The sounds of silence?

Well, it's been a few weeks since I last posted anything. It has been a period of great activity punctuated by a short period of being ill.

Mei and I had a seafood dinner with Gan and his brother a couple of weeks ago and two days later all four of us were ill with stomach flu. The rest of me has just about recovered, but my stomach continues to make its discomfort with oily or substantive meals known.

I've never dealt with viruses well, and stomach flu has always been particularly vicious. This time around, I was back at work within two days, a little woozy and unfocussed, but otherwise fit enough. Not quite fit enough to get back on the bike, mind, so the last two weeks have been spent fiddling and shopping.

I've fiddled with various little things on the bike, and shopped for more various little things - I just love gadgets. I bought some reflective tape and decorated the bike in the name of safety. I also finally found the rain covers for the panniers, as well as a LowePro camera bag which I am adapting for use as a handlebar bag. I still need to rig up a rear mud-guard which I intend to fashion from the sheets of polycarbonate we have in the office.



Well, add some more reflective tape on my helmet and the bags, and the lights and I should be pretty visible in the dark or rain, no?

It finally dawned on me a few nights ago that, short of the mudguard and the camera tripod mount Johann bought for me from HongKong, the bike is as ready as it will ever be!

I've also spent a bit more time on the map and the route. Check out the map below - I've made a few changes although a few more are still to come.

The places I intend to visit are now marked in red and will be updated when I do get there. I've added the expected dates and some minor details about each location.

I've added lines marking out the general routes I will take, and have included my expected dates of travel. If anyone wants to join me on each leg, please do contact me. Email is best, at least while I ponder the merits or otherwise of posting my Malaysian phone number.

I'd like once again to thank Kelvin of Gee Hin Chan and Najib of Rodalink who've been very helpful and also Mei's good friend, Sharon Tan of M1 who loaned me a Nokia 6110 which I've been hoping to buy but has been out of stock all over Singapore. That will give me the GPS system which will help me plot my position more accurately on maps.



Gee Hin Chan, with Kelvin and Mei

OK that's it for now. Oh... except the start date which is now fixed for October 15th! Just a little after Hari Raya so the perfect time to start off on a celebratory trip!
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Donation Function up and running... and my new shoes

Well, I've finally put up a donation facility. After some deliberation, I decided against a shopping cart as it was just too inflexible. The donation button will take you to the PayPal site where you can donate any sum you are comfortable with.

I've also recently met some very nice people at Gee Hin Chan and Rodalink in Singapore. I had previously bought some stuff from Gee Hin Chan and dropped by again about a week ago to buy my shoes. These are hybrid shoes with the quick-release SPD clips on the bottom, but with a rubber sole you can walk on, just as if they were regular sneakers. The SPDs will give me a more efficient ride as I can pull on the pedal on the uptake - especially useful going uphill.

Gee Hin Chan were very helpful with a few items - I even got a tyre pressure gauge free! - but didn't have the shoes in my size. They referred me to Rodalink in the East Coast who were just as helpful and friendly when I dropped by one day. I picked up a pair of Shimanos for under S$60 which seemed to be a real bargain.


The last time I wore cycling shoes was in 1983. My shoes then had a leather upper and a sole made of wood into which you hammered the cleat. The shoes were upturned at the toes and gave you an Aladdin look when you were off the bike and trying to walk around. The cleats fit snugly around the edge of the pedals and when you tightened the toe clips, your feet were snug as a bug in a rug as it were.

Too snug sometimes... The toe clip straps had a quick release buckle, but you had to lean down and flick it off to release the strap. Then, and only then, could you work your shoe off the pedal. Bad news if you had to stop suddenly...

I fell off the bike comically one day when, after making some adjustments to the gearing, I took off up the slope outside my house in PJ. Nearing the top, I flicked the gear lever down. Turns out my adjustments weren't too good as the chain fell right off the crank... Suddenly slowing, with no drive to the rear wheel, and my feet tightly clasped in the pedals, all I could do was let my reflexes take over and do what anyone losing his balance would normally do - pedal frantically. A hopelessly useless endeavour when your crank is no longer connected to the chain! I slowed to a stop at the top of the slope, my feet whirring madly at the pedals, my eyes going wide at the realisation the horizon was starting slowly to tilt.

I crashed to the ground, worked myself free from the bike and looked quickly around to see if anyone had witnessed my comical descent. Fortunately no one was about so my ego was hardly bruised, even if my left knee was not so fortunate.

Still, it was less embarrassing than the experience one of my cycling buddies had when he stopped at a set of traffic lights, could not work his feet out in time and crashed to the ground right next to a car whose startled occupants watched as he sheepishly got to his feet.

SPDs are much easier - you twist your heel inwards or outwards to dislodge the cleat from the pedal clip. Just have to remember to do that now...

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