Fantasy Vuelta

I've just spent lunchtime finalising my fantasy Vuelta team. Somehow I've managed to get 6 of the top 8 favourite overall contenders in my team, as well as who I think will be the top 3 sprinters. Here's my team.

GC Contenders

1. BELTRAN Manuel
2. CHAVANEL Sylvain
3. DANIELSON Thomas
4. GOMEZ MARCHANTE Jose Angel
5. HERNANDEZ Aitor
6. KARPETS Vladimir
7. MENCHOV Denis
8. PEREIRO Oscar
9. PEREZ RODRIGUEZ Luis
10. SASTRE Carlos

Sprinters

1. BENNATI Daniele
2. BOONEN Tom
3. NAZON Jean-Patrick
4. PETACCHI Alessandro
5. ZABEL Erik

I hope I have more luck than in Le Tour where my team was decimated by crashes and drug-related withdrawals!

70.3 Target

Following a 6:07:09 Desaru race, with a difficult swim, a 4km short ride and a 1km short run, my target for Singapore is a faster swim (depending on conditions) and same speed bike and runs = 6:16:30. Round down to add some spice to the proceedings =

6:15:00

Fingers crossed!

Merdeka

Happy Merdeka to Malaysia - hope you enjoy the celebrations while I am in a "neighbouring country".

...and I hope the PCC Interstaters all have a great ride at the weekend.

Why Men Like Triathlon

Jackie caught a glimpse of triathlon on TV the other day (a "Road To Beijing" programme showing brief highlights of the recent womens ITU race in Hungary) and noticed a bunch of slim, fit young women riding bikes wearing nothing more than swimming cossies.

Now she's sure she knows what attracts me, and other men, to triathlon.

Mid-Valley Madness

After my Subang heroics I went to Mid-Valley with Jackie and Lucas. Normally I avoid that place like the plague - especially on a Sunday - but as I got back from my run early I didn't mind risking it on this rare occasion. I was happy to get a parking spot quickly and the Mall wasn't too busy.

We queued for tickets to see Ratatouille (even though Lucas had already sat through a fake DVD of it) and had an early lunch while we waited for it to start. After the movie (with amazingly realistic graphics) ....we unsuccessfully shopped for navy Converse shoes for the little fella...successfully found him a nice smart light blue shirt for his Auntie's wedding...I got a strap to help me lug my bike around Singapore next weekend.. had a coffee and cake in the Coffee Bean...then more naughtiness (ice creams from Mickey D's).

For the first time ever Lucas then pestered me to accompany him while he rode his bike (normally it's the other way round). He's got the hang of riding on 2 wheels now, but he's not too good with the brakes yet! I had a go on his mate's BMX, prompting cries of "race!" from Lucas. I told him I wanted him to experience a proper fall before he got carried away with racing!

Soon I had my "wish" and Lucas was sprawled on the floor next to his bike after a medium-speed total loss of steering control. No tears and no blood worth mentioning - and Lucas' first official fall had finally happened.

In case you were wondering (Mum) - he was wearing his helmet.

Return to Subang

I beat my own best expectation by over a minute to finish this run in a super-dooper 53:31, 12 minutes faster than last year.

Thumbs-up with 50m to go! Photo - Tey

This race was a bit of a "quickie" - I got to Subang at 6.45am, reported, jogged around a bit and stretched. We lined up at 7.20am. I bumped into Abu in the throng and after a quick chat about printing stuff on tri-suits, we were off, early, at 7.26am.

I did a bit of off-roading in the first km to keep at my desired pace and was slowed a bit by "traffic" in the first few kms. Soon I was joined by Alex "Powered By Jesus". My pace felt good and despite going a wee bit faster than usual the desire to stop in the first 25mins didn't materialise.

My HRM was fully-functional again and I was maintaining a high-150's rate until the final 2km. I even began to sense the beginnings of a third running gear in my body. Until earlier this year I only had one gear (slow). Then 2nd gear (a bit faster than slow) appeared. Now it looks like 3rd gear (medium-slow) is developing!

Into the final 2km, only 42mins on the watch, and I was catching many of those in front. Just before the u-turn marking 400m to go I saw Jason Foo ahead (2 mins or so) and Abu (1 min or so). A solid final km saw me join the queue at the finish line in 53:31 - but still no medal!! I thought <1hr earned a medal, but apparently it was just the top 100 this time.

I bumped into Ray Hee and Laif after the race, but made a quick exit and was home by 9.30am - plenty of time left to do other things.

Aviva here we come!!

I'll be in an autumnal England in a few weeks and I'm already looking forward to doing some chilly country-lane runs!

Home Run

As part of my ideas to squeeze more training into my time without sacrificing time for other things, I ran from the office to home last night, along Jalan Bangsar and through the heart of Friday rush-hour KL, to Kg. Baru and Kg. Datuk Keramat - 14.2km in 1h30m+. Not a bad time considering all the stops at junctions, and the dodgy pavements. I walked a couple of times early on too.

It would have taken me 45mins to travel by LRT, so I effectively got 1.5hrs training into 45mins. I must admit though it wasn't the most pleasant run route in the World - perhaps a Friday evening isn't the best day to do it.

Here's the route...


An easy 16km ride to work this a.m. aboard the new Stealth, which is off to Edwins today for a bit of work to be done in preparation for the biggie next weekend - Aviva 70.3 Singapore.

Subang 10k tomorrow a.m. Hope to set a new 10k PB and be home by 10am!

Seeya!

Busted!

In rather celebratory fashion, The Star today reports that...

"It's been barely 24 hours since the start of Ops Bersih and the authorities have already arrested a driver and his co-driver...

...They also issued 117 summonses for various traffic offences, including one to a driver who was supposed to be under suspension because he had accumulated more than 15 Kejara demerit points.

Road Transport Department (JPJ) enforcement chief Salim Parlan said these were the first successes...

Among the summonses issued were for permit violation (49 offences), absence of co-driver (10), violation of driving licence (18), overloading (45) and technical offences such as having bald tyres and faulty brakes (32)."

Well thats just great. I'm sure the families of the 22 already-dead people are delighted with the authorities swift action.

22 people die and the Authorities rip off their shirts in true Superman style and swing into action with yet another "Crackdown". But hold on a sec...

• What were they doing before Ops Bersih that led to the current epidemic violation of laws by bus companies and drivers? (Answer - nothing)
  
• What happens when Ops Bersih finishes after Raya? (Answer - they go back to sleep)
  
• Doesn't Superman save people before they die?
• Haven't I heard this before?.....tragic accident > Authorities 'Crackdown' for a while> it all goes quiet > tragic accident > etc...

Sad to say that this one will be swept under the carpet, just like all the others (I don't remember any outcome from the Ipoh Pilgrims crash), and from what I can see the same thing is going to happen for decades to come.

Swim Lesson #13

Warm-up: 900m (including 200m in 4:04)
Main Set:

• 2,000m (400-200-400-200-300-100-300-100m) @ above race pace with 30s breaks.
• 100m - easy/loosen-up
• 6 x 50m - sprints with buoy & paddles
• 50m - easy/loosen-up
• 2 x 100m - 50 touch shoulder drill/50 normal

Cool-down: 100m easy
TOTAL: 3,650m

A fan-dabby-tastic world-record breaking 3,650m session! I'm getting faster too! PB's set during main set were...

200m - 4:04
300m - 6:27
400m - 8:40

Subang or PCC?

I'm not sure what to do this Sunday - Subang 10km or a PCC ride. I'll decide once I know what ride is planned. It's the Singapore 70.3 race the following weekend and a 10km run isn't great training but its hard to resist a crack at at 10km PB and getting a medal that I missed out on last year.

In 2006 I clocked 1:05:23 in Subang. My official 10k PB is 57:47, set a few weeks ago in the KOTR, but my best Double Hill (10.8km) time would suggest that I have done an unmeasured 10km in about 54:50.

Mmmm... what target to set for this weekend then?

Desaru Long-Distance Triathlon 2007

Friday

I met Bernard and Adeline at Bike Pro at 9am, racked up their bikes on the back of the car and we hit the road at 10am after some kopi and makan at a nearby shop.

'Twas nice to have good company for the journey and the time flew by quite quickly. We stopped for a late-ish lunch in Kota Tinggi and arrived in Desaru at about 3.30pm. During the journey 3 cars/lorries moved over to let us overtake! WOW! - must have been Courteous Driver Day or something like that.

Cruising...

We checked-in and registered and I gave my Fizik saddle to Razani to sell (hopefully) and got new fittings for my unstable hydrotail from the BB boys.

The race briefing turned out to be a bit later than we thought so the three of us went for a swim (recce for the race and for Adeline in particular to get an idea of what the swim would be like). Lots of irritating "sea lice" in the water and I emerged from the sea after a good 4-500m recce with some unusual cuts on my foot - perhaps a sting of some kind. Nothing major though.

Evening makan - we headed off on a 30min drive to Restoran Makanan Laut Telok Sengat with the imcyclist.com gang and many other pals.

I slept surprisingly well for the night before a race! Bernard's bike also slept well after being lovingly tucked-in...

Bernard loves his bike very much!

Saturday - Race Day

Up at 7-ish - satisfyingly late for a race day - and prepared. Tightened-up bike fittings and prepared kit and race nutrition. 1 bottle of 100plus & 1 bottle of ORS to last the entire 90km ride and 1 bottle of water to be replaced each 30km lap. 2 gels for the run.

Brekkie at 7.30 giving 2.5hrs for digesting. Then off to transition. Lucky I had string to tie my bike as I couldn't hook my saddle over the rack as usual (tall bike).

With Jason before the start.

Ready to rock 'n roll!

Swim

Forgot to start my stopwatch! Remembered after 20s or so whilst still running through the waves. My recently serviced HRM wasn't reading my HR either - makes you wonder if it is worth having them "serviced".

We had 2 triangle shaped loops to look forward to, with a short run on the beach in between. The loop legs were 300-350-350m. This was a tough swim! On the first loop the 2nd and 3rd legs looked very long and seemed to take a long time. On the 2nd leg we were swimming with the waves coming across us and diagonally on the last leg. Sighting was difficult due to the waves but my navigation was ok and I didn't go off course much. I did a bit of breaststroke only for sighting and when I got caught up with other swimmers.

I was back on the beach in about 27mins - terrible!! - my target for the whole swim was 43mins so I was already more than 5 mins down!

2nd loop here we come!

2nd loop - goggles still fogging up! still lots of swimmers around me, but feeling good, breathing ok, was quite well warmed up and my improved timing made me feel my strokes were quite powerful. However my time was almost an hour as I hit the beach - nearly 10mins down on my target!!

One ray of hope was that I finished at the same time as Ironman Sam Pritchard.

Swim time - Lap 1: 28mins, Lap 2: 30mins, TOTAL: 58mins.

Bike

A steady 300m jog then an uneventful T1 and I was on the bike - time to see what benefit I would get from the "Stealth" in race-mode!

The first speedy section came after the first u-turn at 1.5km. I managed to pick-up a good pace and started passing a few riders. After another 5mins - a rear wheel flat!!! SH*T!!! Oh no it isn't - its vibration from the road surface and a slight incline - phew!

Out onto the exposed road (main part of the loop) there were quite strong crosswinds. On the inclines I sat-up and kept my cadence up and seemed to maintain a reasonable speed. After 7-8km of the first loop I was past by a bunch of cheating drafters who I swiftly reported to a marshall, who whizzed off whistle-a-blowing to break them up. Before I got to the 2nd u-turn I spotted Ironman Sam still not too far ahead, and Jason also a couple of minutes ahead of me. Also Steve Lee, who always seems to be just ahead of me in triathlons.

I settled into a pattern - whizzing along in aero-mode most of the time and sitting-up and spinning up the few inclines. For the 1st/2nd laps I spent some time in the close (but not drafting) company of Carmen Leong and Saiful. I spotted Shazly ahead of me too. Bernard was a short distance behind and I expected him to catch me.

Lap 1 time - 57mins (wow! thats around 30kph!!)

Carmen, Saiful and I exchanged places for a lap or so before I eventually pulled away (a little bit). May Senn and Patrick were also spotted on my travels, but no sign of Arif.

On lap 2 I caught Shazly. He managed to fend me off for a while but eventually I overtook him. I was surprised that Bernard hadn't made up any time on me - maybe my bike was helping!

Lap 2 time - 56mins (faster than 1st - wow again!)

I think it was towards the end of lap 3 that I caught Raymond. The mid-section of this lap was great as the wind had changed to give us a great tailwind, however this also made the last few km back to the final left hand turn at the roundabout a bit tough. A this point I pushed a bit hard with my left leg and my quad gave a tiny hint of cramp. This prompted me to get into spinning mode earlier than planned to get my legs ready for the run, so this lap was a few minutes slower.

Lap 3 time - 58mins

TOTAL Bike Time - 2:48:59 (my goodness gracious me! that's >30.5kph for 86km!)

Nutrition - 1 banana at the start of the ride, then a PowerGel every 45mins (total 4 i think)

T2:

I seemed to take forever in T2, but I was deliberately taking it calmly. Trying to put wet socks on quickly always ends in disaster!

Run (only 20km according to Google Earth):

Easy-does-it for the first 10mins and no sign of cramp - hooray! After 5 mins I came across a walking Jason - still trying to find his running legs. We ran together for a while before he dropped back, but glad to say he found his running legs and was close behind for the remainder of the race. After 1.5km (first u-turn) I could see a string of "rivals" breathing down my neck - Raymond, Shazly and Dicky Z. Only a minute or two behind me after the bike, Saiful cruised past me quite early on in the run. Carmen had passed me in T2 i think and was flying on the run. Sofian was spotted many times too - looking very calm & collected.

I ran all the way except the steep hill before the roundabout. My legs were tired, but ticking over, and I did the first 10km in little over an hour.

Run Lap 1 - 1:04:43

Running past the crowd at the end of the first lap provided some much-appreciated company and support, and part of me wished I could finish - anyway only 1 lap to go - no more after this one! One PowerGel left and I was slowing down so I drank as much energy drinks as I could. There was good support from one particular fan standing outside The Pulai Resort, and seeing numerous familiar faces who I knew had further to go than me was keeping me going!

Ray caught me about 5km into this lap and Dicky Z got me at the roundabout. However twice Dicky let me catch him by going to "water the daisies" - he pipped me by 36s in the end! With 1km to go I saw room-mate Bernard for the 3rd time on the run. The first 2 times I saw him (Lap 1) he looked very serious - "in the zone" I thought - running and listening to music - so no response to my greetings. This time he was still looking very stern, and didn't reply even though the MP3 player was off. Little did I know why he was not a happy-chappy! (see later)

I crossed the finish line in 6:07:09, well inside my 6:30:00 target, and was well-pleased, even getting slightly emotional (but only for a sec, and not showing it!).

Run Lap 2 - 1:09:39

Run Nutrition - 2 PowerGels (3 would have been better)

A Finish line smile with a hint of tiredness! - Photo By IronmanSam

Aftermath:

I was welcomed by Sam and Carmen and a few others at the finish, got my medal and refreshingly freezing cold Powerbar towel and a drink. Lizi was there and asked me if I'd seen Bernards bike. It then became apparent why he didn't look too happy. He'd cycled into someone who'd stopped in the middle of the road (idiot!) to vomit. Bernard's bike frame was therefore in three pieces instead of one. Luckily Bernard was still in one piece!

RESULT:

60th out of 112 in Mens 34-39 category.

S - 0:58:01
T1 - 0:03:39
B - 2:48:59
T2 - 0:02:08
R - 2:14:22
TOTAL - 6:07:09

Finishers Makan after the race

Sunday

We watched the Sprint race. If I hadn't have already packed I might have raced. It was great fun to watch a whole race and there was a great atmosphere.

Team 225 (our room no.) - Bernard, Adeline et moi.

We joined the post-race lunch but didn't hang around for all the prize-giving and headed home at 1pm. Back to KL by 6.30pm, where I managed to top the weekend off by watching the MotoGP and the crappy Red Devils lose 0-1 to City! ha ha!

If you're interested in what the pro's thought about this race, you can read the Team TBB (The Bike Boutique) race report here.

I will upload all my photos to a photo-sharing website soon. I have snaps of Willy, May Senn, Adeline, Azmar, Omar, Jeffrey, our evening seafood dinners etc...

Dear Spurs

Dear Spurs,

I have supported you since my youth, in the days of Ricardo Villa, Ossie Ardiles, Steve Archibald, Glen Hoddle and Steve Perryman. Since then I have withstood the annual disappointment of being a Spurs fan, and resisted the temptation to support your worst enemies Arsenal, despite them being far more successful and playing very attractive attacking football.

Now that you've spent tens of millions on new players and have a plethora of attackers, yet still manage to lose to a sucker-punch from newly-promoted Sunderland, and get whipped 1-3 at home to Everton, I am finding the temptation to defect to The Gunners ever more difficult to hold-off.

I will be in England in early-October, so I give you until then to help me decide whether I come to White Hart Lane to watch your match against Villa, or somehow get to the Emirates to watch Arsenal try to do better against Sunderland than you did.

Love,

Adrian.

Swim Lesson #12

After an unplanned 6-week gap, it was back to Wednesday night swimming lessons last night, with a good but fairly easy-going 2.8k -

• Warm Up - 10 x 100m
• Drill A - 2 x 100m
• Drill B - 2 x 100m
• Race Pace - 4 x 100m @ 2:13-2:16
• Race Pace - 1 x 300m (target 6:45, actual 7:08, +23s)
• Race Pace - 3 x 100m @ 2:11-2:18
• Race Pace - 1 x 200m (target 4:30, actual 4:23, -10s)
• Cool-down - 2 x 100m
• TOTAL 2,800m

Drill A = Touch shoulder during recovery to help timing. Leading arm to start pull same time as touching shoulder. Pulling arm to be halfway through (90deg. down) when leading arm reaches full extension.

Drill B = same as above for 25m then switch to normal swim 25m...repeat for total 100m.

6.20pm-8.10pm = 1h50m.

French Anyone?

Free milo ais and roti canai to anyone who can translate this from French to English, or just tell me what famous piece of literature this is.

Tip - don't try to translate, just read it out loud (knowing French pronunciation will help) and listen....

Un petit, d'un petit
Ca ton et vol
Un petit, d'un petit
A degree faux
Aux des quinz aussi
Et aux des quinz main
Coup dent peu d'un petit
De guerre a gain.

PCC Centrepoint - Batu Arang Ride

My first long ride on the new bike. I was tempted to ride from home, adding 30km to a 108km route, but decided against it just in case my set-up was uncomfortable.

Riders today (whose names I know) - Adeline, Lisa (fast runner), Rafiq, Shu Hwuey, Don, Adzim - Cervelo, Jeffrey - new Bianchi Liquigas, PK & son, Patrick & Jason, Gert-Jan Theunisse (see photo), Azam, Dennis - Cervelo Soloist.

Gert-Jan Theunisse - spotted in Batu Arang with a Merida bike and Discovery jersey

After receiving masses of praise for having a super-new-shiny-lightweight-carbon-mean machine, we set off. After an easy first 7km or so I went for a blast down the hill towards the Industrial areas before reaching the Sungai Buloh Road. I then settled into a pattern of time-trialling a bit on the front, getting used to my aero-position and weird saddle, then taking a rest, getting dropped, then catching up again. Eventually we reached Ijok Petronas and re-fuelled.

Another long straight road after that provided another aero-position front-running opportunity but once the hills started I dropped back a bit before working my way through the backmarkers and into Batu Arang for wan tan mee soup - lovely!

Out of B. Arang I didn't stay with the small lead group on the climb and ended up all alone on the road back to KL. Soon I caught Dennis and the pair of us sped along at a fair rate until we waited for the rest to guide us through a complicated route back to Centrepoint.

108km in 3h50mins-ish I think. My average was 29kph+ but the slow last sector lowered it to about 28kph. Not bad though as I did little if any drafting, and to reach my Desaru target I only need to do 90km @ 26kph.

Perceton

An old friend of mine, Andrew Neil, who I only knew until 1983 when I moved from Stranraer to Kilmarnock, contacted me last week through friendsreunited.co.uk and it got me thinking about my childhood there. I ended up thinking about the times our family went to my Granny's house so I thought I'd do a post that might interest her and my Mum (and siblings) more than the usual tri-obsessing...

Things I remember about my Grandparents house "Perceton" on Westwood Avenue in Stranraer, Scotland.

• exquisitely manicured lawns
• a very low ceiling light in the hall that I had to avoid hitting with my head even when I was just a teenager.
  
• running around the raised stone border in the front garden
  
• sprung door stoppers that made an irresistible twanging noise when kicked
• a white china dove in one of the bathrooms
• one of the latest model 3-series BMW's in the garage, no doubt recently collected from the dealer in Irvine.
  
• a compost heap in the back garden, normally with some grapefruit skins in it
• pointy spoons especially for eating grapefruit segments
• a super-posh B&O TV
• Watching reports of the Lockerbie Disaster on that TV just before Xmas '88.
  
• a wonderful white sheepskin rug in the lounge
• Lying on the rug watching the video for Billy Jean by Michael Jackson and wondering why the chairman is not his son. Actual lyrics are "the kid is not my son"
  
• a drinks cabinet with exotic drinks and crystal glasses
• Papa's pipe-smoking gear on a table beside "his" chair
• a wooden seat in the shower cubicle!
• Papa's Glasgow Herald newspapers
• Thick stacks of Embassy cigarette coupons
• A few of my Uncles LP's, including Led Zeppelin I think - very cool.
  
• Some of my Mums old books from her childhood, including one about Kings n Queens n Princesses etc... with tabs to make pictures appear in small windows.
  
• "The Approach" track leading over an iron rivetted railway bridge and towards the countryside.
• Granny's Ellnette hairspray and elaborate, expensive looking hairbrushes
• Perfectly-made beds and a spotless, pristine kitchen (and eveything else too - even the garage)
  
• The World-famous McMillan family at the end of the road
• Eating unripened green tomatoes in a neighbours back garden
• Papa eating porridge (fine with me) with milk poured over it (not to my liking)
• As with most super-Gran's - wonderful food, marmalade jam etc...
• The Fighting Temeraire on the dining room wall
• A voluminous and vivid red ivy on the garage wall, which disappeared in winter.
• The steel gate to the back garden with wire mesh to stop rabbits getting through.
  

Mum n siblings please feel free to add to the list using comments!

Fate?

A non-triathlon post for a change.

I was saddened to read yesterday of yet another young child (2-years old this time) being found dead after drowning in a river near their house. Unfortunately this is a very common story in the news papers here (children drowning). I wonder how many kids die in this way each year in Malaysia - I reckon it is a lot.

One other thing I've noticed in the stories published is that the parents often comment that they accept their childs death as fate.

Perhaps it is this tendency to accept fate that leads to their death in the first place. Perhaps parents who think that "what will happen will happen" are more likely to let their young children wander around on their own or without adult supervision.

I wish that parents would realise that fate doesn't just have to be accepted, it can be influenced, for example by teaching children to swim, or not letting them wander around on their own in hazardous environments. I am often shocked to see young kids as young as 3,4,5 years old wandering around beside roads in the suburbs of KL where I travel each day, without supervision.

I'm not quite sure what can be done about it though.

Desaru Target

10 days to go so it's target time again (us Engineer's love to analyse things). Here goes...

I reckon...

• swim at same pace as PD Tri...
• 3 mins per transition (1 min each more than usual)
• ride at a conservative 25kph = 3h36...so make it 3h30m allowing for posh new bike
• run...could do 2hrs on its own, so guess 2h15m after swim n bike...
• then shave a bit off here and there to give a "nice" target time...
  

giving...

Swim 2km - 0:43:00
T1 - 0:02:30
Bike 90km - 3:28:00
T2 - 0:02:30
Run 21km - 2:14:00

TOTAL - 6:30:00

well thats sounds nice but I've never done an event like this. i reckon the swim n bike will be ok but what remains to be seen is how my legs can handle 21k of running after a 90km ride!!

fingers crossed!

More Gems

Adidas King Of The Road

On a course confirmed as almost exactly 20km (1km shorter than it was supposed to be) by driving the route and also Google Earth, I somehow managed to shatter my 20km PB by about 8 minutes to finish in 1:52:53.

Struggling a bit up the final "hill" with 300m to go -
photo by the ever-reliable Tey

It's also the first 20km or longer run where I've managed to stay completely injury-free - no blisters or chafing and my left knee seems to be getting better as I continue to use a support tube thingy.

This was a good run with a good turnout by triathletes with half a mind on Desaru in 2 weeks - Arif, May Senn, Gunter, Bernard, Adeline, Jason (maiden run >10km for him - well done mate), Karen Galnexdor, Jaja, Eugene, Jasmine, Wendy Wong PCC TT Winner, the Pacemaker gang etc...

Shame there wasn't actually any water at the "water" stations, only 100+, and the distance markers were inaccurate.

Namedropping time - I had a nice chat with Kimbeley Yap after the run. She's off to Hungary on Tuesday and will be racing there next Saturday (ITU World Cup Race). It's a shame that races like in Singapore last week, where drafting on the bike is allowed, eliminates any advantage gained from being a strong swimmer like Kimbeley. You could beat the rest by a minute in the swim but then you have no opportunity to draft and are likely to get caught by riders who have put in much less effort.

Home at 10am-ish. Its great to do a long and satisfying run (and get a "Top Finisher" medal too!) and get home before the morning is over!

My blog is 1-year old and today's a good birthday - a 20km PB and a posh new toy!

No race next weekend. I'm due a long flat-ish bike ride to gain some endurance and get myself used to the new saddle, riding position and pedals.

Dreamweapon

Here it is folks, my new bike, back at home and ready to rock Desaru and Singapore in the next 4 weeks...

I didn't pay much attention to the frame dimensions and have ended up with a huge steerer tube extension above the head tube! Fortunately I think I can lower the bars a bit.

The business end - Shimano Dura-Ace and Look Keo Carbon pedals. Finally I step up from 16 to 20 gears!

Not much to see from the front (that is the idea!).

Closer view. Note the unusual saddle nose. Getting to my favourite bit now...

2008 HED Aerobars. Not even on the HED website yet - expensive but very very sexy!

50mm Planet X Carbon Wheels with Conti Sprinter Tubs - must learn how to change them!

Finally - a peculiar but potentially very comfortable ISM Adamo Road saddle
with Hydro-tail and twin carbon bottle cages.

The only sad thing is that with a bike like this I'll no longer get that wonderfully satisfying feeling of overtaking riders on flashy tri-bikes whilst atop a scruffy old road bike!

Results 'N Pics

OSIM Tri:

Oh how I chuckled to myself when I saw this!...

Due to either not listening properly, a blind desire to do 40km, or a mistake by the MC, I finished 126th (LAST!) out of 126 finishers in my category at the OSIM Tri!! Over 12 minutes slower than the next man!! ha ha! Looks like doing too few laps gives you a "Fail in BikeLap Count" but doing too many is just fine! PS - must have been "not listening" as it looks like I was the only one to do more than 20k! what a plonker!


However I'm pleased to note that if I'd done the same 20km as everyone else I would have come in a much more respectable 50-somethingth. I was doing a good Fabian Cancellara impression (facial expression only, not actual speed) on the way round. Here's some photos.

PowerGel time.

Fabian Cancellara.

After a quick change of clothes, a final push to the finish.

Back into normal attire, and on the run.

And here he is, last man in 5-39 cat.!

Also, it seems that my hero of the day from PD - Sanjeev Gathani - is a triathlon veteran. He's a regular at the OSIM Tri and finished just ahead of me.

PD Result:

71st out of 134 in the mens 30-39 cat.

Under Construction

My new speed-weapon is well under construction in Joo Ngan Son in Damansara. Complete with not-even-on-the-HED-website-yet-aerobars!

It's looking pretty good although the seat post and steerer tube are both going to extend a long way from the frame as I am such a lanky fellow. I hope this doesn't affect the handling too much.

Stay tuned for photos.

Soft launch - PCC Night Ride 7 August
Official Launch - Desaru Triathlon 18 August!