PCC

I got the dreaded news.

I’ve been diagnosed to have PCC. So contagious is this disease that when I took part in the usual night cycling on Wednesday and Friday nights, this dreaded virus must have infected 16 other riders. The close proximity when we sit together while having teh tarik, the sweat on our bodies when we cycle did not help either as the virus spreads faster in humid condition.

The good doctor recommends that we eat lots and lots of bananas.

The worst part is the incubation period where we have to exercise more than usual to build our muscle and stamina so that we are able to withstand the pain when it manifest it self. We got together all 17 of us and decided that we’ll exercise by cycling up Tampin hill once a week on Sunday morning, go off road in the afternoon and continue our usual night rides twice a week. We hope these efforts will be futile in easing the suffering when the disease manifest itself. Argh…. The date, so good is the doctor that he is able to tell the actual date when we will see the PCC virus at it’s ripen stage.

18th November. Yes, 18-11 is the date to remember when 17 of us plus over 500 riders face similar symptoms of exhaustion, back ache, lung busting, tired leg muscles and sore throats (due to cursing).

PCC-Nexus Presidential Ride 2007.
Yep, we’re looking forward to 60km of enjoyment suffering. Crazy? Nah, we’ve not told you yet of another virus. The KL07 bird flu cycling virus.

Road Safety

Note to all Knight Riders.

There were some close calls especially when we have a big group riding on the trunk roads. We have been lucky that we’ve never had any untoward accidents during our rides. Please remember that everyone is responsible for their own safety. Our night rides are organized by individuals who love the cycling activity and will not be responsible for any loss of life, limbs or bikes during the ride. Everyone rides at their own risk. Remember - Safety first.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Wed 24/10/07
Yesterday's ride was a record.

Not because we had the most number of riders.
Not because we rode further than the our longest ride.

Because 4 riders fell off their bikes!

We started alright on road and halfway through, Captain took us off road from Taman Merdeka. The last few days rain did wonders to the laterite path, rendering it smooth, slippery and sticky.
First to take the honours is Kalvin who braked too hard on the front and slid down. Second place is a new knight rider, Ahmad Ikrami who over steered the handle and toppled down and the third place goes to...... (drum roll)...........Captain Chai! Even professionals find it difficult to tackle this kind of riding. The fourth place goes to Ian who couldn't handle his slippery senorita.

This shows that you have to join us even if the road is muddy. The path to riding experience is simply just ride. Whenever you tumble down, pick yourself up and continue (and learn to curse every now and then).

Thick tires for off road riding. The good thing about riding in this kind of terrain is that you save tons of cash going to the spa for mud bath. Here, it's free and plentyful.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Some photos of last Friday's ride 19/10/07

Low (now known as Manager) and Ian providing cycling escort to Janice.
That's the way to ride, with a smile! Ian going over a bridge near Pulau Gadong.

Bike Tree

Today was a tension day for my family.

It all started when we discovered the 2 aluminum ladders put against the outer wall of our house disappeared. We had earlier commissioned a man to repair our leaking roof. He did some repairs and then stopped for a few days when the rain came. This morning when my wife sent the kids to school, she happened to glance at where we left the ladders and it was there. That was about 7.10 am. By 9.30 am when the roofman came, the ladders were no where to be seen. Someone was already eyeing the ladders as aluminum fetches a good price in the scrap metal buyer or someone just needed a ladder and had the good fortune to see 2 free ladders leaning against the wall. It was as if calling “Steal me, steal me”.

Anyway, tension is when the elders started to question Why. “Why didn’t you bring in when you saw it?” For heavens sake, it was about 15 feet from the main gate to the side of the house, who would have thought some opportunitist to be brave enough to walk in bright daylight into the compound and cart them away? Lesson learnt; always keep stealable items out of sight.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Bike tree
Vashon Island

If you are ever in Seattle, take a ferry to Vashon Island to see this unique view of a bike embedded in a tree.
I got this story from this blog.
http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2007/09/vashon-island-bike-tree.html

Friday Night Ride - 12/10/07

Phew! What a night.
It all started with the usual ride through Kampung Pantai going by the newly constructed riverside walkway that exited at the clock tower. We rode past Dataran Pahlawan (our Bukit Bintang) stretch to attract some attention and headed towards Alai.

Somewhere in the Jasin district, Captain confidently took a kampong road and when the head turns left, the body and tail follows. Nice ride through kampong area, wishing the folks along the way “Selamat Hari Raya”, “Ada ketupat lagi?”
Then, dead end.
Never mind, Captain figures it must be the previous junction, so we back trailed and turned to the “correct” junction. As we rode, it became darker and darker when meant we’re heading deeper into the estate and we decided to stop going further.

We finally managed to find an exit to civilization and we raced back using trunk roads to Ah Keong’s shop.
Total distance rode :

The Wisecracker

A friend told me a story some time ago about his adventures to Gunung Ledang.

One upon a time, there was these 4 guys who climbed up the mystical mountain in search of Mt Ledang princess. Sounds more interesting this way right?

Well, being young and full of guts, these 4 guys just decided to do something adventurous and they made plans to to climb Gunung Ledang the next morning. No need planning, just go. They met up at the Malacca bus station with back packs on their backs and took the bus to Tangkak, changed bus that heads to Segamat and hop off at Sagil which is along the way. It took them a few hours of climbing and they finally reached the peak. Feeling hungry, they took out what was in their back pack. All 4 then realised that each had brought cans of beer but no food. If only they has consulted each other.

Back to bike stuff. A must have for hash members, especially drinkers. You brought beers bottles to the site but not cap opener...... Presto! No problem when you have the Wisecracker
For more information of this product. This is their website.
http://www.ahrensbicycles.com/Bottle-Opener.htm

Want to buy a camera and take great smiling pictures of your friends and family?

A new Sony camera that automatically takes a photo when it detects a smile.

Looks like those with sour faces will never get their photos taken.

Night ride 3/10/07

It was supposed to be a nice night ride yesterday 3/10/07. "We'll use the same route as yesterday" (Tuesday night ride), said Captain. I would say last Tuesday ride was straightforward, almost no hill, going through kampongs and back. So easy was the ride that my wife completed it and it was her first longest ride!

Back to yesterday's ride. We were on the same path for about 1/2 hour and Captain decided to detour into a rubber estate. I happen to look behind at Siew Mai as he was the last man behind and saw him took a tumble. He rode over the centre part of the laterite road where it was higher and lost control. He took it in his stride as a learning experience.

Captain took us deeper and deeper into God knows where and all this while I thought he knew where we were going! Never mind, we have faith in his sense of direction. So we continued cycling into the darkness of the night, passed single track route made technical due to trying to avoid cow pies.

Lots of uphills and thrilling downs (the absence of light always makes the ride more thrilling) We finally reached civilization and it turned out to be Water City. The last strech was a race to our favourite mamak stall for a well deserve teh tarik and bragging stories.
Whye trying not the get his Giant dirty.
Our new Knight Rider, May. By the way, she rides as fast as the boys.
Tough night huh, Keong. Followed by Pang.
Konica moment.
Merida sisters in a row.

Shimano's new product for 2008

Keong, Chai and myself (and later joined by Ma SY) attended a seminar by Shimano on their 2008 products on 30 Sept 07 at Boulevard Hotel, Midvalley. Shimano staffs from Singapore was at hand to explain the changes of components ranging from Mountain bike XTR to Road bike. I was not that keen on road bike stuffs so I won't dwell much on it.

Keong signing in the registration with Serena and Chai beside him before indulging herself in Midvalley shops.
Can you spot something ood about the bike (not the 2 handsome guys behind it)? There's no suspension fork on this suposedly mountain bike. It comes with rigid carbon fork for onroad riding and it complements the bike which is also made from carbon fiber. A marriage like that means almost effortless riding on a light bike.
New XTR rear derailleur now has more bling to it with what else but carbon parts.
Nice woven like carbon fiber patterns
Rims galore.

Going back to school. I didn't expect to sit for so many hours to listen to technical aspects on how a particular part worked. A bicycle is not just a bicycle especially the ones with gears. Kursus Mengenal Bahagian XTR Secara Teknikal Siri 1/2007
A closer look at the rear derailleur.
Next day activity was visits to a few bike shops around Klang valley. Seen here is Mr. Ben Tan of KSH Bicycle showing us the latest Merida road bike that is super light, only 6.8kg. We later went to KSH Cycles and then to BikePro to check out my future possible bikes of Titus RacerX and Santa Cruz Blur XC (KSH) and Scott Spark (BikePro). Santa Cruz looks good for long term ownership as it is made from aluminum but Scott Spark has all the cosmetics on the carbon frame which is mighty applealing to the eye.