Monthly Archives: December 2015
We Like the Airport Ride
Rain tempted a few of us to go back to bed at 5.30am and have a Sunday lie-in. But eight of us put on ‘badass pants’ and turned up near the Iskandar restaurant in Bandar Sunway by 6.30am. By the time we got rolling the rain had stopped.
We started at Bandar Sunway rather than at Bukit Jalil so that we could ride a few more kilometers.
An on the fly decision to take the first exit rather than the second one at the Jalan KLIA 1 / Jalan Pekeliling roundabout added even more kilometers.
We stopped at the Dengkil stall for breakfast. Back to that Malaysian favourite – roti canai. No appelgebak met slagroom here.
Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai
As we left Dengkil we were joined by a local resident out for his Sunday ride. He suggested an alternate route from the Jalan KLIA 1 / Jalan Pekeliling roundabout to KLIA2. So we took the first rather than the second exit from that roundabout.
That took us toward the now unused Low Cost Carrier Teminal (LCCT) and alongside Runway 3. Which provided an opportunity for a plane spotter photo.
Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai
And a gratuitous bike shot with the KLIA 2 control tower in the background.
The road around Runway 3 brought us to the bus and taxi area on the ground floor of the KLIA 2 terminal building. There is an NZ Curry House outlet there. With a glass wall so we could see our bicycles from inside the restaurant.
We didn’t think that a group of ten could have pulled off the bike-on-a-trolley trick that had worked for Liang and I.
Photograph courtesy of Fraz Chow
It was getting very hot, so one of these was in order. An ais kacang.
Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim
Speaking of hot, this was the temperature during our ride back to Bandar Sunway. I was missing the 8°C / 46°F of Den Haag.
On the way we stopped a few times for some shade and a breather. Including at the R&R Seri Kembangan on the MEX Highway, where we could get food and icy drinks, and sit under a fan in the shade.
Our decision to cover extra kilometers turned the route into a century ride. It was about 3pm when we got back to our cars. More than enough time in the sun to have me reaching for this.
Good thing the next ride is going to be at night!
Honey Have You Seen My Magic 8 Ball?
Graphic courtesy of Laurie Niestrath at lsniestrath.wordpress.com
It started as an occasional click. Coming from, it seemed, the bottom bracket. Unhelpfully, all unwelcome noises on a bicycle seem to emanate from the bottom bracket. I hoped that the noise would go away by itself. After all, my bike was clicking intermittently, and only when I pedalled.
But that click didn’t go away. Instead it soon become a constant staccato tick / creak. Impossible to ignore. And very irritating. Especially as I was riding my new bike. New bikes are not supposed to tick / creak!
I worked through the possible causes as I ticked / creaked my way through the ride. Failing bearings in the press fit bottom bracket? I hoped not. Notoriously difficult to fix, and likely to be expensive.
A problem with the rear hub? A broken pawl perhaps? I wondered if the hub was easily user-serviceable.
Maybe the spokes were to blame? Rubbing where they crossed from rear hub to rim? A drop of oil needed in the hub flange spoke holes?
Loose chainring bolts perhaps? I don’t think it could be the crank bolts.
Could it be my pedals that were ticking / creaking? Didn’t I just clean and relube them?
Or was the source of the noise something else entirely?
“Yes honey. I definitely need that Magic 8 Ball.”
Weer Fietsen in Nederland
My Ritchey Break-Away came with me on a trip to Cuba. Unfortunately I didn’t do any riding in Cuba. My bike stayed in its case in La Habana while the group I was with explored Cuba by van. About 1,800kms / 1,100mi over nine days.
I saw a lot of Cubans on bicycles, especially in towns outside La Habana. Some towns have pedal powered taxis.
A number of visitors were on touring bikes, especially on the south coast around Trinidad. And we drove past these guys on road bikes in La Habana one evening.
I brought my bike with me because my biker chick and I had a stopover in Den Haag on the way home. My bike was out of its case and I was on the fietspaden (bike paths) the day after we arrived in the Netherlands. It was so nice to be back in the dunes.
It was not so nice to be back in the wind.
Welkom in Nederland!
The group I cycled with when I lived in Den Haag, the Not Possibles, is still going strong. I joined them for their regular Saturday ride.
I say “joined.” In reality I got dropped within the first five kilometers of leaving DAKA Leidschendam. I blamed it on the flu bug I picked up in Cuba.
Fortunately Jeff was kind enough to ride with me as I sniffled and coughed my way around the Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk to Hazwerswoude to Kruisweg to Leidschenveen loop, and back to the Coffee Club in Leidschendam.
It was nice to see old friends, and to meet new ones, over a coffee or two.
I rode six more times. Alone, or with Jeff, or with David and Jeff, and one more time with the Not Possibles. By that second ride with the Not Possibles I had flushed most of the flu bug out of my system. I can honestly say that I rode “with” them that day.
What a great place for cycling the Netherlands is. There are bike paths like this one to explore.
The countryside is lovely.
And of course there is this to look forward to . . .
Now if the Dutch could find a way to eliminate getting something like this in your tyre, the Netherlands would be absolutely fantastic for cycling :).
That puncture was a small price to pay for a wonderful week on my bike. This is what I will remember.
Old Roots, New Routes 