Carbon Fiber handpump by Beto

When ever i had i punctured tyre, i will realize that i need to buy a hand pump. it been keep going on until past a year now. So, eventually i really had a flat tyre during my last section in single trail at FRIM. Thank god, Aze was there with me, he is like the Mr. ER. he was prepared and had almost everything in his bag. But on the same time, after replacing the tube, his hand pump not working. At the end i had to push all the way to the car park about 2 km away. So. on the way home, i stopped by at Samy's and look for the hand pump. And i found this little lightweight carbon fiber hand pump. It was Beto brand but with Hits sticker to cover it up. Look awesome with my rig.

Ariena's first ever rig

This will be a story can be a memory page for my beloved daughter, Ariena. This is her very first bicycle for her. This Lerun was purchased about RM2++ at my local bike shop here in Melawati. This particular colour personally picked by my wife. Pink is very suitable for a 3 years old child that time. The reason i put this page up just because it will be a nice remembrance of her first bike where she can embrace this picture in future. It been 3 years now this bike served my daughter's childhood. It begin where the bike actually purchased with 2 training wheels and over the years, one of the training wheels came off which left only one. She progressively learn to cycle and i decided to pulled out the remaining training wheel. She happened can control the bike and made me and my wife a happy couple. Years came by and this bike have been go trough several modifications and parts replacement. the handle bar was changed to longer size, paddle replaced and add a chain tensioner. Until now this bike still served the family without disappointments. Wait until she grown up, there will be much more nice rig to replaced it. Perhaps a BMX? why not!

Ramadhan Nite Ride

This year the holy month of Ramadan eventually arrived. Ramadan is the holy moth by Muslim where eating and drinking (anything insert into a body) is prohibited during the days. It’s like cleansing the soul and it’s a month good deeds. Unless like previous year, I stop cycling for a whole month, but this year, some of the guys try to pinch a wee bit of time to get the sweat out. It is not like we ignore the holy month, but the good time of the day to cycle is after 10pm.

So this year, I try to get out and as every last Friday of the month, Putrajaya Criticalmass still continued this month. The difference is, it start a bit late which is 11pm. Last Friday, I packed up my bike and headed to Putrajaya for the night ride. That particular night was quit a night for the cyclist, where I spotted 2 groups of cyclist did a run in Duke Highway as I passed by.

As planned, I arrived there and waited for Aze and Aidi. I arrived about 1030pm and look like quit a numbers turn out that night. Its not as many like normal night, but it still reach about 50 people participated. Due to some people arrived a bit late, the event started about 1130pm and the organizer made a simple brief where the route will we paddle to. From the Hall of Justice we started paddle to the PICC, there we circle around the PICC which there was our first up hill climb. It was a slow paddling pace, I wonder when is the real push going to be, it is will be a slow pace all night long? Then, we all head up to the Alamanda, until there we been cycle about 10km in slow pace. From there, the real action is begun where we cycled in huge open highway to PICC. That route was where the speed action begins, where the roadies made a sprint and the mtb trying to catch up. We all gather back at the PICC and had a quick break, waited for the rest. Unlucky, one of the riders had an over limit energy consumption. He vomited and had to rush to nearby hospital because of dehydration and lag of energy. Later, after the event, I told that he only had a bread for breakfasting, training for the whole evening and been cycled from Bukit Jalil to Putra jaya. No wonder he passed out.

We end back to Hall of Justice about 130pm and made a 36km run that night. It is unusual for me to cycle in Ramadan and this time the route took quit tougher that any previous months. At least, I was being continually maintaining my fitness, even though in Ramadan.

Abe's Kona Blast

Here again, we welcome once more the newly mtb rider in the house. He's been secretly felt on love to the mtb scene and try to gather bit of info's on what bike to purchase. It begin when out of bloom, which one fine morning, he pop the question. " What bike can i buy for beginner?". As experience mtb cyclist yet realistic adviser, usually i advised to look for low budget rig which is the price is between rm1-rm2k. Usually i will struck with this answer .." that's expensive!!!". The beginner usually don't realise the price of basic mtb, they will compare it to mtb which sell in big hypermarket Giant or Carrefore. It is common to educate the public and the beginners to purchase the most affordable yet function for the rides. We usually met of see advertisement which say " Wanna Sell mtb - rode for 2 -3 times only",that indicate the person realize of buying the wrong cheap unreliable bike. So you all now know, why it is expensive.

So I'm very happy to assist him on getting his first baby. Firstly i took him to local bike shop to have an idea what kind of bike for the big day. The is various kind of rigs such as XC, DH, DJ and Freeride. It just like buying a new car and i will tell you you gonna get an headache..i personally took me 6 month to purchase the right rig. About a month after that, after seeking second, more opinion, he decided to go with Kona Blast All mountain hardtail. For me, he did a right choice for a beginner to spent about Rm1.9k for his first bike. Kudos to you " Abe". Hope your rig wont be a "tukun".

So here is the spec of the bike


Frame sizes 17"

Frame tubing Kona All-Mountain Aluminum Butted

Fork RockShox Dart 2 w/Turnkey 100mm

Headset TH

Crankarms FSA Alpha Drive

Chainrings 42/32/22

B/B FSA Powerdrive

Pedals Wellgo LU-A9

Chain Shimano HG40

Freewheel Shimano Alivio (11-32, 8spd)

F/D Shimano Acera

R/D Shimano Deore

Shifters Shimano Acera

Handlebar Kona XC/BC Riser

Stem Kona XC/BC

Grips Kona Race Light

Brakes Hayes MX4 Mechanical Disc

Brake Levers Avid FR-5

Front hub Formula Disc

Rear hub Shimano M475 Disc

Spokes Stainless 14g

Tires Maxxis Ignitor 26x2.1

Rims Alex ACE-18

Saddle WTB Speed V Sport SE

Seatpost Kona Thumb

Seat clamp Kona QR

Color Black Metallic

Batu Dam Ulu Yam (11.07.09)

It been quit a long time i didn't update the blog, but it doesn't mean i stop paddling around. I and my usual riding partners been riding a same old tracks and trails all the time. So one fine day, after discussing where our next riding venue, Shawal suggest us to try out the Batu Damn trail. We all been dreaming to try out the trail but there no one of us can guide the rest. Shawal been trying to organise the ride and luckily there is someone who can took us there.

In the lovely Sunday morning of 11/7/09, we met the riders at Petronas Sg Tua. And there was quit impressive turn out where the was 2 team consist of more than 10 peoples which are Geja Matoba and Pujimax. We been lead by Danny who quit fluent of the trail. The trail started by ride through a small construction area. The track was slippery due to raining season for a week, we basically rolled onto the mud in one section and some of us caught up in the middle. Then, we continued downhill to the side of the Batu Damn Lake. I can say the view was so surreal and magnificent where we all rode along the side of open lake and enjoyed the sight. The trail was single track and we had to encounter small and medium running water which cross the trail. It was nice because it was very pleasant ride where no up and downhills.

We stop at this cool area where we actually took a break on the river it self. The river was so shallow and it got many rocks where we all can sat, relaxed having a good break time. About 15 min break and smoke break, Danny again continued guide us into the jungle. And here is the real, tough, heart pumping and legs stretching trail begun. It was gradual climb but what made it tough is the trail was bad because the rain water made lot of water tunnels. This made the rider had to chose correct and right path to climb the hills. This uphill track good for those who can combine the balancing skills, gears and energy. At very top of the hill, we spotted a Mat salleh with complete gear, hiking alone. Very impressive, he's just guide by his GPS to move in and out. From the top, it was a very, very long and quit scary downhill. The bikes continued to speed up like no tomorrow, it all about controlling and braking. Well, as the fun is continued, one of the rider punctured his rear tire. Luckily, the was a spare tube hand out from our kind friend. Then, we all continued to stroll down until the end of the track. Our guide, Danny try to look for and alternative route, so that we don't have to cycle back via the main road. But there's no luck. That time it was like 40 degrees of the mid afternoon sun. So, we all decide to have a cool dipped in the river near by. There, we can actually have a chat and get to know each other. After about 30 min break and quick rigs wash out, we all stroll along the Ulu Yam main road which headed back to our starting point. We made a detour or short cut, by rode inside the Batu Damn area. We actually across the damn and the open sky made it very realistic. We arrived at the front of the Batu Damn gate where we park our cars about 3 pm.

This ride was so nice and easy where there was a mixed level of fitness of the riders who involved. The view was splendid and the crowd was hilarious. Hope, next ride can be more participant, the more the merrier.

Kemensah exploration - 24 Dec 08

Our newbies friends Shawal and Rostan invited me to come along on their Kemensah tour of the Kemensah Jungle. After hearing him describe the trip, it didn’t take much convincing. Who wouldn’t want to leave the house behind in favor of warm weather, 300 meter peaks, cloud forests and wonderful descend? Typically the trails started off quite a mix of very tight technical trails. Most of them included, often deeply grooved by Mother Nature and the rainy season. As we got down to lower elevation, they usually opened up a bit, sometimes into flowing singletrack

The terrain ranged from rugged rocks to soft loamy dirt to muddy road and the trails ranged from extremely dense forest singletrack to wide open dirt roads and anything in between as we navigated our ways down the hillsides.Our trail starts from Zoo Negara via the Kemensah village until Jinbara chalets. The trails did present which after the two fish ponds, the occasional climb and sometimes we would hike-a-bike up the side of the hill in search of the next epic descent.

One of the big climb you would be pushing up regardless of what bike you had. Although a few of these seemed to go on forever, once we started down again, it was always worth the effort. With limited info about this trail, we made up our mind to explore and hopefully we end up the right way. We found out, actually the trail we choose were like a loop and somehow we end up at the first hill where we started.We always moved along at the group speed, and there was never any pressure to get somewhere at a specific time. When we arrived at the cars, somehow we always seemed to arrive at just the right time.

Putrajaya Critical mass ride - 19 Dec 2008

19 December 08, Putrajaya Critical mass celebrate end up the last ride of 2008, the organizer decided to advance the date of the ride because of the X’mas celebration coming. Afraid, that day the people can’t make it to ride. The mtb gores initially very anxious about the weather that night. It was very unpredictable where some place in Putrajaya raining and some is not. The ‘nothing else matter’ participants gathered at famous mamak’s restaurants, Presint 9, Putrajaya, chatting, hang up with others mtb gores while waiting the rain stopped. Me, Razlan, Zamroni and Zul, join the crowd waiting the rain to stop until about 10pm the rain start to decrease. We start assembled the bikes and the nearly 70 bikers turn up that night even though we all start a bit late about 10:30pm to roll out, the bikers still had a patient to wait the rain to stop. The rides varies from the single speed, mountain bikes, full-sus, hard tail to road bikes hit the tarmac.

The Putrajaya resident who already aware about the bunch of mtb bikers ride at their territory was bikers conscious. It quit hard making a long trail of mtbs because the several traffic lights cut off the trail. From Presint 9 to Presint 8, we paddled slowly to big roundabout (Persiaran Perdana) at the governments offices. It was slow step where the road was quit busy until we all reach at the highway (Lebuh Wadi Ehsan) to PICC. Once we reach the highway the road was completely empty of cars and the bikers start to speed up. The road is about 5 km stretch of ups and downs road to PICC. Once we all reach PICC the group stop and had a break to gather back the crowd. There, I had quit a long break because I was at the front pack once arrived. It was fun to catch up the old stories where we were there last month. From the PICC, there was a straight road along the government building boulevard. This was the most exciting road to ride on. It was very ‘no stress’ ride where we rode with joy and snap some pictures while riding. The view was stunning where with tall, bright, different shapes of building. This was the heart of Putrajaya. That night the middle of the road was closed temporarily due to construct the stages, stalls, Bike Park and the half pipe for the tomorrow BMX event.

We headed to Presint 9 where we started rolled. Most mtb bikers had their break and same time continued mingled with other mtb bikers at the mamak restaurants. We had our refreshment and back home about 12:30pm. This riding event is perfect for those who like to begin and understand what the pleasure from the pain of cycling is.