Epic Plentong ride...

Just a memorable conversation...

On one of the short road parts, one of the guys riding next to me asked me why I was spinning on my Granny's. I told him that sometimes I still have a problem with my gear shifts, and I'd prefer not to shift if possible. He was impressed as he said I was spinning very fast and added that I would have nice legs. With a devilish grin, I told him to just give that thought up too... I have bigger than normal girl calves cos I run a lot too... He just shook his head and we all laughed it out.. haha...

The reason I like MTB :)

Trudge on...

The annual Twelve Months of Lala!!

Back again, the 2010 edition...

Jan: Got my first MountainBike, and endo-ed on the same day; CNY home, played Futsal with the Ipoh guys

Feb: Siem Reap - to the Wats!! and... Shot from a AK-47, started Flowriding

March: Bdae month... Finally got FF13 (but until now, no time to finish it), Started volunteering in races- OSIM, OCBC

April: Sabah Adventure Challenge!!

May: Moved to a new place; Rafted and started climbing again; Kayaking 1Star

June: Halong Bay for DWS

July: Nomad Adventure Race, PNEUMONIA!!

Aug: Recover from PNEUMONIA!!

Sept: BC, Ace Adventure Challenge, Lasiks done!

Oct: New Bike, Started night MTB, Rolled in a kayak (finally!!), Tambun - Lead Climbing, Batu Caves and Genting

Nov: MTB - Kiara, 2Star kayaking, MTB - Plentong Epic Ride...

Dec: Takun Recce!!

OK... another year of fun is almost coming to an end. I got one more module to grab my Grad Cert... then think think about progressing to Masters. Time really has flown, hasn't it. Let's see what happens in the coming 2011.. things are just getting better and better...

Trudge on...

A good start to the morning :)

Tried to pay with my Starbucks Card this morning, and when it didn't work, I had to pay in cash. When I got my change back, the barrista handed me a voucher for a free beverage... :)

This is excellant service... and a good reason to go back to Starbucks for good coffee...

Cycling in Kiara 2

Can't remember which trail this was on though.... help anybody?

Back in the waters..

After a long hiatus, it was time to get down and wet.. in the kayak again. This time, with a clearer vision of whitewater ahead, I've decided to plunge ahead to learn how to roll (finally!!). Messsaged SO, and got my first rolling class rolling. I've tried to roll before but have never got it done, so, this time, with goggles, and a nose piece, I'm super determined to get it done at least once...

Capsizing, at first, is scary. But after capsizing so many times in my first WW kayaking course, it's.. somewhat, quite a normal thing for me already. So, capsize one.. I'm upside down, orientation off, SO tried to get my paddle in the right position, tried to hip flick... kaboosh... fell into the water again. This went on and on for a few more times.. before finally, with SO's help... my first assisted roll!! yay!! OK, now need to do an unassisted roll. Tried a few more times ... and failed... but.. never give up!! and, after a while more... MY FIRST ROLL!! and then another 3 and I'm done for that day!.. This was a few weeks ago...

Rewind to last weekend. EA-san wanted to do 2Star kayaking. I wanted to do 2Star Kayaking. So we went and sign up for the course. There are a few reasons to do 2Star:
1) Can't rent a spray skirt without 2Star
2) Most kayak races (WW) will require a 2Star
3) Kayak expeditions in SG will require at least a 2Star

The 2Star course is 3- day long, and includes a 6km expedition. Other than that, the other useful skills would be the Eskimo Bow Rescue and Scullying Draw (which SO has taught us in 1Star). The first day was used up to polish the 1Star skills, and I realised that I don't even remember much. After a while, everything started to come back to me and well, started to get back in the groove.

The second day was the expedition day, and it was fun. I guess one reason was that we were bonding better with our team and an expedition is always more fun than just a skills course. We packed chicken rice for lunch as we're suppose to kayak somewhere, eat lunch and kayak back. The journey there was fun, except for the avoiding the fishing line part. Also, the instructor was commenting on our strokes, and he gave some useful tips like, keep the other arm at the forehead while drawing, it makes a good pivot point. We reached the Changi Water Venture are about an hour later and had lunch. By the time we finished, the dark clouds started to come in and it drizzled a bit.. brr..cold.. The drizzle soon became a thundering storm, and hmm.. we ran for shelter at the Changi Water Venture. Shivering and cold, we waited till the storm abated (a bit) and headed out to kayak back. There was still lightning in while we were kayaking back, and even the instructor was a bit reluctant. OK, let's do it slowly this time.. (we were all tired anyway).. and soon, we were reaching Pasir Ris.. :) On the way, we did some wave surfings.. hehe.. awesome

The guys in the Tiny Teddies Kayaking team!

Gwen with her Vibrams

The rock wall, so near, yet so far...

Yeah... the tiny teddies kayakers!!

Back at Pasir Ris, with some extra time, we practiced Eskimo Bow Rescue, and I tried the C-to-C roll a few times, before getting it right again. We were all shacked out by then. OK.. 5pm.. time to call it a day. Chop chop, we packed up and showered. A few achievements from this course so far:
1) I can finally kayak straighter
2) I can finally scully to save my life
3) I still remember how to roll, as of yesterday.

Just one more day and I can get my cert. Sorta exciting in the sense that with the cert, I can go do more crazy things. So, wish me luck this coming Saturday, and we'll see what happens...

:)

Kayak on!!

Update 20/11/10: I passed!!!! Now I'm a 2star kayaker!!!

Cycling in Kiara

A Short Epic Trip

Epic Jam - 3hours

Epic Kiara MTB Rides - Short one on Fri, Long one on Saturday, Explorer mode on Sun

Epic Chicken Overload - KFC on Fri, Nand0's on Sat (I had Ramly's Special Chicken Cheese Burger on Friday too)

The whole idea for the first of many (to come) epic Kiara weekend started out with our new NiteRider Buddy, Kiara Boy. I've heard so much about Kiara from those who went there, and was raring to go ride at least once there. And so, with the long weekend coming up, why not? So, with bikes in the tow, WL and I was out in KL on the long 3-day weekend to conquer Kiara.

We started out on Friday morning, and got into our first Epic event = the Epic 3 hour jam at the SecondLink. We were moving at about 1km/hr but luckily we had a 2 movies to keep us entertained (Red Bull Rampage and RED). After the customs, things were moving great and we had a short stopover at Ayer Keroh for the A&W there.

Arrived in KL about 2 hours later than initially expected. With the GPS (bike unit), navigate to the hotel, checked in, prepped up and finally met up with Kiara Boy, for our first ride in Kiara. haha... so onz to get on the bike after the long journey down.. and no... we would not wait any longer...

Kiara, was.. just... awesome :). I've not been riding long, but the place is just FUN. OK, a bit of killer upslopes (actually, a lot of killer upslopes), but the course was just technical enough to make the ride every bit exciting. Most of the downslopes were manageable (even for me), but there were some (like triple trenches) which were still out of my league. It was really amazing to see the guys zip down those slopes, though :)

We went through some of the routes, 2k, magic carpet, a bit of lungbuster (in reverse), mission, and some more that I can't remember, before calling it a day when night came about. First intro to Kiara, and I'm smitten. Here's the next awesome thing about Kiara: there's free toilet, shower and bike washing facilities at the carpark. Apparently, the facilities were built using money pulled together by the community. I 'heart' this place.

Kiara Boy had family dinner that night, so it was up to me and WL to look for food ourselves. We ended up at TTDI nearby, and were elated when we saw a Ramly burger stall. But hey, Ramly is for supper right... hehe.. there was KFC opposite Ramly's, and to prove that the Msia KFC is different from the SG one, we had KFC for dinner. After tt, we tapau-ed Ramly and headed back for rest and movie.

The next morning started at 7am. We met up with Kiara Boy and his bunch of regular rider friends in Kiara for the ride. This was going to be the long one. The first stretch itself was a upslope ride on the tarmac into Magic Carpet. After Magic Carpet, we would meet up with another 2 friends of Kiara Boy. My memory here is fuzzy as we zipped from one trail to another. I still couldn't manage all the upslopes and had to push for most of them. The guys were really good and I liked to see the way they ride, and the lines they take. A few crashes here and there, and I endo-ed once on a drop. No biggie injuries though, will live to ride again.

After about 4 hours, we've finished. I was exhausted. My whole body was aching, but the adrenaline was still running high. We cleaned up (bikes and self) and headed over to the mamak for lunch. With our stomachs filled, we made a short stop at the KSH bike shop nearby, and then back to the hotel to rest a bit.

That evening was reserved for climbing at Camp5. After about a week of not hitting the walls, it was good to climb again. We met some Singaporeans there too, who were down for the holidays. Dinner was at Nando's... the home of Peri Peri chicken.. extra hot and spicy is always good. I bought an emergency light (comes with a whistle) from Allsports KL, and after that it was back to the hotel for another movie and rest.

Sunday started later at about 8+. Had a bit to eat in the morning, and off to the trails again for our last ride. This time, we went exploring on our own as the local guys were not riding. We got lost a lot of times, went on reverse only to turn back after a while a few times, but we did managed to find the 'sungai' trail. I can fully understand after riding and pushing through it, why Kiara Boy said that trail was... well.. require balls of steel. Wilson rode most of it ('xcept for the first drop) and as usual.. *clap clap clap* :). We finished about 12, washed up, and headed back to the hotel to clean up and check out.

We had local fare for lunch at TTDI before heading back to SG. A short stopover at A&W again and we finally reached SG at 7+pm in the evening. Twas the short epic trip had ended, but truly an epic trip it was. Kiara was really enjoyable, and the company I had made it even more memorable. Now... I just can't wait to get out riding again.. getting better and better, so that when I am at Kiara again, I'll walk less, and ride more.

Trudge on...

PS : will upload the vids later, when I've successfully converted it.

Found this!!

Me in the Health IT Summit this year... :)

http://www.mohh.com.sg/his-2010.html

Kinda miss my old look sometimes.. oh well..

Trudge on..