April 2007 ~ TRISTUPE.COM

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Kiara : MTB-ing

Unbelieveable, but true. The last i ever rode Kiara was during KL MTB carnival in 2005.

Yes, THAT long ago.

Infact, this is my third time in Kiara. No joke. First was during AXN 2004, the MTB Carnival in 2005 and today, in 2007.

Some say that i am staying so near, yet do not ride Kiara as often as i should.

Now, lets just put it this way. I don't really like Kiara. It is too technical. OK, maybe for weakling like me, it's damn technical.

But for regular like Roland, Kee Yau and Michael Phoon, Kiara is like the back of their hand. And for hardcore like Steve, Kiara is running in his veins.

I cycled to meet up with them at the Park. That should give me about 5km one way from my home. Good warm up. The morning was wet, just like on Thursday.

FYI, Kee Yau is one of the chaps that always win races organised by Nomad with his other partners (usually) Jason Phua and Mike Lim.

Roland is hardcore as well. Doing Kiara almost every weekend when he comes back from Singapore. Michael Phoon is tauted to be "the legend". The way he rode Kiara this morning says it all.

I'm not worthy.

SO, the first loop was the 2K loop. The same loop that Nomad set out during AXN 2004. This is my first time offroading for ages. Confidence a bit shaky. So used to the wonder of tarred road and the smoothness(and speed) of the road bike.

Unlike Bacin, i have no intention to let the Fuji Bike rust.

Fuji Discovery III - Year 2002 model.

3 minutes into the ride, i slipped and fell. Big butt soaked up the fall and wasn't hurt that much except having a branch pressed down by the bike against my thigh...shy la. Many Moons ago...i was once a MTBiker which have Teratak Tekala for Breakfast. I would charge down Sg Pusu at breakneck speed - offroad.

Deep V Rut @ Teratak

Today, i was sitting in the rut, with my bike on me, branches against my thigh and contemplating of turning back and just go home.

Doc and all are doing FRIM today via Steroid Hills. Supposedly trying out the new trail called Pipeline and Dream.

And there i am, sitting in the rut, looking up the sky, rain falling down on my head.

OKla, maybe not so drama la, but you get my drift.

After 20minutes inside 2K, i got out, and headed to the cross junction to wait for Mike Phoon. We then headed to Snake/Ladder Trail and Twin Peaks.

The trail is wider here and not single track as it was in 2K. I actually enjoyed the trail at that point of time.

Stopping at the Syabas Water Tank at Boulder Trail, i can't help but felt sad over the destruction (in the name of development) that happens on the area where Sri Hartamas is.

We proceed on towards Twin Peak and turned left towards Janie's Addiction.

From there, we moved towards Carnival trail.

The rain in the morning made the ground slippery and extra exciting on some portion of the trail where event he roots gets slippery. I gain a bit of confidence back and started to just let the bike and my guts bring me down..

One part of Janie's addiction was pretty bad shape. I decided to come down and push my way down. The went up on the bike, started pedalling on the downhill and my front wheels got caught amongst the bigger stone. And i went over my handle bar...the seasoned riders will say i endo-ed.

I kncoked my knee against the stone and landed on my right palm, cut my wrist but adrenalin is nature's pain killer. I did not feel anything until much later when i was going down Carnival.

Nola, i wasn't trying to commit suicide

Towards the end of Carnival, there is a deep V where it is almost 70 degree. Kee Yau cleaned the V with ease and Mike decided to have another go at it.

Mike in the V

The ride ended after 1hour 40minutes, with distance covered almost 16km. I must say it is a good ride. I will return again, and aim not to fall. But i better remind myself to change/replace my rear brake pad...it was gone in this ride...almost risking a metal against metal situation and if that happens, i might have to replace my rim!

Have to check if Uncle has it cheaper or not...

The 3 sifu went off after the ride and i rode back home, with my hand sore and unable to grasp the handlebar firmly.

As i was cycling along Pencala Link, i saw someone running. It was Stephanie Chok.

Fu Yoh...

She ran my 30km bike route!!!

I accompanied her as she is going back to MJ's place near my home. Drank 100+ with her and told her i will see her at Bukit Merah.

As i'm typing this now, my last finger on my right hand is now still numb, most probably because i used it to cushion my fall. Lets hope it gets better in a day or two. Afterall, i got Bukit Merah Tri to race next weekend.

Have a good weekend and a good break/holiday. I will be back blogging only on Wednesday. So, this is perhaps a good time to catch up on most of my incoherent postings. Ciao!

Why? Never Eat Rice Ah?

It rained from 4am yesterday morning. The rain did not stop even when my alarm rang at 6.30am.

Time to get up and prep myself for the Putrajaya BRICK, in conjunction with the installation of the 13th Agong.

Took a cold shower to wake the senses up. Wore the trisuit and strapped on my Chest Strap. Heart rate a low 56bpm. Could be lower right before i was jolted by the alarm.

Today is an exciting day. I am gonna attempt to do a 30kmx3 bike and a 3kmx3 run.

Reached Putrajaya by 7.15am. Raining heavily. Waiting in the comfort of the Info Centre outside Prime Minister Department was (visible) Azwar, Bacin, Shazly, Chipang and Ishsal. As i went down to greet them, i saw, for the first time, Azim, Sofian and Ngae and Zailan!!!

Then, i saw Faie, Aini, Azmar, Dicky, Saiful and Jaja. I forgot the name of 2 other person i saw, i know one of them is Steve's friend and the other is Azmar's friend. I'm so sorry!

Rained stopped/slowed down at 8.30am. Bacin, as the head honcho told everyone to kit up in 5 minutes. We were cycling by 8.45am.

Menu for the day changed to a 60km bike and a 3km/10km run, whichever suits your fancy. This was because of time constraint and a number of us are supposed to be back in the office for work.

Bacin took the lead infront and as PICC hill came into sight, he broke away and cranked up the hill. Everyone followed through...everyone. But me. I struggled up the hill. And this is just the first 5km.

"
Looked fast, but actually going at 28km/h only

Bacin, Azwar and the rest were really fast on the hills. I constantly had problem catching up with them.

Good drafting behind me because i'm so fat, blocking out all the wind

So, i also curi ayam draft behind ~~Sofian~~Azim and Bacin

The 3 pics above thanks to IronMan Azwar!. To see more pics, click here

First 30km split was done in 1hour 10minutes.

Second 30km split was about 1 hour 7 minutes.

Losing out constantly on the climbs to the rest of the more seasoned riders. A bit shy la.

Sofian and Ngae (which did the Sahara 200km ultramarathon) wanted to do another 30km loop. I decided to follow them. After all, the intention is to do a 90km ride today, no?

Wrong.

By the time i touch 65km, i was feeling hungry. I pushed the thoughts aside by drinking more water to fill up the void in the tummy.

By the time i came down from PICC, Sofian and Ngae was like 1km away. No way i could catch them. But i continued on, feeling slightly dejected as i'm such a weakling. As i touched 70km after passing the first bridge, i realised no matter how much i'm pedalling, i am going at less than 25km/h. Not very good since the same stretch i was gunning down at least 30km/h on the first 2 laps.

I decided to call it a day, picking up my ego and going back. Clocking in a mere 78km.

I'm skipped the run as well. No point. No energy. No point pushing on zero. I gain nothing but potential injury.

It took me 2hours 55mins to cover that 78km. My average speed was 27.2km/h, dropped from a high of 27.8km/h after the second round.

My daddy is a wuss

Two good things that came out despite this disappointment.

1. I was in aero position at least 60% of the time and felt comfortable. Able to shift the gears on the downtube with one hand resting on the bars and pedalling. No pain on shoulder, back or anywhere eventhough some says you might have it.

2. My last 90km distance as in Desaru last year, which took me about 4h7mins to complete. So a 2hours55min for 78km is pretty ok. I can even afford to do a 12km/h ride on the final 12km and still finish below 4hours in the bike! Woo Hoo...so, cycling time indeed has seen great improvement.

But in the end, i am dissapointed because i can't do 90km in one ride. Which means, i need to train more and clock in more mileage. I do not want to be able to do just 90km as IronMan needs me to finish 180km. At least. The KFC ads kept coming to my head. "Never Eat Rice!" I shalt not underestimate proper food intake during races. Time to plan for that next.

I will head off to PD with family for a break. I will be swimming in the sea and running the PD tri's route. News i heard is that PD tri this year might be cancelled. One less race to look forward this year?

I hope not.

Ryan showing papa how it is done on the bike...with mama's help.

Ryan : Last Jab, For Now!

Brought Ryan to see Dr. Yong today.

My Growth Chart

He is now 8.06kg, meaning he is 10% of my weight. Averaging out, Ryan put on 1kg a month since he was borned. He is now 70.3cm tall with head circumference of 43.1cm.

Dr. Yong says he is in good size and the initial scare that he will breach the above average graph line (in weight) will not happen as long as we keep up the good feeding pattern. This also meant that the chances of Ryan being a fat boy when he grows up is less; as long as both his granma could resist giving him everything in the fridge to eat.

Lim Hen Sem with Mama

Today he had his Hep B jab. Dr. Yong said it will be his last jab, next one would be MMR (or Measles, Mumps, Rubella) when he is 12 months old.

Me and wifey felt uneasy. For the past 5 months, we have been consistently visiting Dr. Yong and getting his advices. Now, we have to wait the next 7 months to see him again? It is like we are just learning to ride the bicycle and the learner's wheels are taken off from us...

"Don't worry, you can always come if he needs to see a doctor", Dr. Yong says.

Dr. Yong also added that we can start feeding Ryan some solid food when he touches 6 months. Start with some rice cereal, then introduce vegetable when he touches 7 months and then fish/meat at 8 months.

All food must be cooked and we were told to introduce it to Ryan slowly, 2 spoonful a day until he could finish the small feeding bowl.

really ah, can eat solid food soon ah?

Dr. Yong also gave the go ahead for us to give him more than 6 fl. oz of milk he is currently taking. Now, we won't be accused for starving both granparent's first grandchild.

Dr. yong gave him one last vital check before telling us that he is doing great. As usual, Ryan was full of smile and laughter even as the needle were inserted onto his thigh...he did not even cry.

We thanked Dr. Yong and will see him again in December, 2 weeks after Ryan's birthday. We were told to feed ryan some hardboiled eggs to check for allergic reaction after he turns one. This is because the MMR vaccination are made from eggs content.

So, now, Ryan could officially goes into the swimming pool. His next milestone would be to sit unsupported and uses both his hands to pass objects around (which now, he could hold and direct his bottle to his mouth without any assitance).

On the way back, after i dropped wifey to work, i drove back home with Ryan sleeping...

can switch off lights or not?

Why still so bright one?

:)

note: pics taken while car is stationary.

Tagged By: Ah Pek - Why I Marry Her

AhPek tagged me la because he got tagged by ZM, so because my parents taught me fillial peity and to respect OLDER people, have to do la.

AhPek says he was blinded. So blinded with so much love (or was it LUST) that the only thing he remembered of why he married his wife was...well...you guys go and read la.

ZM's version is more romantic. She lsited down 10 reasons why.

So, this is version of why i married the person i married, taking cue from AhPek and ZM:

1. She is totally understanding - She understand my need to torture myself in races and why i deal with shit in my line of work, literally.

2. She respect me - When i was in the Cleo's Bachelor thingy, she did not make fun of me. Instead, she bought 2 magazine so i could cut one out and admire myself and keep the other one for record.

3. She can cook - pasta and soup is her specialities. Other more cina food, i kau tim.

4. She is totally sexy - both physically and mentally la. Or not why Ryan come about?

5. She has ambition - and not just to get married and then sit at home and be tai tai; but maybe because she knows i don't earn enough for her to be a tai tai la...so, see, this goes back to reason 1.

6. She is supportive - if i come back from race with aches all over, she will just say "You wanted to race what..."

7. She loves my family - as much as i loves hers. Always remember, when u get married, you marry the whole clan.

8. She laugh at my corny jokes - when everyone else thinks i'm just being plain corny. "how do you put an elephant into the fridge?"

9. She is motherly - very important la...a woman that wants to be a mother earns top point with me.

10. She makes me happy - always...

So how? Pass or not this meme?

Fu Yoh!

Short and sweet.

Usual route.

Time taken: 1:06:51
Ave: 27.2km/h
Distance: 30.1km
Max: 56.8km/h

It rained during the last 10km and i had tonnes of fun racing with the sky to see if i would be soaked wet.

I was, but it was all worth it.

Moral of the story : Don't ever race with the sky, when it rains, it pours.

IronMan 2008, here i come.

Tomorrow's menu:
Putrajaya 30kmx3 bike and 3kmx3 run BRICK training with the Monkeys.
Start time: 7.30am

Climb Every Mountain

Remember these postings of mine?

Here and here

So, don't any of you dare to miss the show :

ASTRO Ria, Channel 4 (in Malay)
1 May 2007 (Tuesday) Episode One 1:30pm – 2:30pm
2 May 2007 (Wednesday) Episode Two 1:30pm – 2:30pm

ASTRO News, Channel 92 (in English)
5 May 2007 (Saturday) 3 pm– 4 pm
6 May 2007 (Sunday) 3 pm – 4pm

Mac has also reported this and lil did i know that he knows Renee as the Singing Civil Engineer! How many cap can someone like her wear? Many!

To Zabil and Stephanie Chok, well done to the both of you extremist... I will be watching it, so must all of you!

Zabil sitting down, Steph Chok is 3rd from right

Now, tell me if this was better than the free fall jump by you know who at the north pole...or did they????

IM Langkawi 2008 - Registered

First step to do the IronMan next year is to register for it.

That has been done today. Thank you Ms. Lin for the help with registration and form of payment.

As of time of writing this, there is only 304 Days, 8 Hours and 51 Minutes to the Start Time.

It is not cheap to race this race and i have every intention to finish it within 17 hours and be called as IronMan...well at least for the day!

Well Done to both Ming and Bandit!

After this, Bandit's saham for sure increase when it comes to races such as these. Believe me guys and girls...anything that requires brain, Bandit is the man to race with! Take it from me, his partner in Explorace, AXN Urban Race, AXN Mall Race and Jambu!

Malaysia International Aerospace Adventure 2007 Race Report - Day 2

The Race, Day 2. For Day 1 report, click here : HERE

"I've made 2 helmet to be used for the fancy dress, we are using one, you can have the other one", Ming SMS me early Sunday morning.

"Bro, produce a doctor's overall", Bandit called.

"We are going in as Robots, the girls will be professors that invented us", Bandit added.

In a panic mode, i called Steph and told her to come in jeans and t shirt. I will sort out the rest. I took the LCD screen and Car TV Antenna that was given to me by Amir to be used as props. I brought along my cycling helmet just in case and even the rubber glove. Do or die, must go and produce a doctor's overall.

I then called Iqbal and got hold of him, then i called Bandit and asked him to go get it from Iqbal.

Problem solved. Robot will be produced. Bandit and me decided to wear the same top we wore during Explorace...got to try to look as uniform as possible.

Ming made the helmet!

At about 12.30pm, i was in Berjaya Time Square again, Ming came next, followed by Steph and Bandit. Just like the day before, Ryan, wifey and MIL was with me. Chiah came to give Steph as much support and he was the designated camera man for us. Ming brought along her son, Brandon and her sister.

Quick Release came later and set up the booth.

Then, Steph asked Melody to see the Day 1 score.

Lo and Behold. MTBiker Nuts 2 were top of the list with 230 points!!! MTBiker Nuts 1 were 3rd with 227 points! This was really unexpected, i guess taking extra care in answering the questions helped!

Armed with a new found hope to bag some prizes, we noticed no one came in any fancy dress. Only Us.

So, the first task for the day was to sell 2 tickets for the MIA2007 to the public. Early bird tixs cost Rm40 and we were to sell them for that price. The Exhibition will take palce from 5th June to 7th August at the Sultan Abdul Aziz airport, other wise known as Subang Airport.

The highlight would be the real Buran Space Shuttle.

The Real thing...

Almost the real thing...

The task was easily accomplised by selling the tickets to people which already has every intention to go. So, not an issue with that.

Next, all teams were asked to gather around the stage. There will be 2 stages of competition. Stage 1 consist of 4 test and stage 2, one task. The whole thing will determine furhter what points you will get at the end of the day, say if you have 230 points, if it takes you say, 30 minutes to complete both stage 1 and 2, then you will have 30 points deducted. That would be painful...

So, the name of the game is to complete today's tasks as fast as humanly possible.

As Team 2 (ie me and Steph) and Team 1(ie Bandit and Ming) were amongst the top 4, we had to go first.

The first task was to cycle for 1km within 5 minutes on the Mountain bike strap to a trainer.

Do-able la. And this will be the first time i go on a bike trainer! Exciting!

~~Walk~~Ride in the park la, literally

Steph did the first 500meters and she did a top speed of 70km/h. I jumped up and started pedalling, the torque of my legs must be too strong as the chain fell outside the big crank! TWICE! Not willing to give up, i tried to catch up and crank the bike and touches 85km/h and finished the 1.0km in 1Min 11 Second...

Then came task 2. We were to assemble 4 words from some scrabble like tiles. All words were space related. We managed to get Mercury and Neptune without any problem, got stuck with Astronaut. The other sub task is to choose from an array of malay names, the name of ONE Malaysian Astronaut. That was done easily and back to the scrabble thingy...we did not manage to complete the last word...and were given a 10 minutes penalty. We know, from there on, we lost our lead.

Just like the pic...our hope was shattered by ASTEROID!

We missed out on asteroid. I have no idea what it was at all. Yada, ilek, kosing, blank. Pressured for time and knowing that we could lose the lead doesn't help.
:( Sorry Steph.

Not willing to give up, we went on to the next task, there is 2 task at the next table. One was to complete 5 maths questions and one is to solve a physical puzzle.

I handled the maths questions but had 2 mistakes. Should had known better NOT to attempt any maths as my SPM maths was C3, Add Maths were C6, SPM Pure Maths were E and Advanced Maths were a Subsid Pass. I sucks at maths. Ask me what is 1+1 i will tell you 11.

Steph had some problem taking the two metal out and by stroke of luck, when it was passed to me, i managed to un-pry it! Maybe i used some brute force? Nah...just lucky to have the twisted metal at the right angle....

Something like this la...

We clocked about 3 minutes for this one. Not too bad.

Then, the last task for Stage 1. Jigsaw Puzzle of the Exhibition poster. This was almost a no brainer and we had it done in about 2 minutes. Bandit and Ming got it done in sub 2 minutes! Well done!

The poster, but add VMY2007 logo and the MIA logo on top and the website and contact number below

Having done Stage 1 in about 14 minutes (incl the penalty time), we know we might not stand a good chance to win even the 3rd prize this time. The deal with Ming and Bandit was that we share all the prize money, so, if we did win the first prize and second prize, the amount will be shared equally. Afterall, we wanted to go in as a team, and decision so far are all based on team effort.

So, when Bandit told me that they did the scrabble task in 1 minute, i knew that we stood a good chance. Again, Bandit's mental power saved the day...he rock in Bangkok during Explorace. He Figured it all out while riding some ride in AXN Mall and this time, it wasn't any different! Well done!

Stage 2 started as soon as all teams went through stage 1. The later team had some advantages as they seen what the front team did. My hope was that they fail in the scrabble as well...hehe..evil me.

Stage 2 was divided into 3 task. Again, teams has to draw lots to see which task they will do. I drewed C and Bandit drew A. A was a weaving task, using paper provided, they were to weave the word BURAN. Task B was a Saree tying task...hard...and Task C was chinese calligraphy.

Don't worry, me and Steph has no advantage over this as both of us are Bananas. We can't write chinese except our own name to begin with, and we don't even know what the words meant.

But we figure out it might be some space related stuff la.

Alamak...

We had to tie the knot on top, stick the calligraphy paper on the sugar paper and write/imitate the chinese characters as per sample given. If we tear it, we will get penalty. So, very carefully, me and Steph took our time to write it and managed to present a pretty presentable chinese calligraphy la! Well done!

So, with Stage 2 done. There is nothing left to do but wait for the results.

But Brandon were on the roll that day...he went to play games and won more goodies than the 4 adults that was with him got. he got 2 keychains, 1 mug, one jacket (for his mum, Ming), a cap, a portable radio...the list goes on..he just keep winning..and winning...

This is Brandon 2000 - mess with me and i will mess with you

Adele decided to ask us that came in fancy dress to go on the stage to battle it out. Nothing much to battle as both MTBiker Nuts 1 & 2 were identical. Bandit's attempt to get Adele to say Joy Stick in bahasa failed miserably as Adele was quicker than Bandit when she was translating what Bandit said in English to Malay....hehehehe...cheeky.

Finally, at about 5pm, the results were out.

On 3rd place was team 13, which was placed 2nd from the Day 1 results. 2nd place went to one of the PCC (James and partner) and 1st place was...

BANDIT AND MING!!!! FIRST FREAKING PLACE!

Woo HOO!!!

And the MTBikers won the best dressed contest as well!

QR were graceful enough to give out a few other prizes to make sure all that came goes home with something.

Thank you QR, for organising a FREE race and ensuring everyone goes with with a goodies bag with loads of stuff inside!

Thank you Ming and Bandit for sharing the prizes, we each has a t shirt and cap as well!

Thank you Wifey and MIL and Ryan for staying put and supporting us despite the hot hot weather at BTS.

hot nevermind, can take bath when go home!

Thank you Chiah for taking our photos and giving us all the support as well.

Thank you Brandon and Ming's sis for being there and entertaining us and supporting us!

Thank you Stephanie for racing with me and being such good sports!

And lastly, thank you all participant, for making this outing fun for all of us!!!!

See you all in the next future race.

Meanwhile, more pics will come in and i will post it up as i get them!

Malaysia International Aerospace Adventure 2007 Race Report

This is Day 1 of the race : Saturday 21st April 2007

Last weekend, me, Bandit, Ming and Stephanie Chee joined a race organised by Quick Release in conjunction with MIA2007.

We reached Berjaya Time Square at 9am, already there is a lot of people lining up for registration. There were at least 4 teams from PCC and there was us, the MountainBiker-Nuts 1&2. In total, if i recalled correctly, there were 17 teams.

Yes la, name not very creative, but can do la.

The initial set up of 4 per team were broken to 2 per team as there weren't enough teams to do the race, most probably because most people are not keen to race this type of race. But as certified hardcore racers that love to race in airconditioned area, me and bandit couldn't resist. Afterall, we did win AXN Amazing Mall Race last year.

We've decided to race as a team as per initial plan, this is to boost our chances of winning something. I am sure the PCC guys were thinking along the same line!

We were given the race number, surprise, surprise...we were team 1 AND 2 respectively! The race number damn nice material...almost space like!

Damn kiasu right

Then we were called for the race briefing and to make the race even more exciting, all teams are supposed to start at different location around KL. In total, there is 6 different places we must go. I went to the box and drawed out Location 5.

By some stroke of luck, Bandit went in and draw out location 5 as well! Woo Hoo! We were also given an egg, which MUST come back uncracked or else points will be deducted. We were also told to ride the monorail at least ONCE and present the tickets.

Race Passport

Because we will be heading to the first checkpoint, we decided to strategize, We read the Passport and clues were given to which location all the places are.

Location 5 is Central Market, the other locations were Berjaya Times Square, KLCC, Titiwangsa, Jalan Ampang and Bangsar.

We all came to the consensus that we will do CM-Bangsar-Titiwangsa-KLCC-Jln Ampang-BTS.

Race started at 10.30am sharp and we were told we can run, cycle, swim, taxi, lrt, monorail, drive to the destination for the tasks!

All 4 of us jumped into one car and off we go!

Central Market : Angklung Exhibits

We had to get ourselves to Central Market first and with us were the first task sheet. We need to find out how many keys are there on the "angklung" (Answer: 37)

nola, these are not lemang!

So, in we ran towards the main entrance of the Central Market and asked a guard where is the Angklung. The guard told us it was on the other end and we were reminded not to run (in case we crashed into someone). We saw thr Task Marshalls sitting happily on the table and we went on to count the keys on that specific Angklung next to them.

We got the answer easily because most of us passed out maths in high school.

Then, we had to find out the name of the State Wau Of Selangor. We looked up and saw a shop selling kites, we moved upstairs and true enough, listed on the paper was the respective names of each state's wau!

How many of you know what is the name of The Selangor Wau?

Wau Kapal!!!

Believe this when i tell you, i found the above image from a japanese website PROMOTING our WAUs and even the own country tourism portal did not have this (except for the Wau link here, which, sadly, was only filled with names and not how the kites looked like).

Questions done, now we had to do our task, first it was to eat the "jeruk" or pickles. The first was kedondong(dhup) and the second, without tasting it, was onion/shallot.

Kedondong

Then we had to sing NEGARAKU and wave our Flag, LOUDLY!

Not an issue as we all 4 were patriotic enough not to read the lyric given!

Task was done in les than 10 minutes and we dashed to the car and drives ourselves to Bangsar Village 2 and headed to Celebrity Fitness.

Ming decided to wait in full air-conded glory!

We forsee the biggest task todayis to brave through KL's traffic, even if it's Saturday as everything is just simple unpredictable!

Bangsar Village 2 : Celebrity Fitness

We dashed up and reached CF and registered with the marshall. We first had to have our vitals taken; heart rate and blood pressure, height, weight and body fat.

YES! Now i get to check my bodyfat level again!

I clocked in with 80.4kg at 172cm and 21.4% fat.

Steph was going fine and Bandit and Ming were doing great as well. It is more fun to race in a team! Bandit top us all when he registered 36% of fat. Way to go Daddy Bandit!

By the time we did our body composition, only 2 teams has came and left as their first destination. meaning we are team 3&4. Not too bad!

The Question in Celebrity Fitness was to answer which brand of mineral water which is also the name of one of the zodiac sign. (Answer: Aquarius) and then we had to proceed to do 3 task.

Me and Steph did the "moon balancing" game first, basically we had to balance blocks of cylindrical blocks on a cresent moon shaped base...imagine it as some see-saw where we had to balance both side so it doesn't tilt left or right. We got it on our 3rd attempt, doesn't help with Melody looking and pressuring. (hahahahah!)

Dun pressure...

Then, we had to burn 90calories within 10 minutes on the cross trainer. Steph did it in less than 6 minutes and i had to catch up with her. Having done that, we had to go up and do push ups and sit ups for 1 minute. Sounds easy, but the current unfit me had to put up a straight face so that Steph would be able to complete the push ups! She did well and we were signed off!

Bandit and Ming did well in al the task, anything with brains, Bandit is the man!

Titiwangsa: Eyes of Malaysia

A quick drive through Bangsar and we headed to Titiwangsa. The marshalls were waiting at Eyes Of Malaysia's info counter and this is the first time any of us seen it this close.

The questions were given and we had to find out how many gondolas were there on the ride (21 quadrants with 2 in each, so Answer: 42)

Then, we have to find out how much the cap of Eyes of Malaysia cost. (Answer: RM13).

We then have to take a ride, after buying the tickets from the marshalls (RM12 each, so it's RM24 per team). We ran to the ride and was told we don't need to line up.

Fo yuh...

To our dismay, the ride were under repair. So, we has to wait and after some waiting, the person in charge of Eyes signed us off as it might take hours to fix it. The marshall understood our predictament and we proceeded to the next task. Each member has to juggle the sepak takraw (bamboo ball) at least twice. Easily done!

Off we went to the next check point!

KLCC : Baker's Boy Cookies

The drive to KLCC was somewhat easier as the traffic wasn't as heavy as yet. We've so far managed to finish 3 venue in pretty good timing. With only 3 more to go, our spirit were high.

We went up to the 4th floor of KLCC centre court and saw the marshalls hiding behind Baker Boys. Me and Bandit paired off from there and we headed to find the answers for the questions while Ming and Steph sat there for more mental task.

We were asked to find out the price of Wanita magazine (Answer: RM6.50), match the symbol with some planets (which we found the answer at the PetroSains shop) and name one of the cookies which were alien (Answer: Martian Fellow).

Need to identify Neptune and Jupiter

The girls, on the other hand, had to transfer some coffee beans using chopstick and do a pyramid puzzle. Steph was quick on this one and Bandit and Ming managed it after some adjustment with the blocks. All done, it's time to run to Malaysia Tourist Centre!

MTC: Batik Painting

The short drive to MTC was done as fast as we could. Got stuck behind some buses as we leave KLCC area. When we reach MTC along Jalan Ampang (next to Saloma Cafe), we headed to the info centre and was given tasks to do. Again, me and Bandit went off to do the questions and answer thingy and Steph and Ming went on to try their hand on some batik painting.

image taken from www.bugbog.com

As the girls get their hand all shaky and dirty with the Batik painting, me and bandit had to find out which bus to take from National Science Centre to MTC (Answer: Bus no.14) and also go up stairs and get more info on which animal were carved on a traditional game (Answer: Burung Mistik on the Congkak). We also need to note down which warrior uses a sheild during their Nganjat dance (Answer: Iban and Orang Ulu)

We hd to get the Papan Congkak answer right at least twice as we misread the question. Instead of giving the animal's name, we gave the game's name. Stupid la! But that was solved after the second time.

Ming and Steph with their agile finger did the batik without any problem!

As we need to go on the Monorail at least once and keep the reciepts as proof that we riden it, we ran from MTC to the BUkit Bintang station.

Quick, Run to Monorail!

For once, we were running like we meant it (and not in the comfort of the car!)

For RM1.60 each, we rode through 4 station before reaching Berjaya Times Square.

The ride..

For me, Ming and Steph, this was the first time we ever riden in the Monorail! Damn shy la, stay in KL like forever and haven't ride it before.

The reciepts

Berjaya Times Square : Cosmo World

We reached the final destination and were given more task and questions to do.

We firstly need to BUY a chocolate which is also a name of a planet (Answer: Aiyo..Mars bar la...) We had trouble getting the Mars bar, doesn't help that the cinema don't sell them and the 7-11 on 5th floor don't have them. I tell you, the lifts in Berjaya Time Square takes forever to come to the floor you are at. We lost valuable time there and we decided to follow the escalators. Apologizing to everyone to give way to us.

We finally got the Mars Bar at Guardian Pharmacy on LG.

Then we had to find out what time is the screening of Man on The Moon (or something like that la - answer: 4.30pm and 6.00pm) and how many has walked on the moon (Answer: 12 Astronauts).

Having done all that, me and Bandit has to go back to the 5th Floor and ride in one of the ride...

I hate rides. Absolutely hate it.

We had to get on Space Attack.

OMG

Comparing to AXN Urban Race 2005 which i climbed the white metal structure in the same pics above, i would rahter climb the structure than got onto any ride!

Yes. I GOT MOTION SICKNESS!

Now go and laugh.

I am not gonna tell you what those 360 degree ride which turns you upside down to and fro does to me, just lets say that my tummy was still spinning after dinner that night! bandit says his balls were in his mouth...i just closed my eyes and hope i don't fly out!

We got all the tasked done and ran down to the finishing line!

Berjaya Times Square: Buran Space Exhibition Stage

We arrived and showed Melody and Adele our eggs, then the monorail receipts and the passport to be signed off.

Passport chopped

Both MTBiker Nuts 1&2 managed a good 4th and 5th position, coming in at 2.06pm and 2.07pm respectively. Ahead were Team 6, which was headed by super fit Abang Nasdani and 2 of PCC teams.

Knowing that we have the chance to go up higher on position, we decided to go ahead and dress up for Day 2 competition.

We must admit that we were a bit dissapointed that we did not come up top for Day 1. But we are all out to make it out for day 2.