Short offroad ride near Malim Nawar

Sat 27Feb16 7:30 a.m.

A group of ten cyclists gathered at the bridge over the railway tracks just after 7 o'clock on this cool Saturday morning. We set off for a short 4 km offroad trail near Malim Nawar before settling down for an unhurried breakfast at Yen Lee Thong coffee shop (Sai's Shop) at about 8:30 am. After spending an hour chatting over our food, we set off on our return journey to Kampar with some going to Kampar old town to wait for the Le Tour de Langkawi Stage 4 cyclists to arrive, while others went home.

Cyclists: Me, Ganesan, ChinYao, Kautham, Theeva, Eugene, Arun, Kai, Bryan, Sunil,

A little breakfast before I left home

Arriving at the bridge over the railway tracks I met Arun and Kautham

GaNeSan arrived shortly after 7.15 am

One of our new friends, Kai 

Beautiful sun peeking over the eastern hilltops

A brief stop atop the bridge over railway tracks

Myself on the bridge

About halfway into the offroad trail, we regrouped at a branch in the path

KCC Boss taking many photos

Looking back from where I came

Arun and Kautham looking none the worse off

Kai and ChinYao

The sun welcomes us to our final km offroad

At last we arrive at Yen Lee Thong Coffee Shop Malim Nawar, pretty helmets all in a cluster

Waiting for our orders to arrive, clockwise from left: Eugene, ChinYao,Ganesan, Kautham and Arun

Clockwise from bottom: Ganesan, Kautham, Arun, Sunil, Theeva, Kai, Bryan, Eugene, Chinyao

My favourite pair of blue framed Oakley shades

After breakfast, some of us crossed the road to inflate tyres at a bicycle shop

Me, Kai and ChinYao

KCC Taiko coming back for his bicycle

Bryan, Kai and ChinYao all set to return to Kampar

After a short 6 km ride, we back on top of the bridge over railway tracks again

Posing for one more selfie in my KMR2015 jersey

Group ride to Adeline's Villa Gopeng

Saturday 13Feb2016

A group of seven riders from Kampar Cycling Community went on this 48 km ride to Adeline's Villa, about 3 km uphill from Gopeng town. Six of us, Ganesan, Theeva, Kautham, Eugene, Haoyang and my started off from McDonald's Bandar Baru Kampar and were joined by Arun at the Petron Station near Batu Karang. We left Kampar at about 7:30 in the morning, spent an hour at the hill resort, returned downhill to have a half-hour cendol break in Gopeng town, before cycling back to reach Kampar by about 2 pm under a very hot afternoon sun.

We arrived in Gopeng just before 9 am for breakfast at Restaurant Gopeng

This was the where we had breakfast

After a long hard climb up a narrow hill road, we arrived in Adeline's villa

Looking out from the entrance

There were ferns everywhere

A perspective of giant claypots at the entrance

An improvised fountain

Chinese New Year Decorations hanging at the main entrance

Looking uphill to where the chalets are located

Beautiful green surroundings

We left our bicycles by the entrance and walked up this steep slope

Looking back from the slope we saw two tall durian trees

Trying out a hammock at the hill top cafe

After a brief downhill ride, we were in Gopeng town again. It was just past noon, the weather was enervating and some of us bought cendol from this food truck

My one year old Raleigh taking a rest while waiting for everyone to finish their cendol break

Found these coins by the road side during our slow uphill climb earlier. Will donate it to charity

Fourth Solo Ride to Tanjung Tualang.

Started off from home at about 7 o'clock this morning and arrived at the Taman Halaman Indah house in Tanjung Tualang about forty minutes later. The weather was cool and cloudy, and traffic was quiet.

Had breakfast with my wife who drove there on her own, and cycle back at about 8:30 while she stayed on to tend to some pots of flowers in the driveway.

Reached home via the long way through old town, past the disused Impiana Centre, through the back lane behind AmBank and looping back by the market.

A total distance of 26.49km, taking 1 hour 23 minutes at an average speed of  19.1 km/, reaching a maximum of 30.7 km/h.

Solo Ride to Malim Nawar again.

Second day of solo cycling after the long ride to Fraser's Hill more that a week ago.

Today I took the main road A1, 15 km to Malim Nawar where I stopped for breakfast at Kenneth Sai's shop. Then, proceeded along A114 another 6 km to Kg. Sikh, just outside Tanjung Tualang, before turning around and headed back home by the A110.

Monday blues

After cycling for 21 km, I turned around here. Didn't proceed to Tanjung Tualang town today.

After 35.75 km, at last I'm home. The look of delightful fatigue.

The joy of unlocking my front gate

Solo to Malim Nawar: Breakfast.

First day of solo ride since the expedition to Fraser's Hill more than a week ago.

Wifey visiting the daughter in Singapore, so I cycled all the way to Kenneth Sai's Coffee Shop, 9 km away, for a simple breakfast.

Cermin gelap baru beli, Nampak tegap Hati geli

Cycling Expedition to Fraser's Hill

Five of us members of Kampar Cycling Community set off in two cars from Kampar at about five o'clock in the morning and drove for about an hour to the Kuala Kubu Bharu stadium where we parked our cars and assembled our bicycles. There we were joined by another four friends from Kuala Lumpur.

After a simple breakfast in KKB town, the nine of us embarked at 8:30 am on our 12 km ride towards Sungei Chilling, our first stop, which we reached just before 10 o'clock.

After that we rode on for another four and a half hours and reached Fraser's Hill at about 2:30 in the afternoon. Well, almost . . . after a total of 32 km of climb up to an elevation of about 800 m above sea level, dehydration and lack of sleep got the better of me.

Our group decided not to proceed with the remaining 8 km of steep gradient up another 400m of altitude, but instead to call it a day and return downhill.

The Destination

At the Gap to Fraser's Hill, 837 metres above sea level, after about six hours of slow ride punctuated with numerous stops for rest to regain our strength. Technically we had entered Fraser's Hill town council limits. Practically, we're another eight km away from the centre of town, a whopping 400 metres above our heads.

A Hill to far: 8 km of steep climb left for another day.

Decision time, decision time. To press on or not to press on, that was the question 

A solemn reminder to take this last 8 km steep uphill stretch seriously, which I did not embark on

My still quite new Raleigh Echo 27.5" MTB, on this second long ride since I bought it on 20Apr2015.

Looking East towards Raub and Bentong on the Pahang State side.

Looking back westwards, to Kuala Kubu Baru, Selangor from where we started

The Climb 

Some photos of our slow and painstaking journey up from Kuala Kubu Baru (60 m above sea level) to Sungei Chilling (12 km) and pressing on uphill to The Gap, the entrance to Fraser's Hill town. (another 20 km), at 840 m above sea level.

All dressed for the kill

We were all still fresh and cheerful on our first 13 km to Sg Chilling.

A group photo at a popular stopover spot.

The satisfaction lies in the journey itself.

Exhausted, overheated and hypoglycaemic. I had to shed the arm warmers to cool down.

This wasn't what I expected by being dressed for the kill . . .

My new Raleigh Echo

After using my old trusty but heavy steel-framed 26-inch Trinx M066, I decided to upgrade to a newer and higher performance bike as I was joining the cycling community in Kampar for longer and more demanding rides.

At the suggestion of a friend, I bought a new 27.5 inch Raleigh Echo with lots of high end specs, except perhaps the brake system which was somewhat "ordinary" compared to other bikes.

Here are a couple of photos of my old and new bikes

My old steel bicycle: Trinx M066

A close-up of my new Raleigh Echo

20150424 My brand Raleigh at the Rakan Muda Stadium going for a short ride with Ganesn

20140425 At the bus stop just after Kopisan, on the road to Kota Bahru

Comparing gear ratios to decide if I should go for two chain-rings or three

20150613 At last I changed from three chainrings to two for better utilisation of gear-ratios

20150613 Two chain-rings nicely done

20150613 Close-up view