The North Face Ultra Trail Tour Du Mont Blanc

As I was lazy around, I can't help but started thinking about the first time I set foot on a 100km run and of course remembering the ever inspiring book written by Dean Karnazes.

Of course, this wondering spin off to bigger spectrum and Ultra Running events pops out and I can't help but thinking about the Ultra Trail Tour Du Mout Blanc. 100 miles cross the range of Mont Blanc crossing France, Italy, switzerland and back to France. This is one of the events that I have always dreamt of doing. Well, I know I definitely will.

Running side by side Dean...hehehe.... Dean Dean, wait for me! Sign on my The North Face T-shirt!

The North Face Arnuva 50 Boa and Gulper

It's been some time that I have not written anything about my favourite activity. Gear Testing and of course review. This is the part I am probably excited about.

Gear Test 1:
Features




I finally got the pair of The North Arnuva 50 Boa. Well, here is the specification: -

* Built for the athlete who runs trails, dirt paths, even road, and offering the cutting-edge Boa® lacing system for a rapidly-adjustable, secure fit.
* UPPER Boa® multi-adjust lacing system
* Abrasion-resistant bomber synthetic nubuck with highly breathable and protective sandwich mesh upper
* TPU injection saddle for optimal lateral and medial stability and support
* Northotic" ergonomically designed footbed with Poron® forefoot and heel inserts and AgION" antimicrobial footbed covering
* BOTTOM Ultra lightweight compression molded EVA midsole combined with X-2™ polymer dampening compounds provides high impact cushioning and long lasting support
* Rear foot compression cage provides mechanical assist to midsole components and neutral guidance for mild pronators proprietary The North Face® outsole with Tenacious Grip" rubber compound provides excellent traction both on-and off-road as well as stab

Personal Verdict:

I took this pair of Endurance Running shoes for a ride on both the road and offroad from Ulu Pandan Road through the Bukit Timah Mountain Bike Trail to Bukit Panjang and back home and I must say, it works well for me. I haven't put it on on regular runs but with my first run in it, I must say it works well for me. The Boa System stay well-kept and no mechanical dysfunction for me. And traction control, beside a little slippery on moss ground and wet surface, they work in excellence in terms of performance. Total distance, 15km of mixed terrain.






Gear Test 2:


The Gulper was having a bit of the leaking issue in the beginning. But its fine now and I must say that it fits really well in terms of the design and of course, the ventilation is paramount to performance and in humid country like Singapore, breathability is critical and The Gulper answers to the call. Here is the specification: -



Features

* Midsize hydration pack suited for a half-day epic adventure.
* E-VAP™ back panel
* E-VAP™ and airmesh shoulder harness
* Sternum strap with Safe-T whistle
* Removable waistbelt
* 70 oz Nalgene® reservoir with quick connect hose
* Articulated magnetic bite valve
* Large main compartment
* Internal organizer
* Side mesh pockets with elastic pump holder
* Zip front stash pocket
* X-bungee Light loop
* Reflective hit

Slacking and Busyness

I Know, I Know! I have been really slacking in writing blogs for the last 2 months or so. The best excuse I can give is really, I have been super duper busy. Business, plus new work commitment. Yup, you hear me! New work commitment. I have just join The North Face family as the Brand Executive for Singapore.



So been really busy coz when you mention The North Face Singapore Team, it will be me and my boss. That's it! Gosh, I love to have a big team. But, reality told me that profit comes, workforce will increase.

So for now, just like The North Face philosophy says, "Never Stop Exploring" ways to work efficiently...hehehe....

Well, at least I manage to complete the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore while working hard.

Till next available time! Ciao!

Project Ironman Steed!

Ever since I am back in Singapore, I have been working really seriously about my race steed. Why? Coz I spend the last 1 month just to be stronger on my bike. I have been able to maintain a steady 35kmh to 40kmh comfortably. So, I need to go faster for the race day and at the same time to save my leg for the 21km run.

So What did I do?

Check This Out:



The Specification:

The Blackwell Research 50mm Carbon Clincher Wheels

700c Clincher
18* frt - 24* rear
Basault Braking Surface
645g Front / 895g Rear

The Result



The Race Ready Look!

Post Sabah!

I know this had been long overdue but I guess if I don't put it down I will definitely forget totally about it.

Final Week Reflection:

I haven't been so overwhelmed for a while, but this is the week that I reflect and realised that God has been really speaking to me about issues that I have been escaping.



1) What is the purpose of my life?
2) What is my current state spiritually?
3) Who is God to me?

The Verdict

Well, I had forgotten to thank Him for who I am and I have forgotten to could my blessings and my purpose, I am kinda lost. I have no direction, I have forgotten my main purpose and that is to outreach to people and make disciples that I have totally forgot and I am not making any apology about spiritual word and statement here. I am first a Christian, a Child of God before anything else. I have a mission and that is to make disciples. Where is my Brother? I have to face it, for so many years that I have forgotten about that. I need to get back to it. Passionate of it!

Action

Go back to Singapore and Start doing what I have left behind and not let work overwhelmed me. I need to start getting back into Ministry work and not allowing the blessings of skills gone to waste! I need to make a comeback and draw on His strength to pull me through. I need to keep the spiritual throttle on!

New Shoes or Shoe Fetish!

Some says that I have this thing about running shoes or should I say footwear. But I can't really help it. I burned shoes out here and there all the time and being someone who is an athlete and a guy who is the industry (Formerly managing products for a sports brand), what do you expect? I just love shoes. For a guys to have near 15 pairs of shoes is a lot. Ha!





Well, my new addition to my arsenal of shoes will be the Saucony Tangent 3. I have not try a pair of Saucony for a long long time and I guess I might as well pick one up. Can't wait for it. Well, I might just update my review after maybe a month of test running...Guru Talks again....Stay Tuned!

The Super Multi Vitamins!

Well, what I have been taking multi-vitamins for a while for my training and really I must say that I really appreciate the importance of this stuff. I am really not a faithful believer of diet...hahaha....ask my colleagues and you will find out what I have for lunch. So, it is very very important for me to make it up especially when I am planning and training for the Ironman distance race. I don't wanna break down due to nutrition deficiency.

So, what did I do? See what the top athletes eat for training. I found out that when training becomes intense, you need sustain vitamins, nutrients and minerals to keep yourself going. After attending workshops and seminars, of course with videos and worldwide web. I found what I am looking for. A complete systems of nutrients that I need.



Used by Asafa Powell (World record holder for the 100m sprint, 9.77sec) and Liu Xiang (World record Holder for the 110m hurdles). Double X has
12 vitamins, 9 Minerals, and 17 plant Concentrates. I love it. This is one of the stuffs that I rather take than anything inferior. It's important to me as I am concern with the things that I take.



I don't know about you. I rather take what the pros are taking to make me feel good on recovery. It's only about S$69 to help me to eat well and recover well. Why not?

Paris Roubaix - Sabah Style

Paris Roubaix (Men's In Tights and Mud)

Call it ridiculous or outrageous but that's just it. Every Cycling Buff would have heard of the ever notorious Paris Roubaix Bike Race where roadies hit this region in France for an one day hit in the muds, cobblestones and whole load of intense weather. That just it!


Hermit After the Ride

I got a taste of this style of cycling recently during one of the bad weather in Sabah, Potholes, muddy roads, cobblestone like road, granite chips road. You name it, Sabah has it and I am really beginning to regret of not bringing my Mountain Bike (Oh! I almost forgot I ain't got a Mountain Bike anymore).


Hermit's Rear Deraileur (Mud Patch)

The result is a whole load of muddy trails on the bike and I must say that Hermit is quite a steed that is able to take hard knocks and I am beginning to love this partner of mine. Of course the dirt and mud that hit my face make it even more interesting in my training.


Hermit's Seat tube in Mud



Shoes In Mud too!

Bottom line, learn to take bumps and be prepare to do the bunny hops and jumps when the hole comes in you face or you will have imprints or the tarmac gradients...Technical Riding 101: Learn to Eat dirt or prepare to bite the dust!

Sudden Lost!

I got a very very bad news yesterday. Another friend or maybe just a person that I sometimes regard irritable and annoying but still I call him my friend has lose the battle with the notorious Dengue Fever and has passed on.

Ian, though our friendship are rather weird but I still regard you as friend. In fact, it really hit me as I have just lost a good friend who I love to debate with. Rest In Peace my friend as the Lord Will Rest Your Soul and be with Him, my beloved Brother!

Your Zeal and relentless drive to move the sports of Adventure Race will be remembered!

Old Steed with an Attitude (Sabah)

Never had a second impression of my good old faithful Giant TCR. And now, my only training partner for Sabah. The Specialized Transistion was out of the consideration for the Training Camp due to the amount of work needed to to set up. I decided that The Giant TCR, now call Hermit will be my best buddy for the one month of endless riding.

Everything starting with Zero and it will be my responsibility to put Hermit on mileage for her to earn her bragging rights. You know what I mean.

I am Here!

Finally, I started packing up my tonnes of stuff for the trip to Sabah. I really mean lots of stuff. Believe me, I didn't realized that I have to bring so much things until when I really pack it. Goodness Gracious! I am really going to get into trouble with the over weight issue. Well, at least its going to be my first serious training camp the hermit version.




OH MY GOODNESS! Its a whooping 35kg for my checked in luggage and I have to pay for the lot stock barrel of gears for the training. Oh well, guess I just have to paid for the RM12 per kilo premium. And I have my proof that the pretty girls at AIR ASIA are really doing their job. Making a poor soul who just lose his job like me to pay for the remaining 20kg because my personal maximum luggage is just 15kg. Of course, they are nice enough to give me a receipt as a memento.



Anyway, after all the trouble and the packing, pushing and loading. I finally arrive at the Sabah International Airport and treated with a great local breakfast from my beloved aunt and uncle who without hesitation hosted me to the whole stay. The next few days will be exciting as I will be getting the bike set up and start riding a few easy ride of a few hours (5hrs and up..hehehe....you can't do this in Singapore).

Going Sabah...

2 more days and I will be off to the land where I will be hitting altitude and mountains that will break my legs and test my lungs on my trustworthy steed. And guess what, with all this last minute things that comes in place, I am still able to look for an armour for transporting my beloved steed. Presenting the Polaris Bike Pod.

Thanks to the guys (Viki and Louis) at Cycle Craft. We managed to get the Bike Pod in in the nick of time for the 1 month crazy training at Sabah just for the Ironman 70.3 Singapore.

And of course, I have gathered some specification and information which I definitely trust that Polaris, now my accomplice will keep the project on with its protective specification.


# A rigid EVA molded cycle suit case

# EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) has high impact strength and good tear/abrasion resistance making it an ideal construction method for the Bike Pod

# The Bike Pod is moulded to fit most road, touring and mountain bikes in a secure “locked” in position to reduce damage whilst in transit

# The “Clam Shell” design also enables it to be fully opened for ease of stowing the bike

# The bike wheels lock in position using quick release skewers

# Closed with industrial strength zips and backed up by quick release buckles

# Strong, integrated wheels for ease of carrying

# Conforms to all major airline baggage handling restrictions

# DIMENSIONS: Length 1200mm, Height (tallest)907mm, Depth 280mm

# WEIGHT: Approx 6.7kg

# COLOUR: Black

SPECIALIZED TRANSITION CARBON

Specialzed had finally start doing something about their race of triathlon and Time Trial Bike. Yes, they have finally come out with a Carbon Fiber Version. For the last few years, Specialized have been producing their Flagship Triathlon Bike in E5 Aerotec Aluminium alloy.

This is what Specialized Founder and President Mike Sinyard said:

“We wanted to do it a year or two ago and said let’s wait instead of doing it and saying ‘aw, we should’ve done this or that,’” said Specialized founder and president Mike Sinyard. “This is an awesome platform that we have now proven in the wind tunnel. It’s something we can build on. It’s a beautiful foundation.”

TESTING PROTOCOL



First, guided by Andy Jacques-Maynes, a pro road and cyclocross racer who also serves as one of the engineers at Specialized and marketing manager Nic Sims, we took a tour of their testing lab amid the inner workings of the massive factory. In there a new Transition frame was under fire, undergoing a vertical load test to simulate a rider hitting potholes and sending rider weight through the seat and through the frame. This test would typically go for one full day to pass basic standards, but Specialized will generally let it go two to three times above that standard. They bike underwent pedaling fatigue goes 100,000 cycles, which takes two days. That is to say, it’s the bike is no pixie and is put through the wringers, built to take whatever you can put through it.

THE GEOMETRY

Like any good tri bike, the Transition Carbon was built with aerodynamics and fit being paramount features. The front-end of the bike will feature a 1” steerer and a fork with an alloy steerer. A big clean-air advocate, Reid agreed with this growing reversal from the 1 1/8” industry standard. “I never understood why we went to 1 1/8th,” Reid said. “You see these huge, bulky front ends. That’s increased surface area. I’m so glad to see one-inch this on the Transition.”

When asked why not a carbon steerer, we received an interesting reply.




“First, we don’t have the build capabilities for a one-inch carbon steerer,” Jacques-Maynes said. “But what that alloy steerer allows us to do is build up a crown with less material. So, as we built it, we considered that the fork goes into the steerer at an angle. We shaved away material from under the crown, so that it runs level with the wind angle.” What that means is that wind passing over the tire and under the fork crown goes cleanly into a smooth cowling at the top underside of the downtube.

That upper portion of the downtube is another area of attention. To either side lay a couple of two-inch-long gussets. While it helps provide a continuous surface for wind coming off the upper part of the fork and onto the frame, it also serves structural function, stiffening the front end immensely.

Another beauty element is the chainstays and seatstays. To create a rear end with minimal wind exposure, the stays were brilliantly designed, staying parallel from their point of origin at the bottom bracket, to radically flare out toward alloy horizontal dropouts. In fact, the chainstays exist in the wind shadow of the bottom bracket shell, a first. “Like the Roval wheels, we wanted to keep this frame as narrow as possible and hide the stays,” Jacques Maynes said. The inside of the stays will feature slight curvature to follow the curved contours of a lenticular disc or flared deep rear wheel like a Zipp. Also of note, the flare-out points are parallel to the ground and frontal wind angle.

While the mainframe sections are a NACA-approved airfoil shape, the fork has a different shape, slightly blunted at the leading edge. “We learned about aero sections at MIT,” Callahan said. “We worked with a professor there to fine tune the head tube and fork for aerodynamics. It’s clean air and we want to keep it that way. For the fork, the NACA profile doesn’t work at low speed there.”

Jacques-Maynes added: “While triathlon is our market with this bike, we have UCI considerations to figure in as well. The minimum UCI width for the tubes is 25mm. The max height allowed by the UCI is 80mm, and to meet the three-to-one ratio, our max was 75mm. And we just barely squeeze into the rules for a double diamond. We’re pretty much running it to the millimeter, maxing out our ability to stay within the rules. We got pretty creative, actually.”

At a constant two centimeters wide from front to back, the wafer-thin top tube is a marvel. “I really love this about the bike,” Reid said. “When you’re racing hard, your knees will often come in a bit, and having the top tube out of the way, not knocking into them, is a great thing.”

Regarding fit geometry, Specialized is taking conventional wisdom about seat angles and throwing them to the wind. On this bike, 76 degree, or 78 degrees won’t exist. “It’s irrelevant. You take the whole ideal of seat angle out, Jacques-Maynes says. “It’s based on a style of thinking where bikes are made of tubeset going from the bottom bracket to the saddle. With monologue carbon, it’s totally different. You start with setback, adjust the bars, then adjust the setback again until dialed.



“Instead of seat angle, we talk about setback, where the nose of the saddle is in relation to the bottom bracket,” Jacques-Maynes said. “We talked at length with Dan Empfield about fit, and this is compatible with his FIST fitting system. His X-Y coordinates are with stack and reach, we go X-Y with the rise and nose of the saddle to fit riders. We’ll have an education through our SBU courses on how our retailers will fit athletes, and really, it’s quite a simple system. Since we don’t have straight seat tubes to do a sorta-close fit, this is the best way to get an honest, accurate fit.”

Additionally, because of the seat post’s dead vertical rise or fall, it doesn’t affect the fore or aft of the saddle position. That is, when you raise the saddle on the post, you don’t have to adjust the saddle fore and aft in parallel, as you have to with standard angled tube sets.

The bike will feature a zero-offset post and one with about an inch and a half of layback. The ovalized aluminum rail clamp is flip-flop reversible. There will also be a super-layback version made exclusively for their UCI teams (Gerolsteiner and QuickStep/Innergetic) allowing the riders to stay within UCI regulations for saddle fore/aft. The posts need a minimum of 80mm of post going into the frame at minimum, 105cm at max. So, consumers will have to have their posts cut. Dealers will be supplied with a test-only adjustable post that will work for parking lot tests for potential consumers, to help determine an optimal post height. Once determined, the Specialized dealer’s post cutting kit will get it locked in.

For those getting their bikes worked on in the shops, Specialized is also providing dealers a part to clamp onto the frame with a round outcropping, which will then be able to be clamped into a standard work stand.



Like the Felt DA, the engineers of the Transition wanted to take the rear brake out if its traditional place. But instead of hollowing out a cowling in the bottom bracket shell, Specialized opted to keep the BB shell stiffness intact there and fashioned their own center-pull brakes, a’la cyclocross, fixed to brake studs. The design allowed them to keep the brake cable and any housing in line with the frame. On the front, the brake cable is fed to a cable guide that will be built into the integrated headset’s top cap. In the rear, the brake cable will come out at the base of the downtube and feed direct to the brake for powerful center pull action.

A dream for bike builders, the internal cable run at the front of the top tube will feature rear brake and front and rear derailleur housings that run from port-in at the front of the top tube to port-out at their respective locations. A fourth porthole will be allocated for a SRM internal cable run down to the crankset. “With 4mm housing, you just shove it in and it comes out where it’s supposed to,” Jacques-Maynes says. “Shops and guys that like to work on their own bikes are gonna love it.”

Sizing will run small, medium, large and extra large and the head tube lengths are among the shortest in the biz, allowing for a low front end At 6’0, I rode a well-dialed medium with a 120mm head tube, while Reid, at about 6’2, rode an extra large.



OUR RIDE

Reid, on his second ride on the Transition Carbon and I on my maiden voyage managed to steal out for the famed Specialized Lunch Ride, a place where everyone from Andy Jacques-Maynes to the Specialized mail boy is fast. Of course, bring Peter Reid on the ride and everyone jacks it up a bit more with their A-game.

Our first impression was “where’d the bike go?” That super-thin top tube was impressive looking down, which put us to the first test: whipping the front end and forth to see just how stiff it really was torsionaly. The aero “wings” that transition wind off the fork and onto the frame actually serve as a torsional brace, adding front-end stiffness.

Any concerns about rear-end stiffness on this compact were also put to rest. With the rear brake being mounted under the bottom bracket shell instead of within the shell/tube set juncture, the area was optimally beefy, and in turn, very stiff out of saddle



While Reid and Jacques-Maynes were at the sharp end of an attack that strung out the 35-odd guys on the ride (a ride that ended with Reid contesting the sprint—on the Transition), I was eventually spit out the back. Which was fine, as it gave me a chance to put my dragging tongue back in my mouth, have a recovery chat with fellow shelled companion Sinyard, stabilize my heart rate and get into the aerobars to test it alone against the wind.

In the bars, it was exceptional. With a shorter headtube than many brands are offering out there, Specialized got it right, allowing those who want to get low to do so without having to hunt for a negative-degree stem. While a published weight isn’t out yet, we had to estimate our size medium frame at somewhere between 18 and 19 pounds with deep-dish Roval tubulars—a very impressive weight range. Looking all over the bike you could really notice how tucked in everything is. Looking forward at Reid’s bike during the ride, you could really marvel at how the chainstays are hidden behind the bottom bracket and how clean the cable run makes the front end. We have no numbers to verify, but if aerodynamics are the gauge (and apparently they are, since Specialized took plastic protos to the MIT tunnel before settling on this final design), the Transition Carbon looks like it belongs among the top five truly aero tri bikes on the market, if not higher. Again, just our two cents of speculation.

The bike has an aptly short top tube for a short, comfy cockpit. A long wheelbase made for a stable bike that tracks really well (especially when blown out the back of a group and barely able to keep upright). It won’t win any crits as a super-nimble cornering bike, but granted, it’s designed for straight-line speed, not Alpine switchbacks.



The front end climbed well, which, per our whipping-front-end test, was no surprise. Jacques-Maynes backed my findings. “We as road bike riders have a different standard for our own machines and can’t accept a bike with bad ride characteristics, especially in the front end,” he said. “So we paid a lot of attention to geometry, fit and layup for compliance. When we talk about performance bikes we look at front end stiffness, bottom bracket stiffness and ride compliance. But stiffness was a key factor for us.”

We also got our first ride on the Roval Rapide wheelset as well. Looking down at the front wheel while on the road, it looked like riding a three-spoke with the flanges so narrow. The wheels rode fast and even with the narrow flange, the length of flange made them immensely stiff. We’re surprised these wheels aren’t getting much play out there, but imagine we may see more of them as a new 55mm carbon tubular version is hitting the market.



Our first try of the TriTip saddle, which will come in two widths, was a total surprise. It has Specialized’s Body Geometry cutout and frankly, I’d not been a fan of the shape nor comfort when perched out of the saddle nose. This one has gel in the aft as well as through a wide, cush, supple nose, which felt really good when perched upon in the aerobars. It wasn’t a Princess and the Pea saddle with too much cushion, but offered just enough to take the edge off focal nose riding.

Reid agreed. I’ve always shied away from the saddles,” he said. “When I saw it I said ‘I’ll ride it, but I know I won’t like it.’ I got on it and it was surprising—I really liked it. I could easily do the whole ride in the aero position. By the end, I asked if I could take two home with me!

After two good rides on the Transition Carbon, we wanted Reid’s feedback, a guy with a history of very, very finicky wants and needs out of an aero bike, having required a custom frame from Specialized with a super-short headtube to get the flat-backed fit he demanded for Kona. And when he said he would test it, he wasn’t kidding.

“I got here and within two hours I was out on the bike,” Reid said. “They said ‘hey, we’ve got this guy we’d like to have you roll out with,” and I said ‘No. I want to go by myself. I want to ride it hard, I want to take it through turns. No touristy ride. I really wanted to see what this thing was made of.



“I’ve always ridden custom frames and at first was… hopeful. I rode out an hour and 15 minutes—hard—1:15, turned around and rode back in an hour. I thought ‘I could win Hawaii on this thing.’ This bike is a huge advantage. It makes you want to ride fast. It doesn’t feel like at TT bike. You get out of the saddle, it feels like a road bike. It corners well, it’s stiff, responsive. My tri bike has never felt this way. Usually with aero forks, you can feel it sway. This thing is so stiff. It feels like a road bike.”

We wanted to know about the front end, a stickler area with so many athletes who complain they can’t get low enough, and the frame’s narrow build. Reid, one of the biggest proponents for a short head tube to allow low aerobar positioning, was impressed on both counts. “I’m fairly tall and the only way I could keep up with the stronger guys in Kona was to make myself as aero as possible. That was a big reason I ha to go custom with a 110mm head tube. With this, I had to actually put a spacer under the stem. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to do that. I didn’t have to make one adjustment on the ride.

“I tend to ride knock-kneed. I liked a narrow top tube, and this so skinny top tube was really sweet. You can ride really tight. I’ve been riding aluminum bikes all my career, and I’d feel the jarring a bit. This is the first time I’ve ridden a carbon tri bike, and it dampens everything.”

MODELS

Four models and two framesets will complete the Transition range for 2008. Capping the group will be the top-end Transition S-Works, which will feature the S-Works FACT 9R carbon layup (all other Transition frames will feature the 7R carbon layup). The S-Works will price at $7,000 and will be spec’ed with a Zipp Vuka Aero aerobar, SRAM Red 10-speed groupset with SRAM Force aero shifters, chain and brake levers and Zipp 404 carbon clinchers. The bike will come with two carbon posts: one with zero offset, one with layback.

Without a definitive date of release but in the works for the S-Works model as an upgrade is a version with SRM built into its own carbon S-Works crankset and oversized bottom bracket. That crankset that will be a fourth the weight of a Dura-Ace crankset and 15 percent stiffer thanks to a tighter crankarm interface with more splines.

Below the S-Works will be the Transition Pro at $4,000, outfitted with Shimano Dura-Ace 10-speed and Roval Fusee Star wheelset. Next along the line is the $3,000 Transition Expert featuring a mix of Shimano Dura-Ace and Ultegra, and Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels. At the entry level at a very impressive $2,500 will be the Transition Comp. Same frame as the two above, it will come with Shimano 105 and a Mavic Aksium wheelset. Each of these bikes will come with one aero post, either a zero-offset or layback, consumer’s choice.

All bikes will feature the new Specialized TriTip saddle.

In framesets will be the S-Works module, which will include frame, fork, custom components to fit (2 posts, crankset, brakes, headset, stem, That headset will have that top cap with integrated cable guide.

Down the line will be an aero bottle with shape to match the downtube/seattube section, creating a consistent aero wall through the area. We had a look at the prototype and it looked pretty sweet.

All in all, Specialized managed to put four or five truly new features into one bike in the Transition Carbon. With some unofficial spy photos having made the Internet rounds, Specialized was bummed to see it peeked to the public beforehand, but impressed with the chatter around it.

“It’s fulfilling to bring it from idea to prototype to preproduction to production, to being delivered to consumers here in the coming months,” Jacques-Maynes said. “Seeing the buzz around it, people looking at a picture of it on the internet, it’s like wow. I guess there’s interest.”

Sinyard echoed the sentiment. “It’s exciting, it’s great to see Peter so excited. That is our formula. If we can make the product the top athletes love, then it’s a winner.”

Specialized’s engineering team will make another trip to the wind tunnel in early June to return with hard numbers to pass to all of us that require such data. And when you’re spending this much money on a bike, it’s not a big ask. In the meantime, Specialized will be looking at a debut of the bike at the Roth Challenge by Chris McCormack.

Again, the bike is expected to be available beginning in January. More info on the Transition Carbon as it comes will be found at specialized.com

IRON DREAM!

This is how average joes like us who feel physical capable and crazy enough to dream about. The coverted Ironman Hawaii, it is the place for the best of the best in Ironman Distance Triathlon (2.4 miles Swim, 112 miles bike, and 26.2 miles marathon run). Plus the big wind on the big island, mid day heat on the lava field and of course the dread mass swim start that looks like a giant washing machine.

Is this the ultimate chase of adrenaline and a dose of endorphine to give us the high? Well, guess what? This is the fact, athletes like myself are Junkies. We are eager to race to really know how hard we can push and I must say, I have no regrets getting my feet back into the sports that I have canned for two years for some silly corporate ladder chase.

That is why the Iron Dream is back and it is stronger and hotter ever. Mark this year down. 2010, Ironman Hawaii. Running down Alii Drive!

The Monster Within...

Its been almost a month after the Bintan Triathlon and I have still been pretty crazy about tweaking my steed to perfection. The decision to push myself to the next level by commiting a month of boot camp training at Sabah for my bike and run base is still unbelievable for some especially those who feel that I should just keep my job and do a one week training instead of one month.



What the Hack! I just need a break from all the works and responsisbility and really get serious with what I really want to do! So I will be tweaking my bike for my next race and building up my training bike for the BIG training in Sabah. I knew that if I don't it now, I will never do it. I need to unleash the monster within me. Its been too subdue and I have to break it. For so long, I have not have that deep hunger to perform and to win. For now, I just want to clock a better race time and I want to place well. Time to hit the big tickets.

So Sabah, here I come. Mark this date, 18 July 2007. I will bein Sabah for the Big thing!

NO MORE BACK OF THE PACKER!!!

Some says that it’s a crazy move but I felt that these few months had shown to me that I can do a lot of things that sometimes I don’t really think I can do a couple of years back.

I finally got back my groove in training for races. Probably the layback sedentary lifestyle for the last few years had worn me down. Of course, with that tummy forming up do got on my nerve.

I want to race and I want to win. I am just sick and tired of being the back of the packer. That is my verdict from weekend race at Aviva Bintan Triathlon.

So what will be my plans? Pick up all the relate DVDs and Books about triathlon and start reading and watching them. Quit my JOB! Book a flight ticket to Sabah for a month at my aunt’s place just to train on run and bike (Hermit Style Training) that will happen from mid July to mid August. Then sign up a race (Still cannot decide).

Of course in the meantime, I just have to be happy with the Singapore Training with my buddies, like Eve and Ben….hehehe….

Story of a Mad Fish

You can call it crazy or mad, but yes I am an agressive and mad fish...MARLIN!

Always doing the craziest and maddest things in life. Taking risk, Rock Climbing, Ultra Running, planning to do an Ironman, Running a Business when job employment is the secure way....One Word...Crazy!

But you know what? I am perfectly normal! Why, I am just pursuing a dream of my own, just like many others!