Hike in Hong Kong!

Post-Trailwalker recovery run on Plover Cove

When I was running Stage 10 of the Maclehose trail during the Trailwalker, I realized (yet again) how boring it was. In fact, almost all of the reservoir trails in Hong Kong are dead boring except for the reservoir I personally own — Plover Cove. You don’t realize how much you miss something until you’re away from it. So, I decided to go run around *my* reservoir today (I think for the 10th time this year) and I also decided to gift the Mac 10 reservoir to former Plover Cover owner Hannes Niggli. (He needs something to own other than Mong Kok. Besides, whatever said and done, at the end of the day, I AM a generous guy!)

Another reason for the run was to test how quickly I’d be able to recover after a 100km run. Why? There is a pretty insane event being organized in Hong Kong in January. See this link. Andre has a new twist to the already insane challenge. He is challenging someone to do the four big trails of Hong Kong (Maclehose, Wilson, Hong Kong Trail and Lantau Trail) in 3 days. That’s roughly 300kms. Possible? Not sure. Time will tell. But I know there at least two insane guys contemplating on taking up the challenge. One is my Trailwalker teammate Chad and the other … is a stunning looking, talented Indian guy. (No prizes for guessing who that is). But, I have to admit, I might do 2 trails in 2 days and call it quits. Even insanity has its limits.

Anyway, going back to the post-Trailwalker recovery run around my reservoir, it went pretty well. I attempted getting under the 2-hour barrier but I had strict “no injury” orders to obey. So, I went at my optimal pace and finished strong in 2 hours and 8 minutes! As I read on a road sign during my epic motorbike trip around Kashmir in India, “Speed thrills but kills”. But, they were probably referring to those lunatic truck drivers…

Garmin.

Back to my Plover Cove

It is, of course, a well known fact that I own Plover Cove. Not that I need to prove anything regarding ownership, but I wanted to see what it would take for me to do a Sub 2 hours Plover Cove circuit. Again, having run Plover Cove eight times this year alone (that’s not including races), I am rightfully entitled to own her. She’s all mine. I’ve got the maximum number of runs there. Period.

All I wanted to do today was to see what it would take for me to do the circuit in sub 2 hours.

(1) Temperature: Although the weather today was not as hot as it is during May/June, it was still hot! Plover Cove is HOT! And, I mean both “hot” as in pretty and “hot” as in temperature! An ideal Sub 2 hours would need Jan/Feb kind of temperature

(2) Faster flat stretches and faster downhill speed: I think my uphill speed was good enough (I was even running up anything that was less than 40 degrees in inclination). On the flats, I averaged around 11-12kmh. A successful sub 2 hour attempt would need 13-14kmh flat running speed

(3) More risks! I’ll need to skip steps while running down and push the body beyond the “enjoyable” limits

2 hours 8 minutes was what it took me today at an enjoyable yet optimized speed. To cut off 9 minutes more from that might not be my cup of tea. But, as the owner, I give everyone else permission to attempt that!

The details

At Tai Mei Tuk

Garmin.

Recovery Run/Hike – Cloudy Hill, Pat Sin Leng and Plover Cove

112 – that’s the magic number. My total mileage for last week. Two words to summarize it – “too much!” So, after having already run 44kms this week, I wanted to do a lazy 37km recovery run to give my legs a chance to recover from training too much. Besides, my two teammates Vic and Romain were also uncharacteristically feeling extremely lazy. I’ll tell you why in a second but, before that, here’s what the Hong Kong Government advises people to do when there is a Typhoon 8 signal.

Typhoon 8 Precautions
Do not stand near windows on the exposed side of your home. Move all furniture and valuables away from these areas. Make sure you have a safe place to shelter, should windows be broken.

Avoid staying in the street. Return home as soon as possible if conditions so permit.

When Typhoon Kai Tak paid a visit to Hong Kong on Thursday night, my HKTR teammates had a game plan. And, it didn’t quite involve heeding HK Government’s “avoid staying in the street” precaution. Instead, in their typical insane fashion, they literally threw caution to the wind and embarked on an overnight 48km Typhoon 8 run beginning at 10.30pm, exactly when the Number 8 Typhoon Signal was hoisted. They were banking on the Signal 8 lasting throughout the night and on Friday, meaning they wouldn’t need to go to work on Friday.

They met in Yau Tong, ran the Wilson trail until Sha Tin pass and then ran stages 6,7 and 8 of the Mac, finishing at 6.30am in Route Twisk. That’s 48kms in distance and about 2500m in elevation under a Typhoon 8 signal! It was as though they disdainfully danced on the butt of the typhoon! Of course, no typhoon would have tolerated such blatant disrespect. So, in what seemed like a brutal act of sweet revenge, typhoon Kai Tak taught them a lesson by weakening just in time for work on Friday morning! That left Romain spending all day at work on Friday without having slept a wink the previous night while Vic feigned some excuse and “worked from home” on Friday (read: slept at home).

When I met Romain in the morning, unsurprisingly, he looked exhausted – both physically and mentally. Vic looked better (thanks to “working from home”) but still seemed tired from the typhoon festivities. All in all, this meant that we all were going to take today’s run very easy!

The Group

Continue reading about the 3-in-1 experience

Fulfilling responsibilities + admiring the beauty of Plover Cove

The Webster dictionary defines “responsibility” as “moral, legal or mental accountability”. Shirking responsibility is defined as “evading the performance of an obligation”.

As one of the owners of Plover Cove, I have assumed full responsibility of ensuring that the trail is free of litter and well taken care of. This requires the commitment to run around Plover Cove in all kinds of weather – scorching heat, bitter cold, thunderstorms, typhoons, etc, etc.

My fellow “owner” Hannes Niggli, hardly shows up, if ever. And on a hot day like today when the temperature reached 34 degrees celcius, he was off relaxing in Switzerland. The run today required 4L of water! It was HOT. But, I showed up. And that’s despite having run a hilly 32km yesterday. If this isn’t being truly responsible, what is! I’ll have to gather public support to oust him as one of the owners of Plover Cove and assume full control.

The views were absolutely breathtaking. It’s hard to believe that Hong Kong is home to such natural beauty. Take a look.

Taken in the beginning

Continue to watch some truly awesome pics of Plover Cove

Cloudy Hill, Pat Sing Leng and a SUPER HOT Plover Cove

One of the hardest 37km courses in Hong Kong has to be Tai Wo MTR to Tai Mei Tuk via Cloudy Hill, Pat Sin Leng and Plover Cove. And when it is HOT, I promise you – you ain’t gonna love this course! It’s a true acid test of a trail runner’s ability to withstand heat!

As the whole world already knows, I own the last part of the course, i.e. Plover Cove. I can make a legitimate claim to Pat Sin Leng as well but in order to give “other people” (read: Hannes Niggli) a chance to own something, I am doing the noble thing and not contesting ownership of Pat Sin Leng. However, despite resolving the Plover Cove ownership dispute successfully and in a true gentlemanly fashion, it looked to me like Hannes wasn’t treating me like an equal partner as he unilaterally declared the following on the event page: “i have opened both properties for ‘common people’s access’ but please observe opening hours as i will close pat sin leng at 1030 and plover cove at 1300″.

8 of us showed up at Tai Wo MTR station to take on the heat and this course. Except for my teammate Vic, who was much slower than usual because of a highly intensive gym workout the previous day, we were mostly running as a group until the first hill of Pat Sin Leng.

The group

As I was by the side of the trail on top of Pat Sin Leng, I saw Romain pass me without noticing me. I waited for the rest of the group to catch up with us and once they did, I chased after Romain. He thought I was in front of him and was running at a fast pace to “catch up” with me! That’s like the Coyote running after Road Runner! This little unintentional chase took us too far ahead of the group! By the time we reached the end of Pat Sin Leng, we were roughly 30+ minutes ahead of the group. The sun was also shining strongly and we were out of water; so, we decided to wait for the rest of the group at Wu Kau Tang. For immediate relief from the strong sun, we decided to take a much-needed dip in the Bridespool pools.

Bridespool falls

Cooling down in Bridespool

This relief from the sun was short-lived as we started our climb on Plover Cove. To give you a taste of what it was like, I am going to ask you to imagine that you are in a HOT yoga session (no, no, no, no, I mean WITHOUT the hot girls!) Now, imagine being trapped right under the source of the hot air with no escape. Next, substitute the hot yoga exercise with 17kms of trail running that includes some killer ups and downs. That is what it was like! As Romain soon discovered, that’s not a very pleasant experience! The heat takes away all the energy from the body. The views were indeed ever so beautiful, but it’s hard to appreciate beauty when you are in a beat up state!

Can you appreciate this beauty..

When you are in this state?

Unwilling to succumb to the scorching heat, we soldiered on slowly, yet steadily. Soon, we were almost out of water! I realized that the two most precious commodities under hot weather are shade and water! Then came a big surprise from Vic in the form of a text message. He was walking towards us from the other direction carrying a cargo of 5 bottles of cold water! It reminded me of my teammate Dominic’s gesture when we attempted this course under similar weather in 2010! When someone brings you cold water when you most need it, you never forget it! Thank you Vic!

Vic bringing us water

Suffering (and surviving) the last leg

A very sensible warning from the Government

And there’s only one way to aptly conclude the 37km run for the day under scorching heat. And that is to take a dip in the Plover Cove reservoir!

Chilling (literally) in my reservoir

Oh and before I forget, the icing on the cake was a special video we shot for Hannes at MY reservoir.

Special message for Hannes

Garmin.

GPX.

Sunday was officially supposed to be rest day. But during the “resting” moments, glimpses of Plover Cove kept flashing in my mind. Like a responsible owner who matches words with not only action, but also with a lot of love and dedication, I instinctively decided to go on a spin around my reservoir. For the record, this is the 5th time I have run Plover Cove this year. That’s a full 18km of love and care! And, I have done at least a part of the course a total of 9 times this year. Now, you tell me, if this isn’t true love, what is?

Oh, and as for my speed, who cares? When you talk about love and care, speed is of least importance.

Summary:
Distance: 17.88 km
Time: 2:25:00
Elevation Gain: 564 m

Garmin.

GPX.

Cloudy Hill, Pat Sin Leng AND Plover Cove

We were supposed to have heavy thunderstorms yesterday. So, I conveniently used Hong Kong Observatory’s weather forecast as an excuse to sleep in, instead of getting up early in the morning to do a trail run. When I finally awoke from my slumber, I was full of guilt. Trust me, an athlete succumbing to the vice called “extended sleep” is like a politician succumbing to bribe! What didn’t help one bit was the view from outside my window. The sun was shining nice and bright! I wanted to sue the Hong Kong Observatory for causing needless mental anguish. A couple of hours later, I heard heavy thunder. Soon, black clouds blanketed the skies. Within a span of a couple of hours, the skies went from being illuminated by the sun to being illuminated by frequent lightening. The guys at the observatory probably felt vindicated! I even suggested that they change their motto to: “HK Observatory, we always have the last laugh!”

The prediction for today, yet again, was heavy rain. However, there was no way we were going to fall victim to the trap of extended sleep. Besides, what was in store for the day was way too exciting. We were going to do a run covering three of Hong Kong’s most beautiful trails: Cloudy Hill, Pat Sin leng and my very own home, Plover Cove. That’s like getting a high dosage of endorphins from nature for free! The first time I attempted this run, I ran out of water in the middle of Plover Cove and was suffering from all sorts of cramps until my friend Dominic brought me water at the end of the Plover Cove dam. The second time I attempted it, I almost had a heatstroke on Plover Cove and had to walk at a snail’s pace to complete the course. It took us roughly 4.5 hours just on this leg that day.

Today, the weather seemed perfect for this run. Contrary to the Observatory’s forecast, there was hardly any rain. And, no, they didn’t have the last laugh either! In fact, it was sunny in the afternoon! I guess even the observatory boys get it wrong at times. Steven and I maintained a steady and fast pace on both Cloudy Hill and Pat Sin Leng. I attempted what I call the “tank maneuver” during a lot of the uphill stretches. What is that? Well, basically, it involves pretending that you’re a tank (I mean a US army kind of tank not a water tank!) and “rolling” up the hill effortlessly just like a tank would! (Yes, weird. Well, to each his own!) So, the idea behind this is that, when the going gets tough, the tough gets “rolling”. Unless, of course, the inclination is so high that the “tank” needs reinforcement. And, no, the tank doesn’t have a turret to fire a canon at the hill.

It took as about 3.5 hours to do Cloudy Hill, Pat Sin Leng and run to Wu Kau Tang via Bride’s pool. After refueling at a rather empty shop in Wu Kau Tang, we entered my territory, Plover Cove. Like a responsible owner, I removed random items of garbage I found strewn around on my trail. We kept a fairly comfortable pace and completed this leg of the run in 2 hours 52 minutes, feeling relatively good at the end of it. For the first time in all my attempts, I felt fresh and energized at the end of completing this course.

37 kilometers, almost 2000m in elevation, plenty of greenery and a great adrenalin rush. I couldn’t recommend this course more.

Garmin.

GPX.

The d-day
Call it the d-day or the moment of reckoning or the ultimate test of time. It was THE BIG DAY and it finally arrived. It was going to be the day I would be settling the Plover Cove dispute once and for all. It was going to be the day I was hoping to tell the whole world that I and only I alone had complete and undisputed ownership of Plover Cove.

So, what is all the fuss about?
A quick recap: Martijn Doekes organized an event, aptly titled “HKTR Plover Cove Championship” to determine who the fastest Plover Cover runner would be for the day. Here’s how he described it:

”
Plover Cove, the most hotly disputed trail within Hong Kong borders. Many claim possession, many claim best times, but it was all under different circumstances and with different rules. As discussed on the recent HKTR Christmas drinks, to make once and for always, or at least for that day, clear who is the fastest on Plover Cove, we intend to organize the unofficial Plover Cover HKTR Championship.

Plover Cove – the disputed territory

A King and Queen of Plover Cove would be nothing without a crowd, so everyone is invited to join this Fun Trail run on one of the best trail running trails in Hong Kong. We will not use a strict time trial mode, but people can start when they wish to start and therefore make it either a very competitive run or a social run. There will be no official time taking, but we will instead rely on your own timing using any means available but preferably GPS based.
”
Of course, I wasted no time in reminding everyone that a fast time around my reservoir had nothing to do with ownership. Let me give you an example. Picture this: you own a Ferrari. A punk comes along and asks you if he can take your Ferrari out for a spin. You agree. It then turns out that this punk is able to drive like a Michael Schumacher. Does this mean that he now owns YOUR Ferrari? NO! Same with Plover Cove. Just because someone runs around the reservoir in a record time, doesn’t mean that he/she owns it. And, this is exactly why I said in my comments. Here’s an excerpt.

Me (on the event website): Btw, just to make things clear, even if someone else is faster than me on this day (I am sure a lot of people could be), that DOES NOT mean that I do not own this place. This belongs to me. Ownership is different from simply doing a fast time.

Hannes Niggli (fellow Plover Cove contestant): i am the majority owner while the turtle/fraudster is banned from the area…..but yes , he is right , this event is about podium positions for the course and this is separate from the fact that i am the majority owner due to my 22 years of taking care for my reservoir….btw…vince , if you park your bike in my territory it will be dumped in my reservoir….

And so, the arguments kept flying back and forth! It was even more bitter than an exchange between USA and Iran over Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme.

The events unfold…
I arrived at 8.15am on my motorbike at Tai Mei Tuk bus station. Fellow Plover Cove contestant Hannes Niggli was already there and he looked all set and pumped up to begin the turf war. I had a secret weapon of my own as well. Just the same way Clark Kent removes all his clothing and becomes Super Man, I removed my clothing to reveal my superhuman Plover Cove outfit as well. (Don’t worry, I removed only my motorbike jacket -besides, I’m not a big fan of wearing underwear on top of trouser-) My Super Plover Cove outfit featured my very own PLOVER COVE OWNER bib. Here, take a look.

Is he a bird? A plane? No, he’s THE Plover Cove owner!

Some pretty fast racers showed up. Jinhwa Kim (my teammate who kicked everyone’s ass in the Kinabalu marathon) was there. Scott Fitscher (a lean and mean triathlete from Australia) showed up. And there were many more. We took taxis to Wu Kau Tang and I was in the same cab as Hannes. We had Rachel Jacqueline with us, a property lawyer. (It is good to be in the company of a lawyer ONLY when you are sure whose side he/she is on in the event of disputes). Naturally, the topic of the Plover Cove dispute came up and Rachel suggested that the transfer of property from Hannes to me must have been in written format and that “it could be a revocable license”. Meaning, Hannes could revoke my ownership license at will! I countered that rather effectively with the message that the property was transferred unconditionally to me and that it was a complete transfer of ownership, not just a mere license to use it. Luckily, we reached Wu Kau Tang before she could come up with more legalese in his favor which I may not have been able to counter.

On your mark, get set and GO!
Upon reaching the car park in Wu Kau Tang, egos were stoked and Garmins were activated.

Hannes and I descended from the car park and climbed up a path to the left of the usual Plover Cove trail. Everyone then started crying foul (although there isn’t really any difference between the two paths). So, we had to come back down and go up the regular path. We lost about 10 minutes in the process. (Ok, I am exaggerating to make us sound cooler than we are). We lost more like one minute. Hannes was right behind me in the beginning but we exchanged places frequently over the next 15 minutes. He ran like he was running away from a dangerous, hungry lion. After the first small hill, I could no longer keep up with him. I told myself that one need not run faster than the lion, one needs to run faster than the slowest guy running away from the lion. By the time I could make sense of what I had just told myself, I lost Hannes (and realized that, in fact, what I had just told myself didn’t make any sense and was irrelevant to the situation!)

I then kept my pace fairly consistent and broke a few of my sacrosanct running rules to gain more speed. I thought I had gained at least 2 minutes on the other racers until I heard some footsteps right behind me. I turned back and saw Scott Fischer. He seemed to be chugging away like an express train. I signaled to him to overtake me but he chose to stay behind me. Then I saw one of my favorite downhill stretches and I hit the gas big time. That was the last I saw of Scott. But, up ahead in the distance, I saw a moving target. I knew that that must have been Hannes as I recognized glimpses of his blue HKTR tee shirt.

I reached the half way point in 57 minutes and was still confident I could catch up with Hannes. Unfortunately for me, hope began to fade away once I reached a concrete dam which is about 10 minutes away from the finish line. I could see him running about 2-3 minutes ahead of me. I knew I had to increase my flat running pace to about 15-16kmh to catch up with him but could not do so.

Soon enough, I saw him at the finish line, looking all victorious and wearing the winning grin on his face. His time was 2h01m while I finished in 2h02m. Scott finished soon after me (also 2h02m). Hannes was faster than me but the REAL KING, the real Michael Schumacher, the real lean, mean, running machine was Jan Littlewood. Being the nocturnal super human being that he is, he ran this course in the morning WITHOUT having slept the previous night. He finished in an incredible 1 hour 43 minutes. Yes, I did say 1 hour 43 minutes!! He waited for us at the finish line looking all fresh, as though he hadn’t done anything of significance. For this amazing feat, he was anointed as KING OF PLOVER COVE! Given his new and well deserved title, he was asked whether he wished to own the property someday to which he altruistically replied, “I don’t want to own anything. I will just give it to the people”. I am sure I speak for Hannes as well when I say that it was good to hear him say that! We won’t be transferring ownership anyway! Again, not everyone who drives like a Michael Schumacher OWNS a Ferrari or WANTS to own a Ferrari.

The Queen of Plover Cove was none other than my teammate Jinhwa Kim who never fails to dazzle. She finished in an incredible 2 hours 10 minutes, only one minute slower than my other teammate Steven Sparky who has a personal best of 2 hours 9 minutes. Organizer Martijn Doekes (yes, Martijn, I finally spelt your name right), finished in 2 hours 7 minutes, something I could only hope to achieve an year back!

So, here’s a summary of the riches.

The Plover Cove Hall of Fame for dudes
Jan Littlewood: 1 hour 43 minutes (is he human or what?)
Hannes Niggli: 2 hours 01 minutes (you may have won the battle Hannes, but not the war)
Vince Natteri (yours truly): 2 hours 02 minutes (pondering over the cost of one minute in life)
Scott Fischer: 2 hours 02 minutes (never mess with a triathlete)
Marcel: 2 hours 05 minutes (Jan’s fit looking training buddy who is also in awe of Jan’s achievement)
Martijn Doekes: 2 hours 07 minutes (our express organizer)

The Plover Cove Hall of Fame for chicks
Jinhwa Kim: 2 hours 10 minutes (men, not easy to chase after her)
Olivia Luk: (she doesn’t believe in recording times. She just wants to be in nature. For this inspiring philosophy, she also gets to be in the Plover Cove Hall of Fame)

Wheeling and Dealing
They say that the biggest deals in the business world are made not in the boardroom but on the golf course. Well, the biggest hiking property deals are made not on the trails but in a Thai restaurant. I am, of course, referring to the long standing Plover Cove dispute between Hannes and me. While savoring some spicy eggplant and sipping on Tsing Taos, we came to a mutual agreement.

I am to have 40% ownership of Plover Cove while Hannes will have the remaining 60% ownership until December 2012*

*Ownership will be revaluated fairly at the end of the year and shares will be reallocated depending on who takes proper care of Plover Cove during the year. Meaning, visiting Plover Cove and producing necessary Garmins, removing rubbish from Plover Cove and so on. A 3rd party (Hannes suggested Rachel but I want a lawyer who will be on my side) will be entrusted with the task of coming up with a fair formula for the revaluation of shares.

Dominic, if you are reading this, sorry, it looks like you aren’t getting any ownership shares! You should have joined forces with me when you had the opportunity! It was a strategic mistake, akin to the one America made during World War I. But, don’t worry, as co-owner of Plover Cove, I give you permission to visit my property as many times as you want during this year.

The verdict
Excellent run. Excellent company. Excellent food. And a result I can live with. 40% ownership of Plover Cove is better than being embroiled in a long, legal battle. Besides, Hannes has been associated with Plover Cove for several decades. And, at the end of the day, I am a generous guy with a kind heart.

So, dispute resolved and everyone gets to go home a winner. Long live Plover Cove.

Garmin.

GPX.