Xterra Malaysia 2015 To Be Held In Langkawi Island

Xterra Malaysia is back this year and will take place in the Island of Langkawi. Slotted to happen between May 1 to May 3 (Labor Day weekend), it will boast a combination of Sprint distance, Olympic distance and Trail run. There will be something for everyone.

2015 Race Format per Xterra Malaysia website

World Series Triathlon

The World Series triathlon returns to Malaysia for 2015 over the weekend of 1st to 3rd May 2015! 

We will be offering both the World Championship Triathlon and a Sprint distance triathlon so that all XTERRA warriors will have the chance to compete.

Championship Triathlon

The Championship Distance Triathlon is the flagship XTERRA race, the chance to become a true XTERRA Warrior. The winner for each age group will be offereda slot in the lineup for the 2015 World Championships.

Distances - 

Our exact distances will only be released nearer the time once we have 

confirmed our courses. Distances for the Championship Triathlon are roughly as follows -

SWIM - 1.5km        BIKE - 32km      RUN - 11km 

Sprint Triathlon

The Sprint Triathlon is exactly what it says on the tin, a shorter version of our 

Championship Triathlon. Racing is still just as competitive and you can still earn yourself the title of an XTERRA Warrior!

Distances - 

Our exact distances will only be released nearer the time once we have confirmed our courses. Distances for the Championship Triathlon are roughly as follows -

SWIM - 750m       BIKE - 16km      RUN - 5.5km 

Trail Runs

Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about our XTERRA Trail runs for 2015!

Whether you're a hardcore trail runner or just looking for an easy way to warm down after your triathlon or you're just starting to explore the beautiful world of trail running then make sure you're there. 

Our trail runs promise to be even more impressive for 2015 and will be the 

perfect way to end your XTERRA Malaysia weekend.

Distances will include:- 5km, 11km and 21km.

Registration And Entry Fee

The organiser has set a very affordable EARLY BIRD entry fee from RM80 to bundle (all full distance races in) of RM470. This is made possible as the races are spread over 2-days with the triathlon happening on May 2 and trail run on May 3. For full package and entry fee, click here. Be reminded that early bird registration ends January 31, 2015.

Travelling to Langkawi

Malaysia Airlines is currently offering a very cheap flight, all inclusive from Rm130 return between Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Langkawi and back if you travel between April 30 and return May 3 or May 4. 

Rooms or hotel in Langkawi is not too expensive if you choose right. Food and logistic arrangement is easy as well which adds to the whole experience of travelling within the country for a local race. 

For Foreign warriors, the current exchange rates is favourable for international travel to Malaysia and would be an added advantage.

And if you did not know yet, the Xterra Malaysia in Langkawi will be the closing race for the Xterra Asian Tour! Below is the press release from EnduranceSportsWire.com

*Stay tuned to this blog for more updates on Xterra Malaysia

Malaysia To Host XTERRA Asian Tour Finale

Honolulu, HI – TEAM Unlimited, owners and producers of the XTERRA World Tour, has united its championship triathlons in Asia to create the XTERRA Asian Tour and will crown series champions at the season finale in Langkawi, Malaysia this May.

The five majors in the 2015 XTERRA Asian Tour are XTERRA Philippines on February 8 in Albay, XTERRA Saipan on March 28 in the Northern Marianas, XTERRA Guam on April 11 in Piti, the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship on April 18 in New South Wales, Australia, and XTERRA Malaysia – which will double as the XTERRA Asian Tour Championship race – on May 2 in Langkawi.  (Note: The XTERRA Japan Championship in Hokkaido on August 29 will serve as the first race of the 2016 XTERRA Asian Tour.)

The top 15 amateur, Asian-elite, and professional racers at each event will earn points, with double points being offered at the finale in Malaysia.  Racers will count their best three scores to determine champions in each division.

“Creating a point series for the XTERRA Asian Tour just like we’ve done in the U.S. and Europe provides us the opportunity to reward the amateur athletes in the region, and the international pros who travel to several events with more prize money and recognition,” said XTERRA World Tour managing director Dave Nicholas.

The XTERRA Asian Tour will award a prize bonus of $10,000 USD to the top five pro men and women in the final standings ($2,000 for 1st, $1,500-2nd, $800-3rd, $400-4th, $300-5th).

In all, more than $100,000 in prize money for pros will be awarded on the XTERRA Asian Tour.  There are $15,000 USD payouts at the Philippines, Saipan, Guam, and Malaysia races, and $50,000 AUD awarded at the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship in Australia, plus the 10K bonus to the series’ top performers.

There is also a new athlete classification being introduced for the Tour – the “Asian elite” division – enabling fast age group athletes from the region to race against each other.

For further details on the 2015 XTERRA Asian Tour visit www.xterraasia.com, and for more on the XTERRA Asian Tour Championship in Malaysia visit www.xterramy.com, supported by Malaysia Major Event.

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Xterra Malaysia World Championship Race Report 2014

The Dirtier Weekend

My second Xterra race and it was one that I was looking forward to after the Sabah Adventure Challenge about 2-weeks ago. Venue is at Putrajaya, similar to the year before and the course for the bike and run has changed rather significantly. I have previously written about the 34-36km bike course and the 11km run course. The swim is pretty much predictable and it will be a 2-loop around the Precint 6 lake.
Pre-Race
The race for 2014 happens on Saturday, which meant the race kit collection were scheduled a day before aka Friday. I took extended lunch hour and rode to the venue on my motorbike. There wasn't a hive of activities at the race collection and it's mainly due to it being a working day and at Putrajaya. I was told many came in the morning, and more may come later in the afternoon.

Tags being prepared for Media and special guests

The race kit collection were SOP for many and it involve signing an indemnity form before passing it to the organiser.

Sam at work

 It was also an opportunity to catch up with a few friends that has been involved with Xterra since 2013.

Azlan. Managed the bike route. 

Race bib

However, there is no fancy tattoo number like Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya. For that, the Xterra tattoo were in abundance.

Gonna use it this year

I returned back to office and only went back really late that day to catch up on the extended lunch hour. In fact, it has been a balancing act for me since I've taken up additional role in the current office. I am nursing a strained back for the past week that I've picked up from doing housework. A simple everyday chore that i do hauling rainwater to wash the porch has resulted in a rather bad back that may be a problem for me on race day.

Race prep at the 11th hour, literally

 I count on my experience to know what to bring/take for races that are typical olympic distance. So, the compulsory items were laid out and the transition T1 and T2 played out in mind.

New Kraftfit padded shorts

 I've decided to experiment with the new Kraftfit padded cycling shorts. My trishorts has seen better days and it is running a bit too thin to be decent at some part.

Review soon

The Backside, literally

With what to wear sorted. I had to plan my nutrition. For races about Olympic distance, I will bring less and focus my fuelling at transition. It is tough to eat on the move on a mountainbike and I had to plan it in such manner I will get sufficient kcal to last the race. For this, I went with Anti-Fatigue (4-pre-race, 1 each transition, total 6), Endurolyte (4pre-race, 2 each transition, total 8), Perpetuem solid (1 pre-race, 1 each transition), Hammer Bar (1 pre-race) and will take two spoonful of coconut oil pre-race as breakfast. I will bring one bottle of HEED on the bike, and leave another bottle at the Transition, to finish 250-300ml/transition. Calculated, I will get estimated 180kcal/ fuelling, which works well for me. That planned, the last thing to do was to check the bike.
Mechanical Issues
My mountainbike is not exactly the latest or swankiest. It was build with one intention - to withstand the abuse of Sabah Adventure Challenge 2011. It survived and the only thing I've changed since was the tires and the seat. The drivetrain (read : parts) are most basic of Shimano Deore and the crank was what I've spent the most money on with it being the Hollowtech crank.
And that was the problem i had on race night - my bottom bracket froze. I tried reviving it by soaking with mineral oil and it sort of free up a little. But as it is, too late to do anything. At least the bottom bracket is turning, just a bit more resistance that I expected. The Xterra Race now looked like another disaster waiting to happen for me.
Race Morning
Like last year, I drove to race site at 5am. Like last year, me and Hin Toong convoyed to race site. We arrived at Putrajaya by 5.45am and already hordes of people were parked by the roadside leading to Pullman hotel. I left the bike at transition and headed straight to have my body-marked. As usual, it is a rite of passage especially for the first timer and a gathering for the old timers.

Old timer

I love body marking. It make me felt complete (as a triathlete). You are known by your race number to the organiser. No name and all that mattered will be how you race that day.

Ask for the number to be printed on the front, that is the correct position

Then i bumped into Julie and Reita. Both were on Marshall/ITU duty. It was a course I wanted to take, as a progression and improvement for myself. It is rewarding to be a certified International Triathlon Union (ITU) official.

Hello girls!

Back at transition, The final prep were done with all gears checked and fingers crossed that the BB will hold up with the abuse. The wet condition of the trail due to heavy rain were a concern as well and i decided to use more wet lube (read, mineral oil) to ensure minimal chain suck if condition gets really dirty. Enjoy some of the pre-race mingling. Photos are mine unless credited otherwise.

T-Clanners

With Nelson. Thanks Pui San!

Thanks Azman

Thanks Puh Heng and Keng Ping

By 7.15am, the Pros were in the water and that signalled us the age-grouper to get ready. My last swim in Putrajaya for the Ironman 70.3 was pretty disastrous with the toes cramping for whatever reasons. I was of course, a bit cautious and hoping I won't suffer the same that day.

Thank you Cycling Evolution

I decided to hang on until the clock countdown to 1-minute and jumped right in, swim at a leisure pace to the starting pontoon and arrived right on time for the horn to be blown. It's race-on!

Swim 1.5km

Clearly my weakest discipline as I did not put as much time and effort. I am expecting about 40mins in the water and my motivation was not to come out of the water among the last few. The swim was in a clockwise direction for 2-loops. Bright orange buoys were visible and I know I just need to focus and look up every 6th stroke to correct my direction. I stayed away from the main bunch and work on my own pace. It turned out really well as I only breaststroke at the turns to get around the buoys, and then spend about a minute trying to steer clear of other swimmers. Obviously, there are those that does front crawl but they are everywhere on the swim course, crossing you twice and bumping into you, which doesn't really add to the distance covered but potentially hitting someone with their very defensive strokes as if we are the one that bumped into them. Having races for years, I've learnt that it is nobody's fault. I was once defensive on the swim, now, i realised everyone just want to stay afloat and get to their destination. 

That day, everything was right. The strokes were great, the sighting was near perfect and the toes did not act up. It was almost the perfect swim for me, short of the slow timing I've registered. Officially it was clocked at 42:29mins. Which is actually what I will clock during training. 

As I got out of the water, my knee scraped the rough surface of the jetty concrete floor. It was quite painful and it bleed a little. Somehow, adrenaline numb the little bruise and I cruised into T1.

T1+Bike 34km

I was among the last few out of the water for the Championship course. In fact, I was number 150 out of water in the Championship category. There were only 160 people that took part. It was kind of depressing and I realised just how slow I was.

T1 for me was a fast 3minutes, considering that I had additional things to worry about aka the gloves. It is essential as Mountainbiking takes a lot of sure-gripping or risk losing grip of the bar and end up over the handlebar. I kept the whole setup minimal. A Camelbak bottle with HEED inside to juice me up the 34km (the official distance is 30km, but from the Teaser, I know it is more than that). I made sure I was wearing a semi-clear lense as riding in the trail with dark-lense will be disastrous. The Spyder Agent sunnies with semi-transparent red lense was superb as it highlighted the dark section and kept me cool under the hot sun. 

Out of T1. Thanks Pui San!

The race was the 3rd time i was using the clip shoes. I decided to stick with it even though I had many falls using it in the Teaser as the Marshall. The fear of having the feet bound as I go tumbling was there. I was ready to face my fear that day.

Rather ungracefully mounted - thanks Doc!

The route on the MTB changed a little bit as a portion of the trail at the start was flatten to build landing strip for remote controlled planes. We work ourselves around the fencing and towards the other side.

Having spent some time on the bike trainer, it again paid off as I slowly overtook riders by riders along the way. I have basic technical skills riding single trail as long as it is not overly technical. Lucky for me, PCP is very manageable as the route are very clear and the line easily predictable. But with the clips, it was suspiciously cautious as I do not want to be overly confident.

Heading out to the trail. Thanks Cycling Evolution

As it turned out, the ride in PCP and me falling all over was unfounded. Everything seems to flow smoothly. But there was one thing I was worried - my back. The strained muscle was behaving until then. I was hoping it holds off and not come-a-calling. Making good pace on the bike as I chance upon another acquittance and decided to follow his line. It was impeccable as if he was born in PCP. Thank you Safwan!

Thank you Safwan for the lines. Thank you BaikBike.com for the photo!

The photo above where where the most fun happened, it was meant for ATV and Motocross to climb up over undulating surface. For us that day, it was a roller coaster downhill ride over those bumps. Smooth as silk was what I can sum up my ride over these. It was almost magical. I rode with Safwan a little bit more and I pulled away after the Field of Broken Dream (aka that bumpy @*&%^ field) and headed towards Sun Off A Beach section. 

I continue to surprise myself with the riding I did, it was smooth and it could be the ground condition being more "sticky" and hence favoured the tire setup I have. 

I find myself powering through each section and cranking up on large gears on the cross-country/behind village double-track trail. Kicking up mud as I move along and overtaking more riders as I do so. 

The Climb up Sun Off A Beach was a pleasant one. However, it was marred partly by those decided to take a shortcut by not riding the whole distance up and receiving the orange band.

Riders come up from northeastern side, turning south to climb the last section, then turn around and head northwest, before turning west.

Then I saw a few shortcutting as well on my way down...such is a sad state of competition. Yes, you wouldn't win the race, but you will deprive other of better position - and what if you do it at the start of the pack and end up at podium?

Anyhow, I decided to let it past, as I have a race to go. The downhill section took quite a toll on my back and it started to ache as I arrived at water station number 2. Cold electrolytes were served and I had a helping there while refilling my Camelbak Podium with ice cold water. The rest of the route were cross-country and i went as fast as I possibly could. Last section of the ride was endured with a back numbing that radiate from the bottom (waist) to the upper between the shoulder blade. At that point, I saw I was clocking sub-2hours on the ride. Unbelievable as just 2-months ago, it took me close to 3hours to reach that location that is near PICC.

The climb up PICC was a roadie climb. No issues as I love hills (like the Sun Off A Beach climb) and then it was a fast downhill over root laden side of PICC. 

Awesome capture by Cycling Evolution

The bike was wrapped up in 2:07:02. I overtook 60 riders in the Championship. Moved from position 150 to 90. Into T2 I go!
T2+Run11km
T2 was an opportunity for me to stretch a bit to loosen the tight numb back. It helped as i got down from the bike as I try regaining full mobility. It did hurt but I was making good progress to stop then. T2 was a quick 2:40 and I just changed the shoe to the Skecher GoRunUltra, removed the helmet and gloves, put on the running bib, take my last serving of nutrition and headed right out. I managed to run a little as I leave transition. Trying to catch my breathe as I do so. Section devoid of any photos as the only one inside the trail were the official from FinisherPix.com. Run will be a two loop 5.5km each. I know the section suffered from some sort of destruction in recent months due to development on the other side of Precinct 6. But it did not occur to me just how much until I cleared the first two KM (which covered the wasteland aka old quarry climbs) and realised the section with rubber trees missing. What it was replaced was a section where fallen rubber trees posed as obstable for the runners. I found myself climbing over, under and through branches, big and small. 
As I was running, I realised a few that came in about the same time as i did on the bike were running one loop short. I did not question much, just keep moving. After all, it is none of my business at that point. I am not in the position to land a podium position, let alone a spot to Maui.
Running, being my strongest section due to the time I've committed to the training and re-learning to run, was easy - until the muscle pulled at the back and numbness again. It wasn't pleasant as each landing send shiver and tingling sensation. More so when going downhill. The only respite I got was when I drench myself at the second water station aka u-turn. I found my second wind after KM4 and started to move faster.

At one point, I was hoping there will be more climbs, as it seems that was the only part my pain was taken away. It was hard on the downhill, as the pushing through on the gravelly trail sent jolts over my back. I had a 1:02 timing during the Teaser event, and it seems that was slowly slipping away. Despite thinking I was moving faster, truth was I wasn't. A 7:30 pace was pathetic but I console myself on the injury I am nursing.

Enough of excuses Stupe.

I pushed and ran the last 2km. Ignoring the pain. Will pay dearly for this, i know.

Thank you Keng Ping. 

As I made the last turn, passing the water spray mist, it was a lonely stretch, as I noticed no one was around me. I wasn't sure how well I did. I did not know what my timing was as well. Running to finish and crossing it, i was greeted by Sean Chee, the race organiser from Radius, which I've made friend with since the Xterra 2013. 

Done!

The adrenaline kicks in back. The pain disappeared. I hang around the finishing line to cheer other on. 

Thanks Doc Pui San. Yes, this photo was used to communicate to my wife i finished the race safely.

Official run time was 1:19:41. I managed to overtake up to 46 people on the run it seemed. Total time for the whole race was 4:15:18. As usual, like last year, JTLTiming provided the results without timing chip. My name was wrong in the register of JTL, and nothing a bit of polite asking could not solve.

Not too bad

It did not occur to me that the timing was my PB for this race. Last year i scored a 4:32:23. This years' result was a cool 17mins improvement, and that is with a bad back. I can't ask for more (other than the pain go away).
Race Post Mortem
Gears were checked for damages after the race. Except for being dirty, all is good.

The catch of the day

As expected, it was indeed a dirty weekend. But not as dirty as I was hoping. It did not rain the night before. It could be a blessing in disguise as my bike's bottom bracket jammed after the race. 

3rd time the charm - no fall on clips!

The dirt on the bike wasn't extensive except that the mud cake was pretty tough to wash off.

negligible

It was indeed tougher to wash the bike after the race. 

By the way, i realised i brought pump and tubes...but not SKEWERS!

Thanks Iron Sloth and Angel for the photo (of me suffering after race)

The race overall was good. I am not going to complain other than those that has cheated in the race. It is obvious as some of the time split were impossible even for the Pros. Sadder was some actually went up the podium to collect what is not theirs, and when it was revealed, they pledge ignorance. Shame on you.
Having said that, the race marshaling could be more strict. I caught someone pushing the bike out of transition without wearing helmet. That is an infringement itself. No issues with drafting, just issue with cutting short of the course. 
Will I do it again in 2014? 
Let me nurse my back, get back training for Ironman Malaysia, and we decide again come October 2014.

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Xterra Malaysia 2014 : Race Pack Collection

This just in. DO share it out so everyone is in the know. Taken from Xterra Malaysia Facebook page.

Dearest XTERRA WARRIORS!!!

PLEASE BE ADVISED:

RACE PACK COLLECTION LOCATION:
ADDRESS :

Kompleks Sukan Air
Presint 6
43000 Putrajaya, Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya

Pickup times:

For Saturdays Races:
Friday 9am-5pm
Saturday 5am- 6am

For Sundays Races:
Saturday 8am - 5pm
Sunday 5am - 6am

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zcq6xLoA7-pY.kKa--htw4Lzg

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our race this weekend!

Till then, if any enquiries, please pm our facebook page thanks.

Love Mud Sweat and Passion

Team Xterra Malaysia

Location for Race Pack Collection: 

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zcq6xLoA7-pY.kKa--htw4Lzg

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Introduction To Bike Trainer

Hope this is not too late to be shared as many do not know what is the best way to utilise the bicycle trainers. Before I go on, the photo below is a bike trainer (Band/Model : Tacx/Satori)

Tacx Satori rim-drive magnetic trainer

So, you now know that a trainer is an object that holds the rear wheel of a bicycle up, shaped like a tripod (or in this case, a quad-pod). It secure the rear wheel and it has two type of contact between the bike and the trainer; a tire-drive and a rim-drive. 

Minoura RDA850 Rim-Drive. Photo from Minoura.jp Wifey uses this

The many different type of trainers
Simply put, a tire-drive has the contact point between the tire and a weighted (usually) solid disc and works on opposing magnetic/eddy current. A rim-drive has contact point that "clamps" on both sides of the rim, lending resistance as the drive is then linked to about the same system as rim-drive.

Tire-drive. Magnetic.

To put things in more simplistic division and sub-division:
Contact:
1. Rim-drive
2. Tire-drive

Resistance from:
1. Wind (noisiest)
2. Magnetic (adjustable)
3. Fluid (quietest and adjustable)
*Rim-drive resistance do not have fluid drive usually.

Trainer allows couple to workout together, or in this case, me to offer words of encouragement after I am done with my session

There are a few other variation of trainer and the least favourite because it is the hardest to ride on is what the many pros (using it) call the "roller"

Suicidal. Photo from Wikipedia

And you can see why I say "least favourite" and "pros".
Well Grounded
The motivation for a trainer can be summed up with two valid reasons. First it's safety and second the convenient of doing it anytime, anywhere. 
As the sports draw more interest with the general public, more cyclists takes to the road for a workout. This has increased the exposure hours and exposes us to the other road users. With drivers not usually used to see cyclists on the road, and the (some of drivers) lack of logical thinking, accidents and most of the time death, happens. 

Side by side, stationery

Then of course, having a trainer meant you can bring your bike and trainer in some domestic travel and set it up for a workout in the hotel room, or toilet if you are afraid the noise generated will wake the family up. 

Penang.

Also a a bikestand, perhaps

Being able to train on the bike you will likely to use for racing will also help you to be more confident in riding/sitting on the saddle for longer period of time. If you ride a TT bike, the trainer allows you to slowly get into aero-position safely in the sense you do not need to fret too much compared to when you are on the road. Think of it as "L" license until you are comfortable to be in position. Bike trainer allow you to practice clipping and unclipping your cleat shoes to save embarrassment of falling when you come to a complete stop.

Sharing the pain

Introduction To Training With Trainer
Start with the lowest resistance and at the middle gearing. This is the most neutral setting and provide you a good start on what to come next. Middle gearing in this sense is set at the smaller crank (39 on standard crank and 34 on compact) and put it at the rear cog of 15 teeth. This is also the best gear to be in exiting transition during triathlon.
Next is to be able to spin this gear at constant 90 round per minute or RPM. Sound easy as the gears are light - that is until you first attempt to complete the (first) session for 30minutes.

Speed vs gearing vs cadence

And if you managed to keep at 39x15 (39 crank and 15 teeth rear) at 90rpm for 30mins, congrats! You just finished cycling approximately 15km at 30km/h!
With the above gearing charts as an indicative effort, you can customise how you want to train. Interval, tempo and even long rides can be completed just by adjusting the level of effort (cadence) and gearing (combination). Working on the trainer provide you with possibly stronger legs when you finally takes the bike on the road. Reason is that on trainer, once you stop pedalling, the wheel stops. As opposed to pedalling on the road, you will "coast" provided you are not going uphill. It is said that the effort on trainer is easily 50% more than actual riding. So, if you spent 60mins on the trainer, that is equivalent to cycling 90mins on the road. That is provided you actually keep the cadence and effort while on trainer (because sitting there not pedalling does not equate to training no matter how painful your butt feels).

I will share some of my bike trainer training in the following blog entries. Until then, Good Luck!

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Onwards to Week 20 Ironman Malaysia Training

Recapping the past 19weeks of training. Hardly believable. This week mark my 20th week of training consistently in my quest to my 4th Ironman race. Of course, this training serves as a basis for me to work on a better fitness level apart from tackling the Ironman 70.3 Putrajaya, Sabah Adventure Challenge Ultra Trail (multi-days) and the Xterra Malaysia World Championship Qualifier. These are my A-list races. Many has asked me why am i putting myself through this endless training. Some predict a superb finishing time ahead as I've "trained this hard".

Week 19

19 weeks and a total of 3400km covered. I've spent no less than 127hours training and that works out to an average of 1hour per day. This 1-hour represent 4% of my daily time. Many of us spent this 1-hour in the toilet per day. You can't blame me if i felt under trained. The bulk of my training comes during the weekend where I will have more time and opportunity. It is at time at the expense of family time. Balancing sports and family is tough, as if having a 9-to-5 job is already a chore to begin with.
Week 19 Weekend

Bigger mileage over weekends

Last weekend was no difference. Trying to put in more training. It started with a quick 20km ride on the trainer - as a tribute to the Ultegra 6500 that was given to me by a friend to encourage me when I got my first roadbike in 2007. It powered me through 3-Ironman and it was time for me to re-flash it and give the bike a new leash of life.

The 6500

I sent the bike over to Edwin (Joo Ngan Son) for the work - the crank, the chain and the 10-speed cassette will go into the training wheels. The rest of the groupset (i got a complete 5700 105 groupset from Chris, at a good price) will be used as I slowly build a steel frame I have in store, which I inherit from another friend Kok Aik (he sold it to me so cheap it's obscene). This is how the bike drive-system looked like with the new crank, cassette and chain.

Woohoo!

12-25 setup. Great for climbs. Beyond 21 cogs now!

This upgrade gets me excited as I remember back in 2009, I was envying those with the newer, lighter and stiffer cranks. Those of you that ride on older version of bottom bracket and cranks will know how they flexes under fast acceleration and you will literally feel the bottom bracket moving slightly under hard pedalling. The 9speed to 10speed doesn't bother me more as the additional is just on the climbing gears. It is "good to have" as at least I may be able to ride up hills easier. 
I did a few other tweaking - having ridden my Orbea Ordu the past 19 weeks for training, I am very comfortable riding in the aero TT position. I decided to drop the bar a bit lower to achieve a better position. Yes, it is all about comfort and efficiency. So, work to stay in aero position if you intent to use a TT bike in your race.

Setup since I restarted training to "ease" into Aero again

Drop 1 full inch

My next project is to replace the 90mm stem with a 32mm stem. That would bring the cockpit closer to me and allow a steeper seating position favourable for TT bike; that is if my fitness and body allow me to sit in that position at 90% of the 6hours I will be cycling. For the record, I got the bike back the next day, eventhough Edwin say he got it done by the end of the day - I was looking for excuse NOT to spin in the evening as a mean to allow my body to rest. 
Immediately after the spin session, I sent the kids to skating classes. Wifey had her earlier 15km run with Pat Ee and Between 9am (when the daughter has class) to 10am (so I can rush back to get my son for his class at 11am), I went into Kiara. I love trail running! I was lucky that day as Charles (Frew) were heading in as well. Nothing beats having someone to run with especially if he or she is faster than you! On my way in, I bumped into Razman and Kimbeley. :D

Awesomely fast

The GoRunUltra was put to it's pace that day without insole (making it a 4mm drop) and in the trail fully. Wait up for the part 2 review of the shoe.

Faster!

We ran the usual loop around Bukit Kiara and bumped into more friends along the way. This time, into Winston and Mike Phoon as they make their way up Kiara for some Mountainbiking training.

Super fast on the bike

Charles and myself decided to take Bar-A-Kuda and then continued to Sungai Trail, which JLN renamed into some name that doesn't reflect what the trail name is.

Trailing Charles now

The additional 2km gave me a good workout and I had to say goodbye while Charles continue to run the 2K and 4K loop by himself. Here is a short video of us running down T'n'T - a fast technical downhill sections with a few twitchy switchbacks that even when running down, requires fast leg work. Enjoy.

View in HD if you have the bandwidth

Saturday continue with attending Kak June's daughter wedding and the kids back to their skate classes in the afternoon. As the bike wasn't there, I had no excuse to cycle in the evening. :) Much has been accomplished as well, apart from sports and family. My daily commute motorbike get a service in between those hours! Talk about time management and collaboration of timing with wifey!
MountainBiking Sunday
I am bad at mountain biking and this is compounded by me wearing clip shoes. With the feet stuck to the pedal, reflexes required to put feet down or move feet about for balance is taken away. 

Much Improvement needed!

For the 12km effort of riding Bukit Kiara, it took me no less than 90minutes. I officially run faster than I bike in Kiara! Enjoy part of the ride below in HD. You can see why Kiara is a favourite among many MTBikers with the single track and technical trails.

View in HD if you have the bandwidth

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