Will update the blog later with stuff,

But before the old year's snuffed,

Here's to the new year that is to come, and..

Here's another to the adventures that will never end!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR y'All!!

Merry Xmas and A Happy New Year!!

(Thanks LSY for the pic!!!)

And to all, Happy Holidays with a Bright Look Ahead for 2011!!

Trudge on!!!

The BIG race for next year...

The reason I'm scared.. the reason I'm nervous.. and the planning and preparations begins...


(Taken from the XPD website)

I've only started AR this year, and have never done an expedition length AR. Got one year to prep and there's already so much things to do (not to mention all the training trips and races to get to). I'm super excited... and well... can't wait to get it all started ;)

Time to train!! hehehe...

Train on!!

:)

What I want for Xmas..

In the midst of equipments hunting for races, I got bored (yup... it can happen)... Got down to Vivo, and decided to donate to this...Sometimes I feel I overindulge in myself. OK... I do over-indulge in myself :) ... oh well.. don't we all ;)

OK, what I want for Xmas is..... a good ride with a good makan after the ride ;)

Trudge on, y'all!!

Moving on... again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U&feature=related

Sometimes when I think back, my life was like this song... It's hard to get back on track... but after 2+ years... I think it's getting better... :) Time does heal...

Move on... and to a dear friend, it will move on...

One of the stranger rides...

Trails are strange at night, but even stranger after the rain... at night. This week's night's trail ride had some highlights, and in the words of Kiara Boy - "Sprinting centipedes, worm leech, baby owl, tonnes of frogs, wild boar scent, lights cutting out for no reason. Freak falls. Spoooky night indeed."
AND I swear, my night lights really have something against me.. freeeeaky...

Short notes of the ride:
1) On the way to BoulderCity, the wrap that was holding my light batteries flew off into the trail. My battery was just suspended in mid-air with only the wire attachment connected to it. Hence, I had to navigate about 10 minutes of trail ride with the right hand holding the battery to the handle bar. Short to say, took all the wrong lines (hard to control la, with only half of a handle bar to hold on to) and had an interesting bumpy ride.

2)BF was super slippery. Kiara boy slipped a few parts... I just slipped everywhere!! Had a hard time navigating the roots as my rear just kept giving way all the time. Was happy though, cleared Big Logs number 2 (the rest.. too slippery). I loved this ride though, with the technical parts turned up a notch or 2 cause of the loss of traction everywhere.

3) Kiara Bay noticed a fast centipede- ish insect, and the CUTEST baby owl ever!! Other than that, the frogs were out in 3/4 of their full force, and there were wild boars rustling around. The monkeys were noisy (well, I think they were monkeys.. I'm scaring myself now) and.. yeah.. while washing the bikes, Kiara boy had this

on his bike frame. What in the world is this??!! (Pic courtesy of KB's iPhone - it's never to late to join the dark side)

4) My handle bar bike lights suddenly went off again, while I was going downhill (lucky not technical). So, depended on Kiara Boy's lights behind me to navigate. I swear again, repeatedly, those lights really have something against me. It's like it has a life on its own...

5) I endo-ed at a place I don't normally crash.. hmm.. It was a bumpy downslope, I was getting my weight back, and my feet came off the pedals. My bum almost hit the rear wheel, so I pulled forward and put my weight forward. Right at that moment, my front wheel went down and I think I lost too much control and flipped forward. Did a 180 deg flip upside down and was stopped by the tree on the side and I fell to the ground.. No abrasions, cuts but just had bruises. Hmm.. and I just endo-ed last week too at KR.


After the ride, had ice lemon tea, while recollecting the things that happened. It was just a strange nite indeed. Oh well, good things came out of it though:

1)I learnt the new uses of my soft bristle brush - to brush my bag, gloves, shin guards, pants helmet, and almost everything else, including my sink. I stopped at having a go at the toilet bowl, though. Yeah, so it's still clean for other bikers to use as well.

2) I tend to oversteer alot... so mebbe a shorter handle bar would be perfect for me.

3) Next week :) ... SPD's or CBs? hmm...


Trudge on!!!

Being Just in the Nick of Time...

Recce Trip No 2 : Bukit Takun
Participants:
EA-san
JS
SM
Vincent
Stan
ST
HM
Me!!!

Joke of the day(s):
Stan: I'm Eurasian, what!!!
EA-San: Since when??
Stan: What do you mean since when? Since I was born la!!
All of the rest: HUH??!!!
Stan: orr... now u racist la...
All of the rest: hahahahahahahhahaha
... and the rest of it was history, as people would put it.

Bukit Takun, a "small" hill somewhere in the outskirts of KL city. Its tucked quite deep in, but is one of the oldest climbing places in Malaysia (according to the Climb Malaysia book). Mainly travelled to for its trad climbing, it has a few bolted routes for sport climbing as well. And, looking for a new place to climb, it was time to recce Bukit Takun.

With 8 climbers, 4 ropes, and a whole bunch of gear, we took of on Friday night (to be more exact, Saturday 12.30am). The van was fairly comfortable, but sleeping in a van sux. hehe.. We arrived at about 6 am in KL, and tried to check-in to the hotel, but the rooms were still occupied. We went to a mamak for breakfast instead, and headed down to Takun after that. Better get started, bright and early. Buuuut... it drizzled..

Breakfast at the Mamak

Getting there, however... was not easy. We had some instructions from the Web, and we reached the starting point in about 30mins or so. Then the trekking in begins. err... as usual, I think not many read the link that EA-san sent.. (me too!!) and wore only flip-flops and sandals, which was NOT advisable.. haha. It was a treacherous uphill trek, with mozzies and leaches all around ( I almost got bitten by one of them). After about 20minutes, we reached the first wall (Stan and Vincent got a leech bite here). We set up most of our stuff on the ground and started to recce the site for bolts and anchors. This being a recce trip, we really did recce a lot. Not many bolts in site and JS then started his first attempt on one route (with no anchors in sight), while the rest of us continued to look around. We found another one towards the left, which was a good climb, and Stan had to kill a tree (he tried burning and sawing) that was blocking the route (Thank you, Stan hehe). We then adjourned to the Right side of the wall, where the trad climbing courses were held. It was another about 15-20minutes trekking through sharp rocks and muddy ground in flip flops and sandals.. sigh.. But anyways, 3 routes were set up here and that's about it. It started to drizzle again about 4+pm, and we decided it was time to head back. This is not a place you wanna be in when its raining, that's for sure. Packed up and headed back down to the road for our van pick-up. And it came in just in time too, before a heavier down pour started to come down on us.. phew..

OK, all of us were tired and hungry (we tapau-ed food , but the treacherous trekking burned it all up) so we headed back to the hotel to clean up. Went to OneUtama for dinner and kai kai .. to round it up :
1) We went to see the MONSTER wall at Camp5 - must be 6C rated climber to climb horr.. inside, we secretly held our hopes that it will rain the next day, so we can go to Camp5 again, much to the dismay of EA-san.. haha...
2) Had Nando's for dinner and yummy A&W for supper (my 2 fave fastfood in KL) - can never get enuff of peri peri and the icecream waffles!!
3) Watched Rapunzel 3D at 11pm (which I think only started at 11.30 or so) - free soloing with(out) gears.. don't miss it!! Great cartoon btw, and my fave this year..

Roomie - ST and me were kaput-ed when I reached the room. Zzz out almost immediately. And that's it for Day One.

The next day: Back to Batu Caves. We went to Damai Wall with little hope of getting to Nyamuk later (which as usual never happens). Here, HM, ST and I did some lead climbing (getting better, I hope) and the Monsoon route - now I understand what everyone was saying about "the slope" haha.. After that I stopped as my arms were too achy too continue.

JS and SM paired up to do one multi-pitch, and so did Vincent and Stan. Was wondering what took them ages (the whole morning to be exact) up there, but later was shown the reason - they were taking pictures of each other up there.. haha ... We were later joined by S and S from the Nomad adventure side. Had a awesome time at BC as usual, and I made a new resolution to do multi pitches in the next BC trip in Jan. :)... oh yarr... we finally had our first lunch at Batu Caves, after sooo many visits here!!

The reason to do a multipitch!

The View from above

The only time when the wall was quiet was when these 2 were up in their pitches :p

JS and SM on their pitch

ST tired liao...

GroupShot!!

Packed and headed back to SG at about 430pm. Had an epic wait for food at the A&W Ayer Keroh, and reached SG at 11.00 ++ pm. Tired, dead and sleepy, I just jumped into bed and zzz... haha..

Think BC saved this trip from being a disaster. Somehow, it always turns a frowning climber into a smiling climber. Takun was.. sort of nice, but I still think it's more for trad climbing :) Well, till the next climb, recce, or watever...

Trudge on!!

Rumblings in the heart... restless in the mind...

I'm scared. I'm trying to smile, but I really am. I've done so many things before, but I'm scared of this "little" endeavour of mine. I have nothing prepared for this, except that it's something that I really want to do. I think my mum knows me better when I have an idea or something in mind, it stays there till I've had enuff of it or I've completed it. My arms still ache from the climbs in KL over the weekend, my eyes are still red from lack of sleep, but my mind is racing to figure it all out. Hmm... I got my work to do, and my studies to complete too. My mum is gonna complain that I don't go back much.. Hmm.. *dead*

But then again, when I think of it, I'm all excited, and a little grin appears...

Viva La Vida

Da link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsUAxG6c3Ws

Amazing... one guy, playing all the different layers song separately.. and editing it back into one piece. Reminds me why I took up violin last time. I loved the sound it makes, the emotions it stirrs. The pull of the bows, the light staccatos it makes..

But anyways, about the song. It's time to review the year that just came and go, and wonder how next year will be like. This year has got to be the biggest DRAMA year ever, not as painful as a few years back, but just super DRAMA. And the drama happened not only to me, but to people around me.

I tried a lot of new stuff that stuck to me, like MTB-ing, and made a bunch of new crazy frens along the way. I restarted some stuff that I left cos of time constraints, like kayaking and climbing. I learnt about how much life is reliant on having good frens when I'm staying on my own, like when I had my pneumonia. I learned that being there for a friend and having his/her back is something that is not easy to be done, but is one of the best things to do. I learned that things do not last forever, no matter how perfect it looked from the outside. I know that I can finish everything I put my mind to... if I can put my mind to it. I learned to smile, even when things are getting harder and harder, cos smiling makes it easier to get through it. But the best of all, is I learned more about myself, and how I think people should accept me as who I am. I don't think I can ever leave the outdoors for now, and that's fine with me :). Oh... and that life moves on... one setback only means that - one setback. It does not set me back for life if I don't let it.

A short snippet:

• Night MTB!!
• Got my 1Star & 2Star kayaking cert...
• Roll in a kayak!!
• Severe pneumonia & got warded!!
• Had a Minor Operation
• Climbed at Dairy Farm, Batu Caves and Tambun
• DWS and Lead Climbing
• Moved to a new place
• Visited Hanoi & HaLong Bay
• Visited Siem Reap
• Mountain Biking and built my first racing bike
• Found 2 someones .. & gave it up.. hehe :)
• Volunteered at races (bike escort & medic)
• Play FFXIII
• Three Adventure Races
• Shot from a AK-47

I wonder what will happen next year... hmm

Trudge on..