Don't Feel Like heaven - The Road to Nirvana

Century ride in Ipoh is coming along. This is a 100 mile (160km) road race going around Perak on a bike. Running up to this Ride, some of us in PCC, decided to ramp up the build up by arranging (upto now) 2 bike rides. The week before we rode a distance of 107km to Center Point-Ijok-Kapar-Puncak Alam-Center Point. Day before yesterday, we rode from Tekala-Genting Peres-Kuala Kelawang-Pantai-Lenggeng-Broga-Semenyih-Tekala (A total distance of 117km) which feels like 180km.

I should have known that I was going to have a tough time on that ride. The day before, I went into Kiara and had a tough time just completing Twin Peaks let alone the ride to Sri Hartamas. deciding to cut my ride short to reserve for the Broga ride, I went back early, after experiencing one en do, two run in with the trees, and two tumbles.

Starting the Sunday at Tekala, there must have been 40 to 50 riders at the start point. It was like a bikers fest with thousand dollar machine on parade (the BMCs, LOOK with BORA wheels, Colnago etc). Well, by the time we push of for Genting Peres, the riders were spread apart. Upon reaching Genting Peres, the smart people like Arif, May Senn decided to turn back to Tekala, while 30 odd of us loonies decided to take the plunge to Kuala Kelawang. I remember my BikePro owner/fren said "Its just three hills, we should be able to do it". Some one forgot to mention that we will be crossing the Banjaran Titiwangsa twice. This ride is about Climb, climb, climb - its the toughest ride that I have ever done. Sure, at some point going downhill at 72km/hr was exhilarating, but the climb from Tekala to Peres and Kuala Kelawang, the climb from Kuala Kelawang to Pantai and lastly the climb to Broga was insane especially in hot arid midday sun.

The feeling was like riding to Genting Sempah 2 times and plus doing the ride from Gap to Frasers 4 times and going to Janda Baik twice all in one ride. I'd hate to do it in reverse. Ironically, symbolically while going back to Tekala, we passed by Nirvana Memorial Park near Semenyih. Some of us felt we should have checked in since we were three quarters dead by that time.

I was on the bike for about 6 hours, i could have reached Ipoh already. My butt was also telling me it does not want to feel the seat no more. This is one memorable ride which I would like to forget. I had to go to my swim class to cool down that day.

Addendum

Check out these cool profiles at Adrian's Blog. This is totally awesome and cool

Adventure/Misadventure

This weekend has been interesting to say the least with mix adventure and misadventure. Lets get the toxin portion out of the system first:-

Misadventure

Took up swimming lessons as part of my "pick a new Skill a year" kinda thing. Went to Swimming pool, got summon for wrongful parking by MPBJ. I think its just jealousy for not using their car park at 8 pm at night. Its not the amount per Se, but the feeling of being wrongfully judged that bugs me. How was I to know that at 8pm, and with those blurry lights, I am to park in the dimly lit car park. I am merely trying to place the car as close as possible to the lighted area and not obstructing traffic. Duhhhh...

The night before I was also reprimanded for trying to help a fren, who in my judgement needed help. I was ticked off quite severely for trying to help when help is not warranted. Maybe that was my fault as I have this bad habit of falling into the "Hero syndrome". I think, the feeling of hurt was offset ted by the positive euphoria of watching a good movie that we went to - 300. It is quite ironic, for someone who prefers to watch Bean or Comedic type movie, i have grown to appreciate other genre. I felt that I kinda owe it to this fren of mine.

My pocket got hurt on Friday and Saturday for making good my mother and daughters car. Took out a fair bit of RM1300 to rectify the aircond and key system of Perodua. Feeling kinda low, I laze about in my frens bike shop on Saturday evening.

Positive Adventure

Saw a good movie (300) with some frens. Though you can but felt this movie have a tinge of propaganda on Freedom and the American way, overall, the movie is exciting every minute of it. Trying to depict the battle between the Spartan and the Persian King Xerxes in 90 minutes doesn't do justice.

Went outdoor riding again on Sunday to Ijok. Coming back it was raining. Boy, I wish I had wipers on my glasses. I just could not see a thing and the guys were pushing quite a pace trying to reach the destination fast. We did the total 85 km in about 3 hours only.

Managed to swim a little, thanks to swimming coach. I had learn about breathing, buoyancy, and simple swim. Swimming is tough for an ole geek like me, since I am very top heavy. There is a lot of drag and I tend to run out of breath after about 20 feet. Ah well, nothing comes easy, i need to practice. But I so do look forward to going for swimming classes, I had set a target of at least one class per week.

Non Pretentious Dinner

It is seldom that one finds good Italian home cooked meal. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to one such good eating spot in a quiet spot called boatHouse Restaurant somewhere near TTDI near Rahim Kajai.

The environment was good, the music was very Continental. There was Spanish, french and Italian ring to the place and what better way to enjoy good food except with good company. I have tasted quite a few Italian type Food, and this by far is the best especially the Lasagna. To remind me of the menu, i took the liberty of taking a few photograph to remind me what to expect the next time round. I just love the presentation of the dishes itself.

Here is the preview of what Pasta can look like at BoatHouse. Don't you just want to preseve this.




And look at the Brownie, though its not as chocolaty as the ones in Ms READ, this dish has flavour going for it.


In summary, this Restaurant is about Flavour. Try IT.

Trailing the Time

PCC organized a Time Trial this recent weekend. You can check out the details here.

Yours truly actually went there to volunteer service and have a casual ride with a friend. Being lethargic and just recovering from a bout of Flu, i didn't expect to ride. Upon arrival and seeing all the excitement, managed to get my friend and myself registered in the last two available places.

With very little warm up, we went through the course in a leisurely time not really intending to compete. Interestingly, my friend managed a neat time , having come in 3rd in her category and me 8th in my age group finishing the 15km course in a slow 33 minutes. Hope to publish some pictures of the event though.

Addendum

Here are some photos of the event uploaded to Flickr courtesy of Adrian and the PCC Team. Thanks Adrian ;-)





Adrian at the registration Counter








Fren winning a Tour De Langkawi Cycling Jersey






Cycling and getting good time with Knobby Tires on MTB

Memories of the Past.......Present

I was walking in from my car park at Avenue K this morning and passing through the Putra LRT Station to my office, and my memories lingered to the first time I touched down at Heathrow in the UK and proceeding to take the Tube. What a quaint scene, all the workers packing the fruits, mopping the floor, cleaning glasses, picking up rubbish and manning the counters.

What jolts me of these memories, is that, these are all foreign workers. When i first landed at Heathrow, from the immigration officers, the sweepers, the cleaners and other general workers that I met, there were definitely not Caucasian, but were imports. I remember getting a lecture from one immigration officer with an Indian twang telling me that "We British......". This was almost 30 years ago. Malaysian does not seem to undertake work that are perceptibly labor intensive anymore.

If Malaysia is 30 years behind in its social structure to the UK, imagine what race relations and challenges we are going to face in the near future. Welcome globalization....

Queen and king of Mountain (Genting Sempah)

I had a late nite coming back from Tampin and Melaka. So getting up Sunday morning is never easy. However, i was so keen to see my friends attempting their ride at Genting Sempah, I hauled myself out of bed and was there by 7:15am.

The race i was going to is the King of Mountain race starting at Hospital Orang Asli and finishing at Genting Sempah. Adli (otherwise known as IceCube) and his brother is already there. Ashely, Ros and Stephanie was also there. Some familiar faces from Way2Ride (the organizers) were there and seeing them was fun

After seeing them registered, I drove up to Genting Sempah and unpacked my bike to ride down with intent to take some photos. These are some photos of Ashley, the eventual winner in the ladies division. Second was Ros and followed by Stephanie Chok. Ashley is the one in the yellow jersey.

My other fren IceCube managed third in the Seniors. U can see him in the white red jersey using the red Proton bike with those fabulous ZIPP wheels. Overall, the event went extremely well and we finished by 11am after the prize giving ceremony.

If U can believe what Tarot Cards - HUH

I was browsing through Nadio's Blog and came across this test. What a real Casualty for me to take this "Test". Duh........

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Road Track Review - Hill Climbs

Someone ask me, which particular short ride do you find the most interesting? I find that each ride has different sets of challenge, much like life. However, maybe I should document my rides tracks and explain what interest me about some of the hill climb ride. This article concentrate on the hill and mountain climbs.

Genting Sempah

We usually start from the Hospital Orang Asli in Gombak and the climb to the top is about 15.8km . What i find interesting is that this road has very little traffic especially on Sunday and the climb gives u ample warm up before it gets steeper in the last 5 km. I will normally pace myself at average 16-18km/hr average before reaching the last 5 km. The last 5 km is reasonably challenging as some of the hills is about 18 degrees gradient. The better challenge is to go down to MacDonalds at Genting Sempah and climb back that 1.2 km track up. This track is doable even for beginners and is good training. It shud be done within a time frame of 60 -65 minutes. Coming back from Genting Sempah is a nice exhilarating downhill which u can reach speeds of 60-65km/hr subject to guts.

Janda Baik

Extending the hill climb from Genting Sempah further would be to go to Janda Baik. The rolling hills there can be fascinating and challenging, especially when u have just climbed Genting Sempah. After going downhill a bit for about 5km, u will reach the junction to Janda Baik. The rolling hills there kinda reminds me of indoor rpm training. Some of the hill climb can be reasonably steep albeit only for short distances.

Frasers Hill

Parking your car at Kuala Kubu Baru, this hill climb is challenging not becoz that it is steep, but becoz of the distance. U have 30+ kilo of gentle climb, and after sitting on a bike for 2 hours climbing this hill, your mind will be wondering when is this going to end. Then u reach GAP and making matters worse, u have another 9 km of steep, granny wheel type climb. Even with my small chain ring, i have difficulties in sustaining this gradient having to heave 85kilos of FAT up this hill. Sometimes weather can work against you, it can be quite chilly when u reach GAP. I find this most challenging so far. It takes a toll on your mind though.

Genting Peres

Genting Peres is a good training ground for hill climb. This is located in Ulu Langat area near Semenyih. If u approach from the Tekala Rest Area, u have a 2.5km steep climb which more of a mental exercises then anything else. U then have about 12 km of downhill which u can reach upto speed of 70km because the road is wide. However, you can also do the climb in reverse from Pekan Batu 14 to the Tekala Rest area which can be quite interesting.

Puncak Alam

Coming from Sungai Buloh, you can take the challenge of attacking Puncak Alam 7 hill climbs. The objective is to head towards Shah Alam's Guthrie Corridor. It is important to pace yourself as you can run out of breath attacking this hill. Though they are 7 hills, only 3 are of any significant and the stretch can be dominating. This hill climb is interesting because of its dominating view and scenary. This hill climb is suitable for people who have some hours of ride behind them but is doable even for beginners.

Other Notable Hills

There are other interesting hill climbs such as the hill climb on the way to Taiping on the old Federal Route 1 at Bukit Berapit. Another memorable hill climb is in Penang near the Dam in Balik Pulau. This is part of the Penang Round Island Race which ends at Jalan Tun Saadon. My two other outstanding hill climbs is Cameron Highland and Genting which I hope to do when my legs gets stronger and I loose another 15 kg.

Buying a Mountain Bike????

A lot of people ask me, "hey how do choose a mountain bike?".

I am not an expert, but having ridden road and mountain bike for about 6 month, perhaps I can share what mistakes I had made during this six month so as not to be repeated by other readers.

Frame Size

Mountain Bikes generally comes in various sizes. Normally, the size would relate to the height and other discerning dimensions such as you crotch height and the length of you arm. As a rule of thumb, the following gives guidance to the size of bike u should choose:-

size 14.............................height 5ft 2in to 5ft 5in
size 16.............................height 5ft 5in to 5ft 8in
size 18.............................height 5ft 8in to 5ft 11in

If in doubt, choose the lower size. Normally, with corresponding size, the top tube of the bikes gets longer (The top tube is the horizontal tube connecting the fork of the bike to the seat post). The longer the top tube, the further away the handle is from you. I made a mistake of using a bike that has a long top tube and this is manifested in the handle being easily lifted during hill climbs. I could do better with a shorter top tube.

Another guide is that when u seat on the bike with seat properly adjusted, you should see that the hub is in line with the handle tube when u are to look down (ie the front hub is hidden from view by the handle bar).

Drive Train and Groupset

For beginners and upto the professional, stick to V-brakes, its much easier to service, easier to maintain and is light to use. Its gives u better feel and control. At the end of the day, it is u that determine the ride ability and speed of the bike. Skills and control is the one that gets u through. For normal Mountain biking, a minimum of 8 speed is adequate. If you can afford it, get groupsets of at least 9 speed Deore or its equivalent. The XTR and the likes could be overkill at this juncture because the weight saving and effeciency maybe wasted when one does not have the skills.

Hard Tail or Full Suspension

If budget is of constrain, stick to hard tail bikes. Sometimes, we tend to buy bikes which are overkill. Most of the time, when u ride cross country, u tend to ride off saddle anyway ie your butt is ridden off the saddle, hence u won feel the rutt and bump on your rear wheels anyway. So it is like riding a full suspension bike but at fraction of the cost.

So those are some of the tips that I can share with you on bike choice and decision making process that I went through. Will be touching on experience and tips of riding on a bike soon in next article.

Turning over a new Leaf

So much has been done in my cycling adventure. A lot of rides, some road some mountain biking and some interstate - what an exhilarating life I have gone thru during my "retirement". I have made friends with lotsa people, some young some errr old (my age). Retirement can be fun but sometimes tiring and hence having decided to move on, i have sought temporary employment at a premier Telecommunication company here in Malaysia. Maybe, this old fox can learn new trade - tackle new adventure.

Last week, it was quite challenging trying to get my butt of the bed, u know, the shifting of time from the casual 10:00 am to 6:00 am and facing the race to work. This sacrifice of battling to work not only to serve my need to keep myself busy but also to subsidise my daughters tuition fees. Though my thots did stray on getting a new Specialize Tarmac Carbon Fibre Bike and the Dopod 838, i better put that on my back burner.

This weekend, i very much look forward to my bike race in Putra Jaya and my ride to Janda Baik with the PCC. So, back to the rat race gang.......

780km in 4 days + 2 Days of Racing (My InterState Journey)

Backgrounder

The organising Committee of the Penang Pesta has the Annual Biking event which consist of the Round Island Road Race and the Criterium Race in Padang Kota. This year a few friends of mine had the opportunity of accompanying the LeTua Cycling Team which had participated in the Penang event as part of their training. The only condition set for us is to be able to cycle with the team to Penang and back So, a few of us packed up our bags and got our bikes ready for the journey. The expanded team consist of the PK and family, William Mok, Kimbeley Yap, Valerie and me.

Day 1 - Subang to Ipoh via Tanjung Malim (202 km)

Journey that morning started of from Kampung Subang at 6:30 am and we reached Tanjung Malim at 9:20 am and stop at the restaurant to have Pau.
The LeTua team paced the ride at a slow 30-32km per hour. Had we not accompanied them, they would have paced at a faster 38 to 40km per hour. We had our first break and pushed off for Ipoh at 10:15 am.

Not having the experience of riding more then 100km, i was not drinking enuf nor eating enough at regular frequency to sustain the next leg of the journey. At the 140km mark, I cramped out my legs and stomach and was not able to continue the journey I had to be taken by the support car to Ipoh. We reached Ipoh at 2:20 pm and rested at our hotel to recover. That evening i was really pumping in fluids and carbo so as not to be outdone by the distance again.

Day 2 - Ipoh to Penang via Taiping (170km)

We pushed of from Ipoh to Penang at 6:30 am and the journey was the normal rolling hill type with opportunity of uphill pedalling and recovery in going downhill. The only challenging hill was the 2km climb near Bukit Berapit and we reached Taiping for our normal midway pit stop at 9:00 am.

We pushed of for Penang at 9:5o am after having mee sup and drinks. The journey to Butterworth is a tiring one because of the flat road and construction near Butterworth.
Attacking flat road at a constant 32km/hr means continuous pedalling and very little recovery. The hot midday sun wasn't helping since the road has very little tree cover. We reached Butterworth at 1:00 pm and took the ferry across and reached Penang at 1:50pm. Now time to recover to tackle the Penang Island Road Race which is on Saturday. End of day note to self, when u are tired, be careful of observing which foot u unclip ur pedals and which u wanna put to the ground.

Day 3 - Round Island Bike Race


The race starts at Gurney Drive and the palaethon will then go towards Batu Ferringi and then toward Telok Bahang before attacking the hill climb near the Dam, and circling the Balik Pulau village before ascending the steep hill climb near Jalan Tun Sardon.

The men's open started at 8:30 and went at breakneck speed of 60km/hr and the total distance of 120km. The ladies and veteran started a minute later and has a shorter distance of 60km. Other then the usual state teams, there was also an aggressive team from Singapore.

Although I had registered for the race, I had to stand down and drive the support car for the woman/veteran team. Its quite exciting experience to drive the support car where u have to fight for position for ur rider and provide feeding at opportune moments. The women team were represented by Kimbeley and Valerie and the Shaharin represented the Veteran Team. The team did well, where Kimbeley got second, Valerie got sixth (excellent for first outing) and Shaharin got second.

Exciting end to the day and we set off for our hotels to prepare for the following day criterium race.

Day 4 - Criterium race (Padang Kota)
The scene - almost family day type outing. The atmosphere, exciting and fully charged with adrenalin of many cyclist. The race is broken up into Junior, Senior, veteran and girls and Open. We came in second for Seniors, champion for Veteran and were not that lucky for the girls. The tactics of swarming our riders and drafting them were not exciting to watch. Anyhow, it was good exposure to many of us who participated for first or second time.


Day 5 - Journey Back - Penang to Lumut (172 km)

Left Hotel at 5:45 to catch the 6pm Ferry to Butterworth. Arrived Butterworth side at 6:40 am and push off for Taiping at 6:45 am at the usual 32km/hr pace The journey itself was quite uneventful as we were both familiar with the terrain and pace. Stopped at Taiping for food at about 10;00 am.

Left Taiping heading for Lumut using the road that goes to Beruas. The journey and route was fairly interesting as there are a few climbs and descend. Arrived in Lumut where we decided to stop and eat prior to checking in at the Hotel/Hostels. It was extremely hot day and it is quite a strain on the body and legs. No amount of sun block can help.

Day 6 - Lumut to Subang via Sabak Bernam and Puncak Alam (223 km)

Thinking that it is the last day of the journey, we left Lumut a bit late at 8:00 am. The journey to Sabak Bernam is fairly easy as there is very little hill and many flat road. The only challenge is to keep the cadence going so as to upkeep the speed. We arrived in Sabak Bernam at 11:00 am for brunch near the waterfront.

Left Sabak Bernam at 11:55 am headed for Kuala Lumpur/Subang. The road from Sabak Bernam to Telok Intan and further up onto Tanjung Karang is fairly flat and hence i find it dull. The challenge started to get to me as we turn in nearing Kuala Selangor towards Ijok/Rawang. The road is so rutted that my wrist aches. We then turned into Batu Arang and headed for Puncak Alam.

I was kinda conned by the other riders which told me that there were 3 hills. It seems that they were counting the major ones, Puncak Alam has 7 hill climbs. At this point the group broke out and there were three palaeton.

We arrived exhausted and tired at 4:45 in Subang but a feeling of triumph and excited. It is not the distance that we find challenging but its also the pace in trying to keep it a constant 30-32km/hr.

Conclusion

Finished my full list of checklist of things to do for the year. Began with indoor cycling (RPM), Mountain Biking with PCC/Presidential, Road Riding with PCC Groups, Criterium Race In Shah Alam and Penang and Finally MyInterstate 780 km Journey from KL, Selangor, Perak and Penang.

Look forward to an exciting new year 2007

Chasing Shadows and Checklist

Don't know how to spend the weekend. Well, how about going around the Shah Alam Lake at about 35 to 40km/hr on a hot midday sun chasing a bunch of oldies on a mountain bike and a racer. Fortunately and unfortunately, that's what i just did that today in the Shah Alam Criterium - what was i thinking of.

Having registered myself in the morning in the Junior Veteran for the Mountain Bike and Racing Bike category, the feeling of regret starts to linger as I watched riders from MSN, Selangor, L2A, Terengganu and many other notable and strong veteran riders around the Klang Valley. Resigning to the fact that I had entered this to gain the experience and also to fulfil my checklist of things I wanted to do as part of my health therapy, I went along.


It was a good outing, and competition in some of the categories were extremely strong, we had a few crash outs. Few familiar guys that i saw crashing out (not of their faults, more caused my amateurs like me) were Adli and Shahrin.

What I found interesting/gratifying is that for a competition that you can register for free without any entrance fee in the morning by any individuals, the prizes and prize money can be extremely satisfactory.

Ah well, that nearly closes my riding calender for the year, having participated in PCC Mountain Biking event and this Road Race. Need to plan for next year though.

Ole' to this Girl

Give credit where credit is due. My fren Kimberley Yap, to me has done extremely well for the country and the context of it seems under scored by the media. She not only broke her personal record by more then 10 minutes but is faster then her fastest male counterparts by 3 minutes or more for the same triathlon distance.

I was so proud to see her leading the swimming leg and though she stumbled at the transition point and lost time to the Chinese athlete, she nevertheless had to endure the tactical play by the second Chinese athlete in the bicycle leg to finally finish a commendable 7th position. Knowing that she normally does a 61 minute leg for a 40km ride, she wud have been poise and a shot at the medal had it not been for that glitch.

Till her next Triathlon....well done Kimberley.

Absent-minded and Monkey Tanned

Retirement really wreaks havoc with ones mind. I am not as sharp as I should be and my mind must have been going to sleep most of the time. If it had not been for my buddy Jo***e, i won't be able to recover.

What is it with me and basement car parks?. Firstly, i "accidentally" lost my wallet in the basement parking of Menara Axis, rushing for my bicycle ride in taman Tun, and secondly "accidentally" lost my car in the basement parking of KLCC.

In relation to my lost wallet, my buddy managed to trace it back for me. However, in the case of my car, who would have thought that u can have the same brand of car parked beside u but on different floor and me searching for it on a different floor, panicked upon seeing the car and an empty parking slot, concluding that my car was lost. Ironically this same buddy also managed to calm and bring me to my senses so that I can look for my car ;)

Ah well, that was the week before i left for my Batu Arang ride. Went out with the PCC guys and also accompanying a new fren to road riding. She took the challenge of riding her mountain bike in this 88km run and surprised many seasoned riders. Though we did come back tanned except for the eye area and looked like monkeys after that ride, nevertherless an easy comfortable ride. Nice and beautiful scenery though. What a week............

PCC/Proton Presidential Ride - Sunday

The journey

Morning began with me picking up a fren Mantak from his abode in Subang Jaya. I later met up with Isaac at Sungai Way to convoy to Kajang Perdana where we reached at about 6:45 am. Parked our cars and assembled our bikes and gears. This photo is provided by Benny

The Flag off and Ride Format

There must have been more then 650 people (though 650 registered for the ride) at the Flagging off session. Familiar faces there were Kim, JT, Benny and Naeem (from the Kiara Geng), Ashley, Chloe, Stephanie Chok and Zeus (from the Fitness First Gym), Aidid and geng (from the FRIM ride) Valerie, Boon Foo and Lim (Bikepro) and Lim from KSH. Checkout the photo courtesy of Isaac and the one below by Benny.

The Ride consist of 4 Trails. The Trails mainly is design to satisfy rider who like the outdoor with a mix of mountain climbing, downhill ride, obstacles and cross country rides. Flag off was at 8:00 am and there was a stream of rider down the SILK highway before going to the first trail.

The Ride

Trail 1, I think is design to separate the fit riders and the unfit. Due to the masses of riders and the steep (some 50 degree climbs) hill, much of our times were spent pushing the bikes up hill becoz of congestion. This took out some wind and energy. There was also a downhill section where falls were inevitable. Ironically for someone who abhors danger, i think perhaps with the adrenalin pumping, i went thru almost all of these obstacles even down the 500m downhill section. Managed to finish Trail 1 at about 10:00 am and picked up our supplies of water and banana.

Starting Trail 2, JT, Kim, Naeem and me got off 5 minutes later but missed a flag and accidentally went to the "chicken Route" ie back to start. I had to double back to the Start of Trail 2 and lost 20 minutes in the process. Going up the Trail, managed to catch up with the pack consisting of Ashley, Chloe and Zues. We reached Checkpoint 2 at about 12:00 pm. Chloe and Zeus left for the Chicken Trail at this point as Zeus had to catchup with Class. I was quite lethargic at this point and hands were aching. I was quite lucky that I had not suffered cramps like many others do by the trails.

Left for Trail 3 with Stephanie and Ashley, and at this point I had made my biggest mistake of not taking enough water. 2 and half litre of water is not enough for hot midday sun and one of two toughest Trail and by kilometer 6 of the 16km Trail 3, I had already exhausted my water supply and just couldn't keep up with Ashley and Stephanie. The last 10km was the most enduring almost grueling of my life. Images of cartoons of me crawling in the desert and looking for water kept coming to mind. Good Samaritans I met, gave me what ever water they can spare for me to complete Trail 3. This is the most memorable trail I had ever had to endure. There was and almost vertical hill drops of about 30 feet and climbs and endless hill climbs with very technical trails through rubber trees. The fact that U do not know what challenges lies ahead plays havoc on your strength, mind and willpower. I reached checkpoint 3 after it was close and had to proceed back to the Start since the race is already finished.

Addendum and Errata: Here also is a cute video doneup by LingtheMerciless of the PCC ride. U can see some familiar faces here.

By the time we cycled back to the Start point, it was already 5 pm and everybody was about to leave. 8 to 9 hours of ride covering a distance of approximately more then 55km takes quite a toll on the body. I was shivering uncontrollably and quite lethargic by the time I reached my car. Only about 100+ riders finished the full 4 Checkpoint. I had to take 30 minutes of rest and soaking myself with 2 cans of Energy drink courtesy of Isaac and Jason before proceeding to pack my bikes and gears before heading off for home.

As if to greet my failure of non completion, the heavens open up and rain poured heavily closing what was a day of excellent weather. On hindsight, the day has been most memorable as what i set to do was to compete with myself. Nine month ago, i could not even climb a full flight of staircase without feeling breathless, now I could manage an approximate 50km of MTB. I'll be better prepared for next year and I look forward to next years challenge.

The aftermath

I am now suffering aches and pain on my wrist and knee perhaps due to long time spent on the bike and downhill. It is not as bad as I had anticipated though, nothing that Counterpain cannot cure. Now its time to clean the bike and the car, Ciao.

Lessons in First Aid

My Life at the moment seems ruled by Cycling. I am so looking forward to a monumental event that will be happening this weekend - the 60km Presidential Ride. In my zest to practice and have company, i had asked a friend of mine R*** to the ride in FRIM. We parked our cars near Sungai Buloh Hospital and started our climb through the trails heading for FRIM.

The approach from Sungai Buloh is a little bit challenging but we made it through to FRIM. In our eagerness to "extend" the ride, we continued on with the rather simple Rover Trails. Going down Rover Trails rather quickly and cutting the story short, R*** slipped and went flying through the air not before hitting the handlebar. This person suffered cuts on the chin, knee and shoulder. Applying first aid, i kinda felt guilty in dragging this guy along to the ride.

How does one apply First Aid to the spirit of the person and also to the guilt of another.

Fortnight of Road Riding - Review

Inspired by Isaac, i thought I would do a review of RoadRides that has happened in the past Fortnight or so. He has kindly taken many nice shots and photo and featured in his blog. These are some excerps and review of rides that I have done in the past fortnight:-

KL City Tour

This ride was organized by a friend named PK. We knew that Second hari Raya would be a quiet time in KL and the road wud be fairly empty. We started of from Taman Megah at 8:00am and push off via the LDP and headed towards SS21 and turning right to KL via the highway towards Medan Damansara and heading down towards Parlimen. We went straight into the City via Jalan Raja Chulan and circled KLCC. We had our pit stop behind Lot 10 to have Roti and Milo.

We left the pit stop and push off towards Lake Garden towards the Tugu Negara and headed towards the old PM's office and going down towards Jalan Duta. We then climbed up and circle Jalan Duta mosque before making our way towards Hartamas. We then passed Pusat Sains before making ourself back via KLGCC and TTDI and headed back towards Taman Megah. More detail pictures and review available from here.

Puncak Alam Ride

Now, this was a real screamer. Went out with the roadies to test out what was advertised to us as a 70-80km ride to Puncak Alam. The route - Center Point Bandar Utama to Curve to Sungai Buloh heading towards Guthrie Highway and back. While climbing the Guthrie Highway towards Rawang, it was during this time that the pack broke like a pack of hounds. There was roughly 50 riders, but the pack of 15 of them broke and paced at 30-35km average screaming down the Gutherie Highway. Us the middle pacers were doing 25-30km/hr average had a tough time keeping up with them. It was during this time our group, me , Val, collin and 3 others overshot a junction which leads us to the North South Highway. It was also during this time , Val had a tyre puncture and we were helping her out to fix her tyres when she had another unfortunate bad luck with her second tube also being punctured. during this time, the PLUS Ronda guys stopped by and we packed Val off with the guys to be dropped off at Sungai Buloh while we rode off.

Next km or so, we were stopped by the Cops who wanted to know what we were doing on the PLUS highway without a permit. Due to some quick thinking by Collin, we were gracefully escorted by the Ronda Police to the Sungai Buloh exit. We stopped by Sungai Buloh exit and attempted to patch up Val's tyres again and took her back to CenterPoint via Damansara Perdana. By the time we got back to CenterPoint, we clocked 105km......SH.T. That was one hell of riding experience. Isaac covered it beautifully here with pictures.

Walk like a dinosaur

Being unemployed, i tend to travel using public transport. Last week, I was in Putra LRT, and i noticed this girl listening to her IPOD, but keep shaking her head left and right. Then what surprises me is that she keeps making this gestures using her hands almost imitating a T-Rex dinosaur with hands up and down her chest. I find it quite amusing though.

The train stops in KLCC and both of us got of the stop and so happen we were going to the same destination, the Gym. Later, I found out that she is a new Gym instructor. She was just going through her Choreography to team teach.

Mountain Biking Revisit

The Rover trails in FRIM is quite a good Mountain biking trails for beginers like me. After arriving at about 8:30, checkout the map to go into the trails. Decide to go via the entrance near Jelutong lane.

The first part of the trails involve quite a decent climb with rocks and pebbles. There were a lot of Jungle Trekkers there making the climb a slow and careful process. The rain the night before did not help either making the trails very soft and slippery. There was very little traction (remind me to change my tires before the presidential ride) in my tires and makes the climb challenging and falls are inevitable.

The ride down was more enjoyable since the trails are not too technical as those in Kiara. The trails here in FRIM are wider (about 3-4 feet in width) and good for beginers. The only challenging thing I had to do was to go over the fallen tree that was blocking the trails on the way down.

On the way down, met a group of riders who has decided to ride from the reverse side which I think provides better warm up. Nevertherless the trails is recommended for any beginers to try out mountain biking with very little supervision.

The FRIM park itself is very cooling and has a canopy like effect for general outdoor sports. It has long enough tarmac road for those who just wants to do jogging and cycling on tarmac. Even at 11:00 am as I was leaving the park, it is not as scorching or hot if u were in and around in the open.

I would definitely make it as must visit place and would include it as my regular place and trails for my outdoor biking.

Roadie

Exhilirating, you betcha,

Thats what I found out when I went out with the guys for roadbiking at KESAS. Had the oppurtunity to test out my new roadbike on the KESAS motorcycle lane going from Extreme Park to Subang and down to Seri Petaling and back to Subang. Its about a 30 km distance and having wind in your face is extremely refreshing.

Since I was not sure of the timing and this was the first time that I riding out with this group, I rush like hell from my normal RPM class at AXIS to Extreme Park anticipating jam. We set off for the ride at about 8:30pm.

Comparing to the ride normally done on Tuesday which is a rollercoaster ride of climbs and flatroad, this ride is generally a flat albeit with gentle climb. Hence the pace was quicker averaging 25 to 30km/h.

Immediate observation is that there is a stark difference between riding a road bike and riding a mountain bike, and that is not to use the lowest of gears in order to practice cadence.

Ah well, looking forward to next week ride, haze permitting.

Moving On

Its been a week of mix emotion, melancholic in some ways, stressful in others but eventful nevertheless. The amount of stuff one collects at an organization when u have been serving there for 9 years can be quite boxful to say the least.

Till the last day, I was still having meetings with Minister and his representatives in the roll out of a project while safeguarding organizational interest. It can be stressful when you are caught out in between a big brother (Telco Giant) on other hand and you have an opinionated industry player on the other.

Anyhow, rolling out three boxes of book collection and personal items out of the office can be an emotional experience.

On another note, I also had to relinquish some of my "redundant assets" to make preparation for a career of no income. The previous week saw me dispose of my beloved red sports car, my other mountain bike, one of my hand phone and another of my notebook.

I hope my outlook will be more peaceful in the coming month as I deliberate on my next course of action.

Nite Riding - PCC

My first night ride together with the Pedalphile Cycling Club group was quite an enjoyable outing. First and foremost, they are a bunch of very considerate bunch of people who looks out for newbie or beginners like me who has never ridden more then 10km. Secondly, riding in a group with them, they do warn u in advance of impending potholes and rocks which demonstrate somewhat their ethics and consideration for teamwork. Not wanting to slow them down, I had trained up for 1 month at Kiara to build up my srength and stamina.

Our rounds starts from TTDI near IBM Plaza and down to NPE Pencala Link, going up the NPE Pencala Link to Hartamas and going straight to Pusat Sains Negara. We then climb up the hill towards Medan Damansara and then pass Manulife to circle Bukit Damansara and back to Medan Damansara. I think we did that twice before climbing a long hill near Manulife (Jalan Beringin - i think) towards the Damansara School and ending up back in Pusat Sains. We finish the journey going down from Pusat Sains to Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club before coming back to TTDI. I suspect, the journey must be close to 25 km.

Though I had a babysitter checking that I am not left behind, i am some what pleased as I am not the last in the group although this is my first time out. We started at 8:30pm and arrived back at about 10:00pm. If someone was to ask me 6 months ago to do this, I would call them crazy.

Tribute to my RPM Instructors - POEM

Taking RPM class to a new higher limit,
Challenge is the name, u need to survive it,
Watching us doing it with an eagle eye,
Instructor, Mr Wes, oh he is ever so sly.

He is commonly known as Mr Technique,
Correcting my mistake, he is such a critic,
His attempt at humour may not be pleasurable,
But going to his class it is so enjoyable.

Miss Lynn is another challenge instructor,
Her husky voice is quite sexy but it doesn't matter,
She checks on your execution like a headmistress do,
Her energy and fun intoxicate me and you.

Eric Chin is a hell of a big strong guy,
His execution of RPM seems to be on the fly,
His commanding voice and instruction gets attention,
He conducts his track with smooth Transitions.

A group Coordinator by the name of Herny,
Her rendition of the lyrics can sometimes be funny,
As she goes through her routine in an effortless mood,
Making us sweat, though the feeling is good.

Chloe is a small and cute instructor,
Her size and height does not limit her power,
She has confidence and strength belies her size,
Pushing us to ride to our limits thats no surprise.

Ben Sim is a man with extremely strong legs,
As he winds up the load, we scream and we beg,
Going through his routine without breaking a sweat,
He makes RPM looks simple and thats what we dread.

Pat is a young and upcoming instructor,
Her caring and warm approach makes u wanna know her,
As she belts out instructions with that impish smile,
45 Minutes of RPM feels just like a while.

Ashley is another one of the new instructor,
Her life of the outdoor makes her a strong rider,
As she rides and instruct us so passionately,
We follow her guidance and tutorship oh so willingly.

Slightly regimented , Collin is his name,
His approach in teaching, his style is the same,
His tireless reminders for us not to turn down,
In between tracks, he frowns at the sound.

Jonathan Tan is full of energy and is a dynamite ,
He motivates with grunts and scream makes u wanna fight,
He puts in so much effort our legs feel sorry ,
When u finish his class, u burn so much calories.

Watching Ben Sow teach, u get with his style,
His shy and cool approach, supplemented with a smile,
As he goes through the tracks with very little drama,
Rather unassuming in effort and very little trauma.

Spending my weekend going to RPM school,
Thats what I feel when listening to the rule,
Of my school teacher, miss Lillian is her name,
She gets us going, its all like a game.

Shopping for Husbands ???

I dont know what to make out of this. Some girl friend of mine send me this and I thot I 'll just publish this for record keeping;

Husband Store

A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a Woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE !

There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch . . .. you may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building! So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband . .

On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord.

The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids.

The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking. "Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the housework. "Oh, mercy me!"she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak. She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor.
There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that Women are impossible to please.

Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

I remember When.......................

I thought of doing this I remember when article to demostrate how old I am and how life has overtaken me ;)

I remember when..................

a) Communicating with Pen Pals with mail, and response use to come within a week and how over the moon one would be. I think, nowadays, when one does not getYM response of SMS within minutes, one becomes impatient.

b) Watching TV was a neighbourhood afair. We had a TV, and the neighbour's kids would watch what ever programme that we were watching thru the fence. Now, we have TV in almost every room and individuals will choose what ever programme from a buffet of channels.

c) I would be dependent to learn thru my sets of Book of Knowledge or Encyclopedia Brittanica to find answers to life questions. Now, one cannot live without Google.

d) High speed connection means a Hayes 19200 modem.I would go goo goo gaa gaa when Modems speed wud double every 6 month from 2400 to 9600. Nowadays, its all broadband of minumum of 1 Mbps.

e) Hanging out in the warung and sipping a cup of coffee for a price of 50sen and when the Minister announce an increase of the price of sugar, there was hoo hah about the increase of price of coffee by 10sen. Now, we don't bat an eye paying 10 bucks for a cup of coffee from Starbucks.

f) We play games and do excercise for the fun of it. Now, we pay to get tortured and get someone to tell us how to do excercise and hang around with us to count the reps.

g) Listening to music means lugging around casettes and boom box or leeching it of records and have stacks of record collection. Now, its a case of storing 7500 musics in a small device calls theiPOD which some complaint there are not enough space ;-)

h) Watching movies use to cost 65 cents for u to get a neck strain or RM1.40 for a more "luxurious seat" for better view of the movies and people making out. Nowadays u pay RM10 bucks for a seat in front and get surrounded by annoying little kids, neck strain, and movie commentators in what is called theCineplex.

i) Having to type my thesis, i had to master the use of a typewriter and listening to its clickety click and ring of bell at every end of paragraph. One cannot afford mistakes lest u want to type the whole page again. Nowadays, u use the PC to type, watch movies, and listen to music all roll in one while enjoying a cup of iceNesLO (Nescafe/Milo) - woops sorry, MoccaFrapucino.

j) Crowd around and queue at a payphone to make a call to your girl friend at odd hours of the night. Nowadays, even teenagers havehandphone to SMS and talk from the comfort of your toilet.

k) How collecting Ang Pow or Duit Raya was a godsend affair and packets have evolved from shillings of 50 sen to multiples of RM10. Now, kids just wants to monitor their balance movement in theirMaybank2U accounts.

l) Calling from Penang to Kuala Lumpur use to cost an arm and a leg (RM3.60) for every three minutes. Now, it cost only RM0.30 to call China. U can talk to almost anyone in the world for pittance.

m) One use to pay the RTD (JPJ) for use of the road in the form of roadtax. Now they have made it simpler for us to pay the Govt thru direct and indirect manner. We have to pay JPJ, Customs, PLUS and Police (summons). I am sure one day we will have prepaid summonses.

All this in the space of 10 to 20 years, Malaysia sure has come a long way. I wonder what your experience has been like.

-

So you think you are Fit....

Pahhh....Six month in the Gym and U think that U have made progress. All those back to back classes of RPM, RPM challenge and Body Pump, and U think they have conditioned your body well. Well, think again!!!!

Took my MTB out for a ride near TTDI heading towards Kiara and Hartamas. Damn, I am totally unfit for outdoor activity. After 45 minutes of pedalling, my body was already screaming enough and I had to make a few stops to come back to TTDI where my car was parked.

Lessons learnt, don't get complacent and feelgood if you think that u can do 3 hours of class indoor when the challenge outdoor is far greater especially on your mind as you see hill looming one after the other.

My Top 20 Songlist for Mountain Biking

I have just bought myself a new Mountain Bike, a Trek 3900. I took it out a few nites ago and what I found to be complimentary for me was to record some of my favourite Gym songs on my MP3 player to listen to as I ride around. Currently my Top 20 playlist is as follows:-

[BP58]I'll Be Your Light -- Kristine W
[BP58]Stand By Me (Orig Mix) -- Mr Timothy feat. Inaya Day
[BP37] Harden up -- Nicollette
[BP54]Rise (Leave Me Alone) feat. Clark Anderson -- Safri Duo
[BP50]Somethin Goin On (Crack it) -- Boomfunk MC
[BP56]Voodoo Child (12" Mix) -- Rogue Traders
[BP57]Come To Me -- Tina Cousins
[BP55]Olympia -- E Type
[RPM31]Heart Like A Wheel -- The Corrs
[BP58]Hole in the Head -- Sugababes
[BP58]Round And Round -- BodyRockers
[BP57]From Paris To Berlin (Extended Version) -- Infernal
[BP57]Push It -- Garbage
[RPM29]Kryptonite -- 3 Doors Down
[RPM29]Home -- Michael Buble
[RPM28]Freestyler -- Boomfunk MC's
[BP57]Everytime We Touch (Original Mix) -- Cascada
[BP57]Take Your Mama (Mig Vs. Rizzo Remix) -- Scissor Sisters
[RPM25]California Dreamin -- Royal Gigolos
[RPM31]Finally (Classic Club Mix) -- Love To Infinity feat. Charlotte Day

JERUK

"Jeruk" is a food that is an acquired taste,
Much like wine, it matures with time, not be in haste,
As it is sour, it compliments the sweets and the salty,
Much like life, its nature brings a sense of priority.

When u take a bite at the "Jeruk",
U get that tangy sour taste that feels so "teruk"
But as u munch the "Jeruk" little by little,
U get to appreciate it and it can be incredible.

"Jeruk" is sometimes used for medicinal purposes,
In reducing throw ups and nausea taken in light doses,
I love some "Jeruk", the taste it so unpredictable,
Beyond all the taste, the base i find is valuable,

"Jeruk" is a food that is normally misjudged,
Becoz of its taste, sometimes u feel begrudged.
"Jeruk" has to be taken with much respect,
Sometimes aftertaste can be unweildy its difficult to expect.

I like to eat "Jeruk" using my bare fingers,
The longer i nibble it tenderly, the longer the taste lingers,
The longer u taste the "Jeruk", the more u find it soothing,
The coolnest, the pleasure it brings, it is oh so exciting,

--anonymous

PUSH - Pray Until Something Happen

A new syndromme among Malaysian I suppose. Everyone seems to be in a waiting mode always waiting to be told what to do. Simple example, why are there soo many motorcyclist on the Federal Highway nowadays? Don't we have a responsibility of taking any action against these errant riders who do not want to use the bike lanes?

What about lorries travelling on the Federal Highway during the period of 7:00 am to 9:00 am. Isn't there a curfew for heavy vehicles not to use these highway during these time. Who is suppose to keep these people in abiding the rules (albeit their own concience is not ruled out). The Federal Highways is already congested as it is, and having these monsters during these times does not help.

I suppose until some notable or popular figure gets hurt or had an accident, nobody is going to take any action, such is life nowadays. Let us pray that something does not happen.

Leaving on a Jetplane (Keldai)

I didn't know that leaving an organization can be quite a heart wrenching experience. To date, almost on a daily basis groups of people have been seeing me trying to coerce me to stay. I do hope these friends of mine are not in denial as life has to go on. Perhaps it has to do with timing, but health sometimes has no preference of time.

Although my friends outside has been supportive of my decision, but some friends on the inside cannot comprehend my reasons to leave, citing illogical argument and I should be taking longer breaks.

I had change from being a Civil Engineer to a Computer Consultant and into a Telecommunication Technologist. Imagine that, building Bridges and Jetties in Langkawi to building Computer Networks and constructing Communication Infrastructure Nationwide. Perhaps it is time for me to test out other challenging jobs like driving a taxi or cooking. Time for another evolution - I say.

Laughing on the Inside

I am not sure whether we are quickly becoming a culture of androids. Our means of communications inter person has evolved from the preferred face to face to that of SMS or Instant Messaging. Though I am not a real fan of text messaging (as I have found out in many instances where bridges are burnt unnecessarily due to misconstruction of sentences), I do feel that it is sometimes the most convenient.

However, sometimes what I find to be perplexing is the passion and expression that we show in our text messaging is not a reflection of our facial expression in real life. We could be typing "LOL" but as we type, we maybe "laughing out loud" on the inside but our face draws a blank or at most quirks a smile. There are many other emoticons that we use as we converse in text, but I wonder, have we lost the ability to laugh and giggle in real life?

-

Leap of Faith

There, its done...
I have taken a leap of faith and throwing caution to the wind, started the motion of setting myself free from the Telecommunication Industry which I have been in for the past 9 years. For the life of me, i am not sure what I will be doing next. Let see what life has install for me.

Ironically, this month alone, quite a few of my close friends has done the same and we do catch on on YM to compare notes of our daily adventures.

I feel as though a huge pile of load is off my shoulder and it has been a satisfying feeling and as though all the pressure got released. WOW..............

Life Changing - An outlook of Love

Seldom have i been so engrossed by a book especially a self help type of book. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have been advised to read thru this book by my "adopted " twin. Having picked up this book on Friday evening, I have not been able to put it down since yesterday. I only took time off reading it when either at Gym or when I fell asleep.

The book deals with

a) Discipline
b) Love
c) Growth and Religion and
d) Grace

The topic about Love really fascinate me. In this area, the author dissect the topic and manages to peel of layers of issues and challenges about this emotion we call love. Being a psychiatrist, he rationalize and explains this topic well using case studies. He also organizes the topic in clearly define areas/sections to support his justification and arguments and to the point that I would call him Dr Love. I didn't know that Love can be articulated in such a rational and almost scientific manner. In fact some of the thought put forward parallels what I have always felt, but I have not been able to organize and contextualize in this manner.

I can relate to many of the examples in this book and see it as a very therapeutic reference, in fact almost like a mirror of one's soul. In fact, i may have used countless excuses to justify my inadequacies. I can only but be thankful to the person who has pointed me to this book. She may have changed my whole outlook of life.

Bruised Ego

I was in Body Pump class a few nights ago. For those not in the know, Body Pump is a choereographed group excercise that uses weights. You will be using different sizes of weights for different Track which focuses on different muscle groups. The reps are done to a song which last an averages of about 5 minutes.

Track 1 - Warm up (5 kg per side)
Track 2 - Squats (10 kg per side)
Track 3 - Chest (6 kg per side)
Track 4 - Clean and Jerk (7.5 kg per side)
Track 5 - Triceps (5 kg per side)
Track 6 - Biceps (3.5 kg per side)
Track 7 - Lunges (3.5 kg per side or null)
Track 8 - Shoulders (2.5 kg per side)
Track 9 - Abs
Track 10 - Cool Down

I am still a novice at Body Pump hence the load i use is not that heavy, but with me that nite was a fren of mine (Margaret) and she has been using weight that is slightly heavier then mine when doing chest excercise at 8.5 kg each side. A macho kinda guy standing beside me using weights that was equal to that of mine kept giving her signals to reduce (I suppose thinking that she has forgotten to take of the load) and she was responding, with a "what??...owh I am ok".

Upon seeing her actually lifting those weights and doing chest pump excercise rather easily, u can almost see the despair in his eyes and the change in face expression to that of disbelief, whilst comparing to himself lifting weights that are less then that of Margaret's. You can really see him suffering a bruised ego that nite. I cannot forget that FACE!!!

For me, I am quite used to seeing some of the ladies here using weights of up to 15-20 kg per side for squats.

The weekend That was - 25th June 2006

These was quite a frantic week. Much of my life is generally centered around my Gym session and these week has been very productive. I tend to focus on RPM class and I do an average of a minimum of 1 RPM class per day suplementing with Body Pump on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. To test out my stamina, I did stretched it too 3 classes on Monday and Wednesday tho I was ticked off for doing too much by one of the trainer ;).

These week, having been told to try out one of the visiting trainer (Lisa Jones) class, I dropped by AXIS. Luckily I was there early as the queue started at 5:50 for a class scheduled at 6:30 pm. By the time the registration started which was 6:10, the queue was full up for the 32 bikes. Lisa's class is very challenging having gone above the normal 700 calories that I usually burn in RPM Challenge class and having my HRM recording 98% max heart rate and averaging 87% heart rate. That nite alone, i must have burn a total of 1400 calories. Quite surprising for an oldie like me....

The songs selection for RPM31 is quite nice and are as follows:-

RPM 31

Track List

01. I've Been Thinking About You - Londonbeat
02. Turn Me On (Lenny B Mix) - Kevin Lyttle
03. Finally (Classic Club Mix) - Love To Infinity feat. Charlotte Day
04. Speed Of Sound - Coldplay
05. Round And Round - Rhythm Twins
06. Underwater (Above & Beyond's 21st Century Mix) - Delerium
07. Fading Like A Flower (Extended Mix) - Dancing DJs v Roxette
08. Just Feel Better feat. Steven Tyler - Santana
09. Heart Like A Wheel - The Corrs

I don't know what is it about RPM and me, these past few days, I have been shuffling between Menara Axis and Curve repeatedly. To demonstrate my extremeties, even with a window of half an hour between RPM class which ended at 1:00pm, I was out of Axis and at Curve by 1:20 to attend to the next RPM class at 1:30. Sheeshh..was I tired and stressed.

I was feeling a bit tired and down, until just now having to bump into someone I have not seen for ages as I was going out of the car park to go to the bank after my Gym session. That really got my afternoon going again thus making my day and inspire me to post these two new article.

Techies, Sales and Business

Managing Technical people can be tiring. It is currently only challenged by managing Sales Guys. Making these two groups of people communicate with each other can be very laborious.

You have these group of Techies which are characterized by engineer lost in their world of TCP/IP, SIP and MPLS expounding the features of the bits and bytes of the TCP/IP world and how the packets will negotiate etc.

Then you match these with people who are "Hunter/Gatherer" in nature - otherwise known as Sales people, coming back and describing what the customers wants. Not being able to comprehend technological stuff, some of these people's best desciption is generally based on similies. You will get statement like "Can we have a broadband service like Streamyx?". You end up guessing whether are we to provide broadband that has features such as major downtime, unpredictable performance or does he just mean that customers just want always on connection?

I have seen Business managers and Product Development guys/gals have their hair pullout trying to decipher customers needs to match technologies and engineering services capabilities. I wonder how other MNC manages Product and Capability Development Lifecycle?

Reconciliation of Expectation

Had a small outing with a group of Bloggers who had come back for vacation from Hungary and Australia at laundry Bar @ Curve last week. We were also joined by other local bloggers who was there to watch football.

The conversation centered on the gaps between expectation of what we write on our blogs and our true personality. One bloggers has personality that borders bubbly (almost champagne like) and is not apparent from postings on her blog.

It was an interesting nite out, though compared to the young bloggers, I do need to catch up on that thing call sleep. How do these guys sustain these football month and go through the day without sleep. Have they not heard of that concept and is rest even in their vocabulary? I am now also trying to figure out whether there is an invention of eye props.

Wedding Reception cum Bloggers gathering

We were at JATT wedding reception. The setting is quaint if not too formal. Unfortunately, rather then focussing on the bride and groom who must have been sweating it out in the waiting room, we were busy having a conference among bloggers who attended that reception.

There seems to be a pattern even to the color and tint of the drinks. The further away you are from the main table, the lighter the color of your drink. Yusmar (Rainforrest Geek) came with his football entourage, Eugene Moore (Halcyon9) became the official photographer, Rosli (Virtual Stupidity) was the official food taster, Khairul Anuar and Billy (Official court jester)

Khairul Anuar and Billy were friends during our hosting of the Bulletin Board Services before Internet came. Furqan Hamid and Nadio (And I say) were there too. Nadio looks fine having recovered from her bout with leukemia.

The bride and groom (with his Nehru suit) was beaming with delight. Its a good nite out.

Learning to use our heart - Journey begins

What is it with geeks like us?

Do techies and geek lack emotions. Do we think too much with our brains than follow the heart? Do we fear expressing ourselves and reveal our emotion choosing to rationalize our feelings for something or even someone?

I have a friend whom I shall call Kerry at this moment. I know her to be a very technical person. I also know her as a person who does not show (or cannot show emotions). But recently, i found out that she has written a novel and is about to publish her novel. Ironically upon being confronted by me, i found that the reason she writes this novel was as an outlet to express herself and record her fantasies in spite of her otherwise solemn and sombre outlook. I am also pleasently surprised that for someone who looks like a porcelin poker face, she writes with passion. She has even confided to me that after putting her ideas on paper, she has recently found new zest in her love life and has rekindle her husbands' fire.

I find this a paradox as I myself find it difficult to express my true feeling and prefers to hide behind a facade of walls whilst projecting an image of rational and calm person. Though I sometimes get caught out by sometime intrusive but cheeky friends, I find this true with almost all geeks I know. Almost all but a few of my friends has spouses that complains their their partners in life is not impetuas enough and does not know how to live it up.

So how do we geeks learn to follow our hearts then our minds and learn to live it a little. How do we learn to show emotions and have fun rather then being and ole and boring "Ned Flanders"?

Aunt Agony to an Aunt Agony

I don't know what is it with me, but I seem to be an Agony Aunt to almost everyone. Hello people, I can't even solve my own sets of problem let alone even try to solve yours. Is it a look thing or is it the cute cuddly figure thing, but I seem to be attracting the wrong sort of people. I appreciate that I look like a father figure and all, but all this listening to challenges and sad stories can sometime bring you down.

You can't help but sometimes get involve with some of the sad stories that gets told to you and the danger is to cross the emotional boundaries. I didn't know that KL had such a collection of disheartened group of people.

Hmmm....where do I go to tell my story?

The Week Ahead

The week ahead is going to be reasonabily hectic. I have my monthly Doctor's appointment which I don't normally like to go since I have to do a blood sugar test as I hate needles. I have to send my car and my daughters car for servicing. I have also many meeting to attend and projects to resolve.....arrrgghhh.

On the positive note, I will be attending the reception of JATT (God willing) and some new frens SPA perhaps.

Looking back on the past week, it has been quite an enjoyable and productive week. Made some new frens who are also my new "RPM kaki". We seem to be bumping into each other almost everyday.

I have also found a new song to hum, ironically this one song that I have found really touching was discovered during RPM class. Usually Group Excercise songs tend to be upbeat and motivating in nature, but this song can really bring you to tears if you listen to the lyrics and i find the lyrics ironic when I am trying to cool down after a hectic 850-900 calories burnout. The song by CORRS called "Heart like a Wheel" perhaps brings back many memories.

Towards a challenging week, till then.......

Places I have been - only 10%

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

So this is what happens behind the scene

I saw that a blogging colleague/ visitor has some interest in photograph/jpg of the Celcom Adverstisement. So I thought I will just put up a few more on how some of the scenes were setuped in the background.

Its amazing what post production can do to an Ad. I suppose this time its all not in your hands but in these footballers legs and hidden strings. With all the actions, it should make an interesting World Cup if these footballers ever get to perform as they did in these Ads.

Body Pump 58 and RPM 31

Its been almost a week since the new release of Body Pump 58 and RPM 31. Since I was away in Penang and Kedah the past weekend, i got back and was eager (read addicted) to try out the new release. My calender routine was as follows:-

Monday - RPM (Ben Sim), RPM (Colin), Body Pump (Swee)
Tuesday - RPM Challenge (Wes), Body Pump (Swee)
Wednesday - RPM Challenge (Wes)
Thurday - Body Pump (Wes), RPM Challenge (Wes).

My thoughts, the new Pump is very fatiguing, by the time you reach Track 8, your shoulder aches likes nobody's business. RPM31 on the other hand has a more consistent buildup and flatter, though its challenging now in Track 3 and 5.

The tracklist of songs for BP58 are as follows:-

BODYPUMP 58

1. I'll Be Your Light - Kristine W
2. Drop Dead Gorgeous - Republica
3. Love Shack - The B-52's
4. Riding On The Wings (Motiv8 Airplay Extended Mix) - Motiv8
5. Let's Get Down - Supafly vs Fishbowl
6. Stand By Me (Original Mix) - Mr. Timothy feat. Inaya Day
7. Breathe - One More Angel
8. Round And Round - BodyRockers
9. Intuition - Jewel
10. You Raise Me Up - Josh Gorban

Give it a try. ;))

Enigma of Belief , Culture and Religion

I was sitting down to relook at the movie "Sepet" and it is quite interesting how Yasmin has depicted the cultures and family values to quite a Tee in the movie itself.

This suddenly has made me revisit some of my thoughts and observation on the incidences/event which causes uproar recently on the depiction of a caricature of Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) as oppose to the "so called attack on the Critistian faith" in the Novel and movie DaVinci Code. It is quite interesting on how each society and belief system tackles the two incidences and how the mass media rallies behind each of the incidences.

Closer to home, the recent announcement about "Misyar" or what I term as A different Terms and Condition to a Contract marriage has been brought up (for what ever reasons) and has cause controversy in certain quarters. Ultimately I think it only benefits the agendas of a few while everyone else gets rile up on the semantic and definition of the word instead of the trying to solve the culture that cud be there within the society.

So, are our reactions and values driven by the concoction of our belief systems and can we culturally change this?

I was an Engineer Once - On Basic Design

When I first started working in a Design Department in designing Jetties, Ports and Harbours, my first project was to design a steel girder bridge linking a concrete pontoon. My mentor then was this brilliant Civil Engineer by the name of Ho Khye Gim.

I remember then that I was this hot shot Civil Engineer with proficiency of Structural Analysis and Computers and I was able to analyze and simulate any structural problem in computer matrix (the then computer programme was called Genesys).

All this was thrown out of the window, the moment I submitted my drawing and calculation to my mentor. Before I got back to my office and sat myself down, the phone extension rang, and my mentor had called me back to "discuss" the design problem. I went to this room and he chuckle to me saying that the steel bridge is under design and I shud relook at my calculation. I was flabbergasted as to how did he determine that in the space of 3-4 minutes (from the moment I gave him the drawings to me going back to my cubicle).

He sat me down and explained his hypothesis and simple beam design theory and showed me that if the tensile force calculated had been as such and dividing it by the permissible tensile strength of steel, one will get the cross member area (which happen to be bigger then what I had calculated).

From then on, I learnt the meaning of humbleness, logic and what practical experience meant and never to assume that computers is a solve all technology.

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Marvelling the X-Men

Got back from Penang tired, having to stand in for my sis in law to drive her car back from Penang. Didn't go to office instead spent my early morning watching X-Men 3 in KLCC. Not being a real fan of the Comic series, I found myself a bit slow trying to follow the plot. I know I do have "A-D-D", but there was a time in the movie where there seems a little lack of continuity for little ole me.

Surprisingly I find the movie touching in some instances, but as usual, I was more entharalled at Kelsey Grammer's (Frasier) role and "surprising" death of some of the cast members. Some scenes I find it endearingly cute and funny. Good morning outing for RM8.
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JATT's Wedding

Took a drive up to Alor Setar and right upto Jitra (a few miles north of Alor Setar). An ole friend Shaizar(Jatt) got hitched with a northern girl by the name of Ckin. These are some of my photo record of the event at the bride's house.

It was a hot day, but nevertherless, this small and quaint wedding reception was quite a memorable one.

The food was delicious, or was it because I was hungry ;).

The bride and groom in their splendour

Thank God for 3G, this post is updated via my trusty N70

Penang is Such a Hot Place

I am now in Penang, taking one of my unusual time off (or what people call a holiday). The hotel Copthorne doesn't have a really good Internet Access (or the Business Center charges 6 bucks for half an hour) thus I drove round the corner to Island Plaza to Starbuck to have a cup of coffee for the same price and an hour worth of Internet Access. Check out the Fitness First here, it quite cool though.

Today I may drop in at Jatt's wedding in Alor Setar. Being in Penang is like going to Buckingham Palace to see the "Changing of the guards", except in Penang, it the "Changing of the Road System - Two way here, one way there".