Meenu Massi and the Boys

Meenu Massi (Auntie) came to stay for a few days. She was brought up in Thailand with Shilpa but moved to India when she got married; so we don't see her as much as we used to or as often as we'd like.

Here are a few pictures with her and the boys...

YMCA and the Ninja

OK so Germany lost - never mind, losing is character forming - the English have had to have cast iron characters for many years now and it won't hurt the Germans to lose once in a while.

Here's a couple of amusing photos to cheer you up on a Monday morning - that's assuming you're not devoutly Christian of course - but hey, let's hope atheists "Inherit the Earth" and then at least we can stop killing people in the name of god!

Ooooh - that's all a bit heavy - I thought I was supposed to be cheering you/me up!

Sven's 9th Birthday

It was my Nephew Sven's 9th birthday recently. Check out his new German football shirt (from Mum and Dad) and the Euro 08 football (from Uncle Simon and Auntie Shilpa).

Come on Germany... Come on Germany!

Or should I say

Come on Deutschland... Come on Deutschland!

A Crude Awakening

Welcome to the future!

Germany Vs Spain

Being English I have no right to comment on Euro 08 but my sister's husband and my niece and nephews are German so I shall claim temporary German status for the rest of Euro 08 albeit I'll keep my comments brief.

So the final is decided - Germany vs Spain. I wonder who will win??!!! Silly question, it's a forgone conclusion, it's the clinical, dogged, merciless side against the diving, hugging, kissing, chokers. I'll let you decide which teams are which.

RIDE & RUN ALERT - Sat 28th & Sun 29th July 2008

Sam says: -

"Folks

Apologies for the late notice but the plan is to head to Titi on Saturday.

Meet at Mega Mall as usual at 0630. Please let me know if you plan to come along. Cheers.

Sam"

Simon says: -

"Anyone meeting at the traffic lights by the police station in Hulu Langat to be there by 7:15 also usual 21k run Sunday morning at Bukit Aman car park starting at 6:15 on Sunday morning"

Children's House Open Day

It was Sid and Seb's open day at school today. All the parents were there eagerly waiting to see their kids perform their little dance routines - it was sooooo cute. Of course Sid and Seb were the cutest but most mum and dad's only seemed to be noticing their own kids - STRANGE.

Sid was a bumble bee and Seb was a dandelion. Both of them were gorgeous albeit a little confused and bemused by it all. Sid spotted us in the crowd and was a tad happier then but Seb didn't and in the end went wandering around the stage - his grand finale was a huge yawn - BLESS HIM!

As you will see - A VERY PROUD MUMMY AND DADDY

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them and spot the little terrors)

Classic Viz One Liners

(Courtesy of Ian)

The person who coined the phrase "as different as chalk and cheese" obviously hadn't tasted Kwik Save's cheddar.
John Sampson, Southampton.

If Eastenders is so true to life, how come none of the loveable Cockney characters are Man Utd supporters?
P. Sullivan, Birkenhead.

They say football is a game of two halves. Not for me it isn't. I regularly down eight or nine pints whilst watching a live game on Sky TV in my local.
D Evans, London.

If smoking is bad for you, how come it cures Salmon?
Stalker, Bournemouth.

Why does Frank Bruno get a gong just because he's good at hitting people? I'm brilliant at it but the most I've ever got is 200 hours community service.
A Woodward, Sheffield.

They say good manners cost you nothing. B*llocks. I sent my daughter to finishing school and it cost me twenty bloody grand.
J Morgan, Wigan.

If, as Freddie Mercury claimed, fat bottomed girls make the rocking world go round, isn't it about time that the city of Derby received some recognition for it's contribution to astrophysics?
Neil Sedgwick, Nottingham.

In the 20th Century, Britain only made war with countries whose capital cities began with the letter 'B' - Germany (Berlin), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Iraq (Baghdad), and Serbia (Belgrade). China changed the name of Peking to Beijing and we bombed their embassy. One hopes we will show a little more imagination in this century.
Martin Harwood, Bradford.

These so-called speed bumps are a joke. If anything, they slow you down.
Tim Wakefield, Surrey.

Now I've been going out with my girlfriend for some time, it seems OK when I break wind in bed. It's when I follow through that the petty arguments begin. I will never understand women.
Chris Mapply, Carshalton.

We should remember the tremendous contribution of the Queen Mother to the war effort: as the BBC pointed out, she "bravely remained in London beside her husband" during the war. This contrasts sharply with the actions of my grandfather who, on the declaration of war immediately left his wife and children and p*ssed off, first to France, then North Africa, Italy, France (again) and finally Germany. The shame will always be with us.
George Nisbet.

Like the Queen Mum, my grandfather was a frequent visitor to the East End during the dark days of the blitz, but he was never hailed as a hero by the people of London. That's because he flew Heinkel bombers for the Luftwaffe.
Werner Hoffman, Munich.

I would just like to say a big thank you to all those wonderful young people who stand on motorway slip roads (in any weather, mind you) holding up boards telling us motorists where they lead to.
B Boll*ckbrain, Braintree.

Davina McCall says that dangling off a helicopter over the Grand Canyon on a 700 foot bungee rope was the most terrifying and dangerous thing she has ever done. She must be forgetting that she went out with Stan Collymore.
M Duckworth, Poole.

So Sting is able to shag his wife for five hours without going off. I know how he feels. My wife is no oil painting either.
J Leonard, Hull.

To call Dr Harold Shipman 'Britain's worst serial killer' is utter nonsense. With more confirmed kills to his name than any other UK-based murderer, surely Dr. Shipman is 'Britain's best serial killer'. Colin Stagg, who was arrested in connection with one killing and turned out not to have done it in the first place, would qualify as the country's 'Worst Mass Murderer'.
Danny King, Balham

I heard recently that, on average, Alex Ferguson receives two turds in the post each week. What I want to know is, who's sending the other one?
D Mason, Leeds

If the failed 21/7 bombers had just waited three more days, we'd all be calling them the 24/7 bombers. This would imply that they blow things up all day every day and, despite their actual lack of success, make them at least sound like they were good at bombing.
Christina Martin, London

I just saw a van drive by with the company name 'Seafood Solutions'. I must admit, I didn't know seafood was a problem.
Martin Kristos

It is said that gentlemen prefer blondes. I hope then that lesbians prefer brunettes, otherwise we might have to organise some kind of rota system.
Johnny Pring

I'm beginning to think there may be something in this climate change after all. Four months ago it was very cold and now it's quite warm.
Alan Heath

A woman whose daughter was hospitalised in a US tornado told ITV News that 'God would make her better.' presumably, that's a different God from the one that almost killed her with a tornado.
M Lovejoy

'She can dish it out, but she cannot take it', I once heard someone say of me. And it's true - I'm a school dinner lady and I'm allergic to mashed potatoes.
Mrs Pinches, Hereford

I heard on the news that the January storms had cost this country a billion pounds. What an utter waste of money. If anything, they did more harm than good.
S Prodnipple, Scarborough

I think Sir Paul McCartney should try to put his current predicament into perspective. In olden days, if you were unfortunate enough to be robbed by an omniped, it would almost certainly be a pirate. At least he's going to come out of this alive.
Stella Matlock

Yesterday I received an e-mail from a bored housewife looking for some action. Eager to please the young lady I sent her my ironing. That should keep her quiet for a while.
Warren

THIS new police knife amnesty is a bloody nightmare. I dutifully handed all my knives in and now I've got nothing to eat my dinner with.
Richard Karslake, Oxfordshire

TO THE zookeeper in 1978 who replied 'I'll tell you when you're older' when I asked him why one of the monkeys stuck its tongue up another one's arse: I'm 36 now and still waiting for that explanation.
Joe McKeown

I HAVE just returned from a diplomatic trip to the Congo and I can testify that at no point did I see anyone drinking Um Bongo.
Neil Palmer

I'M A terrorist, and when ID cards come into force I will probably employ great cunning and not declare that as my job. I'll probably say I'm a grocer or something.
A Terrorist

WHY DON'T NHS bosses start hiring obsessive compulsives as nurses? Their attention to hygiene and constant hand washing would see an end to MRSA outbreaks in no time.
Stu Bray

' Alton Towers - Where the magic never ends', or so the commercial says. Imagine my disappointment when it closed at 7.30.
Colum Hill

'Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak', sang Thin Lizzy in 1976, 'somewhere in this town'. Well, I'm guessing it's going to be at the prison.
Raymond ****yb *** cks

If it's true what they say, "Once you pop, you can't stop", why are Pringles tubes resealable?
A Bean, Sudbury

There's no pleasing my wife, she complains when I leave the toilet seat up, she complains when I leave it down and p155 all over it.
Jon, Leeds

Please can you help me? I can't seem to think of another purpose for multi-purpose compost, other than for growing plants in.
Leo Stitch, email

Fact not Ficton - Sex on Wheels

Well Trek were true to their word again, a new Equinox TTX SSL was delivered last week in time for me to compete in Miri (sadly I was sick as a dog and couldn't go but that's another story). I bought the first Trek Team Time Trial in 2001, (this is the third time they have replaced it) they have clearly had some issues with the bottom bracket which I suspect is partially due to my high mileage, aggressive riding style but also the climate her in Asia - bonding agents don't seems to last as long as they do in a less hot and humid climate.

The Team Time Trial was an awesome bike but it did lack something in lateral stiffness and was a tad heavy in my mind. The TTX SSL on the other hand is as rigid as you can get, light as a feather and clearly more aero. Not only that but the clamping system on the saddle that I always had a problem with seems to have been fixed with a sexy new mechanism.

I could go on an on but I'll let the pictures do the talking - check out the last picture - Sid and Seb were seriously impressed!

Jane McGrath (formerly Jane Steele) - RIP

I came across some very sad and disturbing news today on the BBC click here, the passing of Jane McGrath, the Australian cricketer's wife. Jane and I were at school together, so her passing really brings home the tenuous and fragile grip on life we have.

I found a couple of clips of an interview with her and Glenn on YouTube, the first telling of how they met and the second talking about when she first discovered she had breast cancer.

You can see how much in love they were and what lovely and charming people they are. Deepest condolences to Glenn, James and Holly and the rest of Jane's family.

Thomas and Bob

Check out Sid and Seb in their new super cool shirts, Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder - does anyone know where we can get these in my size?

Counting Crows - Mr. Jones

Great Song

TriKidz Malaysia

If you've got kids and/or love triathlon you have to check out what these guys are doing www.trikidzmalaysia.blogspot.com

This is fantastic and should be encouraged at every turn. Bravo guys, great job.

The current categories are from 5 years old and upwards. I have left a message asking when they'll accept two and a half year olds or at the least 3 year olds. If not I guess I'll have to paint some stubble on the boys, buy them some platform shoes and lie about their age.

Sid and Seb can swim (after a fashion) and they can certainly ride and run now. Can't wait to get them involved, although I'm sure you'll appreciate that the important stuff comes first - no not school but their golf and tennis lessons - how else am I to retire in the manner that I wish to become accustomed to?

Chantal and the Kidney Stone

Chantal sent her husband, Chris, off to the South Downs Marathon while taking part in the North Downs 30k with her Ironman training buddy Paul. Another off-road event! Those Waymans do like to punish themselves.

Click here for Chantal's reports 1)race report 2)hospital report

Happy, Gay and Fancy Free

Here's Chris finishing the South Downs Marathon. A tough off-road marathon that he completed in an amazing 3:58.

As you can see he's a cheerful chappy, hence the title!!! You've got to give him credit for being so cheerful especially when you note that his wife obviously put his running gear on the extra hot wash cycle and shrunk his singlet!!!

Important Note: Although it has been suggested that Chris skipped around the entire route, this is only a malicious rumour. Those that know Chris will vouch for the fact that he restricts his skipping to training, Maypole and Morris Dancing only.

Useless!

I just got back from the hospital having been to see the chest specialist again. My symptoms were very similar to those this time last year when I had pneumonia. I felt it coming on on Sunday/Monday last week. I was taking antibiotics by Tuesday morning but then things deteriorated really quickly and I was off work the rest of the week.

Doc has taken loads of tests, given me boxes and boxes of antibiotics - same ones from my extended stay with pneumonia - oh dear! He gave me another 3 days off work but then after a bit of haggling he said I could go on the condition I went straight home if I felt tired or my chest started hurting again.

The Miri triathlons are therefore cancelled for me, I might substitute Bali the week after but then again I might just forget about it. All in all I feel pretty useless but I'm not too despondent, my new bike arrives this week after all and I have a feeling that we're going to be in love for a very long time to come.

Follow up at the doctors on Friday - fingers crossed.

Father's Day

Today was my third Father's Day. The boys made me beautiful cards at school with a wonderful poem (click on the photo to enlarge).




















We went to the Hard Rock cafe for lunch and had their famous heart attack nachos, veggie burger and then their equally famous heart attack hot fudge brownie (loads of ice-cream of course).















Sid and Seb got given balloons and crayons as they arrived and then a lady came along and made them balloon swords, scabbards and balloon pirate hats too. It caused a bit of conflict and squabbling but in the end the lady gave daddy his own balloon sword so he stopped causing trouble (and he stopped crying).

















As we arrived at the Hard Rock Seb and Sid saw the Monorail go by and got very excited about it as they've never been on a train. So after lunch Shilpa and I took them for a monorail ride to Sentral and back. They were so excited ... that is until they actually had to get into the train and then they freaked out - it was all a bit embarrassing but they calmed down in the end and loved it - Seb kept telling us he wasn't scared but he wasn't very convincing. Sid on the other hand was a bit more relaxed but didn't want to get on again once we got back to the starting point.

Rumour Mill Latest

There's talk of Trek not replacing the broken TTT with a regular TTX at all but with the top of the range TTX SSL Red Carbon...

...can this be possible or just adolescent dreaming from someone that should know better?

SAAB City Duathlon 08 - June 8th Singapore

I entered this race late and after the closing date. I wrote an email asking if they could make an exception. I also added that I'd already helped promote the event on this blog and would be happy to do a follow up if they allowed me to enter.

They kindly did allow me to enter but the race turned out to be a bit of a disaster and I found myself trying to work out what to write. I had committed to promoting the event but it would have been difficult to write very much positive about it with any honesty.

The problem seems to have been mainly caused by poorly briefed and less than alert marshalls. Basically the lead bikes missed a left turn due to poor signage, poor road cordoning and poor direction from marshalls. This led to everyone following a shorter course.

OK a major screw up but in the organisers defence they had the foresight to stick with it rather than sending half the competitors the right way and disqualifying the other half. What they failed to do however was to convey this message loudly and frequently to any of the riders. "Shortened course, still 5 laps" should have been called at the top of their voices, this would have worked a treat had they shouted that at both the turn-a-rounds.

Now how could a race organiser redeem themselves after such a cock-up? Well in my mind they have gone a long way to doing so, on the same day they issued a statement acknowledging problems with a promise to review what went wrong and a promise to follow up - click here.

The very next day they did just that. They wrote a detailed explanation of what went wrong, accepted responsibility, outlined what their plans were for the future and offered a humble and unequivocal apology - click here.

Now when did you ever get such a open, honest and speedy response as that to a race that went very wrong? NEVER in my experience. I vowed never to waste my time going back to this race but I may reconsider in the light of their timely and candid apology.

There were a couple of other gripes I had about the race though: -

1. The first wave of the men's open category were made to run past the 5km turnaround on the first 10k run, past the finish line and through the muddy bog that was the transition and then back out on to the race course. Not only was the 5k loop a little long anyway but they made us run an additional 500+ meters through mud - nice one!
2. As above, the transition was a muddy bog, it wasn't their fault that it rained but it's the tropics for goodness sake, it rains!!!!!
3. The first two age categories in the men and women's race won Tissot Watches, the other categories won a cuddly toy - either just have the decent prizes for the actual open winners OR decedent prizes for all category winners - don't discriminate.
4. The entry fee of S$85 was not reflective of the race (mistakes aside), for that sort of money there should have been a lot more laid on for the athletes not to mention a decent goody bag - or just reduce the price. Very few athletes came from Malaysia partly due to the high cost of the entry fee (maybe not huge by Western standards but the largest group of potential competitors is from Malaysia and when you can enter a duathlon or Triathlon in Malaysia for one third of this cost, get a decent goody bag, a carbo loading dinner and cash prizes down to 10th place in every category you realise just how much more can be done).
5. OK, this is clearly a money making event but if you're going to be stingy with the prizes then at least present the top three in each category with a half decent trophy instead of a cheap plastic flower vase - they should be embarrassed.

As for my race. Sam and I seriously got on the lash in the Executive Lounge at the hotel the night before - we were quaffing champagne like a couple of Hooray Henry's. This was followed by dinner and more beer.

I awoke at three in the morning with a seriously bloated and acidic stomach - oh dear, I spent the rest of the night trying to get my metabolism working again.

I started the 10k wondering what state I'd be in and sure enough I didn't feel great. I was actually better than I deserved to be though. I tried to go at about 97% but not redlining it. I tucked in behind a guy that was running well but at around 6k I was getting all sorts of negative thoughts like "let's stop". Somehow I kept going and actually reeled in some of the guys ahead of me.

Transition was a disaster and probably rather comical had you watched me try to put on my new aero-helmet. On the bike itself, the course was screwed up and the distance halved which meant that there were twice as many bikes than expected on a tiny road. Over 50% were wobbling around on mountain bikes at about 10-15kph while I was trying to whizz round at 40+kph. Very quickly I realised that I wasn't going to achieve much so I settled in a few bike lengths behind one of the guys I finished the run with and let him clear the way for me. Recovery was now my plan and a fast second run.

Onto the run (just 5k) and I soon settled into a pretty reasonable pace. I left everyone that was chasing me and was soon on my own. I was on my own the whole time and barely managed to find my way around the course as the marshalls had on the whole disappeared and the signage was almost nonexistent.

Eventually I cruised over the finish line in second place which I was delighted with considering I hadn't trained for it and the excesses the night before.











As for the others in the Malaysian contingent: -
Sam won his age-group by a mile
Julie won her age-group - her first ever race (what her for the future and goodness knows what we'll see when she gets to grips with the swimming)
Mariana missed the start by 5 minutes but still amazingly won her age-group - Awesome!



Kristof (honorary Malaysian contingent as he lives in Vietnam now) won his age-group and was second overall.











All in all a great weekend only marginally spoilt by the race. After the race I took my disintegrating bike bake to Treknology for it to return to Trek USA under the lifetime warranty (for the third time). Watch this space.

Rumours Abound

The Trek Equinox TTX9.9 coming to a triathlete near you...

....Soon!

A Cuppa Tea?

(Courtesy of Giles)

Tey Conquers the Sundown UltraMarathon 84k

Tey our intrepid sports photographer completed the Singapore Sundowner Ultramarathon on Sunday. Upon congratulating him I received a rather humble but undeservedly downbeat reply from Tey. Having down some pretty extreme and miserable events myself I've long since stopped beating myself up over the disappointments and the lows of extreme sports - Tey you are a hero and when you consider you only did one 30k run and a few 20k's in training (I think he read my book on training preparation) then your accomplishment is even more praiseworthy.

See below how the text went, I'm sure you'll all agree with me so drop Tey a note or add a comment (and to anyone else you know that did the race and give them a bit verbal pat on the back).

Simon: - "Tey, you did it, well done mate, awesome job."

Tey: - "haha...as in my report...I not a actual runner lah...didn't felt proud or happy for myself..aiiiiii..suffer stress on mental although walk almost 70%..tks bro !!!!"

Simon: - "You finished and that's the real measure - if I beat myself up after every Ironman that I had to walk in I'd have stopped after the first year. I've only run the whole way in a couple of them - it's about overcoming the mental demons (including dealing with the fact that you're body only allows you to walk), it's about the pain, physical and mental. It's not about the finisher's medal and it's certainly not about whether you did it in style or not, the fact that you finished is huge but the fact that you had the courage to start in the first place sets you out from the crowd, then overcoming pain and adversity makes you a true champion - well done buddy, be proud, you deserve it."

41% Overnight Increase in Malaysian Petrol Prices

Where did that come from? Only the other day I was chuckling with Chris Wayman as he was telling me it cost him over RM800 (GBP130) to fill up his BMW 5 series with deisel while I was bragging that it only cost me RM115 (GBP18).

Well not anymore, the government came out of left field last night and increased the price by 41%. Having just bought a new car with a 70ltr petrol tank and petrol guzzling tendancies, this now means it'll cost me RM182 to fill up!! Shock Horror!

Nevermind though I can still chuckle at those poor souls shivering in the English summer weather as this is still less than GBP29.

Ride 'Em Cowboy

Shilpa popped down to the shops to buy the regular ten cartons of milk (my boys drink a lot) and the promoter told her that for every 6 cartons she bought she'd get a cowboy hat. So if she bought two more she'd get two cowboys hats.

Shilpa left him in no uncertain terms that there would be a war if he only gave the boys one hat so he'd better give her two anyway - so he did! You just don't argue with my wife!