MEX - LCCT - MEX : 110km

5am - RIIIIINGGGG - Snooze - 5:15am - RIIIIINNNGGGG - Snooze - 5:30am - RIIIINGGGGGG - damnit!! Have to wake up!! Took a quick shower, gobbled down the buns I bought the day before and was out the door. Meeting the guys at Ajimal Mamak 6:30am. Ride off time 6:45am. Today were doing a 110km ride from MEX to LCCT and back.

RFC riders today : Adam, Yong, Jun An, Helmi, Ari, Lionel, Freddy and Friend, and myself.

As we entered MEX highway, it started to rain. It was not heavy but just nice. After about 5mins, all our shoes were now soaking in water. The feeling was damn sloshy!! Drafting behind Adam and Helmi, Yong and I were being sprayed by the water fountain spouting up from their back wheel. On the downhill part, I nearly hit into Adam cos when I jammed the brakes.. there was nothing.. not even a feel of slowing down.. and so I overtook him just in time and sprayed water back at him for a change.. LOL
As we reached our 1st pit stop at the MEX toll. We waited for Lionel and Ari to catch up. We took shelter at the toll booth as it was not open but was later shooed away by one of the MEX seciruty personel. We then continued to ride on.

The 2 MTB bikes - Freddy and Friend were basically leading the whole way with Helmi, Jun An and myself following closely. Adam and Yong waited for Ari and Lionel to give them directions. Not long as we were passing the F1 pit, Adam overtook and off they went. We finally came to a stop at the roundabout just before LCCT. We were in good time. Total riding time up to that point was 2hr15mins.
We then decided to rest at the Rest Stop just outside of TuneHotels-LCCT. Me and Jun An decided to wash our bikes a bit as it as covered in dried sand. It was onwards to LCCT from there. As we passed by the main drop and pick up area, we attracted many curious looks from all the people there. Our breakfast was to be at this Asian Restaurant. At 1st when we parked our bikes just outside the shop, we were stopped by the LCCT security and after a bit of debating we were then allowed to park it there. As we ordered our food, Ari and Lionel finally arrived. Curiously, Yong was not with them. I asked Lionel and he said Yong had a flat and was trying to mend the puncture.. SHIT!! Adam and I gobbled down our food and sped off to find Yong.
After about 3kms, we found him. He had punctured both his spare tube as well and I lend him mine and also my trusty bike pump. After pumping up, suddenly Freddy and Friend appeared and then we decided to continue back. We stopped at a Petronas Station just opposite and refueled while Yong had his breakfast. I had another Sandwhich as well. Helmi, Jun An, Lionel and Ari continued on 1st and then only we followed.

After quite a while, I was left behind already. The 2 MTBs were mad. They were doing like 30++ all the way with Yong and Adam following closely. Finally a the B15 highway I managed to catch up with Lionel and overtook him. Then I came upon a sight I was not used to. Helmi!! He was struggling as he just had a cramp. We then later came upon another unfamiliar sight.. Yong. He was waiting for us as he was unsure of the road to take and so the 3 of us pushed on towards MEX highway which we then came upon Jun An - who had waited for me to pass me my arm warmer which I left in LCCT.

And then like a bat of out of hell, my energy came and I pushed all the way back to Ajimal. Adam was already changed and waiting in his van. The 2 MTBs had already gone home. After ordering our drinks (the famous Ajimal 3 Layer Tea), Yong came followed by Jun An and then Helmi. After about an hour, finally Lionel and Ari came. Ari had taken a wrong road and had a puncture and was helped out by Lionel.
All in all it was a good ride.. I was pleased with myself and went back home to sleep!!

Pictures Cortersy of Yong VH

Orbea vs Battaglin

Tuesday Night Ride
Like every Tuesday night, there would be cycling. The only difference this time was : Ian had just bought a new bike - Full Carbon Frame Battaglin with Shimano Ultegra GroupSet just 2 days ago. It was time to put his bike to the test.

It was decided that we were to have a mini race between me and him. The race would be split into 2 stages. Stage 1 : MEX highway. Stage 2 : Kesas Highway.

At 8:15pm we were there waiting at Ajimal Mamak. Yong and Kah Lyn couldn't make it for Stage 1 and Paul was late. We started riding about 8:35pm. As we moved out from Sri Petaling towards Carrefour junction and then making our way to the MEX highway turnoff.. Ian sped up the climb.. I followed closely but not pushing so much.. As we reached the top, Ian cursed - "Shit no more gear to change".. I just laughed.. "I told you size 25 gear damn shiok to climb!!" and I rolled off on my size 28 gear..

Not long after that, Adam and Paul took the lead and Ian overtook me. There was also a MTB cyclist who was also damn fast who overtook me as well. I maintained a normal pace and just at the climb towards the rest stop area, once again Ian was struggling to climb it and I overtook him.. soon I was chasing after Adam. Paul was no where to be seen already. After the U-Turn, I pumped a PowerGel and started to chase after Adam.

Everytime I got close to him on a climb, just as I was about to reach him, it was downhill for him already. By the time I reached the peak and started my descent, he was already damn far away... this continued on till we reached the Sri Petaling LRT where Yong and Kah Lyn were already waiting there.

Stage 1 Winner - Terence "LiquidUlar" Lim

Ian came in quite a bit late as he took a detour down to the Carrefour junction. Now it was on to Stage 2. After pushing myself on the MEX, I was damn tired already. On the Kesas I was drafting behind all the rest as usual. The pelaton leader changed every 1 minute or so. When it was Paul's turn to give up the lead, he tried to slot in the middle of the pelaton which nearly caused an accident as the rest had to brake all of a sudden.

It was then that Adam took the lead again and everyone sped off... I followed them and overtook Ian also.. I was just behind the pelaton at each turn. After U-turning at the Summit junction, I could see Ian on the opposite side of the road just about to climb. I concentrated on catching up with the pelaton but as the minutes passed by, my legs started to feel stiff and on the verge of cramping... FUCK!!

I continued cycling at a more relaxed and steady pace to keep the muscle from being too tensed or too relaxed and I knew that either one would cost me to cramp up. As I surveyed the area for a place to fall down, there was none except for the tunnels area and God knows I will not be caught dead resting there!!

Finally Ian caught up with me and I drafted behind him all the way. He was also tired and cramping. Finally the last 100m to the finish point, I wanted to try and push myself to overtake him but my body told me NO!! And so..

Stage 2 Winner - Ian "Smoke Em" Lim

We then headed back to Ajimal for Yum Cha and catch the World Cup as well.

White Water Rafting - KKB

White water rafting - ahh, I still remember my 1st time almost 4 years ago like it was yesterday.. this time around I was going with the RFCs.. A nice break from cycling although I have been out for about a month to rest my knee..

Finally the morning came.. the alarm went off at 5am.. I was so tempted to just continue sleeping and cursed that I went out late the night before (dota at CC).. but somehow managed to pry myself from bed and got ready. Mei San picked me up at 6am and we headed to Kah Lyn's place as we were going in his MPV. After a short de-tour to pick up his fren, we headed to the meeting area - Sg Buloh Overhead Restaurant.. When we got there, the rest had already reached - Adam & Joanne, Yong + Wife and Kid, Leeza & Andrew.. we then made our way to the next meeting point - Rawang Toll where Helmi awaited us.. He was wearing a mesh t-shirt and the 1st thing Kah Lyn said was.. "Can see his nipple" .. LOL!!

We departed to KKB and halfway, Helmi sped off like a Bat out of Hell.. whithin minutes, he was nowhere to be seen. Upon reaching KKB town we went to a nearby Chinese Coffee Shop for breakfast. The food was not so good but served its purpose.
We were supposed to meet the guide from Khersonese at 9am and he was late.. on top of that we had to wait for another group as well whom all of them must have bowel problems cos they were in and out of the toilet like a million times!! Adam and Helmi were on the verge of blowing their top already but thankfully we were on our way before that happened.

All except the drivers were dropped of at the waiting area - the drivers had to park their cars at the Khersonese base camp and would be driven back to the waiting area by the guides. It was a long 20 minutes wait. There was quite a big crowd at the waiting area. Half were going with another guide while the other half was with us. While waiting there I noticed one of the rafts was crawling with KERENGGA!! cos it was laid down by a tree infested with it.. Made my skin crawl!! Finally the drivers came back and the safety briefing went underway.. the whole time thru out the briefing, the honey bees were pestering me non stop.. they kept landing onto my arm and leg and I was terrified cos if they stung then thats it for this trip.. so I had to keep moving here and there and waving my arms and pedal like a mad man.. after about 10mins - IT WAS RAFTING TIME!!
The group was split into 2 - Raft 1 : Yong + wife & kid, Adam & Joanne and myself. Raft 2 : Kah Lyn, Helmi, Andrew, Mei San, Leeza and Wendy. In out raft, Joanne was sitting in the front, Adam and myself in the middle, Yong and wife and the back and his son was in the middle of the raft. And then we were on our way. The water level was high today which was a good thing. The 1st section was a nice pedal and then we came to our 1st rapid. We had to wait for others to go 1st and Yong's son had to be carried down river thru the river bank cos it was a bit too dangerous for him.. while waiting Adam and Yong decided to go into the river for a dip.. Not sure if Adam released anything in the river or if Yong felt the water was warm all of a sudden.. LOL.. once the guide came back we were off to tackle the rapids..

The rapids were way better than the last time I was here. With the water level high, we were speeding thru all the rapids... It was damn fun... a few times all of us just fell down inside the raft and there was one time, Yong Jr flew up about 1 meter in the air and with lightning reflexes, Adam and I grabbed him and pulled him down... much to the relief of his parents.
There was a pit stop halfway for us to relax and have a quick bite.. On the menu were apples, cloud9 and some museli bars..




After tackling rapids after rapids, we were finally in the last stretch of the river... everyone got off the raft and floated down stream... Adam dunked me into the river and my butt hit a sharp rock... luckily didn't open another hole or enlarge my current one...
Time stood still at that moment.. just lying down looking up at the clear blue skies, sometimes covered by large over head trees.. Aahhh.. this was the life.. after about 15mins or so we reached the end point.. sigh.. wished I could have continued to float on forever..

We were now at base camp where we dried off and ate lunch.. which was quite good (Kah Lyn will say everything taste good when you are tired and hungry).. we took a shower and then it was the journey back..

photos cortesy of Yong VH

FRIM MINI JAMBOREE - Team RFC!!

The Route

The Elevation

Sunday 6th June 2010 - Team RFC (Captain Allan Chiew, Chief Trainer Adam Ng, Smoke Em' Ian Lim, ORBEA Jerry and myself) joined the FRIM Mini Jamboree 2010. I hitched a ride from Ian and we were there at the meeting point just outside of FRIM a few minutes before the rest came. It was around 7:45am. According to Cap'n Allan, the race was at 10am and we can collect the goodie bags at 9am. Plenty of time still. We offloaded our bikes and gears and headed for a Chinese Coffee shop nearby for breakfast.

Adam's Blur not yet wake up face

Jerry admiring Allan's sucking

At the shop there was a table of elderly aunties and uncles in running attire. One of them asked Allan, "You all can go in arr? They closed FRIM for some race! They won't let us in! We have been sitting here since 6am!" Allan coolly replied, "We are joining the race!". They went on complaining that FRIM should have put up a sign telling people that today the park was to be closed till 2pm. Anyway we ordered our food and ate heartily.

After having our fill, we cycled in only to be blocked by the security at the main entrance. He said, the park is closed for a Race. "But we are entering the race!!" said Allan all puzzled!! I had a bad feeling already. The guard let us in and as we cycled towards the starting area, suddenly there were riders coming out of the trail on the left and went into another trail on the right and they looked tired... we started to PANIC even more now and cycled faster to the starting point.

Upon reaching, we were greeted by curious looking marshalls. Apparantly the race started at 8am sharp and we were already 50mins late!! Allan continued to argue with the official there as the rest of us put on our racing number on the bike and we were off in a hurry at 9:15am. 1 hour and 15 minutes late. The start of the trail was more cross country and then we hit the 1st climb on tar road and entered the DREAM TRAIL. It was then that we came up to the 1st other racers. In our hearts we were happy cos we are NO LONGER LAST!! By this time also Ian was no where to be seen behind already. He was still sick after all.

The DREAM TRAIL was awesome. Single lane tracks with some downhill and uphill adventures. I crashed at one crossing over the pipes and hit my inner thigh on the top tube!! FUCKING PAINFULL!! After a short rest, I continued on with other racers. Allan, Jerry and Adam were far ahead already. Pushing and riding along the trail, finally I came to a clearing and onto a tar road again. Then suddenly the marshall in front pointed to a super steep climb up the tar road!! I pushed 50% of the way with other cyclist who at the time was dreaming about a nice cold beer!! At the peak was the next check point and the gang was waiting for me there. After collecting the sticker we were off!!

We were now on ROVER TRAIL and suddenly came upon a super steep off road climb. There was cement slabs making a funny slippery stairs up and there was a rope railing on the right side. We had to support the bike on the left hand and with the right hand, hoist ourselves up!! The gang made it up there 1st while I took a long breather below. After about 5 minutes, I climbed!! It was so bloody difficult cos the bike was so heavy and it was slippery!! Finally managed to get up there after 2 stops halfway. And a while later, Ian poped up out of nowhere.. LOL!!

I made it up the stupid climb!!
FUCK U Stupid Climb!!

Next up was PACAT TRAIL!! This is the entrance to PACAT TRAIL as you can see from the picture below. It looked damn impossible to ride down cos it was steep and the ground was all super soft mud!! We decided to take a rest 1st before taking the leap of faith.

Pacat Trail Entrance - Mak Cik throwing bike

Pacat Trail

By this time more people arrived and we had a chit chat on how to tackle the trail. Then came this old timer with a big belly. He told us about the trail and how to conquer it and stuff and then suddenly he looked at me... "EH NI MACAM KENAL JE" - BLOODY HELL!! It was Moon from Team Paintball CMX!! LOL!! What a small world to meet another paintballer in a jungle... after that he went 1st. He made it look easy and then one by one we went. I pushed and rode halfway a long the trail...

Strategy Meeting before tackling Pacat Trail

Pacat Trail - MUDD TRAIL!!

It was like the longest ride ever!! The mud was so thick and soft and slippery. Sometimes the bike would slide in front while my feet was stuck in the mud. Sometimes I would slide down but the bike is still behind. There was no FUCKING WAY.. that anyone could actually ride down this trail. It was more like Ice Skating than cycling this trail. The bikes were covered in mud. The mud build up on the forks and crank and brakes were mad!!

What happens to all bikes in Pacat Trail

Offroad tire now super mudd slick tire

Bike cleaning and rest before Steroid Hill!!

Finally I saw sunlight. I was out of the nightmare. It was a nice downhill ride as you can see from the below picture. The rest of the RFCs had already reached the bottom. As I rode down the slope, it was bumpy as hell and then suddenly "PAAAAARRRRKKKK!!". The sound was loud and sharp. Other riders asked me whats up and I looked at my saddle and saw that the seatpost had cracked!! WTF!! I lowered the seatpost further to avoid it being cracked all the way but it was too low to do any climbs!! FUCK!!

The Downhill that broke my SeatPost

With the broken seat post there was no way I could continue on to the next trail which was the hardest of all... the infamous STEROID HILL!! With a seat so low, climbing up this hill would have killed both my knees so I decided not to ride it. I waited for the rest at the bottom. It was like 30mins or so before I saw anybody. Jerry was the 1st to come out and he sped thru. Finally much much later, came Adam and Allan... Ian apparently had cramped on the way up so we decided to continue ourselves.

We were now back on ROVER TRAIL and the small climbs were torturing for me. Had to stand most of the way which was a killer on the stamina. At last tar road!! The marshall shouted, "masuk sini selepas itu masuk kiri... tak jauh lagi... 20m saja"... I was so happy to hear that and I cycled happily thru the forrest trail alone and then joined the AROMATICA TRAIL.. this was more than 20m already. More like 1km it seemed. AROMATICA TRAIL was a nice single track trail. It was an awesome ride and FINALLY I WAS OUT and on the tar road heading back to the starting point.

Can you ride down here?

Crazy climb

Awesome View from top of Rover Trail

At the finishing line, Jerry, Adam and Allan were already relaxing there. They had collected the goodie bag, lunch and T-shirt from the organizer. We lepaked with the Tat Seng group and ate lunch. A while later Ian finally made it. We sat on the car park floor and ate our lunches while a lucky draw was on going. Then I heard my number being called "173" "173" I just jumped up and picked up my bike and road it to the officials tent and claimed my prize. It was a 3 tier cooking utensil.. AWESOME!! just what I needed for the house.

Still in One Piece


Me, My Bike, My Hydration Bag and My Lucky Draw Prize



Cloud 9 aka Vasakthi Ride PowerBar

Packing up and time to head home

After resting somemore, it was time to pack up and head on home. It was a fun and exciting ride. If we had started on time, we could have made it to the top 100 or even top 50 and gotten a medal for it. Instead all we had was bruises, cuts, mud, sweat, blood, a happy heart and a big smile on our tired weary faces. It was a good ride and will definately be back for more!!

TEAM RFC!!

L to R : LiquidUlar, Jerry, Allan (sitting), Adam and Ian

Ah Keong's Wedding & OPERA clubbing

Friday night, headed down to Taman Air Panas, Setapak for the night before wedding open house. I was there at 8++ and I thought I was late. Reached there and none of the gang were in sight... Called Kok and he said coming in 10mins... Called Teoh - no answer... Called Siew Mun - he just got home and will come around 10 something. And so I was stuck there with not many people that I know. Luckily May Teh and Sammie were there so I joined their table and later the whole gang came. As usual by the end of the night, our table is filled with empty beer cans. Oh and I was told then that I was to be part of the "Heng Tai" tomorrow morning. Be at the house at 8am. OMG!! Means I needed to leave Puchong by 7:30am latest...

Saturday morning, woke up at 7am and was out the door by 7:30am. Kok who was supposed to give me a wake up call only called me at 7:30am.. KNS!! Anyway reached Ah Keong's house at 8am sharp and ate breakfast. 1 Nasi Lemak and 1 Wan Tan Mee... awesome!! Now onwards to the bride's house. Ah Meng drove Ah Keong's City there. His very cute son came along. The bride's house was in Kepong - Aman Puri. We arrived there in 30mins. Now the games began. There was the standard 4 stuff to consume representing : Sweetness, Sourness, Bitterness and Spicyness. The 1st one was a thick looking drink and after gulping it down we found out it was some soft drink+honey+kaya+butter - I nearly puked!! The 2nd one was easy, it was fresh cut lime. The 3rd one was young raw bitter gourd and OMG it was bitter after the 1st bite so we didn't play by the rules and OPPSS!! Accidentally dropped the fruit/veggie/whatever you call it.. and the last was WASABI!! Ah Foo made easy job of it.

Finally the grill was open and all the wedding ceremonial stuff at the bride's house began. After everything was done, it was back to Setapak again. Was feeling damn sleepy already at the time. After lunch, went back to sleep a while and then went to see my wifey and son at Subang.

The wedding dinner was not bad... our table was full of crazy ass drinkers and so was the 2 tables next to us. Booze was all around!! Didn't get to taste the last 3 dishes cos had to follow Ah Keong around to "Keng Chau" at all the tables... was a bit tipsy after that and second round was OPERA at Sunway Pyramid!!

Wasn't feeling too good when we reached there and I wanted to go home but Teoh didn't let me and so no choice!! It was a nice night out... babes a plenty everywhere... drunk girls here and there and then at 2:30am there was a fight and the lights were on... time to go home!!