New frontier

Finally, I have the courage to make a move from my current job. Just tendered my resignation on last Wednesday (3rd Feb 2010). I'll join Eon Capital on 8th March 2010. Better pay, new portfolios, different field, inferior benefit but better post. Most importantly, I'll start a new book. Fresh record and with better chance of moving up the corporate ladder.

It is not that I don't like my current job. It is challenging and entertaining and I do get personal satisfaction on completion of various tasks and projects. But after so many years carrying the extra responsibilities and tasks out of my job scopes, I felt cheated that I do not get any promotion. I was doing jobs that personnel of 2 grades higher are doing. Part wishful thinking, part foolishness. Enough is enough then.

I will miss all my colleagues and I do feel for them that they are now faced with a difficult situation to fill in the vacancy. But hey, got to think of my future too. I will miss the ease of getting up to play squash on 45th floor right after office hours. I'll definitely loose some play time after joining eoncap. But squash ain't gonna put food on my table. I'll just have to adjust the play time later. I hope my fitness won't suffer.

Finally, I pray and hope that this new job gonna be suitable for me. I thank Allah for giving me this opportunity.

End of an era..

Finally, I give up.. can't be bothered to fix it anymore and am tired of its unreliability. After so many breakdowns, emergency leaves, head ache and agony, I had to let it go. No point of spending hundreds more to keep it running just for commuting. On 16th January 2010 at around 11 p.m., on the way home from Bob's kenduri (Congrats Bob!!!) the engine just died on me. It suddenly stop without warning with only about 2 km to reach my house. The worst thing is the final 1 km is uphill. And then as if it was magic, it started and I was able to ride until about 500 metres from the house before it died again. Luckily there were good samaritans around. One guy on his scooter offered to tow the bike. It was difficult to get it moving at first due to the weight of the bike. Came to an uphill turn, we stalled. Then another bike stop to help.

The following Monday (18th Jan 2010), I got the bike check by Din of FIS Motor (in front of Dato Keramat LRT station). He is good a fixing bike. By the look of his workshop, one would think he just do "kapcais". But if you see the bike waiting to be serviced, you realise he is something. From kapcais to BMWs, he can do it all. I was told that he used to be mechanic for LTDL marshalls' bike. Anyway, after the diagnose, we found out that the electronics died. The rectifier is broken and the spare part is not available. To fix, he must modified other bikes rectifier. Coils to recharge the battery also burnt. Also, no spares available. It has to be rewound. That's it I said. Better off to get one reliable kapcai for commuting.

So I got myself a Honda 125 Wave S now. A bit small compared to the MZ. I just got to adjust the way I ride. Just like between a mountain bike and a BMX. The bigger is more stable while the smaller is twitchier. So there goes the savings plan, now that I got a new monthly commitment. Luckily, the payment for MZ just completed. Well, at least now I'll be saving on the maintenance and petrol bill. Plus, there will be less possibility of breakdown requiring emergency leave. This should be a help when I got the new job.

Ciao.. rempit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahhaa

The gout treatment WORKS!!!

At least for me that is.. Ever since I did the "sireh" treatment, I have had no acute attack anymore. But of course, I have to bear the burning sensation on the my skin below the knees. I t was rather bad that it even look like I had too much time under the sun, but only on that area. Furthermore, the clear fluid (in Malay it's called "air bisa") keep coming out through every skin breaks on my calf. I had to stop the treatment after about 10 consecutive days due to not being able to bear the burn anymore.

Nevertheless, just after 2-3 days discontinuing it, the calf return to normal size, with no more fluid coming out. The skin begins cure and the dead top layer can be peeled off revealing new layer of skin. the miracle is, the gout pain has since gone.

I'm glad that this works for me. Now every time I can feel the gout attack is around the corner, I just do the treatment once, and the next day my legs are pain free.

However, this doesn't seems to work on everyone. A colleague wit gout tried on his legs, but nothing happened. As they say, your venom, my medicine.

Bye..

Alternatif gout treatment

Since 1 minth ago, I ve been taking my second son to Felda Gedangsa for his alternative treatment. Instead of going to physiotheraphy, we have decided to try this treatment. It involves bandaging the whole body, almost 'mummified' to strenghten his muscles. Alhamdulillah, it is showing positive result. he crawls more now, and he seems much stronger.

Although Kak Raw, the practitioner, only treats children below 8 years old starting this year, I tried to ask her to treat my gout before. But she politely declined. Nevertheless, I tried to apply her technique and bandage my leg myself. It does seems to help preventing swelling around my ankle. So I continue the bandaging. On our third trip there, she saw my bandaged leg. It is so happened that day was not too busy for her, and there were not that many patients left after us. After finishing treatment for my son, she offered to bandaged my legs. I was a bit reluctant at first, what with other patients are still waiting. So I declined her offer for that time being. I wanted to wait until no patients left.

With about 3 patients left she called me for the treatment, as my son was crying already. I sat, look and learn her treatment for the gout. She gave me some tips to continue at home. After that, we came back home, with me driving with two bandaged legs.

I continued the treatment at home now. It seems to be working. My legs are not aching so much from gout/swelling anymore. However the side effect is itchy legs. I'm not so sure whether its the toxic surfacing to the skin or it is allergic reaction to the sireh and cream. I have to remember to asked her this next time.

Last Monday (24/03/2008) I went back to Taiping alone riding my MZ 125SX motorbike. The week prior to that I suddenly realise it was long ago that I had last seen my grandmother. To go back by car, it would cost me at least RM100- RM200. So that's why I chose to ride my bike.

That was the second time I took the bike for a long distance trip. The first was during my wife confinement period in Palong after the birth of my second son, 1 and a half year ago. Now the bike is worst off. The rear shock is gone so the butt is taking more punishment this time.

The trip started 9.30 a.m from Puncak Alam. By 12.00 noon, I was in Ipoh and had lunch with old mates there. It was 1.45 p.m that I continued my trip to Taiping. Reached Taiping araound 2.45 p.m and went straight to "cendol" near Georgy secondary school. Fuhh... first bowl with the "pulut bakar" and the second bowl just a normal cendol... Wahhh... I love the taste of the real "cendol".. couldn't get it here in KL.

After satisfying my cendol crave, made a move to Makteh's house. My "Tuk" is there. She looks so fragile now... with not much muscle left... It sure reminded me of all this youth and strength will one day leave us all. After about 1 hour I said bye to Makteh and Tuk and started my trip home.

Around 4.50 p.m. I reached near Sg Perak rest stop area. It started to rains heavily. I stop there and catch a nap. At 5.30 p.m. I left the rest stop. The journey from then onwards was on and off rain. However I brave onwards to reach home as soon as possible. One reason being its getting cold and another was my butt was really really sore.. must make note, before another long distance trip, I must get the cushion done.

Around 9.00 p.m. I reached Puncak Alam and was really tired and could use a rest. After a bath and dinner, I went to sleep. Hopefully next long distance trip I can get a bigger cc motorbike. An average of 85 km/h really doesn't cut it, I would really love to get a bike where I can speed faster than the car.. so next time if I want to eat real cendol again.. hehehe... I can just vroom to taiping...

Ciao..

New Year! New Year! 2008

As usual... new years is coming in. I hereby pledge my resolution for year 2008:

1. To cycle more to work. An average of 3 times per week by the end of 2008
2. To achieve my ideal weight range of 70-75 kg by end of 2008
3. To trade forex better. I hate loosing trades and loosing money
4. Pray more
5. Full fasting during Ramadhan
6. To achieve no 5 I have to find ways to control my gout
7. Try to reduce my existing debt by half at end of 2008.

That's all for now I reckon. I should put up a "before" picture of me at my current weight now 96 kg, so when I reached the 70 kg goal I can make comparison.

Drumming

I don't know what has got into me. It seems that I have been bitten by drum bug. It all started out of a sudden. Out of no where I just have to drum night and day. I spent a lot of free time on the web searching for drum info and searching for affordable drum sets. Any free time available is spent on drum related activities. I even took of early from work to go to music shops to look at drum sets. What has got into me!!!! Help.... Even last week when I call in sick for a day, I went for a jam session alone. Just to play the drums. Lucky it was only RM20 for the 1 hour session.

Now, if I can easily get a set I wouldn't mind it. The problem is I could not. The cheapest set I can get complete with mute pads costing RM1,500. But it is an acoustic jazz set. With me living in an apartment and the kids around all the time, I don't think it is a viable option. Which leave me with 2 options, electronic drum set or practice pad set.

In KL, I found out there are only 2 brands available; Yamaha and Roland. the cheapest set would set me back >RM3,500. On e-bay, there are a couple of options the most viable being OSP DD502 set. Costing USD469 + pp USD175, roughly RM2,500 to me.

Or the least favourable option is to get a practice pad set. It will only cost RM550. But of course, it will not feel the same at all, without any "real" drum sound. But hey, at least I can get the feel of drumming a complete set without the noise.

I have to weight the options well. The sure thing is , I can't afford either the acoustic set or the electronic set for the time being. What I have to consider is whether to purchase the practice set or save up more and longer until I can get the e-set.

Argh!!!!!!!

Flated while going 55 kmh

What a scary experience. All this while riding mountain bike downhill, I was never that scared as when I flated week. Maybe because the the falls during downhill happened so fast that I did not have the time to think of the consequences. But on the way to work during rush hour traffic, the flat sure gave me the "Oh no... please unclip..please unclip..!!!"I found out that it is almost impossible to unclip while trying to control a bike with flat rear tyre at 55kmh. Luckily I managed to unclip and stop before the fall.

By the way, the flat was due to pinch flat. This was on a newly paved road where everything supposed to be smooth. But there seems to be small potholes at the end of the new paved road. Damn!!! My thin 23c tyre could not absorb the impact with me being 95kgs, added with loaded bag on the rear rack.

To make matter worse, after replacing the tube with my spare, the presta nut broke off just after I had finished pumping the sucker up. So I was left with 2 tubes, 1 slashed & 1 with a broken nut... both can't be fixed... So all the way home I had to push my bike.

Yesterday I went out to buy some spare tubes. At night after my family went to sleep, I started to repair the damage. a while after pumping the tyre I could here hissing sound. Oh no, don't tell me its a puncture again. I thought I have thoroughly check for debris onside the tyre before putting it back onto the wheel. However, there appears to be lots and lots of metal flakes coming from the rim (which was grinding the road during the flat) embedded into the tyre sidewalls. I tried to pry them out. but there were to many. Worse, you can really feel them when running the finger along the sidewall. So I toss the rear tyre, and replaced it with the stock tyre. Hopefully it will be at least a couple of months before a repair/replacement of the wheels is required.

That's it for now...

Anyhow, now I have put a platform on one side of the clipless pedal... so that when I go on a fast downhill on the road, I'll be able to ride unclip..

Yeah......

After a couple of months of on and off commuting, this week I had finally managed to cycle all the way up the Ukay Perdana without stopping until I reached the house. So now my trip home from work is cut down by 15 minutes. Plus my cycling shoes now can last much longer since I don't have to walk the rough road up the hill.

It was tiring though, but I seems to recover much faster now. Perhaps the fitness level is up now. One thing for sure, I bet when I go for downhill ride on weekends I will be able to enjoy more of the time by actually riding than just sit around.

There is one drawback though. Although I like the feel of the B17, my nuts seems to go to sleep after the climb. The LBS owner suggest to me about setting up the saddle a bit pointing down should I do a lot of climbing. However, the B17 has yet to be broken. Thus its nose is still pointing a bit up a little bit because if its pointing down, I'll be sliding forward all the time while cycling. I reckon I need to "cheat" in breaking in the saddle. I have started to rub sweat directly onto the saddle and rub in some extra Proofide. Hopefully this will help to soften the saddle. I might also start to use the damp towel trick. I guess age of the saddle do play a bit in making it hard to be broken in. It's older than me!!! Maybe the leather has dry out so much that now it need much more TLC . Don't get me wrong, I like the feel and my butt is not complaining, its just the sleepy nut part.

I have also just added a rear rack to the bike. it s just the cheapo type which requires some retro fitting using metal bracket from the hardware store. It is strong enough to hold the weight of my bags for the daily commute, but I don't think it can hold the load for touring. Anyway, not a concern since I don't think I'll be doing any touring anytime soon. At first it feels weird with the load is concentrated at the back. I hope it will fell natural after a while.

Enough rant for today. Tomorrow another day for commuting. Cao.

Rather epic

Last Sunday I went out for a ride with the regular crew at Kiara. It was supposed to be my relax, take it easy ride since it has been a couple of weeks since I last went riding. The morning was rather gloomy, looked like it was going to rain. Nevertheless, I keep on pushing the bike uphill so that I could catch up with those who are already up at Kiara.

Met Wan & Amir at halfway up the trail near the step up. Took a long rest there while watching they paly around. About half an hour later, the rest of the crew came up, some after going down to sri hartamas, a couple of them just came from the bottom. We all continued pushing up.

We took the main trail downand stop at the tarmac for a while before continuing down another flowing singletrack down the hill, coming out near the horse stable. DAMN!!! the push back up was shit... almost the same as pushing the initial tarmac up from the parking lot.

After a breather, took the midtrail with the switchbacks and came out near at the taman.
Few..... what a relief. I was damn tired, with leg s and arm-pump. It was one the best 3-hours of trailride that I have been to for a while. Although it was tiring, I felt satisfied.

Then yesterday, since I was up early, I cycled to work. Arghh... how my butt sores... I guess when trying to keep up with those with full susser and a bumpy trail and aching leg, I sat quit a lot and the bump hurt my sit bone. Even the Brooks on the roadie could not hide the pain.

Well, I hope tomorrow morning I'll wake up in time to cycle to work. Need to get my fitness back.

Cao..

Flow ride

Damn, the ride today was damn good. It was the first time I reckon since ages where I rode non-stop including pushing the bike at Kiara. Well maybe some breather stops here and there. Other than that there was no "lepak-lepak" stops, doing nothing except chatting. The ride was more productive I would say, more enduro than just downhill. For me it was enduro, while for XC guys it was just a short XC loops.

The ride finished within 2 hours. I started at the bottom at around 11:30a.m, reach the top somewhere around 12:20p.m then descending the new route. Reached the car park at 1:30p.m. The only thing was I was not able to play at the top. Heck, I was just about to catch a breather at top when the guys wanted to start their descend. Probably being too tired, I forgot the Pike fork and my saddle height was on climbing mode. So the first half of the descend was on XC mode. Luckily there was a brief stop cause somebody fell down. Manage to adjust the setting and weeeee... the downhill from then onwards was so much more fun.

Perhaps I wasn't really pushing it, but I did not fall down today. It is always a good feeling at the end of the ride that your body is not aching due to falling down but only due to exertion.
Too bad that my fitness level dropped since last 2 months after I stopped riding to work for a while. I really should get back on the roadie to regain my fitness. Moreover the mid section is expanding again. I reckon I could finish the ride today in less than an hour and a half if was as fit as the last 2 months.

Anyway, a good ride today.

Bought a new pair of shoes

Yesterday I had just a pair of running shoes. My intention is to start doing some walking/running besides cycling. Sometimes I can be a bit lazy to bring the bike sown from the apartment. Thus by having a running shoes, I can now just put them on and go for a brief walk when I need to burn off the fats accumulated.

This morning I went out for a 45 minutes walk. Not that tiring. But tonight I'm feeling a bit of pain on both ankles joints. I just hope that it won't turn into gout now cause I have to go outstation for 2 days starting tomorrow.

Why aren't there many locals who commutes by bike?

From my observation, in Kuala Lumpur, there are not that many locals who cycle to work. Those who cycle are mostly from the lower income bracket or foreign labours. The pattern seems to show that cycling to work is only for those whose can't afford other forms of transportation.

I do ask around the office and some of my friends why they do not want to cycle to work? Majority of them use heat and humidity as their main excuses. There's no denying that one will sweat heaps cycling in Malaysia, being direct under the equator. It does get uncomfortable since the sweat doesn't dry out as quickly as in countires with four seasons where it is less humid.

But, from what I see, a lot of workplace have restroom where one can shower before changing to workcloth. When I say shower, I mean proper bath where you can rinse your whole body with running water, not just wiping yourself with wet sponge.

Perhaps another reason is that one can get cheap motorbike in Malaysia (the small cc bike) or locally known as "kapchai". Even the courier use these bikes. I can tell you that the possibility of a bicycle courier company to survive in KL is slim since the "kapchai" is much faster for weaving through city traffic.

Maybe I am just the lucky few Malaysian who took up bicycle commuting during my university days in Melbourne and loves the freedom it gives.

Well til then.

Joy of cycling

If any of you have read my previous post would've know that I was off my bikes for quite some time, almost a month by now due to gout attack.

Well, today I managed to go out for a spin on the roadie and tested the brooks above.. It is still hard, well of course, it has not been broken in yet. But it is not that uncomfortable as some has made it out for a new brooks. It just feel as good as other plastic base saddle but without the extra foam pinching where there are not suppose to.

One more thing, it seems the wheather is changing to rainy season again. It did make me afraid for the brooks leather. But I have put some plastic at the bottom and it save the underside from water spray. I don't cover the top while riding since my butt is big enough to cover the whole lot! Hahahahaha...

BANG!!!!! There goes my car....

Well... this about about my for wheels... slightly off topic, but it affect my two wheeling though.

Last Thursday I was driving with my wife to get some groceries. On the way the is a junction for people to cross from opposite direction into our left side. Nearing the junction, I saw there was already a 4WD waiting to cross the road. So I took precaution and slow down but continue on my way. As I was nearing the junction, a Perodua Kembara jump the que and overtake the 4WD and dashed across the road. I could not do anything else but slammed the brakes and tried to steer the car but it was too close...BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our car came to a halt and the Kembara made a 180 degree stoppie.. Lucky there is steel railing to stop her from falling over into a monsoon drain beside the road.

None were injured. She came out of her Kembara and apologise, admit her wrong and agreed to claim from her insurance company. Her Kembara suffers minor knock but my car..... just see the picture. After lodging my police report and sent my car to the workshop, I went home.

The thing that tick me off is now my wife do not have a car to drive to work. So I have to sent and fetch her every working day, not that I mind, but this means I could not cycle commute till the car is back. Arghh!!!!!! I was just getting the hang of cycle commuting now this.

But in hindsight, I guess it is just a blessing in disguise so that I can allow my ankle to heal properly first after the bout with gout for the past 2 weeks. In fact it still swelling today.

Well, thats life I suppose....

Cao

100 km

After 2 weeks i managed to clock 100km on my road bike. Not such a feat to boast. But for a >200 lbs guy, who just taken up cycling which include actual pedalling... it is tough.

For more than 7 years I have not been doing any real pedalling. My mountain bike is set up as a playbike, hence it is not an efficient geometry for medium or short distance cycling. It discouraged me to to use the bike for "real" cycling". Since I also suffers from gouthritis, it means I'm always off the bike as any jumping or drops hurts my ankle.

Which is why I bite the bullet and bought the roadbike. At least I won't be jumping using it. Plus, the pedalling does not hurt my ankle too much compared to jumping. So, slowly I'm getting back my fitness, and I wish it can return to the same level, if not better then 7 years ago.

Tomorrow morning might be going for another long ride. hehehe... for now my long ride is > 20 km & < 30 km...hehehe.. or I may go for a MTB downhill session at Kiara...

Cao

Welcome to my world of bicycling

Just been having some free time on hand. So I decided to create a blog on my cycling life... or anything related to two wheels.

"Gerek"... this is my first word for bicycle. Where and when I was growing up, bicycle is known as "gerek" (a local dialect) but nowadays many do not even know the meaning of this word anymore.

I have just started to ride a road bike. Will be blogging about the experience here later on....
Cao....