e REAL Giro UPDATE! 1/3 Plan de Corones

G'day g'day!

Perfect way to start the day!

Rain, thunder, lightning... hmmm... see how I listed the slowest to the fastest?
e Giro 2010 was simply the most breath-taking race I've ever had the chance to follow with Eurosport's amazing daily coverage, and when I finally watched the final week in person, I have to be very honest, I somehow think it'd be hard for le Tour de France to trumph it in romance and beauty. Kinda appeals to people who like to 'wing' things, but in an organized fashion... =) I like...

Yup! Left hand drive baby! We rented a car from Venice airport, picked up our Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6Turbo Diesel Ingine (thats what TDI stands for right?), and with that mouthful of a model on a tag to the car key only 4cm wide and 4cm tall, you can imagine. very small words....

So! Looking cool driving as you can see on your left, you may wonder why i'm in a SACA Polo-T in Italy, am I nuts? trying to show off? =) Combining work with pleasure as it was, I had met Mr. Pierce Barker of PRO BMX Gate at Changi Airport 2 hours before our own flight to Venice, hence the official top... see... everyone can have their cake and eat it too...

You know, its great driving in Italy. Especially Northern Italy. The highways are nice and big, well marked... Crazy BUT Good drivers (oxymoron?), I do 160km/h, they do 200+... in a tiny fiat, or Audi Q7... =)

We were heading to Marrebe, a tiny town at the foot of Plan de Corones or KRONPLATZ (you've got to shout this as you say this to pronounce it properly) as the Germans call the mountain. Uphill ITT, here we come! My excellent vehicle commander next to me, our trusty Google Maps printed out on high tech 70GSM A4 paper, and thats when the signs started getting dodgy... the highway ends and you're in a tiny town, the last sign pointed thhhhhaaaatt way, and the next sign points to somewhere 50km away from where you want to go... but hey! the view was getting good...



And finally, after 4hrs of driving, we had finally arrived... Colnago Inox car flew past, Cofidis car flew past, good signs! Giro d'Italia arrows, definately great signs! We were booked in a small, out of the way B&B in the ski-resort town, and the very nice owner spoke no English. So! With some quacking and universal sign signals, we finally got ourselves settled into our double storey apartment that just made you feel like home...



Race day! 25th May Tuesday, 2010. Juls and I woke up early, we didn't know we were gonna be up and about till 6pm... hahaha, oh well... we did have fun being stalkers of pros, met some new old friends from Italy and had an amazing time watching the pros suffer like... well, don't know really, like pro cyclists... dogs just don't quite suffer the way they do... =)

Warm-up areas in the town itself, 500m from our little B&B doorstep... World Jambion's bike, Andre Griepel looking too cool for skool in his Oakley Jupiters and the new Colnago C-59, very nice...

Add to that the Giro Festivities!

The start line was cool, Italian blaring over the loudhailers, THRONGS of people, and wait... wasn't it a TUESDAY!!!??? In the middle of nowhere in the mountains??? That's the beauty of the Giro, everyone wants a piece of it, whether or not they actually cycle themselves! The Italians take it to be national pride and like the slogan for the 2010 Giro 'FIGHT FOR PINK!' kinda reminded me of the Breast Cancer Cause, remember that mammogram ladies! and no, i'm not embarressed...


Trudged over to the Lampre Team Bus and saw Marco Marzano!
Smiles and Ciao's from our little friendship whilst he was in Singapore
for the '10 OCBC Cycle Singapore Pro Crit, it was nice catching up with a shy, but consumate professional.

Tiny Chain Ring set-up! 39-34 FRONT!
You know its gonna hurt when the Pros whack on compacts and 12-27 or 12-29 cassettes...



The Lampre mechanics were making sure the bikes were spot on 6.800 kg for the uphill tt for Gibo and il Principe too, nice! The weighing scales were accurate lucky them at the official weigh-in...


Hmmm... dodgy TIME pedals though...


Swoooooosh! We waited till Marco left the start ramp and zoooomed
past us before we started our trudge further up the mountain.

According to the walking commander, we were to take the cable car
system, and we had 2 other 'planes' to catch the action, one just past the middle mark where the gradients were 18-24% and then at the very top of the mountain itself. SO OFF WE WENT!

Gibo flying up the section where we were, his final hurrah, on that special PINK Wilier



And for my friends wondering how Italians keep their drinks
ICY COLD on a hot summer day....

On we trudged into the cable cars TO THE TOP!



And because we love to see ze Pofessionaaals suffer...
and my favourite STYLE man: Pippo



Well! I think I've exhausted myself talking too much about ze Giro, I went a little bonkers on the way back down... Really... I don't know why I'm even posting this when this should be deleted... but oh well... I've gotta make some people laugh right? especially when they're so far away from Singapore and Home...

Ciao!~ Hope you are happier now with my longer post? =) Love to the boys in East Java, the boys in Bordeaux and Dinah and the boys in Dunkerque!

Giro d'Italia- almost...

Ok! To all those who have been *hinging and *hining about me not updating the blog, here's Part 1 of 3 of the topics I'm supposed to update on!

Well... its really i'm still a lazy fat arse and still have not got round to photographing the REAL new and improved PASSI:ONE:

Anyhoos!

I'm too tired and i'm gonna sleep first... =)
Update tom...

Andiamo domani like an old friend used to say... He got it wrong though! =) But to me, it still says: 'See ya Tomorrow'
Kinda sad when I remember his voice, but I still believe one day we'll laugh with each other again... someday...

ciao!~ buona notte

Control

People think they have it under control...

They want to feel it,

They are worried about it when they have it,

They freak out when they don't have it...

I say...

Let go...

Don't know why I'm ranting this today, but somehow Weight Weenies taking away the 2010 Pro Thread on their Forum really pissed me off! Now where am I gonna spend meaningless internet hours??? Where do I see the bits that other bicycle nuts pointed out which I missed (D*MMIT!), where do I???

mmm... must be PMSing, its been a stressful past couple weeks since I last posted, sprinkled with some life changing and life defining moments.

i'll blog more on everything soon! I promise! Just gotta get them darn pictures off the camera.

Now where's that camera...

Man... Its been a Loooooong time....

G'day Y'all!

I've been chugging the food, been stressing over a million things and nothing at the same time, and really, life recently has been a huge whirlwind...

So! That also means, I've flown some BIG aeroplanes on my lil' bro JW who's asked me a couple times to get my THEN fattening ass on the road and go ride...

I've also not woken up to countless alarm clocks and gone with the 'gimmme fiiiiveeee more minnuuuutes' and of course, NOBODY wakes up from those eternal five minutes till its an hour too late...

And one fine day, TODAY, 8th May, 2010. I had stripped down after a HOT day and looked at the fine belly I was growing...


I had to chop this tree!!!!

Jumped into the lycra (felt like a superhero who's retired for awhile and found his uniform no longer quiiiiite fits the same), put on the socks, put on those shoes, pumped the tires (they were down to 50psi!!!!) MAN! 50psi for clinchers!!! How long have I been off the bike? Poor bikes...

and out the door after a quick kiss from the missus, OFF I WAS! To conquer Mt Faber TEN 10 DIECI times!

Well... that was till the rain came on lap 4... and I do mean all the way UP and all the way down... hahaha, had a chance to try me new Garmin 500

Really cool, speed, time, Vertical Ascent in Metres/Hour (VAM), blah blah blah, but no map...
hmmm... GPS without a map... -shrug- i don't work at Garmin...

annnnddd... with cloud cover, rain and trees along Mt Faber, not the best machine to use...

ANYHOOS! had to go up Telok Blangah Hill for the 5th climb, then rain let off, I chided myself for being such a wuss and OFF! I went to climb Mt Faber again... 6th time, 7th time, I was really really really really fat and slow, but I never stopped grinning, through the light rain, the hairy wet corners (really a wuss now in the corners mind you, so DON'T rush me!), and finally, after number ten and having taken a total of 1h40min from my door to the bottom of Mt Faber that last time, I was happy...

Sped home back up Alexandra Road, got home grinning, took off the clothes... well... the tree was still there, but at least I think i'd managed to hack off a few d*mn branches. Mind YOU! The BIGGEST BRANCHES!

Enjoy the moment, you're never gonna get a second chance to live that moment again...

With that! And having just caugh the last 30min of Stage 1 GIIIIIIIIIRO d'Italia! I must say no surprises to Wiggo crushing the field and Miller not, but man alive, Brook Brentwalter, with that much shashaying in those last 50m, he must have been a dancer... props to him for an amazing 2nd though!

I'll be doing my bestedest to update more on the shop, which I might add is doing noooot tooo bad, floors gonna be lacquered over tomorrow, and the walls are painted, air-con's in, left the shelving and fixtures!

ciao a mici~

Dan

Crits, Cobbles and a whole lot of talking...

Jumped out of bed when the ala-raam rang, peered out the window... mmm... raining... kinda creeped a smile onto my face...
plodded to the kitchen, switched on the Nespresso machine

plodded back to the room, pulled on the bibs, the jersey, hunted around for the gloves (MAN! how long has it been since i last wore gloves??? December maybe??? =) you know you mean business when you pull on the gloves...)

I was going racing! Heart started pumping, smile got bigger as I piled into the trust Passi:one: Mobile and raced towards Longhouse to meet the boys. Rain didn't get any lighter, good song on the radio (i'm one who gets INFECTED with a good catchy tune and it RINGS in my head for days after! the one right now whilst i'm typing: 'If I had Yoooouuuu, You, you you you you you, If I had yoooouuuuu....), fingers drumming the wheel, whistling to the song, racing is to me what gives me life. I love the feeling of pushing your body to its limits, both physically, mentally and when you're past the line, I'll have all the excuses in the world why I didn't win and why the winner wasn't actually better then me...

Needless to say, I had a blast at the Yew Tee Criterium, kindly organized on an annual basis the past 3 years by Patrick from Yew Tee CC, PROPS! and the OCBC boys had a decent result even if I must say they were robbed of the win... ha! They need to have a killer instinct from here on out though, nobody gifts wins...

Had a great time watching Ronde van Vlaanderen (man, you think you know how it sounds in your head, then you try pronounce it out loud.... go ahead, DO it! hahaha, I bet you looked around first to check no-one was listening... sounds like I'm trying to spit out something rude...) with Juls, and some of the boys who came over, DEVASTATED that Boonen didn't win, but hey *shrug* Cancellera was head and shoulders above the rest, especially over Boonen. Couldn't help but wonder how big an impact his 303's were:

Especially when Boonen was RIPPING his insides out to chase ze BEAR of !BERN! down, the time gap kept growing, man alive... what a ride...

Oh well! The past 2 days have been a blur of activity, an interesting dialogue session with SSC and the other NSA's of Singapore, the food was as good as i've had at a buffet catering though! Aglio Olio was al dente, Grilled Chicken had side condiments of Fresh Chopped Salsa??!, Rice was steamed with Raisins and Butter... mmmm... yummy.... Packing for the 2010 Asian Cycling Championships in Sharjah, UAE (yes DINAH SAUR! you call me alot!) and getting ready for the 2 boys leaving for France...

I don't know how much of this fantastic journey I'm destined to ride through for in my life.

I've got a fabulous life partner who has been the reason I've gotten my act together the past year,
I've got a great mentor who's considering giving up something he's saved so hard the last few years of his life to give me a second wind in my business,
I've got a great bunch of young, motivated and talented cyclists in Singapore who are counting on me at the moment to make things happen...

There are many times I don't ever wish to get out of bed because the burden of thinking so much, and fighting so many battles, daily, gets to me.

I then have an image of one of those jewels in my life right now, and I jump out of bed, brush those damn teeth (yeah, key things in life, BRUSH THOSE TEETH!), spray that can of dry goodness to me under-arms, hit back my daily dose of Indriya Espresso, and try take on the world another day.

I'm gonna keep doing what I can in what I love till I can do no more, and hopefully, maybe, my little contributions and shared time with customers, friends, team-mates, will invoke a change that will inspire greater people to do greater things which I know I am not destined to do or do not have the stomache for...

Yeah you, thats right! Whatcha waiting for? =)

Planning...

Hmmm...

Planning, thinking, contemplating, provoking, stressing... =)

Its always in the details....

YAY! Took keys for the new place yesterday
Just had to share it with the boys! Master CrAzyyyyy Mechanic and A-Soh with Hot Bods Aldrich took off in the Passi:one: Mobile to 422 Telok Blangah Road and had a ball of a time trying to plan for the new place.

Its funny how we've come so long a journey in such a short time, its our 3rd home in 3 years, and frankly speaking, I'm toasting to this being our next home for a long time to come. As research puts it and a good French friend of mine says:

'Hor hor! Yew know Danieeeel, Ze three MOST stressful things in ze life arrrrrre: 1) A Divorce, 2) A Child's Birth and 3) Moving'

No wonder i'm freaking stressing! =) Its all good though... Your chance to see how this place:




Becomes this...
...
...

Hang on! We haven't even cleaned the grime off the tiles yet! Give us a couple weeks *ahem* once our interior designer, loreal hair guy and make-up artists are done with the place, VOILA! We'll have a place where we'll keep on rocking out our own brand of cycling experiences.

On another note!
Was super fun to see other people suffer in the lab on Thursday morning instead of myself:



ooooooooohhhhh.... the Ergometer, MR. LODE, $35,000 of exquisite, stainless steel pleasure... UP THE WATTS BABY!

ciao for now, Tour of Flanders this weekend! Eurosport Channel 113: 7pm-10pm

My money's on Boonen...

New shop, New Blog!

Bongiorno Fratello!

I've been a secret serial internet surfer, vouyering all the private lives of people who pour their daily lives and ponderings for one and all to read...

Just thought it'd be a perfect way to start a New Year so to speak! Roman New Year, 1st Jan: Tick. Chinese New Year, 14th Feb: Tick. Passi:one: New Year, 1st April: Tick!

And no... its no April Fool's day joke... ha!

We're moving to our new premises at Mount Faber! Or rather... the foot of Mt. Faber... to be precise, slightly to the left of the back road leading up Mt Faber... Bah: Better to let you find it yourself: 422 Telok Blangah Road---> Bus Stop # B 14159 (interesting how that seems to be the only good landmark I can give)

SO! If you rock up to our old place @ 440 Pasir Panjang Road 15th April and beyond! You'll be left two lonesome aluminum roller shutters and not much else... Nope, not even the late opening Passi:one: guys laughing behind the shutters, and nope, nobody... Save the potty-pooping cats and rats having a ball-of-a-time...

Gonna try BLOG lots about the new place, post pictures of the new shop as it unfolds and hopefully people get the hang of dropping comments here about Passi:one:, and any of my random ramblings!

Ciao amico,
A domani!
D. Loy aka Big Bird