Sunday, March 27, 2011

Registered - GUMQ 2011

I finally registered for the GUMQ which is going to be held next 10th April. Few decisive factors why I chose to join in...first of all...as a support to a local event 'organized' by fellow rider, prof Julian..which also one of my CW riding buddies..secondly due to the convenience of the event venue which located much,much nearer than the one in Yong Peng (no over-nighties or early morning trip to event venue!) and finally because of the lucky draw prizes....kinda hoping I'd hit the jack pot and bring home the main prize, a brand new Giant Faith frame...well....everybody's wishing for that too...hehehe

I've also had the opportunity to test ride the event trail twice...although not to my liking...I quite enjoyed few parts of the trail...which part?...let it be my secret.....=p

First trial leaves me with a dilemma...whether to join in or not...the second one, yesterday morning...was more enjoyable...maybe I was more relaxed and able to tackle nearly all parts of the trail....

Well....basically...total distance for the trail was about 30km...comprising a mixture of tarmac,off road, rocky descend, freakingly scary steep downhill, lung busting tarmac hill climbs and wide open trail...sadly no single trail at all...I guess to me, the only attraction to the event is the lucky draw prizes...hahaha

We'll see how lucky I'll be on that day...=)

By the way, I'll be joining Lond to ride Bukit Timah trail tomorrow....my first Singapore ride..and hopefully not the last...I'll update the whole thing after I get back, okay?

Till then..

Monday, March 14, 2011

Mass Riding...should we have it here in JB?

Hi y'all......

Been browsin' the net and came across this blog...putrajaya critical mass...it's all about a monthly mass bike ride in Putrajaya...remembered it being mentioned as one of Akmal's riding wish list.

According to the site, "Critical Mass rides are self-organized, non-commercial and non-competitive, and they operate with diffused and informal decision-making, independent of leaders. They are mostly unofficial, foregoing permits and official sanction from municipal authorities. Typically, only the meeting place, date, and time are fixed. In some cities, the route, finishing point, or attractions along the way may be planned ahead. Participants have differing purposes for the event, such as celebrating their choice of the bicycle for transportation, and enjoying car-free social time on city streets.
Critical Mass rides have been perceived aa activities. A 2006 New Yorker magazine article described Critical Mass' activity in New York City as "monthly political-protest rides", and characterized Critical Mass as a part of a social movement; and the UK e-zine Urban75, which advertises as well as publishes photographs of the Critical Mass event in London, describes this as "the monthly protest by cyclists reclaiming the streets of London." However, Critical Mass participants have insisted that these events should be viewed as "celebrations" and spontaneous gatherings, and not as protests or organized demonstrations. This stance allows Critical Mass to argue a legal position that its events can occur without advance notification of local police.
Critical Mass rides vary greatly in many respects, including frequency and number of participants. For example, many small cities have monthly Critical Mass rides with fewer than twenty riders which offer safety in numbers to cyclists in those locales, while on the opposite extreme, in what have been the largest events using the name Critical Mass, cyclists in Budapest, Hungary hold only two rides each year on 22 September (International Car Free Day) and 22 April (Earth Day). They attract tens of thousands of riders. The April 22, 2007 Budapest ride participation was generally estimated at 50,000 riders."

Kinda interesting isn't it?....sort of like the usual Tamago's twice weekly NR's...but in a much grander scale lah...and also held only once a month...maybe the only problem is to get all the JB riding groups to ride together...you see...on each Friday nights....you can spot several different riding groups in JB town area...all minding their own thing...wouldn't it be cool to unite them all in one night?one ride?

If I'm not mistaken, a group of Fixie riders called Southern Fixed had organized one on the last New Year's Eve night, but I think it was meant only for the fixie community...why not having one here involving all, be it MTB's, roadie's or fixie's?

Well...I know it's gonna be difficult to gather everybody to ride in one night...but to me..it'll be cool....hmmm...

Talking about it have me thinking...and since it has been in Akmal's wishlist...wouldn't it be great if I could make a trip to Putrajaya with him and few of our buddies? Make it as a weekend ride and throw in several others riding activities to make it really worth the trip....like...joining the PCM ride on Friday nite, then ride the Putrajaya Challenge Park (PCP) the next afternoon and finish it off with exploring Kiara or FRIM on Sunday...and while we at it, we could check out all the bike shops in Klang valley!

Sweeetttttt......=)

Sunday, March 13, 2011

..........

Three months had passed since my last post in this blog. Again...I’ve been busy...I think...or is it just me being myself.....=p 

Where should I start? hmmm...my last entry was about the inaugural and famous Plentong Epic Ride in November...right... 

The epic ride was indeed epic for me...it was also a disaster...all those psyching and preparations gone to waste when I only managed to crawl to CP3.....yep! You heard it right...for the first time in my life...I DNF-ed an epic ride...no thanks to the multiple leg cramps I suffered during the ride. Well...as a consolation maybe....I won a hotel stay as a lucky draw prize...and got a pic of myself in a local mag...hahaha

me, joe pepah and wire works before the hell ride

the flag off...

 me...all smiles after suffering two cramps...

Then...later in December, I participated in the 50km Nusa Iskandar MTB Adventure Ride which I managed to clear in approximately 5hrs...despite suffering cramps once after CP3...the ride was awesome (but not as awesome as Plentong trail)...with some pretty gnarly downhill sections which to me not for the faint hearted and newbie...there were also some lung busting climbs that have me swearing the organizers..hehehe...but it all paid off as I crossed the finishing line and completed the ride and earned me back my self confidence...THAT  was priceless...

 jointly organized by MCA?


A couple of weeks later, I returned back to the same trail with a few CM members and ride the trail again. This time it was more enjoyable as there were no time limits and we were just enjoying ride.
Since January this year, I only went to Plentong once....a ride with Sham somewhere earlier this month. We were the only riders showed up that morning and decided not to waste the trip there.

 Cyclemotion's Sham..Plentong trail 06/02/11
  
There were also several trips to Gunung Pulai trail with Murad to further sharpen his off road skills. Well frankly....I think he’s better than me....he has more stamina than me especially during climbs...I more of a bike pusher...I enjoyed going down more than going up..hehehe...

 me and Murad at P.U.B Reservoir Gunung Pulai

 king of the hill!


In these past 3 months also,   I have had my schedule full with the regular NR’s....with the Tamago’s and also the infamous CW rides with few of my buddies...at some point I even had four NR’s in a week! Guess I really am enjoying these NR’s...especially to Stulang and around town.
My passport has also being put in good use lately...there were few trips across the causeway with few of my buddies, mainly in search for bike parts...for me, I took the opportunity to add few stuffs to my Fox riding gear collections with few jerseys and a collection of T’s and other gears and apparels. And did I mention I purchased my first Five Ten Hellcat shoes from Chain Reaction Cycles?  =p

 Orchard Road, Singapore

 Xtremerated.com store in Orchard Cineleisure...nice place...nice chick...hehe

There were also few more upgrades to my Chameleon...other than a full set of XT components, I also adding in a Sunline V-One bar, ODI TLD grips and 2 sets of wheel sets....both with ZTR Flow rims with Hope pro 2 hubs laced with DT Swiss competition spokes. Why am I having 2 sets of wheels? Well...I see that I’m beginning to enjoy riding road fairly as I enjoy going off road...rather than switching tyres which can be tedious...why not having two sets of wheels; one for each ride? For that purpose, one set is being wrapped with Continental Race King 2.1 rubber while the other with Continental Mountain King 2.4 (F) and 2.1 (R)...so far I’ve no complaints with both tyres as it worked perfectly.

So far I totally am contented with the current setup...the only thing in my wish list is a set of 2011 Fox Talas 32...hey?...my birthday is in October....I wouldn’t mind receiving my present early if you know what I mean...so...anybody? =)

 droollllllll.........

Few of my friends have upgraded themselves from riding hard tails to full suss bikes... Panjang, EG, Akmal, Riza, Hakim, Shukri and Joren. I have also considered building another bike...a full susser this time....I have a thing for Santa Cruz bikes...and Nomad has been my favourite for a long time...but the price tag is too much for me...maybe next year....hehehe



 pick your choice......
There will be an event coming in April....well, there are two, actually....one held in UTM while the other is a jamboree in Yong Peng. Personally...I prefer to ride in Yong Peng as it covers more distance rather than the 35km UTM MTB Quest...but since the UTM event is organized by a friend of mine, I’ve decided to get myself registered and forget the other. Nuff said!

So....if you have no riding plans on April 10th, why not join the event? You can check out the event here.

Thanks for visiting!