Category Archives: Cycling in Malaysia

King of Perez Stage 1

Posted on October 27, 2013 by alchemyrider

Graphic courtesy of Dave Ern

The 7^th in the series of King of 9 Mountains challenges that Dave Ern has put together was held today. The 100km / 62 mi route took us from Semenyih in the state of Selangor to Kuala Klawang in the state of Negeri Sembilan. There was a 60km / 37mi option for those who didn’t relish 1,900m / 6,200ft of climbing.

About twenty of us gathered in Semenyih for the 7.30am start. But first a briefing about the route from Dave Ern.

Photo courtesy of Khairuddin Abdul Aziz

The turn-around point for those doing the 60km route was 1km up Bukit Tangga. After the Bukit Mandom 1 and Bukit Mandom 2 climbs. Bukit Mandom 1 gets the heart pumping. It is only 1,000m / 3,300ft long, but it has a 400m / 1,300ft section with a gradient of more than 10%, maxing out at 18%. Bukit Mandon 2 is a bit over 2km / 1.3mi long but it has gentler gradients that do not exceed 9%.

So everyone was ready for a break by the time we got to the local convenience store on the lower slope of Bukit Tangga.

The home-made soft drinks looked good, but this looked better. I’m sure it tasted better too.

The Bukit Tangga climb is about 5km / 3mi long. If that was not enough to put people off the full 100km route, the thought of doing the climbs from the opposite direction on the way back to Semenyih did. Only Adrian and I rode on to Kuala Klawang after this group photograph.

Photo courtesy of Khairuddin Abdul Aziz

I got to Kuala Klawang in good shape. Helped by a 65kph / 41mph run down Bukit Tangga. Adrian and I camped for a while in the Petronas petrol station at Kuala Klawang, guzzling cold drinks in air-conditioned comfort.

By the time we started riding back the way we came it was 11am.

The hottest time of the day. I didn’t need WeatherTemperature.com to tell me that while the thermometer read 35° C / 94° F, it felt like 43° C / 109° F. Adrian set a tempo north of 35kph / 22mph. By the time we started back up Bukit Tangga I was overheating. My heart rate had come down fairly quickly after the climbs on the outward leg, when it was cooler. Not so on the return leg.

I should have put some ice in my bottles at that Petronas station.

I tried to keep my heart rate below 150bpm on the climbs by turning as light a gear as possible and going slowly. Even so my heart rate hit 170bpm on Bukit Mandom 2. That is higher than I have ever seen it.

The last 20km was all about heart rate management, taking a drink every five minutes, and keeping cramps at bay.

And looking forward to my post-ride beverage of choice.

There is a King of Perez Stage 2 planned. It will be the same route as we rode today, but with an additional 68km / 42mi and another big out-and-back climb beyond Kuala Klawang to cover.

A step too far methinks.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bukit Mandom 1, Bukit Mandom 2, Bukit Tangga, King of 9 Mountains, Kuala Klawang, Semenyih. Bookmark the permalink.

City Ride with a Difference

Posted on October 9, 2013 by alchemyrider

It has been a long time since I pulled on a pair of baggy shorts and a t-shirt, put platform pedals on a bike and and rode the city streets.

I headed out into the evening rush hour. The four-wheeled traffic was hardly moving along Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Ampang Hilir. It was bumper-to-bumper, sometimes three or four lanes wide, until I got to the end of Jalan Kerja Air Lama, where it turns into Jalan 1.

Jalan 1 loops around the Kelab Darul Ehsan golf course. The golf course bumps up against southern end of the Titiwangsa Range. As I rode around Jalan 1 I was at the very eastern edge of the city. I had fairways and putting greens to my left, and jungle to my right. Click on the street and satellite maps to open zoomable versions in new windows.

As I rode around the golf course I was not surprised to see monkeys along the side of the road. I was surprised to see lots of wild boar on the jungle side of the road.

The wild boar were such a novelty that I did the loop a second time so I could see them again.

Then it was back into the traffic to get home. A wild ride in more ways than one.

Kilo Months

Posted on October 3, 2013 by alchemyrider

I started keeping track of my rides in January 2010. I had a new road bike, and an even newer Garmin Edge 705 cycle computer. Uploading the details to the Garmin Connect web site after every ride became standard practice. That year I rode 3,173 kilometers.

The heat map below shows where I rode for the first six months of 2010. The most-ridden routes are depicted in red. Click on the heat map to open the image in a new window. You will see that most of my kilometers were accrued on the West End Tuesday and Thursday evening rides, and the Sunday Taco rides through Houston.

Heat Map courtesy of Strava

I had some big rides outside metro Houston: The Humble Lions Club Ride, The Space Race, and the BP MS150. But I didn’t have a kilo month, which is my term for riding more than 1,000 kilometers in a month.

In mid-2010 I moved with my biker chick to The Netherlands. The excellent cycling infrastructure there gave me more opportunity to ride, albeit on my own as I didn’t connect with a cycling group until the following year.

I started riding with the Not Possibles in March 2011. The Saturday and occasional weekday rides with them boosted the distance I rode in 2011 to 6,985 kilometers. In 2012 that number increased to 11,054 kilometers. Almost of those kilometers were around Den Haag, with the 2011 and 2012 Ronde van Vlaanderen sportives, and the 2012 UCI World Championships sportive in Belgium thrown in for good measure.

Heat Map courtesy of Strave

I racked up my first kilo month in August 2011. The fine summer weather allowed me to ride eighteen times that month for a total of 1,085 kilometers.

Somewhat surprisingly I didn’t have another kilo month until January 2012, when I rode 1,091 kilometers. I then had four more kilo months that year. March, and three in a row from June to August. My Not Possibles friends and I had a good summer that year. My biggest ever kilo month was in July, when I rode 1,718 kilometers. I had the luxury of being able to go on twenty five rides that month.

In October 2012 my biker chick and I moved home to Kuala Lumpur. My ride frequency and average distance dropped dramatically for some months before slowly increasing again. So it took more than a year before I had another kilo month, in September 2013. Helped by five rides of at least 100 kilometers each.

My 2013 heat map looks a lot like my 2010 Houston heat map in that most of my rides are limited to a couple of routes. Int his case KESAS and the Guthrie Corridor Expressway, with Putrajya and Genting Sempah thrown in for variety. Scattered around the map are the one-off events that I rode in Johor Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan and Penang, My Racun buddies and I also rode to Fraser’s Hill, and I joined Dave Ern on a ride to Cameron Highlands. You can also read about the Bike X and Broga 116 rides.

Heat Map courtesy of Strava

It looks like I will ride about 7,300 kilometers in 2013. And perhaps have another kilo month this quarter. Garmin Connect will reveal all.

Durian Fiesta Ride

Posted on September 30, 2013 by alchemyrider

September 2013 has turned into a month for metric century rides. Yesterday Chris, Keat, Mark, Raj, Seow and I joined Dave Ern and about twenty-five other riders on a hunt for durians.

Photograph courtesy of Dave Ern

The durian is known as the King of Fruits in Malaysia. Durian is a seasonal fruit, generally available in Malaysia from June to August and from end November to January. Its popularity has led to extensive cloning and farming, not just in Malaysia but throughout South-East Asia. One result is that durians can now be bought all year round, although supply is limited and aficionados will tell you that the quality of the fruit in the off-season is variable.

Keat, Raj, Seow, Mark, photographer Chris and I started from the BHP petrol station in Kampung Bukit Tinggi.

Photograph courtesy of Chris Chin

The route that Dave Ern had planned took us downhill along the old Bentong Road. I travelled this road many many times as a child. Then it was the only way to get from Kuala Lumpur to points east of the Titiwangsa Range, which bisects the peninsula from north to south.

After about twelve kilometers the road levelled out, and it was relatively flat from the Bentong Hot Spring near Kampung Temiang to the town of Bentong.

We made a refuelling stop at Bentong. Kedai Kopi Phoon is famous for its wanton noodles. Definitely finger-licking good.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

The plan had been to continue on to the town of Raub while a support car drove on ahead scouting for durian stalls. Seven kilometers north of Bentong we got word that there were no durians to be found up the road toward Raub. So we turned off the Bentong to Raub road and rode toward Kampung Baru Sang Lee instead.

We made an unscheduled stop just after that turn. Raj and I watched as Keat replaced his punctured rear inner tube. In case you think that I was not helpful, I did lend Keat my pump. 🙂

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Kampung Baru Sang Lee is surrounded by extensive durian orchards. The village does not hide its claim to fame.

We found lots of durians at a large roadside stall in the village.

Unfortunately these were already loaded onto a lorry, ready to be hauled away to a wholesaler somewhere. There was precious little left to be eaten at the stall. The durian lovers amongst us had to make do with sharing just a couple of fruit.

So the Durian Fiesta Ride was a disappointment for anyone who had hoped to feast on the fruit. But the ride was a lot of fun nonetheless.

This was the first metric century for Chris.

For Raj and Seow too. It was a very hot day, but we had shaded and quiet roads for the most part.

Quiet for the most part. Every now and then we had one of these for company.

I overtook this lorry before slowing down to take this photograph. As the lorry swept past I saw Mark behind it, being sucked along in the slipstream. I have never been motor-paced by an eighteen-wheeler before. Mark and I had a blast effortlessly hitting 50kph plus behind this lorry. Later we latched onto the back of an oil tanker for another tow. The experience of being pulled along at speed was worth all the dust we ate.

We stopped at a Shell station in Bentong to wash the dust out of our throats. This is now my mid-ride drink of choice.

As I downed a half-liter of cold chocolate milk I noticed this display next to the cash register. What first caught my eye was the collection of mini-LEGO cars and trucks. Then I saw what the toys were sitting on. PowerBars and PowerGels.

This petrol station must attract a lot of cyclists.

The day got hotter and windier. Just as the road started tilting upward south of Bentong. We regrouped at the Bentong Hot Spring. Sadly the suspension bridge across the Benus River makes a more interesting photograph that the Hot Spring does.

The last photo op was the small waterfall four kilometers from the end of the ride.

The section of the ride between Kampung Bukit Tinggi and Kampung Rasia is the nicest. All the traffic across the Titiwangsa Range is now carried by the Karak Highway. What is left is a peaceful road that follows the arcs and curves of the Benus and Tanglir rivers, hemmed in by primary and secondary jungle.

Everybody made it back to the BHP petrol station at Kampung Bukit Tinggi. Tired and hot, but glad to have made the trip. It was a very pleasant century ride, despite the shortage of durians.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bentong, BHP, Dave Ern, Durian, Hot, Kampung Baru Sang Lee, Kampung Bukit Tinggi, Kedai Kopi Phoon, PowerBar, PowerGel, Raub, Shell, Titiwangsa Range, Wanton Noodles. Bookmark the permalink.

Heads Down at the Terengganu Century Ride 2013

Posted on September 17, 2013 by alchemyrider

Courtesy of Terengganu Century Ride at terengganucenturyride.blogspot.com

Keat and I joined 1,000 other cyclists from all over Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand for the 2^nd Terengganu Century Ride. The ride started and ended in Kuala Terengganu (KT), the capital city of the east coast state of Terengganu.

KT is a six hour drive from Kuala Lumpur (KL). We left KL at 6am and so had time for lunch at the Permai Hotel, the official event hotel, before we collected our numbers.

Photo courtesy of Roda Pantas magazine

The expectation in Malaysia is that any organized ride that has a registration or entry fee provides each cyclist with a jersey and a finisher’s medal. The TCR was no exception. I though the jersey was a particularly nice design.

It was clear from the moment we stepped into the hotel that this was going to be a very well-run event. There was a nice display of bicycles in the lobby. There were separate goodie bag collection areas for each of the five participant categories. We had our timing chips checked to ensure that the right name was associated with each rider number. Teams with a support vehicle (must be nice!) were given large identifying windscreen stickers, and explicit instructions for where to park before the start of the event. There was a little bike expo where you could buy gels, bars, bottles, sun glasses, helmets and so on.

There were also three rider technical briefings spread across the afternoon. Keat and I were good boys and went to one of them. We did sit at the back of the room though. Just like we used to do in school. But we paid attention. Just like we sometimes used to do in school!

Photo courtesy of Terengganu Century Ride

We had hoped to ride along the beach that evening, but we weren’t able to.

Instead we went for a wet walk to check out the start area for the ride. This photograph was taken earlier in the day. It was still pretty quiet when we got there at about 6.30pm.

Photo courtesy of Pulse MediaCommunications

The elves must have been hard at work overnight. By morning there was a Start/Finish gantry, complete with overhead timing transponders, along with barriers, banners and escort vehicles in place.

Photo courtesy of Roda Pantas

It rained again in the night, but it was dry and overcast by the 8.15am start time. Keat and I hung out at the back of the pack behind the start line. We didn’t want to get run over by the three hundred or so riders who would finish this 160km event in under five hours.

Photo courtesy of Pulse MediaCommunications

The ride started with a loop through the city. Including a stretch through Chinatown along Jalan Kampung Cina, which is one of the oldest streets in KT.

Bike-eye view courtesy of Peter Lim

The route then took us inland and north for 85km before a right turn at Guntong pointed us toward the coast.

One of the highlights of this ride (I’ll get to the lowlight) was the cheers we got from the throngs of primary school children waving at us from behind their school fences as we rode by. We did ride past quite a few schools. All of which seemed to be on a break as we came by.

We had a few other spectators along the way.

Photo courtesy of Roda Pantas magazine

It was relatively cool at the start, but it did warm up steadily as the kilometers ticked by. So the water stops were very welcome. Another highlight of this ride was the volunteers at the stops. They did did a great job handing out bananas, water and ice. Both to riders who were happy for a bit of a rest, and to riders who were pushing for fast times. At least one such rider needs to practice his drink grab though.

Photo courtesy of Roda Pantas magazine

The course was relatively flat. Much like the Netherlands is. And much like the Netherlands, it was windy. Nice at the start of the ride, despite being a headwind, when it was still cool. Not so nice as a headwind after the temperature had risen.

The wind direction and wind speed changed throughout the day. I had a headwind for 35km, then a crosswind that became a tailwind that reverted to a crosswind until the turn at Guntong. The tailwind from that point was short-lived. By the time I made a sharp right turn at the 90km mark the wind was changing direction yet again. It became more and more of a crosswind for the 10km to the coast. Along the coast it was a steadily stiffening headwind for the remaining 60km.

The annotations on the route map below show wind direction and wind speed at the start, and what they were at the point I had reached after riding for one hour, two hours, three hours and so on.

I have never spent so much time in the drops.

The views along the beach were nice, but they were hard to appreciate with my head down as I tried to find respite from the wind.

Photo courtesy of Terengganu Century Ride

The gusting headwind made the last 30km or so feel interminable. Thankfully I didn’t feel as bad as I did during the last 30km of the Kuantan Century Ride. I did a better job of managing my core temperature during the TCR. But I started to cramp a little, and bonk as well. I didn’t drink enough, and I should have eaten more during the ride too.

The wind was the lowlight of this ride. The only negative though, and not enough of one to detract from a very enjoyable event.

The TCR 2013 Event Director, Mr. Zulkarnain Shah, the members of his organizing committee, the army of volunteers, the Royal Malaysian Police and the Malaysian Red Crescent all helped make this event enjoyable and as safe as possible for all the participants.

The route was well-marked with large arrows at eye-level. Busy intersections were manned by police personnel who made sure that riders did not have to stop for traffic. There were dozens of mobile marshals on the course to provide assistance where needed. Including acting as outriders for cyclists making their way along vehicle-crowded roads as the route came back through the city on its way toward the finish on Jalan Pantai Batu Buruk.

As we came to a stop after 161km we got our finisher’s medals.

And after hours of heads down in the wind it was heads up for the post-ride entertainment.

Photo courtesy of Terengganu Century Ride

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bonk, Core temperature, Headwind, Hotel Permai, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu Century Ride 2013. Bookmark the permalink.

Campaign For A Lane 2013

Posted on September 9, 2013 by alchemyrider

There were two organised rides scheduled in Penang on 8th September.

One was the first ever ride across the Penang Second Bridge, from Batu Kawan on the mainland to Penang island and back again. This bridge is in the final stages of construction and is not yet open to traffic. It will be the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. The other was the 5^th Campaign For A Lane (CFAL) ride around the island of Penang.

My Racun Cycling Gang buddies did the CFAL ride last year. So we signed up for the bridge ride. A bus was chartered and accommodation booked. Only for the bridge ride to be postponed at the very last minute.

Hello CFAL!

Registration for the CFAL ride had long closed. Not a problem. We would be ghost riders. The term for unofficial participants in an event.

The bus rolled to Penang on Saturday as planned.

Photo courtesy of Marco Lai

Penang is touted by some as having the best street food in Malaysia. So Saturday was spent cycling from one food venue to another.

Photo courtesy of Debrizio Wong

The Campaign For A Lane has been a success in Penang. These symbols,

and dedicated bike lanes, have popped up all around the city.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Chin

The first CFAL ride in 2009 drew 750 cyclists. Registration for the 2013 edition was cut off at 3,000 cyclists. A total no doubt exceeded thanks to us ghosts in the peloton.

The ride started promptly at 7.00am from the Esplanade Park. The start line was at the Penang Town Hall.

The clock-wise route circumnavigated the island.

10 km into the ride we caught sight of the first Penang Bridge, opened in 1985.

Those clouds were a warning. A further 10 km down the Lim Chong Eu Highway the clouds became ominous.

We got rained on. A lot and for most of the remainder of the ride. The big plus for me was that the rain kept the day fairly cool. I had no issues with hyperthermia on this ride.

Penang looks flat but there were two substantial lumps to get over. The first was at the south end of the island where the route turned north through Kampung Tengah. We went from sea level to about 140 meters / 460 feet.

The bigger lump was the approach to the Teluk Bahang Dam in the north-west corner of the island. That climb topped out at about 225 meters / 740 feet. The payoff was views like this.

Photo courtesy of Mark Lim

The wet road meant that this descent had to be negotiated with care. The turns were especially tight in places.

There were a few more short and sharp climbs to get over as the road made its way along the coast through Batu Feringgi and Tanjong Bungah at the northern tip of the island. Then it was past the beachfront hotels and malls along Persiaran Gurney to the finish at the Esplanade Park.

We were starving ghosts by the end of 82 km ride. Albeit for only as long as it took to get to a restaurant!

I wonder how many of us weighed more when we arrived back in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday evening than we did when we left KL on Saturday morning.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Campaign For A Lane, Ghost rider, Penang, Penang Town Hall, Racun Cycling Gang. Bookmark the permalink.

A Landmark Ride

Posted on September 2, 2013 by alchemyrider

The Racun weekend group rides are usually not longer than 60 km. If we start at 7am we can get to Kampung Kundang for breakfast and back to Bukit Jelutong by about 9.45am or so. Before the day gets too hot. The temperature is the limiting factor when it comes to ride length.

As a result a number of the group have never done a 100 km ride. We decided to rectify that yesterday. Mark planned a route that would take us from where he lives in Damansara Jaya to the Ijok exit on the LATAR highway and back. About 110 km according to Google Maps.

Nine of us met at the car park in front of the Damansara Jaya post office. Marco, Marvin, Peng Soon and Shahfiq were the 100 km ride neophytes (although Marco came close with a 95 km ride last weekend).

The route from the start to the Guthrie Corridor Expressway took us past the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport. From 1965 to 1998 this was Kuala Lumpur’s international airport. When it opened the runway was surrounded by jungle and plantations. This was still the case when the Saujana Golf and Country Club opened its doors at the south end of the runway some twenty years later.

As you can see from the route map below it is hard to justify the “Country” in Country Club these days.

The airport and club are now hemmed in by urban sprawl. Where there was once jungle and plantations there are now Ara Damansara, Kampung Bukit Cherakah, Taman TTDI Jaya, Taman Subang Perdana, Kayangan Heights and a host of other residential and commercial developments.

Jet-engined aircraft now take off and land at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which is about 80 km from the city centre. Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport is still used by commercial carriers operating turboprop aircraft.

The roads in the area have expanded to cope with the increased traffic. The flyover at the north end of the runway was new to me. And when did Jalan Lapangan Terbang Subang and Jalan Sungai Buloh become four lane divided highways?

Jalan Sungai Buloh took us to the the familiar surroundings of the Guthrie Corridor Expressway. We stopped at the little rest area behind the Lagong Toll Plaza to regroup before turning onto the KL – Kuala Selangor Expressway.

Photo courtesy of Shahfiq Abdul Manap

Our turn-around point was 20 km down the road at the Ijok exit. Marvin looks ready for the return leg.

Photo courtesy of Shahfiq Abdul Manap

Marco, Peng Soon and Shahfiq (pointing skyward) look happy to be at the turn-around point too.

Photo courtesy of Mark Lim

We chose a hot day for this century run. It was already quite warm by the time we got going again at about 9am. Everyone was getting hungry as well. Good thing a visit to our favourite breakfast spot was on the agenda.

Photo courtesy of Marco Lai

An hour later we were seated at Sharif Roti Canai. The corrugated iron roof was radiating heat. We were grateful to get a table under a fan.

We lingered under that fan for an hour. Fortified by roti canai, teh tarik and soft-boiled free-range eggs we headed out to cover the 40 km back to Damansara Jaya.

The midday heat and a headwind made the going challenging. We were all glad to get to the Elmina Rest & Recreation area where we could wash the sweat off our faces, pour water over our heads and sit in the shade for a while.

Congratulations to Marco, Marvin, Peng Soon and Shahfiq on their first 100 km ride. Additional kudos go to Peng Soon, who hadn’t ridden more than 40 km in one go before. He persevered despite aching legs and the heat. In sneakers no less.

We will all be telling stories about this ride for a long time to come.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged 100 km, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Sharif Roti Canai. Bookmark the permalink.

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble Part Three

Posted on August 26, 2013 by alchemyrider

The third installment of Van’s Rumble Cycle Challenge had to be delayed. The date for this event had been 16th June. An unanticipated need to close the shop at 3 Two Square took precedence.

Twenty two participants met at VUBC‘s new shop in Kampung Tunku. The early birds had time for a teh tarik, courtesy of Michael.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

Each team of two or three had to ride to eight pit stops. The challenge was to find each pit stop, in order, and once there to complete one or more task to earn points. Winning required a combination of a fast finishing time and as many of the forty points available. Amril covered the rules, regulations and safety advice, and then sent us on our way.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

Some got away quicker than others. Mark and I took a while to figure out how to get to the first pit stop . . .

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

The first stop was at a McDonald’s, where any customer wearing a red t-shirt was asked to pose for a photograph.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

At the second pit stop we had to find and photograph a particular shop lot.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

Mark and I had our mechanical problem of the day at this stop. Mark’s rear tire was under-inflated. I had a pump. The tire went from being a bit flat to being fully inflated to being completely flat after the valve core unscrewed along with the pump hose.

We got going again fairly quickly and soon got the photograph and telephone number required at pit stop 3.

Pit stop 4 involved finding the price to three items on a restaurant menu.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

The fifth stop was at the bus stop nearby. We had to get the full name of the stop, and figure out the fare from that stop to another stop.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

Pit stop 6 was at a Light Rail Transit station. I didn’t yet know what the tasks were for this stop, so was very intrigued to see this as we arrived.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

This was a collection stop. Three different types of leaves (which you can see at her feet), three different types of flowers, three 10¢ coins, and three strands of white hair.

I was suddenly very popular!

Mark and I got it badly wrong trying to find pit stop 7.

The destination was the KK Supermart, Dataran GLOMAC. There are a number of places with GLOMAC in their names. We elected to ride to one of the wrong ones. A U-turn and some lost time later we arrived at pit stop 7.

We got through the task, which was to buy exactly RM1.90 worth of items, very quickly. Mark went straight for a bottle of 100-Plus, which he knew cost RM1.90.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

The task at pit stop 8 was to photograph a vehicle number plate that had a ‘0’ and a ‘5’ in it. Followed by a dash back to the finish line at the VUBC shop.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

All members of a team had to be in the shop to present their answer sheet and collected items before the clock stopped.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

Then it was time for a cold drink and smiles all around as we waited for the results to be tallied.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

It was a close contest. A few seconds here and a wrong answer there separated the top three teams. Chang Pak Loong and his team mate won the prizes for finishing first. They got a goodie bag of Knog products and Bern helmets. Here they are flanked by Vanessa of VUBC, and Wei Yeng of Wheeelove, who donated the Bern helmets.

Photo courtesy of Albert Koo

Thank you everyone at VUBC for organizing a wonderful series of events. We are all looking forward to the 2014 edition of the Rumble Cycle Challenge.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Rumble cycle Challenge, Van's Urban Bicycle Co, Wheelove. Bookmark the permalink.

Velo Fit First Steps

Posted on August 21, 2013 by alchemyrider

I announced the birth of Velo Fit in early April. I had my Retül certification. The Retül equipment and other bike fitting tools had been ordered. The business had been registered. The logo was being designed. I had a location for my fit studio.

There were still things to do. Design a website for instance. But I was confident that I would make my target of first appointments in June.

What is it that Robert Burns said about the best laid plans of mice and men?

I opened for business in mid-August.

Here is what happened. The lease at Van’s Urban Bicycle Co. came up for renewal and the expected rental increase was more than Vanessa, Ray and their business partners was willing to bear. So there was a scramble to complete the renovations at the new premises and to vacate the old shop. That pushed the availability of space for my studio to mid-July.

Also it took longer than expected to find a carpenter to build a rotating platform. The platform isn’t an absolutely essential piece of kit, but having it makes a fitter’s life much easier. Retül customers in the USA get a completed platform as part of their equipment order. It is a very heavy item though. Not surprising as it has to support the weight of at least two people, a bicycle, and a turbo trainer. So international customers get a box of screws, washers, casters and other metal parts, and assembly instructions.

In early August my cousin Yasmin put me in touch with a carpenter who could read plans. Two weeks later my rotating platform was delivered to the newly-opened Van’s Urban Bicycle Co. shop in Kampung Tunku.

In the meantime I had accumulated the other bits and pieces I needed to equip my studio: some chairs, a trolley to hold a laptop, a projector, tools etc., and a massage bed for the biomechanical assessments. I was ready for business.

My first client was Mark.

My second client was Marco. Thank you Mark and Marco for setting me on my way, and bearing through all the teething troubles as I got the equipment, and myself, up to speed.

As you can see I changed the studio set up as I went along. Hanging a sheet on the back wall as a screen for the projector was a bad idea. Here’s the studio as it is today.

Fortunately there is just enough space for the rotating platform to actually pivot.

I am excited to finally be up and running. My website at http://velofit.org has already generated some appointments. I am flashing my business card where ever I go.

Friends and family are helping me advertise. The next few months will tell if this is a good idea.

In closing, here is a suggestion I got for a sticker that could go on each bike that comes through my studio:

Size doesn’t matter, but fit does!

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Gear and Tools and tagged Bike Fit, Biomechanical Assessment, Retül, Van's Urban Bicycle Co, Velo Fit. Bookmark the permalink.

The Cult of Strava

Posted on August 6, 2013 by alchemyrider

The Social Facilitation Theory argues that social evaluation has an impact on performance.

The psychologist Norman Triplett was the first to study this effect, starting in 1898. He found that cyclists had better race times when in the company of other cyclists. Further research demonstrated something we now consider obvious: humans try harder when matched against others. Later work would demonstrate that the mere presence of others could inspire us to work harder.

Fast forward 110 years. Social facilitation meets social sharing (think Facebook) and Strava is born. Cyclists now have a way to record the details of a ride and compare those details with those of every other Strava member who has done the same ride. Thanks to a smartphone app that does away with the need for a dedicated cycling GPS, some one million cyclists use Strava today, and that user base continues to grow. Cyclists now have access to social evaluation on a massive scale.

Thousands of Strava users have created segments, or specific sections, of their cycling routes. Any segments will be displayed as part of your ride data in the Strava application.

The segments table shows your performance on the current ride relative to your previous efforts on the same ride. Each segment is identified, and the segment distance, elevation, and your performance parameters are displayed. If your latest performance on a segment is one of your better ones you get a little medal: gold for a Personal Record, silver for a 2^nd best and bronze for a 3^rd best time.

Click on a segment and social facilitation comes into play.

Note: Rider names have been deleted

Now you see your best performance on a segment relative to every other rider on Strava who has ridden the same segment. I see I need to ride this segment just 0.1 kph faster to be in the top 50!

If I want a hit to my ego I can view the results for men only. Fortunately for my ego there is only one woman ahead of me on the leaderboard for this segment. For now.

If I want to feel better I can view the results by age group. There are only six of us in the 55 to 64 age group for this segment so I am definitely in the top ten!

The ability to virtually compete against others should be a boon, and it is for most riders. Strava was created to encourage cyclists to train, to climb higher and go faster. I get a kick out of achieving new personal bests, and this is true for many others as well.

I don’t have the physical gifts to challenge for King of the Mountain (KOM) status. So there is no chance of seeing one of these, which signifies being atop a segment leaderboard, on my Strava profile.

I have been known to push hard for the fastest time in my age group for certain segments though. Social facilitation in action.

The same social facilitation effect can be a bane as well. There are people out there who are so competitive that every ride is a do-or-die race in the hunt for KOM crowns. In some cases literally. William Flint was killed when he collided with an oncoming car on a downhill stretch of road while apparently trying to reclaim his KOM status.

And in a sad reflection of the recent state of affairs in the professional peloton, riders so inclined can now even artificially enhance their Strava results by giving their data a boost with the help of the website DigitalEPO.com.

I’ll leave the KOM sniping to the insanely driven Type A personality riders. But I do wonder if I can knock two seconds off my time for the Puchong Jaya climb tonight.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Gear and Tools and tagged King of the Mountain, KOM, Segment, Social Facilitation theory, Strava. Bookmark the permalink.

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