Post-KLIM

My post-KLIM recovery was good. My legs were tired on the Monday but otherwise ok, and the same on Tuesday - no stiffness or strains to be felt!

-

Later in the week I managed a quick turbo-sesh, but only managed the one-legged drills. My planned interval set was put to bed by have to... put Lucas to bed! I had long wondered what the point of one-legged drill was, but having done it a few times and made an effort to increase my pedalling speed at the same time, I can perceive some benefit. I now tend to pedal at a higher cadence and in a smoother manner - with a less dramatic difference in power applications as my legs move round each cycle. This is necessary to prevent "bouncing" at high revs.

This is the drill I do after a minimum 10min warm-up...(5x 30s left leg only=30s right only-1min both)

-

I gave swimming a miss on Wednesday. Partly due to laziness, but partly because I had the opportunity to go on Saturday. This is because (a) the swim coaches are now available on 4 days a week (Mon, Wed and Thu 7-9pm and Sat 5-7pm) and (b) following the application of some group pressure on the Project Director during our company dinner a couple of weeks ago, he's decided to do away with full day Saturdays - hoo-bloody-ray for that! Now I do 1/2 day every other week.

-

With no run planned for Sunday, I ran the 15km to work on Thursday morning - and cycled home. Friday was another lazy day but after a quick 4hrs at work in the a.m. I did manage to get my weekly swim in later in the afternoon.

..and yesterday, despite getting up late, I managed to join PCC for the first time in ages for a 100km ride to Ijok-Batang Berjuntai-Batu Arang. Today I can feel my recent lack of cycle mileage in my more tired than usual thighs.

-

Last night I attended my cousin's wedding at the Hindu Temple (don't know the name) in Brickfields - and it can be best described as...noisy, smoky, colourful and highly ceremonial...and I mean the former descriptions literally - I'm not complaining - it was noisy and smoky! Photos on the way.

And it's not over...we've a dinner to attend in the Istana Hotel tonight.

-

Finally, for today, we're flying off to sunny Dubai on Thursday afternoon for 9 days. We hope to go to...the beach, the Wild Wadi water park, Ski Dubai, the desert, some souks...and whatever else takes our fancy. I'm looking forward to a snowball fight with Lucas in a city surrounded by desert. Weird concept huh?

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.

B 2 B (Back To Bentong)

In my efforts to become a Half-Ironman Hero in a couple of months I’m upping my biking mileage this year, so I had to leave my comfy bed at the ridiculously early hour of 5.40am to make it to Genting Sempah by 8am to join the Bentong ice-cream pilgrimage.

Unfortunately Ah Fook and I arrived 5 minutes late and so had to fly down the hill towards Bentong in the hope of catching the PCC peloton.

Despite a swift descent, to my surprise there was no sign of the speeding PCC boys and girls until we spotted Ah Fatt acting suspiciously at the Hot Springs. What was he up to I asked myself? Short-cutting by starting at the hot springs? Packing up after a 20min cruise down the hill? Going for a quick dip?

Alas there was a job to be done so Fook and I continued courageously but never did manage to catch the pack. I won’t mention that Fook fell off his bike upon arrival (forgot about feet being clipped to the pedals) as I don’t want to embarrass the poor lad!

After the usual ice cream and cendol for me, and fish balls for some, back we all headed towards Sempah. Now I’m getting to know the standard post-Bentong routine:

We all amble slowly to the traffic lights, talking about how nice the ice cream was.

A pack gradually forms on the slight hill just out of town.

Bernard “Nijdam” Tan breaks away on his own, never to be seen again!

We form a nice fast paceline in which I do a good but ultimately unsustainable stint at the front (until the road starts to rise) at which point…

I change back into 3^rd gear and get massively dropped by almost the entire bunch.

I overtake Mac about halfway up the hill. (This is a repeat of a recent Frasers ride)

However on this ride a certain Ivan ‘Basso” Chan threw the rule book away by attempting a stunning solo breakaway!! I’m not sure what happened to him though! I swear I have never seen him move soooooooo fast!!!

Stats for my own benefit:

140km in 5:59:58 @ slow kph.
Weight 77kg.
Heart rate surprisingly low today. I did almost the entire climb to Sempah at <145bpm.>

Mixed Bag

Kenyir Tri results are out. I was 21st out of 39 in my category and my position in each leg was more or less the same (20-something'th) - suggesting some consistency, which is good I suppose. For the PD tri maybe I'll try a bit harder in the swim.

The KL 10km run planned for Sunday has been postponed so I'm going 144km to Bentong & back with Ah Fook and the PCC gang.

My illness came back yesterday, which rather annoyed me, but it's receded again today. An early night tonight and I should be ok for my long ride.

KRI have posted a load of photos from the Century Ride - they're not that great so I won't be buying the real ones...



At the finish...

Hard Labour Day

This post is doubling-up as the PCC weekly newsletter write-up...

Labour Day - a single day out of 365 when us hard-working employees can relax, have a lie-in, be a couch potato etc... OR - wake up at 5.15am to drive to KKB and then embark upon a 2.5hour bike ride up a 1100m climb into the clouds! Naturally, around 20 or so PCC Tar 'N Grimers rose early and met at KKB stadium to do just that.

And we had our very own mini Bike Show to titillate everyone before the ride. May Senn pulled her nice new Orbea Diva from her car, Bernard was showing-off his new Token carbon deep-section wheels and William was looking sharp in a full BMC outfit to match his bike. Ah Fook had new purple Look pedals and shoes.

As we headed off towards the dam, the pack slowly disappeared into the distance (my legs take at least 30 minutes to get going). At the dam we bumped into PK and family, and the day of climbing really began.

My trusty climbing partner Ah Fook and I steadily made our way up the lower slopes and we eventually caught the yellow jersey group (Mac). Before the ride Mac had reminded me that the yellow jersey should not lead up mountains. That job is for the polka-dot jersey. The yellow jersey should be "protected". So we protected the man in yellow for a while before moving on to catch our next rider - Big Ron. We caught a glimpse of him at one point but then didn't see him for another 10 minutes - I thought perhaps I was hallucinating due to the seemily never-ending winding road. At last we found him, and shortly afterwards we arrived at the Gap resthouse. End of Part 1!

We regrouped at the Gap, with Kim-possible Yap making an appearance to boost everyone's morale - if this hill is a workout worthy of Triathlon champions then there's hope for all of us! This was my first time up to Fraser's and I was apprehensive about the "difficult climbing" after the Gap. I was first back on the road (to get a head start!). And boy did I need it! 1km later we faced a piece of road that looked more like a wall - a 1:7 slope to get the legs warmed again. Althought it was only 200m long, my head start vanished as Arif, Bernard, Azmar, Gunter, Laif and Kenny powered up the hills.

The increased gradient was eased by a few flats and downhills, but the things that really made this part of the ride enjoyable despite the toughness was the view down into clouds, the cool cool breeze and the occasional silence, broken only by the sound of large birds cruising from tree to tree. These things really give one a sense of achievement - climbing so high - and getting away from the pace of city-life.

Finally we reached the Clocktower - Bert from The Netherlands and Richard from Holland (there is a difference folks!) were there - Richard having done 2 loop of the one-way system as he loves the technical descent so much! After much drinking, and consumption of nasi lemak and roti canai, it was time for the neck-stiffening descent. Just before we left, Ironlady May Senn arrived on her Diva, by now with no feeling whatsoever in her bum and legs - I must admit her new saddle doesn't look very lady-like! Nice bike but some comfort-adjustments needed I think!

The next hill to tick on my list of completed climbs is Genting - anyone care to join me??

And the menu for today says...

Bernard's Giant sporting new Token wheels

The Maillot Jaune prepares...

Mac's S-Works...

The gang - all set to conquer Fraser's...

Me pointing in the direction of travel about 15km into the ride...

At the Gap - safe n sound...

Gunter Pantani deep in thought...

Mac, Chin Hoe and PK staring at Kimbeley’s legs Chin Hoe's bike...

The road to the left starts with a 165m long 1:7 climb - reminded me of the Lake District in England...

Makan time at Fraser's - I recommend the nasi lemak!...

Ah Fook, Kenny + friend descending...

The reservoir on the way down...

Stats/Info:

Start 8.15am

Up - 42.4km in 2:35:23 @ 16.4kph
Down - 42.4km in 1:07:00 @ 38kph
TOTAL 84.8km (KKB-Gap = 31km, Gap-Frasers = 11.4km)

Ascent 1200m+

Climbs: Dam to Gap is 19.6km @ 1:34, then 9km @ 1:25

Nutrition/Weight: PowerBar @ 6.15am, 1/2 Triple Threat @ 7.30am, Nasi Lemak+banana @ top of Frasers. Weighed 77kg in afternoon.

PCC Time Trial

No posts from me for the last few days as I was v busy organising the PCC 15km Time Trial last Sunday a.m. It was a great event with 62 riders. Everything went smoothly despite a bit more traffic than expected. Here's a few photos...

Reporting...


Fastest lady Wendy Wong with her stunning Cervelo P3 Carbon bike with Hed Jet wheels and Hed aero bars.
Danny Feng on his way to victory...


Danny gets his certificate from Seth while MC Adrian does the announcements...


Aini wins a prize!


All the photos can be found here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/7482384@N02/

Busy Week

I've not done any posts for a while as during my free time I've been busy organising the PCC Time Trial. Looks like we'll have 70 riders - wow!

I missed out on the Tuesday night PCC ride due to a severe bout of food poisoning. I woke on Tuesday morning feeling ok, but something was clearly wrong downstairs! As the morning wore on I felt worse and worse (tired, dehydrated, stomach cramps). A trip to the doc sorted me out with medication and I reluctantly called my boss to declare the afternoon "MC" (Medical Certificate) aka Monday Certificate. That was a good move as I felt worse in the afternoon. It didn't stop me lying down and watching Gandhi and True Romance on DVD.

I felt ok again on Wednesday and was back to work. In the evening was a PCC meeting.

On Thursday night I was supposed to do the Double Hill 10km run but I preferred to go home as I didn't spend any time there the night before. I did however make it to the pool for 30mins to try some front crawl. I was fairly useless as usual, but I did identify my major technique flaw - I am pushing down with my pulling arm to enable me to lift my head to breathe. So instead of keeping straight and rotating, I am bobbing up and down.

Friday evening I had a lesson at Chin Woo pool with Mr Peh, ex-Malaysia swim coach. He taught me more in 10 minutes than my previous lessons had achieved. Next lesson next week.

Today I rode to work, with aero bars, on a route chosen for length (29km) and lack of junctions so I can maintain the aero position more consistently. I need to lower my bars and get a more padded saddle. Average speed 30kph (could have gone faster but too lazy!)

Lunchtime - 1500m swim (breaststroke) in 38mins+.

Tomorrow - SMART Tunnel Run (16.1km). Target time = 1:38:00 (6:05 per km)

CNY

Gong Xi Fa Cai!! Happy Chinese New Year to all!!

I've been off work since Saturday and will be back on Thursday. As you might expect I've taken this opportunity to do some training. I still can't quite get used to calling it training - it sounds far too serious! - but it is I suppose.

On Saturday a.m. I met Laif, Kenny, Billy, Geoffrey, Rafiq, PK & family and Azrin for a 60k loop the "wrong way" around Hulu Langat, including the climbs of Peres and Tekali. We saw quite a few riders out doing some final training for this Saturday's Langkawi Ironman. I met Sam, Azwar, Bacin and Don Khor. 64km @ 24.5kph.

On Sunday I met Arif at Bukit Aman and we did the Double Hill run in a fairly relaxing manner. 10.8km in 1:12:06. Later that day I swam for about an hour doing laps of fairly incompetent front crawl!

Monday was back to cycling - I left home at 6.30am and met Arif, Rafiq and Ron at Centrepoint. We headed off to Kg. Subang and the Guthrie Corridor. Whilst chatting to Arif I hit a stone (big but too small to call a rock) and punctured my front tyre. Rafiq cycled ahead to see why a number of police and motorists had congregated at the roadside....apparently a motorcycle had hit a cow - killing the pillion rider. It was a very good ride, with several good stints in "paceline" formation at 30-45kph. A doughnut and coffee at Starbucks with the boys set me up nicely for the final 22km to home. Despite the fast ride my legs were still going right to the end and I even managed it up the hill near home at a fairly decent pace. 94km @ 27.48kph

Today I really couldn't get up so lay in until 9'ish and then went go-karting with Ravi at Shah Alam. I did 3 x 10minute stints. First round my kart seemed a bit slow. Second round (different kart) my back end kept on sliding around. 3rd round (another new kart) I spun off the track and became grounded 3 times. Good fun anyway, but fairly pricey!

Tonight I'll try a run around TTDI Park and a night bike ride if anyone else turns up.

Before I go - BEST OF LUCK to everyone I know who's doing Ironman this weekend - Arif, Mai Senn, Azwar, Sam, Don Khor, Adzim and to Malaysia's finest - Wong Ah Thiam.

Timo Muller

On our regular Tuesday night PCC last week we were joined by Timo Muller, a 21-year old German who is cycling round the world (almost!) to raise awareness for human rights. Hwere we are, from L to R - Karen, Ah Fook, Gunther, Timo, Arif, Ashraf, Bernard, Me, Rafiq and Rikhal.

PCC Ride - Hulu Langat

I met my now regular riding buddy Ah Fook at 6.30am outside my condo and we cycled out of KL and over the hill into Batu 14 where we met the rest of the gang. Arif turned up with a shiny new Cervelo frame that many of us started drooling over.

We cycled up to Batu 18 and then down towards the foot of Genting Peres. Our at first leisurely pace slowly picked up and I ended up doing a 25 minute stint at the front at over 30kph - good practice for triathlons! Rafiq later commented on the lovely draft that I gave him.

After the rolling hills next to the Dam we stopped at the Tekala Picnic area and debated whether or not we should get the cops involved in out TT - the conclusion was "NO"!

After water, Milo Ais and nasi lemak we headed back to the dam and up the 2.5km steep Tekali climb - which I am glad to say seems easier every time I do it. Then the wonderful 4km 70kph downhill to sugar cane drinks in Batu 14 before Ah Fook and I went back over the hill into the now hot and busy Jalan Ampang. After many traffic light stops I reached home before 12pm.

Distance - approx 84km.

KLIM Circuit Run next Sunday: TARGET = 15km in 1.5 hours @ 6:00/km.

Ulu Yam Ride

I defied the wicked flu bugs in my body, and mid-night disruptions courtesy of Lucas, to make it out of bed to head of to FRIM to 'lead' my first ever PCC ride. Much water, Vit C tablets and gargling with salt water seemed to have almost eliminated my throat problem, but I still woke tired and with a raw feeling in my windpipe. However I had been looking forward to this ride since it was planned a couple of weeks ago, and was determined to make it.

I met Ah Fook just up the hill from Carrefour and we made our way to FRIM. This was where my "leader"ship was tested, and failed, as we headed into FRIM whilst everyone else was already waiting opposite FRIM! I announced the days route and regroup points and we headed off back towards Batu Caves.

Federer 5-5 Gonzales (First Set of Aussie Open Final) - GO GONZO!! FEDERER IS BORING!!

At Batu Caves we had to negotiate our way through a huge traffic jam and masses of Hindu devotees who I think must have been pre-Thaipusam activities. Lots of shaved heads, flowers, incense, praying by the river, walking bands etc...

At the short sharp climb at the Batu Dam the P2K boys flew by, with a sprinting James Bak hot on their tails.

The group was fairly well fragmented by the time we got into the valley, and I struggled along in gears 1-3 with Ah Fook. My legs felt empty and I seriously began to think I'd get to the top of the main climb and turn back. Somehow I slowly crept to the summit and met the rest of the gang. I ate half my PowerBar and chose to continue down to Ulu Yam. The descent was fantastic as always, and I clocked up a max. speed of 76kph!

In Ulu Yam the "leader" couldn't find the stall he'd last visited 10 years ago, so we headed back a bit and found somewhere with 100 Plus, water and nasi lemak - just what the doc. ordered!

The group here was..Sean Chang, Gunther, Patsy Yap, Ah Fook, an ex-Selangor rider and some others - sorry names forgotten or not known!! I ate some rice and 1/4 of my PowerBar to fill my legs. Feeling ok by now but definitely not 100%.

As we headed back up the hill I has a nice chat with Sean Chang before he dropped me. I managed to get to the top without too much trouble and enjoyed cruising back to the dam with Patsy & Ah Fook. I had a bit of a scare as I casually tried to extract the final 1/4 of my Powerbar from it's wrapper whilst sitting-up on the bike (no hands) at 40kph. The bars started wobbling violently but luckily I managed to get my hands on them before my front wheel flipped round. I would have been flying through the air if I hadn't!!

Apart from passing a Chinese Lion and Band doing their thing (Cultural Experience#2 of the day), the ride home was uneventful. Mileage - 97km.

New Gear!

Saturday, Awal Muharram - no work!

Went for an easy 21km ride this morning (a recce for the time trial) with Seth. Then I went to pick up my 20km shirt & number....here it is, first of the year!....

PCC Time Trial Announced

PCC 15km Individual Road Time Trial, Hulu Langat, Sunday 25th March 2007

It's official! - go to pcctt.blogspot.com for event details.

I'm going to recce the course with Seth tomorrow.

PCC Time Trial

PCC are going to hold an approx. 15-20km individual road time trial in Hulu Langat on Sunday 25 March 2007. It hasn't been officially announced yet but if you read this and your interested contact me, as I'll be involved in the organisation.

It will be open to all over the age of 12 and is intended to be a fun event for cyclists of all abilities.

If the response is good I hope to have another 2 time trials over the course of 2007, perhaps a Putrajaya circuit and a hill-climb, Genting Peres or Old Gombak Road.

Century Ride

I rode 144.1km today! That's 89.5 miles!

Up at 5.40am, breakfast of Weetabix & raisins (carbs!). Left in darkness at 6.00am. Co-incidentally met Ah Fook at the start of Old Gombak Road and we cycled to HOA together. Met Arif, May Sen, Mac, Ashley Lim, Napi, Benny & others & made our way up to Genting Sempah.

We arrived at the top just after 8am and met a large group who had gathered there - Ron, James, Ivan, Annie, Seth, Wong, Bernard, PK Hong, Dr. Nabil and many more. Ate banana #1.

Then began the nice descent into the valley, the lower half of which has a lovely new surface. We stopped where someone had punctured for a minute and then regrouped at the Hot Springs.

We cruised along the gently downhill valley road (last 20km to Bentong) in the high 30's (kph). My final blast at the front came just before the road rises gently 1km before the town, at which point, as usual, my speed dropped dramatically and I was suddenly 500m behind everyone!

A quick water fill at the petrol station (where I met Nicholas, a Swedish guy working in their Embassy in KL) preceded the usual drink and Cendol (for me, Ais Kacang for others) at the Kow Po? Coffee House. Ate banana #2.

On the way back I set the pace for 1-2km then was passed by 1 or 2 riders, most memorably Bernard, who flew off into the distance. After a while the bunch settled into a steady 28-32kph pace along the slightly undulating but uphill road towards the climb back up to Genting. Arif, myself, and "Blue Rudy Project Top Man" as I call him took turns punching a hole in the air for everyone else.

At exactly the same spot where I was dropped by Bike Pro on my last visit here, where the grade increases before the main climb, I fell back again. Powergel time!

Maybe it was all in the mind but I felt stronger after the Powergel and was pleased that Arif and May Sen (who were a few hundred metres ahead) weren't getting further away. I passed Ah Fook - who I must say is a bit of a hero for riding over 100k with running shoes and no pedal clips or straps - and eventually caught Arif & May Sen. Arif & I had a bit of fun as we caught and passed Benny about 200m from McD's.

10mins rest and a fill of water later, I headed off up the short sharp climb to the summit, and free-wheeled the 15km back down. On the way I passed some policemen and passers-by looking down a very steep ravine, in the bottom of which was an overturned white car - God help the passengers.

The 18km final run to home was less pleasant as I negotiated Sunday lunchtime Jalan Genting Klang traffic. Home at 1.35pm.

Right knee was fine - so adjustment to cleat must have been correct. Today was the first time ever wearing bibshorts and I must say they are extremely comfortable. No waist strap and improved ventilation - no wonder that's what the pro's wear!

SMART Hash

Did the usual Tuesday night 24km ride with PCC. Average HR was a low 131bpm, compared to 148bpm a few months ago for a comparably fast ride - getting fitter!

Last night I did a 50min 6.5km hash with the "Harriettes", which included about a kilometre inside the almost completed SMART tunnel (the run was set by the SMART tunnel Resident Engineer - an enthusiastic hasher!). Wednesday usually my night off training, but I need to intensify this year!

Tonight - 10.8km Double Hill route. I hope my right knee is ok - it is beginning to play up - must be my new cycling shoe cleat setting is wrong.

Sat a.m. - usual 23km ride to work
Sat p.m. - swimming lesson.

...and the big one

Sun a.m. I plan to cycle from home to Bentong and back......about 136km (84 miles). That'll probably take over 5 hours.

If I want to finish a 7hr+ Triathlon in September i need to get my body used to such things!

Ride Profiles

Here's the profiles for the last 2 weeks PCC Sunday rides. First up is Centrepoint Bandar Utama to Batu Arang...


Next is the return leg, Batu Arang to Centrepoint Bandar Utama. There's 445m of climbing on that ride. The main peak (on the left) is a nice long winding climb through young oil palm plantations outside Batu Arang.


This is the profile from this mornings ride out to the Guthrie Expressway. The 7 or so peaks between 20 and 40km are the Expressway, through rolling hills, up and down and up and down......

PCC Ride - Batu Arang

I joined PCC yesterday morning for another very enjoyable Sunday morning ride. I counted 28 riders leaving Centrepoint Bandar Utama at 7.30am. We covered 87km in 3hours and 18mins at an average of not far under 27km/h. If I remember rightly that's the longest ride I've done since 1998 or '99 when I was in Singapore. Soon I'll have to do a full 100k!

As I seem to have left my track pump in Ipoh or Lumut, I borrowed Ron's pump (with guage) and filled my tires up to 120 psi. This would give me some extra speed i thought! After 20km we were joined by what seemed like a rather small group of Bike Pro riders, and our pace increased. I enjoyed cruising along at 30-40km/h but didn't do any work at the front!

After a while the Bike Pro group went off the front. Before Batu Arang, Ron, myself and a few others regrouped and I set the pace from there almost all the way to Batu Arang, along nice undulating roads through Palm Oil plantations.

We stopped in the town for some 'makan', drinks and a rest. I ate some fried rice and mee-hoon noodles.

On the return leg it took my legs a good 30minutes to get warmed up again. By that time the lead group of 5 or 6 were about 1km ahead. Myself and 3 or 4 others, including Rahim, caught up another 3 or so riders (Harun, Arif and Wendy) at about the 60km mark. I took a break for a while by riding behind Harun, at which point the group broke up and some went their separate ways. 'Twas getting mighty hot out there at this time (about 11am).

I caught Azwar at 65km and stopped for a drink at the next petrol station, where I had spotted Ron and Benny. Noticing that time was running out (I had to get home and out again for the Kids Hash) we quickly got going again. At the Sugai Buloh junction Benny was strongest up the hill, never to be seen again. I noticed my rear wheel was badly buckled (possible snapped spoke - explaining the loud cracking noise I had heard earlier).

Ron and I almost caught Benny, but he caught the green light at Tropicana and we lost him again, although we picked up a guy (sorry. no name) with a nice-looking Token bike with carbon everything and ZIPP 404 wheels. Even his seat was carbon with no padding, on which he said he'd ridden 160km comfortably!

More, including route profile, to follow........

Weekend Warrior

For one reason or another (laziness, missing equipment, tiredness etc...) I didn't do any exercise at all from Monday to Friday last week, so I had to catch up at the weekend to make sure I didn't feel bad about it.

Saturday a.m. Bike Ride - 16.2km

Lucas chased me around the condo car-park on Friday evening as I cycled around slowly adjusting the cleats on my new shoes. After successful adjustment I was fit & ready to cycle to work on Saturday morning, which I duly did (16.2km in about 31 mins at just under 30km/h).

Saturday p.m Run - 10.4km

Due to successful forward-planning I had all the necessary kit in the office already to change and have a shower after my ride, and go out for a run after work. All I forgot was my wrist coin-pouch (a freeby from the recent Powerman that I use to hold my MP3 player) but that didn't matter as I had my fantastic new Brooks Pacesetters running shorts, which have a pouch at the front big enough for my player, and a zip pocket at the back for my car keys.

Gone are the days of holding my player in a sweaty hand as I run and having to tie my car keys to my waist cord - hooray!

After work I drove to KLCC and parked illegally behing a line of also-illegally-parked Mercedes S-class' and BMW 7-series cars (no doubt belonging to some rich folks visiting the watch exhibition in the convention centre next door). I had been looking forward to trying the KLCC jogging track for some time - for a change of scene and lap length compared to Titiwangsa.

Also, the KLCC track is a round 1.300km lap - at Titiwangsa it is an odd 2.692km with a gap of about 50m between the start and finish - very strange!?!?

I set off aiming at 0:8:14 per lap, confident of an enjoyable run as I'd managed to stuff my MP3 player with 800MB worth of music. 1st lap 7:59 - so far so good! 2nd lap 8:22 - uh oh! 3rd lap 8:36 - eh?? My lap times got slower and slower until they reached a plateau at about 8:36-8:40.
I think that listening to music makes it difficult to pace myself as I often change my stride pattern as the beats change.

On the final lap I pushed hard enough to reach but not exceed my self-imposed 165bpm limit and clocked 8:09, for a total of 1:07:11, about 0:1:19 behind my target time.

Sunday a.m. PCC Ride - 52km

This was a repeat of a recent ride, 52km around the Hulu Langat valley, up the 9km climb of Genting Peres and a final 2.5km steep climb (Sg. Tekali). I took the first 15km very easy and was dropped by the group on the flat. At the foot of Peres I stopped for 5-10mins and then made my way up with a handful of riders just in front.

I overook about 5 riders on the way up and enjoyed the climb - managing a good rhythm in 2nd gear at some points. I got to the top about 4 minutes faster than my previous attempt.

I had another long break at the top before the 15 minute descent and rollong terrain to the foot of the final short sharp climb. I waited for almost all of the remaining group of 8 or so to set-off before I did - to see if I could catch them up!

'Twas a tough climb but I made it in similar time to before, and managed to catch up alomost everyone.

There were a number of new (to me) PCC riders today - Alauddin, Harun, Wendy, Bo, Meng? and some others whose names I didn't get.

PCC Ride - Genting Sempah to Bentong & Back

Had another good ride with PCC this morning. There were about 12 of us to start with. Those that I can remember are James, Ivan, Annie, William, Dennis, Ronald, BK, Me and 4 others whose names I don't know. The day got off to a good start when Dennis showed me how to strap my fi'zi:k saddle bag to my saddle properly - thanks Dennis! As a reward here's a picture of his nice Wilier Triestina bike...


Here's some of the gang getting ready at Genting Sempah R&R stop car-park...


As you can see from this profile, courtesy of my wonderful Polar HRM, it was downhill all the way to Bentong, apart from a little blip at the end of the 35km outbound ride.

'Twas a chilly start to the day, but warmed as we descended. There was very little traffic (good) but the road surface was a bit dodgy in places, so it was a leisurely descent. I only made it above 45kmh once.

Once we got to the valley floor at about 17km I cruised along nicely behind 2 guys in front. Eventually they let me take over so I time-trialled a bit for a while until I'd had enough. Then I was joined by AD and Ronald. We stopped at the petrol station at 33km to regroup, at which point I got my camera out again...

From L to R - William, Ivan, Annie, James, BK, Me!, ?, ? (sorry guys), AD.

Another couple of km brought us to the famous Kedai Kopi Kow Po, for Ice Kacang, although I had Cendol. After 10 mins or so we were joined by the Bike Pro riders, some L2A riders including famous Malaysian triathlete and generally very fit girl - Kimberley Yap. I also bumped into Tony from Leighton's (big Aussie construction firm who I might want to employ me in the future!!).

Here's the famous shop, with lots of bikes outside...

On the return journey it was one big bunch of about 26 riders, led by the Bike Pro gang with Ronald and I clinging on at the back.

We got sucked along at 30-35kph for about 17km until the gradient increased a little bit, at which point you can see my HR go up, and then down as I cracked and slowed down.

It was only a matter of seconds before a few other also fell off the back of the group and before I knew it I was back in a bunch of 7 PCC riders - me + Annie, James, Ivan, William, BK, Ronald.

As I messed about taking photos whilst cycling with no hands, the other 6 pulled away from me. After a while I caught and passed Ivan and could see BK and Ronald but the other 3 had gone off the front. I passed William as he waited to sweep up Ivan at the bottom of the climb, and slowly but surely caught Ronald and then BK.

Here's the gang...

The climb was quite shallow apart from a couple of short slightly steeper inclines. I was quite comfortable in 1st gear all the way up. Was pleased to note from my alititude reading that the seemingly flat bits were actually slightly uphill - thus explaining my slow speed.

On this profile, red line is my HR, blue is speed and solid red is the terrain. The climb was about 400m (1200'). Note how speed drops dramatically after HR peaks at about km 18 - that's when I'd had enough of the Bike Pro pace!