Stiff Neck

This stiff neck is really bothering me. I thought it was all gone after the massage on Sunday. But it came back this morning. Despite the stiff neck, I still went for the morning run around the campus. Started at 0645 after leaving the car in the school. School starts late on Mondays anyway. So hardly a soul. Cool clean air in the morning, refreshing for the soul and mind. Started out slow and slowly warmed up to it. Was trying to keep it below the prescribed HR but found that it was just too slow? So edged it up a bit. Just found out that I clocked a 5:49/km pace for the easy 8km. Hope there is nothing wrong with the monitor though. It really did not feel fast at all. Maybe it was all the downslope that helped.


Worked throughout the day and went for the squad swim at 1930. Traffic conditions are really unbearable. I have no idea how long I can put up driving to Clementi pool for the next 2 months till YOG is over and Buona Vista pool comes back. Sitting at traffic light and not moving is just not my way to spend the time in the car. If not for the good company of music, I would have been cursing and swearing away at how some drivers jump queue. The surge of the ethicless drivers. The curse of Singapore roads.

***

Over the weekend on Saturday, the rain came and flooded Orchard Road and Bt Timah again. The residents and business owners must be asking themselves just what is happening to the island. Cars that became submarines in the basement carparks, businesses that just cleaned up after last month's wash up. And hit them again? I have my own theory about what is going on, besides the fact that the weather has been erratic of late, but probably best left undisclosed. Anybody who had been following the series of events that happened since last year, will suspect that something has gone wrong somewhere. This is probably going to be in line with the local coffee shop talk.


Anyway, it was a good thing I did not have a training session on Saturday. Or I would have ended the 180km bike really late. Also, instead of the 32km run on Sunday, it was replaced by an easy 40km ride. My leisurely ride took a turn when I found some other ride sitting on my tail, feeding on my draft. I tried to shake the dude off but he stuck to me like glue. Ran out of gears at Mandai and cadence was probably hitting 110 or 120 and when I turned back, the bloke was still behind. Darn! I just aint fast enough to drop him. And guess what? He was riding an old steel bike. So, the conclusion is as all cyclists would have known by now: it aint the bike, its the rider.


I was joking with my cycling friends. One fine day, I will buy a Polygon, or any of the low end bikes and see if I can outride the Cervelos and the Pinas on the road. And the day that I am able to do that, I would have pushed myself up a notch.

***

I realised that I would not be able to race in Europe for the next 2 years. For 2011, I will need to garner some more money for the whole family to go. For 2012, my older daughter will have a major exam. So I have discussed with my wife and decided that I will go with WA for these 2 years. Boring perhaps? Same race course for 4 IM. But I could look forward to setting new PB for the course every year. And I plan to do that.


With this, I was studying the option of getting a disc wheel. Course being flat, it may be a good chance to raise the bar on the bike. Still studying and deciding if I should go that way. The only thing is: it is such an expensive wheel because the number of usable rides is really low. Cost of usage per ride will be very high. Will ask around for opinions.