RTW route

This is my route for RTW.


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Minimal traffic, through Seri Alam, Masai, Taman Bunga Raya, Taman Bukit Dahlia and Taman Mawar.
Distance about 13 km, with about only 20 meter on the Pasir Gudang Highway.
Would take about 40 minutes to complete the journey, including the wait at traffic lights and crossing the roads.

Single Speed-ing

Yesterday evening while riding back home from work, something suddenly came to mind:

• to ride casually
• use a fixed gear
  

Thus I rode in a very relaxed way, and at the same time emulated a Single Speed bike. With a freewheel, still.

Heart not pumping as hard, not much sweat, and I enjoyed the route (albeit being the same old route). The bigger plus: I felt really relaxed when I'm home. I mean, mentally and physically.
It felt great! I felt as if I could do anything else. No need to take some time to relax or anything like that. To my surprise, I reached home 40 minutes after I started from the office. That's about the same time I would take if I rode 'aggressively'. With the high feeling and having some time before daylight ends, I intended to clean the RTW bike. A chat with the neighbour and the missus asking to go to the pasar malam with her, I was short of time. Managed to only clean the chain.

On second thought, it felt like being a Bangla riding on the road to and from work. I don't care much, anyway. I felt very good. That's the revelation I had yesterday, on riding casually.

On the SS, it was a surprise for me. I used a combo of middle ring for front, and 14T for the rear (that's the 3rd smallest on the cassette). I could climb the hill up the crossroad traffic light from Taman Mawar to Masjid Jamek Pasir Gudang. Either I'm getting fitter, or it's just simply the matter of fact that I hit the right combo of gearing.

Today on the way to work (yes, on a Sunday morning), I used the same SS setting and rode casually too. The mission is to gauge the time and exhaustion (if any) that I would reach. Same results - not that tiring, and about 40 minutes ride.

Elated.

Considering a proper SS bike? Not yet. I love the extra gearing options that I have for now. The weight saving really is interesting, though...
Hmmphh... perhaps there are 5 speed cogs available for sale? Cheap?

Things that make my RTW easier

The journey:
Traffic lights.
Safe route (a bit far, but less traffic although there are a few doggies around).
Zikrullah: as a breath pacing tool, too.

Gears:
The bike - 8 speed, v brakes, low rolling resistance tires. Can get through anything on the road - gravels, small holes).
Lights - headlight & tail light, plus backup light for night riding. Spare batteries too.
Gloves: half finger - easy to handle things - office pass card, keys, zippers, digging nostrils, etc.

Freshen up:
Shower booth in the toilet.
Shampoo & shower gel: courtesy of hotels. Can also get those mini bottles with pump (I saw one at Watson's).
Towel: Speedo super absorbent microfibre sheet. Measures only 15"x27" (38 x 68.5cm) but could dry the whole body.
Deodorant: simple odorless mineral salt - I got mine at Guardian, available from Cosway too.
Attire: non-ironed collared t-shirt, a pair of company standard-issued workpants, a pair of safety boots stored under the desk.
Hair: crew cut - no proper combing necessary :)

Bike storage:
Office pantry. Locked the bike, of course.

On Fridays, I would pool with a friend's car to masjid for solat Jumaat.

Alhamdulillah.

scathed

As if a yearly ritual, I fell down again last Sunday on the first day of this year's February. Last February I had the most serious fall so far while rolling downhill in Seri Alam with T-Bolt. This time it was in Ulu Tiram with Bianchi.

I must have accidentally pulled the front brake lever hard while going a long bumpy downhill section. Well, actually most of the route was downhill. Anyway, there I was, endoed with my left side of my head first to the ground. Bruises on my thighs near to the knees, left shoulder, and two left fingers including the pinky. I passed it as not a major one, for I still have my thumb, index and middle finger for my day-to-day chores - writing, typing and cleaning stuff in the toilet. Oh, and not to forget, gripping the handlebar - for RTW.

There were 5 of us in the trail that day, so I can appreciate the worries on everyone's mind. Alhamdulillah, I was able to ride without much problem. One thing I did notice, my vision was quite blurry and somehow not 'full'. Something like having a blind spot, but the spot is right in the middle of the front vision. Strange.


kurang hensem siket dah pulak...

I'm sporting scars from the fall, appearing most visibly near my left eye, left shoulder (able to hide it from the missus for a short while only), both arms, and both thighs near to the knees. Bruises too. At the time of writing, the bruises are slowly fading to yellowish.

Looking forward to this Sunday's ride!

Thanks to Jai for the photos, post-ride refreshments (plus lunch!), bathroom and the nice trail in Ulu Tiram

Kayuh Malam Pasir Gudang

Come to Pasir Gudang with your bikes!
We'll be having a night ride

06.02.2009 | Friday | 9.00 pm
Café Ruza to Lower Dam

essentials:
bicycle (road/mtb/tandem/etc.)
helmet
headlight
tail light

have fun with the night ride,
then head out to Mount Austin the next day for the 10 buck race

organizer: Panjang | poster: Panjang | model: Pabekang

10 buck race in JB

I'm no downhiller, but this is gonna be great.
Hope not to miss the spectacle, around the town I live in.

Y'all, come down to JB and soak in the fun.

Organisers: no poster ahh?

More info here

Sunday Ride with Naza

It has been a few Sundays since my last offroad ride with the guys in Pasir Gudang.
Albeit, I clocked about 150 kms on road riding to and back from work.
Not bad at all, but on Tuesdays usually I'll get the urge and longing for an offroad ride.

Last Sunday my neighbourhood organized a gotong-royong, so I cancelled my offroad ride with Panjang to revisit the 2007 hash route.
Turned out that it was only sendiri-sendiri gotong-royong, and Southern Waste Management would only come in the evening to pick up the trash.

Anyway, early morning that day Naza and I did go out for a short ride to Tasik Seri Alam. We checked out the newly re-opened Cactus Inn - basically to see the horse ranch over there and see what they offer.

The road leading to it is a long hill. Naza pedaled to the top quitely and gracefully, she appeared almost relaxed and like riding on flats. Finally when she got to the top, she uttered
"Terer I kayuh naik bukit tau. Sekarang dah tak penat dah macam dulu"
A milestone for her.

So guys, if you're panting riding up to the 'kandang kuda', my missus could easily beat you to it.
How's that for a motivation?
:)

We went in to Cactus Inn and looked around. After a few photos, we went home with 10 kilometers journeyed on our bikes.


essentials - helmet, and mirror


bikes ready for the ride, with Depp the cat


raring to go, after a long hiatus


Naza on the fire road


nice cockpit there!


graceful


Cactus Inn reception


rooms available for rent, with swimming and wading pool


café. halal? didn't check


the Indoor Arena


fees schedule for the horse riding lesson , if you're up for it.


horse riding practice


rollin round the roundabout


Seri Alam panorama at the top, view from Cactus Inn


Naza at The Valley Seri Alam, with a sleepy lazy doggy


self portrait

RTW 22.01.2009

Wow... alhamdulillah it's a personal RTW record for me so far.
Three days straight starting from Tuesday, I rode to work.

This morning I went out the earliest so far - 0637 hours.
Took some time to take some photos.
One good thing about not having my Velo8 on board is that I don't seem to bother about the stats. I pedaled gracefully, relaxed and enjoyed the whole ride.


sunrise behind Kip Mart Masai towards Taman Bukit Dahlia. No vehicles at sight, plus no dogs!


another attempt to capture the beauty of nature at Taman Bukit Dahlia.

Arrived at the office at 0721 hours. About 45 minutes of sweet ride.
There are not as many vehicles on the road as my usual 'late' rides. Less traffic means much safer and less smoke (BTW, I intend to get one of those smog mask). Also, the dogs are nowhere to be seen. Ha!

my favourite part of the route - from Stadium Pasir Gudang leading to Pasir Gudang Highway (towards MMHE/Johor Port).

Bike To Work eBook

I found this:
http://www.xtracycle.com/bike-to-work/

For people out there who are still contemplating on whether you should RTW, when to RTW, and other obstacles that you may have now, flip to page 18 and beyond.
I hope you find your answers and revelations.

RTW 20.01.2009 - with Schwinn Mesa

Tuned my re-built Schwinn Mesa last night. Okay, technically very, very early today at 0005 hours.
It's a bike dedicated for RTW. Tried to fit a rear view mirror, but to no avail. The handlebar hollow is too small to fit the mirror holder.
Tried a first run right away, and it felt really different. I'm using an old Ø25.4 handlebar with 50mm 0° stem. Awkward.
Ehm ehm... upgraditis started to make me itch. Anybody wants to let go a wide aluminium handlebar real cheap? And a mounting bracket with sensor for Cateye Velo8 as well.

I went out at 0658 hours. Without my Velo8 attached, I could not log any data. Except that I started a stopwatch on my ultra versatile handphone.

Stats today (to):

• Riding to work, distance covered 12.6 km. More or less, as usual.
  
• Average speed: no data.
  
• Max speed: quite fast.
  
• Travel time: not sure. My stopwatch clocked 42:15:91. Including the waiting at traffic lights, etc.
  

Number of good doggies: 2. No signs of those Rottweilers. I wish they are fine.

MMHE bike park

MMHE main bike parking lot

On the way to my office in the yard, there's a designated bike parking lot.
There's a number of reasons, however, to why I'm not keen in leaving my bike there:

1. It's located halfway from the yard entrance to my office.
2. I don't think my bike would stay intact after a few hours left by itself.
3. My bike more than 20 meters away from me? No way!
   

Mimpi Manis 2. No idea what happened to the first one.

photos both by Kadafi

RTW 16.01.2009 + night ride

Anticipating extended working hours, I packed an extra headlight unit as a preparation for a night ride going back home from work last Friday. Usually I would only use my Cateye headlight in blinking mode if riding during the day.

It is good to be prepared and ready. It eliminates the irritating feeling of being uneasy. On the other hand, if you're caught off guard, there are always other alternatives that can be explored and you can put your creative thinking cap on (mine is dusty... uhuk uhuk...).

The ride home was uneventful. From the many night rides, I gathered some valuable experiences, and that particular ride was like a normal one. Still, I'm recording it here as my first getting home from work riding a bike at night.

I'm getting a pair of tire reflectors (the one that you put on the spokes) and pack it in my bag just in case if I do have to ride home at night again. Oh, and a tube valve LED light too... just for the fun of it.
:)

for the love of cycling

Ng Joo Ngan
An article I found in the net, by Sharmila Valli Narayanan.
Published March 1st, 2007 in Malaysian Business.

Shaharudin Jaffar
by Ng Wei Loon, The Star, January 8th, 2009.

I couldn't find the article I read about Daud Ibrahim in a newspaper many months ago. A former cycling great, I think he cycles from Muar to KL on weekends just for kicks.

Old skool!

The big S

S A F E T Y

I work in a heavy industry, steel fabrication establishment. The level of safety, and safety consciousness among workers are very high.

Around the yard, there are many safety initiatives being implemented. 25km/h speed limit, wearing seatbelts (front and rear passengers too) in cars, no handphone usage while driving, wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) if you're in the yard, etc. etc.

Thus, alertness to unsafe act is sort of ingrained within. I'm a paranoid at home when it comes to safety matters, to the point of annoying (eitt.. macam Yasmin Ahmad pulak). This, also when I'm riding my bike on the road (albeit, I try to ease it off when offroad - not so enjoyable if 'too safe').

That's why I'm really into the big S when I'm doing my RTWs. Especially in finding the safest route. Alhamdulillah, so far I've found one safe route to work from my home.

Another concern is to be seen by other (faster) road users. I ensure that I have enough blinkers and in addition, having reflectors on my clothes. Tesco used to sell yellow reflector strips that you can wrap around your ankles, but I found none nowadays. It's a very good S item for bikers. If you're wearing long pants, you can use it to securely wrap your flapping trouser hems. One of the common safety motto: 'Be Seen, Be Safe'.

My dear biking brothers, be safe. Always.

RTW 16.01.2009

It's a Cycle Friday again!

Went out at 0652 hours.

Stats today (to):

• Riding to work, distance covered 12.6 km.
  
• Average speed is at 21.0 km/h.
  
• Max speed 37.7 km/h
  
• Travel time 37 min 7 sec. Bringing down the average of 6 RTWs to 36:52. Was 37:05 (ave of 5 rides).
  

Really thinking about rebuilding Schwinn Mesa, dedicated for RTW. Bought a few safety items yesterday to be fitted to it (well, that's a start).

Number of good doggies: 3 sleepy Rottweilers. Penat bang, semalam kan malam Jumaat.