SOMEONE up there must have been trying to test my resilience today. On the final day of a car-free pledge I took on Dec 1, it pours. Cats, dogs, pigs, everything.

Well, like most of the past 24 days, I still got on my bike and pedalled to work. In the rain. Soaked. Cold. Bliss. And I'm looking forward to the ride home.

This must be true love, to persevere with bike commuting through all sorts of weather conditions. I'm not just keeping at it because I made a pledge on this blog. I'm doing it because I know it's good for me and for the earth.

Here's an update on the final week of my car-free pledge:

- Wednesday, Dec 16 -- Success: Decided to run instead of bike. Ran to work and back home.
- Thursday, Dec 17 -- Success: Rode to work and home, running an errand in between.
- Friday, Dec 18 -- Success: Rode to work (left bike in office) and ran home.
- Saturday, Dec 19 -- Fail: Day off. Drove about 15km for an errand (had to deliver a huge and heavy package).
- Sunday, Dec 20 -- Success: Day off. Ran to church and took public transport home.
- Monday, Dec 21 -- Semi-success: Drove to work (had a big bag of Christmas cookies to deliver), but biked home.
- Tuesday, Dec 22 -- Semi-success: Ran to work, but drove home.
- Wednesday, Dec 23 -- Success: Day off. Stayed home.
- Thursday, Dec 24 -- Success: Rode to work and back home.

Final figures (estimated):

CO2 emissions saved: 79.45 kg
Extra calories burnt: 5,397 cal
Money saved: $53.90
Extra time spent travelling: 113 minutes

It is definitely possible to commute by bike in Singapore. We have smooth roads, good weather (usually), short distances to travel on this small island, and an increasingly more considerate population of drivers here. More cyclists are also realising there is an etiquette to follow if we want to share the road.

My resolution for 2010 is to keep bike commuting or run commuting (something new I started the past week) between work and home. What some readers have commented is true -- the start is the difficult part, once you get the hang of it, you will enjoy it and keep at it.

Will I sell my car? Honestly, no. Because the car still trumps the bike at certain times, like when hauling big loads around, when weather is too foul to ride, when lazy, when sweaty is not appropriate for a candlelight dinner. The convenience of a car, as most Singaporeans can attest, is something hard to do without. But I promise to try my darnest to.

In my travels I've been to quite a number of bike-friendly cities, like Portland, San Francisco, Melbourne and this little German town called Sigmaringen. There are bike lanes, bike parking stations every few metres on the sidewalks, people commuting on bikes everywhere. My dream is that Singapore will one day become like them, but the fact is a bicycle culture takes decades to build. We can hope for bike lanes here, but the reality is that there just isn't enough space to spare in Singapore.

Perhaps the best and most immediate thing we can do is just to change our mindset. Drivers should treat cyclists like another vehicle on the road, cyclists should ride as they would drive. Offices should be more accommodating to cyclists (provide showers, lockers, bike parking spaces, or even allow bikes in buildings). Public spaces -- roads, pavements, parks, etc -- should be shared. Cyclists should give way to pedestrians on sidewalks, if they expect drivers to yield to them on the roads. It's only fair. Everyone should just be understanding and considerate toward each other.

Also because the next cyclist or driver or pedestrian you pass could well be a relative, friend, a friend of a relative, or a friend of a friend. And a cyclist can also be a driver, a driver a cyclist... and everyone surely is a pedestrian at some point in time. Put yourself in each other's shoes and the world will be a better place.

According to Virgin Vacations, the world's top 10 most bike-friendly cities are:
1. Amsterdam, Netherlands
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Copenhagen, Denmark
4. Boulder, Colorado
5. Davis, California
6. Sandnes, Norway
7. Trondheim, Norway
8. San Francisco, California
9. Berlin, Germany
10. Barcelona, Spain

Maybe someday Singapore will feature on that list. If not in my lifetime, then hopefully in my children's.

Merry Christmas and keep pedalling.

I've been good. In the past week, I haven't skipped a day of riding to work. I think it's slowly growing into a habit, because I feel uncomfortable when I don't do it. Weird, but as they say, humans are creatures of habit.

If Santa was granting wishes though, my wish would be to see more people bike commuting and realising the benefits of it.

Before the naysayers (and there have been quite a few commenting on this blog, which I appreciate for the lively debate it has created) jump the gun, please hear my piece. I know a number of you think we should not be bicycle commuting because it's only going to kill us.

Paradoxically, studies have shown that there is safety in numbers for cyclists (and also pedestrians). Yes, the more people get out on the roads and ride their bikes, the less likely they will be injured in traffic accidents, according to international research reported in Science Daily in September last year.

Studies of cyclists in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, 14 European countries and 68 Californian cities have proven so.

The reason for safety in numbers, experts say, is because motorists seem to change their behaviour and drive more safely when they see more cyclists and pedestrians around. Also, rising cycling rates mean motorists are more likely to be cyclists, and they are therefore more conscious of and sympathetic towards cyclists.

In fact, studies show that a community that doubles its cycling numbers can expect a one-third drop in the per-cyclist frequency of a crash with a motor vehicle.

Dr Julie Hatfield, an injury expert from the University of New South Wales, calls it a "virtuous cycle".

"And the safer cycling is perceived to be," added Dr Hatfield, "the more people are prepared to cycle."

Another study by the Cyclists Touring Club, the UK's main cycling organisation, supports this safety-in-numbers view. The Guardian reported the results of the study in May this year.

It was found that the safest area to cycle in England was York, where around one in eight commuters cycle to work and 0.1 per cent are badly hurt in accidents each year. Not far down the road, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, where fewer than 1 in 120 commuters bike to work, face a danger level 15 times higher than York.

Further, the average person in Denmark cycles over 10 times further than than the average person in Britain every year, but runs only 20 per cent of the risk being killed.

Chris Peck, policy coordinator of the Cyclists Touring Club, stressed that "even the apparently less safe areas aren't actually unsafe, and that it's still much better for your health to cycle than not to cycle, wherever you live."

You may say things are different in Singapore. Well, I've dug up some figures from the Singapore Police Force to further prove the safety-in-numbers point.

While looking at the following figures, keep in mind that based on anecdotal evidence, I think it's fair to say there are more cyclists on the road now than ever before.

Overall, road accident casualties in Singapore have generally risen in the past 10 years (figure 1). Of course these are absolute figures, and don't take into account that over this time the population of people and vehicles has gone up too.

Figure 1.

Focusing on just cycling casualties, figures show the bulk of casualties are slight injuries (figure 2). And the incidence of death (calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the population) in 2007 was lower than that in 1999.

Figure 2.

The final point I would like to make is that there are many different types of cyclists around, so don't attempt to umbrella everyone under one title.

There are road cyclists who have good control of their well-maintained bicycles, observe road rules as cars do (like following the flow of traffic and keeping to the left-most side of the lane), signal their intentions by using their hands, wear helmets and have front and rear blinkers for safety.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are the cyclists who are unsteady on their bicycles (which probably do not fit them or have a saddle that is too low or a chain so rusty it cannot move or have no idea how to shift to a lighter gear), have no idea about road rules, ride against the flow of traffic, do not signal, do not wear helmets or have any other safety gear for that matter. Yet, these cyclists still choose to ride on the road, even at night.

I do whatever it takes to keep myself safe on the road. Getting killed is a risk we all take, even crossing the road on foot.

Case in point: The incidence of cycling casualties (killed or injured) was 11.79 per 100,000 people in 2007. The incidence of death in 2008 due to diabetes was 12.52 per 100,000, pneumonia (62.73 per 100,000), ischemic heart disease (89.93 per 100,000) and cancer (131.36 per 100,000).

Go figure.

Update on the past week of my car-free pledge:
- Tuesday, Dec 8 -- Success: Biked to work
- Wednesday, Dec 9 -- Success: Day off from work. Ran errands on bike.
- Thursday, Dec 10 -- Success: Biked to work.
- Friday, Dec 11 -- Success: Biked to work.
- Saturday, Dec 12 -- Failed: On leave. Drove about 7 km in total cos had to lug huge picnic basket. Took cab to and from a dinner ball at a hotel.
- Sunday, Dec 13 -- Failed: Day off from work. Drove about 15 km in total for an errand.
- Monday, Dec 14 -- Success: Biked to work. Took a detour en route to work to run an errand.
- Tuesday, Dec 15 -- Success: Biked to work.

By the numbers (estimated):
CO2 emissions saved to date: 48.67 kg
Extra calories burnt to date: 3,084 cal
Money saved to date: $30.8
Extra time spent travelling to date: 77 minutes

Sources
1. Singapore Police Force
2. Singapore Statistics
3. The Guardian
4. Science Daily

Who was I kidding? If it were that easy to just ditch the car and ride a bike everywhere instead, most people would be doing it. The reality is, the bike can't take you everywhere, especially in certain situations.

A week ago, I announced on this blog that I would try to commute by bike as much as possible, in an effort to make my carbon footprint smaller. Here's a breakdown of how I've fared so far:

* Tuesday, Dec 1 -- Success: Biked to work and back.
* Wednesday, Dec 2 -- Failed: Day off from work. Had to pick up four big bags of items (that required two pairs of hands to carry) on the other side of the island, so the two options were drive or cab. I drove.
* Thursday, Dec 3 -- Success!
* Friday, Dec 4 -- Success!
* Saturday, Dec 5 -- Failed: The Singapore Marathon was the next day, and I wanted to save my legs for the race. Drove to work instead.
* Sunday, Dec 6 -- Semi-success: Cabbed to the Singapore Marathon start line but took the bus home after the race.
* Monday, Dec 7 -- Failed: Legs too sore from the Singapore Marathon.

I have to say, the weather was pretty kind to me in the past week. On two evenings I cycled home from work on wet roads after a storm. That was the closest I got to getting drenched by the rain.

But though weather didn't prove to be a deterrent this week, some logistical issues did.

For one, bicycle commuting is not ideal when you have many items, especially heavy ones, to ferry around. You could equip your bicycle with panniers, but even so you could never carry as much as your car boot does. And carrying too much while cycling could also prove to be dangerous anyway.

Second, some days you just have to rest, out of necessity or exhaustion. Yes, I could have taken public transport to work and back on Saturday and Monday, but I was strapped for time then and a one-way bus journey to work would have taken nearly an hour. At least I succeeded with public transport on Sunday!

So, a couple of problems encountered so far in my quest to go car-less. But the key positive -- other than some money saved and calories burnt -- is the headache-free, jam-free journeys. Somehow, cycling home after work also helps clear my head. It's always nice to get some fresh air after a day cooped up in a cubicle.

Riding to work takes some planning, though. With Singapore's weather, you can't possibly commute more than a few kilometres without breaking a sweat. So that means you probably will not be commuting in your work clothes or shoes. What to do then? Well, I'm sure there are many ways to tackle this issue. But here's what I do.

1. Leave a couple of pairs of work shoes, toiletries and a towel at my work desk.

2. Use a 17-litre cycling-specific backpack to carry my gear. Its advantages over a normal backpack is that it's lighter, more ventilated, is waterproof and has reflective material to ensure I get seen in the dark. It also has an external removable webbing to hold a helmet or extra gear, and chest and waist straps so the bag wraps snugly around my body and doesn't bounce around when I ride.

3. Work clothes, a small hand towel, laptop and charger, notebooks, documents and other work-related items go into the backpack. A 17-litre backpack, I feel, is just right to fit all the necessities in.

4. Cycle in a pair of bike shorts and dri-fit top. Rinse these clothing in warm water when you get to work so they don't stink later -- you won't want to ride home in smelly clothing! Find a place to let them air-dry on a hanger. On your feet, either a pair of sports shoes (flip-flops are very dangerous to cycle in as they offer your feet no protection) or cycling shoes, if you use clip-in pedals.

5. Attach a saddle bag to your bike and put a spare tube, bike levers, a mini handpump and mini toolset in, just in case you get a puncture or a technical issue with the bike. Of course, ensure that you know how to use these tools first!

6. Don't forget your bike chain and lock. Get a good heavy chain and lock, unless you want your prized possession to be stolen! When locking your bike to a permanent fixture, ensure the chain loops through both the frame and the wheels, or at least one of the wheels.

7. Most importantly, safety comes first. Wear a helmet and sunglasses (to prevent dirt and debris from entering your eyes when travelling at speed), and have front and rear blinking lights and reflective ankle straps.

Finally, don't forget to factor in the extra time it takes to travel by bike. For me, it takes about 15 minutes to drive to work and 18 minutes to bike to work. (No, I don't ride that fast, but driving to work takes a longer route as I have to do a U-turn. The cycling route is about 3km shorter.) Also factor in the time spent showering after the ride -- about 10 minutes for me -- though it's not exactly extra time spent as you would have showered anyway before you drove to work. So, all things considered, I leave home 15 minutes earlier than I would if I were to drive to work.

To sum up a very long blog entry, bicycling commuting has its challenges, but once you get the hang of it, it is actually pretty practical and easy to do.

Lets see how long I can keep this up for!

PS: If you commute by bike, feel free to share your experiences below!

By the numbers (figures are estimated)
CO2 emissions saved to date: 17.89 kg
Extra calories burnt to date: 1,156.5 cal
Money saved to date: $11.55
Extra time spent travelling to date: 47 minutes

For me, nearly 15 per cent of my share was created by driving my 20-year-old 1.6 litre BMW between home and work.

I did the math. The old pink chugger churns 5.13kg of CO2 per journey or 1,334kg a year, by commuting a total of 22km a day (home-work-home), five days a week, for 52 weeks.

You can do your own calculations at this online CO2 calculator.

It certainly doesn't help that an old, heavy European-made car is not exactly the most fuel-efficient vehicle — I get only about 10km per litre of petrol from it.

So feelings of guilt have haunted me of late, especially amid the flurry of stories and discussions and statistics on global warming ahead of the highly-anticipated, 12-day United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen that starts next Monday.

Every few days there is a story about ice sheets melting, ocean levels rising, temperatures warming. Leading climate alarmists claim that global greenhouse gas emissions need to decrease to 60 per cent below present levels by 2050 if humans are to avoid catastrophic climate change.

We sit and read about nations and what they are or are not doing to help the situation. But what are each of us doing individually to contribute to positive change?

Sure, I've been making a conscientious effort to reduce, reuse and recycle: Take my own bag to the supermarket, resist printing unnecessary e-mails, collect plastic bottles for recycling.

But what more can I do?

That question led me to my decision to give up my car and commute by bicycle, at least until Christmas. That resolution began today. As I type this there is a bicycle parked in my cubicle and cycling clothing and shoes hanging under my desk.

It's not all about global warming, though. Cutting greenhouse gases can also be a boon to human health by reducing deaths from cancer, strokes and heart disease, according to a report by The Lancet journal published last week.

Walking and cycling more, and driving less are among the easiest ways people can lower the output of CO2 and methane gas that also curb the global disease burden, said the study. Other easy ways: switch to cleaner-burning stoves and reduce meat and dairy consumption.

Bicycle commuting can also help keep one's expenses and weight low.

Doing the calculations, I figure I can save at least $1,000 a year on petrol by riding to work. I'll also burn an estimated extra 100,230 calories a year.

You can do your own calculations here at this online calorie calculator from bicycling.com.

That's 13kg of weight loss (assuming I don't replace what I've burned off), or the ability to eat a Big Mac just about every other day — or 192 Big Macs a year — and not gain any weight.

Some other pluses: no traffic jams, no ERP charges, no parking fees, no parking headaches.

Of course, not everything's rosy. Bicycle commuting also involves getting stuck in bad weather conditions, backaches from ferrying a backpack of clothing and work stuff around, and typically more time spent travelling. There are definitely inconveniences I will encounter.

So will it be all worth it? I don't know, but I will find out.

On this day, December 1, 2009, I hereby promise to ride instead of drive — as often as I can — from now until Christmas. Not just between home and work, but even for errands and outings.

Over the next 24 days, I hope to document my experiences of bicycle commuting in this blog. The pros, the cons, the money saved, the weight loss, the troubles incurred, the headaches avoided. But, more importantly, the CO2 emissions reduced.

In my own little way, hopefully, I can help make a change in the world.

Stay tuned.

This month's Adidas Sundown Marathon, for example, one of over 20 running events this year, has over 10,000 sign-ups, nearly double last year’s 6,088.

Last December’s Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon had 50,000 runners, up from 6,000 in 2002.

But, while united in the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other, runners’ motivation differ, from sheer pleasure to staving off the weight.

Curious, I asked running friends and running friends of running friends for their reasons. Here are 30 of them.

It seems there is no excuse not to hit the road.

1. CJ, 36, works in banking industry
"I started running in 2002 when my son was diagnosed as autistic. It was a way for me to relieve stress. I started doing marathons, which I dedicate to him."

2. Sumiko Tan, 24, PE teacher
"Running enables me to feel the wind in my face, hear my own footsteps and enjoy the serenity of the world around me."

3. Tham Chen Munn, 33, engineer
"Running keeps my health in check – if a 30min run feels uncomfortable, then it's probably muscle strain or I need to lose some weight!"

4. Alan Law, 37, senior graphic designer
"It gives me time to think. Sometimes life can get rather busy. On my long runs I have some time just for me."

5. David Tay, 50, life coach
"It's a form of meditation where I'm in touch with my inner self."

6. Elaine Chan, 21, undergraduate
"I feel invincible when I run."

7. Ho Chor Yin, 37, executive administrator
"Doing marathons is like one's journey in life – there are ups and downs. Some days you finish a race better than others."

8. Jeremy Kang, 24, student
"So that I can drink copious amounts of beer and not end up looking like Moses Lim."

9. Ngoh Seh Suan, 29, insurance agent
"Just because studying the movements of top runners made running a physical science and a graceful art."

10. Dominic Loh, 32, brand manager
"It's spiritual, it's my quiet moment to talk to God and to re-align myself to make each day more meaningful."

11. Teo Ser Luck, 40, senior parliamentary secretary (Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports)
"To get to know myself better."

12. Mok Ying Rong, 15, student
"Because I like the feeling of going fast. I'm always in a hurry to get from one place to another."

13. David Cawley, 29, software engineer
"My friends told me I couldn’t do a marathon so I wanted to prove them wrong."

14. Randall Tan, 35, artiste and former national sprinter
"It gives me the chance to relive my glory days and to prove to myself that I still have what it takes to do it."

15. Pamela Qiu, 25, civil servant
"It's the next most reliable way of getting high, after alcohol. And it's cheaper. Also, so that I can eat chocolate."

16. Yeo Jia Chyang, 33, IT consultant, Special Olympics Singapore volunteer coach
"I run to help others in need."

17. David Lawrence, 36, company director
"It's all about doing enough training to ensure that one day I'll be able to finish a race knowing that I've given everything I possibly could and have found my limit."

18. Clifford Lee, 41, SAF officer
"I have no other choice – running is part of doing Ironman races!"

19. Terence Lew, 30, art director and hearing impaired athlete
"It gives me a new lease of hope and a tinge of achievement when I run with my courage and determination."

20. Eric Koa, 42, senior staff at a sports store who ran his first marathon in 1992
"In 1987 I did a 30km race and got injured and could not walk for more than a week. I got a lashing from my mum. But I was determined to prove her wrong."

21. Derek Leong, 25, doctor
"Usually when I need to make an important decision, I go for a long long run, and by the time I finish the run, I would have made the decision."

22. Wong Ching Yee, 30, brand person
"I love the simplicity of running... It's about the adrenaline rush from feeling alive, two steps at a time."

23. Leong Chee Mun, 45, teacher
"I get to find myself and lose the world for a while."

24. Dierdre Morgan, 18, student
"I relish the pain, the satisfaction and the runners' high derived."

25. Melody Chen, 31, artiste
"It's faster than walking and I suck at swimming."

26. Michael Mendoza, 31, IT executive
"To prove to myself that even if I'm not an athletic person, I can excel at something."

27. Pamela Chia, 24, Singaporean student in Australia
"To live a full and healthy life, to experience breathtaking sights, and to meet my favourite wildlife."

28. Julian Loh, 33, real estate agent
"So that I can eat whatever I want and not feel so guilty about it."

29. Anne MacFadden, 51, homemaker and mother of six children
"It keeps me sane."

30. Chiam Li Li, 36, HR manager
"Because it’s a gift from God."

Why do you run?

SOURCE: AP

When Michael Phelps broke Spitz' medal haul record at last year's Beijing Olympics with eight gold (seven world records, one Olympic record), he wore a customised, rubberised, supertight full-body sleeveless Speedo suit, and an equally technologically-advanced swim cap.

SOURCE: BLOOMBURG

Personally, I'm much more impressed with Spitz' feat, given it was more a show of true human potential than Phelps' mix of technology and talent.

And that's why I'm happy that the Federation Internationale de Natation (Fina), the world's governing body for swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water swimming, last week laid down new regulations for swimwear at their Bureau Meeting in Dubai.

In a four-page announcement on Fina.org called the 'Dubai Charter', Fina revealed amendments to existing requirements for swimwear approval, valid until Dec 31, 2009.

This is a bid to end the controversy over the new generation of swimsuits that have caused a flurry of falling world records from Phelps and friends in the pool over the past year.

In Beijing, 94 per cent of all swimming races were won in the Speedo LZR Racer, which was launched on Feb 13 last year. Twenty-three of 25 world records were broken by swimmers squeezed into the skintight suit.

Last December's European Short Course Championships in Croatia saw 17 world records fall, and that's when Fina decided to step in and do something about the situation.

Thank goodness.

After months of discussions with athletes, coaches and officials, they came up with a number of amendments, including these:
DESIGN: The swimsuit shall not cover the neck and shall not extend past the shoulders nor past the ankles.
THICKNESS: The material used shall have a maximum thickness of 1mm.
BUOYANCY: The swimsuit shall not have a buoyancy effect of more than 1 Newton (100 grams).
CUSTOMISATION: All swimsuits of an approved model must be constructed in an identical fashion with no variation/modification for individual swimmers from the samples submitted for approval.

But is it enough?

Not in my view. A swimsuit that goes up to the neck and down to the ankles and that provides any buoyancy effect at all should not even be allowed. In my opinion, that amounts to doping of the technological kind.

A swimsuit should merely be a cover for decency. Skin tight, yes. Made of nylon or polyester or lycra, yes too. And that's basically all you need. Just the bare essentials to offer durability and comfort in the water, without the suit being an aid to the swimmer.

Of course, there is the argument that as long as everybody has equal access to the suits, the playing ground is fair. But ultimately, sport should be about pure physical prowess, not garnished with technology.

Phelps may have broken Spitz' medal haul, but if Spitz had that kind of technology in his day, then maybe Phelps might not have achieved the feat.

Fina should make this ruling instead: all swimmers should wear what Mark Spitz and Dawn Fraser wore when they became swimming greats.

In the past, the man made the suit. Now, unfortunately, the suit makes the man.

This time, in the US$2 million event's sophomore year, the top 38 players in the 78-woman field are within seven strokes of each other, with just three strokes separating the top 10.

World No. 1 Ochoa, who had strung four rounds in the 60s en route to the US$300,000 winner's cheque last year, began today's third round in a tie for 11th with eight others, after a dismal one-over 73 yesterday.

Americans Paula Creamer and Jane Park begin the day on six-under, one stroke ahead of Australia's Katherine Hull and South Korean Kim Mi Hyun.

At one point yesterday, there was a six-way tie for the lead on five-under -- consisting of Hull, Kim, Creamer, Park, the US' Angela Stanford and Japanese star Ai Miyazato.

But, some slipped away as Creamer and Park pulled away with a birdie each on the par-four 16th -- Park doing so in style, sending a wedge shot 97 yards to an inch of the pin for an easy tap-in birdie.

Stanford double-bogeyed the 18th, followed by a Miyazato bogey on the same hole.

Five-time Major winner Pak Se Ri, too, had been on five-under after three birdies and a bogey on the front nine, but double-bogeyed the 10th to fall to three-under. She was tied for fifth with three others.

"This golf course has a lot of undulating greens, doglegs right and left, and at the same time the wind is blowing left and right," said South Korea's Pak. "From hole one to hole 18, you really have to be 100 per cent focused."

Rain has made Tanah Merah's 6,547-yard Garden Course play longer and the greens slower. Players are finding it hard to sink birdies -- only 203 birdies and one eagle was sunk yesterday, compared to 219 birdies on the first day.

Rain fell on the course again this morning just before the 8.30am tee-off, so it certainly doesn't look like we'll be seeing more birides out here today.

One thing's for certain though -- we're in for an exciting finish. And don't even write off Ochoa or any other player for that matter.

For at the Ginn Tribute at South Carolina in June last year, South Korea's Lee Seon Hwa showed that even a nine-stroke deficit is not insurmountable.

Lee took advantage of a stunning collapse from overnight leader Sophie Gustafson and excellent play to finish the regulation 72 holes in joint top spot with Hall of Famer Karribe Webb.

In the playoff, she then saw Webb miss a short par putt as she made hers. Lee walked away with her third LPGA Tour title and one of the richest paydays, US$390,000, in women's golf.

Anything is possible, especially in this crazy game of golf.

Anyway, now that the scene is set, let me get to the story.

It looked like the aftermath of a storm when I got out of the house at 4.30am this morning to cycle to the meeting place at Longhouse at Upper Thomson Road. There was still a slight drizzle and the ground was all wet. I told myself to be careful of the slippery conditions, especially at Farrer Road — the seemingly everlasting construction site of the Circle Line — where uneven metal plates cover some parts of the leftmost lane. Just as soon as I cautioned myself I found myself landing on the ground with a big thud. I don’t exactly know what happened still (and it's been some four hours later) but I fell faster than you can say "TIMBER!".

The entire left side of my body hit the ground at the same time, like a huge oak tree falling. My head took the most impact. I know so because my helmet cracked in about five sections and all I got on my body was a small graze on the elbow and hip, and all my bike got was a little torn handlebar tape.
I picked myself up and went on with the job… and 40km ride. Funny thing is my head does not hurt one bit as bad as my helmet looks. In fact I feel pretty fine. Obviously so, since I managed to do the pretty fast ride.

My helmet saved my life.

This, in fact, is the third time a helmet has done so. My dad used to bug me to wear a helmet years ago and I didn’t quite like it because I found it a hindrance, but ever since my first big crash some years ago I’ve realised how important it is. Then, I was riding in a pack. I took my turn in front, stood up to power on the pedals, but the front of my bike dipped into a pothole on the ground. I did a heels-over-head somersault while still connected to my bicycle, landing on the top of my head and cracking my helmet in the process.

I see helmet-less riders out on the roads all the time, and I wish they knew what kind of danger they’re putting themselves in. Some people say they’re going too slow to need a helmet, but let me tell you I was going really slow when I fell this morning. Others say they're only cycling to the shop or MRT nearby, so it's too short a journey to wear a helmet. Accidents can happen anywhere, anytime. So if you value your life, please, wear a helmet.

Maybe these pictures will persuade those helmet-less people to.

My head got away without a scratch.
SOURCE: Jeanette Wang

On a sidenote, that helmet was the Giro Atmos, a technologically advanced helmet (Lance Armstrong wore it for the Tour de France) that cost me over $200. Why the price? Because a cracked Giro Atmos helmet still sticks together as it has a skeleton holding the foam pieces in place. Other helmets without the same technology would probably just fall apart after such a crash. Coincidentally I had just ordered a new helmet last week, the Giro Ionos. I hope that didn’t jinx me.

Oh and another tip: helmets, like perishables, have a lifespan too. If your helmet is about two years old or was made two years ago (the inside of the helmet should indicate its manufacture date), it’s time to get a new one. Foam disintegrates over time. And please, don’t reuse a helmet that has already taken a fall, even if it’s not cracked. The impact-absorption properties could well be diminshed but not noticeable to the naked eye.

Leave the bashed helmet for just the tale-telling, like I do.

It's not what you're thinking though.

I was keeping to the blue line in my lane huffing and puffing through my 300m speed intervals. He had just gotten into the pool and decided to swim in nearly the exact same line as me, despite the pool not being full. He was approaching me at half my speed, I was looking down on the blue line in total focus and concentration.

BANG!!

Not the first time it has happened to me in the pool. Nearly every time I go for a swim I collide, or just avoid a collision with someone. This, I feel, is something peculiar to Singapore swimming pools.

Why? I've swum in pools in Germany, Canada, the US and Australia. All of them usually set aside lap swimming lanes, using lane rope to mark out about two to three individual lanes for lap swimmers (i.e. swimmers who swim laps continuously rather than chill out at the wall).

These lanes then each have a sign indicating the speed (slow, medium, fast, faster) and direction (anti-clockwise or clockwise) of the lane, and swimmers are meant to pick a lane based on how fast they think they go and follow the given direction. That means making sure you're always swimming to the left of the line on the floor if the lane is clockwise and vice-versa.

Obviously if you're the first person in the lane it's quite a no-brainer because you're in no danger of hitting anyone. But, if you're joining a pool where the lap swimming lanes are each already occupied by at least one person, the usual etiquette is to find the lane most suited to your speed, wait for the person to reach the wall, try to get his/her attention, ask politely if it's okay to join the lane, then follow the direction of the lane. If it so happens you have to overtake, do it as you would in a car. Make sure there aren't any oncoming swimmers, then overtake on the outside of the swimmer in front of you.

Simple stuff. The risk of a head-on collision is greatly reduced. Lap swimmers get to do their serious swimming worry-free. Fun swimmers can continue to frolick in the rest of the pool without worrying of getting a fist in their face or their butt being grabbed.

If the Singapore Sports Council, who looks after the public pools in on this island, could do something about it, I would be eternally grateful.

And so will the guy whose butt I grabbed this morning.

THE most bizzarre thing happened in front of my eyes a couple of weeks ago.

During the usual morning rush hour, with cars bumper-to-bumper on the three-lane Commonwealth Avenue, I stopped my car as the others in front advanced, leaving a gap so that another car could turn out from the HDB estate onto the main road.

The driver, who otherwise would have waited ages to finally exit, raised his hand in acknowledgement at me as he turned out. I smiled and waved back.

A couple of hundred metres on, a U-turn approached. That driver and I had now filtered to the right-most lane, in anticipation of turning right at the Queensway junction, a bit further ahead of the U-turn.

A car on the driver's left was now signalling right, hoping to get from the centre lane to the right lane that we were on, clearly to make the U-turn. The driver now stopped his car, allowing that car to cut in. I noticed both drivers raising their hands in acknowledgement, too. 

Could it be? Two courteous acts from Singapore drivers in the space of a few minutes? It was a rarity for sure.

I'd like to believe my act of courtesy to the driver in turn sparked off his courteous act to the next driver. My giving way, indeed, was borne out of the previous rare occasions that drivers had given way to me, too. 

Being a runner and a road cyclist has further increased my awareness of other runners and cyclists on the road. Once in a while, a car gives way to me when I run past a lane it's turning into or out of. Usually cars just try to mow me down.

It's even worse on the bicycle, where most cars here don't understand we road cyclists are vehicles too. They honk at us, sometimes even as we keep to the left-most double yellow strips on an empty three-lane road.

Because of my experiences while running or cycling, and in appreciation of the kindness of drivers that have given way to me, I in turn give way to runners and cyclists when I'm behind the wheel.

It's called "pay it forward". And I believe it's the way to creating a more courteous society.

Try it for yourself. Give way to a fellow driver today, even if you have the right of way. And acknowledge the other driver when you've been a recipient of kindness in return.

I was in Melbourne for work over the weekend. In the mornings I would head out for a run through the suburbs. On one occasion, I was about to run past the mouth of a lane when I noticed a car to my right turning in from the main road. I stopped. He stopped. He smiled and flagged me to cross first. I smiled back, waved and continued running along.

I know I'll pay it forward the next time I encouter a runner on the road here. 

Will you join me in doing so?