Éclectique

So I'm basically bored out of my mind right now. One thing I've managed to do is more or less breakdown my habit of getting 'sets' when it comes to components, and lockdown a build which gets me drooling. Previously, I had the habit of getting sets. For example, if a brand had a line or collection that included handlebars, seatpost, stem, & wheels, I would list that collection as part of my 'dream build' even though I only liked the wheelsets I did similar things with my music & I'm trying to break the habit by taking ONLY components I LIKE. So here's the list; Eddy Merckx EMX-525 frameset Easton EC90 Aero 56mm wheelset Easton EC90 Aero handlebars Time Xpresso 12 Titan-Carbon pedals S-Works Carbon Road crankarms S-Works SL Carbon spider S-Works SL chainrings PRO Vibe stem PRO Vibe seatpost Shimano Dura-Ace 9070 Di2 (except crankarms, spider & chainrings) Easton R4 casette (Shimano 11-speed compatible) S-Works Tou...

So I did the Putrajaya International Triathlon last weekend.  It was a rather last minute event so not many people signed up.  Personally, I was skeptical about how well I would do as I hadn't been able to properly train for the past month or so, juggling school work, committee work and finals. Crossing the line in an unofficial time of 2:07:11, I was pretty happy.  Seeing as I'd never done such distances back to back compounded by the lack of training, I actually performed better than I did at Desaru.  Unfortunately, the rest of the field was rather experienced and I came in around the bottom quarter. :( My only issue with the course was the cycle route.  Why go on the highway?  Putrajaya has a very complete motorcycle lane system.  Why didn't the organizers use that?  They really should have.  On top of that, there were no signs and not enough marshals so at times, we were winging it, hoping they would place marshals at crucial exit poi...

So, I did my first duathlon last weekend. It was the Powerman Duathlon Asian Championships & some big names came down hoping to secure points to qualify for the Duathlon World Championships in Switzerland. The duathlon I participated in was held in Putrajaya. Such a beautiful place to race. I hope they do it again next year. A duathlon is run-bike-run & sounds easier than triathlon -- which is swim-bike-run.  It's simpler, yes but it is in no way easier.  Most likely due to the slightly different distances.  That being said, I like the duathlon distances better.  Maybe I should start doing the long distance triathlons after this. Anywho... Compared to the Desaru triathlon, I was able to put a 5 minute gap between my brother & myself.  Best part of it; I started creating that gap in the first run & he never closed it.  In Desaru, Akid had a 1 minute advantage out of the water but I was able to close it & we arrived at T2 (bike-to...

Classes have resumed.  Last two semesters have felt like open season & I was the deer.  Mechanics & Heat  in the short semester, then Multivariate Calculus in the following semester were really a blow to my CGPA. I've probably rambled a lot about this so I'm not going to say anything more.  Let's just hope that hunting season is over & this little deer is not going to face anymore trouble. This semester I'm only taking 3 subjects; Thermodynamics, Electricity & Light, & retaking Multivariate Calculus.  Multivariate Calculus has a new lecturer so hopefully she's good.  Going to work hard at all my papers now.  Have to.  Need to bring up my CGPA so I can apply. Talking about applications, I'm now looking at Canada rather than the States due -- primarily -- to safety issues...  There has been literally a shooting every week.  It's frightening.  Going to apply to McMaster, University of Calgary, & Queen's. ...

So as most of the world is well aware, ongoing right now is one of the greatest sporting events in the world; The Olympics.  People all over the world have been glued to their TVs watching their favorite athlete run that bit faster, smash that bit harder, push that bit more, cheering them on, feeling their pain, their joy, feeling pride in their athletes regardless of a win or not. Malaysia may be a soccer-mad nation -- yes, soccer -- but when it comes to the Olympics; there is one sport that I can safely say ALL Malaysians are eyeing; badminton.  Since the glory days of the Sidek brothers, Malaysia has been a powerhouse in badminton.  The Men's Singles final was a replay of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Sad to say, even right down to who won the match. :( Nevertheless, our Dato' Lee Chong Wei performed superbly, gave it his all, never backed down, but most of all, held his composure till the very end.  Chong Wei, you are one awesome player.  It is sad yo...

Ramadan is a tricky time to stay fit. It's very much possible, just for me, it requires more discipline compared to other months.  Usually after iftar, I'm either too full/worn out to do sports and/or I am going to tarawih with my family. My parents seem fine with me doing exercises late-er due to Ramadan but when something isn't in your routine, it feels odd. Maybe I still should train at night, like when I played rugby; we trained at night after tarawih.  I'll do that. So tomorrow night, night run. I'll try to hit 6km & see how I fare. Minimum distance I need to run is 4km. I'm sure my fitness is quite bad. I haven't really done much training since Port Dickson International Triathlon, which was about three weeks back or so... O-O September is going to be a busy busy month.  I have the Adidas King of the Road 10km road run, Taiping International Marathon (I'll most likely be doing the 21km half-marathon), Desaru International Triathlon (still ...

So, it's Ramadan now. A month of fasting.  :)  It's fun, actually.  Aside from the spiritual gains, at the end of the day, the food looks very good & one does feel more grateful.  Also, at least I'm on my term break so I won't be running all over school going to my classes.  Now, I just need to find a way to stay in shape.  If not, it'll be a month wasted.  On top of that if I don't keep up, come September -- & the numerous events I'm planning to enter -- I'll be screwed. I'll most likely be doing night rides, night runs, and the TotalGym after breaking fast, just so that I'll have the energy to do so.  If I do it during the day, I'll have difficulty fasting the rest of the day.  Plus, I want to try and maintain my current BMI else I might fall too low.  Gaining BMI during Ramadan with my metabolism is pretty much out of the question. Hehe. Sheesh.  Everything sounds so bland, doesn't it?  Nothing exciting...  ...

My blog is really really slowing down isn't it? :/ Not good. The worst part is that it's not just my blog. I've virtually stopped writing. Hmm. I suppose now that I'm in college, I should have more things to blog about. Well, I do, but I haven't been dilligent. Did I blog about getting into the ADTP Committee? What about the 4th of July Pool Party we organized? I can't remember. The blogger app I'm using doesn't allow me to check a number of things, including past posts & tags. Well, the IRB Rugby World Cup is coming soon. 8D. Quite excited. Yaay! I'll be rooting for a number of teams; namely the All Blacks (New Zealand), Wallabies (Australia), Eagles (USA), Tonga, Fiji, Japan, & Springboks (South Africa). Phew. Hehe! Speaking of rugby, I'll be joining my college's rugby club this coming semester. I hope I'll make it to the team... Hmm. I'll need new boots. The cost of the parts needed to revive my F50i TUNiT will set m...

Today is the 4th of July!!! The American Independence Day. In conjunction with this, the Sunway ADTP Student Committee is orgainizing a summer pool party called "An American Summer" this evening, from 6-10. It's going to be a blast!! Hehe! Anyway, the weekend was busy for me. I went to my mom's Family Day in Taman Rimba Kiara, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, KL. Quite a nice place. Apparently, there's also some trails there so definitely worth a look. I used my student ID to get a discount for the first time on Saturday!! Woohoo!! Hehe!! On Sunday, I went to Bukit Bandaraya, Shah Alam for the 3rd leg of the Token Bikezooka MTB Series. The turn up was a bit less this time around. The track was a blast!! Phew. At the beginning, they give us this massive climb. 80. Everybody was cursing on their way up. I was humming. Hehe! A trick I learned from my mom. After the climb, there's a quick descent then some tarmac where you can regain your breath. Then more cli...

Good thing this blog is digital... Otherwise I think my previous posts would've rotted away by now. Hehe! It's been quite a while since I last posted something here. Um, just a random, pointless update... Wait, it's not pointless, then since it's an update... -_-" I want to do triathlons someday. OK, now at least it's still random. 8D But seriously, I want to be able to do triathlons someday.

I've said it before; once I'm bored, I start doing lists. So for today, I decided to make a list of cool things I found that would be neat to own. Hehe! GoPro HD Hero. It's a camera for action sports. With an assortment of mounts, you can mount it anywhere to get that awesome footage. The HD Hero model shoots in 1080p videos and 5mp pictures. Impressive considering it's just this small little thing. P/S; the camera is mounted on the helmet. You don't get a free helmet (nor goggles) with the purchase of the camera. Hehe! A cyclocross bike. Cyclocross is sometimes written/typed as CX. They look identical to road bikes with the drops bars and all but they're actually built to go off-road. Pretty neat concept. Hehe. If you notice the bike in the picture below has drop bars and rather thin tires, reminiscent of a road bike. Some ring I found on this website called Novica and it looks like a Jaguar. The animal, not the car. It's a really nifty loo...

Some of you may have read on Facebook that I participated in a race this past Sunday on February 20th, 2011. It was an all-day event consisting of one mountain bike event -- called the Jamboree --, and 3 road bike events -- called Criterium races. The Jamboree was the first event of the day and was scheduled to start and 10. Riders were to be at the starting grid by 9:45 a.m. Alright, before you go on, I'm going to rant about the flaws of the event before the good part. So if you want to skip the bad, go to paragraph 7 (not counting this paragraph & the one above). By 9:30, there were still around 30 people who hadn't received their race number and transponders. No, it's not that so many people showed up, overwhelming the organizers. It was the sheer inefficiency of the organizer's themselves. In short, the registration was an absolute mess. The counters weren't properly labelled, the chain of command was all over the place, there was hardly anyone in cha...

As the title says, this post is going to be about mountain biking. Yes, I'm bored. So just to introduce my fellow readers to the realm of mountain biking. I'll do my best to include photos so you kind of get the idea of the different bikes and objectives of each form. Before I start, let me introduce very briefly on what categories I will be elaborating on about below. First of all is Cross Country, the very roots of mountain biking. Afterwards I will explain on All-Mountain/ Enduro . Following that will be Downhill. My personal favorite. Following up on that part will be Freeride / Slopestyle . And last but not least, Fourcross . This is the most popular form; Cross Country or XC in short. XC mountain biking was one of the first forms of mountain biking. It was pioneered by a group of friends in the early to mid-80's. I could go into a long-winding talk about that alone but I think what I've written suffices. If you want to know more, just look it up. The inte...

Last Sunday, my family & I went for a ride at the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) is Sungai Buloh. It's a really cool XC trail. A lot of loops. The week leading up to our trip was kind of stressful because information regarding RRI was hard to obtain. Getting there is simple enough. Starting from Skypark Terminal, Subang Airport, keep going straight until you reach a Caltex gas station. From there, turn right and keep going, following the signs. The signs will lead you to the actual institute itself which is on your left. The entrance to the trail however, is right across the street, on your right. So turn right -- it's between two nurseries -- and park. There's a small plot of land perfect for parking and unloading the bikes. After that, start off. Map from Subang Airport to Entrance of RRI View Larger Map The road going into the plantation is red soil road and it's a nice ride. You can do some pretty cool sprints there but I'd advise against that. ...

Sorry for not blogging lately! A lot has been happening and I just haven't had the time to blog. Last weekend, I participated in a public speaking competition and naturally, blew it. Haha. A friend of mine, Mikhail entered too but he didn't make it to the semi-finals either. Kinda disappointed but I kinda saw it coming. This weekend I have a debate competition at HELP College. Excited and nervous at the same time. Also, there's a downhill event coming up; The Kiara Rage. It's on 25th July. Unfortunately, I cannot participate. Huhu. Mainly because I need more practice, a new helmet & my parents' permission. Hehehe. Um, just a short update for now. Au revoir.

I finally managed to go to the Putrajaya Challenge Park today! WOOHOO! It is a nice place but it takes a teensy bit to get there. Just follow the signboards till you get there. The best place to start is in front of the Putrajaya International Convention Center with all the flags waving. From there, turn left, follow the directions and you'll get there. By the way, you'll pass by a cemetery which is a tad bit creepy, especially considering that you're going to do some extreme sports. I had a blast. Crashed once and got a slight cut on my knee. I had to bail out on a few parts coz I didn't have enough momentum. Man. Those tracks are tricky. Especially the jumps. My feet keep lifting off the pedals. Phew. Haha. But it was wicked! the cut on my knee And the cut looks worse than it is. It's just one small cut but it bled out a bit, thus the gruesome effect. Sorry to any of my readers who find this image graphical and hard to digest. Alright, now time for a quick wal...

Friday night, my parents had decided that this weekend, we would not be going out of the house except for necessities like groceries, Akid's swim class, family meetings, etc. So, naturally, I was prepared -- sort of -- for a weekend full of studying. I sort of guessed as much because next week is Akid's birthday. I'll put up a post when the time comes. Anyway, as I had said earlier, I was sort of ready to face a weekend of studying and then another week of the same activity -- huhu. Then today, while having snack after Akid's swimming lesson, my mom decided that on Monday morning, we were going to swim in Putrajaya. A series of things came to mind in this order; Putrajaya-mountain bike-Putrajaya Challenge Park-IDEA! Inevitably, my dad caught the look on my face -- or he was thinking about it too -- and said we would check out the park since it was close by AND that we would bring my mountain bike along. WOOHOO!! I only face two dilemmas; one of which is easily solved. ...

I know it is already the 2nd of January and I know this should have been written the LATEST by 31st December but I finally got around to writing this -- and thinking about it. Hehe. I've color-coded them by the way. Red means VERY important, Purple means preferable but optional and Green means it's just something I want that isn't important. Hehe. So my New Year's Resolutions -- which are in no particular order of importance are; A full-face MTB helmet. Preferrably -- or rather, hopefully -- from Specialized or SixSixOne but I don't mind any other brand. As long as I like it -- duh. Elbow/forearm + knee/shin guards. This too I would prefer SixSixOne. Or maybe Fox Head but again, I'm just hoping. 10 A's for SPM -- duh. Improve myself so that I study hard AND smart. A lot. Without burning out. That means minimum 1 SOLID hour a day. Then I can play, a bit. Get Abah a bike and hit the trails one fine weekend. Get a scholarship to M.I.T and do en...

To my readers, I apologise if any of you were under the impression there really was an event. It's just a title -- which happens to have something to do with my post today. I'm sorry but there was no long-distance, endurance cycling competition in BJ during the duration of the school holidays. Nothing official, at least. My apologies. Anyway, back to the reason I'm posting this; I woke up 'early' today -- 9:30 a.m. Haha. So much for early, eh? Anyway, after a shower and breakfast, I went cycling. I went all over BJ alone on my Polygon Collossus AX1.0. Hehehehe. Just me, my bike, a bottle of water & my music. It was a fun -- and tiring -- ride. The Route: View Larger Map Legends: A/E - Home (I'm not going to put my address, duh) B - School (SMK Bkt. Jelutong) C - Lagenda (Jalan Teratak) D - Jalan Adang Checkpoints: This one I think is a bit obvious but just in case I'll clarify it. The checkpoints are; A-B, B-C, C-D and D-E. Time(s): Leg 1 (A-...

Just thought I'd publish a post on sounds that I like. These sounds may or may not necessarily be relaxing. These are just sounds that I like. Waves breaking and crashing against the beach. Cliche, I know. But its so rhythmic and relaxing. Running water. No, not tap water. As in a stream or river. This one is not so rhythmic but still relaxing. Car's engine revving. Haha. Yes, I'm somewhat of a diesel-head. But I'm not into the shrill cry of F1 engines. Something deep. Muscle car sort of deep. Almost roaring if you rev it. That sounds like power to me. Keyboard being typed on. I know this sounds strange but I like it. To me, it sounds like inspiration being transferred and molded into a story. Camera shutters. The 'click' that goes off when you snap a picture. I like that. Especially when you've managed to get a really good angle and create a very interesting snapshot. Golf ball. When you take a nice, relaxed stance, swing that 7-iron and...