Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Batin

Hola,

On behalf of the FourFathers and all ROAMers, we would like to say:

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Batin
to all our Muslim friends......
keep the tyres rolling, ride and train more after raya celebration.

ROAM next battle will be the Kuala Lumpur Downtown 2008.

Our friends from local and overseas again will meet up, chill, chat, ride and race for this wonderful event.

Cheerio

Ramadhan we RIDE

Yo everyone,
saturday night, got sms from UB n Red regarding sunday nite ride at shah alam bike park..
unfortunately cant make it due to some problems..
then replied to UB saying can only make it that nite..
then, directly decided to have a ride that nite..


met UB at 10.30 and we met two new friends that claims themselves as beginners..but who give a damn...we just sharing our passions aite!!
they were asking a lot of questions and learn some basic stuff from UB..i like their attitude during the learning process..so humble...hehe
we had our full runs on the loosy track..even the front tire wash out easily..n it was so dark..
but who cares, we had lots of fun..playing with the fun box, mini drops...just avoided the north shore due to the place not lit very well..we were like a small kid who just got some new toy from daddy..yeah its ramadhan meaning we have to fast the whole day and results of not riding during the day. Myself, i left dh trip for almost a month. so, this is just the right time for me to rebel..hehehehhe
in overall, im heppi with the night ride and hoping to have more soon..
hey riding during the night time wasnt that bad at all..no suns, less tired and cool winds...so enjoyable..come guys, lets plan for the next night ride..even i dont mind doing XC.. :)

some pictures: it was hard to get in focus picture due to focusing trouble that caused by light..










p/s: uncle bully if u want the full resolution lemme noe k..can send u the email....perhaps facebook picture..haehaehae

Whistler - The Wrap

My fellow ROAMers and riders,

Me at look back

as I mentioned before its now about time to give a lil low-down of my Whistler trip.
I think it is not neccessary anymore to point out how stoked I am and how great it was.

Whip it

The trail maintenace was good, but not over the top, which means, that some of the trails were pretty fucked up due to the high traffic load during Crankworx.
Later on, the trailteam (18 guys) focused on the higher part of the mountain, called Garbanzo, to build the all new Freight Train, which is said to be a blast. The trailteam plans to double the amount of trails until 2010! Let's see...

Heart of Darkness

The trails in general have a high quality in terms of rideability - even though double diamond trails are one hack of a challenge (especially during rain!) everything is supersafely built. There are no doubles, no tricky things with bad surprises - if you find an obstacle you know it's meant to be ridden - so it's rideable for sure - if you dare.

The Fatcrobat

Talking about the rain: My recommendation would be to go there during July - the weather seems to be best from what the locals said and it is good to have Crankworx in the final week of your riding if you intend to be there around Crankworx. It was fun to see the slopestyle, but if you miss it out...nevermind. Don't make it a premise for your trip's planning. Advantage though: A lot of of companies were there and so I had the chance to ride my future Corsair König (www.corsairbikes.com) and it was FUN! Service from many companies included. Furthermore you will see a lot of pros (well...) and a lot of new stuff.


For the costs: I had a season-pass (450€, I guess) which pays off after 9 days of riding - ideal for longer holidays - and 2 weeks at least are a must - especially for first-timers there.
My accomodation was 150$ per night - devided by 4 riders. Hot tub included. Travel from Vancouver Airport to Whistler (about 3hours) is roughly 89$. Food and drinks are on a solid european level. So you should calculate about 30€ per day - if you go for a lil lunch and have breakfast and dinner at home. All kinds of fastfood are available. Maybe not Halal :)
Red will find GREAT beet there - KOKANEE tastes awesome :)

For your bike, expect to need 2 pairs of brakepads and 2 pairs of tires - tires are EXTREMELY expensive over there...so get your stuff from home. And take the heavy duty stuff with you...single ply is for kids :) Guys...it's rocky there in the Rocky Mountains...it's not Kiara :) Some of you might be surprised - to me, it reminds me of the Alps. Wide open spaces, rocky, loose terrain, Big Mountain at its VERY best!

Smoke and Mirrors

For the equipment - bring in a safety jacket and a goggle with interchangeable lenses for foggy days - have spare lenses as they scratch easily over the time. Treat the trails with repect - they otherwise they will bite back. One local said: "It's not the question IF you go down, but only when and how hard" - so keep that in the back of your mind if you wanna "survive" a longer time there.
For those of you who think they can ride (anything) - be humble and learn new. You think you can corner? Go to Whistler and see the locals - so you know you can't :)

Go send it on the last few days :)

WtF is Dirtdrop???

If you are fully into park riding get a 7"-8" bike. If you wanna explore the MANY trails surrounding the park (like GARGAMEL in The Collective!), which is highly recommended by every local, then you should bring something like a SS, SX or Bottlerocket. Still, you will be fast enough on the gnarly stuff - I've seen it...

Well, I guess a picture saves a thousand words...so here we go for a last time :)



Finally I like to thank my sponsors for making this trip possible. Unfortunately I have none, so I made it possible myself ;)

B-Line

Devil's Club


Go there and discover how bikepark riding was meant to be!

My Bike!!!

Ouch... part of practice run missed out by AC's post below... hehehe. sorry dog, had to be done!!!

AC described it like this:

"I decided to just flow all the way down, try not to pedal as much, i passed the SS2 section with ease but i slided and wiped out turning into the left corner. Lost about 5 seconds there. Got on my bike and pedalled off, got to the short pedalling section before SS3..."

Wipe out is right!!! but more than 5 secs i think.

2nd Bukt Cermin Downhill Race

This would be my second downhill race since i started riding dh about 2 months ago. I didnt really expect to get good results coz i was gonna be racing with rizal , ben , zure , mie and the other seasoned riders. It was gonna be a race to gauge my performance for the two months ive been riding dh.

I managed to check out the trail on the Friday and Saturday before the race. The trail was really nice and flowy on the top section. After that was about 400 metres of fireroad, loose rock and ruts which led into the new section. The newer section, SS 2 was kinda tough. A moderate step-down accompanied by a few bumps after that straight into a flat left corner, FUN ! After the SS2 section was a short pedalling section and straight into SS3. SS3 was a little technical, 2 or 3 switchbacks with a nice left berm and a drop off at the end.

Decided to push up to check the conditions of the track, it was rather muddy and slippery, gonna be tough for be coz i had minions in front and high rollers at the back which were practically slick! The seeding took AGES, there were more than 100 riders competing. Open , T-bolt , Hardtail and Invitational. I decided to just flow all the way down, try not to pedal as much, i passed the SS2 section with ease but i slided and wiped out turning into the left corner. Lost about 5 seconds there. Got on my bike and pedalled off, got to the short pedalling section before SS3 and made up for the time there. Drifted into the switchbacks, took the correct lines. Managed to get a time of 2.10.84 for that run, 5 seconds behind the 1st person, Zure.

I told myself to try harder this time, all out. 5 , 4 , 3 , 2 , 1 GO! I mashed the pedals and burst out of the starting point. Reached the first flat right corner, was REALLY muddy and slippery so i took the outside line, kept to the left and cut in. Flawless up till that tricky bit in SS2. Slowed down and leaned more, perfectly executed! Reached the pedalling section and mashed as hard as i could. Took the switchbacks nicely and managed to get a clean run. I was quite satisfied with my run. I clocked 2.06.24 for the run, came in second place, a good 3 seconds behind Zure.

Overall, it was a great experience, first race on a full suspension bike. Ended with good results, alot better than expected! A few riders were quite unlucky with their runs, a few wipe outs here and there. But it was all in good fun, you win some you lose some.

Anyway, here's some pics from the race, courtesy of Ameer:

Me

Zure

Ben

Rizal

Nan