Sunday Putrajaya Ride

Date: October 31st 2010
Route: Putrajaya-Cyberjaya
Distance: 53.38KM
Time on wheels: 2H10m
Riders: Najib, Zack, Zam (Kechik), Farizal, Suhaimi (MieTador), Romzi and Faizol
Bailed: Zaha, Saipol

Thank God it was a sunny Sunday morning. I was looking forward for this ride since Saturday was a now show due to the torrential downpour. Zam (Kechik), Zack, Najib and started from the Sungai Balak RVP (Rendezvous Point), while Suhaimi and Romzi waited for us at Petronas station near the LLM. Zaha bailed for an unknown reason, Saipol was “expected” and no status update from Farizal.

While passing through the Sungai Ramal flyover, we saw Farizal riding alone heading towards the Petronas Station from the Bandar Baru Bangi underpass. We rendezvous with Suhaimi and Romzi at the station. A few minutes later Bob who was on his way to the Rodalink Putrajaya launch ride stopped by for a quick chat before heading to the Diplomatic Precinct.

Saturday No Show and Rodalink Putrajaya

We're supposed to do Sungai Merab-Putrajaya but unfortunately it was a torrential downpour on Saturday. Still hopeful I waited for the rain to subside but it kept on pouring until about 9.30am. The monsoon season  is back and so does long list of wedding invitations. Yes, the long school break is just around the corner. The plus side however, for some strange reason, the traffic will be less congested.

Since the ride has been cancelled, I decided to check out Rodalink outlet at Precinct Diplomatik, Putrajaya. I think it's a pretty smart idea to open a branch here. The city has the mass and almost everyday you can see people riding bikes especially at night and on weekends.

CyclingAddicts Blog Revamp Project

After toiling since May 2010, CA's blog revamp project has finally been completed. It wasn't as easy as I had expected in the beginning. It was time consuming and up to a point daunting especially when facing complicated script errors. I was lucky enough to have kept a few backups as roll-back plans.

Next revamp will happen in a year time....err maybe two. Thank you for your support and patience.

Wet Sunday Ride

Date:October 24th 2010
Route: Sungai Long
Riders: Zack, Zam Besar, Nizam & Faizol

The original plan was to ride to Mantin. Due to certain circumstances, I had to do Sg Long instead. Zaha, Farizal and Cikgu Sham however continued with the plan.

Wet Sunday ride...

It was a dark and windy Sunday morning with loads of nimbus clouds hovering over Kajang, Putrajaya and Semenyih. It already started to drizzle lightly when Nizam and I cycled our way to the Sungai Balak RV where we met up with Zack and Zam Besar.

We continued cycling through the SILK highway up until the Sungai Ramal toll plaza where we made a brief stop to check if Cikgu Sham was there. We then continued cycling and took a quick "bio-break" at Bukit Kajang's toll.

Gloomy Saturday Morning Ride Videos

Here you go guys, the videos in HD.

It took me while to get this done. It's a lot more complicated than a MotionJPEG video like we used to have. The whole process of encoding the videos into MP4 files and uploading them to YouTube is an effort by itself but its worth it.

The breathtaking view while coasting downhill shared in HD. I hope you guys enjoy watching them as much as I enjoy recording them.

Note: The video parts are a bit confusing. I'll fix this later.

Video #1: Coasting downhill from the Peak



Video #2: Coasting downhill from the last hill after Sungai Long's Toll


Video #3: Cycling through the SILK highway towards Sungai Ramal


Video #4: Cycling through the Cheras flyover heading towards Cheras Jaya

Gloomy Saturday Morning Ride

Route: Sungai Long
Riders: Zack, Farizal, Zaha, Suhaimi, Nizam and Faizol

Its a gloomy and Saturday morning. This time around I brought my brother (in Law) Nizam who’s studying in UPNM to join the ride.Zack and Farizal were there at the 1st RV when we arrived. We hit the road shortly afterwards and rode casually through Sungai Ramal, Bukit Kajang and made a quick stop at the 2nd RV where we regrouped with Zaha.

After a brief stop at the clover leaf, we continued to ride until the Sungai Long’s toll plaza to regroup with Suhaimi who came from Cheras. 

The Sungai Long Downhill

This one missed the boat. It's shot during the Meriday Ride while coasting downhill from the peak.

I decided not to do the "AudioSwap" and keep the original background sound. This way you get to share the exhilaration of coasting downhill from Sungai Long's highest peak.

Meriday Ride

Date: Saturday, Oct 16th 2010
Route: Sungai Long

I had the feeling that this ride was not going to be "plentiful". Worst come to worst, I know for sure that the "hardcore" bunch would ride on a sunny Saturday morning. Avid riders such as Zaha and Farizal will ride 9/10 of the time.

While crossing the SILK highway, I heard a distant shout from the opposite Cheras bound lane. At first I couldn't identify who it was but I soon realised that rider was Farizal in a new outfit, non other than Merida jersey.

After a brief chit-chat and few photography session, the two of hit the road and rode casually through the rather busy SILK highway heading towards Kajang Prima.

Sunday 101010 Ride

It's already 7.00am and it's a gloomy Sunday morning. Did a final check on my bike especially the pressure, drivetrain and brakes  for safety and piece of mind while cycling.

The Sungai Long route has evolved in the span of  2 to 3 years. Back in 2007 when I started cycling with Farizal and Saipol, we used to cycle via Saujana Impian through Kajang Perdana, Sungai Jelok and took the exit to Sungai Long after the last "bastard" hill.  This route was fun and hilly but the road conditions were bad as there were many pot holes and sandy road edges. The traffic was the worst part as there were lots of big trucks carrying all sorts of dirts from the near by area. 

The Ride, Gadget and What's the elevation again?

@ the Second RV

Date: October 9th 2010
Route: Sungai Long
Riders: Dr. Azlan, Sham Discovery, Farizal, Zaha, Shamsul, Romzi, Suhaimi and Faizol

"Syawal" is officially over but there are people who still host open houses. There’s no telling when this event will subside. I hope we can do a ride to Mantin sometime  next week.

It was a rather lovely sunny Saturday Morning. Its just too bad we couldn't do a long distance ride.
The route is simple enough, the Sungai Long dragon back route.  We (Sham Discovery, Dr. Azlan and I) started off with a pretty decent speed at 26-28 KM/h while on the 0 Km.  Just to quench the curiosity, the 0 km starts from Sungai Long RV up until the Sungai Chua clover leaf's peak.

Top ranked road bikes

My dream bike, the TREK Madone 5.2

So what is the best road bike out there? Which brand? Full carbon-half carbon or alloy? Italian or American made (Well...most of the lines except for the really high-end are made in Taiwan or China anyway). Some even say the group set is the key differentiator.

Sunday "Big One" Ride

 Group photo @ the 2nd RV.

Route: Sungai Long
Riders (from left): Zaha, Farizal, Romzi, Zack, Najib, Cikgu Sham, Syam, Azmi Cevello and Dr. Azlan

Last Saturday evening I received a text from Cikgu asking if there was a ride plan on Sunday. Given the current variables, the monsoon season, long list of  open houses and weddings, it's a bit difficult to plan a ride in advance especially for long distance.

Missing the Sunday ride would be a blow to my fitness recovery plan as as I already missed Saturday's due to "undisclosed reason".  The ride was set and it's Sungai Long, the safe plan. The thing about this route is that its easily guesstimated with a slight degree of variations.