Back from the North!

What's appealing about the ride in Penang is that I'm cycling in a foreign land which is 400km from the comforts of my own home and the fact that its not like any other routes back here where i can simply do it over the weekend. That all makes up for an unique experience!

Day 1
I'd say I may not have went for the trip if not one of us had a bicycle carrier since it wouldnt be fun at all neither cost effective to have us all drive individually in our own car to Penang but fortunately Nagai had one and it nicely fitted all 3 our bicycles right at the back. (I gotta get one for myself one day...)


That's how the bicycles are strapped behind...cruising speeds tops max at only 110! If you'll go any faster the bicycles starts to feel as if they will want to fall off anytime soon!

We started the journey at 11am only to take an exit off to Tapah to eat 'Tin kai' and Eel after Lee reckon us that we should try them. At first when Lee ask me if i'm okay with 'Tin Kai' i just nod thinking its some sort of chicken cook in some sort of ways...boy i was wrong when i see Frog served on the table! Hah, but i guess that slight error is good since I went to give it a try as nothing familar to me was on the tabl and i was hungry :)


The Frogs tasted like soft chicken...apparently quite tasty but I dint had a lot since i couldnt be sure how my body would react to frogs...


Here's the other specialty...eel! yummy! :D

After lunch, we got back out on the highway and its all straight towards Ipoh then finally to Penang where we opted to take the ferry instead! I can't remember the last time i board onto a ferry since i'm always up for anything thats new, i excitedly push forward with the idea furtermore the ferry stops right in front of our motel, how convenient! But o' sadly, we had to wait an hour for our turn. (why dint we take the Bridge!)

But it was all smiles when it finally came to our turn!


Finally onto the ferry!


Penang Bridge in the distance


Everyone catching the wind and gazing out at Penang Island...

Reaching at the other end, we sped off round the bend to Friendship Motel and offloaded our bicycles into our tiny little room that manage to accomodate us 3 and the 3 bikes!! The time then was 5.30PM and it was quite late to cycle around as we first intially planned so instead we went off to trace the route we will be cycling tomorrow! (We just trying to get homegrown advatange too)

Oh btw, the starting point is just right in front of our motel. So off we go with Lee on the wheel to trace the route which starts from Esplanade all the way to Teluk Bahang. Generally the route is flat scenic roads. The climb is the route on the way to Tanjung Bungah. It's all uphill from there till BatuFeringghi. Aside all that, the route generally looks farily easy.

With the time that we have, we made some stops overs at the beach to take some pictures...here goes


It's really windy that weekend in Penang. Here's afew playing kites




The grass is greener here...




A time then.


2 dude fishing by the beach...probably they are the ones who are responsible for the shark whale that ended up at the beach today!!!! LOL



Dusk approaches

After the stops, it's time for Dinner. Ate the locals specials, drank magic tonic 101 for my throat then finally going back to the motel to wash up and fall to bed and be ready for our ride that awaits us in the morning!

'Fin' - Day 1

Le Tour de Penang

I'm going up to Penang tomorrow to take part in Penang Fellowship Ride 2008! I'm going down with 4 others but too bad 1 couldnt make it due to knee injury...I wish her for a speedy recovery! hoping to see her back on the saddle sometime soon!

From the official website updates, I've come to learn that there is a total of 613 riders signed up. I was quite shocked that the penang riders makes up as the majority on the list probably taking a big slice of 70% ! It's like every cyclist in Penang is making an appearance! This will be my second time participating in a large organized cycling event! My first was weeks back for the AIDS awareness ride in downtown KL. 500+ riders! The ride took us around downtown KL, starting at the golden triangle cruising all the way to MidValley and back with police escorts closing the roads in front of us as we pass... i doubt i'll get such opportunities like this! great fun. Hope this one tops that.

In preparation for the ride, i took my bicycle for a spin today for a 10KM ride and made a stop over at my bicycle shop for a checkup which I've come to learn alittle on bike maintenance....

Now i know,

1. whats wrong if i tap on the brakes and it gives off a 'ceeeekkk' sound
2. when to oil the bicycle chains
3. how configure/tweak the front derailers so that my chains dont drop off at times in between of transitions (happened before and i just wondered why)
4. aligning the wheels

After MeridaMan fine tuned everything, i hop back on and instantly felt a difference...the wheels spin smoothly as I paddle home and ready myself for tomorrow!

80KM? No problem.

Putrajaya Critical Mass December

Merry Belated Christmas everyone!



Last week's ride in conjution with the monthly Putrajaya Critical Mass was a bad one. A friend of mine crashed almost at the end of the ride and apparently hurting the knees real bad. sigh. To add that, a friend of mine whom we managed to coax him into cycling gave up quater way through. we had to finish the ride and pick him up later only to find him sitting alone in an abandon highway. (he waited patiently for almost an hour+ before the calvary arrived) but on the upside after surviving the torment...he's planning to get a bicycle! (+1 into my bag of victims...) Oh btw, there isnt' any pics from the ride since that friend of mine is having the camera.

Anyhow, there were almost about 150 riders that day and possibly about 5 support cars...all of which the drivers were ladies, possibly the riders gf/wife/sis. ^^

The route around putrajaya clocked in abt 25km with two checkpoints of which it only took about 2hrs to complete the ride. Unfortunately we started late due to the rain thus we ended up only going back home at abt 1AM despite the event supposedly to start at 9PM! At the end of the ride after saving our dear friend, we were all hungry and cried out for some dim sum!

More on Putrajaya Critical Mass can be found here @ http://www.putrajayacriticalmass.blogspot.com/. It's a ride held every last Friday of the month. 'Critical Mass' is a movement that is participated internationally in many major cities.

Genting Sempah Ride!

Last weekend ride to Genting Sempah was amazing!


View Larger Map

Route : Hospital Orang Asli -> Genting Sempah -> Hospital Orang Asli
Distance : 34KM

Overall, the ride itself wasn't all too easy since the first half of the journey is all uphill which is nice since it's pretty boring if its just flat roads. For those worrying they couldnt make the hill, fret not since the climb isn't that steep.

We started off at Hospital Orang Asli (Hospital Jheoa) and as usual, we were late and only began the 17KM UPHILL ride @8.40AM+. Along the way up to Genting Sempah, we came across other cyclists but all of them were on road bikes! They might be wondering why aren't we on MTB's doing off-roads, hah. Well aside that, we too saw monkeys on the way up which was quite scary since they all look like they are waiting to rob a lonely cyclist...haha

The ride up takes us on less travelled roads which occasionally a vehicle or two will pass us by. In fact I never knew this road existed. When I first heard about the ride to Genting Sempah I imagined the ride will take us on Karak highway but I was so wrong. This is so much better! For most of the parts, its canopied. At some spots midway through, we could manage to catch a glimpse of Karak highway which was very well below us. Not to mentioned, it was chilly throughout the ride!

We finally reached Genting Sempah only after 3 long hours (probably due to the countless stops we made) which we then happilly had McDonalds. It's just too bad we werent' able to make it for breakfast =( Well, i believe next time we shall start earlier and ride faster and harder for that BigBreakfast set!

It was pouring rain when we were making our 17KM ride downhill! Water was splashing and kept going into my eyes! Many times over I had wipe them off as I find it hard to see till I got so fed up and put on my sunnies. BUT even still, water was still sipping through. Anyhow the rain dint stop us from making it all the way down in just 30 minutes it just made it more enjoyable! The air was already cold, add on top of that with raindrops and wind...I was freeezing.

Anyhow; here's are some of the pics from my ride! I'll probably upload them to flickr.


Ride to the top!


Jungling


One of the many turns


That's Karak highway down there, wer' actually on top somehwere in the hill. On a road i never thought existed!

Sigh, guess we havent' reach McDonalds yet

Penang Fellowship Ride

Alrighty, refering back to my previous post...the ride down to Pangkor will have to wait. :(

Fret not, there's now Penang Fellowship Ride 2008!

Some details;

DATE : Sunday, 28 th December 2008 *
VENUE: Esplande, Penang Island
ROUTE: Esplande -> West Part of Penang Island -> Esplande
i) Short Route (34KM)
ii)Long Route (82KM)
FLAG OFF: 7.00am sharp



There's two routes; of the two, i'll probably opt for the long route since I already took the trouble to go down to Penang and besides, if i decide to call it quits, there'll be sweeper trucks to pick me back up and drop me off at the end point :D

Oh well, anyhow thanks in advance to N for sharing the same enthusiasm and offering a lift for myself and my bicycle. I better quickly go and register myself tomorrow and plan for the accommodation

For you folks out there, you can check out more details right here: http://www.kotrt.com.my/le_tour_route.html

I really want to do this...

...to cycle down to Pangkor from SS2!!


...any takers? ^_^

Panorama begining

Now that I have the time and made the 'efforts'... I finally walk the thoughts! Yay!

So here's alil on what i have plans for this 'space' medium; i'm gonna be simple and just blog about my travels, adventures, outings, music, theatrics, gaming, food and some... gossips too. I need to jot down all that simply because I forget stuff easily! Thus I do hope this 'space' serves out it's intended purpose to be a digital memory of my little/overworked/confused/marvelous/ever-expanding/aging brain of mine.

Ok, i might had just killed a few brain cells. i think that's enuff homicide for now. lol. ciaos