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16th August 2007 Thursday, 22:36 GMT+8:00, 18249, Post 3

In response to anonymous:

I've just turned a new projectile for my coilgun this afternoon and did some new tests! As for the railgun in response to anonymous: hey, i love your science projects. I have a suggestion, why not start on creating a railgun and compare the efficiency of it with the coil gun u did....

What does that look like? :) Yes I've been working on it for quite a while already, just that I haven't been posting anything - this I will have to get around doing. The coilgun's efficiency is also much higher now. I'm getting a nice 30g projectile flying through 5 empty cans, though I am currently lacking equipment for velocity measurements.

Next:

Yes can you believe it? Just went for another cycling ride! Yes on 8th August 2007. Oh just to clarify the above pictures: the one on the left was the one I just did, and the one on the right is my most powerful 212km ride! What a world of difference. I have no idea how I managed to do the 212km one.

. . .

So we begin. After National Day Celebrations, I met a rather high Timothy sauntering around the Council room. We both serendipitously exclaimed 'Tuas!' and decided to go there. Tim had CIP till 6 that day, but we organized ourselves instead. Woo Han, Tim and Shanghui met in RJ at 8:30 (I left my house just then but I had to pump my tires (to 70psi), before proceeding down 15km to the Cheese Prata House to meet myself and Zhu Feng who arrived soon. Then I led to way down West Coast Highway (where we stopped at Pandan Reservoir to look) before we turned left and proceeded towards Pioneer road and we were finally well on our way to Tuas!

Tim Chow was much ahead of some of us for a period of time (he's become quite fast), so Woo han decided to try to catch him in 15 seconds. He did manage to in 13.7, but got tired after that. We decided to give the unfriendly SPC station a miss, and went to shell (IIRC) further down instead.

Interesting... Cue Blocks? They're air-fresheners! Bought drinks to hydrate ourselves (Woo Han and I shared a coke and an isotonic drink to replenish energy and salts respectively) and we came across this offer of buying two chocolate bars for $2.10 - choice of various bars like Picnic, Boost, Time-Out and others. I got the insanely powerful Boost, and Picnic. There you see almost 600g of chocolate with Zhu Feng showing Thumbs Up for approval!

A picture from an entry from April 9th. Same bike at the same place but taken using a different camera (there you see a handphone camera, at least mine, can't compare with a proper camera), and notice the different tires. Yup we finally arrived at Tuas Power Station, and it stills feels good to be there again. I unwrapped my Picnic and started eating, which wasn't too bad at all. Then 12 o' clock came and we stood up and started singing the National Anthem.. well the first line, before bursting out in laughter! Messaged a few people like Mr. Raufie, and uncovered some scandals of Shang Hui and Woo Han, then we decided to head off.

But of course we passed by the dark, desolate and rather ominous alley that led to Tuas Jetty, but we turned right into it all the way down to the gate. Tim said that his father said that they sent military equipment through that jetty, that's why there were so many scary signs:

Unfortunately, it wasn't even a quarter as horrific as the last time we went when there was thunder and lightning. This time, the air was warm, moist and completely unromantic. So we were, standing at the end of the dark alley, looking down the path we had just taken and trying hard not to think about a row of rabid dogs loping down and cornering us. On our left was a high wall, presumably the side of a factory or building, and on our right was a old rusty fence, so really, there wasn't anywhere to hide.

Then we saw something - Woo Han and I. We looked at each other, then back again at the thing we just saw. Behind the fence on our right was a massive structure -an Egyptian looking fortification, something most people would associate with the words foreboding and doom. But to us, it meant something more like adventure and fun, plus we liked to climb stuff. We gave each other a grin and proceeded to press our faces against the fence, trying to figure if it was indeed possible to get to that massif without getting electrocuted or basted by mines. There was, afterall a No Trespassing sign with a big red slash across a man stuck on the fence. All throughout, Tim gave an disapproving look while Shanghui just stoned.

I tried to take a picture, but it was so dark, and without proper photographic equipment, I couldn't take much more than a patch of noise: here's how the fortress of rubble looked like after much post processing on photoshop. We decided to take the risk, and announced to the others "Only Five Minutes", before quietly climbing over the fence. It was much rusted but not much of a problem for either of us.

With adrenaline pumping, we surveyed the roughly 50 over metres to the structure, and carefully made our way across. It was relatively smooth (not much tall grass) except for some rebar poking out of the ground like arrows on a battlefield. We soon made it to the base of the huge thing - sure enough, it was a huge pile of rubble and detritus, probably some sort of storage for some construction. The pile was heaped into a huge pyramid with steep sides. There was another small (but still massive) pyramid beside it, and they were connected by a huge ridge of rubble. Well what could be more dangerous than little stones? We started to climb the large pyramid but realised that it would be a futile attempt. The rubble was so loose that we were unable to get much footing without dislodging about a ton of stones downhill (and making a lot of noise).

Just twenty metres down towards the ridge, we found a less inclined path up. Seeing that we had but three minutes remaining, we hobbled here and climbed it successfully.

Feelings and images of Mt. Kinabalu swamped my mind, especially when I got to the top. Mind you this wasn't a small pile of rubble. It was easily over ten metres tall, perhaps twenty or more, and we could very clearly see quite a distance around Tuas from our vantage point. We weren't at the peak of the pile though, but kept low and took a few pictures.

Aside from the fact that it was much smaller than a mountain, the immediate landscape was almost alien - nothing but rock. The wind was constant and almost chilly up there. Tim and the others were hidden quite well in the blanket of the shadows, so we couldn't see them at all. Woo Han called them when I took a few photos. Sure I didn't manage to focus my handphone camera properly, but I did manage to get a tiny panorama.

After lingering there for half a minute, we scrambled down the scree-slope (much like what you had to do if you climbed Aconcagua) and skipped back to safety over the fence. It was cool! Even though we thought it was quite bright (with the lights from nearby factories), Tim said he couldn't see us at all climbing the thing. It was like a dream.

Satisfied with our little adventure, we blasted down Tuas and went 30km/hr for a good 7 - 10km with Tim leading the way followed by myself and Woo Han! Some hard riding. We didn't stop all the way until we got to Jalan Bahar Shell, where we stopped for yet another long break. Ate my Boost chocolate bar and regretted it because I was extremely bloated afterwards. :o We lingered for quite a while before heading up Lim Chu Kang with Tim heading and us doing 32km/h all the way down. Stopped to rest at the top of a particularly large hill, before zooming down. I made a skid on some rubble when doing a sharp turn, and ended up getting myself a horrid leg cramp on my right calf.

Fortunately, it was downhill most of the way down NeoTiew and that gave me time to stretch on my bicycle. Was almost ok by the time we got to the dam at Kranji and stopped for yet another break to sing Tong Hua! Meanwhile, Shanghui just stoned because he was so sleepy.

After that, our pace was slightly slower as we made our way up Mandai (terrible hills!) and down Upper Thomson (which I like because of the long downhill stretches), and I made it to Prata House first at just before 5am. We sat down to order prata, but still feeling bloated because of the chocolate, I only ordered one Onion prata, unlike others who ordered something like one plain, one egg and one onion.

Following which we headed for school at about 5:50am and washed up and took a break. Zhu Feng played the promenade of Pictures at an Exhibition, much to my joy (because I was looking for the title of that piece). Shanghui and Woo Han left (different direction), Tim went home, and I faced the 13+km back with Zhu Feng. We parted at Holland, but all throughout, the wind started to get eerily cold. Very cold.

I waterproofed my pouch with a plastic bag. It works really well, you know :)

And just as I had expected, I met up with lightning at Buona Vista - I raced home at full gear but didn't manage to escape the rain. It was freezing and sharp, like little shards of ice impaling you as you cycled back home. The rain came very suddenly also - got home completely drenched.

Another 100.09km! 53.7km/hr as max and 309.3km on my odometer, making my distance this year 474.5km. So I showered and went to sleep... but it was almost 7am already!

16th August 2007 Thursday, 22:36 GMT+8:00, 18249, Post 3

23rd July 2007 Monday, 21:15 GMT+8:00, 18011, Post 2

Another cycling adventure! It has been a long time since we cycled together as a group, so Tim organized another biking event on Saturday 21st July! I got my bike ready and left my house at about 5:30pm. Went to Mobil to pump my tires then headed towards The Cheese Prata Shop at Clementi to wait for Zhu Feng (at 5:50). He arrived 5 minutes later then we made our way up Clementi, Upper Bukit Timah, then into woodlands and all the way to Sembawang (from red to green) jetty, where Asif and Tim were already.

By then I had clocked 30.79km and it was just about 7:10pm. Passed by the RI Sec 1 GEP camp campsite which brought back good memories! I'd love to explore that place again! We waited for a while for Woo Han, but he didn't really know the way, so after several calls to Tim, we decided to meet him at some bus-stop. We got there just about the same time then we headed towards a really cool part of Singapore with flat houses, ominous lights and curious street names like The Oval and Baker St. It was dark and gloomy.

Then... the highlight of the night! - We arrived at a mysterious Air Base and took photographs of the cool planes before we got chased away by the security guard. The place was quite ulu but there was a surprisingly large amount of people eating there! Everyone had growling stomachs so we decided to go to the next highlight of the night - Mad Jack Cafe!

I was almost tempted to buy the Fish n Chips again, but decided to go for a Beef Blue Mountain burger! And what a huge burger it was! Tim bought the chicken baked rice - yummy, while Woo Han and Zhu Feng decided to follow my recommendation and got the fish and chips. Zhu Feng confessed to me that those were the best chips he ever had so far! :) Went to a nearby 7-11 to get drinks with Woo han. But how was my blue mountain burger? Very good if you ask me (Tim Chow agrees!) but I'd try the Chicken next time because the beef was a bit crumbly and might get a bit boring if you're not really hungry!

Unfortunately, just when we were about to leave, I realised that my Awesome lovely pair of black gloves were gone. :( Sure they were cheap but I climbed Mt. Kinabalu with them, and they had been with me for many rides. I felt disappointed, but decided to go back to the shops to see if they still stock the same ones. Feeling slightly sad, I made my way home with Zhu Feng until Holland Village where we split.

It wasn't a long ride... only 71.17km with a max speed of 54.5km/h and total of 183.2k on my odometer. That's a pathetic 348.4km total this year! Got home at about 11:30 and went to sleep shortly after.

By the way, before my bike ride I had completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, followed by half of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I subsequently finished both books on Sunday!

23rd July 2007 Monday, 21:15 GMT+8:00, 18011, Post 2

22nd July 2007 Sunday, 15:18 GMT+8:00, 17960, Post 1

After not having written anything for so long it's still cool to see that so many people are visiting my blog (but of course with diminished numbers). Nonetheless, I've decided to revive my blog so everything will be back up here again! To make sure that this is different from my previous blog, entries here are entitled post 1, post 2 etc... instead of the previous entry 1, entry 2 etc... Enjoy the new layout and comments please! :)

22nd July 2007 Sunday, 15:18 GMT+8:00, 17960, Post 1