A Very Exhausting Week

Thursday - 3am
Alarm went off. Got up wearily and took a quick shower and headed to Cyberjaya Office. There was going to be a migration at 4am and a system refresh as well, So I had to be on-site considering that it was my system enhancement. Everything went well until the Production Testing portion. Apparently the EDC terminal I took was the wrong one and therefore the only way to test the Credit Card swipping was at a petrol station. Went to the nearby Petronas and tried but then the OCBC-Titanium card was 'specially' shaped thus the pump station did not accept the card and the cashier counter was not open.

Thus had to drive around finding a Shell station and finally found one along the highway. Did the test there and the attendant in the station must have been freaking out and thinking who the hell is this guy at the pump station, on the phone, swipping the card so many times, not pumping a single fuel at bloody 5am!! LOL... anyway - TEST SUCCESSFUL!! Headed home.

Friday
Was on leave today just for kicks cos wifey was also on leave to go make passport. I cleaned the house, did my own time trial on the MEX highway in the morning. Later in the afternoon decided to go one more round on the MEX and on the way back was nearly knocked over by a bloody JOHOR number plate car overtaking in the emergency lane.. BASTARD!!

Later at night, had to go back to Cyberjaya to perform some investigation on the enhancement I migrated the day before.. sucks!!

Saturday - 6:4am
Woke up with a shock. Looked at the clock and cursed!! I was supposed to be at Helmi's place at 7am. FUCK!! Always happens to me on Golfing days. Took a super quick shower and headed off. Met up with Helmi at the Rawang R&R and then headed off to Bukit Beruntung Golf Club. Bloody far away. It was 60km from Puchong!! Anyway reached there at 8am and he had invited along Gan from HR and Joe from Maybank. I was FUCKED!! They were seasoned golfers and I was a week whacker... super STRESS!!

On the 1st tee off mound, suddenly they were talking about "how is the game going to be" "Team or individual" and I knew they were talking about betting... My face went totally blanked and panicked!! Thank God Helmi saw my expression and decided to the rest that it was going to be a "friendly" game today. Golf was HOT that day.. literally SUN BLAZING HOT!! I was so not in the mood and played pretty badly... didn't lose balls to Water Hazzards instead, lost it in the rough and fairway like some small hantu was eating up my balls before I got there!! On top of that, I had 3 "KERENGGA ATTACKS!!!" FUCK!!!!

Finally finished at 1:30pm and after lunch, rushed back to bathe and pick up the family to meet my parents at The Curve to celebrate Mother's Day. At the end of the day I was so freaking tired and passed out at 10pm

Sunday - 8am
Was supposed to do time trial with Team RFC at MEX highway and Kesas but didn't manage to wake up. As I looked outside it was SUPER INFERNO HOT!! Phew.. Luckily I didn't go. Or else I would have been roasted alive!!

One Heck of a tiring week and can't wait to look forward to some laid back week next.

Farewell Team RFC, Welcome Team RRFC

As the above title suggest, I am saying farewell to "Team Ride For the Children" because the Team no longer just "Rides". We now RUN as well. So welcome "Team Ride & Run For the Children". But I seriously doubt we will be riding and running down to Singapore for next year's KL-2-SG ride.

On 14th November 2010, there will be an event in Sitiawan, Perak - Malakoff Powerman 2010, which the team has decided to participate in.
There will be 2 categories :

1) 11km run-64km cycle-11km run
2) 5.5km run-34km cycle-5.5km run

Naturally we will be joining the 2nd category except for Lee Weng Khong who will be going for the main category. Therefore in order to train for this event, the RFCs will start adding running into the weekly training as well. The 1st running training was on Tuesday 11th May 2010 at Lake Gardens 6:40pm.

Since I left my old Power running shoe in Pasir Ris Bungalow-Singapore, over the weekend, went to 1Utama for shopping. The New Balance shop was having a sale - "Trade in your old shoe to get rebate up to RM100". Bought a running shoe with high-arch and it was white and orange in color. Matching for my bike as well... hahaha...

On Tuesday, after work changed to my running attire in the office - sleeveles dry fit with all tattoos blazing. While walking out of the office, didn't notice that my HOD was still in the office and was looking at me. YIKES!! Anyway the walk to the Lake Garden was quite a distance actually. What Ian and I wasn't prepared for was the entire KL Main branch also running along... wish we had brought PowerGel along hahaha...

1 loop around the lake was 2.4km and we were supposed to do 2 loops but cos it was late already, our trainer Mr Khoo Chin Aik said we will do 1 round only. Thank GOD for that!! On the 1st half loop I already couldn't keep up with the rest. Thighs were aching and couldn't breathe properly. Possibly due to the smoking earlier on instigated by Austin!! So started alternating between walking and jogging... finally managed to finish the loop in 20+ minutes. The rest of the guys did it in around 15 to 17minutes. Our OCBC CEO did 1 loop in 11minutes... WALAU EH!!

Running was more difficult than I had imagine. I'd rather cycle MEX highway 10times rather than run!! LOL!! Unfortunately it seems that running will be a permanent part of the RFCs schedule from now on. From Cycling to Duathlon (I think its called that).., the plan was to add in swimming next year and we can all be tri-athletes!!

Weekend Dragon Slaying!

Saturday morning. Once again no sleeping in. Today's mission - Slay the Dragon at Batu Arang! I was a bit late, when I reached there, Wan Giant (my paintball buddy) had already introduced himself to the group. Today's Dragon Slayers consists of Terence 'LiquidUlar', Helmi 'Lampre', Kuota KAaron, Paul 'Rabbit', Lionel Colnago, Wan 'Giant' and Kuota KAri who was late. Tpday was also the day to officiate my new Ultegra 6700 11-28 Cogset and the Euskaltel Euskadi Team jersey set. Kah Lyn was also around to see us off. He didn't ride cos he had a birthday party to attend at 10am!!

LiquidUlar and Giant

Aaron thinking this might be better than cycling

The Dragon Slayers

We started out at about 8am. We hit the 1st climb towards Batu Arang. Not as bad as the last time I was here. Maybe my engine is better or maybe its cos this time I am on a Roadbike. Anyway after a small climb it was downhill towards the base of the dragon. There were quite a few MTB groups this morning and for the 1st time I noticed that there were quite a number of offroad trails... We waited at the base of the Dragon until all arrived and off we went...

Paul "The Rabbit" led the way followed closely by Helmi. With the 28 cassette it was so much easier going up the climb. Even managed to overtake Aaron on 1 of the climbs. I am so happy I bought them. Money well spent!! As I got up the 2nd climb and looked ahead.. Paul was already on the 3rd climb damn far away... Oh Man... That was fast!!

Slayed The Dragon

Wan being not accustomed to climbs was the last to reach the bottom. I told him, there were many more rides like this to come... hahaha... we then headed to the nearby mamak for a drink while some had whole hearty breakfast.

Breakfast of Champions

After replenishing drinks and filling our stomachs, it was time to head off again but this time instead of going back up the dragon, we headed towards Saujana Utama and came out to Sg Buloh not far from the Sg Buloh prison. From there we headed back up the Guthrie Highway and headed back to Bukit Jelutong.

On the Guthrie Highway, suddenly my tendon started to hurt... it was not so painful as the last time but still it was very worrying. So I had to slow down to a brisk cycling pace together with Wan. Wan had his own problems... his cleats lost 2 screws and was now very loose. At the R&R he took a tumble cos the cleats couldn't unclip, but it was just a small matter.

This time around the Dragon Hill didn't look as menacing as it was compared to the 1st time. But unfortunately due to my injury, couldn't manage to keep up with Paul and Helmi... it was frustrating but it was still a fun ride.

And WELCOME to WAN GIANT... The PAIN starts NOW!!

From UK to Australia to Malaysia

A few weeks ago, I purchased some stuff from wiggle.co.uk. They were the Euskaltel Euskadi 2010 team jersey kit. On the day the purchased was confirmed and ready to be shipped, the stupid volcano in Iceland erupted and caused all major airports to be closed. And thus my stuff was stuck in transit!!

3 weeks later, I emailed wiggle and gotten a response from them within 12 hours stating that the shipment would be delivered ASAP. Last Saturday, my wife got an sms from her brother. THE SHIPMENT HAD ARRIVED!! And on top of that, his friend's mum who was there to visit was coming back on Sunday!! And further more, she stayed in Bukit Jalil!! WOOOHOOOO!!

The only thing that worried me was, how the sms sounded. Cos my brother in law is quite a scary fella sometimes and nothing seems to scare him. But in the sms, it sounded like he was worried a bit about this person (aunty fong).. asking us to be nice to her and stuff... so it got me worried as well... would my stuff be ok?

Well we decided not to call her so early since she just got back and so only called her on Monday. She said it was ok to collect after 4pm. I was so excited but... fate was not on my side. It was super jam on the way back and there was no way to collect the stuff without being late to pick up Ryan.. and so... decided to pick it up the next morning on the way to work.

Her housing area was opposite Bukit Jalil Stadium and it was a Bungalow lots. It was actually part of the Bukit Jalil golf club. The place was awesome... houses were huge and beautiful. Finally pulled up to her house and woohoooooo!! EUSKALTEL BABY!! The quality of the stuff was totally different from what we have here... it was all MADE IN ITALY!!
In the office after lunch, went to the gents and tried it on the shower room... PERFECT FIT!! WAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! SWEET!! Can't wait to wear it this Saturday for the Dragon Hill Training!!

A Hurtful Week

This week is not a good week. Its only Thursday and I am so hating it already.

After more than a week of no cycling, I decided to cycle on Tuesday nite with the Tat Seng gang. The RFCs were not free so I was alone. The ride started out fine... was drafting behind a few MTBs who were drafting behing Kevin Ng... all were doing 30++kmh... On the ride towards Summit it was easy peasy... but after the U-turn, suddenly my right knee tendon started to hurt. OH SHIT!! Instead of pushing down on the pedal I started to pull on the pedal but the pain was still there... managed to finish the whole ride but my avg speed dropped to 28kmh.

After cooling down back at the LRT station, I headed home and as I stepped out of the car, my right knee gave way again... the pain was sharp!! It was my tendon for sure... sigh!! Went into the house and put on the ice pack and rubbed the anti-inflamatory cream onto the knee. The next day the pain was still there.. FUCK... looks like I have to opt out of this Friday's night ride in Putrajaya... and I was so looking forward to it!!

Thursday morning, woke up feeling a bit sore on the lower back right side... thought it was nothing... dropped off Ryan at the baby sitter's house and proceeded to fetch darling to the LRT station... on the way, suddenly any small movement - even a deep breathe - and my lower back was screaming!! This was the same pain I had a few weeks back.. oh DAMN!! After dropping darling at the LRT I headed to the Clinic in Bandar Puteri but couldn't get out of the car. Was waiting in the car for about 10mins before I managed to pull myself out... in the clinic I didn't sit down as I was more comfortable standing up and then the doc asked me to lie down so that he could administer the injection. It took me quite a while to get onto the bed and after the jab, I just let my body weight slide me off the bed... LOL

Went back home and took the prescribed painkillers and KO on the bed... couldn't move as the pain was still unbearable... only after waking up at 2pm was the pain gone but felt sore all over and numb... Sigh... What a Fucked Up week!!

Thusday - Monterez

It seems that my day offs, whether it is a weekend, public holiday or on Annual-Leave... I wake up at about 5:30-6:00am. Ironic isn't? On weekdays I wish I could sleep longer, but on off days - BANG - 6:00am rise and shine... LOL

Thursday was no different. Was on Annual Leave... to play Golf... yes you heard me right... took Annual Leave to play Golf. The main reason is cos Munawir can't play on Weekend and as for me, it's just too expensive and crowded to play on weekends.

Picked up Mun at 6:30am and headed out to Monterez. Monterez is located in Shah Alam. It has night golf too. Will definately try that one day. As we got there, there were already a few fellas unloading their golf bags... and it was just 7am. After unloading ours and paying the green fee (RM80 per person - inclusive of Buggy, 1 bottle of mineral water and insurance) we had a light breakfast at the cafeteria. We then decided to start our game immediately so as not to meet up with the other golfers (who were probably better and would give pressure onto our game).

At the check point into the course on the way to the 1st hole, we had to pass the payment slip to the person in charge and was told to "PLEASE TUCK IN YOUR T-SHIRTS"... Aiks!! I had only brought 8 balls with me and was asking each worker I see whether they sold any golf balls or not - NO LUCK... so I made do with the 8 balls I had. At the 1st 3 holes, a marshall on a buggy followed us just to make sure that we knew what we were doing before leaving us along to hack the course.

The course was nice. 2 par 5s, a few par 3s and the rest were par 4s. The HUGE bungalows beside the course were damn awesome!! Makes me wish I stayed there. In the 1st 9 holes, I lost all 8 of the balls to Water Hazzard.. sigh... borrowed some balls from Munawir and managed to make it through the remaining 9. Most of the Par 4s and Par 5s were 'dog legs' - so you couldn't see the flag at all. And today was the 1st time I used my Driver on a course... surprisingly did quite ok.

All in all, it was a damn nice day cos the weather was nice.. cloudy and not too hot. Nearly gotten a few pars but missed it by an inch... but still played way better than I did before. We finished 18 holes in just above 4 hours.. and what perfect time too... as we parked our buggy back and headed for lunch at the cafeteria, it rained cats and dogs... the siren went off signaling that the course was to be closed... and so we could see many other golfers rushing back to the club house.

After lunch - it was back home for some well deserved rest..