Night Riding in KL

THe weather today was cool and damp. Perfect for cycling some would say, what more a nice night ride.
I had planned a "new" route that would take me from segambut, Mont Kiara, Sri Hartamas, Jalan Duta and back to Segambut; 15km or so in all.
Tonight was perfect.
The weather was cool, the traffic was sparce and the streets well lit.
Gabriel was not to have been left out of this "long" ride.
Off we went at about twilight time, a slow casual ride to the Solaris area, getting wet in the process by pools of water. After Solaris, a small climb up to the Mont Kiara area where traffic became heavier from dinner goers; besides, it was the Kiara area and quite hard not to have traffic.
Then onwards to Sri Hartmas, past Plaza Damas and back to Segambut.
The road terrain was great with a good mix of climbs and downhills.
A few short stops and the final climb back home with Gabriel close on my tail.
Quite a good work out for a 13 year old.

Amelia goes a FRIM-ing...

An adventurous first time for young Amelia on her 24" GT climbing for the first time a fairly tough terrain at the FRIM.
With some difficulty and several short 2 minute breaks, she makes it... climbing with all her might and against all odds.
The going was tough... but after 30 minutes riding, she makes it to the top of Rover's trail. Another last break at the waterfall, a drink, and then it was a breeze all the way down to the other side.
Congratulations young lady!
You've done something very few girls your age would do or even want to try doing.
Gravel, mud, 25% hill climbs, no mean task for an 11 year old when most would still prefer sleeping in the comforts of home on a beautiful Saturday morning.
But then, you're my daughter... which means some craziness must have rubbed off huh?
Not to mention the pain your butt is facing now, a day later!

FRIM on Deepavali

Holiday for Malaysians... thanks to Deepavali.
For me, it was an opportunity to try my helmet cam again!.. Woohoo...
And it worked!
However, unfortunately i've not been able to attach the clip to this blog.

The ride was no different other than the fact that I decided to go an extra "mile" by climbing the killer Steroid Hill twice. Of course, those around and were resting thought us crazy.

The dangers for us was that we're always going the "wrong way" up because we think that the other way up is for "chickens" and hence the name "chicken route". Danger here being that those taking the chicken route end up coming downhill while we're going up. Ah well... we've gotten away with it so far.

Rover's trail was also packed with people. No surprise, mostly Chinese and Malays... as our Indian friends are busy entertaining their guests or visiting.

After 3-4 hours of riding time; this time safely with no injuries, it was time to go back. Relax, nap...

How to Maintain your Rear Derailleur...

When there's no place to go...

Sometimes when I'm feeling low, and things just don't seem to click, and I dont really feel like driving out anywhere to go for a ride, what do I do?
Just grab the bike and ride anywhere!

This time, this past weekend was such a time.
Feeling down in the dumps I decided to get some air and cycle around my kampung.
Though the word "air" here can arguably be a big question mark as far as quality and being "fresh" is concerned, it didn't bother me. I had to get out there.

My kampung, as it turns out happens to be from Segambut dalam all the way out to the Damansara area, via Sri Hartamas.
Leaving my slicks on from my previous ride, I shot off in the 1pm heat of the day. Burn if I must my skin, but I had to go.

The terrain in my kampung ride is nice because it's up and downhill and fast!
Feeling somewhat down and out with my mood, I basically sprinted the whole time, even during the hard climbs up damansara hill (Science center) just to "let go".
It was good.

You know... riding and sweating it out really does things with your mind, your mood and your general health.
Came back home after 2 hours plus and over 30km (didnt even keep a real count on my distance), showered, had my late late lunch.
Felt better.

Wonder where to next.

Ramadhan Ride

The first week of "bulan puasa" and a nice ride to a regular spot ... back up to Genting Sempah and down to Bukit Tinggi, past Janda Baik.
This time not the usual 2 of us, but 4.
The 16km ride uphill was no mean task as usual, and Eric on his racer was way ahead of everyone else. Really contemplating if I should get one. The speed on it must be thrilling.
We arrived Bukit tinggi at about noon and consumed more kilocalories than we burned getting up the hill and probably the whole ride itself. Why?
2 large plates of noodles, 1 vege, 1 steamed fish, and a whole D24 durian !!
Aiyoh...
Here we were telling each other how much MORE we were eating than burning calories, and here we were continuing eating! So Malaysian wouldn't you say?
No disrespect to my fellow Muslim friends being puasa month and all... but we really ate !
After the lunch, we all agreed we were too heavy and too lazy to take the short and very very steep climb back up to Sempah... so we decided to take the long 5km extra km route through gradual climb back up... hmmm. Oh, the fish was so delicious, Eric decided to buy a 5kg one frozen, wrapped in paper, for RM150!! However, he was smart enough to let Thomas carry it all the way back... uahauahauaha.

REaching the peak of sempah we (eric and i) rested while waiting for the rest. Eric of course had to make sure his fish made it safely back.
The ride down was pleasant as it started to rain. Nice cold wind in my face, rain... bliss.
Another day... another ride...

Bukit Tinggi via Janda Baik..

Another day, another nice ride. Just the outskirts of KL on the way to Genting Highlands, there's a eatery or locally known as "medan selera". Here's where we parked. Our ride this time was ambitious, not that we've never done crazy killer hills before, but this time, it was a 'double' killer. We were going to attempt an off road trail up to Bukit Tinggi, towards the Berjaya resort.
We started with a fast downhill for 8km to Janda Baik, probably some have heard that this place has tons of "team building" or "training" spots. A nice quaint kampung area with happy people and kids running around, not on their feet but on "cup chais", as many as 3-5 on a bike is quite normal. A quick picture of them was enough to get their wide wide smiles.
The loop around Janda Baik is a nice ride and a trip on its own if you plan it for a family. Full tarmac, short ups and short downs make it a nice nice ride. Quite cooling too and very green. You'll pass some cow pastures and the like.
After a quick loop around Janda Baik, we headed downhill again towards Bentong. From the starting point and at about kilometer 28, there'll be a very steep hidden 4-wheel off road on the left. Here's where we took our break of some kaya buns; psyched up for the long climb up this 25-30degree hill.
The climb was good ONLY if you're mad! It was slightly overgrown, gravelled mixed with earth, bumpy from wear and tear, slippery from loose broken stones and gravel. But we managed to do all 3km of it.
If you're familiar with the "steroid Hill" of Frim, running at about 15-20degrees incline, and the Gunung Nuang at 30-40 degrees, well, this one is midway.
We passed yet some nice ... hmm... lets see... radio towers... urmm... giant astro-like dishes (digi actually)... urmm...helipads (what on earth are they here for me wonders)... and finally, the horse ranch in the middle of nowhere. .. and WITH a horse. (check out picts at picasa link). And oh yes... a very territorial dog, added to the flavor of fun and adventure. We escaped unscathed.
Coming back was another adventure on its own cos we tried downhilling from another part where there was a proper tarmac road made probably cos of the radio tower.
Unfortunately, on reaching the bottom we found it was linked to the main Karak Highway! Bad mistake! but no choice, we werent going to climb back up the hill so we took the highway.
Managed to find the "old" road off the highway again after 2 km and literally climbed down the hill from the highway and back to the "old" road to Bentong.
We headed on back to a famous chinese spot... hungry like never before and time was already past 1pm. Hot and hungry... not good combination.
Finally, we arrived the little town of bukit tinggi for our lunch at "Mei Shi Ka". A plate of "wah tan Hor" and "fukkien mai fahn".... and drinks of coconut, iced coffee, katchai soomui... and bliss... burp!
We were on our way again...
The road back was tediously HOT and gradual uphill again !! 20km worth.
Full ride touching 60km.
Tired, worn out, feverish bods, sun tanned... but what the... it was good !!