Malakoff Interstate Fellowship Ride

I registered for last year event but didn't make it due to matrimonial harmony.  This year, I registered and start preparing for the ride.

What's the deal?

Day 1, 31 December 2010, will take cyclists around Penang Island passing through roads that allow you to look at Penang from a very different angle. There has been many round island rides but none can compare to this! This 67km route will leave you beaming with pride and bragging rights after completing it.

Day 2, 1 January 2011, will take you through 171km of rustic kampung charm. The road is flat with minor climbs and best of all it is shaded almost 80% of the route. With 3 feeding stops thrown in, it is definitely a doable ride for cyclists of all levels.

from http://www.kotrt.com.my/fellowship_main.html

So.. what's the plan?
Within this 5 weeks or so: -
1. Some flat and long distance return trip like Kuala Selangor.
2. Some hilly and not so long distance return trip like Bentong.
3. Daily dose of roller (I'm still trying to exceed 30 minutes mark).

Now go get some rest, it's Eid tomorrow!

When time is short, use roller

Time is short, at least for me.  I want to stick to training on weekdays in order to improve fitness but time always not on my side.  To cycle outdoor, I need to dress up in jersey, water bottle filled, bring along wallet, mobile phone, pump & spare tube and not to forget, put on helmet.  Night riding requires blinkers and bright color attire as preventive measure for other people to see you soon enough to avoid or slam on the brake.

I been doing some indoor cycling on a trainer but fail to set my mind to it.  If I may blame on something, lack of realistic is a major turn off.  A week ago, I borrowed Shaq's roller and since then I dedicate 30 minutes on it, daily basis.  It was hard at first to push it beyond 15 minutes but after few days, the body kinna adjusted to it and it does feel great.  On 2 occasions riding with some usual suspect on the road, I feel some satisfaction on my own achievement though it wasn't that significant that I can outdo Shaq.

Here some advantages of roller as tools for indoor cycling: -

1. Quick setup

2. No need helmet since I believe it's pretty safe to land my head on the carpet

3. Rain or shine, bring it on!

4. 30 minutes is good.  Above 40 minutes is excellent!  Compare that to an outdoor cycling in term of duration and returns

5. Can still look after the kids

The disadvantages:-

1. Sweat.  A lot of it! 

2. Must wipe all those sweat on the bike, roller & floor after each ride

3. Distraction when kids start asking too many question

Nokia C5, money well spent

I wrote on this new phone that I bought few days before Raya and no, I was not paid to write a review on this Nokia C5.  This is about how to make full use of the features of this phone or any other particular phone with GPS, 3G and geotagging apparently combined with Google Maps, Endomondo and Picasa Web.

1. Fires up Endomondo on Nokia C5 and start my MTB journey.  Note: The data is loaded to http://www.endomondo.com live thus this cost some data charges to your mobile phone bill.

2. Starts Camera on Nokia C5 and shoot some photos.

3. Stop Endomondo once the MTB journey ends.

4. Login to Endomondo and export the tracklog to GPX.  Endomondo tracks & records your training and I suppose I should be able to monitor and improve my cycling performance ;)

Screenshot of my profile on Endomondo.  Click on photo for larger version.

5. Login to Google Maps and import GPX tracklog to your maps.

View RRI_SKSB in a larger map

6. Upload photos using Picasa (Desktop version) to your Picasa Web album.  Geotagging info are tagged to your uploaded photos.  In Picasa Web album of those photos (click on photo below), you can see individual photo and the location of the photo taken.  However tracklog on Google Maps of the above is not integrate to these photos in Picasa Web.  Some manual copy & paste of coordinate of photos in Picasa Web will enable you to have those photos to be displayed on Google Maps (Click on the blue Placemark on the above Google Maps for better illustration).

RRI-SKSB Recce Ride

PS: I was on motorcycle in this outing thus I can catch up with these avid mountainbiker.

Universal Tag-A-Long Trailer Bike

I dropped by Juara Bikes in Subang Perdana for a tube few weeks ago and ended up with Universal Tag-A-Long trailer bike.  It was rather impromptu decision to buy it but I hold no regret.  At RM100 for a used item like that, it was a real bargain.  Comparatively, check out this online offer from Universal Cycles.

Fixing it to the seatpost is simple however it needs to tighten firmly or the clamp may scratch the seatpost shall it twist under pressure.

Verdict
Fully satisfied due to: -
1. Can have another kids joining me cycling on road (trail? I've a doubt on stress limit on the seatpost due to lateral load). 
2. It can takes those who are still on training wheel a spin for a lesson on balancing.
3. Seeing the happy face of Haziq.
4. Lastly, with this extra load, it is a good training ground.

KDCF TT 2010 | FakawiTribe.com

RESULTS:

1. Patawi 22:29
2. Joseph 24:14
3. Megat 25:06
4: Adli 25:24
5. Alex 26:35
6. Johnny 27:26
7. Tigerhills 29:17
8. Andy 29:54
9. HYH 30:32 (tie)
9. Fai 30:32(tie)
11. Stan 33.41
12. Riza 37:03
13. Dino 39:47

 source: fakawitribe.com

Expected result.  What can I say more for a person who has not put up with reasonable amount of training?  Served me right.  But on positive note, I'm determined to have regular training.  Rain or shine!

Skill School-Descending

This entry may be useful for those who want to comprehend descending technique so that you can do it without causing injury while having fun mountainbiking.

Photo 1: Photo of mountainbiker tackling descending section. The rest of this entry dissect piece by piece from this photo.

Photo 2: Checking 4 feet ahead of the direction you wants to go. Always find easy way out route.

Photo 3: Left arm a bit straighten, elbow close to abdomen to avoid hitting the tree.

Photo 4: Fingers on brake to micro adjust the traveling speed.

Photo 5: Coasting position with crank level to the ground. This is to avoid horizontal obstacles (e.g. roots, rocks & berms).

Photo 6: Firm grip on pedal & handlebar. Flex and relax muscle (no stiff join). Bend your knee & elbow to absorb vibration & impact. Curl abdomen and take the butt slightly behind (and below) the saddle to compensate center of gravity.

Spinning vs. Grinding, real life lesson

Spinning(some say "spinwork") - pedaling high RPM, lower gear at given uphill terrain
Grinding(some say "speedwork") - pedaling in low RPM, high gear at given uphill terrain
I'm a strong advocate of spinning. Recently, I tested out grinding. Grinding gets me faster compare to spinning at a cost... knee pain!

Last Sunday, me and 5 others climbed up Fraser Hill. It was 28km to gap from Kuala Kubu Baru and another 12km up to clock tower. With recently replaced crankset (Shimano 105, 53T & 39T chainring) on my Spesh, the temptation of getting faster was there. Especially "competing" with others riding a road bike with carbon between their legs.

I was grinding my way up to gap before I know, I developed a knee pain. Not a severe kind of pain but more like a pain that I can bear with. Things getting a little uncomfortable until I reached gap. I decided to change the pattern to spinning my way up to clock tower from gap. It came to the point I was using 39/34 gear combo (lowest gear possible for my Spesh) on some steep section.

Alhamdulillah, I made to the clock tower, non-stop in 3 hours despite being the last person to reach there.

Me on the "finishing line". Video by Shuk CIOCC.

To serve as a reminder to myself in the future...

Spin and you save your knee!!

Photo by Shuk CIOCC

Why do I take up cycling?

1. 1 form of exercise
I tried running but my shin hurts badly after few hundreds meters. Been into gym but monthly commitment of RM180 seems too much. Furthermore, gym buddy insisted on me going to the outlet next to his office but so out of the way of my route. After giving a serious thought of it and series of harassment by Jazlany and Big Mac, I committed myself into cycling.

2. Socializing and networking
Cycling buddies come from many walk of life. Lawyer, accountant, technocrat, chemical engineer, dispatch rider, student, teacher, photographer, tuna booty shaker.. you name it, I'll try to find one :)

3. Commuting
Being green. Trying to reduce fossil fuels consumption on monthly basis. Cycle whenever, wherever possible to run errands or just simply commute to work.

4. Personal achievement
I keep monitoring my progress. If there is anyone I am trying to better than, it is just myself. Yeah, I do mentioned about me trying to match cycling buddy whose performance is like a moving target for me, forget about that :D

I highly recommend newbie to read these articles by Sheldon Brown on basic cycling techniques: -

Standing while Cycling - standing is hazardous to your knee

Braking and Turning - why you need to use front brake

Gear Shifting - cadence vs grinding/pushing

p.s: only #1 was the original motivation factor for me taking up cycling, others are by-products of my obsession.

Daughter's first dish

My eldest is 10. For an arrangement that we had earlier on, she fried me an egg. Big deal? Of course! Previously she just successfully boils water ;)

She kinna late starter according to my wife. Well if you don't put a person into a situation, how would you know his/her capability.

I didn't realize to fry an egg do has an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) until I have to tell her the step by step (my client's nicest word to substitute the word SOP).

Standard Operating Procedure for frying an egg
1. Wash the pan
2. Fire up the stove (set to low)
3. Put the pan on the stove
4. Wait until the pan dry up
5. Put a sprinkle of cooking oil
6. Wait until pan heats up (this is the tricky part on determining the "recommended" heat)
7. While waiting for "6", crack open the egg's shell and put it in a small bowl
8. Put the egg onto the pan
9. Flip it after a while
10. Serve

The result!



Who said cooking is simple?

I have a new toy!

I bought this trainer through BBS few days back. Main objective is to get wiffy the chance to exercise at the comfort of our own house, secondly, to improve my cadence and stamina/endurance (still having difficulties to differentiate these 2 terms despite helps from Kapla Hodot).

Now to show how small the world is..
I been SMSing with the seller to for past 2 weeks on buying the trainer and clearly do not know the seller personally. We can't meet up then either because of me short of money or he was not in town. Me, not knowing how to evaluate the condition of this 2nd hand item, get Zali (avid cyclist) & Shak (MTB'r become Roadie) to come with me to Cheras. Apparently my 2 friends knew well this seller from their regular weekend outing at Genting Sempah. As a result, dirt cheap deal!