Evening short ride to Malim Nawar for late coffee.

Sat 24-1-15

Evening ride to Malim Nawar with Ganesan, Eugene, Ching Hong, and two new acquaintances Darren and Kugan.

Had long chit chat over coffee in Sai's Coffee Shop. Left Kampar at 5:00 returned only at 8:00 pm

Casual attire for a casual ride. Hehehe

Ganesan, the event organiser, was "formally" attired

Chit chat at Sai's Coffee Shop. With Kugan, Chong Hong, Eugene and Darren

At last, it was time to head home

Saturday morning ride to Lawan Kuda - Kopisan

Saturday 17Jan2015

Went in a group of seven riders to Malim Nawar for breakfast at Sai's shop very early in the morning. Dr Tey Chee Seng drove there in his car to join us.

Left For Kota Bharu shortly after 8 am, with Kenneth Sai and his wife, Ganesan, Han, Mike and rookie rider Louis Chang and me.

Reached Lawan Kuda after 9 am, with several pit stops along the way. Turn right into federal trunk road A2, at Kopisan Baru and headed southwards for Malim Nawar. Another two pit stops, one at the Petronas station near the Gopeng highway exit, another just before the Gua Tempurung junction.

Finally arrived back at Sai's shop just after 11:00. About 50 km.

Waiting for the other riders to arrive at the foot of the overhead bridge.

Breakfast at Sai's Shop. Kenneth Sai taking orders

After breakfast, we were on our way

Posing for a group photo on arriving at Kota Bharu

Mike led us on a short-cut through Lawan Kuda. No off-road, he said. Haha!

After leaving Kopisan, we soon arrived at the Gua Tempuring junction

Pressing on towards Malim Nawar

Back in Malim Nawar, we took an unusual shortcut to reach Sai's shop: pushing up the stairs of a three storey footbridge over the railway tracks

After some cold drinks at Sai's shop, we set off on the final stretch home to Kampar

Factory fitted original Chaoyang tyres

15Jan2015

My mtb rear tyre looks quite worn out after almost 500 km. It's a Chaoyang MTB 26 x 1.95.
Do you think it's time to replace it?

Short ride to Malim Nawar for breakfast on Saturday morning

Sat 10Jan15

Ganesan, Eugene and me, with a new friend Chu Chong Hong, took our usual 9 km short ride to Sai Shop for breakfast on this sunny Saturday morning.

Leaving Kampar at sunrise over the eastern hilltops

Our new friend, Chong Hong

Beautiful clear blue skies

Arriving at Sai Shop

At the round table after breakfast

Setting up, setting off

The junction that brings us back to Kampar

New Year's Day 2015: Ride to Sg Kroh - Kg Timah - Tronoh Mines

New Year Day 01-01-2015

50 km ride with Ganesan, OKB, Cheang Chee Cheng, and Kok Hong Sing, the last two of whom I met for the first time.

We cycled from Fei Hoong coffee shop to The junctions outside Ganesan's house, onwards past Mambang Diawan, turned right into a new road near Sg Kroh just before reaching Air Kuning. This quiet and straight narrow road took us past the junction to RPT Sg Kroh, all the way to a junction to Chenderong Balai and Kg Gajah.

Turning right again towards Kg Gajah direction, we rode on, crossed a wooden bridge, followed shortly by a small iron plate surface bridge before arriving at the t-junction leading to Kg Gajah on the left and Kg Timah on the right. Took the third right turn of the day and it wasn't long before we saw Kg Timah on our right.

It took us one more right turn, the fourth, to enter Kg. Timah for a breakfast stop at our favourite coffee shop opposite the market. After a brief half hour rest, we proceeded with the final leg of the day's journey, taking the road throught Tronoh Mines all the way back to Ganesan's house where OKB harvested lots of rambutans for everyone.

Waiting for one more rider to catch up before we embark on the long ride

Shortly after take off, heading towards Air Kuning

At the right turn to begin the long road past Air Kroh

OKB and me in similar colour scheme, passed Air Kroh, heading towards the Chenderong Balai junction

It was a long straight road ahead, good for speeding

Pit-stop at the Chenderong Balai junction. Admiring each other's bikes before we turn right to push on to the Kampung Gajah junction

Had to dismount and push across a wooden bridge. Was this the Sungei Kroh?

Happy to see this sign. The junction is in sight. Will turn right towards Kampung Timah.

Finally, a well-deserved breakfast at our favourite coffee shop in Kg Timah

The last 15 km of our ride, after breakfast, we headed for Kampar via Tronoh mines

My old Raleigh MTB

31Dec2014

Twenty year old Raleigh MTB, used by my eldest son throughout his secondary school years, passed on to my second son who used to ride it off road to his grandparents house in Tanjung Tualang 12 km away.

Now, after they have grown up and left home, it's left to me. Have been riding it occasionally over the past year, got the front rim, tyre, chain and the crankshaft & bearings replaced.

You know what, I just found out that it's much lighter than my new 17kg TrinX M066. Sigh!

Last ride of the Year 2014.

Sunday, 28Dec14:

With . Adrian Wong, Leroy Roy, Mukhvinder Singh, Winston Ooi Kay Beng, Lim Eugene, Hoor Eric Chew and Ganesan Raju.

A 55 km long ride, my furthest distance so far, down south to Mambang Diawan, then Temoh for breakfast, further south to Chenderiang town, followed by about 4 km of hill climb (it was tough!), then downhill looping back up north to Sahom village where we made a pit stop, and back to Kampar.

I'd like to thank everyone of the eight cyclists in the group who waited patiently at several points along the way. To Winston Ooi for your Sloan's ointment and for reminding me to change back to large chain ring on the downhill stretch, to Ganesan, Eugene, Adrian Wong , Leroy and Mukhvinder for your kind words of encouragement and advice. Also to Hoor Eric Chew for your interesting story about your experiences.

All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride in cool weather through very pleasant surroundings. My cyclometer clocked 3:22 hr of cycling time at an average speed of 17.1 km/h with a max of 34.5 km/h.

Sadly the morning was marred on our return when ooi kay beng received news that air asia flight qz8501 has gone missing.

I pray for the safe rescue and return of all passengers and crew on board.

Setting off from Ganesan's house, S.E.K. Kampar

Arriving in Temoh town. Breakfast stop

After breakfast, embarking on the most arduous leg of the journey: the eastern hills of Chenderiang

A pit stop after Chenderiang town, at the junction to Lata Kinjang waterfalls, just before the daunting climb ahead

The climb begins. Shifting to smaller chain ring and lower gear

Yay! We've reached the top. I was the last to arrive. There was some festive mood up here

After a leisurely downhill stretch, final rest stop at Sungei Siput South

At the entrance of the coffee shop in Sg Siput South

And finally the home stretch