Review: Shimano CE-S40RS Sunglasses

I am wearing prescription glasses so getting a sunglasses is quite a troublesome for me until I find this pair from Shimano. I have friends got other brands that prescription glasses stick to the sunglasses and some of them complaint about the dizziness as it is curved according to the sunglasses. Shimano sunglasses are different from others as the prescription glasses is a clip-on. The clip-on actually do support a number of Shimano models. So, when you are bored with the sunglasses, you can change it anytime without changing your prescription glasses.

 

Opening up from the box, it comes with a hard and soft casing and 2 pieces of glasses – clear and dark. So far I only use the dark glasses. It works fine in early morning and even better under the hot sun. Of course, the glasses are not as good as those polarized lens but it just works for me. Also, I find it very stylist and it fits my features. Lastly, it is cheap as I got it from CyclingExpress for <Rm200 and the Shimano prescription frame for <RM60.

Yes, I would recommend to anyone who is in tight budget or doesn’t want to spend that much for a sunglasses.

Travel: Street Arts in Kuala Lumpur

Street arts or murals in Malaysia are actually started off in Penang. The State government was trying to lure tourist into Penang by providing beautiful murals which they were quite successful into doing that. There and then it started to spread elsewhere in Malaysia. If I am not mistaken, Johor was the next location they painted but it was removed due to some controversial paintings. Then, it started to spread to Ipoh and now in KL.

Since my riding were all in the morning and I did have free time to walk around in the afternoon. So, my friend took me to SS2, Petaling Jaya to have lunch and then walked around the place. To my surprise there are quite a number of murals around and some are quite unique and nice. See for yourself…

Oh, remember to stop by for lunch or tea time as there are so many restaurant around it and most of them serving quite a good food.

This was one of the coolest cab I have ever seen in Malaysia. I guessed he was going off road after off duty…

Trail: Bukit Hantu and Peres

If you follow my previous blog (Dragon Back), this was a day 2 of my ride in KL. We started off from Batu18, Hulu Langat – Batu14, Hulu Langat – Bukit Hantu – Peres – Batu 18. A total distance of 55km and 2 climbed. This was not the 1^st time I rode here but I didn’t have any picture taken last time. The word “Batu” here means miles in Malay. So, Batu 18 to Batu 14 is 4 miles ride or ~6.5km. According to my friend it is best to park the car at Batu 18 and cycle to Batu 14 for a start. 2 reasons: 1) it is safer to ride from Batu 18 – Batu 14 in the morning as lesser cars. 2) it is less hot to ride there in the morning as the stretch of road has not much covered. So, if you park at Batu 14, you will have to ride 6.5km with traffics and under a hot sun back to your car when complete.

This is one of the few favorite places of mine when I ride in KL. This place is covered with trees from both side and the temperature is cooling in the morning. Best of all, it is 28km from Petaling Jaya. So, I can still sleep late and get there within 35-45mins time.

Both the Bukit Hantu and Peres is a Category 3 climb by Strava (Category 1 as hardest). You will definitely need some physical strength to cycle here or make stops. Between the 2 hills, Bukit Hantu is a tougher climb as it is about 5 degree gradients on average and Peres is only about 2 degree gradients. My bike has a semi compact setting (smallest chainrings – 36) and largest cog is 25. I was still managed to climb without difficulty.

The route towards Bukit Hantu.

 

Once you are down from Bukit Hantu, turn left to Semenyih Dam towards Peres. Remember to stop by the dam for magnificent view, rest, smell the fresh air and take selfie. 🙂 Along the way, there are many beautiful scenery.

These are the pictures taken at Peres

     

A number of people didn’t stop here at Peres as one can still continue on to Titi town. That will take you another 20-25km for a good Wan Tan Mee. So, a return trip is about 100km. If you do, try to go early as that stretch of road can be very hot as not much trees cover along the road.

I do love this place so much especially riding back to the car as you will pass by the Malay Kampung (village) and it just felt so peaceful. Once you reached Batu 18 town, remember to go for a refreshing barley drink. The shop is on the left side of the road and you can’t miss it as it has lots of bikes park outside.

The only downside of cycling here is people are using the road as a race track especially Peres. When we were cycling up Peres, there were motorbikes raced up the hill and cars were racing down the hill when we returned. At one point, the car came to about 1-2 feet away from me as they were turning into a corner. I had a cold sweat at that moment. At least the road condition here is much better than anywhere else as it is nicely paved.

I guessed I am just too comfortable riding in Penang as the route I am frequent didn’t have much street racing but it gets very boring after a while. Well, I may try to go earlier next time to avoid those crazy drivers.

Trail: The Dragon Back

2 weekends ago I celebrated my birthday with rides only. I had 2 consecutive rides in 2 days and in KL. They were Dragon Back and Bukit Hantu but let me blog about Dragon Back 1^st. I have been hearing about this place from friends who rode there and pictures taken by people. So, I told myself that I wanted to do this at least once.

The routes we have taken were from Bukit Jelutong – GCE (Guthrie Corridor Expressway) – LATAR (KL-Kuala Selangor Expressway) – Ijok – Dragon Back – Budiman – Cahaya SPK. From GCE to LATAR the route was basically a lot of rolling with about 25-50m climb and it was not a steep climb with just about 1-2 degree gradient. Once we got into Ijok town it was pretty much flat until we reached Dragon Back. We had our breakfast at McDonald’s at Puncak Alam before heading to Dragon Back for the last few climbs.

Restoran MMZ Bukit Jelutong

GCE and LATAR is a highway as stated above. GCE is a bit safer because it has dedicated motorcycle lane that we can use. Anyway, it is still not safe if you are riding side by side or overtaking another cyclist. There are bikes will always zoom by you which I hated it.

Famous pit stop area for cyclist in GCE

 

LATAR is even worse as it is open road and the cars are speeding down the expressway. Not only that, it has intersections where cars are merging into highway.

There are many groups who train there weekly but it is still need the open eyes to ride there. Take it aside on safety; these expressways are also hot as there are no trees around it and there wasn’t much view also.

Thought the route will improve as we continued with our journeys. Obviously not! The roads from Ijok to Dragon Back were pretty bad maintained and there were just too many heavy vehicles use this route. The roads were filled with potholes, uneven ground, metal pieces, gravels and sands. Not only that, there were trucks carrying rocks and it was falling off from the truck. We all pretty much have to maneuver away from it to avoid being hurt or damage our bikes. These roads were just full of hazardous materials. I couldn’t even stop for pictures as the roads were narrow and full of trucks. The trail was getting better only after we got into Dragon Back to Bukit Jelutong. The only picture I managed to take was the Ijok town which the road here just repaved as shown below.

To get to Dragon back from Ijok town, it is just 1 way until you hit the Puncak Alam sign as shown below. You will need to turn right and then you will see a McDonald’s. Then look up for Sempadan Daerah Petaling sign on your left where you will need to turn left immediately after that. Along the Ijok town, you will pass by a Petronas gas station, Chinese cemetery, then a winding road and also a Hindu Temple on your right before you see Puncak Alam sign.

 

So, was Dragon Back a hard climb for me? Well, after ridden for closed to 70km in distance, I would say it was just a moderate easy. The average gradient is around 3-6 degree only with max elevation at about 71 meter. I heard that people do reverse Dragon Back which will be easier when you are fresh but that will take away the challenges already.

Actually, the challenge was not Dragon Back. It was Budiman and Cahaya SPK. Max elevation for these 2 hills is about 141 meter but don’t let that fool you. Both of these hills have around 7-8 degree gradient climb from lowest ground to the top. Anyone can get a cramp if you are tired.

Well, here I was and my conclusion for this place is like “meh…” only. It is definitely not the best trail I have ridden here in KL. If you don’t have much time in KL, you may pass this route and do others. Luckily I have great companies to make my day better.

Review: Rear Bicycle Light

Recently I just bought a rear light for my road bike and it is 100 lumens brightness. It is something very similar to Moon brand but this is China made Comet brand. I got it from Aliexpress for <USD9 and it sure is worth it. The only problem getting it from Aliexpress is the delivery is slow if you are utilizing the free postage.

There is no way you can differentiate the Moon and Comet brand. Both look the same and functionality is same too except for the pricing and the mounting bracket. Moon comes with additional saddle mounting which Comet does not have.

As mentioned, the brightness for this light is 100 lumens and I can tell you it is very bright at night and it can light up a dark room too. The light is running on rechargeable battery and they do provide a USB cable for charging. It has 2 settings and each setting has 3 different brightness or different speed for the flashing.

The brightness can adjust to 25%, 50% or 100% but I don’t use this function. I mainly use the flashing lights for battery saving and don’t want to irritate the drivers eyes which can cause more problem to me. In flashing mode, it has 3 settings also – slow, medium and fast flashing. My preference is medium flashing.

Since it is so cheap, you must be thinking surely there is a flaw. Well, it does. The mounting bracket they provided cannot fit onto my aero seat tube. The cable they provided is not long enough. Also, when I tried to put it on my seat stay it was too lose. I had to put another piece of rubber to fit onto my seat stay. Other than this, I am very happy about it.

Yes, I would recommend this light to anyone who is using conventional seat tube or you don’t mind to improvise the fitting.

Event: Beach To Beach Charity Ride

Well, as promised my next post wasn’t about Air Itam Dam anymore…

Not long ago I accompanied a friend mine for a charity ride in Butterworth. The event was organized by Lions Club of Bagan and Kelab Berbasikal Butterworth (KBB). This was the 1^st time I joined an event that was held in Butterworth and I can say my 1^st to ride to this route too.

The distance wasn’t short for a fun ride as it covered 70km and took us 3 hours to complete. Though it was 70km but it was also completely a flat route. So, with some physical fitness and practices, anyone can do it. It took us that long as there were 2 compulsory stops for regroup, water refilling or grabbed a banana. Also, my friend average speed wasn’t that fast. 🙂

This 70km route went thru a lot of villages, padi field and some plantation. Also, it was couple with early rain that clears the sky and brought cool weather. It was really a nice ride with beautiful scenery.

It was drizzling morning but still a rideable condition and I would give the organizer 2 thumbs up. There were enough marshals along the way and all the traffic lights were well taken care of. Also, I keep hearing them communicate thru walkie-talkie to ensure no one was left behind.

If you ask me to ride here again, I will definitely come back for another personal ride but I will look for longer distance and some hill climbing. This route is just too flat. Or, I will borrow a foldie to ride here. 🙂 (oh… wait… I don’t do slow ride… hahaha)