Ruthless @ 50

Technorati tags: Bangkok, Victory Monument, Saxaphone, Queen Sirikit Park, traffic, filtering, Pantip, Asoke, National Stadium, Silom, Cold

Wahoo! The cold is pretty much gone although the weather is surprisingly fresh at the moment - winter in Bangkok and the coldest one in ages... You really couldn't make it up!

Spent a thrilling three hours in the saddle for a respectable 50km today in the dirty, dusty, mild weathered Bangkok today - I lost track of the number of taxis, 4x4s and f'in Tuk Tuk that have carved me up and in typical style - I'm just glad I made it!

It's just as well I'm off into Northern Thailand tomorrow as the number of idiots on the roads of Bangkok is only likely to increase through the holiday period and today was quite enough thanks very much!

Anyway - 1 massive lap; Asoke to Siam to Silom to Asoke followed by 10 laps of Queen Sirikit Park - very fast laps with an average of 30km/hour then back out onto the roads and this time I head from Asoke, past the national stadium, left back towards Silom then back past the National stadium across Sukhumvit and off towards Mo Chit following the BTS line... The Victory Monument is very impressive - the traffic there is equally impressive (if you like such things) and I was surprised to discover that the park I'd heard about at Mo Chit is infact Chaktuchak Park home of a massive weekend market - well I say weekend but these days it's on most days...

Turned it around at Mo Chit and turned into a ruthless carver of traffic using all those skills learnt in that dark chapter known as Dispatch Riding and came back along the same route until I reached the New Petchaburi Road, hang a left and once again carve a route past Pantip Computer Plaza (truely terrible traffic) before hanging a right onto Soi Nana Nua. Made short work of that before hanging a left back onto Sukhumvit and heading home via Asoke.

Yeah - I liked it - had plenty of sprinting and more than a little attacking cycling - can't wait to get out there again although that will be sometime in 2007 - unless I rent a bike in Pai of course...

The show must go on...

Technorati tags: sick, cold, Christmas, Pai, Chiang Mai, Nana

Another weekend and another ride however this weekend I have been stricken with a cold and a bad one at that...

Got a call on Friday from the cycle shop informing me my bike was really for collection and on Saturday I eventually left the house (deep into the afternoon) to go get it - got some strange looks waiting for the taxi (yes for some reason the thought of jumping on the BTS was simply impossible - as it happens getting on would be one thing but getting off at Nana station would have been totally out-of-the-question!)

Anyway I didn't feel like I would be up to much but my legs felt great on the ride back home - so much so that I began to regret not heading out sooner - that said it was also good to get some essential work done too...

Today I rose at the utterly respectable time of 13:30 and eventually left the house for yet another bike ride - this time I managed 35km - not bad, all things considered!

Hopefully this cold will be a distant memory by next week - it needs to be as that'll be Christmas and I've got plenty of riding planned for that week - I just need to decide where all this planned riding will take place but hopefully I'll be somewhere in Pai (small place north of Chiang Mai) but who knows - that could all change at least 5 times between now and the end of the week...

Out again but no idea how far!?!

Okay I've finally got my breath back following a marathon ride around Bangkok! I've been everywhere!

First off I went over to Lumpini Park and did a few laps there (I did plan to go to Sirikit Park first but decided against it) - Lumpini is a bigger park with a wider cycling/jogging track...

After that I went off script - time to explore I told myself and went off down Silom - to the very end of Silom as it happens before hanging right into Thanon God-knows-what - yes I really need to lookup where I've been on the map but that means getting out of the chair I'm currently sat in...

From Thanon Unknown I eventually found myself in an area calling itself China Town but clearly it wasn't...

To cut a long riding story short - I ended up out by Sanam Luang near the Grand Place! Result - where is Thanon Kao San from here then? I could have done with my map (currently stuck to my wall so not terribly convenient to use whilst on the move) as I didn't find it...

Oh at this point I noticed my speedo was broken - not life threatening but a pain in the butt nevertheless - I need to know how far I've gone so I can equate that with, well, pain for want of a better word!!

Anyway what I did find was a million markets and a stackload of traffic - I eventually found somewhere I knew when I spotted the Johnny Walker tower (Drink - Don't Drive!) and before long I saw the unmistakable SkyTrain super-structure - the traffic told me I'd been on this road before but I must have been half asleep before!!

So here I was at Ratchadachewi - just around the corner from the National Stadium, Siam Square and yet more traffic and madess to follow! By this time I'm taking no prisioners on the streets - ride it like you own it - an attitude which seems to stop too many drivers from doing stupid things around you...

Somehow I rode from there to Nana without incident which is hardly easy since the road is single lane and you've got to stay in the middle for reasons of self-preservation - clearly this might mean a fair amount of sprinting and in this case that really hurt...

After Nana the road becomes two lanes again but now even the outside lane is viable especially with slow moving taxis (touting for trade) in the inside lane...

From Asoke to home it's easy peezy - I have the final wind I need to sprint home - I might need to get a whistle as the bike is too quiet - someone is going to get run over before too long!

Top day - I'll have to get the speedo sorted tomorrow as well as getting the crank bearings checked - it was back to it's smooth quiet self but it's now once again getting noisy...

Powered by Cannondale

As promised here are a few pictures of new devil's transport!

 

What might not be apparent is just how large this thing is - I'm knocking on the door of 200cm in height and I'm actually on my tip-toes when sat on the seat - yes in a word "perfect"...

 

 

One of the many things I really love are the contours around many parts of the frame - I particularly love the flared spars leading from the top of the seat post to the rear axle - mmMMmm!

I'm also particularly happy that all my components have been finished in anodised black rather than shiny aluminum!

 

 

 Finally where would we be without a gadget or two? The wee white thing on the left is my strap-on front light! Tiny and suitably bright... On the right is my multifunction speedo/odometer/rev counter/turbo boost guage...

 

Wanna know more about this crazy bunch of Yanks who seem hell bent on producing the best bicycle in the world? Check them out at the Cannondale Worldwide Website.

Tomorrow (weather permitting) I'm off on a 60km jaunt - I might have mentioned this already... Should definately be plenty of fun!

Around Suan Sirikit We Go...

I've been lapping Queen Sirikit Park like a man possessed [by what I wonder?]. The park itself has a marvellous (if narrow) cycling track which is exactly 2 kilometers in length - it looks longer than 2km and given the non-uniform layout it comes as something of a surprise - I think I'm probably the only person who thinks this is strange...
Anyway (before I digress further) I did a whole two laps on Saturday ("oh big deal!", I hear you cry) but given the fact I'd already cycled the best part of 35km that day already and put in seven laps of Lumpini Park I think I can (and should) be excused...
That said the following day (yes Sunday for those of you with short attention spans) I managed to ride 12 laps of the park - not only a reasonable achievement but also a battle of composure given the number of people riding around with me at the time - I think I lapped everybody - several times and managed to avoid all manner of obstacles - there's an adjacent walkway so why oh why people insist on walking around the cycle track I will never know - add to that the fact they seem to move like small birds - moving into your way at the last possible moment - maybe I should invest in a bell or whistle...
In all I rode exactly 100km over the weekend - again somewhat strange given the randomness of my journeys but there you go - as ever my life is full of weird and bizarre patterns...
Yesterday was His Majesty the King of Thailand's birthday and to celebrate I rode 6 laps of the park - I would have done considerably more if not for two reasons.
1. I had every intention of heading out with my good friend Ann later that evening to watch the firework so clearly would need some energy in reserve.
2. I was still a little sore from the exertions over the previous weekend!
As it happens keeping things short and sweet gave me the bonus endorphins, a giggly persona and a feeling of tired well-being - I only I could bottle such a feeling!

Second Time Around...

Welcome to my biking/gym/fitness/sporty blog! My name is Adrian - my friends call me Ade and those who don't tend to call me Alien - that's largely because most Thais swap the sounds of R and L although as it happens they are probably closer than they realise...

Okay well a bit of history - in the beginning all was darkness... Sorry gone a little too far back there - well I'm a "back-to-cycling" kinda guy - some might say "born-again" although that just gets me thinking of placentas - not the kind of mental image (or aroma for that matter) that gets me going thanks very much!

Back to the subject... Ah yes! I got my first racer in well over 10 years last week in a bid to get my fitness levels back to where I've always wanted them. I decided on buying a bike simply because going to the gym is oh so dull and I've always enjoyed cycling!

I like to think of myself as something of an athlete (well I've always looked athletic even if I actually did naff-all in terms of keeping fit besides dancing, walking and riding big motorcycles) but here I am in my mid-thirties and the effects of excess vices are trying to take their toll and I simply cannot have that!

Okay so I went out last weekend and over the course of two days I rode a total of 110km - as you might imagine, this was the cause of significant pain! Clearly I must be a bit of a masocist as I'm back in the saddle this weekend and hope to beat last weekends distance!

In keeping with the masocistic tendencies, I will probably wake up at the crack of dawn and leave the house at around half seven in the morning - well not only is there less traffic but the sun hasn't got it's act together at that hour which reduces the amount of fluids you lose - admittedly not by a great deal it has to be said but hey - every little helps eh?!