Perhaps, it was too early to give praise for Runkeeper.  Again today, Runkeeper fail to function as what it was suppose to. The Route mapping seams to be like a snapshot of a few checkpoints link together by a 3 year old kid. As a result, the distance was wrong, and my average speed or pace was also wrong. The thing is that when I use runkeeper the previous few times, the iphone was in my pants pocket, this time it was in my jeans pocket, I was wondering if GPS connection could be the reason. My tight jeans pocket might have prohibited good signal reception.

It was painful today, pushing every cycle to get the speed and time, and I have not got used to the pain as yet. at certain area, I wish it was over as quickly as possible and since I could not take my mind off the pain, it did not go away. The weather was not much help, the sun was blazing hot today, to the extent burning the skin and blinding the eye. It was not an enjoyable ride. Maybe I push quite hard today, till now, hours later, I still feel the soreness on the bottom half of my body. The saying, No Pain No Gain seams to be the only comforting words.

At about lunch time the sky starts to pour.  It didn’t stop till at about 7.  I could not cycle home and so I did the alternative.  Which is to grab my umbrella and started to walk.  Step by step, 35 minutes later, I hit 3km and met my wife who have been waiting patiently.  The traffic jam in FIZ today was as horrible as yesterday and the day before.  All this thanks to JKR who are currently renovating a short stretch of road which is a major artery to FIZ.  For days, everyone have been bitching about the jam, and people are starting to accept it and make changes.  Yesterday, 9am the office was empty, everyone was stuck at the Bayan Lepas round rbout Jam.  Today, 9am, the office was almost full, everyone came earlier, taking into considerations on the Jam time.  Evening today, at 545pm, majority was already out the office.  The amount of people still in the office is like 6.45pm on a regular day.  Suddenly everyone becomes efficient and left early. 

I couldn’t sit and wait for my wife to come pick me up, so I told her, why not we meet half way. I started to walk at 6pm, the rain is now slowing down and it does not bother me at all. I was surprise to find a good pathway along the factories fences (below) and it was safe and comfortable and away from water puddles and speeding motorist.  Yes, even the cars are at a standstill, the motorist can still speed on. I keep telling my colleagues, asking them to take their bike to work, this way, they can avoid the jam and the Jam can avoid them, their cars will not be missed. 

Touring on my Fixie with Runkeeper keeps me abreast on the speed that I am on and the distance that I have travelled.  On top of that, I get to map where I’ve been and shares it on Facebook.  Best of all, Runkeeper is free.  I check out some of the other Cycling Apps on IOS and found the best one is free.  Runkeeper provide my basic need, showing the elevation, speed and also my calories burnt.  Its just a fun way to map where I’ve been. 

I check out a new route today and found an alternative road to take when the Bayan Lepas town traffic light is Jam.  This route cut from Caltex all the way to the Airport, right at Brothers Barber intersection.  Its not a good bike route because of the many bumps that mark the road along the way.  I did not even bother to count, just too many. 

I did 7.3km today with a 19m climb, not much of a climb, but since I just started, it was quite taxing for my legs. I was quite beat after the climb.  Tomorrow’s route will be without elevation, so it is going to be about speed, what would be my top speed and what’s the average…

After I bought my Fixie a couple of days back, I could not get off my mind cycling to work. I’ve got the urge to hop on the bike and ride all the time. When I got the chance yesterday evening, I went exploring the neighbouring kampung. Today, I went looking for an alternative route to work. Halfway on the route I was quite tired. The fear of not having enough energy to get back kicks in and I made a u turn. At this point the muscle pain on the leg sets in and I am not sure if I will be able to walk tomorrow.

On the bike yesterday and today brings out the joy of cycling. Fixie or fixed bike is very different from my previous bikes. It keep reminding me that I am not on a normal bike, especially coming to corners where I have to slow down. I have to use my led muscle to slow down and it’s something I have got used to. I still haven’t learnt to skid, maybe because of my front brake which I keep putting skiding off.

Riding on my Fixie to work is like living a lifestyle dream. I have yet to make it as a sustainable lifestyle, but I am getting there. I’ve got the hardware and the will, what’s left is just living through it…

I was smitten by Fixies of late and finally bought one today.  It was slightly over the budget but it was a great deal and I would be a dupe not to get it.  Cycling on a fixed gear bike certainly needs some getting used to.  The bike is a Chromoly Frame with Lasco Crank, Aero Sport Front Rim and XDS triple Wall Rim on the Rear, with Kenda Tyre and Tektro brakes and weight somewhere between 11-13kg.  This will be my transport to work with the goal of reducing at least 20kg in the course of 3 months.  In September, there will be a round island cycling event organized by the G Club of Penang, the 3rd year Campaign for a Lane event in Penang. The route will cover 81km in distance with a window time of 5hrs to complete.  I was particularly interested on the completion medal, which is a Pewter in a shape of a bicycle crank.

Fixies are now an in trend in Malaysia, with groups from North to South of Malaysia.  The southern parts like Melaka and Johor, there are a few online shops that sell Fixies over the web, either through mudah.my or bicyclebuysell.com or Facebook.  They charge ~RM40 for courier and the bikes can go as low as RM380 for GoMax Fixie, and best of all, they look great.  On the northern part, cycling shops do not carry many models, and mostly carry XDS models, which are much more expensive.  To learn more about Fixies Malaysia, simply goggle it.