RIFLE RANGE BOY

At 'starting point' Have you heard the latest news around town? The National Heart Institute (Institut Jantung Negara, IJN) is offering free stress tests. Unlike other medical procedures, this one is not conducted in a hospital; it is carried out on the streets. Yes, IJN organised its annual premier cycling event, IJN Ride. All you need to do is sign up, choose your category, and ride. If you have anything suggestive of a heart condition, IJN will take it from there. So, there it was. IJN Ride For Your Heart on 19th January 2025. The 115 km ride was scheduled to start at 7am. So there we were, waiting at the starting line in Anyara Hills, Semenyih, a new housing development. And waiting. The announcer had run out of announcements to make in his not-so-proficient English. The VIP was still not there to flag the participants. Despite being the State's Chief Minister with police outriders and controlled traffic for him to pass through, he thought it fashionable to arrive late....

  From Berita MMA, September 2024. This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/08/14/from-srinagar-to-ladakh-a-cyclists-diary/ They say to go forth and explore, to go to the planet’s edge to increase the depth of your knowledge. Learning about a country is best done doing the things the local populace does, travelling with them, amongst them, not in a touristy way, in a manicured fashion in a tourist’s van but on leg-powered machines called bicycles. Itching to go somewhere after our memorable escapade in South Korea, cycling from Seoul to Busan, as the borders opened up after the pandemic, somebody threw in the idea of cycling from Kashmir to Ladakh. Long story short, there we were, living our dream. The plan was to cycle the 473km journey, climbing 7378m ascent in 8 days, between 6th July 2024 and 12th July 2024. This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

It looks like we are still immersed in the euphoria of our recent close to 500km ride from Srinagar to Leh, Ladakh. Friends and well-wishers continue wishing their felicitations and, in not so many words, tell us to thank our lucky stars (or the Almighty) that we were still able to complete the crunching climb of 7,000 metres at this age. One of the fellow cyclists in the group did not take kindly to that phrase. He had put in so much effort throughout his life to keep fit. After leaving school and leading a more sedentary life, he decided to go back to his active ways after seeing his father suffering from various complications of diabetes. From someone who jogged around the housing estate, he graduated to running long distances, hiking, and cycling. By a twist of fate, he found other fellow ‘madmen’ who shared his eccentricity amongst his neighbours. Hence, he started the weekend sorcery of commitments to hiking, running, and cycling. The avalanche in the weekend noradrenaline rush w...

Learnt a few new words over the weekend. A cyclist earns the title of randonneur once he successfully completes 200km of long-distance cycling. In some countries, Audax (bold in Latin) is the term to differentiate elite cyclists and clumsy riders with clunky vehicles. Once he completes the 200km course, he receives a certificate, a Brevet. Cycling as a sport started at the turn of the 20th century when people not only discovered its versatility but also found it to be a woman empowerment tool. For the first time, ladies sprung to learn cycling. For Victorian women, it was their licence to partake in politics and business. The ease of cycling changed their gender-assigned roles confined to their homes. Women Power It also became a fad then for boys and girls to find romance on the wheels. If in the 1950s, it was cool to hang out at ice-cream parlours, teenagers got their kicks by cycling side by the people they fancied. The road at their feet and a convenient contraption at their dispos...

We Are Nature (2021) Pictures by: Wim Michiels I met Wim and Ellen during their tour of duty to Malaysia. When they were here, we met every now and then. They kept me updated on their yet another adventure. Besides being keen hikers and long-distance runners, they soon debelled into cycling. One of the most adventurous expeditions that they embarked upon must surely be their journey to Japan. They did it in style, however. Investing in a tandem bicycle, they started their journey in Kuala Lumpur and cycled their way all the way to Sapporo in Japan. Of course, I assume there must have been a ferry trip somewhere between South Korea to Japan and to Hokkaido. Taking an extended leave from their daytime jobs and sorting out familial commitments, armed with basic necessities, pedal and leg power and the traditional paper maps, they embarked on their journey.   Their excited family members and friends managed to follow their progress as they periodically updated their positions on their ...

  T junction - Semenyih, Hulu Langat Batu 18, Genting Peres. This junction had seen better days. Weekends and holidays used to be marked with a hive of activities, loud banters and laughs. Streams of cyclists enjoyed the mild temperatures, the greenery and the challenge of steep hills leading to Genting Peres. This is the once busy T-junction of Batu 18 Hulu Langat leading to Peres and beyond. Now it stands a sorry sight of the testimony of all the putrifying underhand dealings that had been happening right under our noses. Used to be a family heirloom, now a staircase to nowhere. To me, this reminds me of my own imaginary vision of how the world would be after the apocalyptical World War 3 - a pillbox amidst the man-made ruin, standing proud as the last man standing, a symbol of victory after a zero-sum game. To the outside world, it was a front for prosperity. Unbeknownst, behind the row of lush greenery that paved the web of highways lay hidden hectares over hectares of governme...