Cycling Again

I kept repeating the same habit of stopping and starting again for this cycling hobby. It just that I didn't have enough time to participate in any mountain biking session oe even cycling around the neighborhood. From my past experience, a mountain biking 20 km to 30km trip will take you around 2 hours of cycling and another 2 hours of relationship building (chit-chat, talk kok, my bike is expensive than yours, nasi beryani, drink tons of 100plus etc). But it requires one whole day to recover from the fatigue - you went back home and you couldn't do nothing else until the next day.

With the the weight and waist line increasing exponentially, I need to take charge of my health. So, I started back my cycling with the night ride session alone. 'Juara Bike' at Subang Perdana has done a good job in replacing my front suspension and lube'ing all the moving parts. He's good but not that great compared to the specialist bicycle shops mechanic at KSH or Bikepro. The handlebar is just a little bit mis-aligned to the right and the front v-brake pad didn't have much free play (it stucked to the wheel if press hard). Not a big fuss as I could adjust those things by myself.

At 815pm, I went to the store and manage to find my cycling storage box. All my cycling artifacts were stored inside the box - a Deore rear derailleur, seatpost, gel seat, bicycle chain, gloves, halogen lamp, rear red lamp and cyclometer. Hmm... they were eagerly waiting to serve their master. So i took the halogen lamp, rear lamp blinker and the cyclometer and then test them all - they all worked! I went to my room and fit into my cycling tights .... it still fit! Yeay! Get into a pair of socks and then lug into my Northwave cycling shoes.

I saddled up onto the bike and off we go! My bicycle is back alive.

Bye Bye Good Friend!

One of my loyal friends decided to take Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) today. She will pack her stuff, saved it in the box and awaits for a new job, a new boss and a new life. Her contribution for the past 10 months under my care is priceless. She really opened my eyes for a new horizon and from different perspectives.

Sayonara my lovely Cik Anon! The camera bag is not big enough to fit two sexy bodies.

Beraya at Gunung Nuang

On Sunday, 10 Oct 2009, a bunch of guys plus some ladies decided to hike to the top of Gunung Nuang. Based from wiki, the mountain with the height of 1493m is the highest peak in Selangor. Its peak is marked as the meeting point of three states namely Selangor, N Sembilan and Pahang.

The hiking trail started from Kuala Pongsoon which is at the end of Jalan Hulu Hangat. There is a water catchment area at the feet of the mountain which provided cool refreshing river streams to the popular Sungai Congkak. You should pass the popular hang-out of Sungai Congkak when you drive towards Kg Kuala Pongsoon.

We arrived at the kampung at 915am and there were already many cars parked at the parking lots. After a quick briefing session, we started to hike along the trails at around 930am. We passed the welcoming arch and presented with a nice view of perching pine trees. After 30 minutes of walking with some slight ascending, we took a rest at the first hut. Then we continued the journey with the route getting steeper and steeper. The woods now were filled with bamboo trees and provided us with shades from the sun.

After 1 and a half hours hiking along the trail, we reached Camp Lolo. The camp has a very nice stream ...hmm. If there were no ladies in the group, the guys might be jumping naked into the water stream :). After a quick break, we continue our journey up the mountain .... really up the mountain!!! The route was now becoming a single jungle track with the slope that can reach 50-60 degrees.

After an hour ascending the track, we reached a camp site which none of us know the name. The camp site located at the side of the water stream and have a couple of base of the camp made from cement. It was already 12pm when we reached the camp site. Based from info that we got from the other mountaineers, we need another 3 hours to reach the peak. After some discussion among the team ,we decided that we shall 'lepak' and eat our rations for an hour at that camp site as we don't have enough time to reach the peak.

It was so refreshing to hang-out and relaxing our tired legs at the based camp with the natural cooling air-con of the jungle plus the mesmerizing lounge music coming from the water streams. Most of us didn't want to go back actually.... we may come back here with the camping equipments soon. But the 'happy-hour' came to an end, as we started to pack our things and descending down the slippery track. We reached the parking lot at 3pm. To sum it up: 2 and half hours hiking up the mountain and 2 hours descending back. We can do it at a much faster rate if Nahar and myself left the camera at home...hehehe!

Some pictures taken from my PnS camera (Panasonic Lumix FX9).