Saturday, May 24, 2008

Itu Kamu

Masa aku dok karang post kali ni, adrenalin tengah dalam paksi menegak. The best word to describe the feeling is WORLD 800 kali! Apa taknya, the second best holy grail baru aje jumpa pagi tadi. We can described it as the mini Kiara.

Yep, Mutalib, my neighbour, been spreading the news of this new trail in Bandar Mahkota Cheras (BMC). The first time he described it to me about the existence of singletracks under the canopy of rubber trees, already I was shivering with enthusiasm. Today, we paid a visit with the courtesy of fellow trail makers Din, Man & their fellow mtbers.

After a quick breakfast at a mamak, mtb style with mtb enviro, we hit the trail head. Upon reaching the canopied singletrack, I knew that this ride was going to be an awesome one. One loop section after another, that was the style...just like Kiara. It has trees swerving trail, short burst climbs, tricky drops and downhills, river crossing, long lung busting climbs, abandoned construction tracks & loads of blood thirsty mosquitos...rubber trees maaa...what do u expect? Even there are more potential new trails were found. Din was so excited sharing their experience and future trailbuilding projects. I couldn't agree more but to share the excitement.

Even Bachin who started off the ride with low seat post due to lack of off confident, now he was all steamed up with the body swerving loops. World ye Bachin.

Our short epic ended at the same mamak with maggi goreng & maggi sup. Two punctures were the casualties today, Alwin & me...both terpaksa hutang tubes dengan kawan2...hehehe. Thanks to Mutalib, Alwin, Bachin, Din, Man, Bahron, Rahim, Fariz, Azhar and other bmc riders.

The best thing was...hey! I got an awesome singletrack mtb trails JUST like Kiara behind my house la bro...hehehe... take the following song to describe the beauty of the precious trail & of course my bike.

Segala yang ku pasti akan aku capai tuk mengambil hati mu
Melepasi angkasa cinta ku
Sesudah aku melafazkan kesemua yang diperlu

Ia seperti suluhan yang terang

Segala yang kau ragui akan ku padam habis dari hati mu
Mengingkari dalaman akal mu

Takkan puasku, mengiringi semua tawa dan tangisanmu,
Anggun wajahmu, pelita yg terang

Hatiku mahumu
Rupamu
Masih masih masih masih…

Kau terindah
Masih ada
Yang tercantik
Itu Kamu

Tiada mengapa taupun sampai bila kerna cinta enggan kenal mengalah
Memanah masuk hatiku yang reti
Setelah kau nampak tetap ku masih menunjukkan erti hidupku
Yang mahu bersama kau buat selamanya…

~Estranged

Sunday, May 18, 2008

In the groove but too groovy...

As scheduled the Saturday roadride was supposed to be an added milage since we started cycling around Langat last week. All the preps and mindset were in place, ready to KILL KILL KILL!
6 cyclists turned up at Batu 14 parking, 4 of them Ironman. Bachin, Dicky, Azwar & Suffian. This is going to be an interesting ride...as I whispered softly to Saiful hiding behind the car...kui kui kui.

So far so good. The pace was consistently maintained at 27-30kph till the Peres junction. Beautiful indeed. The 9km staircase was persistent despite a minor glitch for Azwar's bike when his front tyre POP due to aging factor. He decided to meet us at Tekala instead.

The ride to Tekala was a different perspective this time around when Saiful and me were wondering and cursing our ourselves away due to the "additional" climbs. Aik?! Ada lagi bukit ke? Ingat dah sampai...hmmm. Those were the words & a minimal laughter did not even appear on our bored faces.

We reached Tekala and joined the rest for breakfast. The session was noisy with jokes followed by laughters. About 10.30am we hit the road back through the staircase to Savana. We decided to end today's ride with the short abrupt 3km wall up Bukit Hantu. That was where I learned the sky is the limit...more like my limit for today. None of my previous attempts up this hill were glitched with curses but today, it was worse. I had to stop 4 times!!! That bad maaa...aiyo! My kaki was melting not just due to the killing sun behind my back, but also maybe from the distance covered earlier this morning...plus the terrain.

Saiful couldn't agree more. He suffered the same degree of pain. It was a good move to schedule our prep rides like this or else there won't be another yardstick to gauge our capability after our long haul.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Tekong Mambang

The much awaited event day finally came for the takraw enthusiasts in Zone 3 Suakasih. A month long of planning & training came through. Majlis perasmian gelanggang takraw Zon 3 Suakasih took place yesterday at the court itself. Our sports bureau managed to invite Zone 2 teams for friendly matches of 5 teams.

Despite the preparation with canopies, drinks, breakfast & launching by our fellow chairman, the matches itself were the ones focused upon. Our crazy laughters & jokes from our routine daily evening takraw sessions faded & melted away when the first match nearing. Pale faces seen on the court, be it the homeys or the visitors.

Skills gone. Unnecessary mistakes made. Muka semua pucat beb. Air liur pun takde nak telan. Most of us were mentally disturbed due to the tremendous pressure on the nerve system. Trust me...it was not a nice sight once oneselves are on the court. The feeling & view was horryfying. We laughed our guts away due to our defeat from 4 teams. However, it was an awesome event. It will be a month or perhaps years of long talks when we gather some day.

Congrats to the winning team & better luck for the defeated. Millions thanks to my fellow neighbours for the lively neighbourhood environment. Many thanks to the takraw aficionados for introducing the sport to Zone 3 & managed to have our own beloved court. I strongly believed that there aren't any simpler & fun way to get people together besides other than sports itself.

The aficionados:
  1. Mat
  2. Yusairy
  3. Shah
  4. Rosdi
  5. Nasa
  6. Naza
  7. Agus
  8. Yusry
  9. Nizam
  10. Azman
  11. Arif
  12. Amir
  13. Hidayat
  14. Wan
  15. Fahri
  16. Haslizan
  17. Mutalib
  18. Me

Back in the groove

After overcoming my mind & demotivation from the lack of cycling chutzpah, eventually I've managed to get myself back in the groove. It was planned as a joy ride from Batu 14 to Genting Peres with minimal effort on Saturday. There were Saiful, Bachin & me rolling off at 7.45am.

Weather was great but sun flickered early as we drag our lazy legs up the 9km climb. The ride back to Batu 18 proved that I had lost milage after the "long haul" (refer previous post). Even maintaining 25kph was impossible. I had to made it a scenic 21kph ride with starving gut.

Roti banjir was the chosen menu at Batu 18 which seemed not enough. Made new friends with some fellow beginners admiring our ride machines while we ate. Exchanging phone numbers with Lan.

The 7km ride back to Batu 14 was great after refuelling but the pain & stinging muscles definitely explained that I need a perfect preparation for the upcoming Kuala Kangsar event.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Long haul

The sickness took me about 3 weeks to recover...physically & mentally. Nothing about cycling aroused me during those 3 horrible weeks. I ended it by paying a visit back to my hometown, taking the chance during the labour day holiday for a nice relaxing lazily 4 days till weekend.

It started to crossed my mind about working out again on Monday morning. The closest target will be the Kayuhan Jati Diri on 29-June in Kuala Kangsar. It should be one hell of a road trip...I hope. I won't be underestimating the 40km route considering my 3 weeks long haul. The plan should start this weekend. Hope it will, since the weather is getting warmer by the day ever since the start of May.