riding: road and off-road

i bought a bicycle in august. a mountain bike (or mtb). since then I’ve been riding the bike on KL streets every now and then. generally the streets are always with vehicles all the time. It’s just that the timing has to be right to ride safely.

i do take precautions for a safe night ride - front and rear flashers, helmet, long sleeve shirt with reflectors, side reflectors (on the wheel spokes). usually I’d go pedalling after 11pm. the streets are not as busy, the surroundings are quiet, and the air is cool sans dust and smoke.

one time during ramadhan after sahur i rode to jalan raja chulan, took a turn at menara kl and straight to jalan ampang via jalan p. ramlee. From jalan ampang i went home in jalan inai through jalan tun razak, jalan bukit bintang and jalan delima. one thing i hate the most: dogs. They’ll bark at me like mad.

my road rides are not that far. usually I’d take around 1 to 1½ hour each trip to and fro. from Jalan Inai, so far i had gotten to jalan raja chulan (near the weld), jalan sultan ismail, jalan bukit bintang, jalan pinang, jalan p. ramlee, jalan conlay, jalan stonor, jalan kia peng, jalan tun razak (and continue to jalan semarak). once i took jalan semarak right to the end (pulapol). turned out that it led to jalan ayer panas. man... that’s already setapak. the next road ride would be to taman tasik titiwangsa insyaAllah. I’d love to ride to sentul west area someday. and revisit jalan strachan. it would be best if it is during the day - perhaps during a public holiday that falls on a tuesday, wednesday or thursday.

i don’t know if i could do it, but I’ve had ridden a few times from jalan strachan to kampung pandan (nearby tesco ampang). those trips were back when i was young - 15 or so. i used to live in jalan strachan. i made the trips to kg pandan to learn play the guitar with my cousin. or just for the challenge of riding far. Here’s my route to kg. pandan: jalan strachan - jalan ipoh - turn at plaza pekeliling towards jalan tun razak - bulatan kampung pandan - jalan kampung pandan - kampung pandan (lorong C9). those trips were using a road bike (or we call it ‘racing’ bicycle) – a gift from ayah for my SRP results - pearl white Raleigh Rapide with 21 gears.

yesterday (public holiday - deepavali), i went off-road riding with Zulhisham (of Technip KL) and Shah Rafzee (the guy whom i bought my mtb from). we went to forest research institute of malaysia (FRIM) in Kepong. all my life, I’ve been there only once (and i can’t remember how i got there). yesterday was the second time. i enjoyed the ride. and the challenges that the trail offers. it has been quite a while since i last breath fresh air in the woods. riding in tranquility.

the weather was excellent. it was raining earlier in the morning. by the time we were in frim, it was all ok. the sky’s bright, with overcast - not hot and not humid, but breezy. The trail was damp. i had fun riding on the trail. we took the challenge of riding up a hill. Not steep, but long. soon after, came the reward: downhill riding. for this, brakes and poise need to be balanced. my rear tire skidded many times, but still in control. i really enjoyed the adrenaline rush. alhamdulillah, we came off safely.

for the next trip to frim, I’ll need better tires to grip the slippery trail - to steadily scale uphill and rush safely downhill. not bad for my first off-road riding. loved it! looking forward for the next one.