Friday, May 22, 2009

Duo on a BP - TB Dam - BP Road Trip


In conjunction with the Penang Dragon Boat Festival. Jessie and I decided to cycle from home (Balik Pulau) to Teluk Bahang Dam. It will be a 30km round trip.. and we will also be able to witness the opening ceremony of the Dragon Boat Festival 09.





We left late around 10am... We are on our way !! 

Our first stop... The starting point of uphill stretch along Sg Rusa -> Sg Pinang.


We are then intimidated by some superbikers.. who later on turned back and overtook us at 10 times the speed.. 

Yeay !! We reached the Dam.. We are allowed to cycle into the park where the Dragon Boat  rowers' tents are and the sponsors tents too..

We got free 100 Plus :P Jessie and I took turns to grab them as we were kinda thirsty..



After taking pictures around the Dam.. we headed back... 

Oh my... 18KMs to reach home.. and it is already lunch time.. 



The downhill section.... wwweeeee...... Jessie nearly fell, emergency brake and the bike skidded nearly 90 degrees one way and then the other...  Thank God she did not even fell off the bike.

Our route today... Total of 30.5 km...  Not too bad...  Let's see what awaits me tomorrow.. 

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

IronHorse - Down the Stairs

Video by Chye...
My first attempt down a flight of stairs. Location : Air Itam Dam (1/2 stop).



I gained more confident by doing this.. Now, I am ready for more extreme rock jumping maybe ?

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Balik Pulau 25km round trip


May 17th.. A long awaited date for our long distance round trip. Found the trail in Everytrail.com http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=133031 and we loaded into our bicycle GPS. We had it in 3 units.. GPS 60, HT Diamond and another one.. just in case we really got lost in the jungle.
Started off from Taman Mutiara, we took the Botanica.CT road to avoid traffic and head towards Balik Pulau town for brunch and to stock up on energy bars, lunch packs and water...
Cycling up from Balik Pulau town towards Kpg Titi Serong is simple. Mostly tarmac and slight climb. However right after the first Hut built in the middle of the road, the climb became intense. Certain parts are as steep as 30 degrees. So, I ended up pushing my bike in most parts of it. To add on to the pain, it started to rain. We sheltered under a huge Durian tree for 25 minutes and alas, we were drenched, so decided to continue on... the rain stopped right after we had out lunch on the hilltop hut.
From hill top hut, we cycled another few KMs and we lost out way.. found out that we had to make a turn in the a jungle track.. to our surprise, the track is a 1 foot wide cemented path in the jungle ! Some of the cement path were cracked or washed away, but 80% of it is still quite nice.

We also met with a few fallen trees. Had to push the bike over it, under it and sometimes adventurous enough to ride thru it..


We met another gang of riders shortly, and the world is so small, we found Jane Lim's blog with their ride's updates.




Some part of the track, our GPS signal was lost due to thick trees and valleys.. But we were on track as we can follow the trails that the others left behind. Our main problem was always the Y junctions and the cross roads.. We need to ride an additional 50 - 100m to check out the trajectory. (we went off course a total of 3 times.. )



Anyway, right after we reached the cross roads to Tiger Hill, IronX, Dam, Sg Pinang.. The ride became easier.. Weee....


Then we reached this Vegetable Farm.. with Water Crest plants and Mint plants !! The air was filled with smell of fresh mints. We stopped and took some pictures... and me, the crazy one tried an Iron Man pose.. which I regretted later as it ached my already tired muscles on my body...

The ride from there towards the final stretch of cemented road towards Titi Kerawang main road was nice... I was nearly bitten by a dog...

and Ooi drifted and nearly crashed..




We cycled a bit uphill to Titi Kerawang Waterfall after reaching the mainroad. All because our CamelBaks and HydraPacks are all dried up already.. Went there to wash our faces (and hair), bought drinks and we even washed our bikes.. 

After which, we just cruise our way back to Taman Mutiara.. and I got the GPS tracks loaded and plotted this out.. Our first contribution to GPX mapping.. hehehe



- THE END -
Stay tuned for more next week...

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Team AEG's first event of the year will be NTMTBA's event on 21st June  2009 !!

We have got ourselves registered !! 

More info @


http://ntmtba09.blogspot.com/

The trail :


KEDAH JAMBOREE 2009

KEDAH JAMBOREE 2009 is coming !

I heard from Ooi, Teoh and Chye as they have joined the last event by Kedah Jamboree; The event was FUN ! Ooi puncture a tire and a late friend of theirs lost his way 3 times and still end up a Champion !

We will be joining this event !

----------------------------

Date: 1 August 2009 (Saturday)
Organiser: Yayasan Sultanah Bahiyah
Fee: RM50
Trek: Tasik Jitra (starting point) - Trek Balak - Ladang Jati (will be detailed later)
Goddies: Jersey, Socks and more will be announced later





Friday, May 1, 2009

Iron Horse Warrior 4.0

We heard of people getting presents for Birthdays, Christmas, Father's Day.... But I think this is first time in history, someone is buying a present for oneself on a Labour Day !!  (Well, just grab any excuse you can.. ) I bought a new bike for myself on Labour Day, as a Labour Day present...  All my hard work/labour in office, this is the reward !
Iron Horse Warrior 4.0 Trail Bike

http://www.ironhorsebikes.com/bikes/warrior/warrior4.php 

Size 17", FRAME 5" TRAVEL TRAIL DUAL SUSPENSION, SINGLE PIVOT W/ SEALED BEARINGS,
REAR SHOCK FOX VANILLA R COIL, 7.5"X2"
FORK MARZOCCHI Z1 Sports 160MM TRAVEL
HANDLEBAR ALLOY RISER, 31.8MM CLAMP
STEM ALLOY XC, 31.8MM CLAMP
HEADSET NO 10, ZEROSTACK
BB FSA POWER DRIVE, 73X113MM
CRANK FSA DYNA DRIVE 170MM,
RINGS FSA, 42/32/22T
PEDALS WELLGO ALLOY PLATFORM
CHAIN KMC Z-72
SADDLE WTB PURE V SPORT
SEATPOST ALLOY MICRO ADJUST, 30.0MM
F. HUB ALLOY DISC, 32H
R. HUB ALLOY DISC, 32H
F. DER SHIMANO Deore, 34.9MM CLAMP
SHIFTER SRAM X4
CASSETTE SRAM 11/32T, 8SPEED
BRAKES TEKTRO IHB W/ 160MM ROTORS
BRAKE LEVER TEKTRO (Which I later upgraded to 8" Shimano)
RIM WTB SX24, 32H
SPOKE 14G STAINLESS
TIRES ITS NINJA, 2.35" FRONT/2.1" REAR
COLORS BLACK SATIN


Well, no more excuse for not able to cycle up a steep hill .. or unable to ride downhill very fast.. hahah..