Nice Bike Blog

For those who are into beautiful bikes i have a site to recommend. Lots of good quality bike pics to inspire you for your next ride. Enjoy the blink blink http://blinkbikes.blogspot.com/. Above image courtesy of blinkbikes.blospot.com

personally i have started to take a strong interest in singlespeed & vintage frame. Thinking of starting a project soon to built my own for casual riding with my gal.

Water Bottle In the Front

Always wanted to try the usefulness of an aerobottle. So many variations are out there for us to choose from but i don't think all are available in Singapore retailers.

I intend to use it on top of the standard 1litre squeeze bottle on my downtube. I had 70.3 distances in mind when i wanted to get this. i thought having another 1litre of water will be idea and having in on the aerobars seems convenient. And also having an aerobottle makes the tribike looks complete.

Got over to TEF last saturday to get myself one Profile Design Aero Bottle for S$35 - the update one with the anti splash cap. Quite reasonably priced i tot since US is selling online for US$19.95 without all the taxes and freight added.

Gels

less than 2 weeks to my next event. time to be out there to train with some nutrition like gels and isotonic drinks and why not.

was out searching to buy POWERGELS which works well for me . the cheapest place to get is online i think, from Trifam forum threads i read so far. but i'm not so into internet purchasing due to security loopholes. anyway the cheapest i ever got from local bike shop for POWERGEL was S$2.30 a pop. I tried GU GEL before and found it too viscous and thick when compared with POWERGEL and found it difficult to consume. Also i find the packging material used by GU GEL seems to be a tad thicker and diffcult to tear open which poses as a practical issue when hands gets sweaty and oily and this is quite frustrating when you are on the fly.

But as a smart consumer (despite the slight negatives) i found that its a good time to buy GU GELS from our local chain GNC. they are having buy 1 get 1 free promotions for GNC members which i think is a decent deal.

GU GEL = normal price about S$4 bucks. promotional rate S$2 (this is almost same as GU GEL online pricing on their own web)

POWERGEL = normal price about S$3.20. no promotion currently.

I couldn't resist the offer so i bought 2 packets to try it again for my run last weekend and found it acceptable. So if you are a GU GEL fan don't miss it. If you are not its a good time to try since its cheaper now.

Balancing Work

sometimes i just wonder why i'm always so eager and enthusiatic to sign up for the events that i do.

a) to motivate myself to keep fit
b) for a sense of achievement
c) to distract myself from work
d) to simply have fun and take life less seriously

i have this regular cycle that i experience, what about you? i get this adrenalin rush whenever i click on the payment icon whilst registering myself for a race (fun!!). then i talk my good buddy (KS) into doing the same. in the next 1-2 weeks i will be planning out my training schedule and print it out and place it in my room (fun!!). i would follow through the program for the initial 2 weeks and think about what gears and stuff i need to buy for race day (fun!!). Next 4-8 weeks my motivation will wane and i start missing traning and make exceptions for my fat free diet plans. Then i will start to feel miserable and not want to do anything about it. 2 weeks leading to the event, i will suddenly 'wake up' and begin my panic training regime.

this is a really funny photo i got from the web. You can view the photo on the blog link here http://www.virgintriathlete.com/my_first_triathlon/2008/09/working-training-either-way-safety-first.html
Lately work has been the reason for my laziness. I must say balancing work and training is a tough act to begin with. its even more difficult if we want to clock a respectable time which demands consistency. recently i have been working longer hours in offices due to work seasonality which gave me good excuses to skip workouts. the added travel required from my work also made it less easy.

i'm quite sure i'm going to say to myself - "why didn't i swim more, bike more or run more before the event". Do such thoughts flash across your mind during your race day too? hmmm...i wonder am i the only one.

So if you ever recognise me or happen to see me riding or running next to you during an event, tell me that you do to make me feel normal.