Volume 2- Issue 3
TIME FOR PINEAPPLE TARTS, BAKKWA AND A
PUBLIC HOLIDAY RTI.
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
If you haven’t seen the horses on Eu Tong Sen road, I recommend
them as well worth a look, perhaps on your way to an east coast blast.
One thing about Singapore I
love is they certainly know
how
to
do
festival
decorations.
The Public Holiday RTI is on
as usual on Friday. Meet at
6am at Rats Corner and
groups will be divided based
on
rough
expected
averages. Perhaps if you
live out east, you could take
in a look at those horses on
the way to Rats.
IT’S TOUGH IN THE EAST!
Just like in London, you need to be tough to live out east!
Well, you need to be tough to cycle out east on a Tuesday morning
anyway. The East Coast Blast isn’t called that for nothing, but there
was a bit of activity this week on the Facebook page so we asked
Massimo, the creator of the blast what all the fuss is about.
TRI CORNER PLUG
Where does he find them! Apps that is. You have to check out this
weeks tri-corner and the app of the week. More importantly who had
the idea of turning an iPhone into a heart rate monitor?
We also say pay tribute and say good bye to German Fat Boy – Seb Bo.
That’s all for now, enjoy the pineapple tarts and once again
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Ed. [email protected]
ANZA CYCLING CONTACTS
www.anza.org.sg/?page=cycling
www.facebook.com/groups/ANZACyclingemail/
2014 COMMITTEE
President - Glen Kenny
[email protected]
Vice President - Chis Teague
[email protected]
Treasurer - Bernard Maughan [email protected]
Secretary - Andrew Kinder
[email protected]
Membership - Megan Kinder [email protected]
Road Director - David Cox
[email protected]
Tri Director – Martin Reynolds
[email protected]
MTB Director -Lynda Scott
[email protected]
TRI CORNER
Upcoming races
Ironman 70.3 - Putrajaya. April 13
2014
A new race and a unique, spectator
friendly race experience in Malaysia's dynamic new city. It
takes place just south of KL so within driving distance of
Singapore. Swim in a manmade lake (!). 2 lap bike course on
what looks to be a lumpy type of course. 2 lap run course. A
number of people from Singapore/ANZA have already signed
up for this so potential for grouping together on the transport
front.
Ironman Malaysia - Langkawi. September 27 2014
After a few years break IM Langkawi is back - for those who
like it hot! Take a truly Malaysian cultural journey through
tropical, hilly and demanding terrain.
App of the week
Instant Heart Rate - Need to know your heart rate whilst
away from your trusty Heart Rate Monitor? Worry no more
with a free app that somehow utilises your iPhone camera to
give you a pretty accurate heart rate reading. Free from
Azumio
! Regular Open Water Swim - will NOT be taking place this
Saturday 1st Feb due to CNY
THE EAST COAST BLAST
Max Nanni
About two years ago, sick of riding solo up and down East
Coast and Changi I thought, 'what the hell, why can’t ANZA
have a ride starting in the East? Let's try to put one
together...' so I wrote a simple mail to the ANZA Cycling email
group asking if anyone was interested in such a possibility. I
actually put up 2 options, one for Thursday evening (ANZA
does not have rides in the evening... why??) and one for
Tuesday morning.
I received an overwhelming reply: 2 people shown interest
for Tuesday morning vs 0 for Thursday night... the Tue
Morning East Coast Ride then started the following week.
On that day, 1 of the 2 riders that responded to my mail was
out of town so for the first ride it was me and the beloved
and departed Mark Losi (hey! no, he is still alive and kicking!!
don't get me wrong, he only moved to KL). During the first
couple of months we did not have to worry about turning
people away or splitting into groups as the average number
of riders was 3 to 4, a crowd huh? We did relentless
advertising (or sort off)... then all of a sudden things started
picking up, I noticed that the arrival of Collin Alexander in the
Group with his always cheerful manner and his long reaching
connections into ANZA underworld coincided with a spike in
numbers (thanks Colin!!) and this coincided also with the
spike in speed up Changi straight.
Initially the surge was supposed to last for the length of the
landing strip only but then testosterone was kicking in all the
time and we ended up pushing all the way to the temple in
Changi Village. Colin is also the mind behind the name 'The
Blast' as for us humans it was indeed a blast, apparently not
so much for some of the 'ringers' that have shown up here
and there time after time, the first of which was the, now
regular, Kevin McGregor who, on his first Tue ride practically
went solo for the whole stretch dropping everyone like leaves
in Autumn within the first 500mt of the straight... I remember
seeing him at one point turning back, looking and (most
likely) saying 'what the heck, where is everyone? Have I gone
through a wrong turn'... Kev, there are no turns over there so
do the math!
Some of the ladies show up too, but while most of them
make sporadic appearances, we do have our own regular as
Aiyana is making sure to show some (recently most) of the
guys that ladies too may have a testosterone pocket hidden
somewhere in their bodies.
The ride is evolving and as of today, due to the appearance of
more and more ringers on a regular basis, and now with
regularly around 15 riders or more, we had to do something
to regulate the speed up Changi straight to prevent accidents
and make it enjoyable and available to anyone who shows
up, so the ride will be split into 2 groups once at the start of
Changi straight, 'The Sick Blast', in this group there won't be
any speed limit and I'm sure sooner or later we'll see
someone taking off beside an A380, and 'The Sane Blast' with
riders moving up in a well organized single file at around 40+
kph with a speed limit of 43 kph.
Welcome to The Blast!
This are the ride details:
Name: The Blast (from today 'Sick' and 'Sane)
Meeting point: 6am every Tue Morning, Fort Rd roundabout
(we leave sharp at 6:00 so people arrive at 6:01 will have to
do catch up!)
Format: Steady warm-up 32-34 kph in standard ANZA pair
riding all the way to Changi Straight
Allocation of riders in the 2 groups 'Sick' and 'Sane'
Sick Blast, I don't want to know
Sane Blast, single file at around 40 kph with front rider
dropping off to the left after 30 sec - 1 min of pull, all the way
to Changi Village Temple
UNDERNEATH THE HELMET:
Sebastian Berner
This week, we dedicate the
column to the German Pocket
Battleship Sebastian (Seb FGP) Bo.
After 2 years on the island, he’s
returning to the land of beer and
gateaux.
Regroup at the Temple traffic lights and back toward Fort Rd
the same way
Rolling pace line with riders coming up from the right and
moving to the front on a continuous flow for the length of the
air field straight
Sprint (for those who has not yet consumed all the
testosterone) to the end of the straight and regroup at the
traffic light
Back to Fort Rd 34-36 kph in standard ANZA pair riding
slowing down and going through the park path in single file
when road becomes one way
Who should attend: Everyone!
Looking forward to see you all in numbers!!
Cheers!
Max.
Remember. Articles, questions, rants, anonymous
letter and gossip to:
[email protected]
See you next week!
Ed.
Who are you?
Sebastian Berner, Research Scientist at A*Star SIMTech
Where are you from and how long have you been in
Singapore?
Darmstadt, Germany, in Singapore since 2 years, it’s
time to go back
How long you been riding?
My dad stripped the stabilizers when I was 5, racing XC
mtb between 14 and 19, paused cycling during civil
service and my studies to focus more on other things,
started again with leisure cycling during my PhD
Greatest cycling achievement?
Nothing worth to mention
Worst crash?
Many, but the funniest crash was during a MTB race,
when I was pushing my bike. The backwheel jumped
around and I got hit by the bike which brought me
down. Number of stitches on the knee and the
chainring perforated my calve muscle
Most embarrassing moment in life?
One of my students had his presentation of his final
thesis at my professor, I was out for heavy drinking the
night before. Just before the grading discussion I
needed to rush to the toilet for puking
Most embarrassing moment on a bike?
Not embarrassing for me, but during the 2012 Ipoh
century ride a guy in the front group shit in his bibs quiet funny...
If your life was a film, what would it be?
Was nicht passt wird passend gemacht.
Sorry for all you English speakers - learn German!
Motto in life?
See above.
Motto on the bike?
Can we make a stop for coffee and cheesecake?
Words of wisdom for the club members?
Make sure that the pres. keeps on paying for towers as
long as you’re thirsty
Self-rating for bIQ and bEQ (1 is low & 10 Expert)?
bIQ - 10, bEQ – 10, what ever bIQ and bEQ is
If your life were a film, who would you want to play
you?
Helge Schneider may be a good fit, but Ralf Richter
would be great
Favourite SG ride and why?
SG has not much on offer, but group rides can be fun
and/or pain
Where can you be found when not on the bike?
♫ You can find me in the pub, bottle full of... ♫
Best ride in the region that you have done?
Taiwan KOM and the Frasers Hill downhill
Cycling ambition still to be tackled?
Best costume award at Kalmit Klapprad Cup
3 words which best describe you?
Fat, German, Prick
What are you going to be doing in Germany?
At the moment it looks like I’ll be a pro-cyclist as I’m still
looking for a job.
What are you going to miss about ANZA/SG?
Gonna miss the banter during the group rides, the
rounds of double espressos and the cheesecakes,
however I think there might also be good bakeries and
coffee shops in Germany. I also gonna miss the beers
after evening rides at Longhouse or at Pasir Panjang
hawker. “One for the road…”