Tag Archives: Genting Sempah

Riding into the Year of the Horse

Posted on February 3, 2014 by alchemyrider

Friday 31^st January marked the start of the Year of the Horse. The horse is the seventh of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac.

Federal Territory Day was celebrated on Monday 3^rd February. So we had a four-day weekend. My riding buddies planned to ride on each of those days.

Four of us started the Lunar New Year with a morning ride along the KESAS Highway. We did one and a half of the Bandar Sunway to Bukit Jalil Sports Complex loop.

Now that I think about it, four was not the most auspicious number of riders. In Chinese tradition, certain numbers are believed by some to be auspicious or inauspicious, based on the Chinese word that the number name sounds similar to.

4 is considered the unluckiest number of all, because it is nearly homophonous to the word “death.” Despite being a quartet, we had a fun ride.

Photograph courtesy of Shahfiq Abdul Manap

We did much better, numerologically speaking, the next morning. Eight of us did the climb to Genting Sempah.

8 is an extremely auspicious number, because it sounds similar to the word “prosper” or “wealth.”

Photograph courtesy of Gary Wong

As always with our morning rides, this one ended with breakfast.

Photograph courtesy of Eric Siow

Sunday was a “Go Green Car-Free Morning.” On the first Sunday of the month, some roads in the city center are closed to motor vehicles from 7.00 am until 9.00 am. Giving walkers, joggers, skateboarders, rollerbladers and cyclists a chance to use these stretches.

About ten of us met here for a wake-up coffee or a teh tarik before cycling to the start.

There was already quite a crowd in front of the City Hall building.

Including some on vintage bicycles and in period costume. The infantrymen were a reference to the Japanese invasion of Malaya and the capture of Singapore. One of the keys to the success of that invasion was the use of bicycles by the Japanese troops to move swiftly down the Malayan peninsula from Kota Bahru in the north to Singapore in the south.

Photograph courtesy of Tengku Nash

Marco, Shahfiq and I did three loops of the 12 km route.

The highlight for me was cycling past my primary school. Batu Road School. In the 1960s a narrow access road ran in front of the school. I remember walking out of the school gates into a group of ice cream vendors, standing next to bicycles with cold boxes mounted on rear racks.

That access road has become Jalan Raja Laut, a five-lane thoroughfare. The school is still there. Sadly the ice cream vendors are no more.

The route also took us past the PETRONAS Twin Towers. They must be the most posed-before buildings in the country.

Here Shahfiq and I are rolling away from the Twin Towers, along a deserted Jalan Ampang toward the junction with Jalan Sultan Ismail.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

I had a bonus ride in the afternoon. Ronnie held a Chinese New Year open house. Complete with chinese tea prepared with water collected from a natural spring that comes to the surface in Kuala Kubu Bahru. Which is an hour’s drive from KL.

Photograph courtesy of Ronnie Khoo

Three-quarters of the residents of KL appeared to have left the city for the long weekend. So I took a chance that the roads to Ronnie’s place were relatively traffic-free.

I stayed off the main roads as much as I could, although there were some stretches where I had no other choice. Up the hill on Jalan Semantan for example, which was bit tricky because of the construction of the new MRT line and station.

Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia

It was worth the effort though. The chinese tea and the company at Ronnie’s was great.

The plan for the Day Four ride had to be changed. Some of us had to be back home by 11am. That ruled out a long ride along the Guthrie Corridor Expressway and beyond. Seven of us did the climb to Genting Sempah again instead.

It was probably good that we didn’t ride from Bukit Jelutong. It was a public holiday in Kuala Lumpur but not in the state of Selangor. The motorcycle lane along the Guthrie Corridor Expressway would have been crowded with people getting to work.

The road up to Genting Sempah was very quiet. We had long stretches where we were the only ones on the road.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

There was only one other person at the summit when I got there. Marco soon joined me at the sign marking the border between the states of Selangor and Pahang.

Once the rest of the group got to the top of the climb we all turned around and shot back down the hill. Breakfast was waiting.

Chinese New Year social obligations prevented us from doing any long rides. Even so I rode about 160 km over the extended weekend. Which was a good start to the Year of the Horse.

Though not as good as it would have been if I had been on one of these.

Photograph courtesy of cmybacon.com

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.

Ramadan Rides

Posted on July 19, 2013 by alchemyrider

We are in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Ramadan. Which for Muslims means fasting during the daylight hours from dawn to dusk.

The Islamic lunar calendar year is eleven or twelve days shorter than the solar calendar year. There is no intercalation, or insertion of a leap day, week or month, to realign the lunar calendar with the solar calendar. So Ramadan migrates through the seasons.

My biker chick and I spent the last two Ramadan months in the Netherlands. Where the summer daylight hours extend for eighteen or more hours. There are advantages to being back in Malaysia where there is little variation in the length of the day throughout the year. Here we have only about fourteen hours between sahur, or the pre-fast meal, and iftar, or the fast-breaking meal.

The length of the fast at this time of the year in northern Europe means that iftar is not until almost 10pm. So rather than spend the last hours sitting at home thinking about food I would go for an evening bike ride. Sometimes on my own and sometimes in the company of David or others from the Not Possibles.

After a loop like this one, and a shower, I was very ready for that iftar drink and meal.

I did the Saturday morning Not Possibles rides as well. Those rides were too much fun to miss. A very large banana and blueberry smoothie at sahur set me up nicely for the ride. I must admit the post-ride koffie verkeerd and appeltaart at The Coffee Club were tempting.

Ramadan rides in Kuala Lumpur are a bit more challenging because of the heat and humidity. Fortunately with iftar being at 7.30pm or so there is no need for evening rides to divert the mind from food and drink. So rather than riding late in the day on an empty stomach, as I did in the Netherlands, I do the Tuesday and Thursday night rides in Kuala Lumpur on a very full stomach. I am usually eager to get started at 9pm, but during this month I am happy for any delay that adds to my digestion time.

Weekend rides will continue here as well during Ramadan. The heat and humidity mean that I have to be selective about the routes, and the pace. The Guthrie Corridor Expressway route is very open and gets too hot for a ride sans hydration. Which leaves Genting Sempah as the ride of choice. That route winds though forest so is shaded and breezy.

Photo courtesy of abuomar at http://basikalgunung.blogspot.com

Having lots of scenic spots for rest stops helps too.

Photo courtesy of Mark Lim

There is the elevation to deal with, but if taken at a relaxed pace that isn’t a problem. Most importantly for my non-fasting riding companions, the nasi lemak shop at the end of the ride is open during Ramadan.

I get to ride during Ramadan, and my non-Muslim friends get their teh tarik. Everyone is a winner!

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Genting Sempah, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, iftar, Ramadan, sahur, The Coffee Club, The Not Possibles. Bookmark the permalink.

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.

Share the Road

Posted on April 9, 2013 by alchemyrider

I have a “Share the Road” sticker on my car. It reminds other drivers to do their bit to help make our roads safer for cyclists.

During last Sunday’s ride up Genting Peres I was reminded that cyclists share roads and bike paths with more than just vehicles. I have encountered enough birds and animals while on my bike to stock a small zoo.

Dogs are of course everywhere. Fortunately I haven’t been chased by any. Though I do recall a particularly ornery dog that used to lie in wait on Sylvan Road in Houston for us to ride by. Our Taco Rides would be enlivened by this dog barking furiously as it burst onto the street. I keep a wary eye on the feral dogs that roam the back roads of Hulu Langat and Genting Sempah, though I have yet to hear even a whimper out of any of them.

I expected to see more cats than I did in the Netherlands. A lot of our riding was through villages and towns, but I guess the majority were house cats and therefore weren’t out and about.

Ducks, geese and swans were another matter. Water birds are everywhere in the Netherlands. I had to stop frequently for various birds as they ambled across the bike path. More infrequent were pheasant bolting across the bike paths when we passed too close to their nests.

In Malaysia we come across the occasional chicken trying to cross the road. The challenge with chickens is that they often change their minds about the direction they want to head in. I haven’t seen anyone hit a chicken yet, but there have been some near misses.

I’ve had a few near misses with rabbits. The dunes along the coast north and south of Den Haag teem with baby rabbits in the spring. The best tasting greenery always seemed to be on the other side of the bike path. Like chickens, baby rabbits often don’t have the courage of their convictions, and turn around mid-path. Much to the alarm of cyclists.

The dunes are also home to foxes, which don’t like to be out in the open and move very quickly when exposed. I saw very few foxes, and when I did it was late in the evening.

The same is true of hedgehogs. Out late in the evening I mean. Not moving very quickly.

It was broad daylight when the Not Possibles got the shock of our lives. A large deer appeared out of nowhere and ran beside us for a good fifty meters or so before veering off into the bushes and trees of the dunes.

Many bike paths in the Netherlands are shared with people on horseback. Although to be honest we spent much more time dodging piles of manure than we did skirting around horses and ponies.

I’ve mentioned the monkeys on the roads in Malaysia in previous posts. Monkeys feature on this sign at the summit of Genting Peres. It warns road users that this is an area where wild animals cross the road, and lists what drivers should do when animals are on the road..

I’ve yet to encounter the other two species on this sign. It would be quite something to share the road with a tapir.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in Texas, Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Den Haag, Genting Peres, Genting Sempah, Houston, Hulu Langat, Ted's Taco Ride, The Not Possibles. Bookmark the permalink.

O Spring, Spring! Wherefore Art Thou Spring? *

Posted on April 4, 2013 by alchemyrider

My northern latitude friends, quite reasonably, expected warmer weather by the time of the March equinox. My northern latitude cycling friends perhaps mark the arrival of spring by the running of the first Spring Classic bike race of the year. Milan – San Remo. Raced this year on 17th March.

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson at grahamwatson.com

Things didn’t improve through the rest of March. It was only 3° C / 37° F in Den Haag at 10.00am on Saturday 30th March. It was even worse for the Not Possibles on their morning ride. Out in the 21 kph / 13 mph wind gusts it felt like -1° C / 30° F.

To the relief of cyclists and non-cyclists alike, spring seems to be finally making its appearance in Europe. It promises to be 10° C / 50° F this Sunday for Paris – Roubaix, the last of the Cobbled classics. My Not Possibles friends will be hoping the warming trend continues to the first of the Ardennes classics on 14th April. The Amstel Gold Race. They will be joining 12,000 like-minded cyclists for the Tourversion the day before the professional race.

Here in the tropics we think in terms of wet and dry seasons rather than in terms of winter, spring, summer and autumn. However there is some evidence around of the spring concepts of renewal and rebirth.

Photo courtesy of Rodrigo Sala at tcktcktck.org

We saw lots of mums with new babies during the ride to Genting Sempah last Sunday.

Despite being 35° C / 95° F at the foot of the climb, it was much cooler in the breeze at 639 meters / 2,100 feet. Almost springlike!

Photo courtesy of They Wei Chon

* With apologies to William Shakespeare.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia, Cycling in the Netherlands and tagged Amstel Gold, Genting Sempah, Milan - San Remo, Paris - Roubaix, Spring. Bookmark the permalink.

Keeping Something in Reserve

Posted on December 29, 2012 by alchemyrider

Last week I rode up to Genting Sempah for the first time since my Racun Cycling Gang friends hauled me up there on my maiden Kuala Lumpur ride three months ago. Moon, Farah, Farid, Syihan, Wan and I started a bit further down the hill this time. “So we can have a warm-up” was the reason Syihan gave me for the extra kilometers.

We must have had fun last week (I admit the 20 kilometer / 12 mi descent is a blast) because Syihan, Wan and I did that ride again this morning. Azhar, who works with Syihan, rode with us. So did Galvin, Qiao, Rama and Jamali, whom we linked up with via that living map of human connections that is Facebook. We started the ride together but it wasn’t long before Azhar, Syihan, Galvin and Qiao rode up the hill away from me.

I was keen to measure my effort a bit better this time. My goal was to keep my pulse below 150 bpm. I wanted to see if I could get to the summit without overheating. It was 25° C / 77° F when we started. Most of the climb is shaded so I stayed relatively cool. I needed my Sweat Gutr in the 84% humidity though. There was still a haze of moisture in the air as I rode past this brave little fellow. The rest of his peanut gallery friends had scattered into the trees as I approached.

It was no surprise that my jersey was soaked by the time I had traversed the last of the 600 meters / 1,970 ft to the summit. I didn’t feel as hot or as breathless as I had the week before though. I had kept my pulse below 150 bpm as planned, except while getting up the 7.5% kicker near the top. It was a surprise that I got to the top in a little less time than it took me the week before. There is something in that “slow and steady” adage after all.

The problem with feeling good during a ride is that you get cocky. There was talk of continuing on from Genting Sempah to Janda Baik. The additional 30 km / 18.5 mi were described as “rolling”. It sounded like such a good idea at the time that I even got Wan to change his mind about heading straight back down the way he had just come.

This is the profile of the ride between the summit of Genting Sempah to the turn-around point in Janda Baik and back to Genting Sempah. I leave it to you to decide if I was misled.

Those “rolling” 30 km added more than 450 meters / 1,470 ft to the climbing total for the day. It was a good thing that I had rationed my efforts earlier in the day. I needed to have something left in the tank for the 1 km drag back to the top of Genting Sempah. The steepest slope of the entire ride. So I continued to modulate my efforts. The younger guys rode off ahead on the climbs. I spent much of the time spinning on my own. Literally.

We regrouped outside the McDonald’s at the Genting Sempah Rest Area.

Photo courtesy of Yee Chun Yen

Then it was time to head up the final slope and collect the payoff for all that climbing. It was time to stop holding back, stay off the brakes and chase trucks all the way down the hill.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Genting Sempah, Humidity, Janda Baik. Bookmark the permalink.

Step One: Find the Meeting Point

Posted on October 12, 2012 by alchemyrider

The instructions for the Sunday morning ride with the Racun Cycling Gang seemed simple enough:

Meet at the McDonald’s – Middle Ring Road 2 @ 7.45am

I was familiar with the road if not that particular McDonald’s outlet. I fired up the Tom Tom and selected my destination. I pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot on the MRR2 at 7.40am, pleased that I was right on time. I walked into the restaurant and looked around for anyone clad in stretchy fabrics. The first warning bell rang in my head. I was the only one sporting bib shorts. Fortunately I wasn’t fluorescent as well. I looked outside. The second warning bell rang. There were no bikes to be seen.

A hurried phone call revealed that there is more than one McDonald’s on that section of the MRR2. I wasn’t on time after all. But not to worry. This was Malaysia; the land of the never-on-time, and not the Netherlands; the land of the fastidiously punctual. Ten minutes later I was amidst a group of new-found fellow Lycra-wearers.

I hadn’t hauled my bike out of the back of the car upon my arrival. Which was a good thing as the ride didn’t start there. We all piled back into our cars and drove for another six kilometers or so to Kampung Batu Dua Belas, Gombak. That translates literally as Twelfth Mile Village, in Gombak. Naturally enough the village is at mile 12 on the Gombak Road. And it wasn’t renamed after the country went metric.

The Gombak road used to be part of the main route from KL up over the spine of the Malaysian peninsula and down again to towns and cities on the east coast. It has been superseded by the Karak Highway. Which means that there is now hardly any motorised traffic on the old road. Bicycles were another matter entirely. I hadn’t expected so many and such a variety of bikes on the road. I saw between eighty and one hundred cyclists during my ride that morning.

We found parking spots and got our bikes ready. Three of us had road bikes; I had my purple steel bike, but the rest of the guys in the group pulled folding bikes out of their cars. I quickly learned that folding bikes are very popular here. At least for the distance we planned to ride that morning. Which was about sixteen kilometers – straight up. I did say that the road goes up over the spine of the peninsula. Here’s the route:

We regrouped at the top of the climb to catch our breath, and in my case to also wipe the sweat out of my eyes and off my face. Here are some of the Racun Cycling Gang:

Christine D saw this photo and sent me the following sweat control advice – which I definitely needed:

Using unflavored, uncoloured (no mint!) lip balm, draw a line on your skin, above your eyebrow, extending down past the side of your eye, to make a “hydro barrier” – do this over each eye. don’t put it on too thick or smear it. this channels the sweat away from your eyes.

Here’s some of the competition we had for the shade at the top of the climb.

Once our pulse rates stopped hammering in our ears we rolled down the other side of this slope to the McDonald’s that is a rest stop on the Karak Highway for coffee and Cokes. Then it was a sharp one kilometer climb back up to the point in the photo above, followed by a long sweeping descent back to our cars.

What a fabulous first ride! The road runs through the rain forest that covers much of the country. So while it was rabbits, ducks and geese on the bike paths in Den Haag, here I had to watch out for monkeys on the road, in this case long-tailed macaques. The road surface is generally very good and there was very little traffic to contend with. On my way down I passed perhaps three cars coming the other way, all driven by learner-drivers with instructors at their sides. Presumably practicing hill stops and starts. So I was able to descend with some speed.

The only niggle in my morning was a creak that developed at the start of the climb. All creaks seem to emanate from the bottom bracket, but I am fairly sure that wasn’t the source. A bit of a mystery to solve in the next few days.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Cycling, Genting Sempah, Kuala Lumpur, Racun Cycling Gang. Bookmark the permalink.

Old Roots, New Routes