Congratulations to Razi on his wedding last Sunday, May 8th 2011. Wishing you a wonderful journey as you build your new life together. It was a wonderful wedding ceremony. Even though the weather was super bright and hot but the event was blissful, rich with tradition.
I don't know If Razi or Zam was a fan of the Credit Agricole Pro Team or it was purely just coincidental, but the green and white wedding theme was just awesome. Luckily no "Geng Seluar Sendat" was spotted at the wedding. Hahaha It would have been a cracker if that actually happened.
Oh lalala.....
Dutch cyclist battling the crosswind
Last weekend wasn't the best of cycling days. First off my old stead started to get grumpy. There was knocking sound coming out from the headset and the left pedal was a little tight. I had sent the bike for servicing but the pedal problem seemed to be there. When the bicycle is not at its best condition the ride will turn sour. It turned out the pedal stopper was broken . I was lucky it didn't fall of the bike during the ride.
Secondly, we're missing some of the members. Little birds informed us the some had trouble allotting time to go cycling due to domestic issues, work related-you now the kind of work that is rotation based, some had to spend time with new toys (big boy toys) and there is one who put his road bike in frame and have it hanged on the wall.
Some of the routes are getting very routine if you know what I'm saying. Apart for the CA arena and the long standing PD ride, we might want to consider other routes. Lets' discuss this at "The Joint" this weekend.
I've been a little busy these couple of days with work loads. Anyway, I found this interesting video while searching YouTube for headwinds. Just when we thought that LEKAS headwinds was hell, check this video out and watch a bunch of Dutch cyclist battling the crosswinds.
There wasn't much to talk about last weekend cycling activities. Of course there was this "storm in a tea cup" commotion about my little adventure doing white water rafting at Kuala Kubu Bharu just recently. I've exaggerated the bit about going out doing all these "extreme" outdoor activities just to spice things up. But that's about it, just a mind game, a tease. I am still a "roadie" and we still haven't conquered PD!
Last Saturday we went cycling at the Sungai Long and on Sunday we're supposed to ride to Putrajaya. But due to domestic challenge, I had to settle for the CA Arena, the shorter route. At first I thought I was going to cycle solo on the SILK Highway until I bumped into Zack, Syamsul, Zam, Ah Meng and Azmi who were taking a break at the Bukit Kajang toll plaza. This came to me as a surprise but I guess they too had domestic problems just like me.
After cracking a few jokes and few good laughs, we continued riding through the Sungai Long route up until the the Bandar Sungai Long exit. Zack, Syamsul and Azmi took the exit to Sungai Sekamat while Ah Meng, Zam and I took the the usual route taking the Cheras Jaya exit and headed to the Joint.
There was another surprised at the Joint. We met with Romzi who apparently cycled here just to have breakfast. Later Saipol joined us for a drink. We had a good catch-up session. It wasn't that all bad.
One word...Awesome! This was my second time doing white water rafting at Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor, a beautiful river forest with cool clear water. The white water rapids and invigorating river environment created a fabulous ambience.
The weather was fantastic, it drizzled for a while at around 9am but mostly bright and sunny until noon.
The Selangor river at Kuala Kubu Baru is about 1 and a half hour drive away from KL City. It offers the best and ideal place for commercial White Water Rafting. With distance of 7 km, the river boasts a rapid of Grade 1 to Grade 5. The water level however is very dependent on the weather and controlled by a near by dam.
It's Sunday morning and the Mantin ride was on. Judging from the trend, I'd figure that we'd be riding in a small party, probably less than six people.
It was a rather cloudy morning. Sure it looked promising but if there is one thing I learned about cycling to Mantin via LEKAS Highway is that, don't be too happy or too sure the weather is going to be nice all the way. Firstly the temperature changes by the hour and let's not forget the ever unpredictable headwinds.
Dr Azlan, Najib, Zam Besar and Zack were at the Sungai Balak RV Point when I arrived there. Unfortunately Zack and Zam were on a different route, to Sungai Long and not Mantin. Azmi Cervelo made a surprise visit, not his new TREK 2.5 but on a motorbike. It's one of those last minute change of plans.
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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.
Initially the plan was to ride to Lenggeng on Sunday. Unfortunately, because of too many couldn’t joined due various domestic problems, it was a unanimous decision to postpone the ride to a later date.
There were few routes discussed last Saturday during the break at our official roti canai joint. The first option was Lenggeng, I was a bit skeptical on this one due to not so overwhelming responses. The second option was Sungai Merab and third was a wild idea mooted by Farizal to explore the new SKVE highway.
I’m always extra worried when it comes to Farizal’s proposals or suggestions. He reminded me the Bukit Antu’s adventure. Even though it happened quite a long time ago in 2008, the event is still fresh on my mind. But that’s another story, so back to Sunday Feb 20th ride.
Since the circumstances had changed, we decided the do the Putrajaya-Cyberjaya-Sg Merab or better known as the outbound route.
The ride plan was to rendezvous at the Petronas station at LLM and then rode via SKVE, through Cyberjaya-Dengkil and entered the Persiaran Selatan. From here we'd continue riding until the Desa Pinggiran Putra before entering the Kajang exit and on to Bangi bound Sungai Merab-Limau Manis route. Finally we took on Jalan Ayer Itam to Putrajaya’s Diplomatic Precinct for RnR before we headed home.
Sound like a plan for the weekend ride but what happened on Sunday was nothing like what had been planned before.
Ever heard of this phrase, for every action there’s a reaction? There’s always a flip side of things. Some have heard about it but couldn’t really fathom what it really meant. It’s just a phrase, what does this make any sense? Well it made sense to me after the Sungai Merab Ride not so distance ago.
I’ve underestimated me and the Terror hill. My TREK 5900 has a 53/39 chain set with 11-28 cassette. Out of better judgement I tried to climb the 11-12% steep hill using 39/19 gearing combination. Not only that it didn’t work, it nearly got my knees popped. I had trouble walking for a couple of days due to strained muscle calf and thigh.
I’ve climbed this hill before with much ease and pleasure before. So what did I do wrong?
I realized that I used to be able climb this hill and the rest of the rolling hills because back then I was in a much more better physical condition. I forgot that I had a long break and I need to build back my fitness. I tried to outdo my self and didn’t listen to my body.Halfway climbing the hill I struggled to maintain a sustainable rhythm.
Sunday ride crew and friends at Diplomatic Precinct
Earlier this year, its not that long ago anyway, we agreed to diversify cycling routes for 2011 cycling calendar. Ideally Saturday ride’s route will be Sungai Long, short distance and lots of climbing, perfect route for cadence training. Sunday ride would involve long distance ride mission with minimum 50 Km to-and-fro.
The original plan was for Sunday Ride was the Setul mission. Due to changed circumstances, we decided to ride to Putrajaya. In order to make it a "sweeter" ride, the ride plan had been improvised from the normal Kajang-Cycberjaya-Putrjaya via the SKV expressway to the Kajang-Jalan Ayer Hitam-Sungai Merab-Putrajaya.
The fun part about this route was the rolling hills of Sungai Merab.
I couldn’t recall what triggered the idea to propose this route. The last time we rode through this route was when I tested my USPS- TREK 5900. Back then I had much better fitness level compared to now. But I'm pretty sure we had a lot of "fun".
There are two ways to “enjoy” the rolling hills of Sugai Merab. The first one is the Bangi bound form Desa Pinggiran Putra’e exit and the second one is Putrajaya bound via Jalan Ayer Hitam. To make it simpler, lets just call the first option as Sungai Merab Outbound or SMO and the later as Sungai Merab Inbound, SMI in short.
Rising sun...manyak panas woo..
I hope its still not too late to wish a Happy and Prosperous Rabbit Year to all our Chinese friends.
Like in the previous years, long holiday breaks especially relating to big festivities, hordes of city folks (it doesn't sound right...) travelling to the north, south and east-coast of the peninsula.
I hope all CA have arrived home safe and sound from the long break. Due to concern that some won't be able to join the Setul Ride, we're pushing it to the next Sunday. The exact date however remains a mystery. Hopefully we can confirm this some time next week.
Saturday ride crew @ Kajang Perdana clover leaf
Yesterday I came across an interesting article about diet plan and how recent studies showed that running on strict regime might actually caused weight gain instead of weight loss and even can have negative affects on overall health.
The study concluded that the weight-focused approach to health is unsupported by the scientific evidence and has in fact been detrimental and costly.
Rather than focusing on weight loss, the researchers recommend that people focus on improving their health status.
I find this very interesting as I recently had an argument with a colleague who tried to get me to join a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme's herbal based diet products. The initial package would cost me an “investment” worth RM1500. That’s what they called it, an investment instead of the word “fork-out” or pay. Creative use of words can actually change the way you think and perceive an idea or situation.
Word choice in marketing and advertising is absolutely critical. When advertisers spend millions of advertisements, you can bet they have tested every word they are going to use to psychologically lead you to believe their product is the best, that it will change your life.
This was our first Mantin ride in 2011. The thing about riding through the LEKAS highway is that it will take the best of us, both mental and physical. The biggest test thus far are the headwinds and searing sun, not so much of the terrain. It's nice and cold in the morning but temperature changes rapidly after 10am. From a point of madness to insanity, literally.
It was a glorious sunny Sunday morning. I could see the bright orange sun ray brighting up the day creating a spectacular view. This could only mean that it's going to be one bright and hot day.
For those of us who had had experience riding to Mantin via LEKAS, would know for sure if you went full throttle from the Zero Km to Mantin, it's highly likely that you're bound to bonk at some point during the course. It's to-and-fro, not a one way ride. This rule however doesn't apply to "Gaban".
In total there were over 100 photos taken and 9 videos recorded in HD format. The photos published here are filtered based on time line of the ride mission. I hope to capture the experience to the best my ability and humanly possible to be shared on this blog entry. You'd have to scroll down until the bottom part to view the videos.
