tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81326252024-03-08T11:07:49.930+08:00Freeyasoul AdventureGabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-56434440804803383872012-08-09T08:09:00.001+08:002012-08-11T09:56:07.197+08:00Ironman 70.3 Philippines 2012<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnuFHnGhg2ti9Bp2dJSJLNCaza45CN9pauu65CFUXnQPHIIzk5mNvy06TQseQ3UUTfOSZS_Wp7MWDPpgluto0Jjbr-uB2FOpNfBrOvrm9RHd0ZvGDDyyejBeUh6GJ4-s5nseAbNA/s1600/Ironman+Phil+Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnuFHnGhg2ti9Bp2dJSJLNCaza45CN9pauu65CFUXnQPHIIzk5mNvy06TQseQ3UUTfOSZS_Wp7MWDPpgluto0Jjbr-uB2FOpNfBrOvrm9RHd0ZvGDDyyejBeUh6GJ4-s5nseAbNA/s1600/Ironman+Phil+Logo.png" /></a></div>
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I collapsed onto the rubber mat, staring at the slow
rotating blades of the ceiling fan, anticipating to pass out in the next
second. The woman disturbed me and asked
me to turn my backside to her, damn it! Even a simple task such as that
required her assistance to accomplished. She has already helped me to strip off
my smelly tri top, to take out the heart rate monitor and the finisher's
medal. That might be a bit too much to ask
from a free massageur but I was certain that she would be understanding of my situation. The massage area was filled with a few dozens other people just like me, it could be easily mistaken as a war hospital. She stretched my back diagonally, I let out a
soft moan. Tears streamed from my eyes, I am not sure if I should call that tear for joy
or relief, it was just an emotional moment that it is finally over. By pure chance it is not the first time which the
Shangri-La Mactan Resort has claimed my tears.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>5 Hours 58 Mins Since Race Start</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3l7NspJFPGKNfPOjnpbzPy2YaVX4km2_vDmt6v-x4yrgV-MpQn2phW92CZNB6kJweJnCG6zSvy10S-_mn2he1zMK-5i9GBPN3odWFUIJVSjz6KTemXpT24MJA824eKHXz4mM4DA/s1600/Finish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3l7NspJFPGKNfPOjnpbzPy2YaVX4km2_vDmt6v-x4yrgV-MpQn2phW92CZNB6kJweJnCG6zSvy10S-_mn2he1zMK-5i9GBPN3odWFUIJVSjz6KTemXpT24MJA824eKHXz4mM4DA/s320/Finish.jpg" width="212" /></a>"Yea Ha!......Yea Ha!.....Yea Ha!" I shouted in
agony in every step I took just to keep me going. I have passed the sign that
says "1.55km to go" with a dead straight arrow almost a century ago,
but there was still no sight to the finishing arch. Instead I ran left, forked
right, left and left and right again in the final stretch of the run leg that circumferenced the resort building as if it was a cruel joke. I hear my name being called by the MC at the
finishing line but I still couldn't see it. A crowd of expat wives picked up my
"Yea Ha" chant as a mocking kind of encouragement, it was at this
point I realised I must have been sounding like someone on a maternity bed . Then I saw
the white arch and the clock above it said "6:00:22". I just missed my
target time of sub 6 hours by a notch, but I knew
I have given it everything. There would be no need for a retrospective analysis and where I could have gained another half a minute.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I took one last sure step across the line and then
immediately found something to hold onto in case my legs would go into
spasms. A race official offered to take
me to the Med Tent and a local athlete gave his shoulder for me to lean
on. But rising to the occasion, I
summoned the reserve in me to carried myself to the opposite side of the Med
Tent --- the free Massage Pavilion. Why settle for the small 'M' when I have got
this far?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>5 Hours 40 Mins Since
Race Start</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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"Get into the shade!" an female athlete shouted as
she ran passed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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"If I can move, I will be running." I said
silently. I was on all four limbs
getting grilled by the sun like a Lechon, that is the local specialty roast
suckling pig. This is already the second time I dropped to the floor as my thighs went into spasms
in the last 10 mins. I have 20 mins left to meet my target time with only 3km
to go. If I am fully charged, I can probably run backward with time spared, but
now I am pegged to the ground with the clock ticking. I was offered a full bottle of energy drink,
which I down in one, then, I rubbed both of my thighs furiously with the bones
of my forearm to pump away the lactic. That would do for now, I promised to get
you guys a proper massage when this is all over. My legs somehow co-operated, I
got up and ran, never dared to stop for a break again.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b>3 Hours 36 Mins Since
Race Start </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I was at the T2, which means the bike-to-run transition for
the unenlightened ones among my readers. I took off my one piece tri suit to
reveal another set of 2 piece tri suit beneath. Very strange thing to do at
T2, I must be the only one among the 1400 athletes who rode through the 90km bike ride in double layer garment. The
body definitely cooled off a lot and the pressure in the groin released. I
felt born again and strolled out to the run leg in earnest. with 2 hours and 20 minute
left to complete a half marathon in order to meet my target time this should be
a doodle, so I thought.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The run takes you into the village areas at the eastern tip of the
Mactan Island. The main road is mostly
shaded, but every one of the 3 side track spurs were naked to
the bone even from the satellite pictures. We had to expose ourselves to an incinerating sun which sucked every drop of water out of the spores on our skin like a
demon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The aid stations were like oasis in a desert and I indulged
myself with a bucket of shower whenever there is one. The icy cold water washed
from head to toe made me shout out in comfort like a shower gel commercial.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another element to rely on was the spectators, the school
kids lined up on both side of the road in hundreds, when we athletes gave them
a simple gesture like a thumbs up it would send them off to a frenzy of flag
waving and drum rolling. I gave one kid a high five, all 20 other kids down the
row stuck their hands out and I brushed their palms as I ran along like a
champion. I knew it might get painful later, for now I was having fun.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>2 Hours 40 Mins Since
Race Start </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I sucked the last few sips of energy drinks to empty the
bottle and handed the bottle to a spectator, he grabbed it so firmly that I
barely had time to pull my right hand off. I frantically regained the balance of my
bike by the time I had both hands are back on the handlebar. It was a close shave and
was an unnecessary affair.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The truth is the crowd had been amazing all along the bike
course, I had been drawn closer and closer to them as their cheering and my
rallying created a positive feedback loop.
It built to that moment when I have almost lost my guard. I decided to
keep a safer distance from this point. All the hard work had been done as I
turned from head wind to tail wind for the 2nd time at the 60km mark the rest is just
plain sailing home. Let's just focus on my
task.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was a flat race course with a strong wind which we had to
battle head on twice. The wind was mild early in the day but by the 2nd loop,
it has picked up furiously. We nicknamed this course the Kona of Asia for the wind. But the crowds gave it also a Tour de France
feel, when we rode back to the busy part of town, the locals have flooded the street
so much that the road narrowed nearly to a single bike passage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>30 Mins Since Race Start</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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My feet carefully navigated across the coral, trying to
avoid any cut in the early stage of the race, I landed on the beach and checked
my watch. Only 30 mins to complete 1.9km
of swim, you got to be kidding me! This just justified my last minute call to
wear a one piece pocket less trisuit on top of the more comfortable 2 piece
suit to minimise the drag. Subsequently I found out that I was not alone to enjoy a
fast swim. I ran across the beach, up
the ramp and got into the transition area.
It was a super smooth swim-to-bike transition by my standard. I got on the bike and start pedaling away
from the resort, pick up some speed as soon as the roads straightened out. Then I realised my school boy
error, duh! I have forgotten to take out my one piece trisuit in T1 and it is making it more
difficult lift my knee as I pedaled.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>At Race Start</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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We were floating about in the deep water area beneath us was a coral reef with colourful tropical fishes. The gun ran off and we swung our arms in unison and churned up the washing machine, I
found this to be the most beautiful part of triathlon. The athletes would soon spread out but now we
were a school of fish setting out for a common challenge for the day. The swim was one big loop which started from
the beach of Shangri-La Mactan resort, ran in parallel to the shoreline toward the Movenpick
Resort then turned 180 degree to bring us back in the opposite direction for a long stretch of swim that spanned across 3 different resorts.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There were a long rope with buoys marking the swim course
and hence many people preferred to swim close to the line for a sense of
security. This makes the field staying close together over an unusually long distance.
I got tangled up with other athletes all the time, one even curled his
arm around my neck at one point and he only let go when we both started to
sink.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We turned around again once we hit the area outside the
private beach of Crimson Resort. By
this point, we have spreaded out and were swimming along the direction of the current. I was gliding
longer and longer with each stroke and the sensation of executing what I had trained so hard for was so satisfying. I feel privileged to take up triathlon as a
sport, in a big race like this you experience such rich emotions in a
day, the joy of executing a perfect swim stroke, the anxiety before a race, the pain
of not being able to go further, the kinship you feel toward another athlete without knowing their name, the solitude of fighting the elements on your own, the frustration of a bad fortune, or simply the
pleasure of wind blowing on your face.
It is a lifetime of experiences condensed into a handful of hours.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As I took a breath on my left side, I looked up the cliff of
Shangri-La and saw the ocean facing chapel where our wedding was held 5 years ago, I was hearing the
wedding march music in my head on again. Then a
bit further was the wooden bridge where my wife Martina and her bridesmaids had their
beautiful photos taken. As I swam toward the beach, I saw a blue starfish on the sea floor. Few years before the wedding I had
also come to this resort the first time with my sis, my mum and my
dad who are no longer with us today. On that holiday he had dived to the bottom of the sea to collect these blue starfishes
and put it on his nipples as a bra to pose for a hilarious photo.
In the wedding reception on the resort beach, I shed tears of joy for my new bride and tears
for remembrance for my Dad. That was the other
time this resort has claimed my tear. So with two of the most memorable days experienced in this place, I was on my way to add a third one to my life.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<br />Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com163Casia-Soong Rd, Lapu-Lapu City, Philippines10.300056873672533 124.0164184570312510.175067873672534 123.85848995703125 10.425045873672532 124.17434695703125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-91450845383117811802008-04-12T13:16:00.008+08:002008-04-12T19:12:52.920+08:00First Wedding Photography ExperienceWow, can't believe it is mid April that I wrote my first piece in 2008. Well those of you who still visit this blog knows what I have been up to in recent months, busy with my wedding in Cebu in January and then once we got back, there was still a little bit of work to do for the wedding banquet in Hong Kong in March. For Cebu we were lucky to hired a great wedding photographer, <a href="http://www.louispang.com/">Louis Pang</a>, to take our pictures, please see the <a href="http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/562654549KZqhxt">album </a>for his shots. Since then Martina and I were a little bit hooked with event photography, I finally invested in a Canon40D and a Tokina 12-24mm wide angle lens with my annual bonus. Our first outing was my cousin <a href="http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/563013877lcpnIS">Angel and Donald's wedding</a>, here are some of my armature shots.<br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2403710554/" title="aG-A&DWedding22 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2197/2403710554_5cce70e96f.jpg" alt="aG-A&DWedding22" height="266" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2403711488/" title="aG-A&DWedding32 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2413/2403711488_fd3bf705ab.jpg" alt="aG-A&DWedding32" height="266" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2407568432/" title="a1G-A&DWedding39 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2083/2407568432_5d3d488cd1.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="a1G-A&DWedding39" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2406736859/" title="aG-A&DWedding92 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3292/2406736859_d13aba04a4.jpg" width="400" height="266" alt="aG-A&DWedding92" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2403713370/" title="aG-A&DWedding84 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/2403713370_47792d72dc.jpg" alt="aG-A&DWedding84" 400="" height="266" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2403713852/" title="aG-A&DWedding86 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/2403713852_025c9f4d1c.jpg" alt="aG-A&DWedding86" height="266" width="400" /></a><br /></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com199tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-20504964645945426062007-12-16T11:29:00.000+08:002007-12-16T11:44:11.378+08:00Action Asia Challenge Hong Kong 2007<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLL-QMuofqXKqJH3jPvKjxHXQou8mep0JWb3JtGo51SmVQ7_U4W8V00T0NCxxB0gUXMvyEjIKY6yFb_D0TUYguci1owN4SPHphs29Z_hd8qH3dLavTP5-ZqLxdxPTBRSa9FuxS-g/s1600-h/Action+Asia+Challange+HK%2707.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLL-QMuofqXKqJH3jPvKjxHXQou8mep0JWb3JtGo51SmVQ7_U4W8V00T0NCxxB0gUXMvyEjIKY6yFb_D0TUYguci1owN4SPHphs29Z_hd8qH3dLavTP5-ZqLxdxPTBRSa9FuxS-g/s400/Action+Asia+Challange+HK%2707.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144408338743836002" border="0" /></a>Completed AAC Hong Kong 2007 yesterday with Tempo Sparks teamate Andy. Photos & write up will come soon, first take a look at the race route to put things in persepective.Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-23175952963967978442007-12-09T09:03:00.000+08:002007-12-10T10:53:22.637+08:00The Road to Action Asia Challenge Week 3On the penultimate weekend to Action Asia Challange, I paired up with Alain, my running pal in the SCB team to do the Action Asia Eco Adventure. It was such an interesting course, covering ground in a familiar area but trails that I never knew they existed. We started in Ocean Park, where the Shark and Flower mascots should lead the way with gentle stroll through the Panda habitat. But it seems all patience was lost after going through 5 speeches before the whistle was reluctantly blown, the Shark and the Flower sprinted faster than any of the runners and the race got underway.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgRzteOT1dnCY77RhgYZwsad-4r0GeSqfX4UC8Om1o8-uur2_LhlqEX4zabQgzdAWf3raTnhF-TGtuOPBaGkRr_RLXWhARHGtsPDkcBeTgV3Eqim-4eUn5WkCMwhBdqCFp5PpekA/s1600-h/Eco+Adventure+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgRzteOT1dnCY77RhgYZwsad-4r0GeSqfX4UC8Om1o8-uur2_LhlqEX4zabQgzdAWf3raTnhF-TGtuOPBaGkRr_RLXWhARHGtsPDkcBeTgV3Eqim-4eUn5WkCMwhBdqCFp5PpekA/s200/Eco+Adventure+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142145622637703186" border="0" /></a>We had to coastalteer the boulders toward DeepWater Bay, before walking up a tunnel which is the mouth of a river. Then up some brush wracking trails, through some pitch black tunnels, before going up a stairways from hell to the top of Nicolas Hills. Then down a even steeper trail so slippery as if filled with ball bearings. On the way down we caught Alan and Arthur form Sonics, the former was nursing a bad wrist and elbow from the MTB on the previous day and the latter a bad knee after Macau Half Marathon the previous week, hence taking their downhill carefully. "Bad for them, Good for us." said Alain crudely, who was eager to beat anyone in our age group.<span id="fullpost"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVpCFma4GlQffF6c_gvSYqFX76gS2C8OgwECkgQwNtb3B1GSFbiwJwQI1QrmHxZvfPFiFPnuMxfZfCjulbyz9o2uCTSd3DU4oTCX9RV5IiqmPV0a3hL8cbXjsOPyzRR-pQlEgSAg/s1600-h/Eco+Adventure+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVpCFma4GlQffF6c_gvSYqFX76gS2C8OgwECkgQwNtb3B1GSFbiwJwQI1QrmHxZvfPFiFPnuMxfZfCjulbyz9o2uCTSd3DU4oTCX9RV5IiqmPV0a3hL8cbXjsOPyzRR-pQlEgSAg/s200/Eco+Adventure+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142147332034687010" border="0" /></a>Back to Deep Water Bay via the mouth of the river again, came the 2km kayak. We cruised down and caught 1-2 boat, on the return leg, we again caugh sight of Alan and Arthur and Alain did another trademark assault, "Come On, my grandma can go faster than that!" I started legging my kayak as I know they were not going to take the abuse lightly, an could just imagine Arthur snapping the paddle in two and start outrigging the kayak. The kayak route above was based on Alan's GPS watch marking, look how furiously straight they have paddled after Alain's abuse.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSdZfc1jCTLt9qpplJQ0pmVGMDULbHk0VsK4i2FRrUic7BAgvAP_wwjHNA0pcnpc60dJZ4iQWgaWu80c_UEeY4Pt9GHATZ4vQKJ0aC6pK6CbeRF86Ytk8p63U03XT3tzxy1WgRvg/s1600-h/Eco+Adventure+3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSdZfc1jCTLt9qpplJQ0pmVGMDULbHk0VsK4i2FRrUic7BAgvAP_wwjHNA0pcnpc60dJZ4iQWgaWu80c_UEeY4Pt9GHATZ4vQKJ0aC6pK6CbeRF86Ytk8p63U03XT3tzxy1WgRvg/s200/Eco+Adventure+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142147336329654322" border="0" /></a>Finally, an easy jog around the coastal walk to Repulse Bay. We finished 2hr23mins with Alan & Arthur finished just 4-5 mins behind.<br /><br />Coming Next Week, the Action Asia Challange Hong Kong 2007!!! The mother of all races.<br /></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-22138942829019873402007-12-02T08:46:00.000+08:002007-12-10T09:02:55.798+08:00The Road to Action Asia Challenge Week 2<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2098706261/" title="0113 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2070/2098706261_87fbd0846a.jpg" alt="0113" height="500" width="341" /></a><br /></div>Week 2 was the UNICEF Run for Children Half Marathon. It was another great route, start and finish in the Disneyland Resort, the run takes in the coast line of Sunny Bay and the Inspiration Lake. The area could be turn into the venue of the next ITU Hong Kong Triathlon is negotiation can be successful. I started off well, reaching the 10km mark at 50mins. But soon hit the wall at 15km and finished with a disappointing 1hr55m, the slowest half marathon I have done. The event was more successful with Martina, who is becoming a great action sports photographer! Here are something to add to her portfolio.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2098706151/" title="009 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2253/2098706151_efabedb562_m.jpg" alt="009" height="240" width="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2082743776/" title="g03 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2190/2082743776_32f7e7fbe7_m.jpg" alt="g03" height="240" width="163" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2081986579/" title="026 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2253/2081986579_304ca2b564_m.jpg" alt="026" height="240" width="171" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/2081988809/" title="022 by chickbunlau, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2223/2081988809_7fcc2a888c_m.jpg" alt="022" height="240" width="160" /></a></div>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-19692658513747179622007-11-25T08:16:00.000+08:002007-12-10T08:46:28.701+08:00The Road to Action Asia Challenge Week 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVV3qMWafUArfRAuZhuDIr6WKaKIBhpad0GhjyQxnweS-26U5efSbU5uLv8IOR1Z8yxD-G_4h15VfjHNBAlKxh5s0Dfd5ipTpIYDNCj1pRgNUeWfdgOFAwgx4wVhtAJSXyuKOJIw/s1600-h/Project+X+Lamma+Island.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVV3qMWafUArfRAuZhuDIr6WKaKIBhpad0GhjyQxnweS-26U5efSbU5uLv8IOR1Z8yxD-G_4h15VfjHNBAlKxh5s0Dfd5ipTpIYDNCj1pRgNUeWfdgOFAwgx4wVhtAJSXyuKOJIw/s400/Project+X+Lamma+Island.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142139141532053506" border="0" /></a>When it was announced that 46% of Action Asia Challange will be on bikes, we needed some extra training dearly. So stead of doing KOTH - Sai Kung (trailrunning). We did a great MTB route called Project X, created by Julien, the instructor in our previous MTB course. The route cris crosses a gentle hill on the island, we some great downhill runs but perfectly safe with brush and grass on either sides of the route.Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-53614109693684012222007-11-16T16:31:00.000+08:002007-11-16T16:41:30.583+08:00The Road to Action Asia ChallengeThe Action Asia Challenge Hong Kong will be held on Dec 15. I suddenly realised I will have a race every sunday from now on to warm up for the big day:<br /><br />25Nov - King of the Hill - Sai Kung: 15km of Trail Running<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.seyonasia.com/king.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.seyonasia.com/king.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>2Dec - Unicef Half Marathon - 21km around the Disney Resort<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.unicef.org.hk/runforchildren/images/banner_right_ball_en.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.unicef.org.hk/runforchildren/images/banner_right_ball_en.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>9Dec - Action Asia Eco Adventure - 10km run and 2k kayak<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://aae.actionasia.com/Images/1855.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://aae.actionasia.com/Images/1855.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-64432482350124483842007-10-22T12:02:00.000+08:002007-10-22T19:12:47.872+08:00INATT Off Road Triathlon<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1676399736/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2305/1676399736_30082f99fb_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4419" height="160" width="240" /></a><br /></div>Another great day out with my new mountain bike and Martina with her camera. It was the INATT Off Road Triathlon, a Xterra style race consist of 800m swim, 15km mountain bike and 5.5km trail running on the beautiful Wan Chai peninsula in Sai Kung. Who are my gang of brothers this time? There is my arch rival in adventure race Larry and Kin, also Micah from Sonic and Andrew, podium finisher in Singapore Ironmah 70.3.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1675549263/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2418/1675549263_6979a7c1a3_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4456" height="100" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1676402554/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2257/1676402554_a2ad4de471_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4495" height="100" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1676404026/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2162/1676404026_1e19c9509b_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4514" height="100" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1682758961/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2040/1682758961_61df52a56d_t.jpg" alt="mike1 copy" height="100" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1684186556/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/1684186556_5f1bc3b580_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4483" height="100" width="67" /></a><br /></div>Keith the organiser can't help adding some adventure race elements into it, like after the swim we have to run across a beach, cimbing up some boulders, jumped fences and dash across the camp site to get to the transition.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1675556077/" title="Photo Sharing"> <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2368/1675556077_6cb2b45e03_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4713" height="160" width="240" /></a><br /></div>The mountain bike was tough for me, I am still very cautious and slow on the bike, not quite getting use to balancing and picking lines off the downhill. But it was a glorious route, at one part, we had the ocean all to ourselves.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1675555115/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2259/1675555115_200780b247_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4666" height="100" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1681840596/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2227/1681840596_a54a1c30e5_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4668" height="100" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1676406722/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2374/1676406722_409ba2335f_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4648" height="100" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1676410030/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/1676410030_ad9fa67a47_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4755" height="100" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1675552441/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2250/1675552441_87d7206a7d_t.jpg" alt="IMG_4613" height="100" width="67" /></a><br /></div>To finish off the run, we have to repeat the beach + boulder run again but in much shattered condition, thanks to the marshall who yelled at me and said the guy behind you was trying to catch up, that really sparked off my final charge to the finishing line.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1675558613/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/1675558613_0da1894081_m.jpg" alt="IMG_4780" height="160" width="240" /></a></div><br />I finished in 2hr35min, 15-20 mins behind Larry and Kin, but they are so much faster than me on the bikes, it is kind of expected. Slowly, I am building up my fitness again for Action Asia. All photos taken by Martina, my fiancee.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2269/1676409128_79e365a75f_m.jpg" /><br /></div></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-35969833738491598482007-10-16T13:39:00.000+08:002007-10-19T11:05:31.637+08:00Back On A Mountain Bike<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1626265977/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2361/1626265977_9bcd9d7c65_m.jpg" alt="MTB 1" height="240" width="180" /></a><br /></div>The end of this month will be the one year anniversary of the mountain bike accident that fractured a bone in my arm. I have been staying away from MTB all these time, partly cause of focusing on triathlon but deep down I must admit I was scared. But the enjoyment of Adventure Race is so great, I couldn't hesitate from planning ahead for the Action Asia Challenge Hong Kong in December. First, I check on my race partner, Andy, he is still not training as ever, so any loss of trail running and moutain bike sharpness from my side probably wouldn't matter. Then finally I slashed out on a new machine - the Specialized Epic, finally gone was my oversize hardtail bike and instead of a full suspension cross country bike.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1627162000/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2071/1627162000_f92cc04bc1_m.jpg" alt="MTB 2" height="180" width="240" /></a><br /></div><span id="fullpost"><br />Then along with some Sonic guys, I joined a one day MTB skill course in Lamma Island, the instructor has built an obstacle course on a little hill, so we can practise bumps, stairs, tight corner etc in a safe environment. It was a real cool day to regain my confidence back. After lunch he took us to tackle some stairs, it was my my ultimate demon, coz I fractured my arm after falling "over the handle" bar on top of 3 steps of stairs. When it comes to my turn, I stare down the stairs, everything else in the background just fade into a blur. It was that dramatic, like soloing up a rock climb and nothing else in the world but the route itself matters. I headed down, there is hardly any difficulty with the wide stairs but my heart rate just pump right off the scale. I did only half the staircase and the flash back of the crash replayed again and again. Thankfully I had the gust to do the eventual challenge of the day, a drop off from a big stone, probably a bit over half a meter tall. It was easy when we know the right technique.<br /><br />The next sunday, I head out to do a easy ride with Brian and gang in Tai Tong Country Park, the very park where the accident happens but we stayed on easy trail all day. It was part of the scheme to exercise the demon within. So much practise for now, I am gonna do a Xterra style <a href="http://www.seyonasia.com/">off road triathlon</a> coming Saturday. Should be fun. And let's hope for a safe off road racing season!<br /></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-30632796230346140222007-10-01T12:53:00.000+08:002007-10-02T00:05:09.272+08:00Hong Kong ITU Triathlon<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1466827914/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1067/1466827914_cf14b5b96a_m.jpg" alt="DPP_53" height="160" width="240" /></a><br /></div>It wasn't my prettiest race but I did it anyway. It was the Hong Kong ITU Triathlon yesterday. I turned up barely recovered from a bad cold and felt really not in form. But I wasn't limping or coughing blood, so not doing it due to a feeling of my "form" is simply an excuse. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1466827688/" title="Photo Sharing"><img style="float:right" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1118/1466827688_a9cb82427a_t.jpg" width="67" height="100" alt="DPP_219" /></a>Beside it is my first year in Triathlon, how can I miss THE triathlon race in town. The swim began with a deep water start in Tai Mei Tuk. It was hard as hell after having swam only 3 times since Singapore a month ago. Though I got out of the water along with a few Sonic teamates who were roughly similar speed as me in training, so maybe I wasn't doing too bad afterall.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1465975479/" title="Photo Sharing"><img style="float: left;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1086/1465975479_bcbc7fb410_m.jpg" alt="DPP_515" height="240" width="160" /></a>Once on the bike, I felt more alive, I had rode the Bride's Pool Road only once before when I first got my bike. And this time I was tackling the hill climbs with much stronger legs. The 10km loop has two hills on either end, with an incredibly taxing 4.5% gradien hill at the far end. But then once you turn around, it is a free ride downhill reaching 45km/h. I pushed quite hard on the uphills, unlike Sinagpore, I didn't try to hold myself back. I felt I might get some presentable result today.<br /><br />Came the run leg, two loops across the exposed reservoir dam, I felt quite fresh in the begining, and I saw many sonic teamates just ahead of me, doing their first loop, so if I pushed hard I would get some good timing this time. Too eager to do that, I stupidly did a wrong U-turn at mid way of the dam that was only meant for the "fun-distance" category. The helpers standing around there actually watched me doing the mistakes and said nothing, one of them even recorded my race number on the timing sheet.<br /><br />I didn't realise my mistake until I was well into my second loop, it was so frustrating to have screwed up on my strongest part in such a dumb fashion after all the hard work on the swim and the bike. So in the end, between "2km short" or "3km over", I decided to ran two full loops from that point and actually tallied 13km of running in the blistering sun. I</span><span id="fullpost">n my final length of the dam </span><span id="fullpost">there were h</span><span id="fullpost">ardl</span><span id="fullpost">y</span><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1466827096/" title="Photo Sharing"><img style="float: right;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1161/1466827096_a3ea026801_t.jpg" alt="DPP_1010" height="67" width="100" /></a></span><span id="fullpost"> anyone left on the course . I was out of glycogen, cramps were urging to kick in and eventually when I made it back toward the finishing line, the transition area was already being cleared up. Thankfully Martina and Madoka was there for the finishing snap.<br /><br />So it was incredibly frustrating, I approached the race saying it was not an important one for me, but once I got on the race course, it was diffcult to take it easy, and so although I can easily look on the bright side and say at least I completed it, deep down I will always be looking forward to a revenge in the next 12 months.<br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1465974931/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1092/1465974931_6dec9b8629_m.jpg" alt="DPP_1017" height="240" width="160" /></a></span><br /></div>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-43530055252186250282007-09-16T10:21:00.000+08:002007-09-16T10:37:25.300+08:00Pirate Party - Andy's 30th Birthday Bash<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2204141280045995147MRFjFp"><img src="http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/15878/2204141280045995147S200x200Q85.jpg" alt="SNC13517" /></a><br /></div>Tempo Sparks Andy hosted a great party last night, the whole crew of the Black Pearl came alive!<div style="text-align: center;"><br /><embed src="http://p.webshots.com/flash/smallslideshow.swf" flashvars="playList=http%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.webshots.com%2Fslideshow%2Fmeta%2F560708040rsrSFj%3Finline%3Dtrue&inlineUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.webshots.com%2FinlinePhoto%3FalbumId%3D560708040%26src%3Ds%26referPage%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fentertainment.webshots.com%2Fslideshow%2F560708040rsrSFj&postRollContent=http%3A%2F%2Fp.webshots.com%2Fflash%2Fws_postroll.swf&shareUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fentertainment.webshots.com%2Fslideshow%2F560708040rsrSFj&audio=on&audioVolume=33&autoPlay=false&transitionSpeed=5&startIndex=0&panzoom=on&deployed=true" menu="false" quality="best" name="WebshotsSlideshowPlayer" base="http%3A%2F%2Fp.webshots.com%2Fflash%2F" wmode="opaque" allowscriptaccess="always" loop="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http%3A%2F%2Fwww.macromedia.com%2Fgo%2Fgetflashplayer" height="384" width="425"></embed></div><br /><a href="http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/560708040rsrSFj">Andy’s Pirates Party 15-16 Sep 07 </a>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-42862622915042298462007-09-15T11:38:00.000+08:002007-09-15T13:28:03.933+08:00Lecture of Doug Scott the British Mountaineer<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1372008295/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1080/1372008295_77f0bc8909_m.jpg" alt="ahdont3" height="230" width="240" /></a></div><br />If there is an anti-thesis to this website, it has got to be <a href="http://www.dougscottmountaineering.co.uk/about_us.htm">Doug Scott</a>'s lecture on Thursday with Royal Geographical Society of Hong Kong. Every week I dramatised my average Joe's adventures on this blog, but when a real master of adventure speaks, it was in such a casual down to earth manner that I almost fell like going up and re-write his speech for him. Initially I thought time has mellow out this mountaineering hero but more likely he simply no longer dare to believe in the rock star status that media once crowded him. Though despite his best effort to underplay his stories, they are still tales that every climber father will read to his son.<br /><br />In 1975, Doug Scott and <a href="http://www.everestnews.com/history/climbers/dougalhaston.htm">Dougal Haston</a>, the summit team from <a href="http://www.bonington.com/welcome.htm">Chris Bonnington</a>'s Everest South West Face Expedition Team, reached the top of the world via one of the most difficult face to be climbed at the time. The poster I held above was the moment they reached the summit and it was 7pm in the evening. As it was too late to make a descent, Doug and Dougal had to bivouac in a snow cave, which they dug, few hundered meters below the summit and survived the night in thin air and bone chilling cold. Probably the highest point anyone has spent a night in open air in the world to date.... and lived.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Two years later, he went for an expedition in Pakistan's Ogre Mountain, the team split into pairs to climb the 7000m Karakorum peak in Alpine Style (light weight small team style). Doug and Chris reached the sumit but on the way down Doug slipped off while abseiling and pendulumed across a few miles across the mountain face (recounted as the older version of Doug stroked the laser pointer across the picture of mountain like it was great fun) and broke both of his ankles. Chris later also cracked 2 ribs and contracted pnemonia. But they survived the week long descent to base camp, Doug did it by crawling on hands and knees and abseil off his bump, even crossing glaciers cravesses that way.<br /><br />"Why did it happend so soon after the success of Everest.?" Doug asked himself in the lecture. "Probably because I had begun to believe in my own myth created by the media after the Everest Expedition." Hence I can see why he is now so humble when talking about these climbing tales again. <span class="pullquote"><br />This is the attitude I admired the most from Doug, when he was up there on the moutain face, he was not there to achieve something great, just out there having a good time with his friends, doing the things that he most loved.<br /></span>As with lectures by famous mountaineers I have come across, the speakers would devolve a great deal of time talking about how his closest friends' death in the moutain. A sudden rock fall, a slip off a rope, an avalanche would just wipe a dear friend away from their lives in an instant. "But we were left with fond memories of our time together on the mountains." said Doug. This is the attitude I admired the most from Doug, when he was up there on the moutain face, he was not there to achieve something great, just out there having a good time with his friends, doing the things that he most loved.<br /><br />At the end of the lecture, we went up to buy some signed posters of him. We bought two for our buddy, <a href="http://www.ahdont.com/">ahdont</a>. We told him "This friend of ours has been a big fan of you ever since he read the expdition report of your Everest trip." He replied with humour "That might have ruin his life, people still ask me when I am going to get a real job!"<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Doug Scott's charity, <a href="http://www.canepal.com">Community Action Nepal</a>, is supporting the poor community of Nepal to build a more sustainable life.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span id="fullpost"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1372008467/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1430/1372008467_1bd6677242_m.jpg" alt="ahdont1" height="115" width="240" /></a></span><br /></div>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-64539622450225665412007-09-07T13:48:00.000+08:002007-09-08T01:42:25.528+08:00Ironman 70.3 Singapore Part 3<strong>13th Powergel of the Day</strong><br /><p align="center"><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1341750439/"><img height="161" alt="Deanna0537" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1214/1341750439_36ed9743cd_m.jpg" width="240" /></a></p><p align="left">On the bus back to the hotel after the race, Austin asked if anyone did not have a cramp at all today. I said bemusely "Yeah." then I added "but then I had 13 packs powergel today!". That was how carbo loaded I have been. The guys laughed out loud "You ain't gonna crap for the coming week." but let's not go into my digestive function on the post race week for now.</p><p align="center"><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1342639756/"><img height="100" alt="r101" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1184/1342639756_3544473234_t.jpg" width="56" /></a> <a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1341750675/"><img height="100" alt="r108" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1302/1341750675_bdefa5c531_t.jpg" width="67" /></a> <a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1341750777/"><img height="100" alt="r39" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1152/1341750777_38b8c26bfe_t.jpg" width="67" /></a> <a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1341750881/"><img height="100" alt="r43" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1186/1341750881_db8314a203_t.jpg" width="67" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1342881680/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1342/1342881680_83377f99b0_t.jpg" width="67" height="100" alt="blogDeanna0937" /></a></p><p align="left">Either that I was pushing the use of powergel to doping territories or I could have pushed much harder on the bike, I was fresh as a rabbit when I got onto the half marathon, I was able to over take most people on the course. It was a good feeling though a lot of the competitors I passed were on their second loop of the run already, so much closer to the sweet finish then I was. The real challenge on the run was the weather, midday sun hosted the party of the first 10km lap and a tropical storm took over the helm on the second. But our supporters cheers on regardless of the weather and what have we got to complain? I met Madoka, Catherine, Austin, Arthur and Dennis at different stage on route, padding each other on the back, giving high fives in opposite lane, no one could feel that they are facing this alone. Finally at the final 2km of the Half Ironman, my legs began to feel weiry, so I popped open my 13th and last gel in my pocket, my only chocolate flavour one especially preserved for the moment; unawared of any potential digestive related side effect, I swallowed it and brought myself home.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">A Word of Thanks</span><br /><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1322454563/"><img style="FLOAT: left" height="240" alt="r62" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1410/1322454563_3effa70405_m.jpg" width="160" /></a>The seed was sowed in January's Action Asia Sprint when Larry first asked if I will do the Singapore Half Ironman in a matter of fact manner. So I decided to join a tri club and prepare myself for the "2008" Singapore Half Ironman. But somewhere along the line reason and sanity gave way to dreams and maddness, and it was Alan who should take most of the credit in convincing me to sign up this year when I was drunk from the completion of the 2.1km swim in Shek O Challenge in June. <span class="pullquote">I mean where is the fun when you are too ready for a race<br /></span>Sume, Jeffrey and Albert should also get their fair share for making half ironman sounded like it would be a stroll in the park. I had of course never been convinced that I can do it, until it was done. So thanks guys for making me taking that ruthless step of signing up. I mean where is the fun when you are too ready for a race, that is got to be my motto.</span></p>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-75468254164454432302007-09-06T23:11:00.000+08:002007-09-07T13:48:33.424+08:00Ironman 70.3 Singpore Part 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://inlinethumb13.webshots.com/13324/2168795290045995147S425x425Q85.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://inlinethumb13.webshots.com/13324/2168795290045995147S425x425Q85.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">One Year I Swim Proper</span><br />Knowing there is nothing more I can do to the bike, I left the transition zone to join the rest of Team Sonic at the swim start. The fi<a href="http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2162165010045995147OPMkUN"><img style="FLOAT: left" alt="0523" src="http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/13852/2162165010045995147S200x200Q85.jpg" /></a>rst light was yet to be drawn and groups of sonicians were there taking photos in the dark. Then suddenly the twilight retracted and the red sun emerged from the sea. What better way to start a race day?<br />Unlike Ironman Korea, Singpore started in waves, so the mass suicidal scene I expected was replaced by a orderly starts. I dived in the sea along with my age group in blue swim cap. It was hard to imagine that I had dared to take part in the swim leg of Ironman Korea a year ago. For my swimming form has changed and improved so much one year on. I used the total immersion technique to glide throught the water as smoothly as I can, yet<a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1322960874/"><img style="FLOAT: right" height="240" alt="100" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1295/1322960874_62a9b1c9da_m.jpg" width="160" /></a> that was just barely enough to keep up with the main group.<br /><br />At almost the beginning, my hand smashed into some junk in the sea as I speared it into the water, it was a polystyrene float with sea shells stuck on it. My fingers grew numb immediately, I dare not to look at them. Not willing to acknowlege an accident has happended so soon in the race. Thank god it was nothing but minor cuts and that was the last bit of bad luck I had that day.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Half way down the loop, I caught up with the tail end of the yellow cap guys (M25-29), thinking I must be doing okay, but 5 mins later the wake of the green cap guys (M35-39) stormed pass me like a tornado. Soon the orange guys (40-44) also emerged but thankfully it was like to get out of the water.<br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">The 90km Experience</span><br /><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1322069539/"><img style="FLOAT: left" height="240" alt="b23" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1344/1322069539_77b85f0c63_m.jpg" width="160" /></a>The bike leg was a sheer enjoyment. Once pass the humpy loop on East Coast, we joined the silky smooth inner city loops which we have to do 4 laps of. I maintained a steady 30km/h pace, while all the Sonic guys raced passed me in much greater speed. Never mind them, I just want to scrap a finish today. On the second lap, the "cycling jinx" manifested itself in a comical way, the cap of the aero bar mounted water bottle bonuced off a hump and so from then on every hump means a splash of isotonic drink on my face. In the end I just opened my gob and caught the spilled out to save myself from dehydration. 90km was the longest I have riden my entire life, though by the time I reached the transition there was no time to savour the back breaking expereince. Kenneth the Sonic coach was standing a T2 to urge me to get ready for the run.<br /><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">to be conintued....</span><br /></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-55391103861387365912007-09-04T13:44:00.000+08:002007-09-04T23:34:24.663+08:00Ironman 70.3 Singpore Part 1<strong>Photogenic Finish</strong><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1321280091/" title="Photo Sharing"><img style="float:left" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1373/1321280091_de2ac00b11_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="IMG_2059" /></a>As if to taunt the competitors, there is a split about 1km into the half marathon, take left you will finish the daunting Ironman 70.3 (aka half ironman) circuit of Singapore, take right you have another 20km or 10km to run before you can find pain reliever. But this is the third time I am coming up to the junction that means I can take left with a smiley face! Approaching the finishing line the volunteer pulled up a ribbon for me to run through, I stopped for a moment, knowing that Martina should be nearby, to let her get ready with the camera; then leaped as high as I can into the air to ensure a dramatic finish on the photo. The happiest finishing line I have crossed to-date. I finish my first Half Ironman in 6hr23mins, snail pace maybe but it is a FINISH and here is how I got there.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br /><strong>The Jinx?</strong><br />The 50 triathletes strong party of Sonic descended from their coach 1.5 hrs before the start of the race, ample of time for the final preparation. I got to my bike, setup my helmet etc. Then I thought I will give the tyre another little pump. Unfortunately I broke the valve of the front wheel in the process. <span class="pullquote">What would the fortune teller have to say when you lost two inner tubes before the swimming have even kicked off?</span>But as the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” said “Don’t Panic”! I pulled out my spare inner tube and took the wheel to the bike mechanic, they fixed the wheel and the relieved me ran back to the bike. To my shocking horror, the tyre has deflated again, the fresh inner tube has punctured! Where would I be without the bike mechanics? I returned to them, they fit another new inner tube quickly and this time the wheel has held. Deep down I recall the day when I fracture a bone in my left arm last year, earlier that morning my seat tube fracture mysteriously; retrospectively I always say that was the warning sign for something worse installed that day. What would the fortune teller have to say when you lost two inner tubes before the swimming have even kicked off? I beleive there is cycling jinx on me, but that is not a reason to back off now. I am simply too carbo-loaded to call it a day.<br /><em>(to be continued....)</em><br /></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-38125002768714793932007-08-08T18:30:00.000+08:002007-08-09T23:41:54.770+08:00Fujirock Festival 2007<a href="http://family.webshots.com/photo/2638236960045995147pLWjrx"><img style="float: left;" src="http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/6131/2638236960045995147S200x200Q85.jpg" alt="DPP_0042" /></a>Apart from hiking in North Alps, another big agenda of our Japan trip was the Fujirock Festival. It was Asia’s biggest open air music festival drawing in international big names in the 3 days of non stop concerts. The last and only festival I did was Glastonbury 2002, and FJR certainly lived up to my expectation.<br /><br />First evening, we were united again with MUSE, who visited HK<a href="http://family.webshots.com/photo/2872590790045995147ThAlfm"><img style="float: right;"src="http://inlinethumb09.webshots.com/7880/2872590790045995147S200x200Q85.jpg" alt="DPP_090" /></a> only back in <a href="http://freeyasoul.blogspot.com/2007/03/muse-x-youssou-ndour.html">March</a>. It was definitely on top of our to-see list. Their powerful music sored through the valley, and the 3 gigantic plasma screen, displaying some really cool graphic that amplified the meaning of every song. The song “Invinsible”, which I have <a href="http://freeyasoul.blogspot.com/2007/03/invincible-muse.html">shared </a>the powerful lyrics before, was my personal pinnacle, image of mass demonstration went hand-in-hand with the words ‘Together we are invincible!”.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />Second day, Kaiser Chief, set the stage alive, Ricky Wilson, the lead singer was a chubby guy on the outlook, but he demonstrated so much energy that I though he must be steroid. He jumped off the stage and launched himself to the crowd again and again, bemusing everyone but the security guards.<br /><br /><a href="http://family.webshots.com/photo/2935616850045995147krfuXa"><img style="float: left;" src="http://inlinethumb14.webshots.com/9421/2935616850045995147S200x200Q85.jpg" alt="DPP_072" /></a>On the final day, we waited for an hour to make sure we are in front of the stage when Mika came on. Martina danced wildly to her idol. Chemical Brothers came on in the penultimate concert. I heard they were good before, but I was never into dance music. But it turned out to be my favorite concert in the whole festival, the techno x laser x computer graphic on the plasma screen simply brings the week’s experience to a whole new level. Green stage was turned into a gigantic dance club or a massive rave party. Their set last for 1.5 hrs and after which we were so exhausted.<br /><br />Here are some advices for anyone who stumble to this post and is planning to go in future:<br />1. If you can afford it, consider to stay in hotels instead of camping, as the camp site is outside the gate of the festival anyway, it makes little different to your experience if the tent is just a spot you go back to at the end of the day.<br />2. Even if it didn’t rain, bring a pair of boots with you, the Kate Moss festival look has imply caught on so well in Japan.<br /><a href="http://family.webshots.com/photo/2047550090045995147GEAgTa"><img style="float: right;" src="http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/7280/2047550090045995147S200x200Q85.jpg" alt="DPP_150" /></a>3. Don’t miss the cable car ride to the mountain top, the “Day Dream and Silent Breeze” stage was a real treat for us. Plan to spend 3-4 hours there away from the crowd.<br />4. There was some romantic installation art in the forest board walk, don’t miss them, especially in the evening.<br />5. Japan has a great system to courier heavy stuff anywhere around the country, people simply sent their camping stuff ahead of them.<br />6. Unlike Glastonbury, we were able to enjoy hot bath in Onsen, the quality of the festival food was excellent, the toilet never overflow, have a great time!<br /></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-12843381598995461552007-08-05T23:56:00.000+08:002007-08-06T00:00:43.972+08:00Japan Hiking Photos - KamikochiKamikochi Climbing Hotakadake<br /><iframe align="center" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=66405753@N00&set_id=72157601212866308&text=" frameBorder="0" width="400" height="400" scrolling="no"></iframe><br/><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-69634948812834195452007-08-05T23:36:00.000+08:002007-08-06T00:01:38.580+08:00Japan Hiking Photos - TakayamaFor you to enjoy, photos from our hiking trip to North Japan Alps:<br /><br />Murodo Takayama Region<br /><br /><iframe align="center" src="http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=66405753@N00&set_id=72157601216372745&text=" frameBorder="0" width="400" height="400" scrolling="no"></iframe><br/><small>Created with <a href="http://www.admarket.se" title="Admarket.se">Admarket's</a> <a href="http://flickrslidr.com" title="flickrSLiDR">flickrSLiDR</a>.</small>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-53648036875572946822007-07-23T12:34:00.000+08:002007-08-05T23:27:09.833+08:00Climbing the Hotakadaka<p align="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66405753@N00/1008180019/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1439/1008180019_407b53dd8c_m.jpg" alt="Japan Alp Kamakochi 32" height="240" width="160" /></a></p><br />The plan was to trek the entire way from Murodo to Kamikochi, the classic North Japan Alps traverse, but many elements made us change our mind. With typhoon and earth quake happened just before we started our walk, we had not idea what the 6 day routes will be like. Also the snow patches have been very resilient this year, due to short of rainfall. The trek may not be too enjoyable for Martina. Maybe a project for future years. So our hiking trip became a two parts affairs, we did a one day walk in Murodo a plateau at over 2o00m attitude then transported to picturistic Kamikochi to climb the highest mountain on our original route, Hotakadake at 3190m.<br /><br /><span id="fullpost">To do that Martina had to walk up an one hour long snow field to get to a beautiful mountain hut in the Karasawa valley. Complain of the harshness of the condition as she may, she did find the valley to be incrediblly beautiful, with towering peaks cradling three sides of the snowfield. The hut, Karasawa Hutte sits right in the middle.<br /><br />The next day, I went up the peak on my own, over an interesting rock scramble to another mountain hut that sits at a saddle point on a ridgeline. Climbing up ladders and chains, I finally got to the top. On a good day, I will be able to see every single peaks from Tatayama to Hotakadake, the journey that we planned to have taken. But the cloud rising from the valley, I have to be content with the sea of cloud beneath my feet.<br /><br />Hiking in Japan is an enjoyable experience, the mountains are beautiful of course, but the huts located at the remote mountain top and alpine meadows provided us with comfort and good food is what impressed me the most. Got to come back some other time. </span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-64245766582113524262007-07-21T07:05:00.000+08:002007-07-23T11:48:36.566+08:00Japan Alps Brief UpdateJust finished the hiking part of our Japan trip. Climbed Hotakadake (3190m) the third highest in Japan. Gonna write a bit more when I got back to Tokyo.Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-85082993197569611062007-07-08T12:47:00.001+08:002007-07-08T13:01:22.868+08:00Ramping Up The MilesI've been ramping up my cycling mileage this week. On last Monday, I cycled 68km in Tung Chung, followed with a 6km run in the midday heat! The cycling was mostly flat, with a long time looping around the under-utilised road of the Disney Hotel. Then on Saturday, another long distance training in Shek O, I cycled 45km, looping Shek O Road 5 times. Then ran the hilling road between Shek O and Big Water Bay 3 times (12km). Hence I felt Sunday was well earned rest day. My bike muscle endurance is still pretty poor, take the Shek O session for instance, I managed a speed of 27.3 km/h on the first loop, but by the 5th loop and cadence of 89rpm. But by the firth loop I am doing more like 25km/h and 80rpm, yet my HR has reduced at the same time, meaning I simply coundn't work those muscle hard for too long.<br /><span id="fullpost"></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-3650722580687490662007-07-05T23:56:00.000+08:002007-07-06T00:00:40.967+08:00Freeoursouls Wedding<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.shangri-la.com/assets/EE5E3A2B-17A7-40E5-8D35-3FFA6291A3F1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.shangri-la.com/assets/EE5E3A2B-17A7-40E5-8D35-3FFA6291A3F1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Just want to advertise the launch of the wedding blog for Martina and I - The <a href="http://www.freeoursouls.blogspot.com/">Freeoursouls Wedding</a>. What? What Wedding? In case you didn't know, check out the details.Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-6358113998351161012007-06-27T13:26:00.000+08:002007-06-27T14:06:07.521+08:00Cycling Pedal EfficiencyLet's approach Singapore Half Ironman strategically, my weakest link is obviously cycling. I found it quite taxing to cycle a road bike despite having some experience on a mountain bike; and during the Sundays' Brick trainings, I found it impossible to run even at a normal pace after being on the bike for an hour. I begin looking up resource on how to cycle more efficiently and was delighted to found that just like swimming, there is an art to cycle efficiency, I am probably applying the wrong force and ended up straining my hamstring too much. The most insightful article I read can be found in <a href="http://www.coachseiji.com/cyclinghamstringfatigue.html">Coachseiji.com</a>. Read on for my summary.<br /><span id="fullpost"><br />I used to think of cycling as an up & down motion like a piston, but if I am applying force vertically up and down, then only at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock would my force be at a tangent to the circle that the pedal is traveling at. Compare to a efficient cycling technique, I am also loading up my hamstring in both the up and down cycle leaving no room for it to relax. Since the hamstring is involved in both hip extension (down) and knee flexion (up). Instead you should be thinking of moving your foot around a circle in 3 phase. <br /><br />#1 The downstroke beings at 11 o'clock of the cycle, you should used your <strong>quadricep</strong> to kick your feet forward and down to 4 o'clock without relying on the hamstring to extend the hip too much.<br /><br />#2 The backstroke begins at 3 o'clock, overlaping the previous phase, use your <strong>hamstring</strong> to flex your knee like kicking backward on sands, this takes you pass 6 o'clock to 7 o'clock, providing your other foot power to move forward while it is at 12 o'clock.<br /><br />#3 The upstroke begins at 7 o'clock, the aim is to take the weight of your foot off the pedal by lifting it up. The <strong>hip flexor</strong> will be used to bringing your knee up in running. The writer of the articule emphasis to "lift" the foot but not to "pull" the pedal up at this phase as that will involve the hamstring muscle which should be relaxing at this stage. It would be an in efficient use of energy to pull up the pedal anyway.<br /><br />Doing it right, your cycle stroke is more horizontally than vertically, the power output will be more evenly distributed from 11 o'clock to 7 o'clock of the cycle.<br /></span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-75243753995878882752007-06-24T17:27:00.000+08:002007-06-24T17:37:05.260+08:00Singapore Ironman 70.3<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.ironman703singapore.com/img/logo.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.ironman703singapore.com/img/logo.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>The ruthless me is back! <a href="http://www.ironman703singapore.com/">Singapore Ironman 70.3</a> - I have just signed up for it. It will be on 2nd September 1.9km swim+90km bike+21km run. Not much time left really for the training, so it will be another dive in and see what happen episode on Freeyasoul Adventure. I suspect this is what you guys want to see on this blog, right!Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8132625.post-7367191359169526492007-06-23T18:20:00.000+08:002007-06-23T18:34:39.156+08:00Shek O Challenge<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjorHT3QoktTzgdOKOj-_B9pQ3jtRwVopFcQtLVIPZCVwF3mkQ4F9nT-Kke5deLDTg4W0ei9mIZdMzBRZ_075WWj0n7WLccbihMghx9Q_OayRBejsMz9jRgG6KnY9532XFp9QPL5g/s1600-h/Shek+O+Challenge.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjorHT3QoktTzgdOKOj-_B9pQ3jtRwVopFcQtLVIPZCVwF3mkQ4F9nT-Kke5deLDTg4W0ei9mIZdMzBRZ_075WWj0n7WLccbihMghx9Q_OayRBejsMz9jRgG6KnY9532XFp9QPL5g/s200/Shek+O+Challenge.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5079206201224097586" border="0" /></a><br />I can't wait to tell the world, the weather finally turn out to be superb on a race day, no red tide and no thunderstorm. I signed up for a Shek O Challenge, a 2.2km swim from Big Water Bay to Rocky Beach. It was a small party, I think only 60-80 people were there. After the baptism of Scottish Winpipe and Afro drums, the whistle was blew and finally launched myself to my first open water race (need reminder of my disappointment last year, read this). I tried everything I have learned recently, the total immersion streamlining tricks, the trianthlon sighting technique and drafting behind people but I just slam into everyone that I tried to draft, so I just overtook them. <span id="fullpost">Finally after racing pass two floats, I can see the orange flags and finishing arch on the beach. I found that I still have an extra gear to put on. The result was a mere <span style="font-size:130%;">48mins</span>!!! If I was to do the same last year, it would be over an hour. I took a beer and drank to my improvement.<br /><br />....With a solid 2.2km experience under my belt, I suddenly thought, "I might as well go and do the Singapore Half Ironman. It is only 90km bike ride and a half marathon to go from here." The story will be continued next time.....</span>Gabs Lauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15282292748054071795noreply@blogger.com3