Gong Xi Fatt Chai

Here's wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year! May the year of the ox bring abundance of posperity and happiness to all of us.

Merida mountain bike for sale

I bought this bike, Merida XC TFS500 in May 2008 for Grace as she was starting to show interest in joining me for the night rides.

After the first ride, she had back ache and never got back on the saddle after that.
I took it for a few rides on road and once for a hash ride and then left it to hibernate in the store room.

I am selling it while it's still a current model and in very good condition.

For RM2,200.00, this baby is yours.

The handle has been upgraded to Richie carbon to give extra bling and it is much lighter and stronger.

Bike size: 16. Suitable for medium size riders and great for off road riding.

Rear derailleur is XT with 9 speed and front derailleur is Deore.

Model: Merida XC TFS 500

I posted advertisement in a few sites and received quite a number of queries from potential buyers but there is one "buyer" that stands out among the rest which got me suspicious.

The first indication was the fast response to the advert. Same day when I posted. Let me share the e-mail conversation and see if you catch his game. He goes by the name Engr. John Smith.

JS: Hello...
Am so interested in buying your item as a gift for my Wife... get back to me ASAP so that i can arrange for the payment.
Regard.
ENGR.JOHN.S

Me: Hi John,Thank you for the interest. The bike size is 16. I too bought it for my wife in May 2008 but and she complained her back ache after the 1st ride (not the bike fault I can assure you that!). I used it not more than 10 times after that and kept it in the room. Let me know of your decision as I have also received a number of interested queries. Regards,Ben

JS: For the payment"your money EUROS3700 will be paid to your bank accountvia T/T which means travelex Transfer, And am making the payment before traveling down to Texas. Get back with these infor. for the Transfer.Name of BankAccount Number Swift CodeHolders NameBank Address.And as soon your receive from my bank get back to me ASAP
The address will be send to you after the payment.

I had previously received warnings on the e-mail circulation about scams and sales con. It goes something like this. First the person will respond fast to the sales (which indicates he/she is full time browsing for opportunity). Then when they get a respond from the seller, they will always offer to pay by fund transfer. Some buyer will offer to pay more with excuse that they want to give the cash as gift to the recipient. For example, I am selling my bike for RM2,200. JS will offer to pay RM3,000 and want to give the extra cash as gift to his wife. He will say he needs my help and will pay RM300.00 for the services which means he is willing to pay RM2,500 for the bike and I am to put the RM500 cash with the bike when I ship it out.

JS will suddenly send an urgent message to get me to ship it out and will attach a copy of a presumably banked in cash deposit slip. The bank in document might look genuine and if I am dumb enough believe him and ship it, I will not only lose my bike plus RM500.This buyer will always require you to ship the items as they are probably operating overseas.

Now to continue the conversation.

Me: Hi, Since this is a bike that is fully set up, I would prefer it self collection.

As suspected, the e-mail abruptly stop.

Thank goodness for all the e-mail from friends of the various warnings.

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

SOLD!

The Merida bike has been sold to Halim from Trengganu who drove all the way to pick up the bike. I wish Halim all the enjoyment that he will get riding this bike!

WMD redefined

I received this hilarious cartoon drawing and wanted to share with everyone.

President Bush's security upgraded.

Kayuhan Warisan Taiping3

This is the route we went. With all the natural resources that they have, it was a waste they didn't make full use of the mountains. We cycle bypassing them instead.

GPS file available here

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=98641

Kayuhan Warisan Taiping2

Group photo

Pre start photo. Better take a photo now as tomorrow will be packed with riders.

All smiles now while we still have the energy

The first obstacle.

The VIP gave a short speech and the horn was blown to sound the flag off. Flag off was at 7.30am which was good as it meant cycling in the cool weather.

The first part was cycling on road lead by a pace vehicle. It should be a warm up ride but it turn out to be a road race! The pace car went fast with everyone trying to catch up. I was doing about 30 - 35km and struggling every bit as I had not warmed up yet. Mike and Ah Yang were the front riders and they said at times they were cycling at 40km per hour. Way too fast!

After riding on tarmac for about 15km we finally hit off road which was actually dirt road.

Ok, I thought, the best is yet to come

We cycled past beautiful ponds, lakes, rubber and oil palm plantations, kampung road, dirt road again and more kampung road but where was the track that will lead into the jungle, into the mountains that we saw on the way?

An ingenious idea of video taping the ride.

Bottle neck on a single track

Unfortunately, that was all we got. A long distance ride with hardly any challenge of mountain biking.

Waiting for our numbers to be called but we were not so lucky after all.

My precious.

IBIS Mojo SL.

After riding a full suspension bike, it will be difficult to go back to hard tail.

My old faithful Specialized is still with me. She's great for cycling on road and I use it mainly for night cycling now.

Thumbs up for a nice long distance pleasant kampung road ride.

The distance: 66km

Ride time: 3 hours 48 minutes

Time to go back.

Will I go again? Maybe, and only after I see the reccee photos.

The travelling journey was too long not to have a satisfying ride.

Kayuhan Warisan Taiping1

6 of us from Malacca made the tiring 6 hours journey to Taiping on 27th December. Nav joined us on Saturday as she was already back in her hometown at Kampar the day before.

When I heard about the ride, I imagined in my mind riding amongst the mountains ridges, passing waterfalls and bountiful single tracks that cut through the jungle. Why I had this in mind, well, the location of Taiping where it is just at the edge of the mountaineous Titiwangsa range plus the well known Maxwell Hill now known as Bukit Larut.


We left Malacca on Saturday with intention to explore the town and visit the famous Taiping Night Safari.
We registered ourselves, got the ride plates and checked into Legend Inn Hotel. After that it's off to see Taiping by bike. We cycled into the forest reserve up to the restricted entrance of a water catchment area. We detoured to the entrance of Bukit Larut to take some photos. (Top photo: Mike and Ah Yang clowning around)

Since we managed to cycle in the entrance of Bukit Larut without any restrictions, I suggested why not cycle up. If we get caught, just act blur.


We were already half way cycling up when we met some local joggers coming down. They strongly advise us not to continue cycling as the Telekom jeep will be coming down soon and they have been known to go fast round the corner. With that advice taken to consideration, we decided to turn back for our own safety. (photo taken almost at the top of the forest reserve path, beside the Indian temple)

Cycling by the tranquil and serene lake. Taiping is a great place to bring up children and retire.












Registration counter for the ride. All we got for RM50.00 registration is a jersey like T-shirt, laminated ride plate and lunch coupon.

I believe our Sahara Ride in October was value for money

Riding in Taiping town.

Zebras at the Night Safari