The tolls are taking its toll

One of the things that I like about cycling is that it is an economical mode of transport. Unlike a car it does not need fuel. Or parking. Or tolls.

For the past 8 weeks I have been alternating between commuting and riding, so it has been a good arrangement of sort, to be able to save some of the expenses associated with driving a car.

So, when my rear wheel spoke broke last week, I have no other options other than to drive to work. The thing I miss most about riding my bike? Not having to pay tolls.

The tolls that I have to pay on each driving days are RM7.60 (RM3.80 one way). So, with driving/riding halfway, I would only need to spend RM2.10 per day, a saving of RM5.50. If its is a 5 working days a week, it would be a saving of RM27.50 each week.

Not to mention the reduction of fuel expenses, which could easily be another RM20 per week, so the economical benefit of riding to work, could be in the region of RM150-200 per month. That is a substantial amount to say the least.

Unfortunately, I am still bikeless (that's another story altogether), and the tolls are definitely taking its toll ;(
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Another ride, another broken spoke

Lately, I felt that my effort has been jeopardized. Not that some othe people is sabotaging the effort that I put in, but I have been let down by frequent machanical breakdown.

In March alone, I have broken the spoke on my rear wheel three times. The first time was early March as I was riding from Muar to Parit Sulong, which means my dream of riding thru LTdL was stopped halfway in its track.

The second time was the week before as I was riding back from somewhere along the Kota Tinggi roads towards Kluang. The lack of a good bike shop (wheelbuilder I mean) cut short my bike-work trip to the Railway Coffee town.

The third time in as many weeks was yesterday. As I was riding towards Sweet Lemon, heard that all familiar 'twang', and rightly so, a spoke had broke. Ceh! And this is just 20km into that ride..with some newly found friend (I literally bumped into them as I was looking for cycling kaki).

Is the wheels at the end of its life? Have I grown too heavy for the wheels? Has the wheels not been trued well the first few times? Do I need a replacement wheels? Anybody got extra, cheap, good wheels to sell?

Too many choices ;( But first, need to send the broken member to the bike shop soon. Can't afford to just sit on my wide bum, doing nothing this week..huhuhu

Bummer!

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New day, new place..

The country is gripped with cycling fever. Its that time of the year when LTdL is THE event.

I took the chance to be involved with the road tour this year. I remembered in 2005, with a few friends, drove up to Genting and literary painted the roads ala how its done in Europe :)

I just love race cycling. Its like chess on wheels played by the teams involved. With sprinters and climbers, supported by their trusty domestiques pit their best rider to win each stage. And the buildup to the finish line is highly tactical, and with speeds in excess of 60kmh in a bunch sprints!

This year, I will be joining the tour in Mersing, Muar and PD. We will be bed-hopping daily, moving from one hotel to another by day end. What it also allows me to do is, to ride at different places on a daily basis.

Am so looking forward to it :)

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If you can't go the whole way,..

..drive halfway, and ride ;P

One of my big intention is to ride to work more often. There is a multitude of reason why I wanna do that such as its friendlier to the environment (politically correct), I could escape the traffic crawl nearing my office, save money etc. But the main reason for me is, to keep in shape (even though some say, round IS a shape)

The distance from my house to office is..let just say if I ride to and fro daily, hitting 300-400km per week, should be a breeze. I did try riding on alternate days, ie if I drive to office in the morning, I'll make it a point to ride back in the afternoon. And as my car would be parked at office, I do have to ride to office the next day. As it take 1.5hrs on the bike, by 7am I would need to be out of the house already to reach office before my punch card turns red..adoi ngantuknya :P

But then the rainy season and the occasional afternoon meeting seems to wreak havoc with my plans, and have you ever been out of your house at 7am these days? Its still quite dark so for safety reasons (and some other lame reasons, hehe) now, I would drive halfway, and would ride Scotty the other half. That would be 14km in the morning and another 14km in the afternoon.

A 14km, 30mins ride is not that tiring, its refreshing instead. And coming back home, I won't be too tired that make me want to crash and sleep once I get home. This halfway arrangement have been going on for the past two weeks and I guess it has been good. I still get my ride in, and manage to reach office in good time.

I think I'll stick with this arrangement for the time being. At least until I became stronger to start much farther...hehehe. Ceh, mimpi la, lalala..

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Am trying something new..

It has been almost 2 month since I last updated Kakirowing. A certain attachment to FB (that's where all my cronies are at), the time of the year (early in the year are supposedly for planning and strategizing, bla bla bla) and I have been plainly 'malas', hehehe..

So, I scoured the Net and find that one could mobile blog other than Tweet and FV on FB (I could not really understand farming on the Net), so here I am trying mobile blogging using Mail2Blogger. Let see if I can attach a pics too..

Hehe, hopefully it will allow me to update more often, as often as I am on FB and tweeting, lalala..

Til later friends ;P
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Resolutions? Nah…

It has come to that time of the year where you look at your accomplishments and charted your resolutions for next year. But before that, lets check this year’s resolution…

1. Cycle and row as much as possible in 2009 (basically kena work out la ye tak?)
2. Ride these climbs (in no particular order). Perez. Sempah. Broga. Kelawang. Fraser. Cameron?
3. Do at least a century ride (100 miles or 160 kilometers)
4. Starts running again (in preparation for No.5)
5. Do Powerman 2009 and hopefully finish within the stipulated time (nak try gak dapat medal)
6. Pick up swimming (in preparation for triathlon, hehe)
7. Do a cycling tour (maybe a few days ride with friends, kan guys?)
8. Influence as many friends possible to pick up cycling (Circle of Influence kan Bro Zizan?)

Oops ;(

No.1 is haphazard and haywire at best, not been riding as often. Rowing? Lalalalalala… No.2? Done Perez early in the year, but not many else (even failed on Mendum, huhuhu)

The planned Ipoh Century Ride clashed with a working weekend, so there goes my century and Powerman tinggal kenangan je la nampaknya…

Cycling tours will need to be planned early, and with much details. Tapi memang macam best je bunyinya, amik a few days leave and ride.

So, how would 2010 look like? Guess I’ll better plan to put in some extra rides every few days. Err, riding to work seems doable. More so CH has been secretly training all year round. Tak boleh jadi ni…

Tekala Ride Report :(

Received a SMS from AbG Man, that the Clan will be riding from Hulu Langat to Tekala this weekend. I haven’t been riding at all for the past few months, and on the last ride with the ISN crew, even catching up with CH is hard work (I suspect CH had secret training. Really)

Got up early, nasib baik basikal dah ada dalam kereta. Can’t really sleep that night, too excited actually. Ye la, boleh ke tak nak kayuh ni, dah la the Tekala route is a bit hilly. Anyway, I reached Bt18 at 0730 and prepared my bike. We waited for Cikgu Hisyam, and rode out shortly after.

Indication of the upcoming torture came soon after, as I somehow felt that the 10km ride to the Tekala/Peres intersection is much longer than I last remembered. Checked my GPS, but everything is where it should be. I somehow dropped my water bottle, and was left behind by the rest in a jiffy. Fuh, laju betul diaorang nih…

Nearing the intersection I was out of breath. Really out of breath that I even contemplated turning back, but no, I could not let that happen. Then, one uncle ride alongside me on a steel old-skool MTB, and he actually rode past me just like that. Effortlessly. And he even give me some advice on how to regulate my breathing (I must  surely sounded terrible)

Then another kakak/makcik and uncle passes me over, then the whole PER group left me in their wake. I must be in such terrible shape then. I was passed over by more than 20 cyclist and I could never ride alongside them, what more to catch them :) CiOCC clan jangan cerita la, berdesup perginya, tak nampak bayang langsung!

Made it to Sg.Tekala and I was the last person in. Make fun of myself, what else to do and after the customary refueling session, rode back with the CiOCC clan, and sure enough after 4kms, I just could not keep up. Their average must be nearing 30kmh while I was struggling to hit 24kmh. Adohai.. confirm la kena tinggal kat belakang macam ni :(

Finally I reached the RV point and most bikes are already in the car, so this ride serves a reminder that if you don’t do the miles, you will be left behind.

And CH has been having secret training sessions all these while. Ceh, nak kena kayuh pergi balik kerja la macam ni…