Swim Session—Stroke Correction

Almost 3 years ago, during a dinner party, someone brought up the idea of attempting the triathlon. I have to say that triathlon sounds like an interesting sport, but the thing that made me doubtful about attempting it was the swimming discipline. I can swim the distance, but I can only do the breaststroke. I've never been any good at the freestyle. After that dinner party, I did try to swim again after about 15 years, but I haven't really been very successful in the freestyle.

Well, I have since conquered the sprint distance triathlon as well as the so-called modified distance (which was slightly longer than the Olympic distance), and both times in Miri. However, at both these events, I used the breaststroke. I think that style is good enough for shorter triathlon events, but it would be ideal if I could use the freestyle, especially when attempting longer triathlon distances. 

I heard that there will be a half Ironman distance in Nusajaya later this year. That would be a good event to explore, so it is now even  more important that I learn the freestyle. In fact, I have been trying to learn that style over the last few months, but although I have slight improvement, it is still very slow.

Therefore, when Judy suggested that we invite Stephanie Chok, the former state swimmer and national triathlete, to conduct a stroke correction swim workshop, I told myself that I must attend. It was held at the Likas swimming pool at 9:30am today. But before that I went for my weekly cycling. I had to cut short my ride to 50km to make it back in time for the swim workshop. Judy was supposed to ride with us too, but she texted me in the wee hours of the morning to say that she did not know how to assemble her bike! You see, she had just returned from Port Dickson last weekend for the triathlon. So there you go—a triathlete who doesn't know how to assemble back her own bike!

Anyway, I was surprised to see quite a big turnout at the pool when I arrived. Stephanie was already there in her grand swimming outfit.

And by the way, those of you who are still doubtful or unsure, let me hasten to confirm that Stephanie does have a pair of breasts, thank you.

Judy was also there, and just as I was approaching the pool, she was just about to start her warm-up lap.

But of course before that, the ladies simply had to take some photos first; it wouldn't have been them if they hadn't, if you know what I mean?

Even Alex, whom I haven't seen for ages since he broke his arm last year, was also there!

It wasn't meant to be a swimming lesson; rather an opportunity to be seen swimming by Stephanie, so that she can perhaps identify our weaknesses and suggest possible remedies. The session was quite an eye-opener, but I'm beginning to get very tired of hearing that my strokes are too stiff. I've been trying very hard to deal with that problem for a long time now, in fact since 3 years ago as reported here!

To make her point, Stephanie told us to observe her strokes from underwater. Oh! she can really swim, that woman; she made it look so easy! From underwater angle, I struggled for a bit to watch her arms in action, because the XY genes in my DNA kept shifting my focus to the lower half of her body instead of her arms. But I was able to concentrate on her arms anyway (it wasn't easy to fight instinct, you know).

One by one we swam a short distance, and Stephanie gave her assessments and suggestions for remedial steps to improve. Douglas Chong was the most special swimmer of the day—we were all either swimming breaststroke or freestyle, but he would not have any of it; he swam the backstroke instead! I can understand what he's going through as I was just like him some years ago. Upon encouragement from Stephanie, however, he eventually ventured out a few metres with the freestyle; and gave me quite a scare, he did too! We were all clinging onto the side wall watching him approach. And because of the design of the pool with ridiculously high side wall, Douglas had to struggle to reach up to rest. He behaved like he was about to drown, while Stephanie was still calmly giving him compliments!

The session was just for an hour, and I didn't realise the time had slipped away so quickly. We all swam back to the other side of the pool where one by one we had to pull ourselves up the ridiculously high side wall. But when it was Judy's turn, she made it look like it's a complicated wall-climbing endeavour, thus provoking Stephanie to comment absently-mindedly that Judy needs to build up her upper body strength! I'm sure even Spider-Man would have cringed seeing her climb that wall. Unfortunately, our official cameraman had already gone home by then (where are the cameramen when we really need them?!).

So now that I know that I'm still stiff, I guess I will have to spend more time to focus on how to solve that particular problem! I will work on it again, hopefully beginning from next week, and then if there is an opportunity, get Stephanie to see me swim again in a few weeks' time. 

I'll be back!

30 June 2013—Ideal For Marathon In Kuala Lumpur

A few days before the Borneo International Marathon (BIM) last month, as all the participants were getting excited about the race, it was suddenly announced that the event had to be postponed on advice from the police on grounds of safety of the participants. It was a difficult decision by the organiser, but it was the right call. What followed next was something akin to a tsunami of negative comments from many participants who felt that the announcement should have been made much earlier, although admittedly there were also many who agreed with the postponement.

Despite the postponement of the event, however, a sizable number of participants ran their respective race categories anyway on the day the marathon was supposed to have taken place. In the end, no security issues arose during the run, and later it was mentioned that the race should not have been postponed!

A few weeks later, the Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) suffered an almost similar fate—the haze situation began to worsen in KL beginning from about 2 weeks before the event, and it reached an unhealthy level. The organiser kept everybody in suspense while they waited for things to improve, but it did not seem to get any better. By Wednesday, just a few days before the race, the organiser had to reluctantly announce that the race had been postponed to 29 September. Again there was an avalanche of negative comments from many participants who felt cheated, having trained for months, and having paid for flights and hotel rooms.

The funny thing was that almost as soon as the postponement announcement was made, perhaps with the help of rains and change of wind direction, the haze situation very quickly improved in KL; so much so that by Saturday the city was enjoying a bright blue sky, with practically no trace of the haze!

Then came a second wave of grumbling from the participants, saying that the organiser should have delayed their announcement until much later; at least till Friday or even Saturday. 

And today, the supposed day of the race, a bunch of hardcore runners ran the marathon course; and it's kinda annoying to hear comments like the weather condition this morning was "ideal to achieve a personal best"!

Observing these people and their antics from the sideline, I can't help but smile to myself. You see, when something like this happens, almost anything the organiser decides to do would never be satisfactory—making the announcement early or late—either way, they are screwed! 

Hindsight is twenty-twenty

When seeing something as an accomplished event, it is very easy to say something like "the organiser should have known that the haze was clearing up; that it was obvious that the weather on the race day would be perfect for the race". 

Unfortunately, the reality is that the organiser, while deliberating the postponement at the time when the haze situation seemed hopeless, did not have a crystal ball which can confirm with 100% certainty a perfect weather for a race. The only thing that's certain at that point of time was that if it were to proceed with the race, and then the haze situation did not improve, resulting in the participants becoming ill, it would get into big-time trouble! So many things could go wrong, such as people suffering respiratory complications and a host of other health issues; even deaths.

Too many of the participants have no idea whatsoever of the kind of responsibility shouldered by the organiser as far as the well-being of the 33,000 participants is concerned. It's decision, whatever that may be, can have far-reaching consequences upon the participants. Whenever in doubt, the only possible decision is to err on the side of caution—there should be absolutely no compromise for the safety of the participants.

I was supposed to run the full marathon this morning in KL. I've been preparing for the race for some weeks now. Because of the postponement, I decided there's not much point to go to KL if it's just for a matter of a "fun run". In the end, I had to forgo flight and hotel expenses which are non-refundable. It's not amusing—that! I can't say that I'm not disappointed. But I have faith in the organiser; I'm confident that whatever decision it arrived at, it must have been made in the best interest of the participants.

Back Onto The Saddle

In the weeks leading up to the Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM), I have been fully focused in my training, as I was hoping to achieve a personal best, or at least to improve on my time last year. So I had to forgo cycling for a bit. Unfortunately, earlier this week, it was officially announced that the SCKLM had to be postponed to 29 September 2013 due to the then bad haze situation in KL. Some of my friends have gone ahead to KL anyway for a short holiday in lieu of the race. But I decided to go cycling instead, and perhaps run a half marathon tomorrow.

You see, I have registered for the Sundown Ultra 100km marathon in mid-September, so I will have to embark on my back-to-back long runs anyway. However, in the hope that I can spare my knees a bit of stress, I've decided to cycle on Saturdays and then run on Sundays. I'm not sure if that will work equally well, but after all I'm just aiming to finish within 15 hours or so. Winning is of course out of the question!

Well, I reached the Likas Golf Driving Range (where we normally assemble) at about 6am this morning and was surprised to see Judy there. Judy had recently bought herself a bike and started joining us on a few Saturdays; and she had been going farther and farther out on each outing. But I didn't think that the postponement of the SCKLM would stop her from going to KL. I was like, surely the race isn't the only reason for her to go to KL?

My other friends, Teo Chen Lung, Hana and Amy were also there, as were some other cyclists. The mission today was to ride for a distance of about 70km to 80km. We started from the Driving Range at about 10 minutes after 6; and Amy, Judy and some others quickly surged ahead, leaving Teo, Hana and I behind. But I've never really been overly concerned about speed during training.

Along the way north, we caught glimpses of Amy and Judy a couple of times several hundred metres ahead. For the most part, we maintained a speed of about 30km/h. But after the Mengkabong bridge, I suggested to Teo and Hana to increase the speed a little to about 32-33km/h. Very soon, we caught up with Amy and Judy again at the Mengkabong roundabout. But instead of going straight beyond that roundabout, they decided to turn back there and then. The three of us decided that we might as well continue north as planned. It probably took us perhaps almost 10 minutes before we reached the T-junction where we turned back. By then, I suppose Amy and Judy would have been far ahead of us on their way back to Likas.

It was basically a mild workout as we had intended it to be. Hana did very well this morning, as she showed no sign of fatigue. I'm confident that she will do well in the Gold Coast Airport Marathon in 2 weeks' time. And of course, Teo, who's training for the Ironman next year, is even  more relaxed than both of us, but surprisingly, he kept his cool. It was generally uneventful throughout our journey back to Likas, until we reached the Kingfisher roundabout when we spotted Judy and Amy up ahead! They were riding fairly slow by then, and I thought that was uncharacteristic of these women. They are essentially animals of speed—whenever they run or cycle, the theme is always fast, fast, fast. Since Judy is a new cyclist, I thought it had something to do with exhaustion due to the extended distance. But somehow that explanation did not seem very convincing to me.

As we drew closer to them, however, I noticed that Judy was in a mess—her tights were basically covered in mud and sand; her top was also smudged. Both her right elbow and right knee were bleeding. It was obvious that the has had some sort of mishap somehow.

We eventually arrived at the Driving Range together, and Judy told us her interesting adventure of the day. She had somehow gone too close to the roadside (quite normal for most new cyclists) and ended up falling down onto a sandy patch. It wasn't anything serious though, but here are some of the shots I've managed to take.

The brownish patches on her tights and top were not fashion, by the way; those were the result of the fall.

And this is a close-up shot. Just look at that awesome well-developed thigh! By the way, that's the thigh of a sub-4hr marathon runner.

 

I bet Judy will remember not to ride too close to the side of the road because of this wound. But thankfully it's just a small wound. I hope it will heal fast enough before the Port Dickson Triathlon next Sunday.

They decided to have a proper pose to mark the solemnity of the moment. But just to set the record straight, in spite of what Teo seems to be doing in this photo, let me hasten to assure my readers that he did not use his finger to poke a poke-able object. It only seems like it, I swear!

Nevertheless, I found it a bit strange that Teo told me to post these photos as soon as possible (I took these photos with my phone). I wonder why. I merely said yes, I will post them soon; and then Teo practically just dumped his bike onto his truck, and left the parking lot in a jiffy; tyre screeching and all; thus leaving behind his expensive aerowheel in the middle of the road, as if it's a piece of worthless item!

I can only guess that he was planning to sneak into his office in the afternoon, where he can lock himself up, and then feast his eyes on that second photo above; maybe fantasizing for a bit while he's doing that? But this is just my pure speculation, of course!

On a serious note, I have a soft spot for women in general. It pains my heart to see them hurt. But I know Judy is a strong woman, and she will learn from this experience! Wait till she starts putting on the cycling shoes; now that would be even more interesting!

Curse of The Marathons

A loyar buruk friend of mine, Teo Chen Lung, pointed out a curious trend in marathon events over the past couple of months. You see, he spent some months preparing for the New York City Marathon last November, seeking to achieve his personal best, and then had to spend quite a lot of money on travelling, food and lodging expenses; not to mention the long, long exhausting journey from KK to New York, only to be told that the race had been cancelled when he arrived there! He ended up running in the park to make the best of what was already a hopeless situation. Leter on, when he arrived home, he wrote to the organizer; I don’t know how he did it, but he eventually got the official medal for the race by running in the park! 

To digress a bit, Teo has an unfathomable fascination and fetish for medals—in fact, any type of medal. He’s been collecting his medals for some years now and it’s becoming something of an obsession to him. He reminds me of Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel in The Ice Age, whose obsession of the acorn is the trademark of the Ice Age movies. Teo pictures himself at his old age—probably smiling to the ceiling while he’s doing this—showing off his medals to his grandchildren sitting on his lap, and explaining to them all the great achievements in his day. But I hope I’m able to live long enough to be there to remind him that the New York City Marathon medal should not count! 

Anyway, After the New York City Marathon, the world was shocked by the senseless bombings at the Boston Marathon earlier this year. Terrorism has now spread to affect sports events too. 

Then more recently still, our very own Borneo International Marathon here in KK had to be postponed on police advice, on grounds of safety issue. 

And now, this!—the Standard Chartered KL Marathon (SCKLM) scheduled for this coming Sunday (30 June) is at risk of being cancelled or postponed too; this time because of the haze situation which has reached a dangerous level. As I’m writing this, we’re still waiting for the latest decision from the organiser. According to the weather forecast, apparently it’s expected to rain in KL within a day or two, and that may help to clear away the haze. So the organiser remains hopeful to proceed with the race. 

I ran the full marathon in the SCKLM last year with a 4:09 finish. I have since achieved a 3:53 finish in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon earlier this year, but somehow I feel the SCKLM is tougher because it is much warmer and humid than Hong Kong. Also, the hilly terrain at the tail end of the race does not help at all. Nonetheless, I’m hoping to at least improve on my 4:09 last year. I’m not even going to consider repeating the Hong Kong feat in KL. But at the start gun, I will try to plan for a 4-hour finish and try to hold the pace for as long as I can. Then hopefully, if I lost steam as the race progresses, maybe I can still finish inside the 4:09 mark. 

I’ve been looking forward to the SCKLM; flights and hotel room all paid up. If it doesn’t happen, I’m really gonna be disappointed! If there is any truth in Teo’s observation on the recent trend in marathon events, maybe I should consider exploring a new hobby. 

Keeping my fingers crossed.

KK Challenge 8

I started organising the KK Challenge treasure hunt series some years ago, and I meant to make it an annual event. But somehow I couldn't find a suitable time to organise one last year. I've been spending increasingly more of my time either running, cycling or swimming these days. Then a few weeks ago, I decided to revive my KK Challenge hunt again. Over the years, my KK Challenge hunts—now in its 8th edition—have come to be something sought-after by the local hunters, and winning it has become something close to an obsession to some teams, not because it offers big cash prizes, but rather the fight is more for bragging rights.

Yesterday, 14 teams started from the Borneo Resthouse, located along Jalan Penampang for a 5-hour fun-filled trip around the KK neighbourhood; 4 of those were new teams. Well, at least they were new to my KK Challenge hunt. From the beginning, I had wanted to make this hunt something enjoyable for the new teams, but still remain faithful to its billing as a challenging hunt. I gave a generous amount of easy questions which were very solvable even for the new hunters. These included spotting of taglines, or straightforward general knowledge questions. And even if they were cryptic, I tried to make the questions as interesting as possible. 

I was a bit puzzled, however, by what I thought was a fairly easy question at the first hunt sector, which was not solved by some regular teams.

Q2) Goatee's locations in here

Later on, at the Lintas Square sector, again I was fairly surprised when a question which I did not mean to be a tough one apparently gave the regular teams quite a challenge!

Q15) Business name in trade techniques

I'm glad to say, however, that most of the questions I set along major highways were well answered, thus indicating that they did not cause too much trouble to the teams. This was according to my plan, of course, as I did not plan to cause them to spend too much time lingering along major roads and risk accidents there.

Q13) Helpers from the east are prepared to go forward

It was quite a distance from the highway, but fairly isolated and can be clearly seen from the car.

However, I did not want this hunt to be solely about the new hunters by neglecting the regular teams. So I had to throw in some more interesting questions too. Otherwise, they would finish the hunt within 3 hours! Here is a taste of something which I'd say quite decent for the local "regular" teams.

Q16) Daim becomes pale due to this

But although I had wanted to give a tougher question, I did not expect that only 2 teams found BLOCK A. I suspect it must have been a case of extremely thick rust from too long rest from hunting?

And later on at the Jalan Kilang sector, again I was pleasantly surprised when only 3 teams solved this question:

Q28) She needs them to cook dishes

However the biggest surprise of the day was the following question which was solved only by the winning team (another team solved it too, but I rejected it on technical grounds):

Q27) Haiwan tak bersayap, sangat lama kemudian, menjadi haiwan bersayap?

A seemingly straightforward charade clue that escaped the radars of the regular teams. I can only guess that it's a classic case of temporary blind spot.

An amusing attempt to conjure a "double-layer" clue which I did not mean to be difficult, ended up as something very challenging, and it totally destroyed the winning team's attempt to achieve a perfect score for this hunt!

Q25) Kari asam lemak - enaknya lebih terdahulu?

Of course I realise that these questions are of elementary level for our friends from the west, but sometimes psychological elements may have a big impact in transforming a seemingly "easy" question into a very difficult one! Those who've hunted in my hunts before would testify that I frequently employ the element of psychology when setting my questions. For example for the above question, there was a prominent eatery known for its curry fish head. The signboard practically shouted to be noticed by the teams! But how does one drag one's focus away from such an inviting signboard; that's the question!

As for the treasures, only one worth mentioning here, and it's not really tough when you come to think of it. But I had expected that it could be a challenge for most of our local teams, including the so-called "regular" ones.

Treasure 4

She ran with John McCain, taking 500 to Rome
Such is the hint on how the name of T4 is formed
Chewy candies, the flavour and size you decide
In an unopened pack, otherwise it is not right

Again, in my mind, perhaps a strong hunter from the west would find such a treasure clue somewhat decent, but not very challenging. But only the top 3 winning teams solved it. I had expected this treasure clue to be decisive, and it was indeed decisive!

I'm pleased to note that the hunters had a good time; and after the hunt, everyone congratulated and thanked me for a good time. But then came the expected question: When is the next hunt?

The top 5 winning teams are:

Champion: Main Tembak (96/100)
Alvin Wong, Bernard Liew, Christine Netto & Audrey Chin

2nd Place: Charlie's Angels (84/100)
Teo Chen Lung, Claire Andrew, Vivian Cham & Christy Kong

3rd Place: PAAMAD (76/100)
Malcolm Abidin, Talissa Kiandee & Robinson Ken Malangkig

4th Place: Mung Cha Cha (74/100)
Ellen Yee, Liaw Yun Haw, Shirley Lim & Mary Lokupi

5th Place: Dolom Hunters (73/100)
Felix Joikon, Insan Muslimin, Daisy Mark & Stella M.

Congratulations to all winners, especially to the top 3 teams. As for the rest, please don't be discouraged. Try harder to win those forsaken elusive medals in the next KK Challenge!

The Survival Instinct

Many years ago, as a teenager, during a long school holiday, I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in the interior, mingling with the Muruts. Among the many things that I can still remember about those good old days was how a porcupine had bitten off its own leg to free itself from a trap set by the Muruts. It made me think that the survival instinct is quite an amazing thing. In fact, not too long ago, I posted something about survival instinct in this blog here.

More recently, I read with interest the story of how a man named Aron Ralston had amputated his own right arm to free himself from a dislodged boulder. How far would one go for the sake of survival? I think there is no question that I would readily lose an arm or leg for the sake of survival, but I'm not sure if I have the guts to actually amputate my own arm and leg—I'd probably faint halfway doing it! It's not something that I'd be happy to do though; it has to be absolutely the very last option available to me.

A couple of weeks ago, Angelina Jolie made headlines when she revealed that she had had preventive double mastectomy as reported here. Jolie's case is somewhat different from that of Ralston's because in the latter case, without cutting off his arm, death was almost certain to follow very quickly. Whereas in Jolie's case, her breasts were healthy and no cancer had been diagnosed when she decided for the procedure. I think it is safe to assume that most—if not all—women would readily have a double mastectomy too if they're diagnosed with breast cancer; but I'm not sure about healthy breasts. 

It begs the inevitable question: Why remove a pair of healthy breasts?

Apparently, statistics suggest that Jolie had an 87% risk of getting cancer because of a defective gene, BRCA1 in her body. Did Jolie overreact? What do you think?

An email, forwarded by an acquaintance, reached my inbox a couple of days ago. In it, the author condemned Jolie for self mutilation; that she had been duped by doctors who were all out to make money from performing surgeries on her! He saw no sense in cutting off healthy breasts because according to him, there are many other alternative measures available to prevent breast cancer from ever developing. Amongst others, he suggested a change in lifestyle, including her diet. He claimed that some foods are good to fight cancer.

Incidentally, I know of a fair number of people who are involved in direct-selling, e,g. Amway, Cosway, Elken etc. I suspect they, too, may claim that their food supplements are good in the prevention of many, many illnesses and diseases. And perhaps they, too, would see Jolie as overreacting.

I'm not convinced that food supplements or change in diet can guarantee the prevention of cancer. I just don't believe it's that simple.

But here's the thing about cancer—once diagnosed, it is an extremely difficult disease to beat. The very mutilation that one tries so hard to prevent would become almost a certainty anyway; and even then the end result is not always favourable.

My niece was 21 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer. She was a seemingly healthy young woman with such a promising future. No history of major health problems. Yet despite several surgeries which literally amounted to the mutilation of her body, chemotherapy and months of suffering, she lost the battle less than a year later. But of course they are few who may survive cancer; the keyword here is "few".

I guess it's a close call, but if I were told that I have an 87% risk of getting cancer, I would do exactly what Jolie did. I mean, if I'm willing to lose a perfectly functioning arm or leg to save my life, then what's there to stop me from giving up my breasts, right? Beauty or pride means nothing if I'm dead!

Brands Immunity—Aerowheels Review

I was reliably informed by a lady friend of mine that:

"Everything is made in China, except babies...
Babies are made in Va-China"

For the treasure hunter readers of this blog, let me hasten to say that there is supposed to be a "sounds like indicator" somewhere in the second line.

Earlier this year, I bought a tri-bike with the intention of joining more triathlon events within the region. But I've been occupied with the Vibram HK 100km ultra trail race, followed by the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. It wasn't until a few months after I bought the bike that I finally took it out for a spin. However, the bike did not come with the aerowheels. So I spent a bit of time searching online as well as asking friends about aerowheels. I was fairly surprised that aerowheels can be quite expensive, and I wasn't  even sure what exactly can they do for me. 

Now some of my close friends are aware that I'm absolutely immune from brandnames whenever I buy stuff. There are many famous brands for aero wheelsets out there at astronomical prices. It's not really a matter of affordability, because quite honestly, I can afford to buy the expensive ones too. But I'm just not convinced that they are any different from the cheaper "brand-less" types.

Then one fine day, I found aero wheelsets made in China. I mentioned it briefly to my friend, Teo, who quickly brushed them off as "unreliable". In fact, I suppose to him, anything made in China is unreliable. Whenever he buys stuff, he will see to it that he buys among the top of the range as far as brands are concerned. He was so sure that the China-made wheels are not good that he told me not to come crying to him when and if I eventually lost to another friend in a future race. But I said I'll try not to.

Well, I soon made the order and the wheels duly arrived here in KK. I chose the clincher type. After fixing the tyres etc, I brought it out for a spin about 2 weeks ago. And this morning, I tested them again.

So here I am to share my experience with the readers; well, at least whatever little that I've learned so far. I tried these wheels at varying speeds from as slow as a leisurely 20kph up to about 43kph on the highway which is mainly flat, although there were some undulating slopes too. 

The first thing that I realised about aerowheels is that there's hardly any difference when compared to ordinary wheels when riding at anything under 35kph. In fact, in some cases, eg when going up slopes, they can be a liability! But when riding over the speed of 35kph on flat surface, although it takes a little effort to get to that speed, it is slightly easier to maintain that speed. It feels as if one needs lesser work when compared to using the ordinary wheels. I'm not sure if this is still true for longer distances though, because I haven't gone very far yet. Maybe with tired legs even a little effort is a lot of effort to maintain the high speed!

Teo is also convinced that a brand-less China-made aerowheels are not reliable in terms of strength. He implies that it's worth to invest in the expensive branded ones because these brand-less China-made ones are liable to fail, structurally, while I'm riding fast, thus causing serious injuries. So far, these wheels are holding steady. But maybe that's because I haven't been spending a lot of time riding with them yet, I don't know.

The only small issue I have is that whenever I apply the brakes, especially the rear wheel, there is an awful loud sound produced by the brakepads. I'm not sure if this is because of the quality of the brakepads or anything to do with the wheel itself, but otherwise so far I'm quite happy with these wheels, even though the guys are enjoying themselves laughing at my brand-less China-made wheels! Well, you know what? I'm quite proud of my China-made wheels; and I love the plain black colour too!

Obviously two short rides of about 40km-50km can't qualify for a proper review of these wheels, but I'm planning to regularly use them over the next couple of months. If there is anything new that I can learn about them, good or bad, I will post another review again later.