Say Hello to...

my little friends!...

Balance, poise, stylish jimjams...what else can I say?

On zee beach - 8am - lots of starfish around.

On zee beach #2 - in the shadow of THE MIGHTY BURJ!

My new Trek. Shimano Ultegra all round and Bontrager everything except my trusty 10-year old Dura-Ace seat post. Soon I'll put on the 50mm Planet-X carbon rims and see how mean she looks! I need a longer stem - 110mm at least.

Plasma2

WOW!

Weekend Wonderings

Sat p.m. in the office again. Keeping an eye on F1 qualifying, and thinking of the weekend (or rather "day off") ahead...

I've got no company car now, so I'll be cycling home. I've got Spurs v Portsmouth followed by Milan San-Remo lined up for tonight.

21km run in ze morning. Then off to the Nikko Hotel for Easter Brunch with J, L & Daryl.

And for the 1st time in 4 years I'm going to watch the F1 from my sofa - not as hot as being at the track, no driving, no jams - and more camera angles! Last year I remember driving like a madman from A'Famosa triathlon to get to Sepang on time!

Later I'll head off to jaelsports (Jasmine & Elmar) to their open-house, and in the evening I will use an intravenous caffeine drip to keep me up for Super Sunday!

-

I just bought myself a new Orca Race tri-suit, courtesy of Athletes Circle, who happened to be staying in a hotel in KL close to my office for the Easter weekend. I wanted to get the Distance 226 but it was too tight, even though it was also an "XL".

-

It's the KL Marathon next weekend (4.30am start!), so running should take a back seat to cycling and swimming from Monday. I'm pretty excited about it. The bit after 30km will be like a whole new experience to me!

My plan is to get to 35km without stopping (perhaps just while I swig some fluids), and then get through the final 7km by jogging between water stations.

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!

All Quiet

Not much to report recently. My end-of week training plan was disrupted by 2 punctures, but I still managed to go out with PCC on Sunday for a ride to Puncak Alam. Just 70km and I was home well before lunch. Jackie wasn't feeling great so I spent much of the day indoors doing some long overdue chores (building shelves, tidying cables, fixing Lucas' scooter). In the evening I went to KLCC pick up some shirts for work, then went home and watched Middlesborough beat Arsenal quite soundly.

My planned Monday and Tuesday a.m. runs were both lost to lie-in's, but I made up for it this morning with a 7.8km run around a short version of the Double Hill route.

On Monday night I found myself in the now unusual position of being in a pub after work, nursing a few pints of Kilkenny with colleague James, while watching England struggle to take any Sri-Lankan wickets.

Last night I planned a dinner out with Jackie to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary, but she was still crook so that's off until Friday.

My social life will continue to disrupt my training as tonight I'm off to the wonderful Kamimura Japanese restaruant in Menara Weld with big boss Matsui San, so no swimming for me! Yesterday he told me that we (Shimizu Corp) had pre-qualified for the (RM2 billion?) tunnel portion of the Pahang-Selangor Water Transfer project.

In other news...I bought a new pair of shoes last week, to replace my tired and very smelly 755's...New Balance 1061's...


My final event of the year - the Chin Woo biathlon - is this weekend. It's a short 750 or 800m swim and a 7km run. I'm seriously thinking of running there and back to give me a 23km run for the day. I need to catch up with run training.

Lever Porn

I went to get new pedals put on my road bike today, and accidentally ordered these...

For the benefit of those to whom it is not obvious - they are aero bar-end brake levers for my Planet-X. The one's I already have are temporary. These Bontrager levers are the best-looking ones I've seen - I hope they work too!

Classifieds

WANTED - a pair of used Look Keo pedals, as cheap as possible. Any type of Keo pedal in any condition, as long as they work properly! Leave a comment with contact details if you know where I can get a pair from.

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!

Tour Fever

8 July PD Tri Clinic photos of the swim start and the bike ride are here! i have photos of simon (rear half only - he was going too fast! - eugene, zebets, kim possible, adzim, arif, may senn, dicky and a few others, but they're not great so don't get too excited.

Sunday

An unusual day. No training (doc's orders). Still feeling a bit spaced out from the sulbutiamine I took yesterday.

I drove to PD with Lucas early in the a.m. , bumped into a few triathlete buddies and played on the beach with the little fella while the swim was on.

Swim start - Cross and Zebralini in action

Such a lovely face - hope the wind doesn't change!

A while after they'd left for the bike ride Lucas & I waited at the roadside to snap a few photos. He was keen to go home then so we drove off and managed to get there in good time. This was lucky as from what I've read from Adzim & Simon there was an accident shortly afterwards that caused a massive jam.

I really do wonder how so many people manage to have accidents. On the way to PD we saw a crane setting up at the side of the highway where the barrier had been mowed down. On the way back it was lifting what looked like coffee-beans from the point where the truck (i assume) had come to rest in a deep cutting next to the road. Shortly after this it began to rain and almost immediately, on the southbound side - 4 cars shunted each other. I have seen this (shunting accidents within minutes of rain starting) many times now.

Having done my fatherly bit in the morning I became a couch potato for the rest of the day. I watched the wonderful The Usual Suspects, most of the mediocre Next, then the F1 and the Tour De France. My hero (and fantasy team member) of the day Robbie McEwen somehow managing to easily win the stage despite being out of the main bunch with only 5km to go.

Monday

Still feeling more "alive" today so I decided to give the sulbutiamine (with the "this may become habit forming if used excessively" warning on the packet!!) a miss. Evening = super couch potato due to Tour highlights on TV from 6 until 8.30pm - but then no Stage 2 live coverage?!?!?

Tuesday

I slept at 9am last night so I feel a bit better today. Glands still swollen though. Still not taking any pills though (they're not for the glands anyway).

My wheels have arrived at KLIA!! I've also managed to pick up a yellow Selle Italia Flite Titanium saddle and a pair of Look Keo Carbon pedals on eBay a bit cheaper than I've been quoted here - trying to shave some cost of my new ride.

The excitement of the PD and OSIM Tri's is building! Today the OSIM guys finally confirmed the route.

I'm fairly happy with my Tour fantasy team's performance so far - apart from this plonker...

Daniele Bennati is supposed to be a sprinting green jersey contender but has finished the last 2 flat stages well back with all the GC and mountains boys! What is he doing!?!?!?!?

Shallow End

Shallow End

After weeks of thinking about it, (Should I? Shouldn't I?!!) I finally took the plunge and started ordering parts for my new bike, which I plan to unveil to the World in August at the Desaru Long-Distance Triathlon. I've ordered a pair or 50mm deep section carbon wheels from the UK, complete with bags, tubular tyres, titanium skewers etc... and a couple of carbon bottle cages...

I'll have a fitting session in Singapore at the end of July, where I'll buy the frame. The Dura-Ace groupset and all other components will come from Edwin. It's going to be an all-black mean machine with yellow bar tape to make it look menacing to others like a poison-arrow frog!!

Hopefully I'll get a couple of short rides on it in before the first big test on 12 August (Desaru Tri) - to get everything all set for my main event of the year - S'pore Half-Ironman on 2 Sept.

Titiwangsa Run

As part of my plan to squeeze a bit more training into each week, and a desire to update my blog with a new PB, I went for a short 6km run around Lake Titiwangsa after work yesterday and... I managed a new PB time of 35:21 (17:50+17:31), over 2 minutes faster than my previous best set about 6 months ago.

All Excited

Now I've taken the plunge with my new bike, I thought I'd better start thinking about crank length, cassette ratios etc... so I checked my current bike. (Warning - Tech talk ahead folks).

I've always thought that my gearing was 52/42 with a 12-25 cassette, explaining why most cycling companions have it easier on climbs on newer bikes with a slightly smaller 39 chainring. However to my surprise it turns out that my bike is 53/39 and 13-23. No wonder I struggle a bit on long or steep climbs - I always thought I had a 25 for that, but its only 23! That means I climbed Genting on a 39 x 23! Wow!

So anyway my conclusion is that my new bike will also be 53/39 but with a 12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-21-23 10-speed cassette. And it'll have to be the biggest size - XL (57cm). That's 3cm smaller that my current steed but that's normal these days now that seatposts are strong enough to be longer.

Dream Dream Dream

Sigh! - I'm in love with a dark, slim, hard-bodied beauty from the UK (with some Japanese blood)...

...the wedding will have to wait due to lack of funds, but hopefully we can tie the knot before the Singapore Half-Ironman.

Vital Stats:

Bust: Shimano Dura-Ace groupset
Waist: Planet X Carbon 50mm wheels
Hips: Planet X Stealth Carbon frame & forks

A 2-day Weekend - What's That?

I had 2 days off work at the weekend!!! Oh how I wish it was like that every weekend. With some luck I will soon be able to rejoin the normal World and only work 5 days a week.

Saturday

Lucas did his normal trick of waking up super-early even though he didn't have to go to school, and of course Daddy had to get up also to provide entertainment. Later in the a.m. we went off to Pasar Rakyat to plan our posh coach trip to Singapore for the OSIM tri at the end of July. We were too early to book yet but at least we know the prices and schedules now - and that they do have space for my bike in it's bag. I always plan well in advance - that's why my race number are normally very low or end with ..01 or ...02.

We then drove off to Joo Ngan Son in Damansara via the SMART tunnel (to show Lucas the tunnel). On the way Lucas declared that he wanted his favourite chicken rice for lunch and luckily enough we found a nice old Chinese food court place opposite the bike shop serving exactly what he wanted. Then it was time to visit Daddy's toy shop, where my accidentally credit card fell out of my wallet and I bought a new helmet...


It's a MET Stradivarius 199 and unlike my 9-year old Rudy Project number, it fits properly, is very light, isn't covered with messy sticky left over bits of race numbers, and is the same colour as my jersey.

After that we were heading home when Lucas noticed that we were near BSC, so he excitedly asked if he could go to the Kiz Sports. So with little else to do off we went. After a couple of rounds on the Scalextric track (I won Round 1, Lucas beat 3 other boys in Round 2) and a trip to the book shop for a mag for me, Lucas spent 1hr+ running around and playing while I read the mag. Then off home.

Didn't do much in the evening apart from prepare for a round-trip ride to Bentong. Couldn't even watch the Giro TT as Astro was on the blink.

Sunday

Up at 5.40am and met Ah Fook at the gates. Off we rode to meet the PCC guys at Genting Sempah at 8am. We were 5 mins late and didn't manage to catch the speeding pack, so we only met them in Bentong. As usual I never fail to enjoy my Sunday rides, although the last hour on my own was a bit boring - my lower back was aching and my legs were quite tired. Distance - 140km (Mum - that's 87 miles) in a fraction under 6 hours - 7 minutes slower than in January. I've now cycled 1,750km this year - that's already 200km more than the whole of 2006!

In the afternoon I gave Lucas a bike-riding lesson and for the first time he put some real effort in - no doubt in the knowledge that his reward would be 30mins playing Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo emulator I've got on our PC. Twice he managed to get both feet up and pedalling from a standstill without any assistance and he did 3 quite long rides on his own with a bit of help to get going.

Crash Count - 0.
Crashes prevented by protective Daddy running behind Lucas - 1.
No. of times Daddy stood on Lucas' leg by running too close - 1.
Tears -0.
Sweat - yes.
Blood - not this time!

I'm already thinking that in Nov '08 he'll be 7 and can start doing Triathlons! (if he wants to)

I lazed the rest of the day away and slept early. I missed the MotoGP, Giro Finale, a good movie and Judge John Deed due to the continuous evening rain.

Monday

Tired legs today, but already thinking about the upcoming events. 25km Ballbreaker Hash on Sunday. My main concern is to avoid mosquitoes.

I'm also going to sign up for the risque-sounding Fak-Up TT's. I love the Indemnity statement on the application form. It starts "If I die..." !!!

Kenyir Lake Tri Race Report

The Long Road to Kenyir

I couldn't face hours behind the wheel so I decided to get the overnight bus. I met Gunter at the bus station and at 11pm+ on Friday night we headed off East. After a reasonably uncomfortable 7 hours we arrived at a cool early morning Kenyir and had a quick Milo and nasi lemak brekkie. I met Raymond, another person I was aquainted with through blogs, but had never actually met.

1 Day To Go

We checked-in and after struggling to sleep for a while I managed to get a few hours rest before lunchtime.

The view from the Resort lobby.

Gunter and I registered and had lunch with Patsy. Soon Bernard arrived. The three of us went for a 10min swim, cycled a few km around the resort roads and went for a 15min jog too. I practised sighting and looked for navigation landmarks for the next mornings swim. I couldn't seem to swim in a straight line very well! The course seemed quite hilly so I decided against using aero-bars.

Gunter and I bought ourselves a new 'toy' - elastic laces to save a few more precious seconds!

My new toy - elastic "Lock Laces" (RM29 to reduce T2 time by 10 secs!)

After thrashing Gunter at pool (revenge for AC Milan beating Liverpool recently) and enjoying one quick glass of beer we headed off to the carbo-loading dinner...

Bernard, Me and Patsy at the carbo-dinner.

...and again (photo by Jaja)...

The Big Day

The bad nights sleep goes without saying although this time it was mainly due to the apartment toilet cistern sounding like someone with a drum kit (and playing it!).

The usual ceremony followed - brekkie - suncream - toilet - recheck transition bag - cycle to start. Here's the start. We had to swim 2 clockwise loops of a triangle.

After setting up I went for a dip and started fretting about my goggles fogging up after a few secs and being blinded by the low sun on the return leg of the triangle. I met Shazly, the proud owner a lovely new Orbea Ordu TT bike.

This is me after my warm-up.

Swim:

We started on time and as planned I made a real effort to relax and go at whatever pace my front crawl allowed me to. This worked well and I soon got into a steady rhythm. I swam front-crawl all the way except for a few seconds when colliding with others or at the turns. Amazingly my goggles didn't fog. My navigation recce the day before worked wonders as I knew where to go even with waves and bobbing heads in front of me. My time was 16mins+ at the end of the first loop. So far so good. At the final turn with 300m to go I glanced behind and didn't see too many swimmers but didn't mind - I was going according to plan. I went a bit wide on the last leg of the second loop and finished in just under 37mins.

T1:

Jaja snapped me on the way up to transition...

Out of the swim, heading off up the hill to T1.

It was this 150m run that first showed me the benefits of front crawl. I could actually run in a straight line and my legs felt fresh!

Bike:

Plan - save legs for the run. The hills started immediately but at least one of the bad ones was right at the start when legs are still fresh. After 2km and just out of the resort I caught my buddy Arif and I thought that he and another 1 or 2 guys picked up my tail.

The road thereon was like a rollercoaster but with no big hills until 3km short of the turn. I watched the leaders pass in the opposite direction - one guy on a red Cannondale on his own 1 or 2 mins ahead of the pack of usual top finishers. Later I managed to pick out Gunter and Bernard - both ahead of me but not by too far. In this outward leg I was passed by a handful of riders but caught a few too so maintained my position whilst still not really pushing hard.

After a long 2.5km climb there was one final downhill blast to the u-turn. I was on my own for the entire return leg but the time was nicely broken by passing another 1 or 2 riders before I thought I could see Shazly ahead in the distance.

Back into the resort for one final climb which I just about managed without falling off. On the way up I passed a couple of guys walking their bikes up! Down into transition I broke the rule of never trying something new in a race by taking my feet out of my cycling shoes before dismounting (so I could run faster in transition and save shoe removal time!). It worked ok but it took me longer to get off my bike! 2 seconds saved though! A slow-ish 1h27m on the bike this time.

T2:

My socks did not co-operate much but my new elastic laces were wonderful as I slipped my runners on in no time at all.

Run:

Now the benefits of a front-crawl swim and an easy bike ride kicked-in. Right from the start I had "running" legs. No sign of cramp at all and no uncomfortable bike-run feeling. Although running pretty slowly my legs felt good and I didn't feel the need to stop...until the first hill back up to the resort entrance after about 1-1.5km. At this point I decided my strategy for the rest of the run - walk up the steep bits!

I kept plugging away and there were plenty of flat or downhill sections to recover on. After putting it off for a few km I answered the call of nature after 5km or so and felt better after that. I felt good all the rest of the run and only walked on the steepest hills. This was my first run where I actually overtook a few people! I saw Bernard, still not too far ahead, which spurred me on a bit. With 2km to go I got a bit worried about dehydration as I didn't seem to sweating that much anymore, so I had a bit extra water and 100+ at the penultimate aid station.

One more killer hill to go and I targetted overtaking Canadian Steve as my final piece of personal glory. It was not to be though as he started running earlier than I did as the final rise levelled out near the top. Over the top I let gravity take control all the way to the finish line and I crossed in a very pleasing 3:10:43.

Just finished!

With Jeffrey in transition after the race.

Another medal and number for my growing collection.

The route profile (solid red). The bits before and after the blue line (bike speed) are the swim and run respectively. Note the big hill halfway into the bike! Ignore the swim altitude - the water plays havoc with the barometer.

Swim - 36:46
T1 - 1:48
Bike - 1:27:43
T2 - 1:27
Run - 1:02:59
TOTAL - 3:10:43

Stats: (I love my stats I do!)

Max speed: 75kph
Transition Hill (out): 26m over 300m @ 1:12
Transition Hill (in): 45m over 800m @ 1:18
Bike U-turn Hill: 110m over 2600m @ 1:24
Bike Ascent: 511m (same as HOA to Genting Sempah!)
Run Ascent: 220m!

Nutrition:

Brekkie: Banana + Triple Threat + Coffee @ 6.30am
Bike: The usual 300ml water + 500ml ORS on the bike. PowerGel @ 1:00:00 and 2:00:00
Run: Water at 2km and every 1-2km thereafter. 100+ & water @ 8km.

Thanks to Jaja for the action photos. I am so tempted to call her Jaja Binks but that would be cruel!

Ipoh Century Ride

I did the Ipoh 160km Century Ride last Sunday. It was organised (very well I must say) by the Kelab Ipoh Road Runners. Here's the route profile. Click on it for a big one...


In order to beat my 1997 record of 179km in one day (Kelana Jaya - Ulu Yam - Genting Pagoda & back again) I decided to cycle to the start from my Aunt's house, about 13km. I arrived at the start point in Tambun at 6.20am and soon bumped into a big crowd of PCC riders. There was Bernard, Ashley, PK and family, James, William, Dennis, Wong C C, Ivan & Annie, Laif, Jeffrey, Wong Wai Lam, the Bike Pro mechanics and more. Here's Ashley & Bernard looking cheerful at the start...

Me looking cheerful at the start...

And they're off!...

In the first hour I did my usual of going at my own pace, not at all bothered at being overtaken by almost everyone. The main PCC group went off ahead into the distance. Still my 1st hour average was 28kph.

km30(ish) - an action shot of my ear, with Ah Fook on my shoulder...

km52 - we stopped for a few minutes at first station to refill our water bottles and I had my 1st powergel. Was pleased to get off the rather uninspiring Ipoh-Lumut highway at this point!

km65 - we turned right at a junction with "95km to go" sprayed on the road. Soon after this point the road became quite hilly and we started to come across riders suffering from cramps. From here on Ah Fook and I slowly began overtaking people and were hardly passed by anyone except when we stopped.

km83 - 2nd water station. Refilled again, wolfed down an apple and a pear and was interviewed by the KRI media lady.

km90 - we stopped again for a few minutes for Ah Fook to tighten his loose shoe cleat.

km109 - just after Kuala Kangsar, I swallowed my 2nd PowerGel and then we stopped at this roadside stall for a well earned cold 100+ drink. 4h05m of riding so far...

This is our second crossing of the river a few km later...

km124 - This was the 2nd last stop. PK and William were there - I had been wondering where all the orange PCC jerseys were as I had expected to catch them by now - and then some of them arrived here just behind us - ?!?!?!?

km134 - We stopped in a well placed rest stop under the shade of oil palm trees, just after a rather exposed and hot stretch of road. More refilling, 100+ and a banana! This guy was having a lie-down!...


Ah Fook with a good view of the best legs I saw all day...

In the last 25km I cycled alone but close to Wendy and a couple drafting behind their yellow support car. After 5h51m my HRM told me "MEMORY FULL" - sh*t!! Never mind. In the last 5km I managed to shake off the guy who'd been enjoying my draft for the previous 5-10km and even managed to overtake another rider in the last 500m.

I finished the 160km in 6:09:06 @ 26kph. This was 15 minutes faster that what I'd imagined so I was pretty chuffed. I did too little drafting to mention. Here's my seat post number, with all the checkpoint stickers in place...


After the race I immediately downed a Red Bull and a Soya milk drink and went around congratulating a few friends on their achievements. I then went to look at a couple of bikes that a small group were admiring intently. Both had US$3,000 Campag Bora Ultra wheels. One was William's Time bike and the other was a Limited Edition Colnago President LDV (Leonardo Da Vinci) frame, with a Record groupset and an integrated bar/stem. Check out the fantastic paint-job - you can see Leo's head beside the head tube...

This bike even had a Campagnolo computer and a Garmin GPS system. I estimate this bike to be worth over US$10,000 (RM34,500) without the electronics. The frame is worth US$4,600 (almost RM16,000). Here's a shot of the Colnago bar/stem and the gadgets...

Apart from ridiculously expensive new bikes, there were a few nice oldies too. I was admiring an nice old aluminium Alan frame from the '80's, which had nice big polished chrome lugs and a fluted Campag seat post. It also had an old Campag Record chainset - the best looking chainset ever if you ask me - here it is...

I didn't want to get back to KL too late so I made my way back to my Aunt Malar's house - another 12km!

My total mileage for the day was 185.6km (13.1+160+12.5), beating my 1997 record of 179km by 6.6km. I suppose now I have to do a double metric century = 200km!

I thought I'd record how red, sweaty and grimy I looked after all those kilometres...

The sun-cream did a good job today - only my nose was a bit red.