As good as it gets...

We are in basically in control of what we do (well, that is to a certain extent), so the excuse for not being riding for almost two month could never be attributed to the weather (it has been raining a lot of late) or travel (I have been heavily traveling these past few month) or work (it never ends, right?)

Basically, I was just felt a bit 'malas', and all the other reasons, somehow conveniently fits in. Once you started, its hard to stop and likewise, once you stopped, it is much harder to starts again. One week became two, then without the slightest notice, became a month and before you know it, you have not been training for two month. At least thats for me.

So, as we basically in control of what we do, it is unfair to blame the weather, frequent travel or long hours at work for our non exercising period. As it became harder and harder to ride at night (as it rains on most nights), I decided to shift my riding time to... right after work. And it starts yesterday. After finishing some loose ends, I reached Putrajaya at around 630pm, and proceeded to KTP where I unload my bike.

Starts my ride shortly after and decided to ride the big roundabout and maybe a climb to Shangri-La. Starts slowly (after all, I havent been riding for quite a long time) and to have a feel of my body, just to gauge the reaction. Felt good, even if I am a bit dehydrated to starts with, and by the time my one hour ride ends, I have circled the roundabout a few times and climbed up Shangri-La, twice, from both ends. HR? In the region of 180, and felt not too bad.

If you can't go for long rides, at least squeeze in some rides, even if its just for an hour. I am having runny nose today, which maybe is a sign my body needs some TLC...

Just like they say, "Carpe Diem"...

One old boat race...

Finally, I manage to catch the 'Boat Race' on telly. This year its the 155th year that pitted the crew of Oxford against the crew of Cambridge. It was a good start by both crews, but not long after, the Dark Blues (Oxford) surge forward. Both crews upped their effort and counter effort up till Chiswick Eyot where in trailing, Oxford seems to resort to disrupt the rhythm of the Cambridge crews, by opting to clash blades :)

It does rattle the Light Blues a bit I think, and after that their rhythm is a bit affected. From the Eyot, they surge forward, two length advantage at Bandstand and extend it to three and a half length by the Finish. It was superb rowing, duel and clashing of blades, and both crews of international calibre produces a breathtaking race at its 155th edition. Read more here

On a local note, the Oxbridge alumnus here also stage a similar race in KTP. Any idea of the result? Did the Oxford crew emulate their Alma Maters success on the Thames?

Now, everybody can fly...

After the mix up with my tix a few weeks back, I am now in LCCT, waiting for my flight to Penang. As I live quite nearby, so it make no sense for me to go to office and have someone send me to KLI... oops, need to remember that I'm travelling LCCT now for all my domestic flight.

Anyway, this would be my first time to actually use LCCT for my travel needs. Not that I have anything against Tony, just that my previous experiences with AirAsia, does not require me to fly out from LCCT. Once I flew to KK thru JB, and in the other instance, it requires me to fly from PNG.

Oops, my call to board the plane now... later!!

And then, the phone rings...

I got a phone call today, which informs me that the event that I'm supposed to attend in PNG has been postponed to a later date. Hmmm... bagus la tu, tell me about the cancellation four days before I am supposed to fly. Tak boleh awal sikit ke? It cost the company money, not to mention the nagging that you get from the Finance people.

Anyway, as I do still need to be in LGK, the news is good, if you look at it positively. I do not think that I'll cancel my flight to PNG and book a flight from KUL-LGK instead, but the event cancellation will allow me to be in LGK a day earlier. I do still need to look for the best way to get to LGK but at least I will have an extra day to work with the sailors. I was checking AirAsia website and was wondering if I should bring my bike there.

After all, I would be there for a few days, just like late last year. Hmm, just need to calculate how much will it cost me then...

Show me the money...

I received the approved budget for this year a few days back. Finally, I say. But then again, the figures does not 'figures' gently in my plan. In short, my budget was reduced by more than 60% than what I actually applied two years back (in my organization, we applied for 2008 budget in 2006)

The things that got reduced a lot are on equipments and maintenance. In total, my equipment budget is cut by more than 600K and my maintenance budget cut by 120K. In the business where we rely on cutting edge technologies, a cut of 75% on equipments could stifle our development. And where equipments are concerned, a reduction in maintenance budget could put a stop to operations should some things broke down.

But, no use worrying about that, at least I am given some amount of budget to play with. After all, the current economic situation needs us to be more than careful with our spending. So now, it seems that my team will need to be more prudent in spending and reschedule some purchases. Or, what else, some creative accounting is in order. Work still have to go on, right?

Bila nak start kayuh basikal balik ni...

The flight that escapes me...

I am supposed to travel up north next week for some work related matters. Needs to be in PNG and LGK, but that is not the problem. I travel quite often, just that at times, one missed small things could make your travel less easy than it should be.

My travel is handled by a division in our office where we provide them with our planned itinerary and they will do their best to accommodate our request. All this while, it is quite straightforward. I send the request to the respective department once approved, with a planned itinerary duly printed, all the way down to dates and times and where applicable, the specific flight code.

Well, in view of the recession, we switched to a budget airline. No problem with me, but as I explained to the (new) person in charge two weeks back, I need to catch a specific flight from PNG to LGK on that specific date as it make no sense for me to fly back from PNG to KUL and then back to LGK. The person involved said, not to worry as the travel agency will handle it.

So imagine my surprise a few days back when I receive a copy of my itinerary, which is a total screw up. It says that I have a return flight to PNG. Apa la! I have even given them a printed copy of my planned itinerary that states my travel is KUL-PNG-LGK-KUL. And what I get? KUL-PNG-KUL. And they did not even catch me my flight to LGK, and by the time I checked again online, its already sold out.

I was then asked to deal with the travel agent myself. They admit the problem and will send me a new corrected itinerary of KUL-PNG and LGK-KUL. As of today, I havent received the new flight itinerary as yet. And I need to figure out how am I going to Langkawi from Penang. By road? Ferry? Anybody have an idea?

Missing... in action

There is a lot I have missed these past few weeks, cycling wise. I missed PCM Ride for Gaza, I missed Sunday rides to Lenggeng, the week after that to Labu and definitely the ride up Genting Sempah towards Janda Baik, that I've put as one of my targets this year.

I am currently in 'resistance training' mode, hence no cycling. Not doing any type of training at all for that matter. I RESIST training. Period.

(P/S I am the one in the middle)