Swim Lesson #25

Bukit Jalil, 30/1/08
Coach Peh + Azwar, Simon, Jasmine, Michelle, Christopher, Anwar, Jeffrey

Warm-up
3 x 100m
Drills
1 x 100 each (fist, scull, touch shoulder, KOS 1 stroke)
1 x 100 normal
Main Set
6 x 300m
1 x 100m hard
1 x 100m easy
1 x 100m hard
Cool-down
1 x 100m

TOTAL 2,900m

Drills definitely helped my technique.

Stroke Problems -
Must ensure hands push water backwards at end of pull, not slice through.
Seems like my recovery is too slow/relaxed.
Recovering hand entry is curved - keep straight and reach forward.

I did 25m focusing on a faster recovery & hand entry - this felt better, & faster.

Teaser

I can't find the cable I need to download me photos - so no track day photos yet. But here's the story...

Firstly you'll hopefully be pleased to know that I had nothing to do with the crashed 350Z (below) other than the fact that I was a few seconds behind it when it crashed (didn't see it though).Apparently it was the owners son who was driving at the time - oops! sorry Daddy!

Ishsal and I had a great time and did about 8 laps each. I went as fast as I was comfortable with - and this was to the extent that I got the tyres screeching - which is fast enough for me in someone else's car! I did a lap in 3:10 at an average of over 100kph - almost exactly double the time that the F1 cars do!

Ishsal had the rear end sliding a bit and the traction control kicking-in on some bends - great stuff!

The session was red-flagged at least three times, a black 350Z spun in front of us at turn 14, a white Lotus spun on turn 9 and we narrowly avoided it, there was gravel on the track in a few places, and the remnants of someones tyre that had lost its tread between turns 11 and 12. Towards the end a Subaru estate lost it at turn 8.

It was quite an experience - in some ways very similar to a video game, but with actual G-forces! My favourite parts of the circuit are turns 3, 5 to 8 and 12 to 14. All fast corners.

I was surprised at the turnout. Instead of the expected Ferrari's & Porsche's, there were Satria's, Silvia's, Subaru's, a few 350Z's, a Mini!, an open-topped kit car and some completely normal looking road cars like Wiras, Honda's Gen2's etc...

I guess that the Ferrari & Porsche brigade are just rich enough to afford one and aren't necessarily interested in driving them on a track - there is the risk of damage to consider also!

I could feel my stomach muscles after 16laps (40mins) - imagine how fit the F1 drivers must be to go twice as fast for twice as long!

Sepang Track Day

Shortly after my last post, I whizzed off to Sepang circuit where I got behind the wheel of a Nissan 350Z.
Full story - including crashes, spins, shredded tyres, near misses etc... - coming tomorrow!

Bad to Good

My week started badly. On Monday I was suffering from PRT (Post-Race Tension) and that co-incided with encountering a distinct lack of co-operation from certain colleagues at work - so you could say I had a "bad day".

On Tuesday my brain and legs were both still a bit fatigued from the 30km run, but I managed to join the PCC evening ride and, for a pleasant change, stayed on for some recovery roti canai and chit-chat.

The week brightened considerably on Wednesday (a recently announced public hol) when I went for a 50km ride around Putrajaya followed by a swift 10min transition run. I spent the rest of the day doing little chores and tidying up bits n pieces of personal "business" that I would do regularly if I had more than 24hours off at the weekend!

Jackie and Lucas flew to Singapore on Thursday so I set up the turbo trainer in front of the TV and did a 1-2-3-4-3-2-1min (hard) pyramid set whilst having my mind nicely numbed by American Idol - I only watch the audititon shows as they can be quite entertaining - almost like a freak show. I later settled in front of the box and indulged in some cheese and a few glasses of red.

On Friday evening I went out for a rare evening of beer and wining and dining with a colleague from Hong Kong, and another who's retiring next week and heading back to England after 20 years in Asia. We had some great food (lamb) and nice Chianti in Flam's restaurant on Cangkat Bukit Bintang. I'm proud to say I declined the offer of further pints after dinner, and got a taxi home, with my morning cycle to work on my mind.

Taxi #1 quoted RM20. Taxi #2 quoted RM15 (better). Taxi #3 went on the meter - it was RM6.90 - but he asked for RM10. I was going to give him RM10 anyway - my policy is to reward drivers who just invite you to hop in and go by the meter.

Saturday am rode to work. After work I dodged the cops (demonstration at KLCC?) and traffic wardens and did a swift 3 laps (a mere 3.9km) but included a 1-2-3-4-3-2-100m pyramid of sprints. Wasn't feeling great - must have been the previous nights wine.

I'm typing now (Sun lunchtime) as I'm quite excited about my run this morning, and I'm waiting for a call from J & L to pick them up from the LRT on their way back from S'pore...

I've done plenty of running recently, but very little this week, so this mornings 1h15m KLIM training run suited me nicely and yesterday at work (I switch off by Saturday 4pm!) I was working out how fast I'd have to go to squeeze 6 full 2.3km laps into the 1:15 time limit. The answer was 12m30s laps at something like 5:30/km. Very unlikely I thought.

To my great surprise - and delight - I managed to do 6 laps in 1:13:53, and I must admit my pacing was wonderful - increasingly fast laps all the way...

6 x 2.3km @ 12:31-12:26-12:18-12:16-12:15-12:07 = 13.8km in 1:13:53

I reckon on lap 5 I must have passed the 10km mark only 20s or so down on my PB. I really think that my training routine is responsible for this...I don't just go for "a run" anymore - I do short sprints with rests, intervals, acceleration runs etc...at quite a high intensity, following sessions printed in 220 Tri mag. This combined with LSD runs definitely seems to be having the desired effect.

And...in a couple of hours I'm heading off to Sepang to drive a 350Z around the track as fast as I can!

Apology

I, Adrian Holman, hereby do solemnly declare my deep regret at the great offence caused to my good Italian friend Mr. Gunter Serafini, and all his fellow countrymen, by erroneously suggesting in a recent post that the bicycle manufacturer Pinarello is Spanish. They are of course, Italian.

By way of an apology, here's an Italy flag...

Swim Lesson #24

Bukit Jalil 23/1/08
Coach Peh + Jasmine, Siok Bee, Michelle, Simon, Christopher

Warm Up
3 x 100m
Drills
1 x 100m KOS/roll drill
1 x 100m touch shoulder drill
Main Set
3 x 300m [7min]
2 x 400m [9min]
1 x 600m [<14min]
Cool-down - 100m

TOTAL 2,900m

Main set times were about 1min down on PB's for all distances but I was taking it easy. Drill helped improve stroke - need to do more.

Thaipusam

Unexpected day off tomorrow - anyone fancy a bike ride? Ulu Langat or Peres? any other ideas?

Xmas Photos

I whipped up some lovely looking roast tatties!

All set - notice the glasses of Tetley's!

Lucas playing Connect 4 with his granny.

Another 30k Bites The Dust

2008 GE Pacesetters 30km

Happy to finish!

The horn went of 3 minutes early according to me, while I was in the shadow of a nearby tree doing some final "preparation work". But I managed to relocate a few buddies and off we went up into the dark winding Lake Gardens roads. A certain Union Jack clad Mr Cross joined me and we jogged together.

Quite a number of early casualties. One guy fell down after 2km on Jalan Parlimen and there was another guy on the floor his back just before the bridge over the Mahameru highway!

The double hills were ok as I was still fresh and I began to look forward to the 10km mark which for me was the "real" start. 11km - past the Istana and I came across Bacin. 13km-ish I came across Shazly. (Nice to overtake people who I've struggled to keep up with on recent bike rides!)

Just before Plaza Damas I decided to stop for a sec to pull my left sock up due to some irritation. My legs strongly objected to stopping and felt like totally seizing up - so off I went again.

Surprised to have to run past Petronas, but did so and picked up a gel for my efforts and 'twas time for the final 10k. By now my legs were beginning to feel heavier but I still continued passing people increasingly often as time went on. Doing that really helps keeps me going!

The 5km out-and-back from Bkt Tunku to Hartamas is always the more sociable bit - I managed to spot plenty of buddies including Aini and Michelle, Ray, Abu and then Mac, Arif, May Senn, Wei Na and Adeline...

In the final 5km I was slowing and felt a bit dehydrated so I drank a fair bit at all the water stops. Still most people were slowing more than me. I tired to keep up with one particular girl (Powerbar cap and blue/black tri-suit) who'd been near me since 10km but she managed to snap the string and pull-away near the end.

As I closed in on the finish line I was confident of making it below 3:20 but was surprised that I might even get in under 3:15 with 1-2km to go. The final Parlimen uphill was long and slow but with 10% to go to my self-imposed 90%HRmax limit I managed a decent sprint in the last 800m down to the line to finish in 3:13:58. Not only did I beat my 3:20 target but I even dipped under the 3:15 mark - so I'm a happy chappy! (I was 313rd)

Thanks to Simon for the company that made the first 15km pass so quickly!

Afterwards I overdosed on liquids and walked to the car at a snails pace!

It was only once I got home and had a shower that I discovered some innocent-looking but quite frankly bloody painful friction burns under my arms! Ouch!

Heathrow

I've always known Heathrow was either one of or the busiest airport/s in the World, and have often seen stacks of aircraft circling above each other, but never actually knew they had flight paths and stack locations like this...


I worked at Heathrow in Summer 1994 (building a car-park extension) and clearly remember being quite amazed at the miles-long line of flickering aircraft lights seemingly floating in the sky in a perfectly straight line rising slowly up into the distance. The planes would land at 50-60sec intervals.

It was quite exciting when the unmistakable roar of Concorde (much louder than all the other planes) could be heard at 11am for the flight to NY.

I got this whilst reading about the 777 that crash landed there yesterday. Thankfully (an quite amazingly!) nobody died.

Funnily enough, the co-pilot who actually landed the plane is called John Coward!

Television

One Nation under God
has turned into
One Nation under the influence
of one drug

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., I.T. satellite links
our United States of unconciousness
Apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
the methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching

T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent of our
Nation reads books daily
Why most people think Central America
means Kansas
Socialism means unamerican
and Apartheid is a new headache remedy

absorbed in it's world it's so hard to find us
It shapes our minds the most
maybe the mother of our Nation
should remind us
that we're sitting to close to. . .

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is
the stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods
are chased by Grecian Formula'd
bald eagles

T.V. is mechanized politic's
remote control over the masses
co-sponsered by environmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special

It's the perpetuation of the two party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
Where sound bite politics are served to
the fastfood culture

Where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
Race baiting is the way to get selected
Willie Horton or
Will he not get elected on . . .

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is it the reflector or the director?
Does it imitate us or do we imitate it
Because a child watches 1500 murders before he's
twelve years old and we wonder how we've created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than abhor the horror

T.V. is the place where
armchair generals and quarterbacks can
experience first hand
the excitement of video warfare
as the theme song is sung in the background

Sugar sweet sitcoms
that leave us with a bad actor taste while
pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars
You saw the video
You heard the soundtrack
Well now go buy the soft drink
Well, the only cola that I support
would be a union C.O.L.A. (Cost of Living Allownace)
On Television.

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Back again, "New and Improved",
we return to our irregularly programmed schedule
hidden cleverly between heavy breasted
beer and car commericals

CNN ESPN ABC TNT but mostly B.S.
Where oxymoronic language like
"virtually spotless" "fresh frozen"
"light yet filling" and "military intelligence"
have become standard

T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined
like "recession" to "necessary downturn"
"crude oil" on a beach to "mousse"
"Civilian death" to "collateral damages"
and being killed by your own Army
is now called "friendly fire"

T.V. is the place where the pursuit
of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia
Where toothpaste and cars have become sex objects
Where imagination is sucked out of children
by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse
that would create a cripple

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On Television . . .

KLCC Interval Training

Plan: 4 x 1,600m @ 7:56, with rests to 60%HRmax

Actual: 7:29-7:50-7:59-7:59

Train of Thought

Why do the media give Tom Cruise a hard time? Who cares if he has unusual religious views - does that actually affect anyone else in a tangible way? So what if he jumped up and down on US TV expressing usually reserved emotions - is that a crime? He's a movie actor for goodness sake and does a great job if you ask me - leave him alone.

The constant news in the inquest into Diana's death leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The papers aren't interested in the real issues. It wouldn't surprise me if the whole circus is a fire fanned by the media so they can report gory or gossipy details about her life and death on a daily basis for another several months - such as who her lovers were, what they said, who called her a "whore", how she said Queenie would abdicate, what she looked like after the accident etc...blah blah blah...

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE!!! Mega Breaking News - as reported by The Star a few days ago, International Trade & Industry Minister Rafida Aziz has finally obtained a Jaya Jusco loyalty card after 20 years of shopping there. She said she didn't have one because nobody had ever offered her one. Mmmmmm - I would expect such distinguished persons to display a bit of initiative in such critical matters!

Why do I never see empty roti man bikes? They are always jam-packed full of bread hanging everywhere. Do they ever sell any bread?

Swim Lesson #23

16/1/08 Bukit Jalil
Coach Peh + Stuart, Simon, Azwar, Jasmine, Michelle, Christopher, Azwar

3 x laps of the stadium first. 1 warm-up, 1 hard, 1 cool-down = 3km (running!)

Warm-up - 3 x 100m. (fastest 1:53)

Main Set (30s rests but actually 1m30s!)

3 x 400m-300m = 2,100m
1 x 400m

Cool-down 1 x 100m

TOTAL 2,800m

Slow again tonight compared to Nov/Dec 07. 300's in 6:30-ish and 400's in 8:30+. Need to do some drills and improve pecs/shoulders flexibility.

Message From Photographer Tey...

Hi,all runners and friends:

I am trying to do some contribution for our running club pacesetters for GE 30k, will selling race photos on the same day at Lake Garden, 50% of the selling will donate to Pacesetters.

Each photo price is RM1 for soft copy,sorry for no hard copy service.There will selling in two ways,one is burn in cd which will charge RM 3 per cd.And I will encourage for runners who have email address,buy as email photo,I will email them the original size photos before 6pm on the same day,this is for save time and help volunteers to less their burden.

You just need to refer the photos number which volunteers will write on the board and fill in the order form,please write it clear and correctly.And you can check with volunteers in the photo album,see how is the quality of the photos.Please queue up for check photos session as time is limit.

The soft coy photos can print out for 4R size.

Only for the photos which sold out will upload in to my album for this GE 30K event.

Last,as I want make it clear as this is service for runners and friends who support for Pacesetters organise event.Thanks for their support.No provide at other race event.

Oh ya,please get ready the small change to save time and reduce the volunteers's work.Thanks for your all cooperation.

After the race day,no accept further order.

Thanks and appreciate for your all support.

Here Comes the 30

It's the Pacesetters GE 30km run for me this weekend and I'm quite excited! Due to my reluctance to run 25km last Sunday, this run will be my first ever over 21km, or 2h25m.

I excitedly took my reg. card off the kitchen notice board on Monday morning and it's in my desk at work until I pop off to Lake Gardens on Saturday morning to get my number (0047?) and vest.

My plan since October has been to do this run in 3h20m. Based on the same pace as my two best recent 20km runs I can do a 3h09m, which gives me an 11min zone for a final 10km slow-down. Inside 3h20m will be great but to go a few minutes faster would be wonderful!

It'll be dark at 6am so if I don't see anyone or say hello - here's good luck to you from me now.

I have some questions...

Are we given a Powergel at the Hartamas turn?
Are there km markers?
Do we do the loop past Bank Negara KTM station 3 times?

and most importantly...will Tau Foo Fa be served at the finish line!

Wow!

Italian style. click the pic for more pics...

A Bridge Too Far

Recent happenings....

On Saturday I took delivery of my new toy - a Finis Tempo Trainer. It beeps at intervals according to your desired swim stroke rate / run stride rate or cycling cadence (i.e. small intervals 0.2s - 2s) or for lap times (1-10 mins). Apparently its a good training tool for swimming. You can clip it to your trunks or tuck it under a swim cap and use it to stick to a pre-planned stroke rate or pace.

Went out for a lovely Thai meal with Jackie in the evening at the Basil Leaf restaurant on Jalan Damai. You can't beat a good Thai spicy beef salad!

Off to bed at a reasonable time and up again a little after 5am for a (planned) 25km run. However, as predicted during a chat with a fellow runner at the halfway point, the seemingly magnetic lure of the car-park meant that it ended up being only 20.7km.

I maintained a good pace for the first 10km and started the second half with an extra "Petronas loop". I struggled a bit on the way back but my legs came back to life and I finished at an average pace of 6:18/km, my best yet since my training restarted about 13 weeks ago. BTW in that time I've run 344km - 26km per week - compared to 17km a week average last year.

Back at home I spent some time with adorable innocent 6-year old son Lucas, who chose that morning to ask - "Daddy? Is motherfu**er a bad word?"

After "Is mother..." I wondered what he was going to ask (he usually says "Mummy") but didn't think for a second what would actually come next! I'm not automatically blaming the influence of his mates for this but I am as sure as I can be that his knowledge of language like that has not been garnered from his family or within the walls of his home, and I do have my doubts about how some of his friend's parents control their kids exposure to violent games and movies, bad language etc...

Lucas and I then headed off to Bangsar Shopping Centre for a couple of Scalextric races (both of which I lost) and an Oreo McFlurry (highlight of the day!) before heading off back into town by LRT to catch the final stage of Jelajah Malaysia.


It was nice to see a successful small breakaway group in a criterium - it's so much more interesting than a big bunch procession.

Then home - Man U v Geordies - pizza - bed!

Les Dawson

Britain's finest export - comedy.

Les Dawson and Shirley Bassey - I like the bit about his career going downhill faster than... and his bad luck with bananas...



You have to watch all of this one...

Swim Lesson #22 - Long but Slow

9/1/08 Bukit Jalil
Coach Peh + Azwar, Jeffrey, Christopher, Michelle, Simon

10 x 100 warm up = 1,000m

2 x (6 x 100m 10s rest - 1min rest - 1 x 600m) = 2,400m
3 x 100m with 10s rest - 1min rest - 1 x 300m = 600m

Cool-down 100m

TOTAL 4,100m - another world record! surely this will never be beaten!

Felt slow tonight. 600's took almost 13mins. Warm-up 100's were a little under 2:00.

Hopefully a blip in my learning curve.

Bricks & Runs

My plans are...

Tomorrow, Thursday 6.30am, Putrajaya Mosque - 50km-15km Bike Run

Sunday 6.00am, Bukit Aman car-park - to Petronas Hartamas (incl loop) then back to Lake Gardens and then the Sri Carcosa loop = 24km. Target for 20km = 2h05m.

See you there!

Bogus Degree Anyone?

Presenting the Irish International University - it doesn't really exist!

Click here for the story, which has a Malaysian connection.

Cor Blimey...

...guv'nor!

I've just finished my usual lunchtime blogs scan and I am shocked at the high level of training that went on in the last few days.

There's Jaja, Aini, Siok Bee, Ray, Abu doing 25-30km runs, some of them doing 150km+ rides the day before. Azwar's 185km non-stop, KL-Putrajaya H'way riders, some 30km Sunday runners, a big gang doing the Camerons ride, some Broga-loopers etc...

All I managed on Sunday was a lie-in from 5.15am until 10.30am and 48mins on the turbo-trainer in the afternoon!

The only person who's made me feel fit and active is Eugene, who's commented that his legs can't seem to face the prospect of a 20km run to Hartamas!

My plan for the week:

M - run 5km+ ( fast)
T - PCC nite ride 57km
W - swim lesson
T - Putrajaya 50km-15km brick
F - cycle to and from work, incl hill repeats
S - cycle to work
S - run 25km

Spinning In The Dark

Here's a 6.40am snap of the New Years Day Putrajaya Brick Gang before take-off. Sorry to say its pretty dark!

L-R Klinklangman, Stupid_O, Bacin, Shazly, Bacin, Stupe, Puzi, Zebralini

See you there - same place, same time this Thursday!

For Sale

New Year Sale time!

We want to sell Lucas' Graco car seat, which we don't use anymore. I don't know the exact model number but you can click here for similar product details and for the user manual.

It's suitable for kids from 15-36kg
Conforms to the usual safety standards.
When they get really big you just use the booster seat only.
Its got two cup holders and the back rest height can be adjusted.
The covers can be removed for washing.
The booster has a slightly worn look about it as you would expect but the little-used back rest is in tip-top condition.
It is in Setiawangsa, KL, near Ampang, but I can arrange to meet anywhere in KL/PJ etc... to hand it over.


It cost somewhere between RM230 and 330. Selling for RM100. Please let me know if you are interested or if you know someone else who might be. THANKS!

Fun Run

Inspired by my Bible (220 Triathlon), I did some interval running at KLCC on Thursday evening. 4 x 1.3km intervals, with a rest in between to allow my HR to drop to 60%HRmax.

My times were: 6:30-6:28-6:25-6:20.

It took 1:30-2:30 for my HR to drop enough (recovery lengths increasing each time).

The purpose of this type of run is to increase speed, and get used to running faster.

I really enjoyed the session. I effectively ran 5.2km at well above my normal pace. I had a good long stretch sesh afterwards. I find stretching quite relaxing and it's beginning to form a good 10-min period after each run/bike/swim.

Looking Forward...

This year I'm looking forward to...

• My first ever 30km run
• My first ever full marathon - KLIM in March
• A change of work scene in the next few months is likely...
• ...less than 6 days a week maybe?
  
• ...and might result in a move, perhaps even a new home...who knows?
• A pay rise?
• A new car?
• Will I finally have the courage to invest in a business?
• Another wonderful season of Triathlons - PD, Singapore, Phuket, Kenyir, A'Famosa and perhaps Bintan.
  
• Lucas' 7th birthday - he can do kiddie triathlons!
• Replace my deteriorating road bike?
• Have a big holiday somewhere exotic.
• Best mate Paul due to become a Daddy.
• Our 9th wedding anniversary.
  
• Think about 2009 Ironman?
  

007 Review

First of all - Happy New Year to everyone I know, including all those that SMS'd me recently and didn't get a reply!

Here's my recollections of 007...

• I did my first ever 20km run, and Half-Marathon. I then went on to do lots more.
• The March PCC Time Trial at Sg. Tekali
• I met Phil Liggett & Paul Sherwen, and Lucas met the race winner, at the final stage of the Tour de Langkawi
• I started learning to swim front crawl, and became pretty good towards the year-end!
• Lucas' teeth started to fall out, and he learned to ride a bike without stabilisers.
• I did my first Olympic triathlon at A'Famosa
• I broke my 1-day cycling record (200km+) and experienced new routes - Broga, Frasers, Ipoh Century Ride
• Eurosport came to town! - renewing my interest in pro cycling, enabling me to watch all 3 Grand Tours on TV, and inspiring me to have some fun with fantasy cycling competitons.
• I splashed out on a shiny black carbon TT bike.
• I finished 2 Half-Ironman triathlons.
• I discovered YouTube!
• Little sis Vicky got married
• England beat Australia at Rugby, but didn't qualify for Euro '08.
  

Swim Lesson #21

2/1/08 @ Bukit Jalil.
Coach Peh + Azwar, Simon, Michelle

Warm-up 5 x 100m

2 x 100m KOS drill
5 x 100m
4 x 200m (new PB = 3:49)
3 x 300m
2 x 400m

Cool-down 1 x 100m

TOTAL 3,800m NEW WORLD RECORD!

Rotation not so good tonight. I tired badly towards the end and was doing 300's in 6m30s-ish and 400's in not much under 9mins. Heartburn caused by juice n choc on the way to the pool didn't help!

Monkey Business

I'd like to say I started the New Year with a bang, but it was more a kind of rubber-rolling-on tarmac-kind-of-sound, with a fizz(*) and the unmistakable grinding-spinning sound of a PU-foam sandwich in carbon bread (**).

Indeed, at 6.40am I headed off for a spin around the strange town of Putrajaya with Shazly, Stupe, Bacin, Azwar, Adzim & Puzi. The pace was a little too high for me so, wanting to save myself for a 10k run afterwards, I ducked-out after 50km and promptly became rather lost in my efforts to cycle as directly as possible back towards the Mosque start-point.

It was a great ride. I particularly enjoyed my 5km solo time trial @ 35-40kph when I was trying to catch the others, who'd put 500m into me on an earlier incline. I managed to catch Stupe but didn't quite get to the rest, before we stopped at the Plaza Tol u-turn.

I came close to running for 15minutes and doing a u-turn but I willed myself to go-ahead with my plan and do 10km. It actually ended up being 9.5km in a little under an hour.

* - Azwar punctured after 10km
** - Adzim's Zipp disc wheel