Update, jangan tak update!!!!

Hai, first there is a reminder by Bola2api, then this note come from Zebra, looks like this baboon kena update la sikit blog aku ni...

What did I do on Saturday, owh, yes ....I went to that ride that was organized by some well known Triathlete that did not turn up. Any how, still manage to meet up ole frens like Dr K (a fren of 20 years) and Shazly. Was suppose to baby sit some ladies (Faie, Jaja and Aini), but seems that they did not need no baby sitting to Peres. They were off like the wind, or did they break wind, I donno, I cannot smell them at all.

Notice, the vast difference in speed in the graph between going and coming back from Peres. Managed to get about 55 km of ride in total that Saturday, still came back about 4 pm after collecting Bernard. In sweeping and going back for Aini (who decided to go shopping for buah-buahan tempatan), we got lost trying to locate Sungai Chongkak. Nearly turn back had it not been due to Aini's sister's persistency.

Addendum
During our ride back from Sungai Chongkak, Stupe and me went on a speeding spree and was racing back. One silly girl (she may not have seen us coming) crossed right in front of Stupe (maybe like 5 feet away) and Stupe had to take evasive action and almost sliding sideways. He managed to control the bike although skidding the rear wheel. Must have a bald patch by now ;-). Salute to him.

Next day went to Bentong with PK and family. Met up with Adeline, Lim-Rain ,Jeff (patani), Wong Pinarello, Mantak and two Ironman candidates (both riding Kuota). Since it rained in morning, we push off at about 9:00 am and reached Bentong at 11:30. I going there, budak Jeff and Lim, punya le laju, they were doing 46km to 48km average just about 23km outside Bentong town. Managed to draft them for only 6km before I gave up, thinking that I better save my energy coming back.

Coming Back, Mantak set a pace of 26-28km up back to Sempah and by 2pm we were at Sempah. Budak Lim dengan Jeff toksah harap tunggu la, they were gone at 30km average. Took us only 30 minutes to come down to Hospital Orang Asli once from Sempah. Balik rumah, nak angkat basikal turun pun dah tak larat, tidur dulu, angkat basikal pukol 10 malam, letih.....

Aiyoh....although I did 160km this weekend, rasa macam tak cukup je.

Reflecting on Life - Mirror-mirror on the Wall....

I don't usually handle death very well. I cannot imagine how Patrick handles it, especially when they are the ones that found Arwah Zubir's body in PD at 4 pm on Sunday.

I also am bothered very much on how I would be remembered and how my orbituary would have been written by friends, colleagues, bossess, parents, siblings, children and wife. Here lies Mac,......{thats about it, my mind goes into a blank} or "I remember that guy, he is the one that ruin that person's cycling career..."

What have I done to contribute into these people's Emotional Bank Account?. What have I done to change or impact some of their lives?. Have I done enough, how much more should I have done? These are questions that I have no answers to.....

Damn, I need to manage time better. So little time, so much to do.

Sad News - My Condolences

My fren Zubir pass away during the PD triathlon...........

As I finished my trip to Frasers, I was greeted with disturbing news that the organizing committee is searching for Zubir as he did not emerge from the swim leg. His wife has alerted the marshalls. As I was driving home, I recieved another disturbing call from my fren Bernard and Bacin that they have found his body and he was pronounced dead.

My condelences to his family. I will miss him. I will remember him as the down to earth guy riding a LOOK 595 bike.

Al Fatihah

Addendum

This is how I would like to remember him to be, so joyful and humble..one of the gang (with RS Murthy). Thanks RS for the clips.

0 to 2950 feet in 1 Hour 45 Minutes - Frasers Revisit

PCC has organized a joint ride between the Mountan Bikers and the Roadies. The target, Frasers Hill. There was a huge turnout, I think there were more then 40 people who must have come for the ride.

The trip up to Gap (which i only 31km) was achieved in just 1 hour 45 Minutes. The GPS read 900m which is roughly 2952 Feet above sea level. We kinda waited for another 40 minutes for all the rest of the cyclist to arrive at Gap befoe pushing of to the clock tower at Frasers. This 10 km journey took another 1 hour. The final ascent up at the clock tower read 1233 m which is 4045 feet. That means its 1000 feet in 10km.

Reaching Frasers brings me with mixed feelings, remembering interesting moments of friends trying to hold their puke in journey to Frasers and of happier times.


Statistics:
Burn 4183 Calories
HR: Avg:140 Max:172
Max Speed : 56.5 km/hr

When one cannot do Triathlon..................

One goes out for a ride.

Headed for the L2A team house where I met PK and family, where we quickly started our journey to Sungi Tengi via Ijok and Batang Berjuntai. As usual, following the L2A team, they don't have the word "Slow" in their vocab.



The route back is via Selangor Fruit Valley and heading towards Batu Arang. As you can see from the profile, the climb up is about 70m in all.



The statistic for the day is 3351 calories and average speed going is 29.7km/hr and 23.9km/hr coming back, i suppose due to the climb near Selangor Fruit Valley and Batu Arang.

Pondering on new health Targets (2007/2007)

Went RPM at FF last night. The usual suspect was there minus Adzim. I think he is sick. Did Joanne and Michelles class back to back. I think Joanne was in murderous mood and out to kill someone with her song selection. It must be Azwar, I speculate.

Majority of the gang are going to PD Triathlon this week. I can't participate as I cannot swim. Need to get that sorted this year.

Weighed myself last nite. To date already lost 31 kg from the time I started gymming last year (15 month). I was 112kg and now 81 kg. I aim to loose another 11kg in 6 month so that I am 70kg. That could be more comfortable to my biking and running.

Waistline, dropped from 42 inch to 36 inch. Now if I can target to loose another 2 inch, I cud be happy.

New skills, damn..havent picked up new skills this year yet, kayaking - gone, swimming - fumbled, mountain climb/trekking - failed. I think I 'll go for swimming again. Since today is double date time ie 20-07-2007, I better get a grip of things.

Tajamkan Gergaji

For most of us in the working life, we only have about 33 hours* left of what ever hours in a particular week for self fulfillment. This is the time balance that we have per week to invest in Mental, Physical, Spiritual and Emotional Bank Account (EBA) with those we care. I think the apportionment of hours will depend on which stage of life we are at.

If we are young and single, we may spend the hours in either Physical and EBA. Just to put into context, 33 hours is not much. A typical sportsman or triathlete spend about 20 hours(minimum) per week training and competing. That means you will only have 13 hours (half a day) to spend on EBA and/or spiritual/or mental. (to see your parents, sibling, friends or reading)

If you are in the courting mode, you will be spending that 20 hours maybe in a single EBA and thus your friends will miss you. You can also throw away your sporting life, I suppose. What ever balance of the 13 hours maybe spent on physical and/or mental leaving spiritual empty.

As you grow older, maybe time maybe the balance of hours spent will be on Physical , Spiritual and Mental and thus less time is spent on EBA . Hmmm, does that explain strained relationship, one wonders.

The first challenge is to actually find the right balance and better still secondly, if you can achieve investment in at least 3 of the areas with one activity. Food for thought, don't you think so?


*Hours per week {168} - (Hours of Sleep {56} + Hours of Work {50} + Hours of Commute {15} + Hours of Necessary Indulgent - read toilet&bathing {14} ) = 33 Hours.

When it Rains, it pours.............

Yesterday was the suckiest day ever in this month, everything that could go wrong, went wrong. It was really challengging especially when one is so prep up after attending Steven Coveys 7 Habit Course. How could I forget to bring my Gym shoes? How could I screw up the parking tickets and how did miss my appointment with the maid agency........

On a more soothing note, watched Harry Porter on Monday, though alone, I chose to.

Went cycling on Tuesday nite at Bukit Damansara, there was a large gathering of 18 people. Must have been the largest turnout ever this year for a Tuesday nite ride.

Lessons learnt, PLAN..PLAN..PLAN...(Begin with end in Mind and Put First Things First).

Kajang Annual HASH

Now i remember why i hate bike hash!. I got lost twice in the route. I am not sure whether I had followed the trail wrongly or I am just plain dumb. But there are many people who got lost also. Almost 90%, hmmm..that is bad.

I think there are more then 100 bikers who turned up for the day. There is a short route of 13km or the ordinary distance of 29 km. But as usual in bike hash, u sometimes double the distance as one tends to get lost. Many familiar faces were there.

Me, Bernard and Ash arrived there very early. The actual flag off was at 9 am. We waited for almost an hour and a half. (Actually, ASH belasah je gate crash ;-). She is fast, and excellent company).

The trail itself consist of palm oil trails, rubber plantations and virgin single tracks. Like any hashes, u sometimes end up chasing shadows. The trails is a bit confusing as we later found out that the runner hash trails converge with the biking ones. I went in and accidentally came out on a short route. Not being satisfied of coming out early, I went in again into the trail, but still came out nearly the same route. It rained just as soon as I got back after doing two loops, not voluntarily. Ah well, better luck next time.

Friday the 13th

Early in the morning, I got text by my fren Joanne, saying that I better go and visit the Superstar website Azwar. Seems that he gave me a complementary link. Damn, talk about trying to keep low profile. I was stuck in some god foresaken meeting until 12:30 , so I rushed back to office to see what has been said or done to this monyet/baboon.
Saw the time and date, yeah , no wonder, its Friday the 13th. Anyway, guess I may be going to some concert this August 21st.

Interstate2007 - What to expect?

Well, all the three stages of the Interstate2007 preview has been done:-
Stage 1 - 31st August 2007 - Ipoh to Taiping (150km)
Stage 2 - 1 st Septempber 2007 - Taiping to Bukit Mertajam (130km)
Stage 3 - 2nd Spetember 2007 - Bukit Mertajam to Persiaran Gurney (80km)

Hope you find the information useful for your ride plan. Next in the feature will be the route itself.

Come on Buddy…we will not leave you behind.

Ever watch those War Movies, where the soldier gets saved by their platoon sergeant or commander. The sergeant (be it Vic Morrow or Bruce Willis) comes into the enemy line and drags the soldier out of the enemy territory and makes sure you are safe and sound. Well, that what I felt like in the last PCC ride to Ijok and Puncak Alam, I was that helpless soldier, William and Vong was my platoon Sergeant and Corporal respectively.
After an eventful long ride from Center-point to Ijok Petronas and braving the scenic palm Oil estate roads from Ijok to Puncak Alam and the dreadful climb up the "dragon back" hills of Puncak Alam, we stopped at the restaurant to quench our thirst at Kampong Subang. The stop at the restaurant was good for all the riders to cool down in more ways then one, venting their anger and disbelief at the ride Directors choice of route. I could swear that I could still remember the swearing and cursing of the riders as they face the first initial climb of Puncak Alam and then saw the rolling hills up ahead. My philosophy which I shared with Andrea that day was simple, forget the view and focus 5 feet in front of the bike, grit your teeth and pedal.

Coming out of Kampong Subang, I made a mistake of riding off on sharp cobbled stone pathway which then punctured by rear wheels. It also broke the sidewall of my tire. Though having a spare tube in my pouch, I decided against changing the tube and chose to pump the tire seeing that the air that was escaping was little. I also thought that I can survive the ride to the next petrol station, so that I can use their pump and perhaps change the tires there. Having not gone through a puncture ever in my cycling live, I got worried and kind of panicked.

But, my trusty sergeant and corporal were there to pull me and bail me out of that danger. That was PCC at its best, not leaving anyone behind. William and Vong could have chosen to leave me there as it was not a critical situation, but no, they saw my panic stricken face and chose to provide support as I chose to pump the tire eight times round before reaching Center Point. It is also disheartening those petrol stations pumps are also hopeless and does not seem to be working on Sundays.

Heartful thanks to William and Vong for rescuing me out of the Cold. Overall, still managed to rack up 106km for the day and still manage to come back to Center Point just after noon.

Statistics for the day:-
Center Point to Ijok (42 km) averaged 28.1 km/hr and
Ijok to Puncak Alam to Center Point (62km) averaged 25.1 km/hr.
Total Calories : 3109 cal

I AM TIRED OFF...........

1. People blaming me for the bad habits that my "daughters" acquire..........
2. People blaming me for giving useless and non helpful advice to frens leading them to non independence
3. People scolding me for helping people out and spoiling them silly(white knight syndrome)
4. People questioning my motives and intention
5. People who cannot love themselves
6. People who has no urgency in coorperating
7. Having to do repetitive work
8. People who are singleminded and sellfish and come to you only when they need your help
9. People who give up easily
10.People who whines and moans about other people.

Damn, I am tired of myself............................

Different Approaches in Islam

It is ironic that two of my friends decided to launch their books this year, each has their own perspective of bringing in Islam to the communities. One approaches it through self discovery and relates it in the form of short stories, while the other writes a love story but infusing Islam as the value that the character adheres to.

Who are these two prolific writers?

One goes by the name of Dina Zaman who authored the book I Am Muslim, while the other goes under a psuedonym of Maya Iris (ironically a Yahoo Messenger ID) who writes the love story of Curahan Cinta Niagara. Having known them for quite sometime, i know them to be two totally different character in terms of outlook, behaviour and profession.

One writes for a living though it is only one of her many talent, while the other is a System Architect and Software Developer by the day that finds solace in writing love stories late through the night.

I would not have believed it myself when I first saw the transcript last year. One would not have expected someone as stolid and as fiesty as her to write touching and loving story. As they say in the business, there are hidden talents for these people.

Please feel free to buy these books and read it with and open mind. As the Angel says "IQRA" or traslated READ

Would I want an iPhone?

Quick Answer - Not at the moment.

Why would i want to trade off my current HSDPA phone for one that has EDGE technology. Perhaps in the future, I might consider getting the iPhone as the feature grows and it gets more matured. At the moment I am happy with my Samsung i600.

Feature for feature, the Samsung wins hands down except the camera. But I do agree it a nice conversation piece for most of us. I was watching E-Magazine on Channel 76 Astro, most of the superstarts wants the iPhone like mad. At this current moment, the price point of the Samsung is very attractive.

This is more RPM then RPM

Having the LeTua boys around pacing for a Sunday Ride to Batu Arang can be interesting to say the least. Ironically many of us turn up for this torture this Sunday morning. Adzim was there, so was my RPM instructor Joanne. The normal PCC gang of the PK family, William and James Bak, Yap Swee Leong and Alwyn. Two strong lady rider Andrea and Adelina is also there. The last time i went of with Joanne for the ride, we went of late the last time round because she had to stop at the ladies, this time round, her cyclometer fell off. As usual we had to play catchup with the train hitting 36-38km/hr near Kota Damansara.

This time the route to Batu Arang was in reverse ie CenterPoint - Projet Kota Damansara - Sungai Buloh - Petronas Ijok - Batang Berjuntai - Selangor Fruit Farm - Batu Arang - Jalan Kuala Selangor - Guthrie Corridor - Subang - CenterPoint. We didnt see the Letua boys until the Kuang intersection at Jalan Kuala Selangor. True to the newsletter, they came in from the rear and started pacing the train between 35 to 40km/hr. The interesting thing about these guys is that they kept that pace irrespective of flat or hills. Don't this guys have or understand the concept of hills? We headed for Ijok and then turn of to Batang Berjuntai. At this point, I already lost sight of the train having to play sweeper again albeit at a faster pace of 30km/hr.
Somehow, my new toy did not capture the first part of the journey. The view at the Selangor Fruit Farm was breathtaking and so was the hill climb from Batang Berjuntai. We saw many cyclist coming from the Batu Arang, the p2K boys etc. We reached Batu Arang at about 9:30. I am only left with the second part of the journey back. We finished the 107 km journey at 12:15. My heart rate monitor was kept busy as the graph showed, averaging 160 and above most of the time.

I find that this ride is tougher then my 167 km ride to Sungai Tengi though, but I enjoyed this ride thouroughly. Don't mind doing this ride again. I see this ride as part of the training ride for Interstate2007 this year.