Photo-story - Where my bike’s been

[StreetCowboy]

We went a hilly ride today, through the village past my apartment, past the office, and stopped at the edge of the pylon reserve at a dead end.

"There used to be a footpath into the pylon reserve, but it looked rough as dogs, and through the gate and into that housing estate I'm told there's a back path over the hill to the next suburb, but there's no way I'm going up that hill looking for it"

"You're hidden path can remain hidden as far as we're concerned" was the consensus.

Then back the way we came, over the hill, through the village, uphill through the tunnel, past Sid's on the hill to finish at the Sultan's roti shop, near his back entrance.  You've seen a picture of the Sultan's back entrance, I think, before, and also the tunnel.

The two remarkable sights today were an enormous fresh cowpat on the hill road - I didn't stop to take a photo, but here is a picture of some cattle on that road from years past

And the number of cyclists who were out and about; there had been a cancer charity ride starting slightly earlier in the day, apparently, and we must have passed forty.  Young M reckoned he'd passed them stretching from the his entry to the highway to his exit.

I don't have a library picture of lots of cyclists, though.

 

EDIT: I also reached my Strava Personal Bests target for the year, with 233 to date; the segments are pretty dense on some of the roads we were on today

[StreetCowboy]

We cycled backwards up Route 1 to Rawang - I actually think it's easier that way - the hard part of the hill is only 900 m long - 600 m if you count from where the slip road meets the main road, and then there's miles of nice descent into Rawang.

Anyway, we came back past the cement works

and the tips of Rawang - I've posted that before, and then a long winding descent down to the plains of Sungai Buloh

Just after the cement works, the road condition is appalling, and then there's a sudden dramatic change in gradient, that I found quite a struggle - I'd have stopped for a rest if my buddies had still been within earshot to tell them.

It was a really nice ride, made all the better since there was just the three of us, so no dramas or unnecessary delays (bar one case of cramp - a case of Saturday Night Fever in the legs) and we were in the pub before 2 pm.

[StreetCowboy]

This week I've cycled down to a pub that's too far to walk, for the sake of getting the bike out, a couple of times, and I've really enjoyed riding the shopping bike in traffic.  

 

The Shimano Deore derailleur / Altus Rapidfire shifters are great - changing gear is like firing bullets.  The upright riding position is great and with a shorter distance to the handlebars I am happier standing up in the pedals to get away at traffic lights (My foot slipped off the pedal on my road bike once, and I am nervous to this day about standing up in the pedals - the standing position is too far away from the seated position, and the forward-leaning 'running' position standing puts too much demand on the grip of my shoes on the pedals)*  The handlebars are a bit wide, and I'm nervous about wing mirrors when I'm filtering through traffic, but so long as you don't go recklessly fast, that is manageable.

 

* Some people will say clip yourself to your pedals, but the whole point is that I want to get away from a standing start quickly, not fanny about trying to find my clips.  When my clipped mates clear the junction quicker than me, then I might give it a try, but I'm also nervous about the number of pubs; at least two of my mates have taken a tumble clipped-in arriving at the pub, let alone leaving it.

 

SC

[MrTrip]

When you get used to clipping in it becomes effortless, as natural as putting your feet on standard pedals. On my road bike my pedals are always clip side up, I believe they are weighted to hang like that. On my MTB they are double sided shimano XTR and they are instant power, so easy to use.

I remember being told 25 years ago “spd’s produce the single biggest gain you can buy”
I’m glad I took the advice, I wouldn’t cycle any other way [emoji1303][emoji1303]

Ok occasionally I forget to un-clip and end up on the floor laughing but heh, who cares[emoji1745]‍[emoji3601][emoji1745]‍[emoji3601]


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[MrTrip]

When you get used to clipping in it becomes effortless, as natural as putting your feet on standard pedals. On my road bike my pedals are always clip side up, I believe they are weighted to hang like that. On my MTB they are double sided shimano XTR and they are instant power, so easy to use.

I remember being told 25 years ago “spd’s produce the single biggest gain you can buy”
I’m glad I took the advice, I wouldn’t cycle any other way [emoji1303][emoji1303]

Ok occasionally I forget to un-clip and end up on the floor laughing but heh, who cares[emoji1745]‍[emoji3601][emoji1745]‍[emoji3601]


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[StreetCowboy]

You can say it twice, I'm still not convinced.

As we approach traffic lights, one of my clipped mates sometimes stops in front of me, and I find it irritating waiting behind him across the junction as he fannies about with his feet.   I suppose I should bite the bullet and give it a go, bit it would cost me a hundred pounds or so for the shoes and the pedals.

 

WHat I would like is shoes with a strong horizontal / perpendicular tread that engaged well (without clipping) with the flat cage pedals, to reduce the risk of my foot slipping off.

 

I'd also like a helmet with a moulded peak, to keep the flood lights out my eyes, and protect my glasses when by face hit the ground.

 

And a toaster with a 42" screen that functioned as an alarm clock and cofeee maker, while we're about it.

[MrTrip]

You can say it twice, I'm still not convinced.
As we approach traffic lights, one of my clipped mates sometimes stops in front of me, and I find it irritating waiting behind him across the junction as he fannies about with his feet.   I suppose I should bite the bullet and give it a go, bit it would cost me a hundred pounds or so for the shoes and the pedals.
 
WHat I would like is shoes with a strong horizontal / perpendicular tread that engaged well (without clipping) with the flat cage pedals, to reduce the risk of my foot slipping off.
 
I'd also like a helmet with a moulded peak, to keep the flood lights out my eyes, and protect my glasses when by face hit the ground.
 
And a toaster with a 42" screen that functioned as an alarm clock and cofeee maker, while we're about it.

[emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787]
Yep £100 for shoes and pedals is entry level here. 100% worth every penny [emoji1303]

I can see you’re tempted [emoji848]


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[StreetCowboy]

20 hours ago, MrTrip said:

Yep £100 for shoes and pedals is entry level here. 100% worth every penny

I can see you’re tempted


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I was out today, and even the experienced racer was holding me up at the junctions

[StreetCowboy]

Sorry - Robles with the captions;

a different view from Kampung Bari looking towards KL City Centre

And the new development site on the opposite side of the road.

 

Later in the day I had to go to the bank, and they’ve painted the bike racks at the shopping centre

[Chilon]

Back in Sydney for a bit and some pictures from a ride out to West Head which has views out to Lion Island and the North Coast then back via Akuna Bay.

 

 

[StreetCowboy]

 

Back in Sydney for a bit and some pictures from a ride out to West Head which has views out to Lion Island and the North Coast then back via Akuna Bay.

 

 

Your bike seems to have a very short shadow.

Are you a Brit, by any chance?

 

By the time we get out on the road, most of the locals are on their way home, although we set a slightly earlier departure yesterday when we went all the way to Kuala Selangor.  We'd actually meant to go there on the way home, but we missed the first turning for the extended route, and then stayed on the direct route for the sake of getting something to eat, and when we found the restaurant closed, I was in no mood for turning back and retracing our steps for the sake of a route that would be a few kilometres longer.

 

As it was, we didn't get to the pub before it started to rain.  In fact, we didn't get to the pub before it stopped raining, but we were still piss-wet through.  On the bright side, we weren't sweating so much, so we could skip the iced water and go straight to the cider when we got to the pub.

[RickBradford]

In this hot industrial part of Eastern Thailand, we have to take precautions.

 

 

 

[Hank Gunn]

Okay, I'll second MrTrip's recommendation on the SPD pedals and shoes. They really, really help transmit power more efficiently to the crank. I recently spent about $240 on some fancy, Italian Sidi shoes because I have an extra wide (EE-EEE) foot and my old mt. biking shoes were just killing my feet after an hour's ride. Not realizing there's an SPD mt bike cleat/pedal combo and an SPD road bike/pedal combo, I thought I'd be able to use my old pedals and put the cleats from my mt. bike shoes onto these new, wider shoes. However, when I got the shoes I noticed the hole pattern was different and with some more research learned that there were two types of SPD cleat/pedal combo. Thankfully the local bike shop had them and cheaper than Lazada.

 

They do take a little practice getting in and out of, but having used the mt. bike shoes/pedals combo for so long, it's not too much of a factor. The only thing is, my mt. bike pedals had entry points on both sides, so I didn't have to flip the pedals (although you can get some with a platform on one side for the use of non-cleated shoes). These road SPDs are asymmetrical so I do have to spin them a bit to get into them but they're not too difficult and I'm sure I'll be used to them soon.

 

I guess my point is, if you have standard size feet, you should be able to get reasonably priced shoes and cleats along with pedals. I think I paid less than $80US for my shoes (probably closer to $60) and the pedals had come with my mt. bike but those SPD mt. bike pedals can probably be had for $40-$60.

 

After the 8 day vacation down in Ko Lanta, which included prodigious consumption of fish, squid, beer, and sugary drinks like mango/banana daiquiris and mai tais, I'm back on the bike. Sat. I did my old 10K out 10K back loop. Today, I wanted to try something different, so I headed out to the ring road that goes around Buriram town (about 1.5K from my house) then took it north to the airport road, then headed back, taking a slight detour to avoid having to get into the right turn lane on a busy road. On the ring road there's this weird temple kind of place that I originally though might be a mosque but with no crescent I knew it was something else. Later, when my wife saw some kind of bill board she said it was some kind of school under auspices of the royal family. So I road about 80 m up to the gates and into the circular drive and took these photos. 

 

It's quit a large complex and this circular approach road looks like it leads up to some sort of dormitory. It looks like it can handle a lot of people but it was/is eerily empty.

 

 

This is another view, looking to the right of where I took the first photo. If you look closely, you'll see the array of columns. That part of the building faces out towards the ring road/highway and just above those columns is a large golden dome (what made me think it was a mosque at first). I was thinking that maybe this was the Thai headquarters for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but when I rode up to the driveway, there was a sign to the left of my bike that had a picture of a monk on it. It's weird though, as in addition to the Thai figures on the poles (seen ringing the pond by my bike) there are these neo-classical winged figures at the entrance and on the roof of the building with the dome, as well as at the entrance of the larger building behind my bike.

[StreetCowboy]

At Kuala Selangor there is a lighthouse on a hill.  If they had made the lighthouse taller, they wouldn't have needed such a big hill - a thought I could not clear from my head as I wheezed my way up it.

 

My mates were still there when I got to the top, and so were their bikes

 After a bit of puffing and wheezing, some of it doubled up and some a little wheezy, a chap shook me by the shoulder.

"I'm OK, I'll be fine in a minute"

But in fact he just wanted me out of the way so he could take a picture of his son by this old cannon.

It does look like a nice cannon.

Unfortunately, our cannon expert has not been posting for a while.

 

You can get a little more information here, though

[Chilon]

Street Cowboy, 

 

Shadows were short 'cos around midday but cooler than SE Asia so didn't see any mad dogs but there were a few Englishmen around.  I was more or less one of them- whilst I was born in the UK I have lived most of my life in Oz.

 

Depending on how you do the ride there are 800M of hills in 40Km so, despite the cooler weather I usually come close to blowing a gasket.

[Chilon]

Rick,

 

Nice outfit.   I'm back in Thailand in a week so will be riding in the country during early morning when the canines are most active.   I was carrying a folded over length of stiff fencing wire to ward off the more ferocious ones.    However after fending off one large black brute the bloody wire slipped and became enmeshed in my front spokes which required extreme effort on my part to keep going and escape the bugger.   I'm now upgrading to a whip aerial plus some chilli based dog spray.

 

I thought about poisoned gaiters but perhaps a bit unfashionable or Wellington Boots but figured they could be too hot.

[damascase]

This is something you come across when you follow the dedicated cycling lane east and north of Chiang Rai Airport. It looks like a car tried to cross the bridge.........

[Chilon]

Damascase,

 

How is the ride there, worth doing if visiting Chiang Rai ( provided you stay out of the bike traps of course)?

[damascase]

4 hours ago, Chilon said:

Damascase,

 

How is the ride there, worth doing if visiting Chiang Rai ( provided you stay out of the bike traps of course)?

Riding here is quite good,  clocked 15.000+ km since I bought my MTB, in about sixteen months of staying in CR. Yes, if you visit CR, do plan some cycling, you won’t regret it.

[damascase]

Chinese temple in Tha Kao Plueak, a 90 km roundtrip from Chiang Rai.

[RickBradford]

9 hours ago, Chilon said:

Rick,

 

Nice outfit.   I'm back in Thailand in a week so will be riding in the country during early morning when the canines are most active.   I was carrying a folded over length of stiff fencing wire to ward off the more ferocious ones.    However after fending off one large black brute the bloody wire slipped and became enmeshed in my front spokes which required extreme effort on my part to keep going and escape the bugger.   I'm now upgrading to a whip aerial plus some chilli based dog spray.

 

I thought about poisoned gaiters but perhaps a bit unfashionable or Wellington Boots but figured they could be too hot.

I bought a device called a Dog Dazer from Amazon for about $30.

 

It really is an ultrasonic gun, emits a sound that we humans can't hear but to dogs probably sounds like a banshee howl, and has terrific effects. It startles them, but doesn't harm them.

 

I remember one trip when I'd hauled up a hill and exited a village puffing hard with a pack baying at my heels, and on the way back they were still waiting. I freewheeled down, and when the leader stepped out into the middle of the road, gave him a 3-second blast from about 20 feet, square in the face.  His snout puckered up and he virtually did a backflip to get away from the vibrations. The rest of the pack followed, tails firmly between their balls.

 

It's not infallible; dogs with floppy ears don't seem to mind so much, nor do older dogs whose hearing has declined. But they're not the ones who usually cause serious trouble.

 

And once Dazed, a dog quickly learns not to give you trouble any more.

[StreetCowboy]

10 hours ago, Chilon said:

Rick,

 

Nice outfit.   I'm back in Thailand in a week so will be riding in the country during early morning when the canines are most active.   I was carrying a folded over length of stiff fencing wire to ward off the more ferocious ones.    However after fending off one large black brute the bloody wire slipped and became enmeshed in my front spokes which required extreme effort on my part to keep going and escape the bugger.   I'm now upgrading to a whip aerial plus some chilli based dog spray.

 

I thought about poisoned gaiters but perhaps a bit unfashionable or Wellington Boots but figured they could be too hot.

The dogs in Malaysia seem much more placid than what I read about here.

One dog on Sunday took up the chase

”Come on, Boy! Let’s go find traffic to play in!” But he quickly gave up the lark and went back to sunning his balls

[StreetCowboy]

I'm looking forward to a Malacca - KL ride at the weekend, stopping on Saturday night in Port Dickson.  The bike's been serviced, my lights are charged and I've been planning the route.

 

From Malacca you just turn onto Route 5 and carry on to Port Dickson.  Or you can follow our route...

Some bits I had to check on Google StreetView, and they had me chortling with glee and rubbing my hands to boot in anticipation.  I decided against planning to go through the refinery gates, but there is one other "Restricted Use" road that StreetView didn't follow.  And some kampung roads that look wide enough for two bicycles, and no more.

 

It's a bit of a voyage into the unknown, so if I don't post about it on Monday, you might want to phone the Negeri Sembilan traffic police...

[StreetCowboy]

We put the bikes on the back of my mate's car to drive down to Malacca (I didn't record that bit), and met up with M down there.  We set off on one of my impeccably planned routes - within half an hour we'd managed to find the start point, and occasionally passed some junctions that I thought should be on the route ("Oh - I expected to be coming from that direction <-").  Anyway, when we couldn't get through the refinery gates I knew we were on the right road.  I was chortling with glee and anticipation, and rubbing my hands to boot at the appreciation I would get when we swerved into the kampungs and onto tiny village roads that ran by the sea, but first, there was one Google "restricted access" road.  Sure enough, it was a restricted access road, restricted by men with machine guns, who turned us back on our way.  Apart from that small detour, there were no hills on whole ride, but we also missed the village roads I'd been so looking forward to.  Anyway, we turned round, back over the only hill, and up past the beaches to Port Dickson; the beaches looked remarkably clean considering the amount of shipping we could see going up and down the Straits of Malacca.

 

Meanwhile, my mate's wife then drove to Port Dickson after a bit of lunch - she must've set Waze to find the most obscure route, because she passed us about half way through.

 

We pushed on for the last ten kilometres to keep the average speed up; I insisted on setting a pace I found hard, because if anyone else had set a brisk pace they were comfortable with, I'd not have been able to keep up.  The light was fading as we came into Port Dickson, and sometimes, you have to take shortcuts when your on a tight schedule; and we were chasing Tigers.  So the planned stop to shower and change before dinner fell by the wayside, and we were lucky to get to the Yacht Club before it got dark.  I almost collapsed with thirst while my mate negotiated his reciprocal membership, and then at last! The Yacht Club bar.  The waitress seemed to have communication problems, but I briefed the barman on what she should be asking for, and from then on, it was plain sailing at the Yacht Club.

 

The following morning we were all suffering from the pace before and at the Yacht Club, but we set out knowing it was only 120 km to home.  Or a 135 km, after taking into account my navigational skills.  There are some small hills just after you leave Port Dickson, then you come down past the Sepang Race Circuit, and the Airport; then you can go straight up the highway to KL, or, to avoid the highway, head off in the opposite direction to Route 5, which is a busy inter-urban road.  After two hours on the road I was ready to go home, and when it started to rain in Shah Alam I'd have sold my bike for a lift home.  Luckily we were on the Kesas Highway motorcycle lane, and bar some baffling signs at one junction, even I couldn't go wrong with the navigation.  Somehow we missed the turning to the enormous viaduct - I think I was slightly confused because one of our team was turning off as he lived around there, so we thought we should carry on straight.  In fact we should've turned off with him, but not so much.

 

Anyway, no harm done, except that the motorbike lane had ended for this enormous junction, and there were two blokes in front having a bit of a road-rage incident, and it was cold and rainy and we were tired and on the wrong road.  Luckily, we were not far from home, and one more turning and we were on to the LDP Highway - not a road I would choose to cycle on normally, but fortunately we could come off at any exit and know where we were. 

 

I turned off to go home, and I realised how tired I was when I looked at my speedometer.

 

My apologies for the lack of photos; but here's Sid's in Malacca, where we didn't stop for a pint

 

 

[damascase]

Just in case you would be looking for a venue to improve your personal speed record: the 1.6km runway of the old Chiang Rai airport - closed in the early nineties - is still there!

[StreetCowboy]

1 hour ago, damascase said:

Just in case you would be looking for a venue to improve your personal speed record: the 1.6km runway of the old Chiang Rai airport - closed in the early nineties - is still there!

Before my hip operation at the start of this year I’d have struggled to walk that far away from my bike.

[MrTrip]

Hip operation [emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]
This year [emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]
And still riding like you do[emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]
Chapeau indeed [emoji1376][emoji1376][emoji1376][emoji1376]


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[damascase]

29 minutes ago, StreetCowboy said:

Before my hip operation at the start of this year I’d have struggled to walk that far away from my bike.

You must have recovered well!

About walking: I fell heavily on one knee 9 weeks ago when stepping off what turned out to be a 50 - 60 cm kerb, without looking........ I couldn’t cycle for 2 weeks at all, and since then only relatively short distances. That really got in the way of my aim to improve upon my 10.500km of cycling last year - stuck now at 9600........ Flew back for the holidays to my home country yesterday and woke up to a layer of snow this morning. So it doesn’t look like I’ll add much till the end of this year.......... 

I include a picture of my bike here in The Netherlands, a 10kg carbonfibre Focus, very light 26” wheels, carbonfibre cranks, ceramic bearings, SRAM 2x10, Schwalbe Kojak slicks. May take it to Thailand when I return.

[StreetCowboy]

18 minutes ago, MrTrip said:

Hip operation
This year
And still riding like you do
Chapeau indeed


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They have you back on your feet the next day.  It’s a mechanical job, so there’s not much recovery required. I reckon orthopaedics must be one of the most satisfying medical disciplines because a bit of hammerandchiselwork can make such a difference! I was back on the bike within four weeks, and a couple of weeks later did a 100km ride; and a week or two later, put a crate of beer in the panniers for Le Grand Prix d’Escargots

[StreetCowboy]

50 minutes ago, damascase said:

You must have recovered well!

About walking: I fell heavily on one knee 9 weeks ago when stepping off what turned out to be a 50 - 60 cm kerb, without looking........ I couldn’t cycle for 2 weeks at all, and since then only relatively short distances. That really got in the way of my aim to improve upon my 10.500km of cycling last year - stuck now at 9600........ Flew back for the holidays to my home country yesterday and woke up to a layer of snow this morning. So it doesn’t look like I’ll add much till the end of this year.......... 

I include a picture of my bike here in The Netherlands, a 10kg carbonfibre Focus, very light 26” wheels, carbonfibre cranks, ceramic bearings, SRAM 2x10, Schwalbe Kojak slicks. May take it to Thailand when I return.

 

Pah! Carbon fibre cranks? I've got a titanium hip!

 

I've never cycled in lying snow, but it snowed the first day I started my paper round, back in the day, back in the Old Country, and that's when I discovered how crap were my big fancy gauntlets.

 

I weighed my bicycles yesterday, in the unlikely event that anyone is interested:

Lady's folding bike                                      18 kg

Mountain Bike (w rack)                                17 kg

Shopping bike (w rack, mudguards & basket) 16 kg

Road (cyclocross) bike w/out saddle bag       14 kg

 

EDIT: The road bike does't have a stand, either.  The rest have kick stands, except the shopping bike, which can stand on its own two feet, as I have posted before.