Cold, Wet, Windy Day in Melbourne

Started the day by going out for a ride with Dennison. I thought it would be good to get my system working again. What time we started? 5.30am! Glad that I brought all my front and tail lights with me for this trip. I had to wear a shirt inside, then a long sleeve jersey I borrowed from Den and another water proof to go with it. I thought I was well suit up but once I stepped outside, I could feel the cold and windy condition. Still, I went on with it. We started riding out of the main streets, had to stop couple of times for traffic lights before hitting the beach road. Even before reaching the beach, my hands were already freezing and my ears hurt. We could easily got up to a speed of 40km/h catching a tailwind but hitting on a headwind a struggle. Coming back, I was struggling to keep up with Den. Couldn't see the sunrise, only overcast sky. The whole trip was about 46.9km, took us around 1:41.






We stopped by a cafe for some coffee which was recommended by Den. When I walked in, was kind of amazed at the place. It looks like a run down place, an old warehouse, but they did an ID work which turns out nicely. More amazingly, you have bicycle racks inside to park your bikes. This place is called Seven Seeds. It's just a walkaway from their apartment.








I had French toast with apricot and some other stuff (I forgot to take pic lah!!) and latte (pic below).



It didn't rain throughout our ride, which was forcasted in the news but it started drizzling when we came out from the cafe. Makes it even colder. When Den and Andrew went for work, I took a hot shower and took a nap, cos the cold weather really got to me. Had some leftover pasta from last night and bread for lunch. Thought of going out but with the cold wind, I thought I best stay indoor. After a while, I got a little bored so went out for a walk but the weather don't look good. Soon enough, the rain started, so I walked back to the apartment. Luckily I wasn't far from it.

These are some photos of Dennison and Andrew's bikes. Each have one road bike, Den owns the Pinarello FP2 and Andrew's Trek . Both have track bikes, 3 of it to be exact.









The sky got dark by 6pm (pic below).



Andrew got home first and started cooking. Amazing how he is handling his daily activities. Work full time, study part time, trains on bike and gyms, then cook. He cooked porridge for all of us tonight with chicken/ginger/soya sauce and also mixed veges (broccoli and carrots). He is a real good cook. Den was cooking carbonara spaghetti for tomorrow. These two eat a lot and pretty health-conscious.

Touchdown Melbourne!

I was pretty excited in my trip to Melbourne. I wasn't too sure what I need to pack for a 3 months holiday and wasn't sure if I had enough warm clothing with me. I almost forgotten about my warm jacket in the doby shop the night before my flight. Only remembered when I was packing some stuff in the bag around 9pm. I quickly called the doby shop hoping it is still open. Lady luck smiled on me, a lady answered the call and told me the shop is still open.

In the morning of my departure date, I went for breakfast with Mien Yee and Han. I was a little worried about the weight of my baggage including my bike. Luckily both are within the baggage limit, only just. My bag weighs in at 19.1kg while my bike weighs in at 13.9kg. I had to pay only RM60 for sporting equipment fee (up to 15kg), while I bought a 20kg baggage allowance online earlier.

Checked in early, as I've got nothing much to do in the airport. Flight was delayed for about 20 mins while we were inside the plane due to somebody checking in their lugguage, not too sure of details though. I've been hearing lots of bad experience in Air Asia X seatings or food. However, turns out to be ok. Except for the recliner seats that don't work at all. That means you have to sit upright the whole trip. There was a lady sitting next to me, wearing a mask. There quite a few passangers wearing masks. But she moved when her friend told her that there are seats upfront. The plane wasn't at full capacity. It's a 3 + 3 + 3 seat arrangement. I had the whole 3 seats for myself when she moved.

Air Asia X seats with a LCD screen in each seat (pic below). Of course, you have to pay RM30 to use it. So the only thing free on the LCD are travel information, journey guide and maybe previews of some movies shown.

I tried to skeep but it's hard when you had to sit up straight. Even leaving on the wall of the plane and stretched my legs out slightly covering the 3 seats, but not working. Only managed to rest for a while. Food was served and since I've paid it online, I got my nasi lemak. Was it good? Well when you are hungry, anything taste good.

Photo of passengers' cabin (photo below)


Heavy rain just before take off (Took off 2pm - Malaysian time)

Flying pass one of the mountain in Indonesia (Not sure which one. I think we flew pass Java. any idea anyone?)

Entering Land Down Under (pic below)

I ticked "Goods costing more than AUD900 in the declaration form which were handed to passengers in the plane. The lady at the custom asked whether it was a new bike, told her it is 2 year old. She said that's fine, so she let me thru. I was the last in line waiting for my bicycle box. I waited for quite a while before a lady was asking me whether I was waiting for a bicycle box. I said Yes and she pointed to my box which was just a few metres walk away. Then I saw the sign "Oversize baggage, collect here". Aiyo...pai seh man. Anyway, went through the custom and I was shown the way to the red line I think. Australian customs are super strict. Anyways, I had to open up my box to show my bike to customs. Even had to open up my bag to take out my cycling shoe to show it to her.

A quiet Melbourne Airport



Hilton Hotel in front of the airport



Quiet Mebourne road at midnight

The apartment (pic below) I am staying in. My cousins - Dennison and Andrew's place.

I didn't do much today. Both my cousin went for a ride. I haven't got my bike set up yet so didnt join them. I walked around nearby for a while, to Queen Victoria Market which was just 5 mins away. Weather was so damm cold with the strong wind. I had to hold on to my cap at some point.

Queen Victoria Market

Lots of meats on sale here in the market!

Melbourne's own version of Petaling St.

Music performance at Queen Victoria Market

I had my bike set up after coming back from my short walk. I thought I rather stay inside then being out there in the cold windy day. Took me a while to set it up as this is the first time my bike got dismantled. It wasn't that complicated but I think I am going to have a tough time to dismantled it when I pack it back in the box. I am having a thought of leaving it here and sell it. Mmh, should I? AUD800 - AUD1000 seems a good price.

Then went for a walk with Andrew to get myself a prepaid hp number. He was doing his grocery shopping as well. He showed me around some places nearby and even visited a bicycle shop nearby. Things inside are not cheap if converted to RM. Much more cheaper to get it in KL.

State Library of Victoria (pic below)

Check out this electornic gear shifters (pic below) which has a whopping AUD4,700 price tag! It's the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2.

Brooks Racer ST 3

I've been going around town searching for a lightweight trainer/racer which is within my budget. I wanted to get another shoe as I don't think my current racer will last both training and racing. Got to take care of my legs lah. Looking for anything that is RM200 & below. I've been to New Balance, Studio R and some other shops, but mostly are at least RM240 above. I found 2 New Balance shoes which are value buy but they do not have any more of my size on the models. It would have been a good buy.

I was about to give up hope till I went to Brooks @ The Curve and found what I wanted. It's a Brooks Racer ST 3. Costs me RM199! There was a new model, Brooks Racer ST 4, but they do not have my size. There were some other 'featherweight' racers but I thought it was too light or less cushioning for a marathon race.

Well hope this shoe will help me get across the finishing line in one piece!

Bike Cleaned and Sent for Packing

Well I got my bike cleaned yesterday and have sent it for packing. Have not clean it for a long time since I've taken a break from cycling for a while now. It's not as cleab as I wanted to, but looks a lot better than before. At least can see the silverish colour in the chain (pic). The guy at the shop was telling me that my bike, after packing, might weigh more than 15kg. I guess I got to be ready to pay those extra charges to Air Asia. Rm20 per extra kg! Ouch! Maybe I could get my uncle to help in bringing the bike over, since they are going over 2 days after me. Mmh, maybe I should call him tomorrow and find out.



Tonight, I went to Shah Alam to have drink with Azizul. I was passing him his Shape Run goodie bag which he missed. I wanted to get arms warmer since riding in Australia can be quite cold at the moment. Should be averaging 7-14 degrees Celcius. Since I was in Shah Alam, I went to look for this guy Ahmad, who sells some bike apparels. I google search leading me to him. According to him, he has a share in one of the bike shop in Shah Alam too. I wanted to go there in the afternoon but he told me that they aren't any stocks at the shop. Rather than getting the conventional black colour, I got a white one (pic). Thought it looked cool. I hope it helps in warming up when I get to ride over there.

Usain Bolt Shatters 100m World Record!! 9.58s!

Usain Bolt, the sprint king has shattered the WR for 100m in a time of 9.58!! Wow. Amazing! Even Tyson Gay or Asafa Powell got nowhere near him even though they clocked fast times. Tyson clocked his PB and an American Record of 9.71 which was just 0.02 shy of the old WR which Usain set in Beijing last year. Asafa clocked 9.84 a season best.


Everyone has been talking about how fast Bolt can run after Beijing. He virtually celebrated way before the finishing line, easing up the final strides and still clock 9.69s (WR). I guess, he answered everyone here yesterday. Click this link to video of the 100m final. Even the photographers had a hard time chasing Bolt when he was doing his celebration lap. Haha!



Another interesting final was the 10,000m Final (Womens). With defending champion, Tinuresh Dibaba, sidelined with an injury, Ethiopian runners were still the heavy favourites, led by Meseret Defar. In the final sprint, it seems Defar had the edge over compatriot Melkamu. But in the last 30m, she seems to have lost it, and Meselet Melkamu overtook her and looked destined to win. She even put up her hands in celebration at the finshing line (pic below) till she looked to her side, Linet Masai of Kenya, who edged her slightly. "Alamak!" - that's the expression of her face at the finishing line. She forgot, it ain't over till the fat lady sings! Well in this case, the skinny lady lah! Finally, a Kenyan lady breaks Ethiopian stronghold in this event and she's only 19! Click this link to see the video of the event. Linet won with a time of 30:51.24, while Meselet's time is 30:51.34. How close was that?!

How come Astro didn't show the event live since it's such a big event?! Only got 1 hour highlights every now and then. Somemore charging extra RM12?!!

5 More Days!

5 more days before I leave for the Land Down Under. Leaving this Sat. I don't even know what do I need to pack for a 3 months break there. Should I bring more running clothes or casual clothes?? I've already got 1 cycling shoe and 1 running shoe which is going to take a lot of space. Then, there's a problem with my bike. Yes, I'm bringing my bike over. Who knows I might just be doing Tour Down Under. Haha. I was told it is approximately 15kg (after packing). I have bought only 20kg of baggage allowance from AirAsia. Then I have to pay RM60 for sporting equipment. I wonder if this weight is included in my baggage allowance? If it is I think I better top up to 25kg. Anyone has any idea on this? I read the Fee Schedule, the way they put it seems to be in separate allowances.

So what will I be doing there? I'm going to do my "walkabout" as the aborigines in Australia call it. Oh, if you haven't read my earlier post, I'll be doing the Melbourne Marathon on Oct 11 and Around the Bay in a Day (210km) bike ride on Oct 18. So I guess I spent a lot of time training for that one while I'm there. Then after Oct, depending on my budget, will do a little travelling around Australia, visiting some interesting places and also meet up with some friends who are there. Also, I'll see if there's any good unis where I can do my sports management courses. Nothing is for sure yet but I'll just go look see, look see..

Australia here I come.

District 9: Review

I wasn't planning to watch the movie but was stuck at the car park in Gardens. And even if I got out from the car park, I think I'll be stuck in the rush hour. So we decided to watch a movie first. I don't know what to expect from the movie as I didn't read any review before watching it. This movie is produced by Peter Jackson, better known for his work on Lord of The Rings Trilogy.

Sypnosis:
"Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth.

Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa's District 9 as the world's nations argued over what to do with them.

Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens' welfare - they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens' awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA.The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA.

Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable - he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide:

District 9"

As it turns out, movie was quite entertaining, but not a show for children though. Lots of body parts flying here and there. One funny thing though, I think this is the first time I have heard so many F&@% words in a Malaysian nema. I have a feeling the censorship people must have fallen asleep or they didn't know that there's no difference in meaning for the pronounced word "Fuck" and "Fock" (you know, how the British pronounced it). Haha. Or maybe it could be, there were too many of it, till they decided "tidak apa lah".

Here's a link to it's trailer. Click here

Kuala Lumpur Rat Race

This year I was at the annual corporate charity event, The Kuala Lumpur Rat Race. But this time am only watching it from the sidelines. I've taken part 3 times myself, 2005, 2007 and 2008. That was after I joined Southern Bank/CIMB. Didn't take part in 2006 as Southern Bank was taken over by CIMB during that time. It's one of the kind event that's being held in the middle of busy KL streets. Plus, the run starts in the late afternoon at 5pm. The race can be hot and humid at that time of the day. It drizzled a little before the start but didn't deter the participants of the fans away.

What's so different about this event compared to any other running races? For one thing, you have to wear your office wear (of course you are allowed to wear your running shoes) to run over a course of 4.5km around the major area in the city, starting from Bursa Saham KL (BSKL) passing thru major offices, such as Wisma Genting, KLCC, pubs and cafe over in Jalan P. Ramlee, Concorde Hotel, KL Tower and back to BSKL. To participate each team consist of 5 runners, a company must contribute RM5,000. All monies collected are given to the identified beneficiaries. To win, all members of the team must finish the race and the the team with the less total of rankings will be the winner. The categories have been expanded over the years and this year, the Senior Category is been introduced. Last year the mixed team event was introduced. There's a CEO Race as well, whereby CEOs are required to run a 1km race while the main race covers 4.5km.

Supposedly, it's a non competitive event but the race has become fast and furious of late, with company sending some of their best runners. And a lot of teams are coming out with company t-shirts or uniforms. It kind of deviates from the original version where everyone wears office wears, with the exception of staff from fitness centres of course.

This event is well publicised and I'm always looking foward to run in such event with carnival like atmosphere. Lots of cheering team all around, well dressed up and cheering loudly for their teams. Cheerleading teams also in the running for top 3 prizes. Hard to find this kind of atmosphere in any other running event, which I think it should be good in popularising running. Although, I think this will need a lot of involvement of corporate companies, but other events have something to learn from this one.

It's kind of sad watching it from the sidelines and not being able to run this year as I thought I am fitter than I was in last 3 years combined. But I had fun meeting up old colleagues or some familiar faces. I was busy taking photos this time around, but somehow due to my mediocre knowledge in taking good photographs or maybe it's my camera lah....all my photos turn out to be pretty bad. Sorry guys!

Full results for winners and report, click this link

CIMB defended the mixed team category with the top 2 runners still in the same order as last year, T.Eswaran and K. Baskaran. In the new category, CIMB veteran runners finished TOP 2 but the team could only finished 2nd. Jessica Tang who is in the mixed team as well won the mixed team women's category.

Nothing major happened this time as what happened in Adidas KOTR. However, when I was at their prize presentation, the video replay showed a guy who just collapse just 10 meters from the finishing line. I think he was the one which was taken away by ambulance (photo below). I just felt if Gary had the same treatment, he would live see another day.

I stayed there for while and had some food (free what!) but had to make my way back before the prize presentation as it appears it was going to rain.

For more photos or videos, pls click on this link:

1. Run Wit Me Blog

2. Seecube Blog

3. Photos from Photobucket