R.I.P.

the second phase is ending...

... and i'm all packed and ready for the third. guess what i'm gonna miss most is the big space i have here, living in a house. i got the master bedroom, with enough space to skip rope and do work-outs with my gym ball. plus, i got the biggest and nicest washroom.

did a quick recollection, and realized most of the fun stuff was done in the first half. seems like after all that, we gotten into a slow spiral of repetitive boredom. guess the best thing i did was to buy my bike. it re-sparked my interest in cycling, and i'm starting to get my fitness and shape back. Second best is probably the long road-trip during the Thanksgiving Holiday. We went to Manhattan and D.C plus a few stops in between. The highlights included visits to USNA, Fort Bragg, MOMA, Times Square, Ground Zero, running in Central Park (I now believe it when pple say it's the best place to run in the world), running up the steps to Lincoln Memorial, paying respects to the Kennedy brothers at Arlington National Cemetery, driving past the White House, Capitol Hill, among others.

Oh, another wonderful memory is driving to Clearwater to watch the Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Nov. it was such an inspiration just being able to watch and cheer these world-class triathletes. i even managed to squeeze in to the sidelines near the finish line, and high-fived some of the winners, haha...

Florida is a really beautiful place, with diverse wildlife everywhere. even in the man-made lake within our estate, there are turtles, birds of different kinds, fishes, etc. And check this out, took a shot of a man walking his dog:

Huge dog, right?? amazing.. wonder what he feeds his dog with...

Photo shoot 22 Jan 10

Here are some highlights from the photo shoot:

A sequence shot:

Executing a high-speed turn:

Happy riders after the shoot:

So those are the nice shots. Now i need to choose the best one for submission.

New year, new me!!

It's nice to finally have the sun back, after a few weeks of winter cold. went cycling ytd for a short while, did only one lap and came back to run cos of the strong wind conditions. as i opened my front door after my ride, an old gentleman came up to ask me abt my bike, haha.. turns out my neighbour knows i ride a Felt, and told his friend abt it. Oh, my neighbour rented a balloon sculpture thing, and most of the kids in the neighbourhood came by to jump and play in it. Guess my neighbour's friend is a parent. Anyway, he's really impressed by my bike. He told me he's considering getting a Felt bike too, so i told him abt the plus points of my model =)

oh, and i gained 10lbs! i'm now 145lbs. last yr i was 135, and the yr b4 i was 130... i knew i was gaining weight, but i didn't expect it to be so much so fast. Well, at least some of the weight is due to muscle, as i've been working out in my room. But there's excess fat in my thigh and butt area, been sitting around at home lazing for too long.. haha....

My new ride

Well, I should blog about my New York trip first, since i collected my bike only after i returned, but i just can't resist =)

Proud owner of a spankingly-beautiful Felt AR4:

Demonstrating how light it is:

And off i go!!!

Post-ride comments: it felt really smooth and responsive. Carbon fiber is the way to go, good balance of stiffness and comfort. The Ultegra drivetrain shifts accurately. And the bike is well-fitted to suit me =)

I bought a new bike!!

Went for my bike fitting appointment ytd. it was rather professional, with sensors and image capturing. we started off by a simple Q&A to find out my biking needs, usual distance covered, race goals etc. Then it's up onto the static bike for image capturing. after taking my measurements and observing the way i pedal, the fitter then went to do up some formula to see which bike can accomodate me. reason being, i'm quite weirdly structured: i have a long upper body and arms, and shorter-than-normal legs, for a person of my height. the fitter actually made me go onto the static bike again after he done up his formula just to confirm it. I neglected to tell him this before we started the fitting.

So, the usual sequence is that the fitter comes up with at least 2 recommendations according to the formula he done up. For my case, he took much longer than CJ, as my body shape will mean that i have to use a medium frame, but my short legs means my seat post will be rather low. according to the fitter, this will make the bike less able to take shock from potholes or bumpy roads. But i figured i won't be riding on such rough conditions anyway. one of the choices included the one i had already made up my mind to get. I did think through the merits of the second option (Ridley Excalibur, a Belgium maker), but the Felt AR4 '09 version was going at a clear-out price as the '10 bikes are already available, so i just couldn't give it up.

Here's a pic from the website:

A summary: full carbon fiber bike, aerodynamically shaped frame, internal cable routing, Shimano Ultegra SL drivetrain, and Felt AeroR3 wheels to complete it. it doesn't come with pedals, so i'll have to install that at the bike shop, together with a cyclometer, decided to go with the Cateye Strada Wireless. was up till 2am last night to do online shopping, managed to find Giro Ionos helmet (one of the best out there) and Sidi T2.6 carbon tri shoes (one of the best out there), both at half price off or better!! i'm so proud of myself =)

my first week (cont'd)

As promised, a photo of my license plate:

Funny thing is, i realised i haven't taken any pics with this car. maybe cos i find it boring...

Anyway, we went to the beach on sat, and it was my first encounter with the Atlantic Ocean. So now i have the privilege to say that I've seen 2 different oceans, the other being the Pacific.

Trying to be artistic, and capture how clear the water is. failing miserably...

and this is the first meal we cooked together!

I realised my blogging can never catch up with what i'm doing, cos i'm always doing research on online shopping instead of blogging. and i haven't been taking enough nice pics to put up anyway. but i'll try. This weekend i'm doing a road trip on my own. Going to the National Navy UDT-SEALS Museum for the open house and listen to this talk, and hopefully get some nice souvenirs. After that i'll be visiting St Augustine for some shopping and sight-seeing, followed by Jacksonville to meet Jessica's sister. There's a Sea & Sky Spectacular at Jacksonville, but i'll only go if time permits, cos i guess it'll be the same as the Miramar Airshow i went to last yr, with the Blue Angels performance and the static displays. I'll blog abt my road trip next week, and also abt all the stuff i bought so far =)