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5 Random Things I Did This Weekend

While it was a bit cooler this weekend in this little section of Australia I’m in, it’s still a heck of a lot warmer than the rest of Europe – so I consider that a win! Here’s what I was up to!

1) Signed up for the Fremantle Triathlon next weekend

Since we’ve got one more weekend here in Australia, I’ve signed up for the Fremantle Triathlon which is held next weekend in…Fremantle. There are other tris next weekend, one of which is probably a cooler course, but it’s also a multi-hour drive. Whereas the Fremantle tri is like a 5 minute pedal from where we’re staying.

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It’s a sprint triathlon, albeit one of those ones where somehow the run is 4.5KM instead of 5KM, and the bike has six loops. I’ll likely be skipping a wetsuit, namely since I didn’t bring a wetsuit with me (it’s only 400m, and the water really isn’t that cold anyway).

Still, it’ll be fun, and I’m looking forward to it. I tend to do reasonably well in sprint tris.  And what’s to lose – it’s only a few minutes away?

Plus, this segues nicely into triathlons for the rest of the year back in Europe once we arrive home. Sorta like an early season warm-up of sorts.  Now I just gotta figure out what those races will be!

2) Noodles and more noodles

I think I’m most excited about heading to Singapore next week for the week…because of all the noodles. Sure, there’s that Michelin Star restaurant where you can get a meal for $2, and certainly we’ll go there (though, I expect to be a bit disappointed merely because expectations are so high).  But there’s just so many street food stalls and similar spots with excellent Asian food that we can’t wait to eat.  I’m not sure we have enough meals during the week to eat at as many as we’d like, but we’re going to give it a run for its money.

Until then though, we’ve been making frequent visits to the Fremantle market when it’s open on the weekends, mostly for the ramen shop and the Korean place – both are excellent.

2018-03-18 16.15.42 HDR

I think we had ramen twice this weekend, including one instance where I drove down just before they closed and after the kids went to bed to pick up ramen to go.  And then again on Sunday afternoon with the kids (The Peanut loved it!).

2018-03-16 19.48.59

One of our favorite restaurants back in Paris is a ramen spot oddly enough.  So if folks have suggestions for ramen spots in Singapore – we’re all ears. Or any spots for that matter. The more noodles the better.

3) Sunday Beach Ride

Sunday mid-day when the kiddos went down for a nap I escaped out for a couple hour ride.  Nothing fancy or too long, but just enough to enjoy riding up the coastline for a bit:

2018-03-18 13.41.35

I generally like this route, though there was some sort of arts festival in one of the towns along the way, which meant an immense amount of pedestrian traffic on the road I was cycling on.  And while I’ve actually found Australian drivers fairly courteous to cyclists on the whole, I’ve found Australian pedestrians completely oblivious to them.  Seriously, almost all of my near-craps here have been with random pedestrians darting out to cross the roadway where no such crosswalk exists, and where I was usually at a pretty good clip.  Like your crazy-ass magpie birds or what-not.

Thankfully, no pie laden birds have attacked me yet. No worries though, I’ll deal with a few crazy birds if I can keep riding along places like this:

2018-03-18 13.08.27

And this:

2018-03-18 13.40.20

Why do I have to leave again?

Oh – and from a tech standpoint, running the Shimano power meter versus a Vector 3 and PowerTap G3. Plus I’ve got both the new Cycliq Fly6 CE and Fly12 CE recording too (and paired up to the Edge 1030).

4) A few quick shots at the beach

It’s funny how much time getting a single shot (either photo or video) can take.  Not in terms of the actual taking of the shot, but getting to the locale/etc…

I needed a quick snippet of b-roll for a GoPro accessories video I just published (I wrote a post with a bit more detail you’ll see in a day or so), and somehow didn’t have it in my arsenal (or rather, couldn’t find it easily).  So we took a detour from an afternoon in Fremantle to head briefly to the beach:

2018-03-18 17.13.51 HDR

But don’t worry, I didn’t go to the beach entirely for just a single 3-second shot of b-roll.  Turns out there was ice cream there too.  So The Peanut and I got some:

2018-03-18 17.37.01

See…two birds with one stone. Work and ice cream. Quite the pairing.

5) Sunday night trainer tests

When I look at my total time expenditure on things for the site, a lot of it goes to answering comments and e-mails.  But a surprising amount goes to items like this tidbit, which is a quick validation test for a manufacturer on something that isn’t working right. Sometimes it’s for a production product, and sometimes for a pre-prod product.  But usually, it’s some element of troubleshooting or trying to figure out what’s wrong.

And thus I found myself inside of TrainerRoad troubleshooting a specific trainer that wasn’t working properly in Zwift or TrainerRoad via Bluetooth Smart.  So I was using ANT+ FE-C on TR instead to validate some responsiveness and connectivity failure challenges I was having.

Screenshot 2018-03-18 20.53.29

My first test succeeded via ANT+, and the trainer didn’t drop the connection.  But then dinner happened so I waited till the next morning to test responsiveness. The result:

Screenshot 2018-03-19 11.27.54

Of course, all-in this is likely the 3rd or 4th time I’ve been trying to address various issues on this specific trainer.  Hopefully though things will get sorted out.

With that – thanks for reading!

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30 Comments

  1. Mike 9

    Looking at your Sunday Beach Ride photo, I noticed that you have no tool bag, am I the only one who sweats getting stranded a long way from home with a flat? Are you tubeless?

    • No, I had swapped it to the Specialized loaner bike…then forgot to move it back again. I realized it about half-way out on the ride. Doh.

    • The Real Bob

      I highly recommend going tubeless. Haven’t had a flat since. I still carry a pack tough. Also, finish line came out with a new tubeless sealant that never goes bad. I think that is a “game changer” for tubeless.

      I don’t have a single negative with tubeless except refreshing the sealant every couple of months. Better ride and no flats. Some tires can be a pain to seat the first install.

    • Don

      A tubeless sealant that never dries out, might be less likely to seal though too. Just something to think about.

      I was going on a big ride through some unpopulated areas about two weeks ago and figured I should check my tool bag, and realized I had been riding without a spare tube for about six months when I had fixed a flat on my wife’s bike. I’m lucky I run tubeless I guess. I did a slight detour on the beginning of my route to stop by a shop and pick up a tube though. I didn’t want to push my luck.

  2. Fraser

    Hi Ray!

    Just a little something that might be interesting for you. A user (no, not me) in the online-forum of the german cycling magazine “tour” just build his own powermeter, for about 50€. AND IT WORKS! The case needs a bit of work (waterproofing), but overall, it looks great. Check it out.

    link to forum.tour-magazin.de

    Oh, and I love your weekend-posts. Thanks for that and all the other greatness!

    • Interesting, and certainly cool geekery!

      I think though that being 10% out is a bit much. It’s part of the challenge. Barry from Brim Brothers (who were very close at cleat based power meters), often noted over the years that getting 95% of the way there was the easy part, but the last 5% was the hardest. Many other companies have echoed that statement with power meters.

      That design roughly reminds me of where Keith Wakeham was with his DIY unit he created, and then how much more work was required to make it a ‘product’ when he went to 4iiii. Which isn’t a knock on Keith, I’m pretty sure we chatted about it here and there. It’s just that taking something from a one-off (even a perfect one-off) to mass production is incredibly difficult.

      Still – always cool to see!

  3. Ken

    Ray,
    Do you know when you’ll be releasing your in depth review of the Shimano Dura-Ace Power Meter?
    I’ve been utilizing it on my bike since January and haven’t noticed anything crazy with it. I did perform the firmware update when I first got it. Is yours having the slight difference of Left vs Right?

    Thanks again,

    Ken

  4. Jérôme

    Planning for a ride in Singapore? You can join a group ride with Joyriders, largest amateur cycling group in Singapore. PM if interested
    As for ramen, I am quite happy with Sapporo Ramen Miharu in Millenia Walk. Pretty authentic Sapporo style. However, since you are in Singapore, you need to try the local style, laksa!

    • Definitely! I’ve basically only got Tues/Weds/Thurs morning as viable options for an early morning ride. Not sure if that’s a possibility or not. And as much as I’d love to do a full island loop, I think that might be tough to fit in schedule-wise. 🙁

    • Jérôme

      yep, possible! 5AM start every weekday here : link to goo.gl
      Too late for today, but most welcome to join Wednesday or Thursday. Wednesday should be a reasonable human pace, about 45km. on Thursday it can go faster (but there are different pelotons), and the route is slightly longer (60km – half a round island!).
      more details here : http://joyriders.sg
      Let me know if you’re joining, I’ll make a special effort to wake up (ugh!)

    • Cool! I don’t get in till Monday, so I’ll do some conferencing with The Girl and figure out which day is most fitting to the rest of the schedule. Though I assume with a painfully early 5AM departure most rides are back by 7-8AM?

  5. Steve Lovell

    Checkout the Kalamunda UCI Grandfondo loop if you looking for some good riding roads.

    I’m sure you have found Little creatures already, ride up to Hillarys or Yelo cafe.

    • Yup, nice place up there. I did some mountain biking there a few weeks ago, and then rode that closed off road portion of the UCI route last week – awesome section of road!

  6. Marcin

    what are your TRI starting plans for 2018?
    I follow this blog for a year and only found very old posts about your tri competitions

    • TBD on exact races. I’ve got the sprint next weekend, and then will try and find some sprint/Oly races in either late April, or from May onwards. Hoping to do one a month this year.

      I believe I did two last year, not as much as I’d have liked, but it was a messier year travel-wise with some of the big sports tech events landing on the exact same weekends as the major Paris races. 🙁

      I’ll probably firm up a schedule in the next few weeks, but everything local in Europe I suspect.

    • How is the Tri scene in France? I’ll be doing the Vichy 70.3 this summer and never raced in France. How are the B roads? I have read that the cycling course is not that good…

  7. Claus Jacobsen

    Check up Mark Wiens on Youtube for places to eat in Singapore. – He’s travelling the world eating in all kinds of places. Also some of the more obscure and lesser known places.

  8. AlexL

    Hopefully that’s not the jetblack whisper drive trainer you have been testing and commenting on twitter about the other day with different standards.

    How long until you will have a review out?

    • Unfortunately it is. My experiance mirrors Shane’s: link to youtube.com (actually, a fair bit worse, he got luckier).

      I’ve written an “interim review” (actually fully typed up and shot already), that I’ll publish next Tuesday when I’m eating noddles in Singapore (so I can pretend to not work).

      I’ve never done an interim review before, but it seemed appropriate. Which basically means the unit isn’t ready yet, but to watch this space in a few months when I’ll give it another whirl. I think they’re doing some innovate things, but it’s just not baked yet.

  9. Casey

    If you are looking for tasty noodles, my personal recommendation would be:

    I Want My Noodle, located at 1 Scotts Rd, 03-14/15, Singapore 228208.

    You can google about it.

  10. Fan

    Re: Ramen
    My favourite spot for ramen in Perth is Nao in the CBD. Miso soup base with pork spare ribs is my goto. I’m salivating just thinking about it.
    Another pretty decent joint in Osborne Park is Hakata Gensuke. It’s a chain specialising in tonkotsu ramen (pork bone broth).

  11. Craig

    Good luck with the Tri. Great you gave got to spend some time here in Perth. Has been a great summer, no 40 degree days this summer, quite unusual.

    Noodle suggestion for Singapore:
    ‘the noodle man’ smith st singapore in the heart of Chinatown. You can watch freshly made noodles being prepared whilst you wait to enjoy them. We used to haunt this place when we lived there. Kid friendly too

    Let me know if you want any cycling group suggestions. I have a mate there who cycles regularly with a group

  12. Lukman Nurhakim

    LOL! Ray will be spoilt for choice in Singapore. Too many nice food outlets in here till you dont know which to recommend!

    Morning weekday 5am ride community here is strong! Ride usually ends hy 6 30am.

  13. Adrian

    If you haven’t made it there yet – the Zion Riverside Food Markets are well worth the trip while you’re still in Singapore!