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By Brian, June 7, 2009 12:03 am

My Felt F1X at Jinqiao, Pudong

Woke up today to a great day, and for Shanghai this means cloudless day (there’s almost always some kind of haze over the city) and at least being able to see a shadow. My usual tennis session has been cancelled, and how can I waste such a nice day. First thing that sprung to mind is to attempt what I wanted to do since I arrived here, to reach the Yangzi River, or at least close, by cycling.

Reaching destination, almost time to turn back...

Google maps showed that the best and safest way is to get over to Pudong and then cycling on Yang Gao Rd as there is a bicycle lane on each side of the road. There are normally some slow bicycles, but as motorcycles also use the same lane, there’s always a way to bypass the slow pokes especially when you cruise at 25kmph to 30kmph.

Continue reading 'Cycling to Port of Shanghai at Waigaoqiao (58km)'»

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By Brian, May 22, 2009 9:56 pm

It has been some time since I posted something on this website. Not because I have nothing to post, but two main reasons, first is because this ISP I have right now has a range of IP address that’s blocked in China by the great firewall, and second just didn’t find the time to type the posts out and posting it when I get the chance to.

Ok, back to the topic at hand. I’ve been starting to get back into tennis again, and while my old Wilson Pro Staff Kevlar and Pro Staff 6.1 still works fine, I think it is time to get something new.

So during this trip to Hong Kong, I looked up a couple of shops around the Causeway Bay area, and decided to check them out. Everyone knows Roger Federer uses the Wilson [K]Factor Six One Tour 90. Nicely it’s also the only racquet today that resembles the Pro Staff Kevlar but with the modern look, and I’m sure the feel is a little more modern as well, whatever that means. Price was great at 1230HKD, so how can I refuse?

So as of writing, I have placed a deposit to purchase 2, and obviously the strings are separate. Will be mixing Technifibre NRG2 and Head Ultra Tour, both 16 gauge strings in a cross configuration. Tension is my usual 60lbs.

The address of the shop is:
Master Gear
1301 Richmond Plaza (yes 13th floor)
496 Jaffe Road
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 3428 5002

And they don’t take credit card. But the guys there are friendly, and they seem to know what they’re talking. That’s good enough for me!

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By Brian, October 29, 2008 9:29 pm

I now stay just next to Victoria Park in downtown Hong Kong island next to Causeway Bay, and it would be a sin to not run around it. The hotel concierge mentions something about a jogging track that runs 600 meters. I have recently developed this habit of running at night. Firstly, my workplace has moved farther from home so 30 minutes in the morning is out of the question. Plus I feel more warmed up at night meaning that I can achieve longer distances.

So, back to Victoria Park, my Polar pedometer measured the jogging track at close to 700 meters. But it is rather dark so after one round I ventured to the outer track which passes the football field on the inside, then tennis courts, and so on. On the outer circuit, each round is around 1 kilometre which is perfectly perfect.

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By Brian, September 15, 2008 9:23 pm

After a few months off my bicycle, and because of the long long boring weekend in Shanghai, I decided to go out cycling in my playground, Pudong in Shanghai. Definitely had to dust off significant amount of cobwebs on my modified Felt F1X converted into a pseudo road-bike, and a little bit of voodoo with the weather.

Weather looked cloudy today Monday, but the rain looked sporadic from my apartment’s 31st floor window, and could see that in the direction of Pudong, it was starting to clear up at 1pm. At 2pm I was out the door with the bicycle and attached to the handle bar was a Garmin eTrex GPS just in case I get lost in one of the wide avenues in Pudong and my Polar S625X.

The GPS was set on the info screen where I had altimeter, odometer, moving time and all sorts of average speed. I didn’t want to have the map on so that I dont attract too much attention. The Polar S625X was displaying calories burnt and cadence. Usually I have speed on it instead of energy burnt but since I have that on the GPS, there was no need for redundant data.

My typical route consists of riding eastwards towards the Huangpu river, catch a ferry across (1.3RMB one way for bicycle) and then find my way to the main Century boulevard (I think that’s what they call it). There’s a cycle path next to it where you can do a constant 25-30kmph if you’re up to it. I went till a certain distance and had to turn back because of the drizzle (damn weather!).

GPS plots overlay on GoogleEarth Shanghai

And below on the Polar Pro Trainer data plots, you can see that the red lines are the heart rate (top) and the speed (bottom). For the second half of it, the level is a little lower, and that was because the road was starting to get wet and I did not want to get any mud marks on my back, and some parts of the road are tiled up and slippery. Not sure what was on the builder’s mind!!!

Polar Pro Trainer data collected

And finally, an exercise summary for the afternoon. Started at 2:11pm, rode for 3hrs and 3 minutes and burnt 1860kcal. Nice. Had a nice big dinner tonight to make up for the energy burnt.

Polar Pro Trainer exercise summary

Bicycle Configuration:

• Felt F1X Cyclocross fitted with full 2006 Shimano Ultegra set
• American Classic CR420 medium profile wheels
• Michelin Pro Race 2 tires
• Garmin eTrex Vista GPS
• Polar S625X Heart Rate Monitor with speed and cadence sensors

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By Brian, October 20, 2007 12:42 pm

Did an early morning run today along the Keelung River in Taipei. Staying in a new hotel on the Neihu side. I cannot do long distances anymore so a typical run is now about 3km at the most. Standard equipment would be my Polar S625X which I cannot run without, mainly for the need to keep a log of my routines. I run about 2-3 times a week and I do keep a record of where I run. The river is surrounded by huge flood control walls, and you have to get up and down 2 storey stairs. It was a cool 25C morning, and the only runners were an expat couple and some mountain bikers. Other than that it was just me and the morning breeze and light sunlight from the east. Nice way to start the day.

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By Brian, February 4, 2007 10:11 pm

It was a nice day yesterday, full sunlight although the temperature was about 9C at the most. Took off for a nice slow ride counter clockwise from Boulogne-Billancourt, up the hill after Chaville/Viroflay into Velizy, and off downhill to Jouy-en-Josas, up to Saclay, detour to Chateaufort looking for the ex-Nortel office (which I did not find), down to Gif s/Yvette, Bures, Orsay, Palaiseau, Anthony, Clamart and back to Boulogne via Issy-les-Moulineaux. Sounds far, but 60km at the most. 61km on my Polar S625X. Twas a nice ride, relaxing, and burning about 2500kcal on the way, but at the same time nostalgic. I dont know when I’ll see those sceneries open air… its definitely different to see them on a bicycle rather than in a car. I had a little fall but when I was stationary trying to balance the bicycle on a pedestrial path. It was stupid but no problem, nothing was damaged except for a bent bottle carrier on my Felt F1X. Anyways, its all over now, coming Thursday, packers will be here and the bike will see the new day in Shanghai!

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By Brian, January 14, 2007 2:17 pm

Nice sunny day today in Paris. After 2 slices of bread with peanut butter, its out on the bike for a couple of rounds at the nearby race course. Like the other parisiens, the place was packed with families and cyclists (and also joggers). The cyclists go clockwise, and before long I was already in a 20 strong peloton, and to grow to a bigger group. There were so many people this morning that it was not too easy to  be left alone fighting the wind. Luckily most of the peloton was going at a normal speed (average 30kmph, and up to 40kmph on the level ground) so it was not too bad. The road was a little wet from an oblivious rain sometime last night so if I start to draft a mountain bike I get road juice all over my face.

But nice though, 1hr out there and I covered 35km, which should be about 6-7 turns of the course.

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By Brian, January 7, 2007 8:07 pm

If you remember, a few months back, I attempted to cycle from Paris to Rambouillet (50km away) but my wheel spoke broke just a few km shy of destination. Here’s a link to Google Maps for a rough idea of the route.

So this weekend, I decided to try it one more time on my new wheels and managed to do the whole thing in 4hr 30mins. The odometer on my Polar says 95km to and fro. Average temperature was about 10C. I brought 2 bottles of water (one of them insulated, the other turned into ice water after a few minutes out there) and a banana for the celebratory food once I reached Rambouillet.

Nothing broke this time. When I passed the exact location where my spokes broke I had this feeling that something bad would happened so I slowed down somewhat. But at the end it was all fine. Did my goal now, although the return trip was quite punishing since I had 2 large hills to climb with a sore leg.

I doubt I’ll do it again before leaving France! The next cycle trips will be much shorter for me.

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By Brian, December 28, 2006 4:08 pm

Temperature here in Paris has dropped quite a bit since I last wrote here. This week, its hovering between freezing point and +3-4C during the daytime and you don’t get to see the sun too much.

So over the last few weeks I’ve had some quick experience in jogging in the cold, usually early in the morning when you get the minimum temperature before the sun rises. And it can be summarized in the following:

More than 20C:
This is more like early autumn temperature, no problem here, if you run fast enough, the usual summer gear will suffice. This would be made up of running shorts, short sleeve coolmax shirt to wick sweat, long sleeved thin shirts will do as well to keep the chill off the arm. No cap or anything else is required.

Between 15-20C:
Again, shorts will do, but now maybe a long sleeved shirt will be required. I started with a thicker synthetic long sleeved shirt, but it does feel quite warm after 30mins of warming up during the run. I think a thin shirt would do, but you just have to keep the activity high to keep warm.

Between 5-15C:
Ok, this is a big temperature range. But I feel that in this range you will need at least long tights and a pair of long sleeved shirt. Towards the lower range, you might need a layer of baselayer below the long sleeved shirt as well. Ski shops sell those thin sweat wicking coolmax that will do quite fine. No cap seems necessary. There’s no need to change your shoe as well, in this range I’m running with a standard pair of Asics Kayano with coolmax socks. At the lower temperature range, I would think that a wind blocking top will be required just to keep the wind from reaching your base layer. So… 2 layers for the top, and 1 layer for the bottom. What’s recommended are windblocking (Gore Windstopper, etc) tops and long tights.

Down to freezing:
Windblocking material seems to be a must for the top. I wear a pair of Asics World Performance 5000 top and bottom tights for this temperature. Both top and bottom has this layer of fleece (like Roubaix Pro material, etc) to trap a layer of air. At this temperature any wind will put the chill into you, so windstoppers are essential. Nothing special with the shoe, I wear normal summer shoes but just have to keep on moving. At this temperature, the wind will bite into your head as well, so beanies are essential to cover the ears. No need a balaclava… What pedestrians are afraid of is to see a person running towards them in tights and balaclava.

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By Brian, November 12, 2006 10:45 am

What to do on a Sunday morning? For me today, it was to transfer the Shimano Ultegra cassette from my old wheel to the new one.

The dismounting was easy enough, and a lot of mess as I did the degreasing to clean the cassette. Just realised that the cassette that I have is a 13-25T. And according to the American Classic instructions, they included spacers for 11T and 12T, but nothing mentioned on the 13T and higher configurations. Well, it turns out that maybe no spacers are required. I say maybe becuase none of the spacers would fit into the space between the cassette and the freewheel.

There were quite a bit of play/movement of the cassette when mounted, and I was a little worried, but once you lock it in, its tight as hell. The 13-25T Shimano Ultegra 2005 model has 3 sets of cogs. The first 3 are together. Then you get the 14-19T in a set of 6 cogs, and the final 13T is alone.

Its all mounted now, and I just have to a Sunday dash to the nearest sports shop that opens on Sunday here in Paris to get another tube for the tire, since the shop gave me a wrong one last week. I need a spare as well, so I’ll get another one and once I exchange the wrong one it will become a spare. My old spare has the shorter pump valve, so will not work with the new high profile wheels.

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By Brian, November 11, 2006 9:48 pm

Started to work on the new American Classic CR420 wheel this weekend. Last night after coming back from the office with a new rim tape from a nearby shop, I decided to install the thing and once I finished, I realise that the tape was a 18mm version instead of teh correct 16mm. What happened after is that the tires could go on the wheel, but just one side would clip on. The other side would just slip out becuase the tape was too broad.

So this morning I went to another shop near by and bought the right 16mm tape. Unfortunately I was not really paying attention to the wheel once I put the tape on, and then I realised I put the only hole on the tape on the wrong hole. It was the hole used to tighten the spoke and not the little hole for the inlet to the tubes. Had to rip it out again, and it was 15mins before the close of the local bike shop, so had to run all the way there to get a new set of rimtape before I had to wait till monday.

So then the wheel went fine, started with the front wheel. Installed the new Michelin Pro Race 2 tires on it and felt good once inflated to around 90psi. I’ll go up to 110psi when its mounted onto the bike.

When I started mounting the tires on the back tire, I realise that the damn shop I went to on Friday sold me 2 packs of butyl tubes (Can’t seem to find latex with long heads) with 52mm heads, but one of the tube had a standard looking head on it, which means that I can’t use it since the Am Class wheel has a 34mm profile, so once the tube goes in, there’s no way I could pump air into the tube.

So looks like fate has it that I will not ride this weekend. After two months, I guess another weekend is nothing much.

So my plan this weekend would be to work on transfering and cleaning the Ultegra cogs over to the new wheel and if I have some time, to go to the Decathlon in Montreuil, which is opened on Sunday, and get a new tube. Will go back to the shop on Monday to exchange, and if they dont want to exchange it with the right tube, I’ll be a typical French & complain till the cheese is matured.

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By Brian, October 16, 2006 2:57 pm

My thighs are aching today. Definitely having some difficulty walking, but not impossible. The positive side is that after taking the Glucosamine/Crondroitin supplement, my knee held up well after the run.

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By Brian, October 15, 2006 6:57 pm

Today was the day of the 20km run. Started off at 10am. I was there early, ok, not that early at around quarter past 9am. And at that time there was already a lot of people at the front of the starting line. By the way, the starting line is right in front of the Trocadero. Here’s the best photo I can link to for the map:

Race Plan:
The original race plan was to beat the 2:50 cut off, by running about 1:30 and walking the rest, thanks to some off the napkin computation on Excel. After some training weeks, I realised that I might have a shot at running nonstop and so, the idea to maintain 10kmph average for 2 hours… thus a sub 2hr run. Nothing special for the professionals, that would probably be able to do it in 1hr.

Race Day:
The first 5km was basically all uphill, subtle but you can feel it in the legs. My speed was quite respectable, looks like something like 10kmph or slightly faster according to my Polar HRM. Nothing special here. Since I started off modest, and at the end of the pack, I got to overtake a lot of people who were running a much slower pace.

The second 5km was also quite comfortable. I had a small bottle of Evian with me during the run, which was a good idea considering they were distributing only mineral water (was hoping for electrolyte drinks!) and of course cut oranges (I still dont see the point of eating oranges during the run. Isn’t the acid bad for you?).

The third 5km was a little more difficult, but manageable. That’s also where I saw an old guy on the ground by the side of the road. Eyes wide opened, and surely not conscious at all… Just a guess: Heart attack no doubt. Police and some fellow runners were attending to him, so I thought, nothing for me to do here, I wouldn’t know how to revive a heart attacked guy if I wanted to anyways.

The last 5km was quite difficult. I think my stamina was ok, but my legs were just begging to stop. I suppose the killing point here is that, during my training run I had to do the banks of the Seine River, but during the race itself, we were on the road, going into tunnels and coming out of it and the slopes at this stage were just killing my thighs. So I decided to stop a few times and enjoy the stroll. I was not going to be below 2hr but somewhere near there. Finally got to the finish line with a little sprint and the time was 2:02hr. Not too bad, 2 minutes down from my target, but there’s always a next time.

Analysis:
The footpod seemed to be about 5% out of tune. When I was at the 5km mark I thought it was showing at least 5.1km on my watch. And at the end of the race it showed 20.1km. The distance difference is not that great, not sure if I want to make any adjustments to the footpod calibration. Will think about it. Better train more than less eh?

The heart rate monitoring on my Polar S625X gave this result, which is ok for me, relatively stable heart rate. I guess my next few months of training will be based on lowering the heart rate for the stable part so that I can increase my speed. Will have to include intervals. The next target would be the Paris Half Marathon in March next year!

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By Brian, October 11, 2006 12:42 pm

Its been almost 3 weeks since I bought my bicycle wheels on eBay Germany and I still have not received it yet. I’ve sent an email to the seller and it looks like the thing is protected by eBay’s protection scheme. NOt planning to launch a dispute yet, give it till end of this week. Looks like eBay has a limit of 45 days after the end of the auction (or payment, dont remember, but to be safe, end of auction it shall be) for you to lodge a complain.

Fingers crossed. Lets see if its here. Wonder who’s hogging the damn thing… the Germans or the French. They disappoint me… thought that only Malaysian postal system are inefficient (takes a week to send a letter anywhere in the same country!!!, if it arrives at all).

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By Brian,

This will be my first race ever. Not planning to outrun the kenyans of course, but just to finish in time to get a medal at least. Been trying to do my taper, but seriously, I think tapering for a race is useless for amateurs like me. Its more like the time to make things difficult for the body (done that last weekend with runs on sat and sun) and then resting before the race on this coming Sunday.

So on friday right after work I will have to go to the base of the Eiffel tower to retrieve all the freebies and the bib+championchip… I guess thats the thing you put on your foot to measure the time electronically, never used it before but should be RFID based I guess. Wonder if it will interfere with my Polar S1 footpod which I plan to wear during the race itself. Will put on some extra rubberband on the footpod so that it doesn’t come loose when running and when my foot gets stepped by fellow 10,000 runners.

Excited, yes. If 20km is easy enough I might join the Boulogne-Billancourt half marathon the week after as well. more free t-shirt!

http://www.20kmparis.com