Tag Archives: KESAS

Ride Your Age

Posted on November 20, 2018 by alchemyrider

I picked up a birthday “tradition” while living in The Netherlands. Ride Your Age. In most cases, this means a ride length equal to or longer than your chronological age. My Duch cycling friends added a maximum speed equal to or faster than your chronological age to the mix.

It sounded like a good idea ten years ago. Less so now. There will come a time when the ever-increasing miles required turns this tradition into a fool’s errand. Nevertheless, I set out on a solo ride this morning to ride my age in miles. This was my first chance for a ride since my birthday last week.

The route which started in Bukit Jalil was a mix of motorcycle lanes, main roads and quieter back streets.

Map courtesy of Ride With GPS

To make sure I covered the necessary miles for my age I took a little detour from Bandar Rimbayu to Bandar Saujana Putra. All those lakes are disused tin mining pools. In the 1880s Malaya as it was then was the largest tin producer in the world. As late as 1979 Malaysia was still producing 30% of the world’s tin.

Much of the mining was done by floating dredges. The chain of buckets on the front scooped up the tin-bearing soil, which then passed through an oscillating drum and a system of jigs and screens to extract the tin, before spewing out the waste material at the rear end through a number of chutes.

Tin Dredge

The heydey of the tin dredge has passed. Tin prices collapsed in 1985 and the tin mining industry in Malaysia went into terminal decline. The ponds which were left behind have become prime real estate spots. My guess is that in five years a photograph taken from this spot will show waterfront homes lining this pool.

The morning stayed overcast so I had a very pleasant ride. I rode back to Bandar Rimbayu and then followed the usual route to Jenjarom. From Jenjarom I rode along Jalan Klang – Banting for 15km / 9mi to the junction with the KESAS Highway. I got back onto the motorcycle lane all the way back to Bukit Jalil.

As a bonus, I hit my age in kilometres per hour too. There is a one kilometre stretch in Subang Jaya (see the top centre of the route above) which has an average gradient of -1.6%. The slope certainly helps. This is also the location of a major highway exit. You come off the motorcycle lane and ride for that kilometre amongst five lanes of traffic. The resulting adrenaline boost helps with top speed too!

Another year. Another Ride Your Age in the bag.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bandar Rimbayu, Bandar Saujana Putra, Bukit Jalil, Jenjarom, KESAS, Ride Your Age. Bookmark the permalink.

Anatomy of an Adrenaline Rush

Posted on July 27, 2017 by alchemyrider

Illustration courtesy of De Wallen Industry

Cycling is a safe activity, posing little risk either to cyclists themselves or to other road users. The degree of risk assumed by cyclists depends on a variety of factors: where they are riding, the condition of the road surface, the speed they are riding (especially on descents), the condition of their bikes, how visible they are at night, and so on.

Kuala Lumpur is a relatively safe place to cycle, even in the city center.

Illustration courtesy of Lucas Varela (FT Magazine)

Accidents involving cyclists do happen though. Sometimes fatal ones. So my friends and I do what we can to stay away from dangerous situations. They cannot be avoided entirely however, for example when crossing junctions. With proper care, those can be negotiated safely.

Nevertheless, there is one place along a popular route where the risk level rises significantly. This is before and after the Persiaran Kewajipan intersection on the KESAS highway from Kota Kemuning toward Subang Jaya. There are in fact three danger points to be negotiated during that 2km / 1.2mi stretch. There is no motorcycle lane along that stretch, so cyclists have to ride on the highway.

Map courtesy of Google

The first danger point comes 400 meters / 1,300 feet after the motorcycle lane ends, and we are spat out onto the highway.

A lane of traffic filters down onto the highway from the left. We cyclists have to hold our line while watching for vehicles cutting across from left to right. At this point we are already riding in the middle of the highway, with three lanes to our left, and three lanes to our right.

Map courtesy of Google

The second danger point immediately follows. We have to switch our attention to our right. We must watch for traffic merging from the right and moving into the three exit lanes on our left. That is the most adrenaline-inducing section, because the traffic approaching from behind and to our right is travelling at highway speeds. The speed limit there is 90kph / 65mph, but some vehicles are moving faster.

Our strategy is to ride together as one group, in double-file, and as fast as we can, along that section. Fortunately it is slightly downhill, and we can spin up to about 60kph / 37mph. The adrenaline rush helps as well!

Map courtesy of Google

We then get a rest as the highway separates from the off-ramp, and we can roll along the road shoulder under the Persiaran Kewajipan overpass. The shoulder is wide, and we can ride a few yards to the left of traffic.

We have about 500 meters / 1,600 feet to catch our breath. Then we have to cross the two lanes of traffic coming from the left down the ramp from Persiaran Kewajipan onto KESAS.

There is about 200 meters / 660 feet for us to get over to the far left and back onto the safety of the motorcycle lane.

Map courtesy of Google

It is an unavoidable gauntlet for anyone riding from the west of Bandar Sunway towards Bukit Jalil. We have ridden that section many times, and have, so far, been lucky. No near misses.

I have ridden that section alone. Which raises the adrenaline level even more. I make sure that I am as visible as possible. Bright clothes, flashing lights, and an arm waving in the air. I also make sure that I get there before dark. Riding that section of KESAS at night would really be tempting fate.

We seal our fate

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Accident, Bandar Sunway, KESAS, Kota Kemuning, Persiaran Kewajipan, Risk, Safety. Bookmark the permalink.

The Art of Exercise

Posted on March 18, 2017 by alchemyrider

I enjoy studying graphic representations of data. Like this map illustrating 59,036 routes between 3,209 airports on 531 airlines spanning the globe.

Graphic courtesy of openflights.org

And this chart showing our galaxy’s relative size and position within the known universe.

Graphic courtesy of nationalgeographic.com

The latest graphic to pique my interest is one created by Sisu.

Sisu takes your exercise data from Strava or Runkeeper, and turns that data into a print. Sisu has been around since at least 2014. Co-founder Peter Roome posted the first blog entry on the Sisu website in May that year.

I found out about Sisu last week, when cycling friends started posting their Sisu prints on Facebook.

There are a few designs to choose from on the Sisu website. I like their original design that displays all the routes you covered between your chosen start and finish dates. The plots of each route are sized so all of them fit on one page. Thus the plots are not to scale.

Below are the routes I rode in 2010, the year I started cycling. The first four rows show rides within and around Houston, Texas. The rest of the routes are either loops or out-and-back rides starting from Den Haag, The Netherlands. I moved from Houston to Den Haag in May 2010.

The rides range from 14.5km / 9mi (row two, far right, which was a short run from my Houston home to Hermann Park and back), to 124.5km / 77mi (row six, third from the left, which was from my Den Haag home to Kinderdijk and back).

Graphic courtesy of madewithsisu.com

Even with only fifty rides in 2010, patterns emerge from the plots. Most of my Houston rides were with the West End 6:30 group. We rode a consistent route through the city every Tuesday and Thursday. Most of those are shown on row three.

Den Haag is just a couple of kilometers from the coast. You can’t ride very far west before you run into the North Sea. So a lot of my rides in The Netherlands followed the coastline, either south-west or north- east from Den Haag.

As you lengthen the timeline, the Sisu plots of each route get smaller. To ensure that, in this case, 885 routes fit on one page.

This print shows my entire Strava ride history.

Graphic courtesy of madewithsisu.com

I think this print is a fascinating way to review my cycling history. It is obvious from the graphic that my Kuala Lumpur friends and I spent an awful lot of time on the KESAS Highway in 2013 and 2014, as shown by all the horizontal, slightly squiggly routes in the middle third of the print.

There was a time when the Bukit Damansara route was popular. This route appears a dozen times in the centre rows.

Highlights stand out too.

An evening’s ride around the Sepang International Circuit produced this plot Sisu Sepang . It is not too difficult to find, about two-thirds of the way down the print.

More difficult to pick out is this route, my longest ever ride at 445km / 276.5mi Sisu BRM400 . It is in the fourth row from the bottom.

Of course, what my Facebook friends and I should be doing is paying Sisu for a print.

Sisu Order

Prints come on 300 grams per square meter Matt Photorag stock. 300gsm paper stock is at the higher end of paper thickness.

The print size is 12 inches by 16 inches for US orders, and A3 size (297mm by 420mm) for orders from the rest of the world. The price for a physical print, or a digital download, are above.

I’m thinking of a present to myself when I hit 60,112km / 37,351mi. That is 1.5 times around the circumference of the Earth. Which should be in two months or so.

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Posted in Gear and Tools and tagged Bukit Damansara, Den Haag, Houston, KESAS, Kuala Lumpur, Runkeeper, Sepang International Circuit, Sisu, Strava. Bookmark the permalink.

The Tandem Men

Posted on September 30, 2016 by alchemyrider

Logo courtesy of thetandemmen.com

Three months ago a former colleague of mine asked if he could connect me with two guys who are attempting to be the first pair to circumnavigate the globe on a tandem bicycle. A ride that would take them through thirty countries.

Photograph courtesy of thetandemmen.com

Andy told me that at the time, the guys were cycling between Istanbul, Turkey and Tbilisi, Georgia. Their route from Thailand to Singapore would bring them through Kuala Lumpur.

I replied “I would love to meet up with your friends when they come through KL.”

It then went quiet until last Monday, when I received a WhatsApp message from George Agate, one of The Tandem Men. John Whybrow and he had just crossed the border between Thailand and Malaysia, and were on their way to Georgetown.

That’s when I opened up their website, The Tandem Men, and checked their route through Malaysia. John and George has started their 29,000km / 18,000mi journey from Canterbury, England in June. Since then they pedalled through France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey (arriving there on the day of the attempted coup d’état), and ending the European leg of their round-the-world trip in Georgia (due to a detour after not being able to get visas to enter Iran).

They then flew from Tbilisi to Mumbai, India, to start the Asian sector. From Mumbai they cycled down the west coast of the sub-continent to Nagercoil, before heading northeast to Chennai. A flight across the Bay of Bengal took them to Bangkok, their first stop in South-East Asia. Now they were almost on my doorstep.

Map courtesy of thetandemmen.com

My initial reply to George was to welcome them to Malaysia, and to suggest an alternate route for them to follow from Georgetown to Kuala Lumpur. The route on their website was via the North-South Expressway. This would not work because bicycles are not allowed on the North-South Expressway. Never mind that the volume and high speed of the traffic on that highway make it a dangerous place for cyclists to be.

I suggested that they use the coastal roads through Seri Manjung and Kuala Selangor instead. Further to pedal, but more scenic, and with less traffic to contend with. That route would also allow my friends and I to meet them in Bandar Botanic, and to ride with them along the KESAS and MEX highways into KL.

I also offered to host them while they were in KL, and I was delighted that they took me up on my offer.

George and John did follow the coastal route, spending nights at Seri Manjung and Kuala Selangor on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. On Thursday morning, Lay, Marco and I rode to Bandar Botanic, where I had suggested we meet.

The three of us got to Bandar Botanic a bit early. We parked ourselves at Restoran Resepi Warisan for nasi lemak, teh tarik and iced coffee. The restaurant was a couple of hundred meters from the point on Jalan Langat where I had suggested we meet.

I sent The Tandem Men our location via WhatsApp. A few minutes later John and George rolled up to the restaurant.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

Fantastic!

We got another round of drinks before heading to the motorcycle lane along the KESAS highway.

One of the many rules rules stipulated by Guinness World Records is that George and John are not allowed to draft. So the tandem bike led the way, complete with its 35 kilo / 77 pound complement of panniers, bags and water bottles.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

Taking KESAS to get into KL from the west was certainly a better option than coming in from the north via Jalan Kuching. Not having to share the road with cars, vans and lorries is a definite plus.

Being separated from other traffic does not prevent punctures though. George and John noticed that they had a slow leak as we neared the Kinrara R & R. The rear tire leak was slow enough, and we were close enough to home, that we decided to take the risk of pumping it up and continuing on our way, rather than changing the inner tube.

We exited the KESAS highway at Awan Kecil and took the MEX highway to Jalan Tun Razak.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

One kilometer to go.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

John and George graciously agreed to go to Le’Park@Nasi Lemak Malaya for dinner, and to share stories with some of my cycling friends.

Photograph courtesy of Danial Marzuki

The Tandem Men have so far covered 10,651km / 6,618mi over 114 days. About one third of the distance required to become the first people to circumnavigate the world by tandem bicycle.

One of their personal goals is obviously to complete this adventure of a lifetime. Another is to raise at least £100,000 / RM537,000 / USD130,000 for the three brilliant causes that they have chosen to support on their journey. The work of these charities changes the lives for many, both locally and internationally. These charities are:

Porchlight (which will receive 34%)
Great Ormond Street Hospital (which will receive 33%), and
WaterAid (which will receive 33%)

If you would like to donate to these charities, please click the link below.

DONATE

It has been a treat and an honour to meet and host George and John. My friends and I will be following their progress as they cross Australia, ride up through New Zealand, make their way from San Francisco to Panama, and finally ride from Marrakech up through southern Europe and back to Canterbury in England.

Godspeed, and fair winds George and John.

Photograph courtesy of thetandemmen.com

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bandar Botanic, Circumnavigation, Guinness World Records, KESAS, Le'Park@Nasi Lemak Malaya, MEX Highway, Tandem, The Tandem Men. Bookmark the permalink.

BCG Morib Ride

Posted on September 5, 2016 by alchemyrider

The Bangsar Cycling Group can be counted on to organise fun rides. The latest one I did with them was a run from Kota Kemuning to Morib. Just shy of 100km / 62mi there and back.

Map courtesy of Ride With GPS

14 of us left the McDonald’s Kota Kemuning car park just after 7.00am. Unfortunately one cyclist suffered a broken spoke 5km / 3mi into the ride, so she and her partner had to turn around.

The rest of us continued along the motorcycle lane beside the KESAS Highway, keeping our ears open for the sound of approaching Hondas, Yamahas and Suzukis. Unfortunately we cyclists don’t get the motorcycle lane to ourselves, even on a Sunday.

It wasn’t long before we on Jalan Klang Banting, sharing the road with all manner of motorised vehicles. I for one was thankful that there seemed to be less traffic than usual on Jalan Klang Banting for a Sunday. Despite how it looks in this photograph.

Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee

We spent about 10km / 6mi on Jalan Klang Lama before we turned off that major road onto Jalan Bandar Long and then Jalan Pusara. Both are much quieter secondary roads, or what we would call kampung roads.

One of the goals of this ride was to maintain a pace that everyone was comfortable with, and which allowed people to practice riding in a pack. Always with the option to make a stop or two to ensure that the group stays together.

Once the group was on the really quiet coastal road between Pantai Kelanang and Morib, Foogie and I ran an experiment. We wanted to find out what speed was just that bit too fast for people to hold a conversation whilst they were riding. We put ourselves at the front of the peloton, reduced our speed until there was lots of chatter behind us, and then slowly ramped things up. It got very quiet behind us at about 28kph / 17mph.

In just under two hours from the time we left Kota Kemuning we were all seated at the Medan Selera (Food Court) at Morib Beach, waiting for our drinks and ais kacang.

Photograph courtesy of AiLin Lim

After we were well-irrigated, we posed for the de rigueur seaside shots.

Photograph courtesy of Wee Hwee Wang

Photograph courtesy of Safwan Siddiq

Photo session over, we retraced our route back to Kota Kemuning. There was talk of making a short detour to Jugra. There is a lookout point with an impressive view of the Langat River, and the Straits of Malacca beyond, at Bukit Jugra, but it is a very steep climb to get to it. We turned right, away from the climb. Maybe next time.

Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee

Instead, a few kilometers further on we stopped at a sundry shop along Jalan Bandar to refill bidons, and to pose for more photographs.

Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee

We made one more stop just after crossing the Langat River to regroup. When we got back to Jalan Klang Banting, the gloves came off and it was every person for themselves. Those who wanted to could ride as fast as they liked. Some of us – I won’t say who – did exactly that.

No matter the speed, we all got back safely to the McDonald’s in Kota Kemuning. Where most of us immediately ordered something to drink and eat.

“I’ll have a mango sundae. Make that two mango sundaes.”

I was happy. And am looking forward to more BCG rides.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Ais kacang, Jalan Klang Banting, KESAS, Kota Kemuning, Morib. Bookmark the permalink.

BCG Tour Klang – Port Dickson – Klang Day 2

Posted on September 3, 2016 by alchemyrider

The photographs are in! Thank you Johan Sopiee.

The plan for Day 2 was to roll out at about 7.00am. A few of us crept out of the hotel before dawn for breakfast at McDonald’s. Trying not to wake up the person at the front desk.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Hotel

Then it was time to put on cycling shoes (which had dried overnight after the ride through the rain), sun tan lotion, inspect our bikes, and wake up the desk clerk so we could check out.

Fikri, Izzat and I were ready to roll at the appointed hour. We discovered then that the rest of the group had opted to eat breakfast after putting on their cycling kit and checking out of the hotel.

So the three of us hit the road while the rest went to McDonald’s.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Early Breakfast

Before long we were making the left turn onto Route N4 toward Chuah. I don’t think the others were that far behind.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Fikri Kampung Chuah

By the way, despite what you see in these photographs, the national tree of Malaysia is NOT the oil palm.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Kampung Chuah Oil Palm

The climb of the day came as we approached the left turn to get back onto Route 5.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Kampung Chuah Climb

At 35km / 22mi the route curled through the small town of Sepang, before heading back toward the coast. That was the closest we would get to the KL International Airport.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Hot Day

It was 8.45am when I rode through Sepang. I was supposed to be at Morib at 10.00am, to meet up with some Flipside friends, who were riding to Morib from USJ. Morib is 45km / 27mi from Sepang. I was going to be late.

I made a short stop at the PETRONAS station in Sungai Pelek. The same one where Fikri and I stopped on the way to Port Dickson. As I remounted my bike, Izzat rode by. I chased after him and we rode together back out toward the coast.

About 8km / 5mi outside Sungai Pelek we came upon the U-turn point for the participants in the Klang Première Century Ride. That ride started and ended at the Klang Première Hotel in Bandar Botanic, a kilometer or so from where we would finish our ride.

We shared the road back to Bandar Botanic with the Klang Première riders,including some who had decided that they had ridden enough for the day.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Klang Premiere

I got to Morib at about 10.30am. Alvin, Liang and Mark were still there. I slurped down an iced Milo and an ais kacang, and enjoyed the sea breeze as we sat in the shade.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Just as we were leaving Morib beach, Fikri rode up behind us. He had been delayed by a problem with his seat post. He might have wished he hadn’t caught up with us. Liang proceeded to set a pace between 35kph /22mph and 40kph / 25mph for the next 20km / 12mi to Telok Panglima Garang.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Flipside 02

It was midday. And hot. And the pace had been high. So a stop at Cendol Santan Sawit Mak Lang was called for. Nothing like ice cold cendol to induce a touch of brain freeze.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Cendol Brain Freeze Mark

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

Brain freeze or not, we stopped again 7km / 4mi later at a PETRONAS station for yet more cold fluid.

It is 5km from that PETRONAS station to the interchange between Jalan Klang Banting, as Route 5 is named at that point, and the KESAS Highway. Fikri and I waved goodbye to the Flipsiders as they turned right at the interchange toward USJ. The two of us crossed the KESAS flyover and rolled the final kilometer to the Hotel 99 in Bandar Botanik.

Izzat was already there. He has a great capacity for riding long distances without stopping.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Finish 03

Happily, everyone else made it to the Hotel 99 safely.

It was another excellent cycling event. Foogie produced an excellent video summary of the two days.

Many thanks to Danial, Johan, Foogie, and the other participants for making this a fun weekend.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 2 Finish 13

So when is the next BCG Tour?

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bandar Botanic, Cendol Santan Sawit Mak Lang, Chuah, KESAS, Morib, Port Dickson, Sepang, Sungai Pelek, USJ, Waterfront Boutique Hotel. Bookmark the permalink.

Fun and Food (Not Necessarily in that Order)

Posted on May 22, 2016 by alchemyrider

Morib was the destination this morning. It is a route I have ridden a few times already. An Epic Ride describes one of those prior jaunts to the seaside at Morib.

Alvin, Liang, Mark and I got rolling at about 6.45am. Avoiding the midday heat on the way back was our primary objective. All looked good as we made our way down the motorcycle path beside the KESAS Highway, through Kota Kemuning and on to Bandar Botanik. It was an overcast morning, and we had cool conditions as we rode through Telok Panglima Garang and onward to the coast and Morib.

Morib Route

The road along the Langat River to Tanjung Tongkah Lighthouse, previously a section of road in disrepair, has been resurfaced. Cool weather and smooth tarmac makes for fun riding.

The first order of business once we got to Morib was breakfast. We stopped at the aptly named Delicious Bread Coffee Shop.

Morib Delicious Bread

The bread was as advertised. We had ours toasted, with butter and kaya. Along with nasi lemak, soft-boiled eggs, and iced Milo or coffee.

Photograph courtesy of Alvin

Yummy yummy!

Photograph courtesy of Alvin

Then it was time for a bit of fun. Photographs further down the road at the Morib Gold Coast Resort, for no other reason than it has a sign that reads “Morib.”

Photograph courtesy of Mark

More photographs on the sea wall at the beach at the end of Persiaran Mestika.

Photograph courtesy of Alvin

And another picture just to prove that we had really ridden to Morib beach.

Photograph courtesy of Alvin

The overcast skies cleared just as we started on the 70km / 44mi ride back to Bandar Sunway.

It was less and less fun as the temperature and humidity ramped up. By the time we were 15km / 9mi from home, it was properly hot. So much for an early start to avoid getting toasted on the way back.

Morib Weather

We were only 12km / 7.5mi away from Morib when we made a hydration stop. The first of a few such stops. We pulled up to a small sundry shop near Kampong Kathong and bought litres of water, some iced tea and other flavoured waters.

About 20km / 12mi from Morib we had made what in hindsight was an ill-advised detour toward Pulau Carey. The realisation after 4km / 2.5mi of the detour that it was still a long way to Pulau Carey, coupled with the rising temperature, prompted the smart decision to turn around.

Our next hydration stop was at Cendol Santan Sawit Mak Lang. A mere 20km / 12mi from the sundry shop.

We didn’t know that there was such a thing as santan sawit. Santan is the Malay word for coconut milk. Made, as the name makes clear, with the flesh from the nut of the coconut palm tree. Kelapa sawit is the Malay term for oil palm. At the time it didn’t make sense to us that santan could be made from the nut of the oil palm tree. We figured the term “santan sawit” referred to santan made from coconuts that grew amongst the oil palm trees.

I now know that palm oil is used to make a coconut milk substitute. The aforementioned santan sawit.

Which, despite the complete lack of coconut milk in it, makes a delicious cendol. Made even better, in this case, by lots and lots of shaved ice. We even got an extra bowl of shaved ice.

Photograph courtesy of Alvin

We made two more hydration stops in the 37km / 23mi between the cendol stall and Bandar Sunway. Both times at petrol stations.

At the Petronas station 10km / 6mi from Bandar Sunway we met up with some friends who had ridden to Morib as well. They rode a slightly different route, including a climb to this lookout spot at Jugra.

Photograph courtesy of Cindy

By the time they pulled up at the Petronas station they were looking just as hot and sweaty as we were.

It was 1.45pm by the time we got to our cars. More drinks, and lunch, were on our minds once we had cleaned up and stuck our bicycles into our vehicles. Mark led us to Lim Fried Chicken in SS15, Subang Jaya.

Fried chicken, a fried egg, green beans and curry rice, with extra curry gravy and sambal on the side.

Photograph courtesy of Alvin

Chased with ice-cold homemade soya milk.

The ride to Morib and back was suddenly fun again.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Bandar Sunway, Cendol Santan Sawit Mak Lang, Delicious Bread Coffee Shop, Gold Coast Morib Resort, Heat, Humidity, Jugra, KESAS, Morib. Bookmark the permalink.

Rapha Festive 500

Posted on December 29, 2014 by alchemyrider

I have not covered many kilometers in 2014. Thanks in no small part to my extended time off the bicycle. Both self-inflicted and health-inflicted.

My total mileage on 12th October 2014 was the lowest it has ever been on that date in the five years I have been cycling. That was the day of my first ride in almost four months. I rode as much as I could, and then had another month of no rides from 23rd November. Rain and weekend travel are to blame.

Graph courtesy of VeloViewer

So the Rapha Festive 500 came at the perfect time to motivate me to add to my total kilometers ridden in 2014. The challenge is to ride 500 kms between the 24^th and 31^st of December.

Rapha has partnered with Strava to keep track of riders’ mileage. No small undertaking, seeing as 46,360 cyclists are currently in the challenge.

Strava is doing a great job of displaying every participant’s current mileage, and rank overall, by country, by age and by weight. Strava is also providing additional motivation by presenting riders with ‘achievements’ as they meet interim targets.

I got the final one today.

I have ridden every day since Christmas Eve. I am putting my vacation time to good use.

Heatmap courtesy of Strava

514kms over six days. Mostly over the usual routes: Genting Sempah (2), KESAS (3) and (6), and the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (4).

There were a couple of forays into new territory, starting with the first Festive 500 ride on Christmas Eve (1). Keat, Mark, Marco, Fahmi and I started with a ride to a favourite nasi lemak stop in Kampung Cempedak. But instead of following breakfast with a ride through Kampung Melayu Seri Kundang, we followed a back road toward Rawang. Here we are, happy to be at the summit of the climb along Jalan Ciku.

Photograph courtesy of Marco

The ride that took me over the 500kms target was an entirely new one. I drove my biker chick to the airport, then parked and pulled my bike out of the car. It was raining quite hard, but that didn’t stop me from riding alongside runway 2, and the new runway 3 serving KLIA 2, watching aircraft come and go in a cloud of spray.

I didn’t want to continue onto the highway serving the airports, so I doubled back along runway 3 and went to Sepang. I had fun, but would have enjoyed it more if it hadn’t been raining the entire time.

Weather permitting, I might get to 600kms by New Year’s Eve. A relatively large total by my current standards, but paltry in comparison with 1,644kms already ridden by the person leading the Festive 500. He has cycled almost 14,500kms in 2014. He must be very fit. And not have a full-time job.

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Genting Sempah, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, KESAS, KLIA, LCCT, Rain, Rapha Festive 500, Rawang, Sepang. Bookmark the permalink.

An Epic Ride – Though I Would Have Preferred it Wasn’t

Posted on October 19, 2014 by alchemyrider

Strava displays a “Suffer Score” along with other summary information about each ride that you upload. The Suffer Score is a value calculated using your heart rate during a ride relative to your maximum heart rate, and the distance ridden. The higher your Suffer Score, the harder you worked during that ride.

A descriptor is assigned to Suffer Scores. 100 to 150 is a Tough score. 151 to 250 is an Extreme score. Anything greater than 250 is an Epic score.

I have only twice had a Suffer Score in the Epic category. The first was during the Kuantan Century Ride last year. My average speed was 28 kph. My average heart rate during that ride was 144 bpm, over a distance of 161 km. I felt trashed for the last 20 kms of that ride.

My second Epic effort was yesterday. I rode with four other Flipsiders from Bandar Sunway to Morib and back. This ride was 133km. My average speed was 26.6 kph. Despite the shorter distance and lower average speed, my heart rate averaged 140 bpm. Not much less than it was during the Kuantan ride. And again I felt trashed for the last 20 kms of the ride.

I have had rides that had a lot more climbing, and were therefore more difficult – although this wasn’t easy either, given that the sun was beating down and that the temperature felt like 36 °Celsius.

I suffered, despite the flatness of the Morib ride, due to an alarming lack of fitness. I knew that being inactive for more than three months would have a negative effect, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad.

The route took us west along the KESAS Highway. It was my first time riding west of Sunway Lagoon, though my companions have done this ride before.

We exited the KESAS Highway at the Bandar Botanik interchange, where we turned left onto Jalan Langat. I have been on that section of road before, during the ride to Port Dickson, and during the Klang Premiere Century ride.

We weren’t on Jalan Langat very long before we had to make a stop at a PETRONAS petrol station. Justin had a flat tire. I took the opportunity to take an opportunistic photograph.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Lim

We had stopped at the PETRONAS Johan Setia.

Two hours into the ride my left arm and shoulder had started aching. I spent a lot of time sitting up on my saddle to give my arm and shoulder a rest. Marco is smiling in his selfie, but you can see that Mark and I are wilting in the heat. At this point we had another fifteen kilometers to go before we got to Morib. Those were some of the longest kilometers I have ever ridden.

Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai

It was a relief to finally arrive at Taman Seri Bayou Morib. Marked on the beach side by this pretty art installation.

We had ridden 75 kilometers. There were serious doubts in my mind that I would make it all the way back to Sunway.

I didn’t look it at the time, but I did feel somewhat rejuvenated after these.

Four cartons of cold chocolate milk.

The others looked cheery while waiting for their nasi lemak. I had some too. It was very good.

It was about 11.00am when we started the return leg. This wasn’t the last sit-down I needed before we got back to Bandar Sunway.

The return leg was 17 kms shorter than the outbound leg. We had done a loop to the east of Bandar Sunway at the start. Despite the shorter homeward distance, my average speed dropped from 27.6 kph to 25.5 kph. Even with the slower pace, my average heart rate went up from 137 bpm to 145 bpm. That must be when my Suffer Score ventured into Epic territory.

I really was struggling over the last 20 kms. I kept looking at my Garmin, convinced that I had covered three or four kilometers since the last time I checked it. Only to find that I was only fifteen hundred meters further forward. Right about the time I was going to pack it in and collapse on the edge of the road, a rest area hove into view. There was only about 6 kms to go, but I wouldn’t have made it without that final fifteen minute rest in the air-conditioned PETRONAS shop – and without an ice-cream.

I would have preferred an easier ride. Especially after such a long time off the bike. It does however make me believe that I will finish the Malacca Century Ride next Sunday.

Hopefully it won’t be another Epic!

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Chocolate Mik, Flipside, Heart rate, Heat, KESAS, Nasi Lemak, Strava, Suffer Score. Bookmark the permalink.

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

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Posted in Cycling in Malaysia and tagged Chinese New Year, Genting Sempah, Go Green Car Free, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, KESAS, Pelita, Year of the Horse. Bookmark the permalink.

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Riding into the Year of the Horse

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