The 1 like = 1km FB challenge

Recently, I posted on my fb wall and each 'like' that I receive, will translate to 1km on my roadbike regardless of elevation. The cut off time to like my status (to add mileage to my ride) is before September 2016 (PCC Interstate 2016 will take place during Malaysia Day weekend).

I glanced at my friend's list, and I had about 1000+ friends. Assuming 50% of my FB friends liked my status, there is a possibility that I will have to cycle a total distance of 500km. So I prepared myself mentally as I posted it on my FB wall.

To my surprise, not many of my friends liked my post. In other words, I did not get 500 likes (phew). My post managed to get 192 likes. Phew again. Not all of the likes came from my cycling friends, and not all of my non-cycling friends like the status. Regardless, I now have a distance to cover, which is 192km. 

Some of my friends withdrew their like(s) and some also chose to comment instead of liking my status. Apparently some of my friends sympathized the idea if I got too many likes and had to complete a ridiculous distance (they were not aware that the longest distance I cycled was 225km). There is also another group of people in my friend's list that would prefer to like more than once, but since it is a limitation set by FB so they decided to comment and indicated a comment would add 10km. 

In any case, I have decided to round up the figure to 300km. This is in lieu with PCC Interstate 2016 as well as Audax 300 or 400. I have drafted a few routes, and for those of you who know me - flat roads are boring. I don't mean that in a cocky manner, just that flat roads do not require any training unless you aim to ride on an average speed of 35km/h. Ever since I was able to cycle more than 100km , I realized that anything below 100km will not satisfy my legs. It has to be more than 100km or the very least has elevation gain similar to Perez or Bkt Hantu or Broga. 

That's a tall order, to some people. 300km distance combined with elevation gain does seem a tad too demanding. In any case, I am not going in blindfolded. Obviously I need to train myself in terms of strength and endurance to safeguard my completion. 

Just so you know, some time in February 2016 I got hit by viral flu which made me sick for 3 weeks. Actually 4 but in the last week I tried cycling and to my surprise, I could not even maintain a 30km/h speed on a flat road for 10km. Climbing Pantai Hill (Jalan Bukit Pantai) with 100% effort drained all my energy which left me with almost zero fuel in my metabolism by the time I entered Federal Highway.

Well, I need to train my legs back. I need to start running and hiking since I have been out of these disciplines for a few months now. Just waiting to get myself a new pair of shoes (my Asics Gel Excite 3 was stolen recently) so that I can start running again. 

Back to my 192km route, so far I have managed to come up with the following:-

1. Bangsar - Gombak - Genting Sempah - Kg Muhibah - Fraser's Hill - Batang Kali - Ulu Yam Baru - Gombak - Jalan Ipoh - Bangsar (total 246km to and fro)

Description: 
Starting from Bangsar, the route will take us through KL town passing by Titiwangsa Sentral and onto Jalan Gombak until we reach Kg Pusu. From there its just a straight road all the way to Janda Baik, Raub and Kg Muhibah. The climb starts from Hospital Orang Asli Gombak until we reach the flyover before Genting Sempah RnR. 

Following climbs are located in Raub (heading towards Frasers), Fraser's hill (1 loop) and Ulu Yam Baru. 

In my books, the difficulty level of this route is probably 10/10. 


2. Bangsar - Old Klang Road - Kinrara - Puchong Jaya - Taman Wawasan - Bandar Puteri - Puchong Perdana - Taman Tasik Prima - Putra Prima - Taman Mas - Kg Lombong - Jenjarom - Banting - Morib - Tg Sepat - Sg Pelek - Sepang - Lukut (total 286km to and fro)

Description:
Again starting from Bangsar, this route would be mostly flat grounds until we reach Sg Pelek area, all the way to PD where there will be plenty of rolling hills. No continuous climbs compared to option 1 but this leg would feature heat and multi-directional winds all the way until PD. 

The alternative for this route is following MEX highway from Bangsar, and head towards Puchong and on to Kg Lombong, Jenjarom, Banting, Morib until PD. 

3. Bangsar - Federal Hiway - Klang - Kapar - Sg Besar - Lumut (total 230km one way)

Description:
This route is similar to the Audax BRM200 route, only difference is will be starting from Bangsar and will extend the leg until Lumut. This ride (if I were to be accompanied by a few other cyclists) will be a supported ride. As a friendly note - the support car will bring our fresh clothes and misc items to the hotel in Lumut. The support car will not tail the peloton (perhaps wait at every 40km or so to make sure everyone is ok). 

This route has no climbs (probably just a few small hills or rolling hills) but the challenge would be heat and never ending flat road (I understand that some riders dislike continuous flat road, especially when this route has 100+km of flat from Kapar all the way to Lumut. 

Oh I also forgot about the side/head winds that would probably be a challenge to those on high profile rims. 

For now, I am still contemplating between the 3 routes. I love climbs, but in order for me to survive such distance and elevation I definitely need to train. Which is the crazier part. I have been out of cycling for 2 months now and I am almost certain that whatever stamina or strength that I have built is all gone. Now I need to train, and get more sleep. 

Other than that, I have yet to decide the date yet. The main challenge in setting the date is that there are some who would want to join my insane quest, and because of that I am pretty much stuck. On one hand I can't ride alone, but on the other I can't fix a date because have their own thing going on. 

Which leaves me with my last option - solo ride. I know many will discourage me or even disagree with the idea, but to be honest planning a 300km ride takes months to prepare. In the end, its much easier if I did it alone. I can go my own pace/speed and all I need to take care of is myself. 

- My 2 Wheels -

BBCC - Big Boys Cycling Club

This is a non-profit cycling club formed by 3 individuals - Steve Ryder, Jerry Cornelius Lee and Kenneth Tan back in 2012. As of 2016, here is the new lineup for BBCC admin team:-

 Jerry Lee

 Kenneth Tan

 Pui Yee

Steve Ryder

Vincent Dominic Chang (BBCC Captain 2016)

Evidently, the BBCC admin lineup team have been cycling much longer than I have. In fact my first ride with BBCC was going up to Fraser's hill. Back then I was still using my mountain bike (GT Aggressor). It was when I first met Sashi, Kenneth, Keith, Ken, and Daniella. The Fraser's hill ride was also my first time cycling more than 50km. 

In case you're wondering, I bought the GT Aggressor from an ex-colleague for RM200. Since I was also keen on riding off-road, not long after I bought the GT bike I also bought a Gomax mountain bike (China brand) for RM500. I crashed @ PCP on my first time riding there with my new bike. Despite having experienced PCP before, it was due to Jerry's wrong directive (shouting right right) whereas on my right was a small ravine. In any case I didn't have enough time to react and ended up with my front rim bent inwards. 

Well, it's a long story from where I started and where I am today. 

But my first most memorable experience with BBCC was joining PCC Interstate for the first time (2014). Back then I was asked to become BBCC support car driver (at the time Kenneth's offered his white rabbit as our support vehicle) and I would cycle in case Sarah was not able to ride (back then she was more of a marathon runner than a cyclist). 

Here are some photos which I took during PCC Interstate 2014...

Our official support car/pace car was a Volkswagen Golf GTI Mark 7. The briefing was held at Volkswagen showroom in Setia Walk, Puchong. 



Photo taken from day 1 : Swap with Sarah at mid-point up to Fraser's (15km to reach Fraser's gap and another 8km to Fraser's Hill).

From left : Hahn, Titi, myself, Darren, Sashi, Jerry






Somewhere between Kota Damansara, we had a pit stop (Day 1). From left : Eric, Myself, Sarah, Sashi, Jerry, Wilson (part of his face), Kenneth.







The last day or day 3 (Cameron - Lumut) : Bike park at Swiss Garden Hotel Lumut. The hotel management allocated a few conference rooms for cyclists to store their expensive bikes. 



Day 3 @ Swiss Garden Hotel Lumut. From left : Titi, Hahn, Sarah and myself. Hahn was the first to arrive Lumut, followed by Sarah and the rest.






And lastly, the most recent BBCC riders lineup for PCC Interstate 2015.

From left: Joanne, Koh Weng Ken, Russell, Bear, Vincent, Wilson, Jimmy, Sashi, Jammie, Me, Annie, Agnes, Mjay and the guy sitting in front is Jerry. 



PCC (Pedalholics Cycling Club) has been organizing this yearly interstate event for more than a decade now (12 years as of 2017). Their reputation has attracted cyclists from neighboring countries as well as riders whom come from UK, Australia, US and the list goes on. 

Check out my other post on PCC Interstate. 


Until we meet again, ride safe. 







-My 2 wheels-

Audax Malaysia BRM200 & randonneuring (2 of 2)

Part 2

Like everything else in life, there is always a learning curve when it comes to mastering something. Along the way you meet new people and make new friends. Perhaps even learn new tricks. I've had my fair share of mistakes and errors in the past, but in the end its always the combination of knowledge and experience which fruits wisdom.

1. Overcoming heat

I personally feel there is a lot of tips about this where you can find over the internet, but what I would like to remind my fellow randonneurs is that long exposure to heat dehydrates the brain too. Isotonic drinks and cramp pills mostly help the body balance the acidity from the lactic acid build up in all our muscles but a lot of people seem to overlook the fact that when you are mentally battling the heat, your mind tends to lose focus and this is where riders are usually unaware of incoming traffic (from the back) or unable to avoid sharp stones or pot holes. In extreme cases some even follow the wrong direction or miss a turning.

So as a reminder, if you are too tired and beginning to lose focus - take a break. Slowing down your pace can be a good idea to recover, but bear in mind that going too slow would make you a nuisance on the road or you could faint and fall off the bike.

2. Perseverance to ride

In this aspect, I am referring to our own will to ride. Are we willing to ride under extremely hot weather? What about rain or night time? Well, since randonneuring has a time limit, weather challenges does not really apply to a randonneur. I've had my fare share of wet rides, and in some aspects riding in the rain can be advantageous. As most riders will avoid riding in the rain, this would be a perfect time to catch up on your mileage.

Practice changing your tubes at home (if you are running on tubes) and for those on tubeless, just be sure to have tire patches ready. Some of the good brands that I know of are Continental Gatorskin and Vittoria Corsa Evo X. For some, it would be gaining the confidence. Then again, not all road bikers out there are century riders - and not all century riders are randonneurs. But randonneurs are not tourers though (in our training sessions it does seem like we are touring though - cycling pass estates and villages).

3. Cadence and kiloWatts

When I first heard or read about kiloWatts in cycling, it made me wonder how much electricity we can generate by cycling. I did look it up and it seems that to power a household electricity (averaging from 3,000 - 5,000 Watts) will require 10 Tour de France athletes cycle non stop for a few hours (1 rider can generate 300-400kW on a flat road, and up to 700kW climbing uphill). Nope I'm not going to do the math here hehe. But you get the picture.

So, that's just power. What does that have to do with our cadence?

Good question.

To make this simple, imagine cycling on a flat road and maintaining a speed of 35kph. Sounds easy if you're on a trainer or if you're somewhere in the middle of a big peloton. But to maintain that speed riding alone, you have a few choices in your gearing :-

i. Using the big ring on the front derailleur and only shift the cassette (or rear derailleur) as you feel fit.
ii. Using the smaller ring on the front derailleur and only use the smallest ring on your cassette (no shifting to big ring unless its a downhill).

Frankly speaking, there is no right or wrong here. Of course, the right answer would be to use the big ring on the front derailleur but if you are suffering from an injury, or just beginning to develop your leg muscles - maintaining cadence on the big ring can be quite a challenge.

Reason being, is because some or most Ultegra groupsets I noticed are compact cranksets. As the setup are more suitable for climbing, to generate more power on a flat road one has to pedal harder - ie spin more. So using the smaller front ring will only give you a certain amount of kilowatts, but certainly not enough for you to generate more speed or accelerate. However, do note that if you are encountering heavy headwinds, using the smaller ring will definitely help you a lot as using the big ring will only use up more energy to overcome the opposite force.

Those with standard cranksets will not have to spin so much because of the extra teeth on the front crank as well as the bigger size in diameter. However those with standard cranksets will definitely struggle climbing up steep hills. Unless the rear cassette is a cyclo touring cassette or a gearing larger than 11/28.

Funny thing is, back in 1904 there was no such thing as gears. They only had 1 gear. They didn't even have quick-release skewers like all of us do nowadays. How fortunate we are.

4. Body conditioning

Any rider will have to go through this stage. As the distance becomes longer and tougher, our body needs to adapt to those conditions. Your first heat ride, your first long ride, your first saddle, everything is a small step to a bigger step - to adapt yourself to the longer durations of being on a road bike. My personal experience though, after I climbed Fraser's Hill for the first time on my hybrid mountain bike I felt like my leg muscles expanded and gave me the confidence to ride further and tougher. Once I joined PCC Interstate, I understood exactly how these century riders manage to cover long distances in a short period of time.

5. Bike fitting

I won't say much about this. You can find a lot of videos on this, and when all else fails you can always go to a bike shop and get this done. What I want to highlight though is the fact that getting the right stem length, saddle material and size, as well as saddle height will help you in the long run. The only difference is how fast you need to get 'there'. It's all about the journey.

6. Cyclo touring/touring vs randonneuring

Touring has no time limit. Depending on how much a tourer carries, the rider can basically camp anywhere he/she sees fit. The end game is reaching the destination.

A randonneur on the other hand has a time limit to keep to:-

13:30 for 200 KM,
20:00 for 300 KM,
27:00 for 400 KM,
40:00 for 600 KM, and
75:00 for 1000 KM.

As you can see, the time limit for each brevet seems achievable. From the naked eye of course. Haven't you heard of the term - never trust a road biker?

Audax riders who aim to ride the 1,200km in Paris are required to cycle on routes which have elevation of at least 10,000m. This is because the last PBP they passed (climbed and downhill) through 22 mountains. There is a video about the ride which someone recorded with his GoPro. Here is the elevation chart :

http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/pbp/route/profiles.html

7. Add-on features

i. cross bar/tri bar
This is a useful gadget if you are on a route with plenty of head/side wind. It will add some weight to your bike, depending if you already swapped your handle bars to a lighter one or the flat type (see below). Either way, Audax or randonneuring is not a race. It is a challenge of self supported ride, with minimum luggage. The first finisher is not called the winner but he is awarded the prize since the rider finished first as told by the ACP president.

In any case, having an aerodynamic advantage will definitely help you power through rough winds. Especially if you have high profile rims.

ii. high profile rims
Interestingly enough, anyone who is anyone who upgrades his/her rims will always go for a semi or high profile rims. I'm talking about those 30mm, 50mm, 55mm, and the list goes on until a full profile rim (used in velodrome competitions). Its convenient to have a rim that can slice through air and helps you deliver more speed. The setback to this is however, if you are using anything more than a 30mm profile you are likely to have a hard time cycling through cross wind sections. Plus since some of these rims are made from high density carbon, they pack quite a weight (to increase durability) but for long and rough rides these rims will most likely not be able to handle our rough roads. Either your spokes will get damaged or the rims itself will be chipped off.

iii. aero helmet
Again, Audax is not a race. Long distance rides on an Ironman/triathlon setup will certainly be very uncomfortable in the long run. In the example of the helmet, Specialized has came up with a helmet design which is perfected from their wind tunnel lab in North Carolina. However, with the achievement of speed comes the sacrifice of comfort. It is relatively hot, wearing these aero helmets. They have lesser holes for ventilation and the inner paddings will wear twice as fast compared to a regular helmet.

iv. flat handle bars
I was tempted to get this, as it would make my bike slightly more aerodynamic. But after an advice from a friend who used it before, its all about the comfort in riding long distance. If you want aero, rims itself is already a huge leap and will have the most effect (which makes sense, because our tires are the ones slicing the air). Flat handle bars only shaves off a few grams and you cant rest your palms on the handle bar like you would on a round shaped handle bar.

v. durable tires and tubes

If you are planning on cycling long distance, then investing on a good set of tires and tubes should be sufficient. Also, since endurance riders usually ride a lot (to maintain their body conditioning and improve strength) the first and foremost receiving the impact will be our tires and tubes. So taking care of them while you are not riding is very important. Deflate them so that the compound can rest and function normally in your next ride.

vi. Oval cranks and blind spots

This is relatively new in the market, when we discovered that the human legs (toe ball joint) does not form a perfect circle if rotated in a circular motion. Instead, with the legs moving in a circular motion there is a lot of blind spots in the cadence. Hence, the oval rings were introduced and it helps riders a lot when it comes to climbing steep hills. In my opinion this is a good investment. Unless someone had a bad experience with this then I need to know what the downside is. 

I hope that's not too long. Signing off for now...

-My 2 wheels-

Audax Malaysia BRM200 & randonneuring (1 of 2)

Part 1

The history of recorded long distance cycling goes as far back as 1897. Until 1904 Henri Desgrange wrote the first Audax rules on his newspaper titled Auto. Other places in the world have also started long distance cycling at the time, just too many to mention here. You can check it out in Wikipedia for more info:-

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randonneuring

Audax or randonneuring is relatively new in Malaysia and not official yet with Audax committee or ACP (Audax Club Parisien). To my knowledge this is still in progress.


The BRM200 (Brevets des Randonneurs Malaysia) was the first ever organised by Audax Malaysia. However they are not the first club to organise long distance cycling in Malaysia. To my knowledge there are also Megabike's interstate, CFAL tristate and also PCC Interstate. As Audax is a self supported ride, organizers need not arrange accommodation or support vehicles for the riders. So a small part of me was expecting a rather challenging route, at least in terms of elevation. 

The route plotted by the Audax committee starts from KFC Jalan Kapar. The first checkpoint is at McDonald's Sg Besar @ km80 and following that is BHP petrol station located in Felda Kg Soeharto @ km130. Audax riders are required to stamp their brevet card, which entails a total of 4 stamps / checkpoints over the 225km course. 

On that morning, I started late around 5.30am thanks to my GPS which showed another KFC in Klang. As I had to rush off to catch up with the rest, I had little breakfast and by km33 I was already hungry for some solid food so I stopped to eat. That was my only stop prior to reaching McDonald's Sg Besar which was around 10am. My pace was rather slow (most of the time I was below 30km/h). After refueling at the Petronas next to McD Sg Besar I continued and I was quite fortunate to have met LACC peloton (Lesen Agung Cycling Club) which kept me company during my journey to Felda Kg Soeharto. Somewhere along the way, I had to drop from the peloton as I could not keep up with their speed. They were cruising at 35km/h on the flats and I didn't train myself to maintain that kind of speed and cadence. 

The very least, I covered more than half of the silent road heading to Felda Kg Soeharto. It was hot due that time (after leaving Sg Besar the sun was already up, and I could feel the heat even with my long sleeve shirt under my bbcc jersey.

By the time I reached BHP petrol station in Kg Soeharto my watch was already indicating it was 1pm. The group that I planned to ride with - Janice, Cky, Denny, Ricky and Danny - were already done with lunch and was about to head out.

Little that I knew that Faye, Edy and Nixon were not far behind me. They arrived a few minutes after me and all I had to do was to wait for them to finish up with lunch and after that we rode together until we reached pekan Kapar (Kapar has a 2nd town, located north from Kapar town).

Actually Faye sustained some minor injuries as she was hit by another rider, who was hit by a car. Lucky she was wearing long pants, else her injuries could have been worse. At some point on the road heading to Kapar I was mentally exhausted (km190) and figured if I don't pick up my pace, not only will I exceed the time limit - I would also be very hungry and there is no more time for a meal break.

I broke away from Faye, Edy and Nixon in the last 25km and was alone again, until I caught up with Danny somewhere near Jalan Kapar (the last stretch to reach KFC).

I arrived KFC Jalan Kapar around 6.15pm. My total time was 12 hours and 45 minutes. I have to admit that that the single-state ride was tough because of the heat. Lucky for me by 530pm it wasn't so hot, which allowed me to grind my gears in the last 10km.

It's tough if you are alone, and that's what self supported ride means. There will be opportunities for you to make the ride much more bearable, like cycling in a peloton or going faster on the downhill sections.

I also noticed a lot of riders whom had punctures. Some had twice or perhaps even more. In some ways it was inevitable, since there were plenty of sharp rocks and debris on the emergency lane due to construction. Some parts of the road from Puncak Alam was under construction, which meant riding on uneven tarmac and jagged terrain.

It was undoubtedly a good experience, but could have been better. The only time where the road was quiet ie no cars was when we were passing by the Felda route (Felda Kg Soeharto and Felda Sg Tengi). Other than that, there were plenty of lorries and cars almost the entire time. I'm actually fine by that, but noticing that there were some ladies amongst the riders it still is a point to be concerned about (as a fellow cyclist).

The wheels are rolling

Welcome to my first blog dedicated to cycling. 

Just so you know, I don't discriminate between road and off-road because I enjoy both disciplines. The only reason why I use my road bike more often is only because I can ride from my house instead of driving to the start point and setting up my bike (which is kind of a new habit for me as of 2016 after my car was stolen). 

Off roads are fun too because I get to dip myself in a waterfall or pond or river if I feel like it. Because my mtb is a hard tail, it makes cycling through villages and estates much more bearable compared to a full suspension bike. At the end of the ride, looking at how dirty my bike is gives me a sense of satisfaction. But if you were to ask me which is more fun, I can't tell you which one I enjoy more than the other. It just so happens that its easier for me to ride from home on my road bike, and on off-road rides I get to spend time in the lush greenery of our Malaysian forest(s). 

No doubt I can add the mileage on my mountain bike even on tarmac road, but that would wear the tires faster (since the rubber compound is softer which are designed for trails and off road) plus I will not be covering a lot of distance on a 26" wheel size. 

I hope I did not make it sound like I'm some sort of pro rider. It's only been 3 years since I started cycling and there's still so much form me to learn. I own 2 bikes at the moment. Both are Polygon brand. My roadbike was bought from Rodalink Bangsar and my mountain bike has a quite a history behind it, so to keep it simple lets just say I upgraded the frame from a 26" frame size to a 27.5" Polygon Siskiu 2015, but still running on 26" fork and tires.

The journey is still far for me, and since blogging and cycling are my 2 most enjoyable hobbies I figured I should combine it! 

I hope you enjoy reading my blog. For any comments or recommended links please drop me a comment in the comment section or you can add me on Facebook.

Ride safe, and hope to see you soon!

-My 2 wheels-