Much Ado About Everything but BikeTrials

Since the start of the year, I had been extremely busy with getting the kids ready for their new school.

Joel and Jordan were now in Standard 3 and Standard 1 respectively. So, since 5th January, I had been sending them to school before 1:00pm and then picking them up after 7:00pm. By the time I got them home, it would be about 8:30pm. Everything had been so hectic and all of us needed to adapt to these new timing and schedules.


First day of school!


Jordan in his Standard 1 class.


Joel in his Standard 3 class.

Eel Fishing in Sekinchan

Two weeks ago, a friend suggested that we go eel fishing in Sekinchan near Kuala Selangor. None of us caught any eel but we managed to eat some nice shark porridge to console ourselves... LOL.

After lunch, I took Joel and Jordan for a walk on the jetty along the waterfront. I am not sure when, but Joel and Jordan seemed to be making a lot of these funny poses when being photographed... LOL.








Mantis prawns waiting to be processed.


Believe it or not, this truck is still working, transporting container loads of fresh seafood from the jetty.

The New Putrajaya Bike Park

Anyway, last Saturday, I managed to pay a visit to the Putrajaya Bike Park somewhere in Precinct 20. This was after dropping my kids off at a tuition center at around 10:00am. I managed to capture some photos of the place.


A section of the downhill trails.


The trails are being designed and worked on my a professional downhill trail designer.


The skate park is still under construction, but there were some kids already skating there.


Another view of the skate park.

Knowing that it would be a rush, I did not bring my bike. I did not stay long at the park as I was rushing for time to get back to pick up my kids from the tuition center, and then sending them to their school for some Chinese New Year holiday replacement classes. It was a very hectic Saturday... anyway, I told myself that I must go back and ride! LOL.

I managed to pick Joel and Jordan up by noon from the tuition center and then took them for lunch before sending them to their school. After that I had some major free time from 1:00pm till 6:30pm.

And so I contacted Syarul and asked him if he was interested to ride trials in the Tasik Shah Alam park around 1:30pm. He was on! But we met up at around 2:30pm... my bad, as traffic was terrible that day. To my surprise, Syarul had sold off his 20" Adamant. He is now planning on getting a 20" Monty Kamel... an expensive Kamel... LOL.

A New Pair of Venzo Gloves

After riding, just before picking up my kids from school, I decided to go to the bike shop in Sungay Way to get a new pair of gloves. I decided to try out some new gloves from Taiwan. The price tag of RM55 were pretty reasonable, unfortunately the quality were not... LOL.


The new Venzo gloves from Taiwan.

The very next day, I was so keen to try out the new pair of Venzo gloves. It was the first Sunday in 2009, that I could afford the time to practice trial at home in the evening. After about one and a half hours of practice, I could not continue any longer. Turned out that the new gloves gave me blisters, about 9 of them to be exact! Hurts like hell!

Gonna try them again soon... hopefully, I will fair better the next time around. If not, then I guess it is back to the old and torn pair of 661!


The trial sections that I setup at home to practice trials. You can see my kids are having a swell time drawing chalk graffitti on them.

I hope this coming Saturday morning, I will be able to ride in the Putrajaya Bike Park and then if all goes well (that is... no injuries... LOL), then in the evening, I can practice trials at home, just before the Chinese New Year holidays.

Christmas BikeTrials and Trouble with a Pair of Reebok

Earlier this week I received a text message from Syarul to go riding trials on Christmas day. I had to turn him down as I was not mobile due to a bad car accident a few weeks ago that put my pick-up in the workshop.

My last biketrial outing was to the Shah Alam Xtreme park and since then, I had only been riding in and around my house. I missed a happening MTB hash in Putrajaya and a BikeTrial demonstration event opposite the Tesco in Shah Alam last weekend. I am looking forward to getting my truck back next week.


Learning the rear wheel stand on a stack of wooden pallets.

Anyway, whenever I could ride, I have been focusing my training my balancing on the rear wheel stand in a confined and limited space; and on a stack of wooden pallet.

I rationalised that without a good balance control on the rear wheel stand, it would be very difficult for me to progress properly and consistently to the other related skills. And to make it more challenging, I must not only be able to rear wheel stand in a confined space but also a space that is elevated at least a foot or more off the ground (to let me get use to the height... LOL).

I had been training the rear wheel stand on the wooden pallets for 2 weeks now and I could see progress and improvement in the control of the bike.

And so today, on this perfect weather Christmas day, I got up at about 10:00am and started riding. I decided to try out the new pair of Reebok shoes I bought from Jakarta specifically for biketrial.


Bought this pair of Reebok from Jakarta for only RM95.

After my usual stretching, I warmed up with some hopping and pivoting. Then I started on the rear wheel stand and the first thing I noticed about the new shoes were that the soles were made of a harder compound and I could not get a good grip on the pedals.


The grips on my Echo's pedals were pretty sharp and had been on target to destroy all three pairs of my favourite riding shoes.

I did not know it at first but the Reebok's lack of grip on the pedal had affected my riding. I could not balance well on the rear wheel stand as I could not grip the pedals properly to hop to adjust my balance.


My many attempts at balancing on the rear wheel stand with the new pair of Reebok. (The background Power Puff theme song was hummed by my daughter... adding to the tension... LOL.)

After numerous attempts of struggling with the bike and getting really frustrated, I decided to switch back to my old Bata Power runners... LOL.


The old reliable Bata Power runners.


The sole of the Reebok and the Bata Power shoes compared.


With the old Bata shoe, the difference is obvious... LOL.

After switching to the old Bata shoe, I could immediately rear wheel stand properly. Maybe the Reebok needed to be seasoned. I hope I can worked it into a nice pair of riding shoes. And...


My pair 661 gloves.

... I need to get a new pair of gloves that reinforced the padding around the index finger. I guess biketrials is more demanding on the braking and thus more wear and tear around the index finger. This pair of 661 did not even last a year!

All in all, riding biketrial is an excellent way to spend Christmas day! Here is wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Fun Day at Shah Alam Xtreme Bike Park

Today, I had a great day at the Shah Alam Xtreme Bike Park.

Actually, my plan for the day was to ride the Elmina-Saujana trails at Sg. Buloh in the morning and later head on to the Shah Alam Lake Garden to ride biketrials. I brought my cross country bike as well as my trial bike... :-)

On the way to our meeting point at Restoran Salma in Saujana, I received a call from Jovey and Joe telling me that we should change venue as it had been raining the whole of last night and early this morning. In all likelihood, the trails would be muddy and unridable.

I told Jovey that Sean et al, will be riding at the Shah Alam Xtreme Bike Park and that maybe we all should join them. Everyone agreed... :-)

This was my third time at the Shah Alam Xtreme Bike Park. The first time was when Syarul brought me and a couple of Singaporean biketrial riders there to ride.

A New Personal Milestone

I had a great time riding my 20" Monty at the Shah Alam Xtreme Bike Park. And of course, I reached another new personal milestone in trials, which was the reason why I was so happy today... LOL. For the first time, I was able to climb up a flight of stairs using my trial bike! HAhaha... what a great feeling. I climbed the stairs a number of times for good measure just to make sure I get the technique down... in other word, kiasu... LOL.

Normally, I would have taken photos or videos when riding, but today, it completely slipped my mind. I was having too much fun... LOL.

An Australian in Shah Alam

We called it a day at about 1pm. The guys decided to have lunch at the Burger King next to the park. At Burger King, Yang asked me to helped an Australian by giving directions on how to get to BikePro (a bicycle shop in Taman Megah). After drawing a map and explaining the directions, I found out that Breton, the Australian, had wanted to go to BikePro just so he could get some cardboard boxes to pack some stuff and the only two bike outlets that he knew was BikePro in Taman Megah and the KSH in TTDI.

And Miles to Go Before I Sleep

Apparantly, Breton had been a teacher in Japan. I do not know how long it took him, but since he left Japan, he had cycled through India, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand , etc. to get to this point in Burger King, Shah Alam. All in all, he covered some 5,800 km on his bike!!!! And now he wanted to find BikePro just so he could get some boxes to pack his bike for his flight to Perth and then cycle the rest of the way back to Adelaide.

Hahaha... sorry, I cannot help laughing... but knowing the owner of BikePro's reputation, he would probably charge a bomb just for the cardboard boxes... LOL...


Sin Mee Trading Company, a Lerun franchise that carries notable bikes like Cannondale and Giant bikes.


The ever so helpful Rizal and Faizal.

Anyway, I offered to take Breton and his bikes on my pick-up to a bicycle shop in Subang Jaya. After consulting Sean and Frank, I took Breton to the Sin Mee Lerun bike shop in SS14, Subang Jaya. The guys there were so generous. They actually unpack a brand new bike to get the box for Breton. Thanks guys!

High and Mighty!

After that, I dropped Breton off at the High and Mighty Hostel in SS15, Subang Jaya, and said goodbye as I had to rush off to pick up my kids. The following are some photos I took of Breton assembling his bike after I dropped him off at the High and Mighty Hostel.









I really take my hat off to Breton and all other riders, whom have made this kind of commitment to travel great distances on their bicycles. Perhaps, in another time I may go on such an odyssey as well, perhaps.