The Lost Days

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Taman Cabaran, Putrajaya
It’s school break again. The traffic is clear, no “gridlock” as early as 7 am in the morning. It’s going to be a ride in park for next 5 days. I am so going to savour the nice a cozy feeling driving through smooth traffic while enjoying the radio.

Well it has been two weeks since my last blog entry. The truth is I’ve had a couple of very intense weeks. Long winding meetings, trying to decipher gobbledygook business plans and a lot of fire fighting. It’s very tiring, both mentally and physically. Managing change communications is not easy especially when drastic organisational shakedown was involved.

Events with such magnitude created ripples on the timeline and new game changing variables that require change communications and this is not an easy gig to pull.

For the past years, I’ve mostly just not posted during very intense weeks. Sometimes I missed a couple of rides and had nothing to talk about. There were also times where I rode but there was just not enough time to write about it.

Anyway, I have these 2 big ideas boggling my mind these few weeks:

IDEA 1: MTB (Might not be a bad idea)
Lately I don’t really enjoy the rides like I used to. The fact that there’s been so much going on at the office might be the single biggest contributing factor. To be honest I’m starting to feel bored with road bike. I kept thinking of upgrading my MTB and do some XC actions, participate in some MTB jamboree for a change.

Whilst the idea sounds refreshing, it comes with three challenges. Firstly I need to upgrade my MTB bike using a better frame and change the brake system to Disc brakes.

Secondly, the traveling by car that needs to be done in order to participate in MTB Hashes or jamboree that usually happens miles away from the house. The last Jamboree happened in Teluk Batik, Perak some weeks ago, at least a couple of hundreds kilometers away from Kajang, Selangor.

Lastly is the cleaning up after each XC ride. The bike is going to be filled with mud and sand with thick crust  clays sticking on the bike, shoes and whatever I’m wearing. I’ll look like I just came back from a paddy field.

I think I'll sleep on the idea for the time being.

IDEA 2: Thinking of Buying A Scott Speedster S10
It’s just the itchy feeling to get me a new toy in form of a bike. Not that I hate my 110 OCLV TREK 5900 carbon bike. It’s just the idea of having the luxury to choose which bike to use, depending on the flavor of the weekend.

Some may ask why buy alloy bike when I’m already using a carbon bike? I don’t see any mark differences between the two for me. The geometry, group and wheel sets are more important factors. The less than 5-10% difference in total weight is not going to make me any cycle any faster anyway.

One of the key factors in cycling is the Power-to-Weight ratio, the amount of power you’re able to generate per pound or kilogram of body weight.  Climbing and time trialing are the two most difficult aspects of road cycling. When the road turns seriously up, drafting plays a very minimal role, as each individual's true ability is exposed.

The first mountain stage of any Tour de France illustrates this, as riders are spread out all over the mountains while each rider climbs to the best of his ability. The best climbers make going uphill look effortless, even though their bodies are in terrible pain.What makes a great climber, especially in the mountains, is an excellent power to weight ratio. My challenge now it to reduce body fat to increase my Power-to-Weight Ratio.

The next question would be, why Scott Speedster S10 and not TREK 2.5? My answer is nothing. I love 2010 TREK bikes design but the 2011 series are just too plain and lame for me. The only disadvantage for S10 is that, odd enough, it comes with non-series brakes, instead of full Ultegra group. Bummer!

…....(still thinking about it)

Anyway, here’s some photo taken during the Ride to Bukit Cabaran in Putrajaya a couple of weeks ago.

It was a hazy Sunday morning. The 4 of us, Farizal, Zaha, Najib and I, rode through the SKVE. We then took the Putrajaya exit and cycled through Persiaran Selatan passing before taking the exit to Taman Cabaran.

Overall it was an easy ride. It was hazy and cloudy the whole morning. It was not my best day, but I enjoyed the company.

Talking about doing something different for a change, I am going for a white water rafting trip again on 2nd April at Kuala Kubu, Selangor. This time around I’ll bring my Lumix FT-2 to capture the action.

Abayo!


Najib blew his tire while cycling to the 1st RV point at LLM's Petronas Station
@ LLM's Petronas Station

Cycling through Persiaran Selatan
Entering Taman Cabaran


Putrajaya's Rock Climbing Complex
Hazy day
Taman Cabaran, Awesome outdoor ans extreme activity complex


Roller blade training.


Faizol

7 comments:

Zaha said...

Faizol... don't give-up... we have more route undiscovered... start materialize your planning on changing bikes & I will start planning on new routes...

sero said...

wahhh seriously ke nak tukar scope nih?... upgrade scott tu dulu la baru lah buat keputusan...

eh jap.. ape jadik ngan teaM trek nanti?..

Faizol said...

Thanks for the encouraging support guys...hahaha..

Syamsul said...

Kat Rodalink ada Colnago Arte. Carbon seat stay dgn fork. RM7k. Cycling Plus highly recommend.

sero said...

Colnago pun nak buat team ni.....heh

Anonymous said...

For 7k u cud get a 2nd hand complete carbon frame, Colnago summore, tht is if u r up to using a 2nd hand frame la.

Faizol said...

Good on you Bianchii! Keep on writing...