Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Sepang MTB 18 Sept 2016


Pic 1 :Group Pic at top of first hill under the electric cables
transmission Tower  (Titanium and uGo-iGo cycling groups)
Date          : 18 Sept 2016
Location   : Kota Warisan, Sepang, Selangor
Weather    : Cloudy - Sunny

Sunday morning ride at Kota Warisan in Sepang near Dengkil town on the way to the KL International Airport, KLIA.

There was a heavy shower in the early morning and the initial cloudy sky made for good weather to cycle into the mainly oil palm estate. The group of riders consisted of members from Titanium and uGo-iGo groups

The highlight of the ride was the view on the top hill with the electrical towers/pylons. The double electrical towers were traversing the landscape in an approximate East-West heading

Pic 2:  First Hill Looking North
Pic 3:  First Hill At approximately KP4,22 under the electrical tower


Pic 4a: View from the first hill - looking West.
XiaMen University, Malaysia is at left background of the pic,
partially blocked by the left hand of rider 

Pic 4b: View from the first hill - looking West .
XiaMen University, Malaysia is at the left edge of the pic














Pic 5: View on the other side of the first hill - looking East
Halfway through the ride after crossing under the Elite highway via a road tunnel, we met up with 3 horse riders giving their steeds an early morning exercise.  It was a good opportunity to chat with them and to snap a few group pictures.

Pic 6 : Group pic in oil palm estate with 3 horsemen

Pic 7:  Grp pic with the 3 horsemen




Pic 8: Typical oil palm estate road

More ride details are in the pic below:

Distance  : 27.6 km
Duration  : 03:36:20

Pic 9: Route details

This ride lead to some questions on the safety of the electrical towers on the top of the hill.
Is is safe to go near the electrical towers?
Is it safe to touch the steel members of the tower  (see Pic.1) ?
If its a danger to public, shouldn't the area be fenced up? (see Pic 10 : No fencing nor Signages)

Any experts out there? Care to comment/advise?


Pic 10: Panoramic view of the hill with the two electrical towers -looking North

Thursday, September 15, 2016

PD Triathlon 9-10 Aug 2014

Date   :  9th -10th August 2014
Venue:  Avillion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson, Seremban

The following is a brief write-up of my second attempt at the PD triathlon Sprint and MY FIRST PD Triathlon OD Relay Event

Added Flavour
This year I decided to try both the Sprint and the Relay event. The Sprint was held on the Saturday 9th August followed by the Relay event on Sunday 10th August.

The distances to be covered for each event were:-

SPRINT (Solo)

OD RELAY (Team)

SWIM  - 750m
SWIM  - 1.5 km
CYCLE  - 20km
CYCLE  - 40 km
RUN    - 5km
RUN    - 10 km


For the sprint, both of us (Edward and I) thought that it should not be difficult as we had gained confidence from last year. This year I had a target time to complete within. I had to improve on my previous Sprint time.  Boon on the other hand decided to skip the Sprint and went straight for the Full Olympic distance (OD) event this year.

For the relay, we thought we had a runner but our original runner pulled out and initially both Edward and I decided that one of us had to do the 10 km running. It was decided that the person doing the swimming would be the runner as he would have time to rest. We had not decided who was to swim in the relay until the day before event day.

Hence it was only the three of us who were confirmed for this year's PD Tri 2014.

The training this year was again rather sporadic. We did our training separately barring once where we met up for a swim at the Chin Woo swimming pool after work. The pool was smaller than the public pool at Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras. It was not a conducive training pool.
The length of the pool was short.  Edward accidentally left his swimming googles behind on that particular day.

I did the rest of my biking and running near my home.

The Carbo dinner 
This year the families tagged along and I took a half day off work. We booked the same resort i.e. Methodist Church resort.  Boon and family decided to stay at Seri Malaysia.
This year’s carbo dinner was not as good as compared to last year. I suppose the rising cost of food caused the decrease in the quantity of the food.  There was not much variety in the menu.  Here I was telling the family that the buffet dinner should be good as everyone of us thought the food was good in 2013.  It was a bit of a let-down this year.

The venue for the dinner was changed also. It was in a much smaller room. Went for two carbo-dinners Friday and Saturday.  Edward came from work and was late for the Friday dinner.  Boon came over on Saturday night as he was taking part in the OD event only. 

A) SPRINT EVENT DAY (9th August 2014)

The next morning Ed and I left early . This time I didn’t have breakfast. I had come prepared though. I brought along extra power bars.

This year the body painting was changed to the “stick on” type. There were uncertainties from participants on how to apply the numbers onto our arms. Anyway we manage to figure out how to stick the numbers on our arms.

Attached below is a short video attempt at capturing the atmosphere on that morning...


Below are a series of photos indicating the events of that morning..

organisers tent -showing us how to apply the stick-on numbers

the transition area for the bikes

me trusty mongoose















Sprint Swimming

at the starting point of the swim.. all set to go
coming back to the beach from the swim

Ed landed on the dry land ..
































Sprint Cycling 

the Bike-Out & Bike-In post
pushing bike out from transition area
to the Bike-Out area.
Uncle Chan seen busy relocating cone






















At the Bike-Out area - ready to mount bike
cyclists coming back and turning right to the transition area 
cyclist coming back from the 40 km ride

















Sprint Running

Edward and new found friend running to the finishing post

last burst to the finish line
almost there...

mission accomplished !!  medal on neck
















     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

B) OD RELAY EVENT DAY (10th August 2014)

At the eleventh hour we found a replacement runner.  KK a friend of mine is a marathoner and was willing to fill up the runner spot in the Relay for us. That was a relief for the two of us as both Ed and I did not like to run. It was decided then that Ed would swim and I would cycle.

In summary:
Name        : Bucket Team
Swimmer  : Ed
Cyclist      : Me
Runner     : KK

Our special guest runner planned to drive to PD from KL on Sunday morning itself.  We reckoned that the runner would have ample time to wake up on Sunday and drive up to PD.  Edward had not met the KK and since I was the cyclist, Ed was worried that he might arrive after I had started the cycling leg and KK would not know where to find us.  Anyway KK arrived early and I  introduced him to Edward.

Swimming
Edward was faster than I  had anticipated.

Cycling 
I was slower than I had anticipated

Running
KK was damn fast.!! 


C)Results

Relay
Swim  : 00:51:11
Cycle  : 01:31:10
Run     : 00:44:37
Overall Time : 03:07:00

Sprint
Swim  : 00:34:48
Cycle  : 00:46:37
Run     : 00:39:26
Overall Time : 02:00:52

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

KVKS MTB Jamboree 21 Feb 2016


Date   :  21st February2016
Venue:  Vocasional College Kuala Selangor (KVKS), Selangor

This was my first MTB event for 2016. This was the first time we had a huge turn out of MTB riders.  I think we were one of the largest group of participants made up of uGO-iGO and MuddyGo riders.

This was also a TEAM event which consisted of 3 cyclists per team. The team had to cycle together. We had to work as a team as all 3 cyclists had to cross the finish line together. So each team member had to depend on each other and to encourage each other to cross the finish line together else the rest of the team will have to wait for the last rider to arrive before they can check in as completed.


Our team members:
(l-r)  KC, MH(team leader) and me

team pic for the road

We had a practice ride at MARDI a few weeks before the event date.

The Event distance covered was about 36 km. We basically traversed oil palm plantations and plantation roads

I did not have any opportunity to take many photos. My handphone’s battery was on the blink and I did not bring my powerbank.  In short I did not record my ride nor did I take scenic photographs.


The highlight of the ride was that we had a really huge group of riders and the event was held on the second last day of Chinese New Year celebrations. This year CNY fell on the 8th of February 2016.

uGo-iGo and Muddy-GO riders in FULL FORCE. Group pic at end of ride

From memory I think there were 3 check points for water and bananas. Yes they had bananas!


The following are the few pics from the ride in chronological order.

uGo-iGo group pic queueing at the starting line

and we are off .. starting post can be seen in the background

at first check point..group pic -still looking fresh

group pic at first check point

at the finish line.. our team members cycling in single file:- KC.... 

....followed by team capt:- MH,
...last but not least..yours truly.  All 3 of us checking in as a TEAM 

Team picture : with our finisher medal
uGO-iGO & MuddyGO riders - Chilling out after collecting their
finisher medals - still looking fresh!

uGo-iGO riders group pic- in sombre mode
uGo-iGO riders group pic -in "shiok" mode


the route traversed

PD Triathlon 10-11 Oct 2015


Date   :  10h -11th October 2015
Venue:  Avillion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson, Seremban

This year is my third attempt at the PD triathlon Sprint AND my second PD Triathlon Relay Event.

Added Flavour
For the relay event, I was out of my comfort zone as I was to be the designated swimmer (1.5 km) unlike last year where I was the cyclist.  The Sprint was held on the Saturday 10th August followed by the Relay event on Sunday 11th October

The distances to be covered for each event were:-

SPRINT (Solo)
SWIM  - 750m;
CYCLE  - 20km;
RUN    - 5km

OD (Relay)
SWIM - 1.5 km;
CYCLE  - 40km;
RUN    - 10km

Boon decided to skip the OD event this year after having successfully completed it last year. Hence we were left with  only the two of us: Edward and I. We decided to continue the sprint event for the third year running. We also wanted to continue the relay event. Edward managed to get his colleague Leong to take part in the sprint event as well. This year Edward also managed to find enough participants to form 3 relay teams (9 participants)


My training this year was again rather sporadic. This year’s event was pushed back from August to October. I guessed it was a good move as last year the haze struck KL around July. So I thought it was a good move for the organisers to delay the PD Tri to October.  But this year the haze struck rather late i.e. mid-September.  The haze caused the Annual Standard Chartered Marathon to be cancelled. That event was meant to be held on the 4th October 2015, a week before the planned date. Thankfully towards the mid of event week the haze cleared.
 
We did whatever training we could do separately. I did most of my training (cycling and running) in my Taman.  Again my swimming was done at the public pool in Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras.

Footnote: Edward found later that he did not pay for the Sprint event and had only made payment for the OD relay. He had already paid for the accommodation for two nights thinking that he was going to do the sprint.

1) The Carbo dinner (night before event day)
This year Edward managed to book accommodation at the PD Golf and Country Club which is located just diagonally across the road from the event location. The location is much better than the Methodist church in terms of proximity to the event location.

Friday nite's carbo dinner for the Sprint event was the first time I met Leong.  I arrived late from work.  Leong had collected the goody bag and also checked into the hotel.

Sprint Event (Saturday 10th October):
 Edward , Leong  &  Me

For the Saturday's carbo dinner OD/Relay event, we had a table all to ourselves as we had 3 relay teams (the biggest group we have so far). The dinner was held outside the hotel building.

OD Relay Event(Sunday 11th October):

Team No
Swimmer
Cyclist
Runner
9024
Cheryl
Michael
Jason
9025
Edward
Jafri
Cheng
8019
Me
Ernie
Scott

Relay Carbo Dinner on Saturday evening
 (clockwise from left : Ernie, Jafri, Me, Edward, Michael,Cheryl, Cheng, Jason and Scott)

2) Event Day- OD & Relay  (11th October 2015)

All of us stayed at the same hotel. On the event day we drove our cars to Avillion early morning


Grp Pic- Relay team members on event morning -just before start
2.1)Swimming Leg

We had 3 relay teams this year. There was an additional short beach run after the swim at the beach this year.Most of us opted for the runner of the relay team to do the beach run instead of the swimmer. Hence the runners had to be on stand-by at the beach on order to switch the ankle timer tag.


Swimmers flexing their muscles
Grp pic with relay team members at beach
Another Group pic at beach with relay team members


And we are off (Ed in background)....


red caps setting off for the swim



and she's the first to disappear into the water...
















2.2)Cycling Leg

The three cyclist were Michael, Ernie and Jafri.  Both Edward and I opted to also try out the cycling as “ghost” riders.
Ernie- biking his way out to 
the main road
Ernie - ready to transition to cycling

We thought as a pre-cursor to next year’s full OD, we would just try out swimming and cycling the OD distances to see if we could handle two thirds of the course.

By the time we got back to Avillion from cycling, we did not meet up with the rest of the relay members. We figured we still had time to catch the free breakfast buffet at the hotel and headed straight for a late breakfast.  We were lucky as the buffet was still open. There were other OD participants there having breakfast too. Both Ed and I thought that they must have completed the course in good time to go to the hotel for breakfast. Super fast they were!!

After filling our stomachs we cycled back to Avillion hoping to catch the runners for a group picture.  We were too late as there had already returned to the hotel getting ready to check out.  So both Ed and I missed taking a group pic with the other relay members.

2.3)Running Leg

Runners waiting for cyclists to return
Jason -running back to the finish line
Cheng - running back to finish line
3)Completion Lunch

Finally managed to get a group pic after completion of the event. Lunch at local restaurant.
Having Lunch at Gin Men Teppanyaki, Port Dickson Town
4)RESULTS
The offical timing results were posted a few days later.

4.1)PD OD Relay Results



4.2) PD Sprint Results

I have made an improvement in my overall timing for the sprint as compared to 2014.
Managed to shave off about 15 minutes.  Yay!








5) More Pics


Leong on the run back
Sprint- Photo Montage


PL (in right of pic) a secondary school friend of a friend was also taking part in the Sprint event. I did not realise it until he came up and greeted me at the start of the swim.  This was his first attempt at the PD tri.  He turned up again taking part in the full OD Tri in 2016.
Sprint members (minus Edward)
 with completion medals