Biker Rules in Austin!

Since I've been riding for a few weeks here and have experience first hand at how traffic goes I guess I'm qualified to talk about it a little... =D

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First of all, it took me a while to get used to look at the proper traffic direction when I got here. In case you do not know, driver is on the left side. So to be safe, I look at both sides before crossing...

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Secondly, Austin drivers are extremely law-abiding and courteous! They don't cut queue (unlike us lovely Malaysians) and they follow this first-come-first-go system at intersections - meaning if you reach the crossing first, they will let you go and then the 3rd driver to arrive will give way to the 2nd driver and so on. It's the same when two roads combined into one; each driver on both sides take turns to go.

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One more thing, drivers here really do a COMPLETE stop at the stop signs! Even when there isn't any traffic, they'll still stop! So when I ride, I had to stop too (sometimes I just slow down before going to save on momentum =P).

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Another thing I like to mention is that they treat any 2 wheel vehicles (bicycle included =D) like a normal car. That means, when I have to wait at the traffic light junction, I take the whole lane to myself. It's the law here really (my fav) - we bicyclist aren't allow to weave between cars like what we usually see those motorbikers and cyclists alike doing in Malaysia (me included).

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Besides those awesome rules, I think the Austin government here just implemented a law that says drivers must give at least 3 feet of distance between themselves and cyclist or pedestrians whenever possible. Cool isn't it?

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I left the best for the last; Austin is known for being a cyclist-friendly city in US. There are numerous DEDICATED cyclist lane along many of the roads here! Awesome! I'm being so pampered here I'm worried I won't get used to the crazy traffic in Malaysia...

Cyclist lane along many of the roads in Austin

The Voice of A True Malaysia

I saw this heart-warming YouTube video from Khai Ling's blog which initially came from J10's blog. It shows the united Malaysian which is pretty much envied by many other countries, developing or developed. With the push for eliminating the race requirement in many forms, I only hope we all Malaysian will be called as Bangsa Malaysia; not Cina, not Melayu, not India but as one Bangsa Malaysia.

Let us all stop bickering over small matters and together start building a better future for us Malaysian!

I wish every Malaysian no matter where you are, a Happy Independance Day! Merdeka!

Open waters swimming...

In a tri race, swimming is the first event and for most beginners, it's the hardest and most feared part; especially for me. Well, I've gone from swimming like an elephant to a water hippo :D. Last weekend I went to do a pre-race simulation - meaning I did cycling, running and swimming - at Barton Springs. My supervisor told me that I should try to swim in open waters first before the race so I won't freak out during race day and so I did, at Barton Springs Pool.

It's a natural pool whereby the pool is filled by spring waters and its temperature is maintained at a cold 22 Celsius during summer. That's colder than most offices are and the pool is not only "blessed" with cold waters but also water plants and fishes. And did I mention that it's DARK and DEEP. The deepest part is 6 metres deep and it's dark there. The first time I put on my goggles and started swimming, I panicked! I'm so used to swimming in swallow bright swimming pools that I freaked out when I swam among plants and fishes in extremely cold and dark waters.

As I managed to control myself from shouting for help and continued with my swim, many dark things started to go through my mind. Here's an example: Would I find a badly decomposed body? Would the scary fungus coated plants becomes alive and grab my legs?

And this is another thing that scares me; sometimes when I was swimming, the water would become warm then after a while and almost suddenly becomes extremely cold. Of course I know why it was that way (shaded area are colder than non-shaded area) but reasoning doesn't get into your mind when you're at the edge of fear...

So yea, I'm still here and even managed to get 20+ minutes of swimming before I had to run then ride back home. I have never been so afraid like this in a long time but I had to what I have to do... I don't have time for fear...

Time Crisis

Gosh, it has been long since I last updated. I apologize for that; training for my race has been taking almost my entire free time. I have 13 more days left to my race day so I need to push really hard... I just want to share this quote with you guys...

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go"

I don't think I've gone far enough... =)

Updates:
Here's my training timetable if you're interested... Who says you can only have timetable for classes? =P

BestBuy Store

We went to have a look at BestBuy yesterday and all I have to say is that it's nothing great about it. Maybe I had my expectations too high before coming into the store or maybe I just didn't have much things to buy there. It's huge, lots of spaces between and mostly they're concentrating on products like GPS, phones (mostly with contract), console games (PS3, XBOX, Nintendo Wiis, Nintendo DIs, etc), computers and its accessories, home stuff, CD albums, home theater systems, home appliances and such. It's like the upper floor section of the usual Carrefour stores back in Malaysia but with more choices and bigger area.

Nothing really interesting there except for the moment where me and my housemates were playing GuitarHero Band for an hour or so! =D

BestBuy is not my cup of tea, but REI is! I'm going there today to buy my tri clothes, a backpack and some sport bags! Woo hoo!