Penang Highest Mountain Ride -August 21, 2011

Last week Team Vista has a very hard event. We are planning to ride to the top of  Penang Island . That's call Penang Hill, also can be name : Bukit Bendera. The height of the hill is above sea level 830 meter,total distance of the trail is nearly 5 km. This is the most highest & slop hill road trail that we never been try before.This time,due to we know that this is not an easy ride;so we decided to carry our bike with our car to meet all the rider at Botanical Garden.This garden is a main entrance to Penang hill.

At nearly 8.45am,all the team rider have arrived (total 14 rider for this event). We start to try this most difficult & hard trail.Heard from some experiences hill climber,total routine have only two rest point. The two rest point name 48 & 84 (the climber also don't know where this code came from,but every climber call that.) When start we already have to climb nearly 40 degree slop tar road. The slop is all the way(no flat land at all)& a lot of shard corner,some slop we feel that is nearly 60 degree. We all using nearly  30 minute to reach the first rest point(that's 48).We have two rider due to took their breakfast heavily & feeling not well(That is our team captain Ken & rider Tan).We took 20 minute to rest & let both of them to recover, after that we start to climb again.

From 48 to second rest point 84 is not that slop,but is still no flat land for us. We used about 15 minute to reach the second rest point 84. We stop at 84 to wait for the slow comer.In 84 rest point,that's serve a free drink & free coffee.Only thing is after drink you can donate some money that you like.This is to support for this rest point to keep on duty for all the hill climber & morning walker.We all using 20 minute in 84 & start to challenge the final trail.This time we all feel more energy(may be after have a cup of coffee in 84). Every one try their very best to finish the journey. At 10.50am,finally we all reach the top of Penang Island.Is feel great,we can view the whole Penang island like using a bird view,is really beautiful.This Sunday got a lot of tourist here.We also ask some tourist help us to took our group photo.One group of Taiwanese tourist invite us go to Taiwan to cycling with them,they say that they know Team Vista & very happy can meet us in Penang hill.

We rest at Penang Hill nearly 1 hour. In 12.00pm,we start to roll down,of cause when climb hill is slop & down hill will be very fast & dangerous.From Penang Hill down to the Botanical Garden we only use about 30 minute with two stop(due to must keep the break pad cool). You see climb hill time we used  nearly 2 hour but for down hill is only 30 minute,you can imagine how slop of the trail is.At 12.40pm,we all reach Botanical Garden,& today event Penang Highest Mountain Ride is end.

This week event is not an easy ride,but is not a difficult ride also.We all feel happy & have a lot of fun in the journey.For Team Vista,this is another type of  Ride For Fun too.

Single Speed Ride-August 7, 2011

This week the event is test our patience & body fitness purpose. We name the event Single Speed Ride,is mean all the rider will only can use a single gear without changing the gear to complete all the journey.This time we start at 7.30am ,due to early morning raining;so it slightly delay our flag off time. The routine of this event is from Relau via Sungai Ara through Gertak Sanggul.Total team rider & cycling friends who join this event is 22 person. The distance of this event is about 40 km & time to use is about 3 & half hours.

When start to ride is feel very difficult,becuase we all using high gear.We feel the bike can't roll due to the gear is too light.But we also worry about is we use low gear when climbing the slop will be difficult.So,we can see all cyclist keep pumping their leg to push the bike forward.Even though this morning the weather is cold,but our body is keep on sweating.Normal ride,we only used 40 minute to reach Gertak Sanggul,but this time we used nearly an hour to reach there.Is really tired & our body is all wet.We take a rest in Gertak Sanggul about 20 minute ,than we decided to go to Batu Maung market to have our break fast.

On the way to Batu Maung,maybe all of us already understand the rhythm of single speed,we can feel all the cyclist can ride faster , easier on the flat road & climbing the slop.At about 9.20am,we all reach Batu Maung market.Our team rider Eddie meet his friend in the market,& his friend invited us to have some nice fried pork & roast duck.(due to the market is having a Chinese Ghost festival celebration,it serve a lot fruits , roast duck,chicken & fried pork). We all enjoy the food that Eddie friends supply,it really taste good.

 We rest in the market for 40 minute. About 10.20am, we start to ride back to Relau,of cause we all using single speed to riding home too. We reach Relau about 11.15am & this Single Speed Ride event is end .Today journey to us is really different,is a good practice for patience & fitness. We will arrange this type of single speed ride in Team Vista event again. Is really a healthy & a good ride to us.

Penang Garden Ride July 31, 2011

Time have pass very fast, very soon another week for Team Vista event begin. This week our event title is Penang Garden ride.We are not round the small garden near our house. The event is to ride all the garden that we could go through Penang Island.Total distance will be 50 km & the time we need is roughly 4-5 hours. As usual We all gather in Relau(Team Vista starting point).7.00am sharp we flag off,This event we have total 23 cyclist including  12 Team Vista rider.Team Vista is slowly glow become a big group from earlier 15 rider weekly ride until 25 to 30 cyclist in a week.

We start from Relau via Bukit Jambul road to Bukit Gambir road. In Bukit Gambir road there got a small slop roughly 45 degree tar road up hill.The distance is short(about 1 Km) ,but for some new comer is already give them a pleasure.Near by the Bukit Gambir road that's a small hill behind it.On top that small hill have a chinese temple, We also climb up to that hill to check in to the chinese temple.Is a very slop & hard trail to that temple ,but our cyclist manage to complete with out pushing the bike.We use 20 minute to rest at the temple than we start ride to another venue Penag Youth Park (Taman Bandar Raya).

From Bukit Gambir to Youth Park is about 30 minute ride,we all reach Youth Park at 8.50am.Youth park is a land mark garden in Penang island,have a very beautiful view & surrounding with all the  wood & flower. After a 15 minute stop, we ride to another land mark & historical garden in Penang (Botanical Garden) this is an oldest public garden in Penang island. From Youth Park to Botanical Garden is very near, about 2 km ride.We stop at road side fruit store to have some fresh fruit juice & meet our team photographer there. We took some nice photo & rest a bout 20 minute, Than we decided to use Gurney Drive( the outer beach road) to ride back to Relau.

On the way back, we also stop at the Tan Bridge(one of the historical place)to have our break fast.We took 30 minute to have a rest & finish our meal. At 11.15am, we all start to ride back to Relau. We used Jelutong high way through Bayan Baru to Relau,when we reach Relau is nearly 12.00pm.

Sound like this event is easy.but due to have some new beginner cyclist to join us; for them is a bit hard & tired.But its ok,they also feel that it is really fun & enjoy the event & want to have another trip like this again.

Ya,our team photographer also took a lot of nice photo in this event. We will public soon when the photo is ready.