The Fate of the Tandem

I love my tandem. It's always great to ride with someone on the tandem. It's a joy to know that no matter the disparity between the two rider's physical abilities, both are only inches away from each other, unlike if you gave two people separate bikes, whereby the fitter one would get fed up waiting, and the weaker one would be panting and sweating. Both will inevitably hate the ride.

It's a great bike too - reasonably priced, decently geared (albeit it leans towards the lower end), and very comfortable. The upright position is comfy. The gears can climb any hill despite the weight of the high tensile steel bike. And it didn't cost me $700.

Unfortunately, a tandem is only good when it has two on it. Otherwise, a single person bike makes more sense. This tandem is space-guzzling. It's around 2.2 metres long, or in other words, two-thirds of a small car. I haven't found anyone but my cousin to ride on it, but she's busy. No man would ever want to ride behind another man. It's an ego thing.

What is to be determined - probably next month, is what will I do with this bike. It's been relegated to disuse for quite a while now, and if its fortunes do not change come December, it's going on the market.

Non-Alignment, again.

Hello.

If you are a reader of my previous blog, you would know how I love the phrase "Non-Alignment". It seems that since 2007, I have been pursuing a policy of non-alignment when it comes to dealing with other people. Post-2007, I haven't met too many people I am too interested in. Especially workmates or schoolmates or jailmates. In fact, after leaving my cradle and getting shoved into society, I realised how diverse the world is, and how many assholes exist only to piss you off. What's more, they are aligned with more assholes. As they say, birds of the same feathers flock together. They do.

Non-alignment comes with a price. It's isolationism with a whiff of independence. It's keeping yourself off the radar from others, and others off your radar. They don't disturb you, neither do you disturb them. They leave without you, you leave without them. On one hand, it's freedom. On the other, it's being a social disconnect. As always, everything has its pros and cons.

Initially, I would have thought that being aligned is great, since it's always better to have friends. You know, a friend in need is a friend indeed. I take that as when I need a favour, I can ask. Looking at the people I mix with, I think I'd rather be self-sufficient. Some people will smile in front of you, talk to you, eat with you, sit with you, but the world post 2007 is way to different. If that makes a friend, then suicide guarantees you an entry to heaven.

It's unfortunate I have never found a good datum to judge who's your friend and who's not. It's a gut feeling. Or else, you just have to wait until catastrophe happens. Then, as I learnt from my classmate Jie Ying, you can see who's your real friend, and who's not. Given the latter scenario, it's better to trust your gut feeling than to rely on the unknown until proven. Perhaps then, I have misinterpreted the aforementioned phrase "a friend in need is a friend indeed". It's perhaps just merely reflecting the most empirical basis of a friend - a friend that's there for you is a proven friend. The rest are friends too, just not proven ones.

Don'tcha love to go fast, fast, fasssssssst

I do. I love to go fast. I love to hit the elusive 40km/h. It's just not easy to hit 40km/h with 0.2-and-a-little-bit-more horsepower. Today I went interval training, which I haven't done for a superrrrrrrr long time. One week plus.

Shiok. Too bad my calves give me shit everytime near the end of the ride. It just blows up, hurting like shit. Maybe it's because I'm always too lazy to stretch, too eager to get on the bike. WHEE.

New workplace commute trial

Today I went for a trial commute on my Dahon. Total distance was 46.67km, the second half was torturous. I could only ride in fourth gear instead of fifth. Here are the times...

Home - Tanah Merah : 40min
Tanah Merah - Workplace : 35min
Workplace - East Coast Park - Home : 1h 20min

So I have to get to work at 8am. That means I gotta set off at 6.30am latest, or if going there directly, 6.45am if going directly to work.

The home commute was rather interesting. East Coast Park... which means no vehicles to share the road with, no red lights, and it's pretty scenic too. Hah!

Fire Burning

I feel it burning, but it's not within my reach
I desire it, but it's not within my reach
I want but I cannot want
While I continue wanting

By the Avenue Nanyang, I Sat Down and Wept.

Some people get sick of university studies. I just can't wait to get there. For me, it means more than I'm going to university. It means I'm getting out of jail. So when I passed by Nanyang Avenue, with a big sign that added fuel to the fire saying "NTU/NIE" in a truck, I couldn't do anything but weep silently.

My Female Cousin Has More Balls Than Some Men

Is riding a bicycle on the road dangerous? Very. You can get run down by a car, by a truck, by a bus who refuses to give way to you as it exits the bus bay, by a taxi making a left turn, cutting you off when you plan to go straight. You can suddenly lose your brakes and slam straight onto oncoming traffic. Your frame can suddenly just go bust and and you get road rashed all over.

There's one thing I can guarantee: this nay-saying nonsense that people say generally come from people who have never ridden a bike on anywhere but bike paths and outside their houses. They never tried. They theorise when they can prove (and more likely, disprove). It's all in their head.

I have ridden on the road for around a 10 months and so far I am still alive. I haven't lost a bone, I haven't lost a tooth, I haven't become a vegetable. I am still me.

Sure, if you are a complete beginner, it can be daunting at first to try to share the road with larger vehicles which make a terrifying noise when they pass you by, and impatient drivers who don't really think much of you, but with time, experience will tame these fears. You become one with traffic. You become traffic, you can pretty much tell what is going to happen, who is going to do what.

Isn't living a risk? We go out everyday, and everyday might be the day we are sent an offer we cannot refuse to go to heaven. If you believe it is written, then it is. There's no point in trying to mitigate it. Enjoy life, live it as risky as you can stomach, and then leave. Die while you are alive, not when you die.