MUDS 08

Go to www.muds2008.blogspot.com for news and views on the Malakoff University Duathlon Series.

There are a whole lot of contributors including The End, Sam, and me plus the main blogger Muddy Waters who hails from Ayer Keroh.

Muddy Waters = Ayer Keroh. Anyway I think that 's pretty pun-ny.

I'm planning to take part in the team relay. If you'd like to know more head to muds2008.blogspot.com for a participation form or visit duathlonseries.com.my for race information/participation/race routes etc.

Why no updates? Well...

I'm back from the mini-break, and needed a week to catch-up on all the email, mail, and odd things that find their way into my in-tray whenever I'm away for more than 2 days.

After every vacation, I wonder why i went in the first place. Yes I had fun but, and this is a big BUT
- unpacking
- washing
- cleaning
- putting things away
- and the bone-tiredness of returning to work
kills me every time.

Mine is the only household on my street without a 'kakak' or 'makcik' Indonesian, Filipino or Cambodian. All around are one 'kakak' and two 'kakak' households.

We do have a cleaning service come in twice a week, but the rest of the time we do it on our own. So you can understand why my updating has been erratic.

1. Coming up soon - the top three reasons for my dismal performance as a cyclist.

2. Also my newly begun training for the Malakoff University Duathlon Series. Ties back to (1.).

My Glass is Always Half Full - MUDS!

The set back of spending just 20 minutes in the saddle for the entire duration of the Malakoff Cahrity Ride has inspired me to sign up for the Malakoff University Duathlon Series, appropriately acronym-ed MUDS.

I'm eyeing the relay as my running is even worse than my riding, if that's possible.

My glass is never half empty, or even half full...it's just brimming over.

Team Malakoff @ Finish of Charity Ride - Tanjung Bin

Here's the contingent from Tanjung Bin. I asked the lads for a different pose for this one. This is more rugby than cycling, but its a nice change.

Seriously though, we need to get away from the 'thumbs up' and the 'V'/peace sign.

Team Malakoff @ Finish of Charity Ride - Prai

Here's the contingent from Prai. Check the discreet product placement for isotonic drink. I did not plant it there...

Team Malakoff @ Finish of Charity Ride - Lumut

Here's the Malakoff contingent from Lumut.

Team Malakoff at Finish of Charity Ride - KL

Apologies if not everyone is in the pix. Here is the Malakoff team from KL at the end of the race, when they arrived at the Batu Burok Beach Resort.

Speaking of which, why is the End, co-blogger and organiser, not in this picture?

Another Wacky Week of Wonderful Work

My favorite hair style of the night, which I will attempt once I find my cheekbones again

This has been another one of those weeks that I love.

Last week we spent preparing for a hair show that happened Monday night. It was fierce! The lead stylist was Japanese and hearing her speak was wonderful because she was amazingly polite and profusely thankful. All of this was in Japanese, so I'm just going by the tone and the repeated 'domo', 'arigato' etc and the bowing.

Here's a pix from the night. Not taken by me, although I wish I had as much skill and such super canggih equipment. The photographer is Michael Sin.

Have you seen 'camera envy'? I was sitting with some of the photographers and they were checking out each others equipment surreptitiously. Quite funny until I got caught up in it too and begin lusting after the super long lens and the extra powerful flash and the battery pack. Even with my kit lens at it highest zoom it didn't help much...sad, sad, sad.

Still it was a great night for hair design watching as there were 500+ stylist there and they pulled out all the stops and had unbelievable hair styles, and some super funky styles.

The next day was packed with interviews... in Japanese. Sho kawai!!!!

Wednesday, I'm still at it preparing for my mini break that starts in 6 hours or so, and I'm not packed yet. There is a place beyond panic where things take on a scary clarity - I'm right there at this moment. Also 6 cups of coffee.

What does this have to do with the Malakoff Charity Ride?

Well, I did ask every other person I met there if they ride - some of the answers were hilarious and not suitable for a family type blog, so I will leave it to your imagination.

Terengganu Young Riders

The young riders with their support team and some of the Malakoff riders (white & green jerseys)

...and after I asked for riders under 18 only

I've gone on, and on, and on about the young riders from Terengganu. Finally managed to find the pix of these young people, although not all of them.

When we set off from Gombak there were a few young riders with us as well including Rahimi who I've posted on earlier.

Once in Temerloh, Ishak joined the ride with a few young riders who had cycled from Kemaman the day before. I don't have pix of this team - if anyone does please email to malakoff.cr@gmail.com or post a link in the comments.

In Kemaman another group of young people joined us, with their own support team of parents in tow. They had found out about the ride through Ishak and the Kemaman Teachers' Cycling Club.

So on the final day, the Malakoff Charity Ride, numbered more than 120 riders, and had a much expanded support team too.

All these riders are under 18 years, most are between 12 to 16 years.

Not all of them are from loaded families but they have the interest and the passion to ride.

You know that they have been training hard from their tans which have gone past golden brown to the burnt to a crisp level.

And surprise, surprise a number of them are girls, and they were as fast as the boys, and a lot faster than most of the men aside from the pros (no offense to any of the male riders). Anyway this was a ride and not a race, so placign doesn't matter.

But back to the young people. Terengganu seems to be the place for raising professional riders.

Is there a cycling academy in Terengganu? Would anyone be interested to set one up there? If the parents of the young riders are an indication, it should be easy to get support for such an academy.

Malakoff Charity Ride in the Star

Cyclists distribute donations in charity ride
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/5/29/southneast/21351825&sec=southneast

Yes, its about all of you, the Malakoff Charity Ride riders and support team, and the charities that you've contributed to.

TEMERLOH: Participants of the charity ride organised by Malakoff Corporation Berhad arrived safely and on schedule to hand over donations to several charitable organisations and welfare homes.

A total of RM26,000 was distributed to five recipients here during the journey which saw some 80 cyclists travelling a distance of 480km from Gombak to Kuala Trengganu.

Their aim was to raise RM60,000 for the underprivileged and the amount would be channelled directly to selected homes along the route.

Present during the ceremony were the firm’s managing director and chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya and its senior vice president Nor Shakiman Muhammad.

The recipients in Temerloh were Darul Izzah Orphanage (RM10,000), Rumah Sri Suria (RM5,000), SK Bandar Temerloh (RM5,000), Bukit Damar and Bandar Temerloh Community Learning Resources Centres (RM3,000 each).


For a good cause: Cyclists passing through one of the routes in Temerloh during the charity ride.

Earlier, two orphanages in Gombak were given RM2,500 each shortly before the flagging-off ceremony.

The entourage later arrived in SM Chukai, Kemaman where they handed over another RM28,000 to three organisations and hosted a dinner for 40 hardcore poor children.

The recipients were orphanages and poor children (RM20,000), Kemaman orphanage (RM5,000) and Kompleks Penyayang Community Learning Resources Centres (RM3,000).

The cyclists had a truly rewarding and satisfying experience.

For blogs of their journey, the public can log on to malakoff-cr.blogspot.com.

East Coast Mee Goreng

Mee Goreng, the fried noodle, famous Malaysian breakfast and tea break dish for decades.

The recent Malakoff Charity Ride 2008 stop at Temerloh & Kemaman, had chance to taste the authentic East Coast Mee Goreng of which so memorable until today.

Had the same dish for past few days at hotel meetings, eating out at night, realised that the taste of Mee Goreng here still hard to beat the East Coast style. Talking about the simplicity of ingredient preparation, frying the noodle, mixing it with chilli paste or sambal, stir it with sawi and then to serving, worth drolling while typing this.

Anyone who beg to differ?

Kemaman Teachers' Cycling Club

The Kemamam Teachers' Cycling Club is a cycling club whose members comprise of ...surprise teachers from Kemaman. I had the pleasure of sitting next to one of the members of the club during the charity dinner at SMK Chukai.

The cycling club has been around for some years now. It was started by a this group of teachers when they realised that they were getting larger round the middle, and were not as fit as they had been in the past. After researching lots of different options, they decided on cycling as it was suitable for all ages being a low impact exercise.

Soon they were hooked and were pedalling on weekends.

From Ishak, I also found out that the Kemaman Teachers' Cycling Club is also active in encouraging young people in schools to take up cycling as a sport. They must be a positive force for cycling if the number of young riders in Kemaman is a gauge.

Here's a picture of 11 of them who joined the Malakoff Charity Ride for the last leg Kemaman to Kuala Terengganu.

The chairman of the Kemaman Teachers' Cycling Club is En Said Ahmad Shauffi - he's the one in the styling red polka-dot jersey. Speaking for the club, Said Ahmad hopes that more will be done to help young Terengganu cyclist.

He told me that it's part of the Terengganu culture to ride. The kids there love to ride, they have the stamina and the speed and are not afraid of the sun or of long hours of practice and training. The parents are supportive too, because they have seen the success of riders like Haidar.

Over the two days that I was in Kemaman and Kuala Terengganu, I saw many more riders than what I would expect. By riders, I mean that they had their bike helmet, jerseys etc, not just on a bike running errands.

However, Said Ahmad said that the cost of road bikes is a major barrier to more young people taking up the sport.

The young cyclists who joined for the Kemaman to Kuala Terengganu leg proved that the cycling is a part of the Terengganu culture bit was very true. They were zooming ahead at like 50km. It could be the training, their youth or the huge amounts of fish and ulam in their diet but they rocked!

The oldest member and rider who was participating on the day was Mr.Heh, who at 63 years proved to be dynamite.

Guest bloggers welcome

Thanks Aini for the post. Anyone else interested in guest blogging - English, BM or Chinese - all are welcome.

Haidar the Kemaman Export

Name: Ahmad Haidar bin Anuawar
DOB: April 25, 1986
Height: 169cm, Weight: 59-61kg
Siblings: 1st of 6 siblings, 4 boys and 2 girls

Ahmad Haidar is a typical village boy from the suburban area of Kemaman. His passion for cycling started as a young boy who was impressed with his uncle's shiny racing bike. He would normally take out the bike for joyride only to be scolded later by his uncle for his misdeed. But this didn't dampened his spirit to one day ride a bike of his own and to earn a living doing what he liked best - cycling.

When he was in Primary school, armed with his trusted bike, which was remotely a racing bike like the ones he owns now, he joined several local kampung races aptly called Race Nyamuk("Mosquito race") and won almost every time, much to his mother's annoyance. Of course every mother would like the best for their children and all she had ever wanted was Haidar to excel in his studies. But seeing that his interest was more to cycling than studying, she relented and just prayed for the best for her first child. Eventually his uncle saw his talent, too and supported this passion of his.

During his Fourth Form, he started to meddle into road bikes and road racing. Then when he was in his Fifth Form, he entered Sukan Remaja which was organized by Sport Excel and he was officially discovered. There was no turning back for him. Subsequently he entered Sukma under Pahang's ticket. It was during 2004 Sukma in Negeri Sembilan when he was noticed by Rahim, who is currently coaching LeTua.

Rahim told Haidar that he has the potential that he was looking for in a cyclist and coincidentally they were looking for talents to form a cycling club called LeTua. Haidar didn't give second thoughts about it and was taken under Rahim's wing. Their trainings were mainly done around Subang area where they lived in the nearby Kg Melayu Subang.

Donning LeTua's jersey, he competed in several Asian cycling tours and proved himself in the international circuit by standing on the podium in some stages, namely third placing in Stage 7 of Tour Indonesia in 2005, Stage 9(Tour Indonesia, 2006), and first place wins in Stage 3 of 2007 Tour of Siam and Stage 3 of Tour of Hong Kong in 2007.

For this Kemaman born cyclist, his favourite routes includes Fraser's Hill(with a compulsory detour in Bentong for the famous Kow Po ice cream and ais kacang(shaved ice)) and Genting Highlands. The longer the climb, the better for him to build his strength. He also would like to see more youngsters participate in cycling and hopes that the cycling scene in Malaysia will stay alive and more new talents will be discovered and nurtured.

**Haidar uses a Time road bike, frame size 50 with Campagnolo Record groupset

**written by Aini Zakaria

Jack

Jack posed

Jack in action

Jack's always smiling, and always had time for a chat during the charity ride.

He told me that he had only a few days preparation for the ride, biking around his housing estate.

Funny, so did I, but I didn't cover anything approaching the distance he did - maybe it comes down to level of fitness, and my level of fitness is pretty low.

Jack particularly enjoyed this year's ride because he spent many years working in the East Coast and is familiar with the route, the people, the food, the history, the just about everything.

Did you know that there is a village in Teregganu called Ayer Jerneh that's settled mostly by Hainanese people, who speech the Terengganu dialect like native Terenggan-ites.

Jack's company is also among the donors for the charity ride - this was mentioned during Shakiman's speech in Temerloh.

Jack told me this - also that I should try the coffee there, and also a few other coffee places in Kemamam like Hap Seng (Ishak also recommended this place, as did Shakiman).

The charity ride, its not just about riding...thanks Jack.

The Marshalls

Balancing act - and he didn't need any help getting up there

Striking a pose

I've mentioned the support team and the first--aid people, but you need to meet the marshalls.

On the route they are consummate professionals focused on keeping the riders safe by managing traffic, and clearing a path for a smooth ride with minimal disruption to all road users.

During breaks, they are hilarious and are all out to convert everyone and anyone to become superbike owners.

Getting them to pose was easy. Check out the balancing act on the bike!

Mat Licin - Cool name, cool rider

Mat Licin the tourer

Mat Licin. When I was introduced, I asked him, how do you spell that. He said, just like it sounds.

It's a pretty cool nick. The other thing that the person who introduced us pointedly pointed out was the size of Mat Licin's calves. They are pretty huge, and I should know because I'm usually the person with the hugest calves.

He was introduced as a tourer who was supposed to have ridden from Kedah to Chang Loon(?) in Thailand, but decided to join the Charity Ride in Kemamam instead.

The other riders hold him in awe for his stamina and determination.

I like this pix because his t-shirt and the bright yellow car bring things together, and the pose puts his calf in focus.

He's a also got this well-matched fashion vibe going on - the yellow, green, blue palette.

And I checked, he cycled using those same blue croc-like sandals.

Don't you wish you had gone on the ride as well? So many interesting characters.

Start training now for next year's ride.

Contributors

Thanks for inviting me to post. A big thank you to all our contributors, the companies and individuals and service sponsors.

This is the full list of contributors, so far .

Alstom Power Asia Pacific

ABB Malaysia

Malaysian Coal Intergrated Engineering Service

Tyden Engineering

Shakab Enterprise

Sterling Insurance Brokers

Algotech (M)

ISHI Power

Freudenberg Vliesstoffe KG

Sumi-Power M'sia

Tos Energy Malaysia

Alcim Technology

PH Solution & Services

GP Mechanical Engieering

Perkhidmatan Ikhwan

ITC Consolidated

Aras Marine Services

Triple Valiant Engineering Services

Mozzaz Venture

E.ON UK Projects

TUV Nord (M)

TNB Repair and Maintenance

Dyna Dinamik

OSI Technology

Rosli Hamid

Adli Othman

Rangkai Positif

Acomech Engineering

SD100

And a special mention to Starfish Underwater Services for sponsoring services.

You have helped make the Malakoff Charity Ride special to all the children who will benefit from your contribution.

Thank you.

Tips on Buying a Bike?

Thanks Shakiman for the advice on the bike. Hope you are not going to recommend to get it from Steelman. Going to be broke. :-)

Thanks Retna for the invite to be guest blogger @ Malakoff-CR.blogspot.com.

Tips on buying a bike?

Guest Blogger Coming Soon!

The Malakoff Charity Ride was intense for riders and support team, and also for this harried blogger who had a team, which jumped ship and decided to ride instead with sporadic blogging.

And this morning, I get an unexpected surprise of a volunteer guest blogger who should be posting today with an exclusive interview with Haidar.

Is anyone else keen to talk about your personal experience during the ride - riders, support team, riders from Terengganu? Contact me at malakoff.cr@gmail.com for your guest blogging passport.

More on the Malakoff Charity Ride tomorrow

Will be back tomorrow with more updates on the Malakoff Charity Ride.

Here's are some pictures taken at the pondok next to Kedai Makan Maznah.

I like coconuts, don't know why they just interest me.

Endie - Your Organiser

Endie is in the white t-shirt, in foreground

Dining under the directly under the trees at Kedai Makan Maznah

Kedai Makan Jatidiri overrun with Malakoff Charity riders

Kedia Makan Maznah, from the outside - look closely for the signboard

Digging in at Jatidiri, healthy food with lots of ulam

This is Endie Tuffile, your Malakoff Charity Ride main organiser.

For riders who moaned on why the route was so tough, this is the man you want to take your complaints to - actually LeTua, local riders like Ishak and the marshalls also helped draw up the route.

I asked Endie how he chose our rest stops, none of which were very large or well known.

He recce-d the route and sought out eateries that had less patrons, rationale being that the Malakoff Charity Ride would help these kedai makan more than it would the well-established ones.

Aside from giving these fledgling stalls an economic boost, he also checked if there would be enough space for riders and support team to be seated, and space for them to park all their vehicle.

There are probably more technical consideration, but Endie's done a super job.

Here's some pix of Endie and of
Kedai Makan Jatidiri (the signboard was pretty small, overshadowed by the sign for Kopi Jantan)
Kedai Makan Maznah

The rest stops at the ride also offered lots of ulam. Ulam here looked a lot fresher and more organic than what's available in KL.

Long Incline after Mempaga - In pictures

Faster than a speeding MyVi

Who's this? Can anyone identify this rider?

Ishak Ibrahim aka Orang Putih aka Castello

This is Ishak Ibrahim also known as Orang Putih (check out his stunning platinum hair!) also referred to by some as Castello (movie character played by Rosyam Nor).


He is a rider with Tioxide and was the main contact for making the accommodation and catering arrangements for the Malakoff Charity Ride. The food was excellent - thanks Ishak.

Ishak is also actively involved in nurturing biking talent in Terengganu. He rode to Temerloh with a group of young riders - the oldest was 16 I was told to join the charity ride, and they continued to Kuala Terengganu as well.

Speaking with him, it is clear that he has a passion for the sport, for uncoverign new cycling talent and for his adopted state of Terengganu.

He works closely with some of the school teacher who are also training new talent in the state.

Here's Ishak at dinner and Ishak in action.

Word to live by courtesy of SMK Chukai

The Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Chukai is a sekolah bestari or school for gifted(?). Only high achieving student from primary school are admitted. Students need to get 4As or 5As, out of the possible 5As available.

The walls of the Dewan Mercu (Main Hall) are adorned with buntings of the most recent high achievers, as well as pithy sayings. I only managed to capture 2 of these but there are more on the walls.

'Kebanyakan pelajar gagal bukan kerana BODOH, tetapi mereka gagal kerana melakukan KERJA BODOH'.

I'm now quoting this at my kids - if it works in Kemamam, it can work in KL.

Here's the other:
'Semua "A" bukan senang tetapi bukan mustahil'.

Another thing that I've noticed while driving around Terengganu. This is a state where education is emphasized from the top down. There are huge billboards everywhere celebrating the high standards or Terengganu's young people and students, as well as encouraging them to work harder and smarter academically.

Go Terengganu!

Inspiring the next generation - Haidar, anak Kemamam

The dinner also saw a speech by Haidar one of Malaysia's top cyclist who is a member of Le Tua, the most successful cycling group in Malaysia.

Haidar has achieved a whole lot - the introduction included a string of awards that went by too fast for me to take down. He is a true blue anak Kemamam, and spoke on how he had succeeded, hopefully inspiring the young people there, many of them orphans, disabled or from very poor families.

He did a good job although he was very bashful.

From a communications perspective our sportsmen need to be trained to speak well. They've done the country proud and need to be equipped to get that message across well and inspire the next generation. Also speaking well will help them when it comes to securing sponsors, and making the sport more marketable. This is what I've noticed from attending sports launches - our sports people except for a notable few are not able to explain their sport, their strategy or support their sponsors well. This is an area that needs lots of work.

If I spell his name wrongly or not in full, please let me know -I've learnt that Keegoisman Membawa Padah, and can accept correction.

Here's Haidar during the speech.

Donation Update - Day 2 and Total

On the second day, May 18 we had dinner and a charity cheque presentation at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Chukai.

We walked there guided successfully by the handy dandy GPS function on Sam's phone. FYI the GPS function is quite useless in Puchong as it keeps directing to the Old Puchong Road even when there is a much shorter route.

Back to the donation.

Shakiman (the most semangat commenter on this blog) informed that donation have increased by almost 70% since the first year of the Malakoff Charity Ride in 2005.

The Malakoff Charity Ride contributed to the following:-

RM20,000 to 40 hard core poor school children from Kemamam


RM3,000 to Pusat Dalam Komuniti Kompleks Penyayang


RM5,000 to PKMD Kemamam - Anak Yatim (couldn't make out what that stands for) which will support 10 orphans in Kemamam.

And another RM4,000 - the recipient did not show, so it wasn't handed out.

That brings the second day total to RM32,000; and the whole amount to RM63,000.

From Shakiman's speech, the target for next year's Malakoff Charity is a cool RM100,000!

Here's more pix.

Group photograph

Two great behind the scene crew members...

from one of the table...

another table....

yet, another table...
marshall + first aid team

yet, another table....
Kemaman team....

food...
more food...