Any Colours Except Red, Blue & Black!

I must confess that I've been feeling a little shaken after my crash last Sunday. I had the stitches on my lower chin removed this morning and although the swelling on my knees have healed a lot after the kinesio taping; it is still a little blue and back and so is the deltoid of my right arm. I'm fine and hope that all pains and aches will have subsided by the time I begin my ride in slightly over a week's time!

Oh! Thanks to a fellow cyclists who does spray paint and body repair works to motor vehicles; my Surly LHT have been repainted! It's now in a brighter and more cheery colour and more importantly it is now hi-vis to give me a little more confidence about safety in getting back on the saddle! Incidentally it also happens to be the official colour of the Federation of Sarawak Life Care Societies. Nice.

Oranges anyone?

Crashed!

I don't look good in red.

I fell off my bike yesterday morning during my usual Sunday morning long rides. We were nearing Muara Tebas fishing village when I hit a speed bump and I must have inadvertently squeezed on the front disc brake of my hard tail just a little too hard. I have not ridden my Giant XTC Team for quite a while now since I started training on my Surly LHT which has cantilever front brakes and which requires quite a strong squeeze on the brake lever to slow it down. A deadly mistake on my Giant XTC Team which has powerful hydraulic disc brakes which only require finger pressure to halt it. Now I’m licking my wounds – to be more precise 3 stitches to my lower jaw, two badly grazed and swollen knees, chipped tooth and various cuts and abrasions to my hands, arms, neck, face etc. And this has to happen with slightly over 2 weeks before the charity ride. Sighs.

25 accident-prone stretches in Sarawak identified

According to the 'New Straits Times' today, the Sarawak Road Safety Department has identified 25 accident-prone stretches of road in the state. I'll mark this down and will be extra careful when I'm on these stretches of roads. Safety first.

KUCHING: The Sarawak Road Safety Department has identified 25 accident-prone stretches of road in the state, director Rano Alywino Akat said today.

He said the stretches in Kuching were the Sultan Tengah Road, Km7 to Km15 of the Matang Road, the Stephen Yong Road, 7th to 15th mile of the Kuching-Serian Road, Km69 of the Lundu Road and the Tabuan Jaya-Kota Samarahan Road.

In Samarahan, the stretches were Km38 to Km59 of the Kuching-Serian Road, Km86 to Km87 of the Kuching-Serian Road and the Tondong-Bau Road.

In Sri Aman, the stretches were Km6 and Km106 to Km112 of the Sri Aman-Kuching Road, Km20 of the Sri Aman-Sarikei Road and Km16to Km19 of the Simpang Bukit Punda Road.

In Miri, the stretches were Km40 of the Miri-Bintulu Coastal Road, the Bakam-Luak Road, Km9 of the Pujut-Lutong Road, Km5 of the Miri by-pass and Km13 of the Lambir-Niah-Bintulu Road.

In Sarikei, the accident-prone stretches were Km33 to Km38 of the Saratok-Sarikei Road and Km25 of the Bukit Sebangkoi Road; in Sibu, the 6th to 13th mile of the Oya Road and the 32nd to 37th mile of the Sibu-Bintulu Road and in Bintulu, Km23 of the Bintulu-Sibu Road, Km15 of the Kidurong-Bintulu Road and Km30 of the Similajau-Niah Road.

Rano said that over the past three years, there had been a rise in the number of road accidents in Sarawak and road accident fatalities had also risen,from 323 in 2008 to 332 in 2009 and 365 in 2010.

"Sarawak recorded a loss in economic terms of RM4.13 billion between 2000 and 2010 as a result of deaths due to road accidents," he said. -- Bernama