Pearl Hill Tg Bungah - A Cyclist Heaven
A cyclist heaven. Pearl Hill is situated in Tg Bungah. It was supposed to be home to luxurious bungalows with good infrastructure. However only a few bungalows are built. The well laid tarred road are heaven for road bike or mtb alike with minimal traffic.
On weekends, morning or evening lots of people hike up the slope. Of late lots of cyclists begin to discover the serenity of cycling up this track. The uphill ride is esp good for those wanting to build up their stamina and polishing up their muscle. It is a 2.8 km uphill before you reach the end of the road and if you turn right having parked your bicyle you could walk toward a chinese temple (tua pek kong)l. From there you could enjoyed a panoramic view of Tg Bungah coastline and the air even though it is not very high is pretty refreshing in the morning and evening.
The ride down 2.8 km needless to say is exhilirating. If you game enough, you could try a few rounds of this up and down ride and it will guarrantee to trim your waistline.
Upon finishing the ride, you could stop by at the hawker centre in front of 7- 11 to have a bowl of delicious cendol with a plate of chicken rice.
So see you there, cyclists at Pearl Hill.
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Hi Look368,
Thank you for sharing the information. As I'm a newbie, riding up to pearl hill is very good training for me...
Many Thanks, Ray
Going up hill like this will be easier with MTB or racer? I believe tyres of MTB have more traction and therefore climbing will be easier as there will be more grip and friction, no?
Notice that all the Betong riders are using MTB.
With proper gearing. Go for a racer anytime. A racer's tires will give you more than enough grip to go up hills.A racer gives you shaper handling going up hills and going down hill. but the skinny tire won't allow you to get rough. if you're not going on dirt road often. a racer will do the job better than MTB anytime any where ON the road. A racer is made to go fast with minimal effort. the whole idea is FAST and EASY. regardless of going up hill or going down the hill.
As the name implies, MTB belongs to the dirth road. it has to be strong, smaller thicker rims so that they don't flex much. that's more weight. a good MTB's is very stiff. so weight again. in fact if you use a carbon frame, they are still heavier than racer's carbon. I got no problem with weight, in fact my favourite types of frame is chromoly. but to go up hill, light is better. since you asked about up hill, we talk about what's good for going up hill.
Never worry about the gearing. don't change the whole bike because the gearing is not right. keep your racer, change the gear. easily fixed and cheap.
On your racer, with a proper gearing, you can even go up penang hill. and your racer is so much lighter than those MTBs. you smoke the mountain boys on the flat for sure. so when i hear people said that a racer is not good for hill. I said why not ? just change the gear. Why change the bike ?
You don't use a four wheeled drive to go up against a porsche on the road. But, the 4 wheeled drive is an all rounder and the porsche is not. Then again, how many times do you go off road?
I have a feeling it may be easier to use a mtb for uphill. I have not tried so far. but certainly the appropriate gear system help a lot.I have changed to a 27 from 23 for the back gear and last sunday I did 6 rounds up and down.
Whoa ! How much did it cost you to change the gear? And where did you do it?
One good thing about using racer is it's lighweight. Carrying up and down stairs and buses or trucks is so much easier. And whenever I am on the wrong side of the road, I just have to carry my bike over the divider !
I am keen to look into the made-in-china Saso MTB used by the Betong cyclist, a retired teacher . It's made of carbon, light and cost only 2k or so !
Talking about the Betong retired teacher, he is 55 and now he does not have to go for recommended bypass after taking up cycling ! But mind you he cycles averagely 60km a day !!!
My back gear was a dura ace made from titanium come in a package with my Look bike but it is 23 good for those with good muscle and strong legs. I was struggling with it when going uphill but it is superb on level ground. Having discussed wtih "professional riders" i learned there are various sizes for the back gear 21,23, 25 and 27.The bigger it is of course the easier (lighter ) to go uphill.
I was debating whether to change the 25 at Chin Aik which is also Dura Ace titanium version cost >400 RM. i settled for the 27 even though it is of a lower model a shimano ultega costing only 140 RM inclusive of labour. It is really wonderful on hil climb now. No regret, when I have leg muscle like Amstrong, I will change back to my dura ace 23, titaium.
I have checked the web. Saso?? cannot find it but there lots of alternative carbon frame bikes from China. A bit weary of this Chinaman company. Unless i see the product, I would not trust a single cent with them.
When I go Betong again I will catch up with the retired teacher who is using a Saso.
Hey Dr, I believe you can be in the league of Armstrong or Cavendish when you can go up Pearl hill 6 times ! As for me so long as my leg does not prevent me from cycling another kilometer, I will be very happy. Long distance endurance ride will allow me to cycle from one town to another and to do that I may need some tips from you on how to prevent cramps and muscle aches. Tips on how to relieve and prevent muscle fatigue would be fantastic ! Having a 27 gear may help? If so I may consider changing too!
I have the privilege of free consultations with physiotherapists and sport medicine colleagues frequently.
Their constant reminder is pre exercise STRETCHING. The idea behind the stretching is to prime the muscle and stretch the muscle fibers in anticipation. Another good tip that I got from the triathlon group is to start off the ride with very high cadence to loosen up the muslce and primed them. Any sudden contraction and relaxation of unprimed not warm up muslce could injured the muslce resulting in microtear and this will manifest as muscle pain and it takes months if severe.
Sudden upping our level of riding and distance say from 5o km to 100 plus km in a short time could also tear the muscle. I was incapacitated for a few weeks for the last bridge run. I up my running from 10 km to 20 km in one weeks and 20 to 30 another week. I had such a severe shin splint that i had to stop running for a month and on daily physiotherapy. Our muslces are not make to be subjected to severe abuse in a short time. It will protest. However, it is very plastic. We can mold them to tolerate severe stress over a long period of time, gradually increasing the intensity and severity of our exercise.
Another interesting observation is muslce cramps. Muslce contraction and relaxation depends on a lots of electrolytes, sodium, potassium etc. Inadequate replacement is usu the cause. Isotonic drinks like 100 plus, Pro sweat (what a name for a drink!! but i remember it- that s good marketing) are supposed to have almost same electrolyte concentration as our body fluid (sweat). When we cycle at high speed or over long distance, the amount of water and electrolytes loss is a lot (imagine a miniature Formula One).
Note muscle cramps and muscle pain due to microtear are different in its cause and its prevention.
Conclusion 27 gear may not be the solution but regular and gradual upping of our ride in intensity and distance and a good stretch will go a long way to prevent injury.
Great tips, terima kasih Dr !
I read some where that if you do not have the correct height in the bicycle seat it can also cause muscle cramp?
http://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html