thewongfairway-blog

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I’m Back Racing

After a 5 year break I’ve decided to give road racing another go. I didn’t dabble much in it in the past as I was mainly a triathlete. As my knees are not agreeable with me now about running, cycling is now my main form of cardiovascular exercise.

I joined the Footscray Cycling Club and raced in D Grade the previous Saturday. My road bike of choice is a Scott Foil.

It’s my first proper race bike with aggressive geometry. The wheelbase is short and the angles are designed for quickly handling. The head tube is shorter for a more aggressive racing position on the bike.

With my bike sorted I had wanted to train properly for the season but unfortunately I had a bad run with colds this year. I even had a secondary infection which resulted in bronchitis. With time running out I went into my first race without the amount of training I would have liked to have done.

It was a great day to race with warm sunny weather. Footscray CC start their criterium season with races at the Victoria University, Hoppers Crossing campus. The circuit is 1km with 6 corners. I got my number and joined the rest of the D Graders for our briefing. I didn’t know what to expect and just wanted to finish the race with the bunch. We were told that we’ll be spending the first 20 minutes under control doing rolling turns before racing for 20 minutes + 3 laps. The rolling turns were confusing for me as we had to switch sides depending on the wind. The circuit is wide open with no protection from the wind. Awareness of wind direction is really important in a criterium because of all the corners.

I’ve been taught how to do rolling turns before but switching sides to draft from the crosswinds was really confusing. I’ll have to work this out before my next race.

I kept up okay during the turns but blew up a couple of laps after proper racing started. The combination of not drafting correctly and lack of training contributed to me not finishing with the bunch. A race marshal was nice enough to ride me for a cool down and teach me some criterium drafting basics. As mentioned previously, awareness of wind direction is important and knowing where to go after each corner is extremely important.

I was comfortable in the bunch the whole time. The bike cornered beautifully. This season is going to be about learning. Learning how to race in a bunch, learning how to draft, learning to be aware of the wind, learning how to do rolling turns, etc.

I was going to start proper training this week by doing my first FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test but alas I have yet again caught a cold. I’ll have to be patient and wait till I’m well again before resuming training.

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Golf Photography Tips

I was given the opportunity to photograph the golf team from Drummond Golf Carnegie, Cheltenham and Melbourne at their 2017 Good Friday Charity Tournament. Their event supports Golf Fore a Cause, Drummond Golf's charity that supports breast and prostate cancer research.

I would like to share some lessons learned.

Use the right equipment

A responsive camera is essential. The golfer is not going to wait for you. Make sure you set your camera beforehand and have a camera that will fire its shutter on command. For a DSLR that might mean prioritising the shutter firing over focus lock. A camera with a fast frames per second rate is helpful but not essential. Set the shutter speed sufficiently fast enough to freeze the action for crystal clear results.

In this photo, a sufficiently fast shutter speed was able to freeze the golfer but slow enough that the club head is slightly blurry to give it a sense of speed and movement.

A telephoto lens is essential as it gives the golfer space and you out of harm’s way. That being said, don’t be afraid to try using a wide angle lens to get a different look if it’s safe. A larger aperture telephoto lens is usually not essential as golf is a daytime sport (duh Captain Obvious!).

Give the golfer space

As stated above, give the golfer space. The golfer needs space to plan the shot and to swing. Also for your own safety. Getting clocked by a golf club or golf ball is not fun.

Fire the shutter post impact

As much as a photo of the golfer at the top of their backswing looks great, do not fire the shutter at that point during a tournament. Fire the shutter right away when the club impacts the ball. The noise from impact will drown out the sound of the shutter and the golfer will be too focused on their ball flight to notice your camera.

Don’t be afraid of the elements

Prepare for a rainy day. Pack warm and waterproof clothes and weather protection for your equipment if they aren’t weather sealed. You’ll miss out on some nice photo opportunities if you are afraid of getting yourself or your equipment wet.

I put up with the rain to get this photo. The water flying off the golfer’s jacket adds to its dynamic quality.

Keep walking

Don’t stay in one spot and keep taking photos of different golfers at that spot. Walk around the whole course (without disturbing play of course) and get as many different angles and viewpoints as possible.

Vary the framing

Try all sorts of framing. Have photos where you are zoomed into the golfer and photos where you capture views of the golf course.

Capturing the reaction and emotions of the crowd or playing partners can add to the visual story of the photo.

In this photo I have included the background to show how lush and green the golf course is.

In this photo I have chosen to focus the attention on the golfer’s pose and post shot reaction.

Playing partners’ reaction in the background adds emotion to this photo.

Most importantly, go out and have fun with your camera. Enjoy the remaining photos below.

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Back in the Saddle

So I’m back on a bicycle after a 5 year break. My fiancée and I rented bicycles in Kyoto during our holiday and she enjoyed the experience. She wanted to make riding a regular thing so we got ourselves a bicycle each. We looked at Merida, Trek and Giant and settled on Giant road bikes. She got the Liv Avail Disc and I’m riding a Giant Contend Disc.

A lot has changed in the design of the road bicycle since I last rode. Disc brakes are now a popular option and after riding with them a few times I can see why. The alignment of the brake pads is not dependent on the trueness of the wheel. This means the cyclist doesn’t have to adjust the brakes or get the wheels trued as often. I haven’t ridden my new bicycle in the wet but I’m told the issue of water on the rims affecting braking performance is non-existent with disc brakes. The bike also looks neater without the rim brakes on the front and rear of the frame.

My previous bicycle, a Specialized Roubaix, had all the cables exposed. My new Giant has all the cables routed internally. This makes the bike look much neater. The Contend is much “racier” than my old Roubaix, it turns quicker and more sharply. It’s not a pure racer though. I was surprised at how comfortable it was for an alloy bike. The wider tyres do help. 25mm is the new standard and all pros are also racing on this width. I remember the pros use to race on 20mm tyres. The bottom bracket however is not a match for the Roubaix. The Roubaix had a huge and extremely stiff bottom bracket (typical for carbon bikes, they can beef up that area without a huge weight penalty). When I’m out of the saddle and pedalling, I can definitely feel the bottom bracket flex slightly.

 We’ve been on 4 rides so far. I’m pleasantly surprised at how willing my legs are to spin despite a 5 year break. I get saddle sore but that will improve the more I ride. It’s great to feel the endorphins after a ride and I’m enjoying every minute on the bike so far. Allez!

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My Depression

Having depression is like constantly being surrounded by darkness. It overwhelms you and you have no energy or willpower to fight it off. It sucks your motivation out of you. Every negative emotion is attacking you and the positive ones have packed up and left. You’re irritable, tired, impatient, etc. It’s a perpetuating cycle as it affects your rest and sleep so you’re constantly tired which makes you even more irritable. Care factor is zero, you don’t care if you get fired from your job. You don’t care what people think of you so you stop grooming yourself. The mood swings are the worse. One minute you’ll be perfectly fine and the next you’re wondering if there is a reason to keep on living. You ask yourself, how can I have no reason to be miserable but yet be so miserable. You’re well fed, you have a roof to sleep under, you have friends and family who care for but you’re still miserable. Having anxiety issues doesn’t help. I’m scared and tired at the same time.

Fortunately I’m not bipolar. I can’t imagine what it will be like to experience the extreme euphoria to go along with the downs I’ve already experienced. Sometimes the waters are too rough and you can’t use your own strength to stay afloat. I’ve been on anti-depressants for almost 5 months. The medication has certainly helped. It was amazing how it began to work so quickly for me. I could feel something happening in my head. My sleep improved very quickly. The side effects were nasty though but that went away in a few weeks. It’s like having a life jacket to help you stay afloat. It’s not a silver bullet though as I have had periods of feeling depressed. It is easier to pull myself out of it. Anxiety has been alleviated as well. I do tend to have bouts of sudden sleepiness during the day. It’s something I can live with for now. I dread having to go off it as I read the withdrawal can be quite bad but being on this medication permanently is not something I want to do. For now I just have to live life one day at a time.

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Anti-Vaccination Rant

This article (https://goo.gl/j0f45A) has got me fired up to rant about the anti-vaccination people. I have seen a lot of information posted in an attempt to debunk all the myths so I thought I’ll try something different.

Let’s have a talk about how measles infects a human. The measles is particularly nasty because the first cells to be attacked are the macrophages and the dendritic cells. Macrophages are cells that literally eat viruses and bacteria (think Pacman eating the dots). Dendritic cells are messenger cells that communicate between the innate and adaptive immune systems. Infected dendritic cells are dangerous because the virus can hitch a ride through the lymphatic system to other parts of the body. Our first line of defence is bypassed and the delayed response from our bodies results in us getting really sick. In rare instances the virus can even cross the blood brain barrier which can result in a nasty infection and swelling of the brain. Complications arise in 30% of cases and the mortality rate for immune compromised people is 30% (0.3% for otherwise healthy people). Anti-vaccination people might say “Well I eat healthy and take lots of vitamins, I’ll survive this easily with the negligible mortality rate”. Chances are complications will occur and you’ll be dealing with it for up to a year after you recover from the measles. Complications include diarrhoea, pneumonia, bronchitis and corneal ulceration. Your immune system is also severely weakened for months after the infection and you’ll be vulnerable to opportunistic infections. This could easily add up to over a year of feeling terrible (lost productivity, income, no energy for fun times) all because you weren’t vaccinated. I would consider it a disaster if I had to cut back on my golf because of post measles complications not allowing me to play.

Please check out this video from Kurzgesagt, https://goo.gl/gfCNmt. It explains how the measles infection happens brilliantly.

And please, for the love of science, vaccinate yourself and your kids.

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Captain’s log, first entry

Hi there and welcome to the Wong Fairway. My name is Kevin Wong and I’m a (insert country)ian/ese. Actually I’m a Malaysian living in Australia. I was born in Malaysia and my paternal and maternal grandparents were from China. I’m somewhat confused about my identity in this regard and it will be something I will blog about in the future but for now, the show must go on.

I’ve decided to start a blog as I’ve really enjoyed being on Instagram (please follow me, @wong_fairway). It’s easy to use but a bit limited. I feel a blog will allow me to express myself better. I hope to move on to YouTube in the future as well.

There will be no limits for my blog. I will post about anything but I’m guessing the topics will not stray far from my interests. Golf, Australian Shepherds, photography, whinging about people, etc.

This first blog entry is almost done. Time to move on and get started with the blogging. As Big Kev would say, I’m excited!