Epic Ouchh...

KLMBH Epic hash… this becomes a yearly affair to me. KLMBH organises hash (mountain biking event) every last Sunday of the month. Usually, the hash distance is between 20-30km for long rides. For scenic rides, the distance is usually half the distance and nearly suitable for everyone.

This year KLMBH's epic is about 52km (officially)! Although it is not more than 100km, like typical epic ride around the world, hey... this is not a race! It is a fun ride.

Date : Sunday, 27 June 2010.

Time : Very early morning.

Venue : Ulu Yam and Ulu Tamu areas.


Statistics from my Cateye:

Distance : 53.34 km.

Max speed : 51.3 km/h.

Average speed: 11.3 km/h.

Overall ride time : 5 hrs 33:57 minutes.

Calories burned : 6210 calories.


Statistics from my memory:

Start to CP1:
This was one tough sections with lots of uphills, steep and long. I was just barely to keep up with the FRBs.

This was where the FRBs were separated to several groups, and eventually they were on their own due to different pace and terrain difficulties. There were 2 sections that were seriously steep and even the top national riders and FRBs could not rode them, and of course I was pushing my bike as well.

Rest – None.
Food – 2 McDonalds grape jam packs and one PowerGel.

CP1 to CP2:
If you think that from Start to CP1 was tough, this was tougher. This section really separated the men from the boys. The trails were mainly facing the sky and they felt like an elongated sections, but the good news was that they were ridable. I was on my granny chainring, 24T, and biggest cog, 34T, at most of the time. It was easy to just gave up and pushed the bike, but I did not want to content with the status quo and kept telling myself to keep cycling up to the top. The reward was an awesome downhill towards CP2.

When I arrived at CP2, I was informed that I was at top 15, within 10 minutes from the first FRB group. Hmm..not bad at all.

The CP2 was well equipped with lots of water stations, technical foods supplies courtesy of Hammer Nutritions and of course they were lots of bananas. Well done hares and sponsors.

Rest – ~5 minutes at CP2.
Food – One banana, two hydration pills, 2 McDonalds grape jam pack and two HammerGels.

CP2 to CP3:
Undulating terrains. A typical type of hash route.

It was definitely easier that the sections before, but I crashed thrice. One when my front tyre gave way on a hidden and large tree stump, but this was a no issue fall. The other one was on easy doubletrack section, where I lost my concentration. I braked too much and my rear tyre skidded and I felt on my left arm. Shaken…I rested for more than 5 minutes to compose myself.

Then, another crash…! Big time! Again I lost my concentration. This time was on an easy cemented downhill trail section. I saw myself sliding for about 30 meters, with my right arm on the cement… ouch! Really ouchhh…! Really shaken… this time I took more than 30 minutes to rest and to re-compose myself.

Then, as I was pushing myself to catch up with the other FRB, my right tight caught cramp. This must be from the effect of the big crash just now. Another rest for about 15 minutes just to allow the muscle to recover. Hahaha… instead I was catching up with the FRBs, the other FRBs were catching up with me, including Zuhairi and the strong Kenny Kwan.

As for now, it was a good time to know when to push and when to back off, although my legs, lungs, heartbeats and adrenalin were still at all time high. This was an endurance ride. So, from this point onwards, I just rode at comfortable pace just to avoid more complications. I just wanted to get home and see my love one.

Rest – ~60 minutes at crash and cramp points.
Food – Three hydration pills, two McDonalds jam pack, one PowerGel and two HammerGels.

CP3 to CP4:
Another undulating terrains, but this time the uphills were short but quite steep. They were several technical downhill sections which I don’t enjoyed very much in the muddy conditions… just imagine if the trails were dry… it could be a different story after all.

Then I got diverted into a false trail (although the KLMBH committee said that there was no false trail..!!) together with Jeremy and a few others. I lost about 15 minutes of time.

Rest – ~5 minutes at CP4.
Food – Four hydration pills, two PowerGels and three HammerGels.

CP4 to End:
Relatively easy undulating terrains compared with the others. I was on my front 36T chainring most of the time.

Other interesting statistics:

Water – More than 6 liters (with refill at the CPs).

Fall – 3 times!

Cramp – Once at right thigh muscles! But not as bad as the last PCC Presidential Ride.

Stream crossings – Too many. But one that was about 200 meters of stream with pristine and clear water was quite memorably beautiful scenery.

Bridges – Some steel bridges, two very large wood bridges and too many small bridges to remember...

Best uphill – Between Start and CP2. Steep and long.

Best downhill – None, because most of them are just too muddy to enjoy. I spent time controling and balancing the bike rather than enjoying the downhill sections.

Best flat section – Between CP4 and CP5. All in big ring (36T).

Love & hate section – At the easy cement section, where I fall.

Worst sections – See best uphill!

Brake problem – None.

Shifting problem – None.

Suspension problem – None.

Puncture – None.

Traction – Poor.

Comfort problem – None, because this time I got the saddle angle right and the saddle is designed with ergonomic love channel.

Pre-ride dinner – Telur bistik and plain rice. Lots of water and one glass of hydration salt drink. These were not enough.

Pre-ride breakfast – Yoghurt, one slice of roti chanai with an egg, water & a glass of sweet nescafe.

Post-ride lunch – Maggi goreng with fried chicken at the mamak near the Start point. Barely ate it because of lack of taste and too tired to eat.

Post-ride dinner – A very late home delivery McDonalds i.e. Big Mac, apple pie, some porridge and a large ice milo.

Photos:

Of course, there are more exciting photos of the Epic hash available at Facebook and other sites, but these four photos are just mine... hahaha...

Wasted Skinnies

On Sunday, 13 June 2010, me and usual cycling buddies were riding the beautiful trail of Wasteland at Bukit Kiara. Before that, Wasteland trail is divided in two sections, one is tight singletrack cutting along the ridges and matured rubber trees and one is an excellent series of switchbacks. These sections were divided by a stream, and the sections are (now were..) connected by a bridge which we called it skinnies.

Due to the force of nature (of course under God's decrees), the demure skinnies gave up, and to reach our destiny we had to cross the stream (more of a riverbed..) manually.

Time to flex the muscle again to rebuild the bridge, connecting the two sections that we, MTBers, love so much. Lets do it...

[Old picture, as at Feb 2009, where the skinnies acting as a bridge to connect one section to another]

[As at 13 June 2010, a broken destiny]

[My riding friends are still smiling, but look at the skinnies's log that gave way at the bottom of the picture]

2010 Firsh Hash @ Semenyih

The first KLMBH hash for 2010 was near Semenyih town. The parking place was right in front of the Semenyih 132kV substation... since I work with TNB... hehehe... :)

The place is actually around the old Kampung Sungai Lalang.

The route was slightly less than 30km of the usual mixed of palm oil estates, secondary forest trails, rubber plantations, short tarmac sections and long fire roads towards the end.

Honestly, I cannot remember much about the hash, but it was one of the best hashes I ever participated. It was that good, me and my cycling buddies will go again this weekends.

Here are some GPS screenshots info:

[The hash is near to the existing Sungai Pening-Pening trails]

[The elevation profile]

Check out the pre-hash details here.

For after-hash report, click here.

Bike Fitting

I thought that this article from singletracks.com is useful for fitting yourself on a mountain bike. Enjoy...:)

[The graphic of chart-size below is taken from the above wesite]

Nevegal vs Dred Tread

I used many models of tyres from various manufacturers, and these are the listing:
> Continental Explorer 2.1”
> Continental Mountain King 2.2” (both the normal version & Chilli version)
> Geax Saguaro 2.1”
> Kenda Nevegal 1.95”
> WTB Wierwolf 2.1”
> Specialized Roll-X 2.2”
> Maxxis High Roller 2.1”
> Kenda Dred Tread 1.8”

Due to limited availability of others tyres and also the above tyres, I have been using either Continental Mountain King (Chilli version) 2.2” or Kenda Nevegal 1.95” or Kenda Dred Tread 1.8”.

I use the Continental Mountain King (Chilli version) 2.2” only for racing due to its low weight. The rest are for trail riding.

So, I was called to make a comparison between the Kenda Nevegal 1.95” and Kenda Dred Tread 1.8”. The comparison (or review) is based on the rear tyre application only, for XC (slightly to the XC extreme side) trail riding application.

I use the following rating system to evaluate the tyres:
5 – Exceed expectation.
4 – Meet expectation.
3 – Meet expectation but can do better.
2 – Below expection.
1 – Does not meet expectation.

Climbing Traction:
Kenda Nevegal 1.95”.
Damp soil – 3/5.
Dry – 4/5.
Loose – 2/5.
Dry roots – 3/5.
Wet roots – 1/5.
Rock – 2/5
Slight sandy condition – 2/5.
Sub-Total: 17/35.

Kenda Dred Tread 1.8”.
Damp soil – 4/5.
Dry – 5/5.
Loose – 3/5.
Dry roots – 4/5.
Wet roots – 2/5.
Rock – 3/5.
Slight sandy condition – 3/5.
Sub-Total: 24/35.

Pedalling Rolling resistance (Higher number represent lower rolling resistance and better traction):
Kenda Nevegal 1.95”.
Damp soil – 3/5.
Dry – 3/5.
Rock – 4/5.
Sub-Total: 10/15.

Kenda Dred Tread 1.8”.
Damp soil – 4/5.
Dry – 4/5.
Rock – 3/5.
Sub-Total: 11/15.

Braking:
Kenda Nevegal 1.95”.
Damp soil – 4/5.
Dry – 4/5.
Loose – 4/5.
Sub-Total: 12/15.

Kenda Dred Tread 1.8”.
Damp soil – 4/5.
Dry – 4/5.
Loose – 3/5.
Sub-Total: 11/15.

Off-camber:
Kenda Nevegal 1.95”.
Damp soil – 5/5.
Dry – 4/5.
Sub-Total: 9/10.

Kenda Dred Tread 1.8”.
Damp soil – 3/5.
Dry – 4/5.
Sub-Total: 7/10.

Total points:
Kenda Nevegal 1.95” – 48/75 (3.2 - Meet expectation but can do better)
Kenda Dred Tread 1.8” – 53/75 (3.6 – Meet expectation)

[Dred Tread's profile]

[Dred Tread's sidewall & label]

[Nevegal's profile - Photos from old archive showing front tyre application]

[Nevegal's sidewall & label]

General comments:
For me, the Dred Tread is a better tyre than Nevegal by a small margin. But that small margin is at the most important part of trail riding especially in Malaysia i.e. climbing over roots.

Some comments on the tyre constructions:
For the Nevegal 1.95”, I wish the knobs are not ramp and this hopefully gives more traction. As clearing mud, Nevegal is far better than the Dred Tread.

For the Dred Tread 1.8”, I wish that the casing is wider at least to 1.95”, and this should give more volume for more supple ride. I also like the tiny knobs running across the middle section, and I wish these tiny knobs are extended towards its side. The side knobs are too close together, hence the mud clearance is just OK; and I believe spacing the side knobs a little bit more won’t affect the traction much.

From South Africa

I was given an honour to lead our Sunday riding group with our new friend from South Africa.

Welcome to Malaysia, Alan.

The ride routes were as follows:

Taman Rimba Kiara >> Uphill tarmac >> 4K (entrance at water tank) >> 2K (halfway entrance) >> Twin Peaks >> Janie's Addiction (horse trail & old Janie's singletrack) >> Boner >> Penchala Lama >> Kampung & tarmac >> Plan C >> Wasteland >> Bar-a-kuda >> Tarmac >> Mission >> 2K (half loop) >> Tarmac >> Shiner's (entrace at halfway) >> Rock Garden (Carnival).

Time : 8:45 a.m till 12:15 p.m

Distance : ~ 17 kilometers.

Quote from Alan "The trails are excellent. They are technical. It's a very good place to learn to ride on roots."

Kuala Lumpur Mountain Bike Carnival 2009

The 2009 edition of Kuala Lumpur Mountain Bike Carnival was held on 21 and 22 Nov 2009 ago.

It was held at Bukit Kiara trails, where the first half of the loop was climbing... lots of them, including technical climbs, several switchback climbs and triple deckers climbs.

I was getting ready for the race for the last 2 months before the event. I was doing simulated indoor riding based on the Carnival trail elevation, riding intervals and a bit of strength training. Two and half week before the event, I lost 2 kilograms. Things were looking good.

Nope!! I had a stupid crash two weeks prior to the race. I felt down a 12 feet ravine when the rock where I stepped on slip. Apart from lots of cuts and bruises, my left knee had an internal bleeding.. ouch! After seeing the doctor, thank God nothing broken or tear. However, she serious advised me not to do hard riding within 3 weeks. Well.. there goes my chance to be competitive in this year race.

However, I watched the 2-day race and captured lots of photos; 215 in total and here are some for your eyes.

Disclaimer:
All the photos are not touched up, except for resizing and rotating. This time I'm lazy to label my photos, but they are still mine... hahahehehh..! However, if you are interested on having them, please contact me.

I also have more photos in higher resolution on my harddrives, so again if you're interested, please contact me.

[KLMBC's sponsors printed on t-shirt]

[Start of 18-30 years men's category - Seeding]

[Toward the end - Triple terrace downhill]

[The continuation after the triple terrace drop...]

[Start of Elite Women's category]

[18-30 men's category - Final]

[My friend, Megat, pumping on the technical climb]

[... and he made it, bravo!]

[...but many just pushed up]

[One of my favourite photos - SY climbing up the switchback]

[Another one of my favourite photos - Rider coming down after triple terrace downhill]