as it has a really long stretch of road with no traffic or traffic lights!

I added couple of links to the links section of the blog and hope to keep adding more informative sites on biking and bikers.

Adi, SG, 070206, 2315

Training - Day 1

Distance: 20 Kms
Time: 50 minutes 25 seconds

Well, I decided to start my training seriously and today was my first official day! I have been biking over the weekends but realised that it is not going to be make me fit enough for the long rides. The distance and timing is not much to talk about but it is a start.

There was quite a bit of head wind today. It's been like that for the past couple of weeks in Singapore. Sunny days and heavy chilly winds in the evening. I found a nice route along the east coast park that is exactly 20 Kms., which is a good distance for me to measure progress.

My neck still hurts while I ride but this I think should become alright after a while. Aish tried to summit Mt. Helen this weekend but stopped short of 700 ft. to the summit due to bad weather. He is the fittest of the three of us followed by Nat and then myself. Need to work quite a bit on my fitness and let's see how this plan works out, 20 Kms. on weekdays and 100 Kms on the weekends and slowly increase the distance done over the weekends as and when my legs build up muscles.

It's 11.20 PM now and I need to crash. Have a early morning call to attend.

Adi, SG, 070205, 2320

The Zoo Route

Went on a short bike ride over the weekend with adi. We usually ride along the east coast park that takes us behind the airport. Though it is a good route and I like it much, we decided we need some change to out routine. I looked through the local map sites but they were pretty bad to figure out ones way around. As far as I knew, Google maps did not have a comprehensive list of local streets - but I decided to give it a try to figure out a new route (figured that if I can find a few main streets, I can guess my way around). It was a shocker to find that as almost all of Singapore's street data is now live on Google maps.

I looked through and mapped out the following route.

It takes me along geylang, aljuned, braddel, upper thomson and over to mandai road. Simple to remember. An added bonus was that I discovered a detour (Old Upp Thomson Road) that takes me along forested traffic free area and close to the Lower pierce reservoir.Once mapped out we started off on the 30 km (one way) route and kept up a very slow pace (around 20 kmph) partly due to traffic and partly because we wanted to enjoy the ride. The weather behaved great and the detour along Old Upp Thomson was really neat.

It was a steady climb while heading up and hence during the return, we kept up a really good speed. If not for the traffic lights, we would have managed a 30 kmph on the return leg.

Remain tuned for more routes and stories.

nat, sg, 070502

New acquisitions

Me and Nat just added a few more things on our bike recently to make tour biking more comfortable. One was the Brooks B-67 saddle. For those who know about Brooks, I need not say anything more and for the uninitiated, Brooks is SIMPLY THE BEST.

I didn't even have to wait for my saddle to break-in and it was way more comfortable than my stock saddle made of synthetic material with gel filling, right from the first trip. The leather is still very tough but the guy from whom I bought it said that the saddle breaks-in way more quicker in Singapore than in Europe due to the hot and humid weather.

By the way, Nat and me live in Singapore and Aish lives in the west coast of the USA.

Another purchase was the Ortlieb Back Roller Classic in red color. Again for the uninitiated, Ortlieb is THE BEST money can buy for bicycle panniers. Me and Nat have been trying to find at least one comment on the Internet complaining about the quality of the panniers and have not been able to do so. Of course there are people who would prefer a slight change in the design to suit their needs but overall quality is simply impeccable. Precision German engineering.

The back roller classic model comes with QL1 mounting system which is one generation behind QL2. But the comfort of QL2 did not justify the cost for us. A friend of ours was kind enough to pick it up from Germany since they do not ship it outside due to tax complications. Fall Factor in Singapore imports it, but it is way to expensive and it is available at a much better deal on Globetrotter.de site.

The third buy was the Ortlieb Ultimate4 Plus bag that sits on the handle bar in the front. Don't have a picture at the moment and will try to upload it later. This is a really cool bag where you can put your wallet, mobile phones and any other light weight stuff that you might access frequently. This is amazing when it rains. Totally waterproof and dependable.

And finally we bought a Tubus rear rack. I will add the details later. But unfortunately it did not fit either of our bikes. Mine is Trek 1200SL and Nat's bike is Trek XO1. The mounting hole in the frame does not match the rack and it needs a special attachment to fit it. We need to take it to the bike shops to see if that is possible. More on it by the latter part of the week.

All in all, the purchases was really good and we had a good deal on the price and the kind friend of ours was nice enough to lug the whole stuff from Germany to Singapore. We need to put it to use now :-)

Adi, SG, 070205, 1825

When its all human power...

There isn't anything more satisfying than putting one foot in front of another up a steep snow slope, setting your sights up high on the summit that looks deceptively so close and inching ever so closer to the goal than the step before, listening to your heart beat as you breathe in pristine and piercing cold air, feeling the tiredness in your limbs yet that agony of pain doesn't put a damper on the goal that is many a thousand feet high and many a yards away, feeling the numbness in your toes and fingers yet the relentless pursuit of the longing to stand on the summit brings warmth when the blood rushes back out to the extremities, and while all this instructs the intellect to keep pushing upward the unsaid rules between the like minded companions of keeping in mind and understanding in body that reaching the peak is only 50% of the job done linger - such is the beauty, agony, satisfaction and thrill of climbing! Some say it is masochistic, some say it is suicidal and other say it is meditative, but whatever the case the arguments may be, it is nothing short of satisfying and satisfaction comes through many a means and for the select few, it comes out of sharing the small snow dome with the climbing companions in whom you have placed your trust, faith and your life!

Feb 4, 2007 (Portland, OR)

Setting the blog rolling

Since the beginning of Jan 2007, we have been seriously thinking of seeing the world much more seriously than before.

Right from when we were very young, we have always been inspired by the outdoor and we used to go trekking at every given opportunity. Growing up, we were consumed by other priorities - academics and then career. But we never let the thought of embracing nature at any given opportunity. Aish does a lot of climbing, snow boarding and biking and myself and Nat, we bike and hike a lot.


Since Jan 2007, we have let ourselves be inspired a lot by a whole bunch of people, some of them you will find on the side links of this blog, who travel around the world by bicycle and each one with his / her own reasons for it. We want to do that as well but our interest also involves climbing mountains and that is something we want to combine with biking. Have biked quite a bit and reading even more about others experience have made us realise that this is not to be taken lightly or as a whimsical fantasy but requires careful planning and clear understanding of the consequences and the fact that once you embark on such a trip, you life changes completely and there may be no chance to fall back into your old way of life. We understand it now, but we are yet to assimilate it completely within ourselves and this is a process that requires time and patience and persistence. We have decided to give it all and see how the future pans out for us.

In this blog, we individually plan to log our thoughts, data, knowledge and progress towards our intended destination. We have not fixed any time line for this as this is not to be treated with rigidity but with patience.

This being the first post, I thought I would set the base for the three of us to start posting from now on.

Reasons to blog:

• A constant reminder for us that we are on a epic path to change our lives - potentially forever
• Data for us and for others to use and benefit
• A discussion forum for us to vet our ideas with others and get others inputs too
• Share the knowledge we distill in our journey for others to benefit from it
• Spend some time with the computer so we don't lose our typing skills :-)

So, here it goes. We have set the blog rolling now...