Category Archives: Cycling in Malaysia

My Name is alchemyrider and I am a Bikeaholic

Posted on June 8, 2013 by alchemyrider

Rain has returned to Kuala Lumpur with a vengeance. The Tuesday KESAS ride was called off because of it. We managed to squeeze a make-up ride between downpours on Wednesday night. We did get caught in a sprinkle, but escaped getting soaked. The Thursday night KESAS ride was cancelled. The inaugural VUBC Setia Alam evening ride on Friday night was washed out.

My bottles were in the fridge. My bike light was charged. My tires were up to pressure. My cycling kit was ready. Since Thursday. I was suffering withdrawal symptoms. That is the only explanation for the number of cookies I have eaten over the past few days.

I was looking forward to a ride this morning. None of my buddies could ride today, so I could choose the route. It has been a while since I have pedaled up to Genting Sempah, so at 6am I pointed the car north toward Gombak.

The roads were damp from the previous night’s rain. I didn’t know it when I left home, but the roads were about to get a lot wetter. Here is this morning’s weather map for peninsular Malaysia. Dark blue = heavy rain.

10km / 6mi into my drive the skies opened. It was immediately clear that if I did the Genting Sempah ride it would be in a deluge. I don’t mind getting caught in the rain, but I am averse to starting a ride in the wet. “Hard-core” must not be in my genetic makeup.

What were my options? I could give the Batu 18 to Genting Perez route a try. But that was also to the north of Kuala Lumpur. And probably just as wet.

I could go home, eat more cookies and go back to bed.

Or I could head south-west toward Bukit Jelutong and see if it was dry there. I may not be a hard-core cyclist, but I do like my bike rides. A lot. So I did a u-turn and headed back the way I came along the DUKE Highway and then on the North Klang Valley Expressway towards Shah Alam.

After 50km / 31mi of driving I was at D’Bayu in Bukit Jelutong. The skies looked threatening but it wasn’t raining. So I took a chance and rolled out of the car park and down the hill toward the Guthrie Corridor Expressway.

Tomorrow’s ride will be along the same expressway. So for some variety I turned left at the first intersection onto Jalan Batu Arang. Jalan Batu Arang is nicknamed Dragon’s Back. The ride profile tells you why.

It isn’t Genting Sempah, but it does have more climbing than the Guthrie expressway. Especially if you do an out-and-back ride.

Driving all the way to Bukit Jelutong turned out to be a good call. I was able to scratch my cycling itch. It drizzled a little bit as I got onto the first climb on Jalan Batu Arang. The clouds quickly blew over though, and I rode in sunshine after that.

I was the only cyclist on the road. Perhaps everyone else had more sense than to be on a bicycle at 7am. A big plus about being out that early was I didn’t have much traffic for company, at least on the outward leg. Once the hills were out of the way I got to the Jalan Meru Tambahan intersection, where on previous rides we have turned right. This time I kept going. The road changes its name to Persiaran Puncak Alam 6, and comes to an end in Bandar Puncak Alam. Exactly 25km / 15.5mi from the start.

I hit my top speeds for the day on the way to Puncak Alam. Which meant I had some long uphill slopes on the way back to Bukit Jelutong. I certainly got to do some climbing this morning. In relatively cool conditions too. I was back at my car at 8.40am. Well before the day really heated up.

Drive 50 km / 31mi one way to ride 52.7km / 32.7mi. Sounds reasonable to me!

P.S.

We got caught in a proper storm on the Guthrie Corridor Expressway this morning. The monsoons must be here.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bandar Puncak Alam, Bukit Jelutong, Dragon's Back, Genting Sempah, Gombak, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Jalan Batu Arang, Rain. Bookmark the permalink.

Hyperthermia. Avoid It!

Posted on June 4, 2013 by alchemyrider

Hyperthermia is elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation that occurs when a body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates. From the Wikipedia entry for hyerthermia

I had a few instances of overheating when I first got back to Malaysia. The land where maximum temperatures year-round look like this:

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Broadcasting, Inc.

Since then I have been able to manage my core temperature. I have been hot during rides, but not excessively so. Where did I go wrong during the Kuantan Century Ride to end up hyperthermic?

Cartoon courtesy of Transportation Alternatives Magazine

A lot has to do with the length of this ride. It was about 100 km / 62 mi longer than our weekend rides. My routine for staying cool during those rides was insufficient when stretched out over 160 km / 100 mi.

There are reams of articles, blog posts and lists about how to prevent exercise-induced heat stress. They all start with hydration. The most important thing you can do to stave off hyperthermia is to stay hydrated. How much fluid is required depends on body type and sweat rate. One guideline suggests drinking 1 liter / 34 oz per hour. By this measure I should have drunk about 6 liters / 203 oz during the ride. I did drink about 5 liters / 170 oz. My Camelbak Podium Chill bottles hold 620 ml / 21 oz each. I went through 8 bottles. So I was 2 bottles short.

What you drink is also crucial. Lost fluids and electrolytes need to be replaced during a ride. I added a Nuun tablet every time I refilled a bottle with water. Even so I probably didn’t take in as many electrolytes as I should have because I didn’t drink enough.

I usually put a bottle in the freezer and another in the fridge the night before a weekend ride. The cold fluid helps to keep my core temperature in check. All the fluid I drank during the Kuantan Century Ride was lukewarm. It wasn’t until I picked up some ice at the last rest stop that I got some cooling effect from what I was drinking.

I got my hydration wrong on all counts.

Clothing always gets a prominent mention. I had on the right ‘technical fabrics’ that wick sweat away from the body. As the sweat evaporates it carries heat away with it.

The right fabrics but perhaps the wrong color. My jersey was navy blue, and the suggestion for staying cool is to wear a light-color. The sun was very strong so it is likely that I absorbed more radiant energy that I would have if I had worn a white jersey.

My jersey did have a full zip. Unzipping my jersey and getting moving air onto my bare skin helped a lot.

I also had my arms covered so they never felt hot. My bare legs, on the other hand, did get hot.

I got my clothing partially right.

Most writers suggest pouring water over your head every 15 minutes or so. Preferably enough to soak your jersey as well as wet your head, face and neck. You will immediately feel that the water is cooler than your body is. Pouring a bottle of water over my head did cross my mind, but the two times I thought about it I was at rest stops that had run out of water.

I didn’t take full advantage of evaporative cooling.

Another suggestion is to generate less body heat by riding at a slower pace. My riding companions and I had planned to ride at an easy pace right from the start. The intent was to conserve energy so that we would still have something in the tank for the last part of the ride. I am sure the gentler pace helped keep my core temperature down, at least in the first half of the ride. Of course riding at a slower speed meant spending more time in the sun than would have been the case if we had gone quicker. I am not sure which would have been more detrimental: generating more body heat or absorbing more radiant heat.

Let’s say that I got the pace of the ride right.

That, and having ice to eat for the final 30 km / 18 mi, is probably how I made it to the end of the ride. I knew I was feeling the effects of hyperthermia with 50 km / 31 mi to go. I was light-headed, which I now know is an early symptom of heat syncope. I started cramping on the run in to the finish. That is another symptom of hyperthermia.

After the ride I spent 30 minutes sprawled in the shade, shoes off and iced drink in hand. That cool tiled floor felt good.

Photo courtesy of Wai Leng Mann

So what to during the 120 km / 74.5 mi Iskandar Johor Mega Ride in July? The lessons learned from the Kuantan Century Ride are:

Freeze two bottles and chill the third. Carry one frozen bottle in the middle pocket of my jersey, where it can cool my lower back.
Drink a liter of Nuun-infused water an hour.
Carry extra Nuun tablets.
Buy chilled water at petrol stations rather than depend on rest stops.
Soak my head and jersey with water every 30 minutes or so.
Wear a light-colored jersey.
Ride at a gentle pace.

All the “Beat the Heat” articles I read today have given me a few other things to try as well:

“Pre-cool” 30 minutes before the start by drinking cold fluids.
Wrap a water-soaked bandanna around my neck. Or go one step further and wrap an ice-filled sock around my neck, as suggested by Phil O’Reilly, former president of the Five Borough Bike Club.
Buy ice cream at petrol stations.

I’ll give these other suggestions a miss for now:

Cartoon courtesy of Transportation Alternatives Magazine

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Camelbak, Cramp, Evaporation, Heat syncope, Hydration, Hyperthermia, Nuun. Bookmark the permalink.

Team 165 at the Kuantan Century Ride 2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by alchemyrider

Keat, Hans and I were in the state of Pahang over the weekend for the Kuantan Century Ride. I named us Team 165, which is the sum of our ages. For the mathematically inclined amongst you, I am a year older than Hans and a year younger than Keat.

The sun in the promotional banner turned out to be a hint of things to come.

I took my traveling bike with me. The Ritchey Break-Away. The bike case and two other bags fit nicely in the trunk of my biker chick’s car.

We spent the weekend at the Swiss Garden Resort. Keat’s wife convinced the management to let us have breakfast at 5.30am on the day of the ride. The coffee house normally opens at 6.30am. We were expecting a few slices of bread and some butter and jam. We were pleasantly surprised by the spread that the staff had laid out.

Our hotel was about 18km / 11mi from the start at the International Islamic University Malaysia. We discussed riding to the start but decided against it. We would have been riding in the dark along a busy road. Even less appealing was the thought of having to cycle back to the hotel after a long event. So we loaded our bikes into Keat’s pickup truck and drove to the start.

Some 2,000 people had registered for the event. It looked like most of them turned up on the day.

As is always the case at cycling events in Malaysia, all types of bicycles were represented. These guys were braver than I to attempt 160km on knobby-tired mountain bikes.

Here we are at the start in our “before” photograph.

Photo courtesy of Kuantan Century Ride

The organizers impressed everyone by managing to start the event bang on time at 7.30am. We even had a two minute warning. We were led out by a string of police motorbikes. The police and marshals did a good job of controlling traffic at intersections to allow us to cycle through without having to stop.

A fleet of road crew on motorbikes and in cars and trucks, and an army of volunteers at the start/finish line and rest stops, made this a very well organized and supported event.

The route took us through Kuantan town and south along the coast for the first 40km / 25mi. After the first rest stop we headed inland for a bit before turning right onto Federal Route 3. The next 80km / 50mi were north or north-east into the state of Terengganu before heading east toward the coast at Cherating.

That stretch included the second rest stop at the 83 km / 51.5mi mark. By then the sun was out in full force. It got to 34°C / 93°F. With the humidity at 90% the heat index was about 40°C / 104°F. I was emptying my two bidons in double-quick time. The good news was we got to the second rest stop just in time to grab the last of the water. The heat made the demand for water far greater than the organizers had anticipated. The riders after us had to wait for stocks to be replenished.

The bad news was all the 750 meters / 2,460 feet of climbing came in the second half of the course. Mercifully there was another rest stop just after the big hill of the day. There was still plenty of water at that rest stop.

From that point the heat became more and more of a factor. The descent after the third rest stop took us to the Gebeng Bypass. We had an out-and-back along the highway. The 28km / 17.5 mi along that stretch of rolling highway seemed interminable. The sun was beating down and the headwind on the outward leg made it even more unpleasant. The sight of the final rest stop on the other side of the highway with the turnaround point still 3km / 1.8mi away was the final straw for some riders. They chose to skip the electronic checkpoint at the end of the bypass and cut across the highway to the rest stop.

I was hyperthermic and was sorely tempted to take a shortcut as well. I persevered but it was a very close call at the time. So I was not happy to finally get to the rest stop only to find that all the water was gone. Fortunately they had lots of ice. I tossed my last Nuun tablet into one bidon and filled both with ice cubes. More water was on the way but I was too hot to wait.

Hans, and that ice, saved my ride. Han pulled me the last 28km / 17.4mi. I was chewing on ice cubes all the way to the finish, desperate to stay cool enough and cramp-free to make it to the end. This is Hans at the finish.

Photo courtesy of Jerantut Cycling Club

I was happy to be just behind Hans.

Photo courtesy of Jerantut Cycling Club

At the halfway point Keat had told us to push on without him. The heat got to him even before it got to me. So it was great to see Keat smiling at the finish.

Can you spot the difference between this “after” photograph and the one of us at the start?

Photo courtesy of Wai Leng Mann

Apart from having these in our literally hot hands.

Team 165 is already talking about doing a 120km / 74.5mi ride in the southern state of Johor next month. Hopefully by then I will have figured out how to keep my core temperature in check.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Cherating, Gebeng, Heat, Humidity, Hyperthermic, Kuantan Century Ride, Ritchey Break-Away, Swiss Garden REsort. Bookmark the permalink.

How To Join a Bicycle To a Car

Posted on May 26, 2013 by alchemyrider

This meme promoting cycling over driving pops up in various guises on the internet. At least one blogger recently checked to see if the sentiment holds water. Your results will vary.

I was able to keep bike and car separate. Well, in the beginning anyway. When I started cycling in Houston I was able to roll out of the Commerce Towers car park onto Travis Street and pedal away. Everywhere I wanted to get to was within cycling distance. That is until I decided to commission a custom built bicycle from Alchemy Bicycle Company, located at that time in Austin. As part of the process of deciding what frame material and geometry would best suit me, James Flatman wanted to see what I was riding at the time (see Jumping Into The Deep End for more).

It is possible to ride a bicycle from Houston to Austin (See Austin Or Bust, 2011 BP MS150, 2013 BP MS150 Day One and 2013 BP MS150 Day Two). But not there and back in a day, and certainly not together with my biker chick. The hybrid bike made the trip in the trunk of the car. Which was only possible because the car had fold-down rear seats. The resulting space was deep enough to accommodate the bike as long as the front wheel was removed. Most importantly the trunk lid closed without squashing anything.

I mulled over the idea of getting a bike rack on that first trip to Austin with the Trek in the trunk. There would be a custom road bike to transport to Houston in a month or so. I decided to get a Saris Bones 2. It looked simple enough to attach and remove, and would fold down into a relatively compact form for storage.

This rack attaches to the rear of the car via a series of hooks and straps. Once the rubber feet are properly positioned and the buckle straps tightened the rack sits very securely on the car. Ratcheting straps lock bikes to the adjustable arms. An unexpected bonus was that the buckle straps are long enough so that the ends can be used to tie down the wheels and handle bars to stop them spinning and swaying.

Once I linked up with the West End Six Thirty cycling group the Saris Bones 2 got more and more use. We had to drive to get to any sort of hill, and to get to the start of some of the organized rides we signed up for.

The Saris, and the car, came with us to the Netherlands. The rack sat unused for a year. All my rides started at the entrance of our apartment building. Even the starting points of the first few organized events I did were within riding distance of home. Then I did the Ronde van Vlaanderen with Eugene (see I’ll See Your JZC and Raise You an RvV!). That involved a drive to Sint-Denijs-Westrem in Belgium.

The Saris came out of storage to carry our bikes. As we drove south I noticed that I was the only one with a Saris or similar bike rack. All the other cars had either a rack on the roof or a tow-hitch mounted rack on the back. Complete with a turn signal and brake light bar and number plate. It turned out that my bike rack was illegal because the bicycles obscured the car’s turn signals, brake lights and number plate. I was also told not to worry too much about it. This being the bicycle-crazy Netherlands, the police would likely turn a blind eye. Which may have been the case as I got back to Den Haag without being stopped. I didn’t test my luck any further. I went back to putting my bike in the trunk.

I did consider a tow hitch mounted rack like this one. I had taken the car to the local dealership for a routine service. They had a rack and light bar on sale for something like €200. Which was a great price. The catch was that our car didn’t have a tow hitch and ball mount. The dealership was of course happy to install the required hardware. I was not happy to pay the €1,500 for that to be done. My bikes would continue to make do with being hauled around in the trunk.

The following year I made a return trip to the Ronde van Vlaanderen, this time with Richard. He had a Thule roof rack. We decided his compact car might be a bit small for both of us and our stuff. Which meant moving his roof rack onto my car.

A clever part of the Thule design is the huge number of fitting kits available. The racks, load bars and feet are standard. The fitting kits contain custom pads and brackets that fit the specific contours of a vehicle’s roof, or attach to an existing roof rail. The standard feet attach to the brackets.

Naturally the fitting kit for Richard’s car didn’t fit my car. A quick trip to Richard’s local Thule dealer solved that problem. Thule makes fitting kits for vehicles from over eighty manufacturers. A Thule 3049 Fixpoint Fit Kit was all I needed to attach Richard’s roof rack to my car.

I was so impressed with Richard’s Thule roof rack that I decided to get one. That led to the “Het is niet mogelijk” moment that I retell whenever I can. I went to a shop, which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, that sells Thule products. I told the salesperson what I wanted: two Thule Outride 561 bike carriers, a pair of Thule 960 Wingbars, and four Thule Rapid System 753 feet. He asked me what car I had, and consulted his computer. A few seconds later he uttered that most-frustrating of Dutch phrases. “That is not possible.”

“But it is,” I protested. “I had that exact configuration on my car a few weeks ago.”

“Nee. Het is niet mogelijk.”

There is no point arguing when faced with that phrase. All you can do is admit defeat and move on to plan B. In my case that was to go to the second Thule dealer on my list, A & P Verhuur Service, where it was possible to purchase what I wanted.

The roof rack and I made a few more road trips in the company of the Not Possibles cycling group (you can probably guess the origin of the group name). The Thule system is easy to install and remove. The feet and front fork attachment are lockable. Bikes sit rock solidly on the carriers, all the way up to the maximum rated driving speed of 130 kph / 80 mph. The only downside is the wind noise.

The Saris and the Thule racks came with us to Kuala Lumpur. The car stayed in the Netherlands with its new owner, together with the Thule Fit Kit. The racks haven’t seen any use in Malaysia. Even though I have to drive to rides in Kuala Lumpur.

My biker chick kept her car here while we were away. I could have hung the Saris off the back of her car. I see a few trunk-mounted racks around. I also see too many rear-end collisions to be comfortable driving around with my bike between the rear of my car and the front of the car behind me. So it was back to the bicycle in the trunk routine. In the meantime I was on the lookout for a car for myself.

We live in an apartment building in Kuala Lumpur. The apartment came with two indoor car park spots on an upper floor of the parking garage. All very convenient, except that the headroom clearance on the ramps between floors is insufficient for bicycles on a roof rack. That narrowed my choice of vehicle down to a hatchback with enough trunk space to fit a bicycle or two.

Which is why I drive a Perodua Myvi. Among its most important attributes . . .

Plenty of room for bicycles. I’ve transported two bikes with no problem. I could pack in three or four. This weekend I will find out if I can get the Ritchey Break-Away in the trunk without having to fold down the rear seats.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in Texas, Cycling in the Netherlands, Gear and Tools and tagged Alchemy Bicycle Company, Austin, Fixpoint Fit Kit, Houston, Outride, Perodua Myvi, Rapid, Saris Bones 2, Six Thirty, That is not possible, The Netherlands, Thule, Wingbar. Bookmark the permalink.

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble Part Two

Posted on May 14, 2013 by alchemyrider

“Hill Chasers” was the second installment of Van’s Rumble Cycle Challenge. We met at the VUBC shop at 7.30am to sign waiver forms and size up the competition. After a safety briefing we headed off for our first look at the track.

Amril and his band of organisers had found a closed stretch of freshly-paved road not far from the VUBC shop. All we had to do was clear away some loose stones and other rubble. It wasn’t long before we could lay down a finish line and start racing.

We were in teams of two or three riders. Each team’s result was determined by the time of the second rider across the finish line. We had so much fun charging up the hill that we decided to ride the hill twice and take the average time to determine the winning team.

Here we all are after our two runs.

Photo courtesy of Van’s Urban Bicycle Co.

Then it was back to the VUBC shop where Ray worked out the final results.

Leong and his brother were a team of two, but they had enough firepower between the two of them to win overall honours. On a mountain bike and a foldie no less. Here are the happy winners with the event organisers: Ray, YC, Vanessa and Amril on the right.

Photo courtesy on Van’s Urban Bicycle Co.

There was also a prize for the fastest individual. That went to a roadie.

Photo courtesy on Van’s Urban Bicycle Co.

We are all now looking forward Rumble Cycle Challenge Part Three. The Scavenger Hunt on 16th June.

Fix It Sticks

Posted on May 14, 2013 by alchemyrider

These arrived in the post while I was riding my Ritchey Break-Away around America.

In February I saw an online write-up about a new design for a bicycle multitool. The design was light, compact at 10 cm / 4 in long, and the sticks fit together in any combination to form a T-handle for your chosen bit. The article pointed readers to a Kickstarter campaign to raise the USD18,000 that would allow Brian Davis to put his invention into production.

I owned enough multitools already. But I am a sucker for gadgets and gizmos. I pledged USD45. If the fund-raising campaign was successful I would get 2 sets (4 sticks) containing a metric hex #2, #2.5 #3, #4, #5, #6, a #1 phillips and a 5mm flathead screwdriver.

963 people backed Brian to the tune of USD45,201. So my Fix It Sticks arrived in April as promised.

A pair of these sticks has replaced the Lezyne RAP 6 in my bike tool kit. I can generate more torque with the T-handle design of the Fix It Sticks than I can with the offset Allen keys of the RAP 6. I also have more control over the bit because the Fix It Sticks lock together. The Allen keys in the RAP 6 are prone to moving around because of the folding design of the tool.

You are not limited to the bits listed above. There is a large range of other bits available on the Fix It Sticks website. You can choose from 10 Torx bits, 3 square drive / Robertson bits, 3 Phillips bits, 3 slotted / flathead bits, 7 metric hex bits, 9 American hex bits, and a 1/4 inch socket drive.

These could become my favorite on-bike tools. If I bought a stick with an 8mm hex bit I would have all I need to disassemble and assemble my Ritchey Break-Away too.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Fix It Sticks, Kickstarter, Multitools. Bookmark the permalink.

Solo Saturday

Posted on May 12, 2013 by alchemyrider

My regular Saturday riding buddies had other things to do yesterday morning. So I rolled out of the D’Bayu car park in Bukit Jelutong on my own just as it was getting light. There wasn’t a lot of color in the sky as the sun came up, despite all the clouds.

I got to the motorcycle lane alongside the Guthrie Corridor Expressway before 7am. Not surprisingly the motorcycle lane was very quiet. Riding alone always gives me the opportunity to notice things that I miss while on group rides.

While I was the only cyclist on the motorcycle lane that early in the morning, this ride is a popular one. The lane is well surfaced and relatively wide. Most of the tunnels under the on and off ramps are well-lit, although there are a couple that provide an unnecessary moment of concern as you pass from bright sunlight into darkness. Especially if the tunnel comes immediately after a sharp turn.

I took the slightly longer route to Kampung Sri Kundang. Instead of taking the Jalan Kuala Selangor exit I rode further down the Guthrie Corridor Expressway to the KL – Kuala Selangor Highway interchange. This option means riding about 3 km / 2 mi along the KL – Kuala Selangor Expressway. That expressway, also known as the LATAR Expressway, does not have a motorcycle lane, but the road shoulder is wide enough to accommodate cyclists.

I left the highway at Kundang Lakes Golf Club.

From there it is a short 3 km / 2 mi to Sharif Roti Canai. Breakfast there is the reason for riding this route.

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble *

Posted on April 15, 2013 by alchemyrider

Ladies and Gentlemen . . .
Van’s Urban Bicycle Co is running a three-part cycling event: The Rumble Cycle Challenge.