It has been almost 2 months since I was in a saddle. If Alain is reading this, that 1 botched ride we had on one Saturday didn’t count. To start siding from a long sabbatical is one tough gig. So i decided that the best way to get back in to shape is by using a bicycle that will make my muscles work twice harder than road bike. Hopefully this will help speed the process up a bit if not a lot. And this bike is my newly refreshed MTB.

Why MTB? Well I discovered that when I used my MTB to ride with my buddies not long a go. The distance was 14 KM but the amount of calorie burnt was 2.5 times higher compared to when I was on my road bike. And not to mention I had better heart rate than the target zone too.

Image sourced from http://hispertextos.blogspot.com

A lot have been going on with road bikes. New models, disc brakes, electronic gear-shift system such as Shimano Di2 and Campy EPS, TREK's integrated brakes and the list goes on. These are wonderful things that almost every serious roadies would want to have on their rides.  IMHO affordability would be the single biggest deciding factor  if one is to apply the theory of Diffusion of Innovation here, until these new techs are de facto standards for bikes.


I wonder if this little beast can help me catch up with Richard? Hahahah...that's a thought!

Abayo.

Howdy folks! I'm back...from the hiatus. I bet y'all  have heard it before one to many times...  Well looks like I'm going to have to initiate the recovery ride plan but it's going to be different this time around. The puasa, the raya...the open houses...oh my...it isn't going to be easy hence the radical change in the program.

Oh by the way, if you love cycling, the adrenalin rush...you have got to check out this movie.



Abayo!

Alain and his new BMC

I seriously think we should add a couple new routes this year. The usual ones are getting pretty boring so to speak. Noticed how we struggled when it came to deciding the next day's route? I think it's obvious enough. Most often than not the're almost always a long pause after the question "What's tomorrow's plan?".

Things have been pretty hectic these past few weeks. I guess its true that the world does seem to spin faster as you get older.  Anyway, I got a call from Alain late on Friday evening asking about Saturday's ride. Actually it was pretty much a "done deal" courtesy call confirming that the ride was ON.  I was a little hessitant to confirm because the weather  had been incredibly unpredictable these few weeks and the coming weeks (based on the Met. Dept. Report)  as well. He's answer was elegantly baffling, Rain or Shine...I'm still riding.

Hmmm.... where do I start? I've been staring at my MacBook Pro's screen for a few minutes and zip, nada, no idea how start writing about our recent ride. Reason? Disconnect. Things have been pretty hectic at work.  There's so much one can juggle and up to a point, you need to put a side a few to refocus. But hey, that is what life is all about isn't it. And most of us if not all, are jugglers.

Enough about that.

Last weekend, a bunch of CA's went cycling to Pajam via the LEKAS highway on bright and sunny Sunday morning. Our exact destination was a Kg Gebok.  So what's so special about this place? There's a small roadside restaurant called Warung Kita-Kg Gebok. We like it here because the dishes are freshly cooked and they are delicious. From roti canai, fried rice, fried noodle and char kuey teow to name a few.

We did the Tour de Limau Manis last Sunday. Someone might think really,TdLM? Why the heck not? Let's name this route with something since it seems to be one of our staple route on Sundays.  It's essentially is the Limau Manis-Putrajaya route anyway and the best part has always been the "sweet & sour" rolling hills...yeap we're looking at 11-15 % elevation through out this route until Putrajaya.

Things have been pretty hectic these couple of weeks, hence the late blog update. I pretty much have the materials ready it's just that I want to make sure it's not a rush job. Stuff like spelling errors and "tonggang-terbalik" England are a few of the examples, you get the idea.

Reymond Krader, ProTeam Garmin Barracuda, LTdL 2012 @Putrajaya

We usually ride to Sungai Long every Saturdays but on this one. This Saturday we rode to Putrajaya where the 2nd stage of 2012 Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) was held.  There’s no way we’re going to miss it especially when we’re having two Pro-Tour teams, Astana and  Garmin Barracuda in this year’s  race together with other Professional Continental, Continental and National team. You can check out the full list here: http://bit.ly/wEKo8J

My newly installed Node1

The hunt for Node1 had been been completed. I had to spend the entire Saturday afternoon, from going to Solaris, installing the gadgets and cleaning the bike from the smudge caused by the cable-tapes adhesive. Nothing beats the excitement of a brand new gadget. And I really was looking forward for the ride.

There were only five of us on this ride, Farizal, Zaha, Najib, James Newman and myself. As usual we rendezvous at the Silk Highway PETRONAS Station on the SKVE, near the LLM building. From there we cycled passed through the UNITEN and back on the SKVE before taking the exit to Putrajaya.

The terrain from the Persiaran Utara up until the ramp heading to PICC was mostly flat with few minor climbs. The only hill on the route was Bukit Wawasan. It's steep but distance wise, its shorter compared climbing it from the opposite side. From the ramp near PICC we cycled to Precinct 20 and climbed  the 2nd  round- Taman Cabaran hill. We made a quick stop here before continued on to the main road and "layan" the PICC hill.

While cycling towards the Red Mosque we bumped into  Hong Kong cycling team. They probably were doing a routine warm up ride for the 2012 Asian Cycling Chanpionship held in Kuala Lumpur.  Zaha and me took the opportunity to draft behind them while they were cycling on Precinct 2 up until the round-about near the Red Mosque. We had to slow down due to the uneven surface of the block paved road from that point up until Masjid Putra while the HK team rammed through the gravel road like a tank.

TREK Boutique at Solaris...

One of important accessories (or gadget if you like) for cyclist is Cycling Computers. Yes that small thing that looks like a digital clock attached to the bicycle stem (If you don't know what a bike stem is, please click the link) or handle bar. To better illustrate why this particular accessory is so important, try to imagine Batman without  his grapple gun or utility belt...get the picture?

How often have your plans changed when you least expected it? Not just crude oil or stock prices but weekend ride plans are highly volatile too. To many variables to the equation. In the case of our ride plan, all that is needed is someone to throw in ideas and few buy-ins that constitute a majority. When such things happened, luck favours those who are prepared.

It's best to bring along extra tubes (+ repair kits), 2 water bottles and a couple of energy bars or bananas. Well you could also bring along sun block, Tiger Balm, Deep Heat or Ammeltz YokoYoko if you don't mind the extra weight or bulky pockets. After all, there might be circumstances where fellow cyclist could benefit from the goods too, Mr. Utility man! This reminded me of Saipol, his Ribena pack and the Bagan Lalang trip.


Sunday, January 29th 2012
The original ride plan was Kajang-Putrajay via SKVE, Cyberjaya via Dengkil Highway-Putrajaya's Persiaran Selatan, RnR at Precinct 15 and ride back to Kajang via Jalan Ayer Hitam. Instead we did Limau Manis, Putrajaya's Persiaran Selatan, returned back to Wadi Ehsan Highway, Precinct 15 and ride back to Kajang via Jalan Ayer Hitam. The thing about the Limau Manis route is that it has awesome rolling hills with 11% elevation.

The changed of plan took place at the RV point (Petronas Station at SKVE near the LLM). Since the weather was  cloudy and most likely to be a shady day, the guys itched for an adventure ride, hence the Limau Manis route. Yes we're going to do a "ClimbMadness" ride! Gambatte!

Image soured from: LTDL 2012's website

The Le Tour de Langkawi 2012's Yellow ride is back! It's going to be held at different places and times but the Putrajaya ride is going to happen on Feb 20th, 2012. It's a night ride but you get to ride with Vinokourov and the Astana Team.

For more info or to register online, please check out LTDL 2012's Official Site: http://www.ltdl.com.my/2012/yellowride.asp

Jom!

It rained on Sunday morning, at night and it drizzled in the wee hours on Monday. It was still a bit dark and breezy at 7.00am. I took a quick glance through the window and saw loads of nimbus clouds over the horizon. But slowly the dark clouds subsided. That's it, that's the sign I was waiting for. The ride was ON.

As 2011 comes to an end, it's high time to reflect things that matter to us be it personal achievements or the  (almost) forgotten previous new year resolutions. Do we have the guts to ask ourselves "What Have I Achieved This Year?" or do we just "Forget about it".  Yes, I'm referring to the illusive PD (Port Dickson) ride! It has been 3 freaking years and we still couldn't bring ourselves to do it. It's painfully disappointing and to make it worst, someone is laughing at us from across the sea in Toulouse, France.