1Federal Territory Day Cycling Convoy

The event banner.

The big day finally came. After weeks of nervousness (covered in a recent post here) and even a bicycle breakdown the day before (covered in a another post here), all comes to this very day. I did not sleep well the night before since I was ever so anxious. I feel like I was going to go for an exam of sorts, a test of endurance for both the rider and the bicycle. Passing it would mean crossing the finish line within the 3 hour limit. Failure would also mean crossing the finish line, but by riding at the back of a truck sent by the organizers.

10 minutes before flag off.

I arrived at Putrajaya roughly 40 minutes before flag off. Parked some 1 km away from the starting point to avoid unnecessary traffic on the way home. Had a quick light breakfast and then briskly sped my bike to the starting point. A crowd of several thousand participants had already gathered and was ready. Just 10 minutes before flag off.

Go! (Photo courtesy of Kelab Berbasikal Jerantut).

A blow of the whistle, and the crowd was off. Despite entire 3-lane highways closed off, the sheer number of participants made cycling difficult since riders were cramped close to one another. However, while the kilometers progressed, the crowd slowly dispersed as each rider gradually settled down to their comfortable own cadence and their bicycle's speed capability.

The 30.9 km route.

With the bicycle's underpowered 55 top GI (gear inches) combined with my usually high cadence (which I got from using such small wheels for some time), I found myself to "spin-out" (to be moving too quickly that no matter how fast you pedal, your gear just isn't big enough) multiple times, even during level roads. Quite a big frustration actually because it wastes precious energy. So I changed my tactics, cycling as fast as possible until near spin-outs during downhills, then coast until the the bike slowed to the point I could power pedal again at high speeds. However, the low GI range of my bike also helped me to climb slopes nearly effortlessly, while several cyclists had to dismount their rides and push their bikes uphill.

I was also, in a way, thankful that I had sent my bicycle to the shop for repairs the day before. With the passing kilometers, I saw several disheartened riders had to stop by the roadside due to problems with their gear set, etc.

After a gruelling 1 hour 37 minutes, about half of the time I expected to finish, I finally finally finally crossed the finish line. So so tired, yet so so happy and satisfied that I made the 30.9 km journey with my small wheels. My first professional convoy. I calculated my average speed that day, a surprising 19km/h. My usual was only around 11 km/h tops. What a day!

After crossing the finish line. Note: While most riders wear backpacks, I whenever possible, like to keep my shoulders free
so that I do not have stiff shoulders after a ride. I do this by
putting my stuff in a bag and attach the bag to the handlebars (since my bicycle does not have rear racks).

Hashtags: #1federaldayconvoy #1wpconvoy #bicycle #bike #convoy #cyborg #cycling #fa20 #foldablebike #foldie #foldingbicycle #konvoi #konvoi1wp #konvoiberbasikal #konvoiberbasikal1wilayahpersekutan #konvoiberbasikal1wp #saibog #xds #xdsfa20

Last Minute Breakdown

My bicycle being repaired.

One day left till the big cycling event. But suddenly, after just a light afternoon cycling with my eldest son, my bicycle's gearing broke down. The rear gear started making grating noises in the low gears. I immediately sent the bicycle to a bicycle shop.

At the bicycle shop, a mechanic tried to solve the problem by changing the cable for the rear derailleur, but the grinding sound persisted. Another senior mechanic then came to look at my bicycle, and he mentioned that a very small screw at the rear derailleur was missing and there was no screw with such size at the shop. The screw is used to adjust the rear derailleur for accurate shifting of gears. To compensate the missing screw, the senior mechanic cut the chain to make it slightly shorter and adjusted the rear derailleur alignment. After an hour of fiddling with my bicycle, the rough sound at the rear gears finally disappeared. In relating to tomorrow's event, that was a close call. Too close for comfort :P

Hashtags: #bicycle #bike #breakdown #cyborg #cycling #fa20 #foldablebike #foldie #foldingbicycle #foldingbike #lastminute #lastminutebreakdown #saibog #xds #xdsfa20

Vital Top Armour

The unbranded head armour.

Only 3 days left before the big day, the day I engage in my first professional bicycle convoy, joined by another 5,000+ registered participants in celebration of Hari 1Wilayah Persekutuan (translated as 1Federal Territory Day). I had to some extent maintain my stamina by doing some exercise (covered in a recent post here). Hope it was enough for the daunting 35 km ride (later I found out it was actually 30.9 km, but still far). Now, for the helmet.

View from the back.

For the past several days, I have visited many shops in search for a temporary bicycle helmet. "Temporary" because I was planning to buy a proper one via Internet, but the item may arrive later that the convoy date. It was fussy about what I want to buy, and was only recently that I learned of the Overade Plixi folding helmet (but that is another story). I targeted a price of around RM30 for a temporary helmet. But every shop that I called or visited quoted their cheapest price around MYR $80. There was one of MYR $50 and even a MYR $35, but then no available size.

Inside the helmet.

When wifey asked me to go to pay a visit at the Aeon Alpha Angle shopping center, at Wangsa Maju vicinity, I just followed. And by chance, I visited the sports section there and found the bicycle helmet I was looking for, offered at a freakingly low price of MYR $16. For a temporary helmet, that is one hell of a bargain, and bought it right away :)

Hashtags: #cyborg #cycling #cyclinghelmet #helmet #saibog

We Did It - 3rd Hiking Attempt To Empangan Klang Gates (Klang Gates Dam)

The secluded Empangan Klang Gates (translated as Klang Gates Dam), accessed
from the nearby Kampung Sungai Pusu (translated as Sungai Pusu Village).

After 2 unsuccessful attempts (covered in recent posts here and here) to find a way to the Empangan Klang Gates (translated as Klang Gates Dam) from the nearby Kampung Sungai Pusu (translated as Sungai Pusu Village), we at last made it. With my eldest 7 year old son, a friend named Hisham, and with God's help, we succeeded in navigating the labyrinth of trails. Every time we were unsure of which junction to take, there were hints to guide us such as seeing some guys with fishing lines hiking the trail (we then later sort of lost them due to their faster walking pace), the sound of a motorbike passing through the correct trail, traces of rubbish, etc. And after about 40 minutes of hiking, we finally, finally reached the secluded lake.

The following is a trail log of the path we took to the hidden beauty :)

Hashtags: #cyborg #empangan #empanganklanggates #kampungsgpusu #kampungsungaipusu #kpgsgpusu #kpgsungaipusu #klanggates #klanggatesdam #saibog #sgpusu #sungaipusu

With Shade Like Furnace

The Bodypac 4Men1D tent, set up at Pulau Mamutik
(translated as Mamutik Island), Kota Kinabalu
(translated as Kinabalu City), Sabah.

Hmm. What can I say? Just after several days buying the tent (covered in a recent post here), we camped at Pulau Mamutik (translated as Mamutik Island) in Sabah for about 4 hours. The Bodypac 4Men1D tent, being single layered, was a breeze to set up, taking only about 5 minutes. However, despite the 2 big vents on the roof and without using the vent roof cover, plus leaving the door wide open without netting, the tent still felt hot and stuffy.

The family's literally hot shelter.

There was little wind that day, maybe being the beach facing mainland and thus slightly obscured from tidal air currents. Still, the tent was set up under the shade of a tree, but air circulation by convection in the tent was poor, resulting in my youngest 7 month old sweat profusedly in his sleep. A 2 door tent or 1 window at the rear end of the tent would fair much better. But for the tent's price and superb trail weight, I can only comment that much. Oh well, it seems that my search for the perfect family tent is far from over :P

Hashtags: #bodypac #camp #camping #cyborg  #saibog #tent #tent4p

The Nearing Effect

2 weeks more before the big day. I have registered myself to partake in a cycling convoy on 15 February in conjunction with Federal Territory Day - a daunting 35km ride with currently about 1,600 participants. Never cycled that far in a single ride in my whole life. And using a bicycle with 16" sized wheels with like 55 GIs (gear inches) tops; well, that is a bit too daring.

The morning cycle at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa.

Anyway, just to maintain a certain level of stamina, I completed my latter half of the 20km that I normally cycle to office per week - by encircling the entire Taman Tasik Titiwangsa  (translated as Titiwangsa Lake Gardens) 4 times. It may not be enough, but I do not want to wear out my body too much either. Better a slow but constant gradual build of stamina which lasts, rather then spurts of frenzied exercises which quickly dies down as soon as it started.

The route taken, a mix of pedestrian and back roads to give roughly 2.6 km per loop.

Hashtags: #bicycle #bike #cyborg #cycling #foldablebike #foldie #foldingbicycle #foldingbike #kl #klumpur #kualalumpur #lakegardens #routes #saibog #tamantasik #tamantasiktitiwangsa #tasiktitiwangsa #titiwangsa #titiwangsalake #titiwangsalakegardens #xds #xdsfa20

Portable Igloo of Plastic

The Bodypac 4Men1D tent.

First time bought a family sized tent - a product from Bodypac, 4 person, single layered, free-standing dome. With just a 2kg trail weight, it is awfully light and a pleasure to carry. And for the family, it was adequately spacious. Can't wait to try it this weekend, when my family will have a nice picnic at a beach on one the islands in Sabah :)


Update 30 January 2015

After testing the tent in bright lit room, holes
between the seams were clearly visible. 

After testing the tent in a bright lit room, I found that the tent will ultimately leak since the seams were not hermetic. Now, a liquid sealant for tent seams would resolve the problem just fine, but it is extremely hard to get in this country and bound to be expensive. I opted for a cheaper solution using just plain duct tape. Hope it works :D

Seams sealed with the kiss of duct tape.

The tent's interior.

Looking outside from inside. 

The tent fully closed.

Ready for another adventure :)

Hashtags: #bodypac #camp #camping #cyborg  #saibog #tent #tent4p

Replaying The Famous Putrajaya Loop

Cycling early in the morning
 to avoid the scorching
midday sun.

A bright morning with clear skies. A speedy ride. Sliced the pavement with eldest 7 year old son who just experienced cycling with 2 wheels the week before (before this, his bike was attached with assisted side wheels). A loop which took me several hours some time back (covered in a previous post here), now took merely 1.5 hours to complete, and that with my underpowered 55 gear inches tops XDS FA-20 bicycle. Best of all, even after finishing the 10.5 km loop, I did not even break sweat and was not even the least tired. I guess my recent hikings and cycling to office had dramatically improved my stamina. Nice :)

Jambatan Seri Gemilang (translated as Seri Gemilang Bridge)
supporting the Persiaran Perdana road. In the background is
the Putrajaya Convention Centre.

View of some the bridges in Putrajaya.

Hashtags: #bicycle #bike #cyborg #cycling #foldablebike #foldie #foldingbicycle #foldingbike #putrajaya #saibog #xds #xdsfa20

2nd Hiking Attempt To Empangan Klang Gates (Klang Gates Dam)

Muddy trail.

An unfinished "business" it was (covered in a previous post here). I was still warm from the last attempt several days ago and eager to find the trail to the forbidden lake (the lake is situated in a restricted area since it is one of the main sources of water for the entire Klang valley, including the capital city of Kuala Lumpur). At 4:40pm, I started off again on the same trail with my eldest 7 year old son. Despite him wearing flipflops (selipar Jepun) again (don't ask why), our pace was much faster than before, and we managed to reach where we last stopped just 30 minutes into the journey, compared to the 1.5 hours in the last attempt. The trail after that point however, was not so favourable. In fact, it was awful.

The junction where we heard the growl.

Shaded from the sun, the trail was left damp and slippery. Muddy puddles were everywhere. Furthermore, the path lead downhill, a descent steep enough that it worried me whether we would have the energy to climb the trail on the return trip. We stumbled along the path for about half an hour until we came to a T junction. There were some signs of motorcycle tyre tracks which lead to the left, but then there were human footprints heading to the right. I was still considering my options, until I heard a deep growl which sent shivers down my spine. The low growl of a tiger.

The steep slippery climb back.
This is only about a quarter
of the way up.

My son was terrified, and so was I. There were no houses or settlements for miles around except in the south westerly direction where we came from. Only the deep jungle awaited us. So the probability of encountering such a wild beast was, well, I did not dare to even contemplate. We turned around and slowly retraced our steps back up the hill, and out of the jungle.

To calm our wits and disappointment of not being able to see the forbidden lake, we climbed another hill which was cleared of trees and undergrowth, overseeing our housing area. Then we made our way home via a different route which we saw from above. On the way down, we found another trail with signboards indicating the area was a protected reserved area. Maybe the path (and maybe a shorter one) to the lake? I will try that path one day. However, upon reaching home, my son told me what he saw in the jungle which was truly eerie and frightening.

The other hill which we climbed to calm our nerves.

The view of our housing area, from
the other hill that we climbed.

He told me that when we ascended the hill during our return trip in the jungle, he saw a shadowy form of an adult tiger with red eyes following us on our right hand side, in parallel, several meters away from our trail. After a while, the ghostly embodiment moved away from us, went further into the jungle and disappeared altogether from his sight.

My Adidas Kampung shoes after the hike.

I did not see the tiger since most of my attention was on my son climbing the slippery hill wearing his flipflops. However, from cross questioning him, it was obvious that it was no tiger that he saw, but perhaps one of the jin, spiritual ghostlike beings which usually dwell deep in the jungle and far from humans. Me being superstitious? Perhaps. Still, it is something to consider in my future hikings :P

Hashtags: #cyborg #empanganklanggates #gombak #ghost #hiking #hikingintherain #jin #klanggates #klanggatesdam #muddy #muddytrails #saibog #sgpusu #sungaipusu #trail

Hiking Attempt To Empangan Klang Gates (Klang Gates Dam)

My son's first hike, in the rain. 

I got MC (leave with medical certification) for 2 days. Several weeks of daily rain which resulted in the worst floods in the country, impeded nearly all of my outdoor recreational activities. Still, I did not wish to stay in bed for 2 days either. I had to get out from home, a way to flush the negativity out of my body. Self-cleansing as some people call it. So, armed with umbrellas and a parang (a type of Malay traditional machete) for defense against stray dogs, I set off with my 7 year old son, in search for the trail which leads to the forbidden lake behind a hill near my home, a total (departure+return) of 2.5 hour hike in the drizzling rain. And as his first hike, my son did pretty well for such a lengthy journey.

The end of our hike. With the trail
flooded, we could go no further.

We found the trail, even confirming our find as we asked a passerby on a moped with off-road wheels struggling on the slippery muddy trail. But we didn't reach the lake. Our last several hundred meters to the lake was hampered by a slightly flooded trail. Could be dangerous for my son who only wore flipflops (selipar Jepun), especially if there were snakes or tiger leeches whose bite are quite painful. Next time perhaps, we will reach the elusive lake, God willing.

View of my housing area from the trail, with
low hanging clouds. Told ya (in a previous
post here) that cycling to my house would
be an overall uphill battle.

Our shoes and makeshift dual purpose
umbrella hiking poles. 

Hashtags: #cyborg #empanganklanggates #gombak #hiking #hikingintherain #klanggates #klanggatesdam #muddy #muddytrails #saibog #sgpusu #sungaipusu #trail