Condolences

On a sad note, my old friend Hanafiah Abdullah from the time we worked in the Open Source space passed away due to stroke. He was about my age and was acredited to be one of the most brilliant enginner that I have had the pleasure of working with. He was responsible in designing the first Malaysian 16 bit chip (1994) and the compiler that came together with that chip. He later setup his own company called Axiomatic.

Hectic Week (Past)

Training
The week started with my first jog of the year after Mizuno. Did 3 rounds in Kiara Park on Monday and I feel as if my lung was about to burst. Repeat that on Tuesday nite while extending the route to KLGCC and back. Just to have a feel what it was going to be like during Powerman, carried on with the guys on the Tuesday nite ride. It was suffering all the way, but good.

Didn't do anymore training until Sunday, where i decided to take a short ride since I was tired from the long trip to Gerik and my brothers Wedding

Time Spent with family
Had family gathering on Wednesday nite to resolve whatever last minute arrangement for my lil brothers wedding reception to be held at Tabung Haji. It was a closed private affair and we rehearsed it with the MC and family members. The reception on Saturday went like clockwork from the moment I reached Tabung Haji at 10 am until we finished it at 5 pm.

Sent wifey to KLIA for her 1 month stint in Japan while collected my maid back from Indonesia.

Out Station Work
Went to Grik on Friday. Didnt realize that the road to Grik has been improved tremendously. Put up the nite in Ipoh, and started the journey from Ipoh at 6:30. Reached Grik at 8:00 am and waited for event to start at 10:00 am. Rushed back from Gerik at 12:00 pm and reached KL at 5:30 pm after stopping for prayers and short nap.

Conclusion
The week went very fast, damn I have to taper of training now for Power Man. Hang on, I haven't started training, how can I taper off.!!!!Looks like my Power Man and Presidential is DOOMED...

Time Investment Schedule for this week

Outlook for this week....

Out of the 168 Hours that I have for the week, let see how the time apportionment will be. This is my plan for the week.

Work = 60 Hours
Sleep = 42 Hours
Family = 18 Hours
Food = 14 Hours
Excercise & Workout = 15 Hours
Networking & Friends = 7 Hours
Personal = 12 Hours

Let see how this goes to plan.

Managing and Planning for Nutritions on Long Rides

A lot of riders thinks cycling is about strength and speed. It might be true in short distance ride of 50km or less, but on rides of 80km or more, nutrition management is very important and preparation for this kind of ride is very important. In the recent ride, I watched quite a few gung ho riders (who may have thought they are strong) cycle with very little care for drinks and eating. You can see the fatigue and tiredness sets in on the 100km mark especially when some joker decides to "test" some of the cyclist in the peloton with 50km/hr dash into Ijok. Strong headwind sometimes does not help as well, when u are pacing at 32-34km/hr.

On long rides, it is good to have two bottles of drinks, one bottle with energy/recovery drink while the other with plain water. This has to be consumed at a rate of one or two sip every 10-15 minutes. It will also be good to have carbo loading either in the form of the 50 sen bun every hour or so or at stopping station. Always remember that as rides gets into the late morning towards afternoon, your body tends to loose a lot more water and the water bottle need to be filled up more often.

If you eat or drink when your are tired, you are already drinking/eating too late and this will affect your performance. In some cases, this can bring onset of cramps and this will be most difficult to recover from. Do bring a sachet of powergel/or powerbar in case of emergency.

Cycling is about keeping constant pace, having to slowdown and speed up waste energy, so try to minimise changes of speed. Manage and plan your nutrition on long rides please.

Sour and Sweet

I feel helpless and depress when in hospital.

I spend 4 hours watching two extended relatives of mine in hospital admitted due to cancer. My wife's' biological mother and her biological brother lying there in the hospital bed and for once, I was lost for words. The brother (according to the doctor) is terminal due to the spread of cancer from the face to the brain, while the mother just had her colons removed also due to cancer. I can see that this event had visibly shaken my wife.

I owe this family quite a lot as they took pains to track down their lost sister 10 years ago and took her in without questions. The brother has been a pillar of strength in supporting all the brother and sisters through colleague and life and it is such a shame to watch him there helpless.

The ironic part of it is that, what do you say to people who is there on their back suffering the ordeal. Looking at them straight in the eye also bothered me, as I stood there feeling helpless and not knowing how to help.

On a happier note, my brother had just got married to a Kuantan girl. Its a simple ceremony and watching him prepare, makes me thing of my own challenges 22 years ago. He was pale with nervousness the day before in anticipating the "juru nikah's" questions. It went through with quite a breeze and we are all happy for him.

Someone fail Maths

Puasa has just finished and I am back looking for rides that i can do to get back into training. Naturally, look into the PCC newsletter, I came across the Tar and Grime section where there was a ride anouncement that this weekend, PCC is conducting a 100km ride and its starting at 7 am. Now that starting time causes me to be a bit weee suspicious.

Fireup my GPS Mapsource programme and started searching for the route. If my memory serve me correctly, the ride to Ijok Petronas is already about 40km since it is a common popular mid point. Using the Mapsource, and asking it to calculate the route point and lo and behold, the journey to Kampung Kuantan loop is going to be about 38km. Now how does 40+38+40 make up to be 100km.

Dang, some riders are gonna be in a surprise mode this weekend. Be warned of bonus mileage.

Watching to much Numbers and Criminal Mind

Does your biking attire reflect your personality?

When someone suits up in a T-Shirt riding a racing bike, what does that tell about that person's personality? Does colour of cycling jersey give indication of their personality when cycling - do people with loud color have louder personality then people who rides with dull blend colour. Looking around the cyclist that I meet around the Klang Valley seems to indicate there is such correlation.

Does it matter whether you come around from a culture of Mountain Biking as oppose to road cycling? As one moves into a triathlete domain, do people change in their character?

Duh..this is what lazing around and eating a lot during Raya does for my little under worked brain.

LOOOOOOONNNNNGG THINK

This SMS reached my phone "Lxxx masuk wad kat pantai, on drip". God, I have neglected my close friends. It is not so much that his son is in hospital, but that I am guilty of not catching up with some of my close friends who have stood by me through some of life challenges in previous times. How has it come to this, for him to text me of his son's condition. I should have been the one that catches up on news of his family and stuff.

I suppose it is that time of year nearing Hari Raya Aidil Fitri that I get a bit ponderous. But there is validity in my concern since I seem to have been concentrating on friends that is doing biking and health rather then those who were in IT and Telecommunication. Is it time, is it business or is it just plain excuses. We have a choice and I have chosen not to execute it. Sheeeshh.... I hope i can be fair to everyone soon.

So, to all my friends and running up to this Hari Raya, I seek forgiveness and understanding from all of you.

Maaf Zahir Batin and Selamat Hari Raya

Bantus Capoeira - Chilling Out

I was invited out by Bernard and normally on Sundays, I tend to stay in after fasting. It was however a slow day and very uneventful Sunday, and believing in the principles of Carpe diem (Latin - Sieze the day), i obliged and went out to Laundry at Curve to watch and get to know Brazilian Culture through Bantus Capoeira.

Bantus Capoeira is a mix of Martial Art, Music, dance and Acrobats. Originally I was quite apprehensive, but after spending about an hour watching, I totally have new respect for these people. Though I am a martial art proponent of Tae Kwan Do and sparring is not new to me, these guys movement is so fluid with mixture of strength and flexibility.

As they say, a picture says a thousand words, watch this clip courtesy of Bernard.

The PIZZA Man

Sometimes it takes leadership and dicipline to break a routine and look into the social aspect of bringing people together. We are so commonly rule by schedule and routines that we forget the basics of friendship and human networking. A case in point is the get together organized by Shazly last saturday at his house in Ukay Perdana. Though it look easy to organize and get people together, but sometimes, there are no shows.

In our zest of finding time to divide our spiritual activity and exercises activity in our current busy schedule during Ramadan, this "servant of god" (hamba Allah) has got some of together at his house for potluck and get together. I take off my hat to him, it gives me a jolt and reminder that there is more to life then exercises, cycle, prayers, sleep and going to work. I have not invested enough time to catchup and expand my horizon with people.

Put some faces to people who I knew in Cyberspace like Mejar Kalam, Nurina, Abu, Mary and Kam. Others present were the usual suspect of Azwar, Ariff, Senn, Adzim, Ajeep, Azmar,Laif and Jaja. I may have left one or two names which I did not get to get (hear), sorry.

Overall, it was a nice get together and was a difficult decision on some of our parts to continue to Putra Jaya for our usual 10:30 pm ride. Our butts were having a nice get to know session with the chairs at Shazly's house (as Senn puts it) and we find it hard to extricate ourselves off the chair.

LOVE is knowing when to walk away............

For me LOVE is about trust and trust is created by depositing actions in each others emotional Bank Account. Sometimes LOVE is about walking away...much reminded by someone to me when I received this story in my mailbox.

There was once this guy who is very much in love with his girl. This romantic guy folded 1,000 pieces of paper cranes as a gift to his girl. Although, at that time he was just a small fry in his company, his future didn't seem too bright, they were very happy together. Until one day, his girl told him she was going to Paris and will never come back. She also told him that she cannot visualize any future for the both of them, so they went their own ways there and then... Heartbroken, the guy agreed. But when he regained his confidence, he worked hard day and night, slogging his body and mind just to make something out of himself. Finally with all the hard work and the help of friends, this guy had set up his own company..You never fail until you stop trying.

One rainy day, while this guy was driving, he saw an elderly couple sharing an umbrella in the rain walking to some destination. Even with the umbrella, they were still drenched. It didn't take him long to realize they were his girl's parents. With a heart in getting back at them, he drove slowly beside the couple, wanting them to spot him in his luxury sedan. He wanted them to know that he wasn't the same any more; he had his own company, car, condo, etc. He made it! What he saw next confused him, the couple was walking towards a cemetery, and so he got out of his car and followed...and he saw his girl, a photograph of her smiling sweetly as ever at him from her tombstone and he saw his paper cranes right beside her...

Her parents saw him. He asked them why this had happened. They explained, she did not leave for France at all. She was ill with cancer. She had believed that he will make it someday, but she did not want to be his obstacle... therefore she had chosen to leave him.

Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have. She had wanted her parents to put his paper cranes beside her, because, if the day comes when fate brings him to her again...he can take some of those back with him... Once you have loved, you will always love. For what's in your mind may escape but what's in your heart will remain forever. The guy just wept...The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside her knowing you can't have her, see her or be with her ever again.........hope you understand.

Find time to realize that there is one person who means so much to you, for you might wake up one morning losing that person who you thought meant nothing to you.