All the Bruises and Blood in Training Paying Off?

After setting up the wooden pallets I had gotten from the Seremban Bike Trial event, I have been practicing and trying very hard to ride the mock sections I had constructed. What I realised was that track-stand and balancing are the ultimate basic skills to master before attempting this.


I managed to ride across this extremely short section.


Another attempt across the same section.


A different setup, where I try to combine pedal-kick hop and balancing.


Same as the above section, but reversed. This first attempt failed.


Same as the above section. This attempt (4th) barely a success... LOL.


Joel hopping through the section... LOL.

It is good to be back on BikeTrial again!

Last Saturday (21st June) , Syarul and I went down to Singapore to watch the Singapore National BikeTrial Round 2 Competition. It was held in Pasir Ris City Park on the eastern side of the island. Both of us were invited to participate in the competition by Walton, the President of BikeTrial Asia Union/BikeTrial Singapore Union.

I was totally not prepared and was in no condition to join. Syarul joined and he did quite well... :-) I will post more about our adventures in Singapore in my next post.

Also, I took a lot of photos and videos. Unfortunately, they are all with Syarul as it was his camera and camcorder... LOL. I hope to get it from him soon.

Anyways, two days ago, I finally could go back to my biketrial training. My arm felt much better and almost back to normal. So I decided to make use the the three wooden pallets, which I acquired from the BikeTrial Event in Seremban earlier this month, to set them up to train my balancing and try riding a biketrial section. Check out the photos below.


Three wooden pallets stacked up in my driveway.


Side view of the wooden pallets. Stacked up, they are just slightly more than 1 feet high.


A mock section I set up to train.


Another view of the biketrial section.

I tell you... it is hard as hell to ride without any dabs. The limited amount of space does not help at all. This section I created is very short. At my current skill level, I am struggling with it, balancing being the most challenging skill to master.

I believe that if and when I can go through this section comfortably and flawlessly, I am ready to call myself a biketrial rider... if not... then I think the damn wooden pallets are going to stay in front of my house for a very long time... LOL...


Here is a gruesome reminder to wear proper gears when training. Somehow I just never learn! Baka!

Giant Mountain Bike with Handlebar and Seat that have Built-in Absorbers

Last Saturday, I was sitting in a coffee shop in Sri Petaling together with my daughter sheltering from the rain (while waiting for my sons to finish their mental Arimetic classes for the day). I was going to twitter about being caught in the rain when I noticed a Giant mountain bike parked outside the coffee shop as I took a photo of my daughter.

The geometry of the bike was interesting to me as I was considering getting a cross-country mountain bike, which I hoped to be able to configure as an urban trial bike.


The Giant mountain bike in the photo behind by daughter.

When I checked out the bike, I noticed the strange looking handlebar stem and seat post. The first thing that came to mind was that, "Hey, cool!. The handlebar stem and seat post were quickly adjustable by the rider to suit riding uphill or downhill (e.g. stem higher and lower seat for downhill and vice versa)."

Later that night while on the drive down to Singapore together with Syarul to watch the BikeTrial competition, I showed the photos I took of the Giant bike. He told me that those modifications were not meant to adjust the stem nor the seat, but were the actual suspension system of the whole bike... and that this was old technology... LOL.

When I got over laughing at myself, I was actually quite impressed with this new found discovery... LOL. It never crossed my mind that the handlebar and seat post could play a big part in a bike's suspension system design. Now that I have this "revealed" to me, I must say that it made perfect sense... doesn't it? LOL... It is not even thinking ouside-the-box... Hahaha...


The Giant mountain bike without any front or rear suspension, or so I thought.


The handlebar stem with a built-in suspension.


The seat post with a built-in suspension.

After getting back from Singapore, I went and did some research on the net. I found out that there were many patents related to this kind of suspension system for bicycles... :-)

• Bicycle handlebar shock absorber (1991)
• Suspension for bicycle seat and handlebar support (2004)
• Spring-Post for bicycle seats or handle-bars (1901)
• Saddle-support for bicycles (1897)
• And many more.