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.

Highway Ride

I managed to pull myself out from the bed on a Sunday morning (yesterday!) and prepare myself for the next ride. As usual, I checked the bike and 'blow' some air into the tires ... hehehe. For the ride, I'm using my Deuter Hydro bag and fill it up around 1.5l of water which has been in the refrigerator overnight .... so cool and refreshing!

After everything is in order, the bike started to roll at around 830am. It's kinda late for a journey, so no warm-up session around the housing area and I headed straight to the GCE highway. It was a rush to avoid the tormenting sun as I'll be riding along an open highway - no shades from the trees mind you. Due to the rush.... err I forgot to wear my gloves and to bring along the camera. No nice scenery for today!

I turned left at the Bukit Subang inter-change and headed to Rawang. I used the motorbike lane along the highway to minimise risk. Not much traffic on that sunday morning, only a single bike passed over me. After 30min, I made a u-turn at the Elmina interchange (not completed) and headed back to Shah Alam thinking of having my breakfast at the Elmina R&R. Only 3 shops open for business and none of the food got my stomach attention. So, continue the journey back home. On the way back, I saw some riders (on road bikes) on the opposite way. They must be coming from Shah Alam ... power legs!

Err... I arrived at Mamak Restaurant in my housing area at 915am. Lepak there for half an hour eating roti canai and chit-chat with some neighbours. Then I went back home with a full stomach - no weight reduction for this ride. Ride summary:
Departure: 830am
Time of Arrival: 955am.
Total distance = 15km.
Consumed water = 0.5liter.
Kodak moment = None
Calory Reduction = None ( due to roti canai!)

Next ride will be further away - I'm thinking of u-turn at Sungai Buloh interchange. Total distance probably 30km. Yeahhh.... Maru Boleh!

No Ride, No Fun

I'm still recuperating from the fever last week - slight coughing now. It must be the weather that is currently dry without any drops of rain for the past week. So no bicycle ride last weekend. Lost all the kicks that I had after the first ride two weeks ago. I need to recover it again so have to get back home early from work and cycle for a few miles. That is my current week resolution.

Anyway, I'm looking for a new suspension fork to replace the dying fork. I need a good one with 100mm travel but at lower price ( means used fork). Contact me if you want to letgo your suspension fork and make me happy. Budget is less than RM800 and preferably from Rockshox, Fox or Marzocchi brands.

Money can dampen your rockin' life. ;)

One Sunday Morning

It was a clear Sunday morning (April 20, 2008) in Shah Alam and I already dressed up for the occasion. Old padded cycling short, new bike frame, new shoes, new socks and with the renew spirit - I've pressed the START button on the Cateye Cyclometer. It was time to roll and move on. Wheels started to roll at 8.05am.

Cateye Microwireless Cyclometer. Bought it few weeks before the long 'holiday'.

I made a big loop around my housing area for warm-up. The gearing is maintained at middle-ring upfront and using up all possible gearings at the rear to check for any problems and to set my legs muscle to the pedaling load. I'm a little bit worried on my right thigh after I had a fall from my motorcycle 3 weeks ago. After a few minutes, everything went smoothly. Distance covered for the loop is already 2.3km. Now I'm ready to hit the open road (actually it is 6-lane highway!)

Borderline. Cross at your own risk!

The only connecting road from my housing area to the outside world is via Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE). The expressway is a 6-lane highway connecting Shah Alam to Rawang - it enables motorists from South coming from Elite Highway to continue the journey northward by using the GCE and then rejoin PLUS highway at Rawang bypasing routes that take you into KL citycenter. It's a boon for me if I need to take 'balik kampung' trip without the need to enter the bigcity - turn left to Sitiawan, Perak and turn right to Muar, Johor. In that morning, the highway is wide open without much traffic. People still in their beds!

Highway to heaven?

It is already 825am and time for me to take a breather. I would call it a pit-stop without any refuelling, sort of a stop-go penalty in F1 terms. Why? I actually forgot to bring any water for this maiden trip! So the stop is to relax the leg muscles, check my right thigh and release rear pressure on my butt. I got off from the bike and walked on the green grass at the side of the highway. Such a great feeling as the Northwave Kaiman shoes step onto the grass. The shoes are great! Worth every cents if you asked me.

Happy feet!

And now it was time to go back home. I wished that I could continue the journey for a little bit longer as I had no pains on the legs and my heart pounding enough juices to pedal even further. But I didn't bring any water. And the biggest 'but' was that I promised to my wife that we are going out at 10am to MidValley for shopping session .... what else than shopping for the gentle kind. The only way was straight ahead to Bukit Subang, no right turn to Ipoh this time!

Di Persimpangan Dilema. Straight ahead back home. Turn right to oblivion.

I safely reached home at 900am with total distance covered only 12km. Not that impressive as too much time wasted for the 'Kodak Time'. The only drawback during the journey was the front fork - it must go or I will endo again in the hills. But the rest of the journey was really worth it. No really pain or aching in any parts of the body and the new shoes really shine (yeahh.. after spending RM260 for it). I still got 1 hour left to take a shower and get ready for the next events - 20km wandering around in MidValley. Sort of 'Ironman' event on that brilliant Sunday!

The bird has landed! Mission accomplished

I'm Back Cycling

After nearly 2 years hiatus from biking, I'm ready to cycle again.

The no-cycling period was quite long, pretty long to erase the mental images of having a bad fall twice in a single day. That day in Bukit Kiara made me feel that it is useless for a mortal man on a bike trying to challenge Nature and Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. But human is given at birth an irrational mind - the more risk, the more fun we can get.

So on Saturday, 19 April 2008, I've decided that I need something to erase those bad memories. What I need was something that motivate me to cycle again. Something fresh and new, things that are not expensive and not require any major installation on the bike. And I've decided the thing was a brand new Mountain Bike shoes. I'm such a sucker for shoes anyway!

Northwave Kaiman.

After reaching home from the specialty bikeshop in TTDI, I prep up the bike and did some lubing on the chains. The bike looked ok to me but safety always comes first (after you already had few accidents):

1. The bike cockpit - Checked!

SRAM X7 shifters, Shimano Deore brake levers, ODI grips.

2. Check the tire pressure - Checked!

Mavic wheels, Hybrid on/off road tires, Shimano hub and SRAM X9 Rear Derailure.

3. Check bum pressure - Checked (ouch)!!

Fizik Gobi saddle, FSA seatpost

4. Glove and Helmet. Checked!

SixSixOne Glove and Ironmag helmet.

5. And lastly the endorsement... from SUPERGIRL!

Endorsement given after bribing SUPERGIRL with a cheeseburger.

I would get a good night rest, wake up in Sunday morning and I'll be ready for my first proper ride.