Photo-story - Where my bike’s been

[StreetCowboy]

So I was out on the shopping bike this morning

without the panniers but with cans of Irn Bru for everyone in the basket.

It was a surprisingly brisk ride, with personal bests all along the Federal Highway.  Maybe those skinny 28 mm tyres make a bigger difference than I thought...

The bike had been rattling on the rough roads, and I thought I should check the rack mountings for tightness when I got home.  I was wrong.  I should’ve checked when we stopped for breakfast.  I heard the screw and spacer drop off as I was hammering it on the broken tarmac in heavy traffic outside 1 Utama, but I thought it prudent not to stop and look for it.

So first stop this afternoon was Johnny’s, at My Bicycle Shop.

”Can you help me, Johnny, I’ve got a screw loose”

”I know that, but I deal with bikes”

Anyway, a bit of explanation, a bike inspection, a rummage in his bolts bin and I was on my way.  I bought a rack-mounted rear light as well; it’s a Japanese brand, and fiendishly clever.  It comes on automatically when it’s dark and it senses the vibration of a moving bicycle. So they say.  And the batteries probably last for ever as well.

Next stop the Trek shop, to buy a replacement secondary headlight, in case of failure of the primary light (the secondary seemed to have failed.  I’m buying the same brand again because the rear light has performed well, and with another mounting strap I can swap the light between bikes).  

“Looks like rain, sir. You might get wet on the way home”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was not going home; while I’d been planning this morning’s ride I’d noticed a bike shop next to a couple of pubs in Plaza Kelana Jaya, and I was heading there for lunch.

I was piss-wet through by the time I got there; none of the pubs were open in the afternoon, and no sign of the bike shop.  The security guard told me it was upstairs, but when you’ve done 70 km already today and you’re as wet as a seat at a Take That concert and two hours late for lunch the last thing you want to do is go upstairs to some place that is not next to a pub that sells food. Luckily, I had a solution.

Technically, five solutions and fish and chips at Richfield Corner, which set me in better spirits for the ride home.  And the rain had stopped.

[StreetCowboy]

Today’s ride had a bit of off-road rampage to it. We started innocuously enough, out through the suburbs, up the Guthrie Highway.  There was a lot of people at the garden centres along the road, and you have to watch for reversing lights.

 

Anyway, back up Guthrie Highway to a Future Junction.  We had to porterage  the bikes over a barrier

and the road beyond is at risk of being reclaimed by the jungle

It only runs a few hundred metres before it ends blankly facing the side of a hill.

Then back down the highway and off on the old Jalan Kuala Selangor to see if the plantation road to somewhere over near Kundang or somewhere was accessible.  It was. There was a guard post but no guard. It’s a long road, and if it starts off gravel and dirt it’s unlikely to improve deeper into the plantation, so we set that aside for another day.

Next stop was a rampage through the developments of Elmina, which, if things went according to plan, would bring us out onto familiar roads one junction further south on the highway.   

 

The development at at the Jalan Kuala Selangor side is ready for occupation, more or less, and all it needs now is an uptick in the economy.  I think the security guard was trying to say you could not get out the other side, but he underestimated our wit, ingenuity and powers of observation. Sure enough, there’s a stoutly built barrier across the road. We couldn’t go over it; we couldn’t go round it.  There was a chain link fence either side but M’s Eagle-Eyes spotted the loophole in their impenetrably secure defences

”There’s no chicken-wire on that fence-  you can just walk through”

 

Or maybe the security guard was trying to say our bikes would get filthy clarty on the dirt roads beyond his development.

we followed the construction road, which became a gravel track, then we came to a bridge

I figured no-one builds a bridge to nowhere; then we saw motorbike tracks and we followed those.  Someone somewhere really needs to wash their motorbike...

Anyway, we came out onto a village road. Not one that I recognised, but how far wrong can you in Kampung Kubu Gaja?

 

1800 metres.  I first became suspicious when we saw a milestone saying 38 km to Kuala Selangor. I resorted to Google Maps, and we were off again, retracing our steps.  But we were soon on familiar roads, although that last 20 km seemed to take a long time.  So long that Chinese Children’s Pub had stopped serving breakfast, and I had to have a Lunch of Champions, with food as well.

[MrTrip]

I’m quite envious of your exploration, it certainly adds to the joys of cycling when you’re not sure what’s round the corner or how many miles home. As I know my local area like the back of my hand, I have many markers that I know are 5, 10, 15 etc miles to home. For me this certainty takes some of the fun away. I’m so looking forward to spending more time in Thailand in the future. I will be within cycling distance of the famously disputed Preah Vihear temple on the Thai Cambodia border so some nice hills to go with the flat Issaan rice land. I think my road bike might be a bit fragile for the dirt roads but I’m sure I can find something to suit my needs locally. My wife worries about me cycling in Thailand because of the accident statistics but I don’t intend going anywhere near the highway road 24, I’ll stay well clear of that, exactly as I do here. I’m either completely off-road on my mountain bike or small quiet country lanes on my road bike.

 

Also there’s the peace and quiet to enjoy

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

[StreetCowboy]

I first met The New Boy in the pub.

As I arrived, he said, bold as brass, no beating about the bush, he said, blunt as you like “Are you a cyclist?”

’Uh-oh... rumbled’ I thought, ‘it must be my athletic physique that has given me away; that, or he’s noticed I’m sat on a bicycle...’, so like George Washington, axe in hand, I thought honesty was the best policy.

”Like a cyclist, but bigger” I confessed.  Anyway, since that evening he’s consistently bettered my Personal Bests everywhere except on the Speak-Your-Weight machine.

[StreetCowboy]

The first clue that I'd had too much the night before was that I was out with my deputy, fellow Scot and drinking buddy of many years.  The second clue was the New Boy's phone call at 0810 "Are you on your way?"

"Almost - meet me outside Sid's in ten minutes"

I think I was still unfit to cycle 35 km later after breakfast, and crawled back to bed until dinner time.

Before I'd met my deputy I'd raked round to the bike shop, but the road bike was still not ready

"Almost started", they told me.  

"OK - Thursday night"

"OK - can!" which I think was their way of saying "if you think we're going to prioritise an aluminium bike over the fancy stuff we get in here, you can think again"

I saw M's bike with the bent dropper-mounting sitting in the shop not even washed yet, and didn't hold out much confidence... I should've taken a picture of it, though, because there was not many photogenic opportunities on the weekend's rides.

 

We'd decided to go to Almost Rawang via the LATAR Highway and back down Route 1, which is a fairly straight-forward 70 km; not as pleasant as Not Going to Rawang via the Closed Road, but an easy opportunity to accumulate mileage.  The shopping bike is suffering from lack of care and attention, as well as last week's off-road excursion, and it rides like a coffee grinder now.  It's going into the shop as soon as the road bike is released, but a different shop this time.  

 

[StreetCowboy]

We Mayday! Mayday!

A public holiday, and M had suggested a ridiculous hill near The Wall that I’d always shied away from.  It might be steep, it might be long and high, but it doesn’t go anywhere.

”But look at the view you get over KL”

”It’s not much better than the road below”

Anyway, M pulled out, so did my buddy so three of us set out. I selfishly changed the route to an Alignment Ride along our railway, as I had to take some pictures of the viaduct.

I missed one, as the roadworks were too wide and too long, and then I didn’t notice the Jalan Ipoh One-Way Gyratory (I think it’s closed on one direction, and contra-flow in the other, to allow for our Works).

So we found ourselves headed into town to Darkest ChowKit, where the traffic was congested stationary; not the end of the world for me on the shopping bike, but troublesome for the boys clamped into their road bikes. And then a swerve to the right, past the World Trade Centre, up a small hill and your back into the leafy suburbs of Taman Tunku (photo from another day, looking back towards KL)

We stopped for breakfast next to Sid’s in Taman Tunku, but we put off whetting our whistles till El Sid’s,

whence the New Boy set off home his separate way.

 

I left the viaduct pictures to the end, for those who are interested, or persistent

[StreetCowboy]

You may recall my buddy is short a dinger, and wants one that fits his road bike handlebars, but doesn’t want to pay too much money.

 

Well, I’ve had enough of it, and when I was in the Trek shop Ibought a Knogg dinger.  Knogg are the IKEA of bike accessories - nothing fancy, simple and all you need, though maybe not what you want. And it came with an Allen key

[StreetCowboy]

The Bierhaus is the newest addition to the Taman Tun cycling scene - or will be, when they get their draught cider sorted.

As you can see, my bike has been released, and after three weeks on the shopping bike I’m finding it a bit high and long. And quite light and sparky. I can’t imagine what a real road bike would be like.

[n210mp]

Having to have a weeks rest or so from the bike. 

it was a hard  choice  between golf and cycling  and Golf won through in the end.

 

You see 2 x 50K rides in high heat & humidity is getting  a bit too much for me at my age  as well as  twice a week walk on  an 18 hole golf course towing heavier than normal golf bag around and actually playing  golf at the same time!

 

Anyway here is a couple of pics of where I ride and where I play golf, I dont draw much distinction between golfing and biking as the only difference I can see is that I pull two wheels with the golf and ride two wheels with the cycling (Just for those who object to me mentioning golf in this section!)   

 

The first pic on the golf course at Plutaluang golf course Sattahip

 

The second  pic up near Mabrachan in Pattaya with Michael

 

The third with Texas Bobbo at bansare fishing harbour Bansare.

[StreetCowboy]

7 minutes ago, n210mp said:

Having to have a weeks rest or so from the bike. 

it was a hard  choice  between golf and cycling  and Golf won through in the end.

 

You see 2 x 50K rides in high heat & humidity is getting  a bit too much for me at my age  as well as  twice a week walk on  an 18 hole golf course towing heavier than normal golf bag around and actually playing  golf at the same time!

 

Anyway here is a couple of pics of where I ride and where I play golf, I dont draw much distinction between golfing and biking as the only difference I can see is that I pull two wheels with the golf and ride two wheels with the cycling (Just for those who object to me mentioning golf in this section!)   

 

The first pic on the golf course at Plutaluang golf course Sattahip

 

The second  pic up near Mabrachan in Pattaya with Michael

 

The third with Texas Bobbo at bansare fishing harbour Bansare.

I can’t believe you stood in front of Mike’s bike in the second photo.  

Is that a new high viz vest Texas Bob is wearing?

[StreetCowboy]

9 hours ago, n210mp said:

Having to have a weeks rest or so from the bike. 

it was a hard  choice  between golf and cycling  and Golf won through in the end.

 

You see 2 x 50K rides in high heat & humidity is getting  a bit too much for me at my age  as well as  twice a week walk on  an 18 hole golf course towing heavier than normal golf bag around and actually playing  golf at the same time!

 

Anyway here is a couple of pics of where I ride and where I play golf, I dont draw much distinction between golfing and biking as the only difference I can see is that I pull two wheels with the golf and ride two wheels with the cycling (Just for those who object to me mentioning golf in this section!)   

 

The first pic on the golf course at Plutaluang golf course Sattahip

 

The second  pic up near Mabrachan in Pattaya with Michael

 

The third with Texas Bobbo at bansare fishing harbour Bansare.

What is it like riding a proper road bike, after the mountain bike?  My ‘road’ bike is a cyclocross, it weighs a ton and trundles over anything - not so different from the old mountain bike or the shopping bike

[n210mp]

6 hours ago, StreetCowboy said:

What is it like riding a proper road bike, after the mountain bike?  My ‘road’ bike is a cyclocross, it weighs a ton and trundles over anything - not so different from the old mountain bike or the shopping bike

Took me a week at 74 to transition to the road bike Jon from my MTB  and since then I have tried to ride my old 29er a few times  but there is no chance that I will ever go back to the  MTB,   I dont do the Jungle tracks anymore, was falling off too many times due to a "balance issue" hahaha

The Scott addict 4 frame, Tiagra groupset and Mavic Aksium wheels   I bought secondhand  from different sellers on  "Buy & sell Bike parts  Thailand"  A Facebook forum thingymajig and had the bits built up by a local mechanic "Pop" IMHO possibly the best and most honest Mechanic in the Pattaya area.

 

The picture below is of another Japanese hybrid that I have just refurbished, I was going to replace the road tyres with jungle tyres and have another go at the jungle tracks around here  but  with the "balance issue" getting worse  I decided to sell it and maybe look for another slightly larger carbon road frame and  new groupset as my Addict is just a tad on the small size for me. 

 

As far as  riding the Scott though apart from being as I said a bit small  its great and the Tiagra never falters at all, as far as weight goes it was as I remember 7.8k  bare bones but as you can see with all the touring gear I carry it is now considerably heavier but then again I'm no lightweight either! 

[n210mp]

16 hours ago, StreetCowboy said:

I can’t believe you stood in front of Mike’s bike in the second photo.  

Is that a new high viz vest Texas Bob is wearing?

 

Actually at the time it was my old 29Er that Mike   is hiding, otherwise "Mike the Showman" that he is would have been of course in the spotlight! but well noted! 

 

And yes Texas Bob is well known for his sartorial elegance and his legendary "keniu approach" to life!

 

Having lived in South East Asia for the last 35 years and  a top class engineer, Bob has in that time acquired all the best traits of the typical Thai villager in that his daily food costs and clothing are well withing the typical income of a Thai or cambodian  building worker. ( In other words he can live on a bowl of rice and noodles a day)

 

[StreetCowboy]

This morning’s ride took us to Agathians’ Shelter.  We were joined by an Underground Architect (“I shall say zis only once”) whom we shall refer to as MM, to avoid confusion with M with the steel bike, or M, his son who is younger than the bike, or M, who worked in Port Klang and has the ambition to cycle back to England.

 

MM turned up on a mountain bike with big knobbly tyres no more firm than a ladyboy’s tits.  We soon had the front tyre up to road pressure, but the rear valve was on the brink of disaster, so he was left riding his fondling-soft rear tyre.

i couldn’t bear the road noise of his knobbly tyres coming down through the tunnel, so I pulled the lever on the navigational fruit machine and took us via Bangsar, in case Dan was going to show (he did not) and over Bukit Pantai and through the Malay University, past a little arcade where there used to be a couple of pubs (alas, no more) and then through a diversion past the Cobra Club 

A charming place, but alas their bar does not open till 3 pm. 

We wandered somewhat stalling for time as our new route was a trifle short in the kilometre department.

It did give me time to take this picture of the bowstring bridge on the Federal Highway motorcycle lane.

I mentioned that one of the local bike shops was looking for a trainee, but none of the boys were available.

After the fund-raising lunch we set off homeward-bound, pausing only for a round of ciders (that’s three sets of five ladies’ glasses for those of us drinking strong bow, and the necessary bottles for the New Boy to keep the pace.

We didn’t have confidence in his navigational talents, nor his ability to follow directions, so we escorted him as far as Centrepoint, where they sell Strongbow in proper pint glasses.  He was getting anxious about other commitments, and eventually we agreed to give him the key to unlock the bikes, so long as he promised to leave the key in the lock.

The sole fell off his shoe , which must make the SPD pedals challenging, but he seemed to make it out of sight safely enough.

”Which way did he turn at the junction?”

”Right”

”OK, so Cheras and Seremban are off the bingo card”

”Aye, but Ipoh remains a distinct possibility”

Strava says that he got home, but it looks from the lines he took through the highway junctions that he was rushing.

I stopped at Silly Billy to keep you abreast of events, as I charged the lights this morning

[StreetCowboy]

After my comment on Saturday about the Avanti feeling light and sparky, I was out on Tuesday night on a Bangsar ride, and three other fellas on proper road bikes turned up.  Without their beer guts.  Luckily I was leading the ride, or I'd have not been able to keep up.  I wasn't feeling light and sparky, by a long shot, even after two pints of cider at El Sids on the way home.

[StreetCowboy]

I was spoiled for choice this weekend - as well as my own planned rides, a colleague asked if we wanted to join his Ramadan ride - about 100 km on Friday night, leaving about 10 pm, getting home about 4am.  I opted out.

 

There's a public open night at Sepang circuit tonight, with Criterium races afterwards - the Category D entry qualifications looked possible, and I've never ridden in a race before, but I don't fancy driving all the way out to Sepang; the New Boy is going, though.

 

I was out with the New Boy for our Saturday morning ride today.

 

It was a hilly ride, though not extreme.  In particular, we did not, NO, NOT THAT WAY! did not go up The Wall, nor up Mayor Flats next to it.  YOu get just as good a view from the road below, and on the lower road, you can stand up and take a photo, instead of lying on the ground waiting for an ambulance

 

I stopped to take another photo at the top of Tennis Centre Hill, looking down The Wall from the top

and that's when I noticed I'd accidentally stopped my GPS tracker when I took the previous photo.

 

From there, had we not taken a wrong turning, it would have been a very short ride down to the highway, and then up one more hill past the New Boy's house.  As we set off up the hill, I felt we could take a fractionally quicker pace, and I set out to pass.  The gradient was not too steep, and I assumed that the New Boy was suffering from the earlier hills, so I put the effort in to thrash it to the top.  Then I looked up - the top was miles away!  THe New Boy past me as my heart sank, and within a few metres more, I was weaving into the driveways to find a bit of flat road, then struggling to get over the spilled concrete on the road.  I'm not going to do that again soon.

 

SC 

 

[StreetCowboy]

We set off on a moderately long ride on Sunday - I think all roads we’d ridden before, but carefully planned to

a) reach 100 km

b) give us drink stops at motorway services that would still be open during Ramadan.

I was all set for turning for home at 36 km when there was nothing open at the first services.

”At least the petrol stations will be open”

but I’d forgotten that we turned off immediately before the next services at Kundang and my mind was filled with visions of the monkeys and vultures fighting over my parched corpse North of the historic town of Batu Arang, famous for its 22 sites of historic interest, including an open green space and the site of some old coal workings, which latter looked remarkably similar to the former, bar the caption on the plaque.

Luckily we were able to stave off the vultures by buying half a gallon of water and some sugary soft drinks at a dingy Chinese general store, and carried on up the monkey road to Batu Arang.  I think to help the monkeys fast in the Holy Month of Ramadan, the council has cleared away the roadside rubbish.

Anyway, the services being closed, we thought it prudent to fluid up when we found a Chinese place open in Batu Arang. Then, when we passed on the return leg by the services at Kundang we played safe and took on more water when we found one stall open.

I decided we couldn’t risk getting home short of 100 km and recommended we stay on the highway rather than the shorter backroads.  I soon regretted that when I realised just how long a detour it was, thinking for the last seven kilometres “I could be in the pub by now”; actually, the previous ten km were worse, looking down at the odometer saying 90 km, and knowing I had 7 km more to go than I needed to. I’d have liked to stop for a rest, but I couldn’t face drinking any more water.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well

[StreetCowboy]

This morning's ride was another viaduct-spotting expedition, an attempt to make head or tail of the viaducts that have been thrown up like late night pizzas by the Contractor for the DASH highway - there's no way they're all going to join up, and I'm pretty sure there will be a few bits left over at the end.

DASH highway will bring people from the traffic-clogged satellite city of Shah Alam to form traffic jams in Damansara.  I'm not looking forward to it.  I can't see anyone wanting to make the opposite trip, and it's already too easy to inadvertently find your self in Shah ALam.

 

Empire City, Damansara will be nestled in the middle of the junction like an abcess in your crotch, and it still won't be finished by the time the road opens.

Some of the topside buildings are occupied already, to the distress of those that have to work in them, or worse still, the airb'n'b victims that find themselves there.  It's surrounded by forest of concrete columns

growing out of swamps that would bring back memories of the Somme to our fore-fathers.

Some of the other developments in the area look a bit more competently planned, 

but I doubt when these are finished

the local traffic will improve much, unless they're only hoping to serve people from Shah Alam.

 

THen we went through Kampung Penchala village, to see what's happening there.   For the time being, its still a nice road

but when this link connects it over the hill to the over-crowded suburb of Mont Kiara

it might lose some of its rustic charm

 

[StreetCowboy]

Yesterday's ride was a right off-road rampage, into the Sime Darby estate at Jalan Sungai Buloh and back out through the neighbouring estate.

The road was shown on Google maps, so I reckoned it can't be that rough although as I mentioned when we checked out the entrance to the road, if it starts off gravel and dirt, it's unlikely to improve further in -

"Left here"

"This left or that left"?

"I don't know, Google Maps says its straightforward, but satellite view says that it's not."

Anyway, it was the other left.  WHen I looked at my phone on Google Maps, it was completely blank.  We'd navigated a kilometre away from the road without noticing.  On Satellite view there was nothing but trees to be seen in all directions.  So we retraced our steps back to the road for the other left.

 

The road was OK - occasionally blocked by spikey fallen hard palm fronds that threatened punctures, and it looked like it would be treacherous when the rain came; we'd been warned there was rain approaching by a security guard as we were leaving the plantation huts, but we'd recklessly acknowledged and gone on regardless.  There were a few drops of rain, but not enough to make the clay as slippery as it might.

 

Anyway, the road was OK and it went more or less as predicted, straight ahead

.. no, straight ahead.  There, that way.  Through that bank of bushes and trees.

The road follows the contours and goes straight ahead, while there's a straight path that goes left and right.

Well, road or no road, Google Maps notwithstanding, there was no way that we could carry on straight.  A look at Google Maps suggested we might be better off to just settle down, find some native women and establish a lost tribe... "Where would the cider come from?"

So we persevered, stopping to try and figure out directions every few hundred meters.

The only reason we knew it was a path was that it was straight.  Then a gap in the bushes to our right showed us it was a fence line, with a gap that we rampaged through and we could climb back up to where the road carried on albeit in rougher condition than before

I was walking more than riding, due to the steepness and the roughness and the deep vegetation. 

As the path began to level off I thought "I can handle this", climbed back on the bike, took one pedal stroke into a hole and put the bike down and slowly rolled over the handlebars.

I carried on walking until we got back on to the gravel.

 

As we came out of the plantation, we asked a passer by
"Where's the nearest shop where we can buy water?"

"Over there, on the left", he said, waving vaguely in the direction of Kuala Lumpur and the other towns of the Klang Valley.

A few kilometres later we stopped at a petrol station to fill up.

I reckoned it would be 3 pm by the time we got to the pub, and judging from the clouds and the wind, the rain would come between 3 and 4.  Well, it came early, at 2.55.  But the familiar roads and the draw of the cider had got us to the pub ten minutes early, and we could relax and enjoy our cider and apply a bit of antiseptic cream to a couple of little grazes and make a mental note not to do that again in a hurry.

 

[StreetCowboy]

My apologies for the lack of photos this afternoon; I’d planned old cannons at Bukit Melawati in Kuala Selangor, as you’ve seen before, but climate change conspired against us.

 

we’d taken a different route out - past the airport down and over the dragon’s back - it is so much easier than the homeward direction; along Jalan Paip (named for the water pipe running alongside) into Meru, where we were held to ransom waiting for our roti Chennai; it’s quite put me off eating food.

 

From there, bar one navigational mishap, it was long straight roads to Highway 5, the West Coast Highway; I’d actually planned to go further to the beach road, but it was pissing it down incontinently, and none of us wanted to go further than we had to.

 

It was so bad, we stopped to look at the map.

”Our shortest option is to retrace our steps on those long, tedious straight roads”

”I didn’t think they were too boring, but I’m not sure I would say that again”

“Or we could go back down to Kapar and the Federal Highway, but that’s a long way on this highway, and for all that this weather is pish, it always tips down stair-rods in Khang”

”so what are you saying, Cowboy?”

“Tough it out; don’t turn back; never surrender; Brexit means Brexit...”

”You’re gibbering; how are we going to get home?”

”Up the road, to almost Kuala Selangor, right at Kuala Sungai Buloh and back via the planned road”

”That means riding towards the rain”

”If you want, you can find your own way home”. For a moment, I thought I might have pushed it too far, but common sense prevailed.

It really is a nice ride home, through the quietest of villages, and only briefly marred by M looking over his shoulder and saying “It’s sunny in Kuala Selangor now”

”Shut up and keep cycling; at this pace we can keep under the rain all afternoon”

Anyway, it cleared, and by a combination of good fortune and brisk persistence we dried out a little and got to the pub with only marginal discomfort.

 

And we did get the benefit of the most remarkably considerate driving I have ever seen.  As you come up the road from Saujana Utama, just before the bridge, there is a challenging right turn into a lane that runs by the river.  It’s easy enough to pull out in front of the traffic behind you, but the traffic going the other way, accelerating down from the bridge... Today, a bloke in a pickup understood what we wanted to do, gently stopped with his hazards on and flashed us across.

 

By far the kindest, but not the only good driving we saw today.  I see far more good car drivers on my bike than in my car

[StreetCowboy]

I was out with the Bangsar Cycling Group, and just as we got back to TTDI, a few drops of rain started to fall.  It had eased off by the time I got to the pub across from home, but I thought it prudent to stop, just in case; and sure enough, three pints later it’s tipping down stair-rods, and I could be stuck here some time....

[StreetCowboy]

We were heading up the hill on the highway, and there was a Bangladeshi bloke half way up ahead of us “Do you think we can catch him before the crest?”

”Course we can!”

and I called out a cheery ‘good morning’ as we sailed past.

”I bet that’s how Chris Froome felt in the Giro last year”

A couple of kilometres later we merged paths with a gentleman on a folding bike, who was not so easy to catch up, and I felt less like Chris Froome

[StreetCowboy]

Today we took a ride out to the Zoo - that was easy enough.  Jalan Zoo View goes up behind the zoo, and it's got some steep sections, and some very steep sections.  I dismounted before one to walk, so that I could converse coherently with the dog that was standing in the road; a friendly fellow, fortunately, as I knew on that gradient I could not outrun him either in my shoes or in my pedals.

 

We knew the road was blocked, but we were not sure if all the paths and lanes and drainage ditches were also blocked.  A slippery slope, a damaged barbed wire fence and we were through. 

Unfortunately, the road on the far side did not go back down to the highway as I had expected, but meandered somewhat upwards.  I was running low on water, and suggested we divert into what looked like a township, but turned out to be as desolate as the forests around, albeit with more houses.  We stopped to look at the map and consider our options.

"That steep hill is our shortest way, but I recommend back the way we came"

"It's only  a short hill"

"No repeating, no retreating" I cried as I set off up the hill, until my front wheel came up as I pulled on the handlebars and pushed on the pedals, but I was able to recover control and grind my way to the top.

 

The MRR2 (Middle Ring Road) is not a good road for cycling, and we decided to go back through the centre of town, regardless of whether that might be seen as retreating.  But first, M diverted us into a local Chinese coffee shop to take on fluids.  It's great, cycling with infrastructure boys - they're local everywhere.

 

Before long, we were back in the city, thanks to M's navigational talents, not mine, and home through familiar roads - the traffic chaos of Chow Kit, Putra World Trade Centre, past SId's in the Country, through the Time Tunnel, past the fire in the village behind us and powering up the hill from the village to the pubs... not all the way, I powered up about two-thirds, and then stalled, and M plodded steadily past me.

 

Anyway, it's not a race, and I gave it 100% in terms of distance, at least, and got all the way to the pub.

[StreetCowboy]

This morning, the second day of Hari Raya, I’d agreed to take A and Mrs A on a gentle ride; we cut out Desa Park City because the dirt road would be a bit soft, although it rained so much I’ll probably need to wash my bike this month anyway.

Traffic was light, for the holiday, the roads were nice, and we stopped for cider and pizza in Richfield Corner.  Up till then, the rain had been a gently cooling drizzle, but it got slightly heavier as we headed for home, and I took the shorter, faster route into BU junction; we got to the junction just as the lights were going green, but the guy at the back of the queue must have been uploading his ride report or twisting off a quick one “Oi! Drive on!” But I’d stopped too long and had to put my feet down.  When we did move off, I had to call out a warning to A in front of me about a car turning right from the left lane.  So not the standard of driving I have come to expect in KL, though there were several cases of people giving way when they could have pulled out in front.

We stopped for durian cendol outside TTDI wet market, and the fact that it tipped down stair-rods and we were stuck there for forty minutes was not the worst thing about it, unless you like durian.

Here’s the bikes, waiting patiently in the rain

[StreetCowboy]

My buddy is an accomplished racer and mechanic, and can’t bear to see people struggling with mechanicals.

’Just let me do it, it will be quicker for us all...’

On several occasions, though, he’s stopped one amongst us ‘steady on there, wind your wheel back...” and pulled out a nail or a pin or a piece of wire.

That’s me, looking knackered. I thought ‘the only way I’m going to get a rest is if I put a staple in the DPD’s tyre’

[n210mp]

On 6/13/2019 at 10:11 PM, StreetCowboy said:

My buddy is an accomplished racer and mechanic, and can’t bear to see people struggling with mechanicals.

’Just let me do it, it will be quicker for us all...’

On several occasions, though, he’s stopped one amongst us ‘steady on there, wind your wheel back...” and pulled out a nail or a pin or a piece of wire.

That’s me, looking knackered. I thought ‘the only way I’m going to get a rest is if I put a staple in the DPD’s tyre’

Looks as though you are in a lot of pain as well especially with the forks of that bike in your arm

[StreetCowboy]

We didn't go to Rawang yesterday, up the old road past the Tips of Rawang (all gone)

You can now enjoy the views unspoilt by mounds of construction debris,

 

thanks to the Great Wall of Rawang, which has been enhanced by a ditch on this side as well to keep out the fly-tippers.  One of the lads suggested that maybe the road was closed and blocked because the land-owner didn't want to take responsibility for maintaining the road.

I'd have been happier if they'd built the wall a couple of hundred metres back, right on the crest of the hill; as it was, we were starting off on a steep gradient as we retraced our steps.

 

They're not maintaining the road, and obviously there's no traffic on it, now that it doesn't go anywhere, so it was thick with cattle-turds, and streams running across it thanks to blocked roadside drainage, so it was not such a pleasant ride back down as it used to be.  The trees are growing into the road, some with thorns, so you really have to be quite cautious.

 

The others had domestic commitments later in the afternoon or evening, so we didn't go to Batu Arang on the way home - its not often we don't go two places in the same ride - and we were in the pub by two o' clock.

 

I've put on 28 mm rain slicks, instead of the 38 mm tyres I had before; the difference is significant on the downhills, thanks to the higher pressure (110 psi compared to 85 psi).  

 

[MrTrip]

Higher pressure definitely helps. I was riding my 700x23 tyres at around 80psi and got fed up with punctures from rim pinches.
I did a little research and realised my problem quickly, I needed much higher pressure.

I know I’ll jinx myself here but I’ve ridden with 100+ psi for 6 months without a puncture on my road bike. Although I haven’t been riding as much this year.

I’ve tried to ride through the winter to keep the legs in tune but I think the problem that causes is that I don’t have the enthusiasm level required in the spring to ride regularly. I’m probably only riding once every 10-14 days this year. I need motivation [emoji848][emoji848]


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[StreetCowboy]

2 hours ago, MrTrip said:

Higher pressure definitely helps. I was riding my 700x23 tyres at around 80psi and got fed up with punctures from rim pinches.
I did a little research and realised my problem quickly, I needed much higher pressure.

I know I’ll jinx myself here but I’ve ridden with 100+ psi for 6 months without a puncture on my road bike. Although I haven’t been riding as much this year.

I’ve tried to ride through the winter to keep the legs in tune but I think the problem that causes is that I don’t have the enthusiasm level required in the spring to ride regularly. I’m probably only riding once every 10-14 days this year. I need motivation


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As well as the pinch flats, the softer tyres sweep more area of the road, so you'll pick up more sharp objects.  Also, I think the softer tyres grip the objects better, and hold on to them until they work their way through the tyre.

 

For motivation I've enrolled in a criterium race this coming Sunday around KL Football Stadium. 

 

I've got no idea what to expect, other than a bit of abject humiliation being the first person to be lapped.

 

SC

[MrTrip]

[emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787] good luck with that [emoji605][emoji605]


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