Its probably something particular only to France: I’ve joined the Paris 20km run (almost a half marathon) on 15th October, and to do the actual run, I will need to present a certificate from the doctor saying that I should be fit to do it.
So I took some time off this morning to visit the friendly neighbourhood doctor, and for 10mins, I got my blood pressure checked, and some readings of my heart beats through the stethoscope… and I got my certification to run! Its in the form of a letter from the doctor with your name and the statement that he has no reason to believe that you can’t compete.
Continue reading “Le Certificat Medicale…”
American Classic 420 Wheelset
After thinking about it for half a week, I’ve settled on a pair of American Classic 420 clincher wheels for my bicycle to replace the broken Mavic CXP22 that was fitted out of the factory.
The wheel I’m rooting for has the following specs:
– Aluminium clinchers (ok, not carbon, but much cheaper)
– 1450g in weight (much lighter than Mavic Ksyriums!)
– Titatium skewers
– SAPIM Laser spokes in 18/24 configuration for the front and rear
There are some reviews on the internet that this wheel is not that durable. But some of them managed to ride for years as a training wheel as well, so I’d say that the reviews are mostly mixed. Then again, even Mavics have bad reviews here and there, so I’m ready to take the plunge.
Continue reading “American Classic 420 Wheelset”
Busted spokes and superstition…
For the first time on Sunday, I went out on my bike ride with a few euros in my saddle bag. 45km out of Paris en route to Rambouillet (actually I remember passing the Rambouillet city limits, so I was technically already inside Rambouillet), I heard a twang coming off my rear wheels and had the wheel wobbling. Had to stop by the roadside and wondering whether its better to ride on and catch a train back (which would have been a bad idea in hindsight, since I only had 10Euro with me!) or ride all the way back for 45km, including 2 tough hill climbs with the rear wheel wobbling all the way and without the rear brakes functional. Continue reading “Busted spokes and superstition…”
Asics Gel GT2100 heel frayed
I was checking my main running shoe this morning (bought in april 2006) and the fabric at the heel is starting to fray, actually even torn on the right shoe. The rest of the shoe, especially cushioning, is still quite alright even with a few hundred km use, but I hope that this doesn’t mean that I have to replace it anytime soon. I don’t get blisters or anything from it. At least not yet. Amazing how flimsy things are nowadays.
You think you know how to tie your shoelaces?
Came across this website while I was searching for clues why my shoe laces come undone or loose after 8-ish kilometer of running.
Check out the Ian knot, takes some time to get used to it but now I can save 2 second off my shoe lace routine! since I tie my shoelaces at least twice a day when I do exercise, that’s a whole 4 seconds!
The rest of the site has other information on knots as well, so its not just the Ian knot.
Restaurant: Le Relais du Chateau, Beaugency, France
As we returned to Paris at the end of a day trip to the Loire Valley region, we entered Beaugency (nice small town right in between Blois and Orleans) around dinner time 7:30pm. There were the usual pizza and French steak joints, but we decided to stop in a real French restaurant to see what the region had to offer.
After strolling around the riverfront for a while, we stumbled upon this small and interesting family-runned restaurant (at least it seems like that, since the people serving you looked like they’re different generations from the same family). The service is upper-lipped, looks like a posh restaurant, but the price is rather normal for Parisien standards, roughly 25Euro/person without wine for the set menu. The cheese was nice.
Restaurant was empty at 7:30pm for sure, but like any other French restaurant with just a single turnover per table the whole night, it gets filled by about 8:30pm. Stop there if you’re in the area. But I don’t think its worth your petrol to drive 2 hrs from Paris.
Continue reading “Restaurant: Le Relais du Chateau, Beaugency, France”
Weekend in the Loire Valley
Ok, it was tuesday, not the weekend, but a long weekend holiday here in France nonetheless. So we rented a car and went shotgun all the way down south to Orleans and then proceeded to drive on the banks of the Loire to Tours. The area is famous for wine and castles (chateaus). If there’s another thing they’re famous for, sorry, I didn’t know about it. Its supposed to be famous for pear (as in the fruit) stuff, but other than an overpriced bottle of pear confit, we didn’t see too much of anything else. Continue reading “Weekend in the Loire Valley”
What a summer…
Last month (July) the weather was hot hot hot, and no rain. This month, the temperature has dropped to low 20C and yesterday on Sunday the temperature was hovering about 15-16C during the daytime. That was the time we were supposed to be driving to Fountainbleu for a weekend holiday. And it was raining as well. What’s with the rain? Whenever we drive to the countryside we’re always going to see some dark sky and occasionally rain along the way.
Did a run this morning and the temperature started at about 18C and was 23C when I finished about noon. What a day…
GPS subsite starts to have some meaningful information
I’ve been planning to put up a GPS subsite a long long time ago, to make use of the 6 years experience of using a GPS in my everyday life. Putting coordinates of interesting location and so on but have been too lazy and I’ve just found out how to integrate Google Maps into MT to make the whole thing look nicer than copying and pasting a picture from Mapsource. Anyways, its up, and the first 2 locations profiled are outlet shopping sites in Paris that I visited all in the same day, today.
http://nangka.org/gps
Another thing… the format of the site has not been “harmonized” with the rest of the site yet. Its a tedious work and I’d like to wait till I have more time to do it all.
Shop: Marques Avenue Outlet, Paris
Ah well, another outlet shop in Paris. This time closer to the city. Its just outside the Peripherique on Ile St Denis. The area is quite shady, but there’s deals to be had. Nike is in this outlet, unlike La Vallee Village. The stocks here seem a little “older” but less crowded and less cramped with tourists
Marques Avenue, Paris
nangka.org 