Gingerman stumbled across Team Absolut on the Internet before he ever set foot in Singapore, while living in the faraway land of California. Sting showed him how to get to the start point of the Thursday night rides, and he keeps showing up to them now.  He is surprised the team hasn't taken down the website to make sure that this kind of thing can't happen again.

Somewhere along the way he was told that drinking hot teh halia (ginger tea) was the perfect thing to do after a ride in the hot and humid concrete jungle.  He is not sure if he was supposed to believe it.  By now, it's not just a nickname--it's an addiction.  And it sounds better than Bananaprataman.  In any case, it's a good excuse to hang out on a Thursday night.

He started racing in 2001 because he thought it might be a good idea to learn how to corner on his road bike, a smoke Trek 5200.  Before that, his only adult bike was his '93 Trek 830, a mountain bike that thinks it's a road bike.  It's even been ridden in a century ride.  Since the road bike showed up, the 830 wonders why it's always raining outside. 

Poor thing.

Gingerman is looking forward to a new Bianchi track bike to race at the Hellyer Park Velodrome back in California when his assignment in Singapore is over.  Even though the racing there finishes earlier than the TTT rides, everybody just goes home afterward and there are no teh