New bike

"300" bike...Imagine the spartans cycling this.


Both Raymonds at Genting Sempah

John's 10k bike....most of the parts are carbonized.

Raymond Hee's Merida bike.


I finally got a bike. Actually had wanted to get it next month, but after watching Lance Armstrong videos on youtube, I just have to get the same feeling of sprinting up mountains.

I went to a bike shop, that Vincent and I had went months before. It was either the dull grey Schwinn bike or a polygon. The red polygon looks nicer, although I think the frame is a bit larger. Plus, the striking ferrari red is certainly more captivating than the Schwinn. And oh yea, my helmet is red, and the air pump too. The gear set is Shimano's SORA (good for beginners). I also got myself a pair of Specialized cycling shoes plus the clip on pedal, and Cateye's speed and cadence meter.

All in all, it cost me about RM 2300. Quite cheap considering some of my friends bike cost 4 to 5k figure. The only thing carbon is the fork.

The next day, I took it for a ride from cheras to hulu langat bt 14, then made a climb up Tekala hill to the Semenyih lake. It's basically a 3km heart stopping climb. All my romanticism with hill climbing ala Lance is thrown out the window. It's so hard, even I had the highest gear set on. I had ran up this hill before, and it's bearable compared to this. As I reached the top, I was sweating all over. Then it's all downhill from there.

Downhill was fun, but I was constantly nervous of how fast I was going, as the path snakes left and right. I was not used to holding the brakes, and it was a chore to grip the brakes. Now who said cycling only need legs? You need a pair of strong arms as well.

I was eyeing Genting Peres, but I had some event going on later that day.

And going back Cheras was another big hurdle. It's either going to batu 9 cheras or up Ampang hill. I choosed the latter. It's basically a 4km up the hill steep climb. Trust me, running up is definitely easier. Constant mashing of the pedals finally brought me up, and then back to Cheras.
Total distance was a 62.44km.

----

Monday was Wesak day. So, Raymond Hee, Raymond Ng, John and I head for the KOM genting sempah route. We had parked our cars at HOA (Hospital Orang Asli). From what I read online, it's a 550 meters vertically up ride.

The route itself is a scenic one, and progressively gets harder as you go up. It's also the old road to Kuantan. Lots of cyclist were hitting it. While it's not hard as the two hills yesterday, but it's definitely a good training ground for hills.

There were a few hair pin bends as well, that snakes up at the end of the path. The effort up was great, as we were rewarded with the nice scenery of hills, and cooler air.

However, the distance covered was a measly 17km up. Anyway, it's just for a starter. We can go further next time.

Broga, anyone?