Wednesday, October 31, 2007, 11:42 AM
hihi. i've experienced something new yestd, which is riding a road bike, and riding on the roads~ ok, let me start by collecting the bike...
brandon picked me up at gombak mrt station, ard 4pm. we headed down to the bike shop at bukit batok. that's where he got his older road bike refurbished. tested out the bike, and it feels good. road bike is really different from mountain bike, which i have it lying ard in my hse. haha. bought it during pri 6 or sec 1. the tires of a road bike is so thin! if you are not careful, you could fall into the drain covers on the road side.
brandon's latest bike is much more lighter than the old bike. and it is a small frame kind. the older bike is a medium frame type. but it is still lighter than my old mountain bike. if im not wrong, the old bike frame is made of aluminium, new one is made of carbon. that explains the weight difference yo.
(Bukit Batok -> SP)so, we started out by riding to sp. and damn it, the traffic is so heavy. we had many close encounters with buses and lorries. i mean, real close. imagine, i have to keep to the extreme left, on the double yellow lines, and it is so close to the drain covers that i mentioned earlier on. and the next second, buses and cars just drove pass you.
once, a bendy bus drove so close to me, and i have to stablise the bike even longer. usually, there's a force when buses or cars
went pass. the force will somehow affect the ride. and somemore i'm new to road cycling. damn dangerous.
and the second encounter was with a bus and lorry. that happened when i tried to filter to the middle lane. passengers alighted on the left lane. there was a lorry on my right.when i was between them, the bus just started to move, and the lorry on my right was so damn fishing close to me. the bus was not driving straight, slightly to the right. omgosh man. i cycled like superman, to avoid being ended up paper-thin.
i was so tired when we reached sp. for brandon, its like a normal routine. guess i will have to exercise regularly.
(SP -> Jurong East Million Fish Ball)the route was almost the same as the first ride. exited from dover road, turned to clementi road. then commonwealth avenue west, boon lay way, down the jurong town hall road steep slope. traffic wasn't that heavy after the clementi bridge. we had dinner/supper with bren sor dust jun jie mo jia sai. as usual, some of them will order alot of food :( haha~~
so they left after that, and we were waiting for von and her 2 friends. tian bu zuo mei, it began to rain irregularly. stop-rain-drizzle-stop-rain-drizzle. there was this guy, thought that the rain stopped. the moment he walked out, it started to rain again. and he got no choice but to walk back. haha.
and well, von and her friends were caught in the rain. eventually, all of them came to the coffeeshop, and it was still raining. boo. oh, one of them was jian wei. yj's coursemate, my bio classmate. the world is so small yea. he came with his giant mountain bike. heavy. we can't do anything when the rain don't stop. ordered some drinks and waited.....till we moved on to mac. slack ard. and yup, we couldn't carry on with our cycling trip. planned to go vivo/sentosa/mt faber.
we parted at 0330.
(Jurong East Mac -> Home)and yea, i cycled all alone in the rain back home. it was damn fun. freezing cold, windy night. rain drops falling on my head. water slips into the eyes. damn wet road. partly flooded. cycled through the water at fast speed. fear that i might slip. head legs hands body toes shoes shorts shirt totally wet. no cars. no headlight. eerie feeling, but exciting. road seems endless. mentality to keep on cycling. got home safely.
conclusion. damn fun to cycle in a rainy night without cars.
road cycling is not as easy as you think. one has to be alert at all times. it is also like riding a ripped-apart human- powered motorbike. must have the will and mentality to keep on going. i've always enjoyed cycling.
