Hazy Visions of Coffee and Climbing in the Canaries

¡Buenas dias! 

This coffee mug has accompanied me for the last three years - over a plethora of business proposals I had to write in the wee hours of the morning; and the creation of this blog. This black-and-white vessel was first, innocently, christened by my tri-buddy S K Lim with a full douse of beer, at a gathering of like-minded, covert, endurance athletes. It was 2007, and Don Ng and I took on the colossal challenge of completing Ironman Lanzarote – known for its grueling, one-loop, 180K ride around the Canary Islands. Don and I completed in humbling sub-15 hours, 10 minutes apart of each other – I pushed the bike twice near the apex of the ride (2,500 metres) as my personal strategy to save my legs. Lesson learnt: Use road-bikes with compact cranks and be adequately nourished. Carbon tri-bikes just did not cut it.

On 21 May 2011, I will attempt my second shot at this beautiful Spanish island and, hopefully, slash some serious time off. The usual suspects from IMWA will join me – Charles Teng, John Cooke and Nigel Chua. Don will head off for his second attempt at Norseman, a cruel Ironman triathlon fate with enough heart-stopping and heart-accelerating moments. Live to tell! Nada es imposible!