Wednesday, December 17, 2008

An Epic Tennis Match and I got new wheels!



Jamis Trail X 2

Technical Details for the curious:

Frame : Enduro II frame design, 7005 aluminum main tubes, replaceable derailleur hanger (this is important in cases where the bike take a major fall and the derailuer hanger gets bent or broken off , it being aluminium, welding is quite difficult , and you have no other choice other than getting a new frame or bike).

Fork: XC Suspension, alloy crown, coil spring, 60mm travel

Headset: VP threadless, 1 1/8”

Wheels: Weinmann ZAC19 double-wall rims, 32H, alloy disc hubs with QR, 14g nickel-plated spokes

Tires: CST XC knobbie, 26” x 1.95”

Derailleurs: Shimano Alivio M340 rear, Shimano TZ30 31.8mm top pull  front, Shiftlevers Shimano Acera ST-EF50 EZ-Fire Plus,24-speed Chain KMC Z51

Cassette: Indexed 7-speed freewheel, 13-28

Crankset: Forged alloy crank arms, 42/34/24 rings, 170mm
BB Set Sealed cartridge, 68 x 122.5mm

Pedals: ATB platform, hi-impact resin cage & body

Brakeset:  V Brakes and Shimano levers

Handlebar : Jamis XC riser, 6˚ sweep x 13mm rise x 620mm wide
Stem Jamis XC alloy threadless, 10˚ rise, 120mm (19-21”)
Grips Kraton for trigger-shift

Seat Post : Jamis alloy micro-adjust, 27.2 x 300mm, with alloy QR clamp

Saddle : Jamis ATB , SL cover, protective front and rear guards

Size:  19”

Color : Blue

Weight: 13kilos


Right, boring part over =)

Ok, you might have heard of Scwinn , Scott, Trek and Cannondale. Major bike makers, and they market their products heavily.

Jamis on the other hand?  No idea about it until my online research a few months ago. To make this easy on the non biking crowd:


Cannondale and Trek are like the BMW and Mercedes of bikes. Expensive , high performance.
Jamis is like the Subaru Impreza. Waay cheaper and realy value for money.....plus decent performance.

But that's as far as it goes....for the moment. Cause like a Subaru, i can pimp it up to become as good as a Cannondale by changing a lot of stuff on it.

For example, i can upgrade the entire gearset to Shimano Duore XT. Its like taking a Ferarri Scuderia engine and popping it into a Toyota.

I bought the bike along with a front LED headlamp plus rear LED blinkers , a bell , a Giro bike helmet , PTFE laced lubricant for the chain , bottle holder, and a bike chain.....and i got a damn good deal for em all.


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THE EPIC MATCH!

I play tennis for my hall of residence. Am talking about Inter-Hall Games..held annually and its quite a big deal on campus (though i don't really care about hall rankings....i just like a good game).

And so i was called up to play mised doubles with a Thai girl in hall and before i go on I must say this....

THE 5 FOOT THAI NERD WAS DAMN GOOD!

Honestly my heart sank when i was introduced to her, what with the small size and shy stance, she looked afraid of me when i rode fast and roughly across the muddy grass to the courts on my new bike :P

And then my jaw dropped when i sent serve after serve at her as hard as i could......and she returned A LOT OF THEM!

Then the match started.

Rules:

Best out of 6 games. If drawn at 6-6, tie breaker. Winner determined by whom could reach 7 points first.

I played lousily for the first 20 minutes and we were quickly down 5-2. All looked lost when my thai partner (her name's Boon) returned serve after serve and we were up to 5-3. Then I kicked into gear finally both of us forced the game until 5-5. 

And the i screwed up again and we were down to 6-5.

And then Boon kicked into gear and the score was 6-6. We were now about 70 minutes into the game.

So the tie breaker came in. Boon drank water and that somehow messed her up and once again we found ourselves 5-2 down on points.

And so we called time out and we planned this:

Me: I'll play the base line, you control the drop shots.

Boon: *nods*

I must say, she was awesome at the net, and i hardly did any work and we were up 6-6.

Then i messed up again and the score was 7-6. And right at the moment, BOTH OF US woke up and we thrashed them 10-8.

WOOOOOOO!!!!! I love winning.





Cheers from the,

Matrix