Mountain Biking again, after 16 years

It's been a looooooong time. I've always loved cycling since I was a child. I remember watching E.T the movie and falling in love with those all conquering BMX bikes that did everything including flying over the moon. Haha. I pestered my dad for the longest time and he finally bought me a BMX. Datuk Ng Joo Ngan is a good friend of my dad's so my first BMX was naturally from Joo Ngan's shop in Pertama Complex. My dad didn't wanna spend too much and I got a no name generic BMX that looked like it would fall apart at the very first dirt jump. Haha.

After a while, I wanted a better bike and slowly upgraded the parts, bit by bit. I used to save my school allowance, wash the car, polish the car, wash the toilets and mow the lawn, just to earn money for BMX parts. I studied at St. John's Institution and I would walk to the legendary Sum Ming bicycle shop in Jalan TAR whenever I had enough money for BMX parts. After about 2 years I had completed my dream bike. My pride and joy was a Diamondback Harry Leary with all the nicest parts available.

I used to ride 3-4 hours everyday, after school. I was into BMX racing and also Freestyling. The Wilayah Day BMX race is one of the highlights of the year and I used to look forward to it every year. It all came to an end when I had to go to Australia after Form 5. It was one of the saddest days of my life when I took my fully blinged up BMX to Sum Ming to sell for cash. It was the end of my cycling days for many years.

I got back to cycling when I came home from Australia and my working life began. I was working in the family business in Seremban and it's one heck of a boring town back in the stone ages. There was nothing much in the way of entertainment in Seremban but there were some really nice oil palm and rubber estates just behind my housing area. I was thinking that the trails in the estates would make for some really good cycling. My friends in KL/PJ were also bugging me to get a mountain bike so we could go cycling in Kiara. All of them bought their bikes from KSH in TTDI so I bought my first MTB from KSH too. It was a Kona Sex One, one of the very few full suspension bikes available at the time.

Here's a picture of the Kona Sex One from a magazine advertisement. Looks pretty sexy for a bike from 16 years ago eh?





My friends rode Kona and Gary Fisher full suspension bikes too. Every time we went cycling, the other MTBers would stare at us as if we were aliens riding on UFOs. Haha. Full suspension bikes were extremely rare at the time. I certainly enjoyed my time in the estates behind my house and also the Kiara trails on the weekends when I came back to KL. It was so long ago that the main road going up the Kiara hill wasn't even paved yet.

After a while, life caught up with me and I stopped cycling again. Work commitments, the arrival of my first child, etc, etc. I thought of cycling many times over the years but I just didn't have the time for it. I'm sure many of you know the drill. It was all about money, money, money, work, work, work. I was a workaholic, working 14-15 hours everyday, raking in the dollars. However, my working life came to an end about 7 years ago when I got really, really, really sick. Many doctors were stumped. I was on the brink of death when a doctor at Subang Jaya Medical Centre finally diagnosed me with the Big C. Yes, it was cancer and my world came crashing down. I had all the money in the world but what was the point of having money if I had no life. So I quit everything and decided to just enjoy life as I didn't even know how long I had left to live. I thought of cycling again, to regain my fitness and to fight the Big C. I was much too weak though. My body had degenerated so much. I was a 5' 6" bag of bones at 50kg.

It took me a long time to get back to my normal weight of about 65kg. It was really difficult to regain my fitness as I had lost my left ear before being accurately diagnosed by the good doctor at SJMC. I had also lost all sensation on the left side of my body. My left arm, left leg, left torso, everything on the left was gone and it took me a while to regain some feeling. My left ear was beyond help though. There was nothing the doctors could do. This made it very difficult for me to exercise as I didn't have much feeling on the left and no sense of balance too. You guys who have both ears working perfectly better treasure it. You will be amazed to find out that you can hardly walk with just one ear because it's so difficult to balance yourself.

I managed to overcome all that after a while. I learnt to compensate for the loss of my left ear and sensation on my left side. I could run and go to the gym as part of my plan to regain full fitness again. I was just getting back to full fitness when my world came crashing down again....................... Talk about double whammy eh? This time I was diagnosed with a heart rhythm disorder. I had to have heart surgery and I had to stop exercising again...........

Anyway, it has been 2 years since my heart surgery and 7 years since the Big C. I'm now able to start exercising properly again. Problem is that I gained 10kg after the heart surgery so I started with a 9 week program to regain some strength. The 9 week program ended just before my birthday and my dearest wife bought me a mountain bike. It has been a rocky road but I will never give up. I will keep fighting whatever comes my way and I'm happy to be mountain biking again, after 16 loooooooooong years.

Nike Trainer 1

Age really catches up and does a super hyperspace jump when you're near the age of 40. Metabolism drops, testosterone levels drop, muscles droop. The only thing that goes up is FAT! In my younger days, my metabolism was so high, I used to eat 4-5 meals a day like a lion and not gain a single ounce of fat. Those were the days.........

Anyway, I recently started on a 9 week program to get lean and fit again. Lotsa gym work involved and I needed some proper cross trainers. My Adidas Boost runners weren't gonna cut it in the gym. So I went out and got a pair of all black Nike Trainer 1s. I got home, unwrapped them and took some pictures before using them. Here's how it looks like.






Nike recently revived it's cross trainer series. It reminds me of the first Nike cross trainers I had when I was a teenager. It was during the days of the legendary Bo Jackson-The Ultimate Athlete. People from my generation will remember him. He was Superman, no less. Bo was a top player in the NFL and he also played in the MLB. Nike developed cross trainers for him and the whole cross training phenomenon took off. Nike cross trainers were selling like hot cakes. I also owned a pair of Andre Agassi cross trainers. I was so excited to see that NIke had revived the cross trainer series of shoes.

Anyway, let's get on with my new TR1. It's got Nike Free, Nike Air and Nike Flywire technology built into it. Nike Free is in the outsole and the technology and design allows the outsole to flex more freely in all directions like as if we're barefoot. This is the Nike Free outsole.







This is where the Flywire technology is. More stability at the side while weighing next to nothing I guess.









Here's the legendary Nike Air cushioning. I've tried many types of shoes and have come full cirlce and back to Nike Air. Nothing does the job better for me. Air is truly the best.








Nicely padded collar for supreme comfort. It's a mid height shoe so the collar is pretty important.








Manufactured to the exact specifications of championship athletes. Okaaaaaaaaaay, I guess it should be good enough for a mere mortal like me. Haha








Here's a few more shots from different angles.








It's a fantastic shoe for crosstraining. The stability is excellent for gym work and the cushioning is superb for running too. I bought it for only rm399(USD130) and nothing can beat it at this price in my opinion. There's a newer model called TR1.2 which looks the same but has an additional velcro strap over the front of the foot. Check that out too. I decided on the TR1 coz I liked the all black look better. They're both sold at rm399(USD130) so the choice depends on which fits you better or which color you like more.

GUN GUN GUN

Don't know why I never wrote about this. It's one of my favorite things on earth. What is it? Shooting. I went to Phuket for a holiday with my wife in May 2008 and this was one of the things that was right on top of the to do list. I had seen the Phuket Shooting Club on a trip in 1992 but couldn't stop for some shooting coz I was on a tour bus. I promised myself that I would go back there on the next trip. Well, it' took me 16 long years to get back to Phuket. Haha.

There are two licensed gun clubs in Phuket. Phuket Shooting Club is the established one and most people will know or have seen it. It's between the Phuket airport and most buses or taxis will pass by the club on the way to Patong beach. The second club is a new club and was newly opened just before I arrived in Phuket for the 2008 trip. This new club is on the road that leads up the mountain that takes you to the other side of Phuket Island.

Let's get on with the pictures.

The gun rack at Phuket Shooting Club.











Howzabout a big mama?








The instructor giving me a quick refresher course. He asked if I had any experience with guns and I told him the last time I handled a gun was when I was in the college shooting team which was something like 20 years ago. So I needed a bit of help to get back in touch with the guns.








Some 45cal lovin.















Not bad for an old man who last shot 20 years ago eh? The first shot was pretty far out from the center at about the 5 mark. Was still getting a feel for the gun. After that, all the shots were tightly grouped in the black zone.







Hunting rifle with scope.










94% score with the hunting rifle. Hehehe. I was slowly getting back the feel.








The infamous terrorist gun. AK47!









My wife wanted to be a "terrorist" too. Lucky for me, guns are illegal in Malaysia and possession is punishable by death. Or else this is what my wife would do to me when I buy too many toys or gadgets. Haha






Moving on to the shotgun










I forgot just how hard a shotgun kicks and didn't hold the butt nice and tight. Look what happened to my right arm. See that big bruise? That's from the recoil of the shotgun. I'm loading the 9mm bullets into the magazine in this picture.








Cocking the gun and getting ready to unleash hell upon the targets.






This is the view of the targets from where I'm standing with the 9mm pistol. Look at how incredibly small the targets are!







Time to blast off a series of quick 9mm rounds Die Hard style. YippieKayYay Mother Fuckerrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!! If only they had Hans Gruber standing there as the target. Hahaha.









I thought I had enough of guns for the day after spending a ridiculous amount at the Phuket Shooting Club. How wrong........ I hopped on the bike with my wife to head on to the next activity for the day, bungy jumping.On the way there, I saw a newly opened gun club and I just had to stop and visit it.

Some guns at the cashier counter before paying for my time with the M16.







When I finally got my hands on the M16.







Unleashing some nice hot lead from the M16.







2 shots in the body to get the calibration right and then a full on assault on the "terrorist's' head. Can you say "BOOM Headshot! BOOM Headshot! BOOM Headshot! Haha






And............... to finish off the day, I finally got to the Phuket Jungle Bungy Jump.

I believe I can fly...................................






Here's the Youtube video of my time in the sky. Haha. I was supposed to do a tandem jump with my wife but she had a massive headache after being in the sun all day and decided against it at the last minute.




Here's the kicker. I actually had heart surgery just 2 months before. My surgeon advised me to refrain from any strenuous or sporting activities but I totally forgot about it and did the bungy jump on top of all that excitement with the guns! I'm lucky I didn't die of a heart attack while jumping. Haha. I came back to Malaysia for my scheduled check up with my heart surgeon and told him about how much fun I had in Phuket. He almost fainted when I told him about the bungy jump. Anyway, he laughed about it after the initial shock. He said I had just given my heart the ultimate post operation test. He said "If you survived the bungy jump then I can now certify that your heart surgery was a 100% success". However, he gave me a stern warning not to do such things again for the next 1 to 2 years to allow my heart to heal properly.

Gadgets of the year 2010

Wow!! Time really flies. I didn't even realise the last time I wrote was in December 2010. This is now my first post for 2011 so........ Happy New Year! Hahaha

Anyway, I just thought I'd kick off my 2011 posting with my favorite gadgets which were bought in 2010.

Here's my favorite gadgets of the year 2010.




They are the Apple MacBook Air 11", iPad and iPhone 4. I use these gadgets on a daily basis and just cannot imagine life without them. With them, Life is Good! Without them, life would just SUCK! Haha