Crack, Snap, Can I Have Your Money?!?

I went to the trail with Isyraf and Muhd. Its been months since we went to the trail with Muhd, and barely 5 mins into the trail, a loud crack was heard from my rear wheel and my wheel locked suddenly, causing me to skid to a halt.

Basket! My chain snapped, hooked onto the rear derailleur, went one round, got stuck into the spokes and snapped both the derailleur hanger and one spoke.

This was almost the same thing that happened to my cheap GT, and since there were so many things wrong with it, I bought the Giant I have presently.

Hohoho. Year end bonus came early for the bike shop.

Derailleur hanger: $38
Middleburn 2nd Gear Chainring: $70
XT Chain: $35
XT Rear Derailleur: $80
XT Cassette: $80
XT Brakes: $300 w/o Rotor (I’ve been meaning to buy this for 3 months)
Mavic Spoke + Truing of wheel : $30

Total: $633

Shit! Shit. Shit.

I initially set aside cash for new brakes, but I spent double the budget because of the stupid stock Shimano chain snapping.

AND I still have to spend about $80 for a set of tyres cos both my tyres are about to be as bald as road tyres. AND new grips, about $35.

ARGH!

But you know what? Its all alright. My tuition cash may be gone, my holiday next year may be a little less relaxing, but my bike’s lighter, faster, and smoother than ever before. So I guess that’s priceless.

But now I can’t cycle to work even though I have about 28 more working days. Why? Cos I’m scared of scratching my new brake levers. Shiny XT levers. Woo!

And yes, I do have other passions beside biking. I love speeding in my sister’s Colt. But never again. Cos I almost killed 4 other people in the car yesterday. Stupid L-plate at Ubi didn’t check HER blindspot, swerved out from her lane, causing me to swerve and squeeze between her protruding bonnet in my lane and the car in the next lane at 70kmh. My front seat passenger swore that I was inches from hitting the L-plate. And I could have sworn I grazed the mirror of the car in the next lane.

But thank god, we emerged unscathed. Women drivers. Always telling guys to go slower. That’s cos they’re probably the gonggongs who block the way in the first place. They should tell others including themselves, beware of women drivers.

And last week, this woman taxi driver suddenly just made a right turn at a cross junction when I had the right of way to go straight. The motorcycle in front of me jammed his brakes so hard that his tyres locked and smoked. Luckily my reaction time was alright. I jammed my brakes and I stopped 20 cm behind the motorcycle. The bike’s front actually touched the side door of the taxi. And before the rider could even gain his balance on the bike, the woman sped away. I was too shocked to take her license plate. All I know was that she was a woman and her cab was a COMFORT cab.

And women cyclists on the pavement are a notch better. God knows how they can be so slow yet so adamant that they own the sidewalk and refuse to let other riders pass. Eh, hullo? I’m still faster than your stupid electric bike. Oh, and if I’m meeting a woman cyclist head on, instead of the gonggong keeping to the side of the pavement she goes to the middle of the pavement.

I have to CHOOSE which side to take. I must be a goalkeeper every morning when I ride to work ah? Then there are the times when I veer a certain direction, for example to my left, and from the middle of the pavement, she veers to my left also. Wah, I hate to jam my brakes ok. Each time my Panaracer tyres screech, is money gone. And the other rider can shoot me dirty looks?

Male cyclists are ok. Faster, yet calm, they veer to one side and stay there, if we’re meeting head on. If I say “Excuse me.” They allow me to pass. Likewise, I allow fitter or better equipped riders to pass me, no grudges, no “Aiyah!” and no dirty looks.

DISCLAIMER: Ah, but I digress and over generalise. Not all women cyclists or drivers are like what I said above. Some are alright, and some are even better drivers than the best of us. Oh, and pardon the poor English and spelling in this post. I’m bout to ORD and I don’t give a shit.

YES WE CAN!

Obama won. Whoopee. I was so bored during my MC period when I had HFMD last week, I followed the US elections. I watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart every day, and I could easily conclude that Obama was a superior candidate. He was smoother, more eloquent, and if this were American Idol, he had more showmanship than McCain. It helped that McCain had the most ‘louya’ campaign ever and the fact that everyday SNL and other comedy related channels in the US were making fun of the Palin-McCain partnership.

The most memorable incident was a CNN interview with a McCain aide. The aide was saying Obama mixes around with anti-Semitic people. And the aide named one person, a name I can’t recall.

The CNN interviewer rebuked his remark saying that the person he named had been absolved from knowing Obama. And the aide went on to say, “He mixes around with so many other anti-semitic people. We all know who they are.”

“Who are these others?” the CNN interviewer asked. “Name one.”

“We all know who. We don’t want to name names. We all know who.” The aide replied.

And it went on and on, with the aide trying to bullshit through his pathetic lies. The CNN presenter ended by saying, “You’re ridiculous.”

LOL. I think mindless mudslinging and millions of dollars spent in campaigns and time and energy dedicated to campaigning along with the division that political parties create makes me thankful to live in a country where we only have one gahmen.

But of course, we don’t have any political talk shows which are as funny as The Daily Show cos we can’t make fun of our politics. Also, with one gahmen, we can’t do anything when ERP gantries start going up right at our doorstep.

I still don’t understand why they put an ERP gantry at Eunos PIE. What’s more its $2 from 0700-0730 but $1 from 0730 onwards. Why do they charge more at the less jam packed time? If you want money from those who come out early also and those who send their kids to school, just ask lor.

I actually should join the gahmen. I have a brilliant idea to generate money. Instead of ERP gantries, which require maintenance, policing against errant drivers, and cheapskate Mercedes drivers who wait at the road shoulders to wait for the ERP charge to stop for the day, in turn causing accidents along the way, we should increase the petrol tax.

Make it like 300% instead of the current 40%. Make one litre of petrol cost $6. Then that’s perpetual ERP whether you go for a joyride in your car park, or in town. And if you decide to go to work during the peak period, the jams will guzzle your fuel ($6/litre) like free. To generate a double whammy, decrease the COE and road tax on higher CC cars, and increase it on lower CC and fuel efficient cars.

BOOM. $6 Billion dollars added to our treasury. LOL. Oh, and have a rebate for companies so that they would not be crippled by the fuel prices, ensuring our economy’s survival.

Oh, and package the whole idea to make it seem that the taxes are so high to prevent misuse of fossil fuels and to help our ailing environment. Much like ERP is “to manage the jams during the peak periods.” Yeah, right.

Oh and back to the Obama thing. I liked him, and I thought he was a much better candidate than McCain in terms of his oratorical skills and overall campaign ‘suave-ness’. But I didn’t think he would win. For the reason of his skin colour.

I would’ve thought the ‘Bradley effect’ where white voters voice support for a minority only to reverse their decision in the privacy of the polling booth would make him lose.

I was utterly shocked. I even watched his acceptance speech with awe the moment I got home that day. All I know is that the US voted well, and wisely. But if he cocks up, hoho. I don’t think there would be any black president in the near or long-term future for many years to come. I hope he can deliver change. He looks so promising.

Yes we can!

Anyways, I talk cock a lot already. And yes, I still have no idea why my immune system is so weak to viral attacks. I have not needed antibiotics for 2 years. Namely cos I don’t get bacterial infections anymore. But I’ve been getting viral infections. Viral meningitis last year and HFMD last week, both viral diseases. Shit man. And the next greatest pandemic is potentially a viral one, not bacterial. Better work hard, get rich and buy a bunker worth of Tamiflu. Lol.