endorphin July 27th, 2009
No No No, I am not back from retirement. For those of who heard that I will be back for good, it is not true. It’s just an ad-hoc helping out to fill the gap. And I thought it would be fun to just do it once.
So, tomorrow RPMC 7pm FF maxis. See ya there & lets rock the roof.
endorphin July 27th, 2009
Stage 21 - Final. Winner : Contador (2) Schleck A (3) Lance A.
Next year, LA with Johan Bruyneel & Contador will be from diff team……it will be interesting.
Stage 20
endorphin July 25th, 2009
PS : video might not be loadable later due to Youtube removing them for copyright reason.
endorphin July 24th, 2009
TDF 09 - Stage 18 TT
Lead : Contador. LA, close the gap back to 3rd place.
endorphin July 23rd, 2009
PS : video might not be loadable later due to Youtube removing them for copyrights reason.
endorphin July 22nd, 2009
PS : some of these videos might be unloadable later due to Youtube removing them coz copyright.
endorphin July 20th, 2009
When the Century Ride invitation came about, I was excited. I got D’mutant excited too. I thought I will have some time to clock some milesge before it. But work and life incidents have a way to distract intended training. With zero long ride above 100km, my plan was braced myself for a suffering and hope for a sub 7 hours finish.
The Day before :
Planned was to make the journey @ 4pm. Had our friends help to pick up goodies & note briefing for us.
It all went according to plan. 4pm, packed up the bikes with D’mutant & Mr Slumber, our rookie support car driver and headed to Ipoh. Knowing that D’Mutant certainly stands a chance of podium finish. I do my part of instigating her to for it during our journey to Ipoh. A friend got to do what a friend got to do 
We managed to find the resort without incident although we are absolutely not familiar with Ipoh. It’s a nice chalet. Thanks to AR for booking the place for us. Brilliant choice. Settled in, picked up our goodie bags, went for carbo load. I have also started hydration to avoid dehydration the next day. Then it was preping for the next morning ride.
The Day :
Snooze after snooze of alarm clock, we finally woke up @ 5.20am. We were mis-informed that there were breakfast for all cyclists by the resort reception. All of us powerbar for breakfast instead.
6.45am, >500 cyclists, gathered around. I wonder if anyone pay attention to the speeches. :) The adrenalin was high, all geared up to ride. Who is gonna pay attention to the CM’s bla bla bla bla……. Sharp 7am, flagged off. The race was on especially for those who came with an intention. Great to see D’Mutant my words & went for the chase was right from the start.
It’s a “previledge ride”, there were plenty of marshalls, traffic police to take care of the traffic, ambulance & etc.
1st 40km was fast coz everyone was still fresh. In no time we reached 1st water station. By now, D’Mutant was no where in sight. And here the drama starts. OJ who was Gangho to go, in the “kan cheong-ness” had a cramp & a fall. The fall broke his saddle. (pic later) We spent a good 30 min or so waiting for support car, changed saddle & ciggie break.
With energy in the tank, each KM rolled by very quickly. I was “pre-warn” to watch out for 14% around 70+km. Well, 70+km came & went, there were no 14% and I rolled into 2nd water station at 80km. Here another wait of about 20 min for Kiran who had cramps. Although we are way ahead of our plan schedule, we didn’t want to waste time waiting as the later you finish, the worse is going to be under the hot scourging sun. At this point, I got a little worried if D’Mutant has water supply since she was way ahead of us and support car was with us. Told Mr Slumber to go find her, make sure her needs were taken care of then wait for me wherever he stopped for D’Mutant, probably around 120km mark.
Tony headed out and I followed. We maintain that for about 7+km and came to a sharp turning. On the precaution, I slowed & pulled away from the tail of Tony with about 3 bikes space coz I saw sand from afar. I guess Tony panic on the approach, he breaks and the bike skidded and he crashed into the railing. Thank God, there was no major injury. After a 15 min wait to let him regain control from the shock, we moved on. The sun was out by then. My aim was to get to the water station at 110+km. I guess the gang didn’t ration their energy, by now their speed has slowed and I beginning to pulled away.
At 3rd water station, I found out Kiran went up support at the 2nd water station after his cramp. That much for a young man without mental tenancity. Mohan was feeling the heat and had bottles of cold water shower. From this point on, energy is on a diminshing scale. With < 50km left, I just want to finish it cos my legs were feeling the onset of cramps due to lack of mileage. .
At this point, I begin to wonder where is Mr Slumber. It can’t be that he is waiting so far away. Jamie was supporting at the back and I wonder if I have enough water to last. And Ron’s spray rescued me at 130km to deter cramps
I tried my level best to find people whom I can sucked on their tail. But too many was just spent. So, I resolved to suck then over take, go alone then find whover I can suck again next. I repeat this cycle until I reached 4th water station @ 143km. Oh man, the shower of ice cold water was heavenly. My senses was awaken and I was fresh again. I can’t for the gang coz I need to capitalised on feeling fresh.
God sent an angel with a specialized bike. He has a good cadence, a speed @ 30kmh. Sweet spot. That’s it. I just sucked on his tail till the last turn where the marshall signal “last 4km” It was a mental count down. I continued drafting him till the turn of Kinding Resort, for some reasson he slowed so I went ahead to the finish. 6 hrs 52 min. 3444 cal, 160km done. At the point, one thought in my mind was, “do not attempt this kind of crazy thing when you do not have enough training & mileage on your legs”
Thanks to D’Mutant for the Vit C cold drink @ the finish. U r the best. 
Guess what is the good news !!!!! D’Mutant 6th placing. Woohoo……………Superb!! Congratulations !!!!!!
Post Mortem :
Special thanks to Jamie for the superb support & photographer. I can’t wait to see the pic.
endorphin July 17th, 2009
With no mileage on my legs….and I wanna attempt this
In this :
I SERIOUSLY NEED HELP !!!
endorphin July 17th, 2009
5 days of crazy emotional roller coaster, from one end to the other.
It started from shock of realizing the bike was stolen, to the disappointment of non discovery when those who went round to search came back empty handed. The sadness during the process of lodging police report. Then it was the silent hope & prayer of the police reovering it when the work week starts.
The unbelievable phone call from the IO on Tues was a welcoming one. The disbelieve when we saw the bike in excellent condition in the IO’s office in PD on Tues’s nite was an experience beyond words.
The wait started after she signed the doc for court release filing process. Floods of advice from cyclists everywhere to attempt every avenue for the release in fear of their handling & care. And we were tossing in the yo yo when the IO called yesterday for our presence in the session court for the release application today.
Big thank you to Pfir for his time & effort to take us to PD session court in the early hour today. What an experience to be appearing in front of the Magistrate, to be part of the protocol, witnessing how the IO reported himself, being informed in all seriousness that there shouldn’t be disposal of the bike nor any major alteration to the bike until the case is officially close. Wow.
YES, she has her Cervelo S1 baby back !!!! Checked up by Daniel and it is rearing to go for Century.
From the cyclometer, it was taken less than 1.8km away. Ermmmm……
It is a miracle. Miracle does happen but it may not be often. So, a word of caution to all cyclists - hug our bikes in our ride’s pit stop while eating & hug our bikes to sleep in all tour ride
A meeting has been set between the PCC Committee with Insurance broker. Hopefully something good transpire from there so that we all can insure our bikes & have peace of mind in all our rides.
Don & Pfir, we shall have pulling service for sometime in all our future ride, YAY.