The Value of Friendship

It’s amazing how fortunate I feel to have found Kota Bharu and the group of friends associated with the manager and his family which run the place I’ve been staying at for nearly 5 months now. And, I’ve got no plans anywhere in the near future of leaving this place as my base camp. Nope. None.

Sure. I’ve got to leave every 90 days to satisfy Malaysia’s very fair (and free) tourist visa requirements, but that’s actually a cool thing. I just leave for 2-3 weeks and come back as was suggested to me by an officer at the immigration department down in Putrajaya. Easy – Mudah! No concerns what so ever regarding coming back in to MY and returning to the beautifully laid-back ambiance of Kota Bharu. I love this place.

But what makes it so wonderful are its people, culture and open mindedness. My friends are all considerably younger than myself, yet I am treated just like one of the gang. We laugh, we go out to eat, play with our vaping toys and ride our bicycles together while constantly laughing and having fun. They think nothing of going out for a 20 or so kilometer ride, starting out at around 10:00 or 11:00 at night. Countless are the times that we’ve come back home after 1:00am.

And to add to the adoration of this place is that there very few if any tourists. The tourist population typically heads for the islands and their resorts. Sure… diving, swimming pools, white sand beaches and lots of drinking. I was surrounded by all that during my year +  in the diving business on Koh Tao in Thailand. That was enough. I favor peacefulness and tranquility and that’s the norm in KB as well along eastern peninsular Malaysia and its inlands as well. Very chill, warmly receptive and extremely relaxing just hanging out at local restaurants and coffee places.

And the cycling around Kelantan, Kuala Terengganu and Kuantan? Sweet would be an understatement.

But it all comes back to the feeling of family and ‘a part of’ here in KB. It’s the same with the great people at the bicycle shop, restaurants and all the people I meet in between. I am a source of fascination in the general public and virtually everyone I bump into asks about where I’m from, why I’m here, why I love it so much and when do I plan to return to the USA. “Never” is my default answer to that question and I mean it in all sincerity. I find superficiality and the extensive identification with materialism to be too much to bear back there.

Here, life is much simpler. Everyone is happy with what they have and the focus of their happiness is directed to much more human qualities than “so, what do you do?”. No one asks me about work, or if they do, I simply answer “retired” and then the conversation immediately shifts to things more enjoyable. Nothing is complicated here. No one is in a hurry to get or do anything. Traffic moves slowly and the traffic lights? Even slower.

In spite of the fact that I’ll unlikely ever assume a religion, the presence of Malay Muslim is pacifying enormously. The principals of manners, politeness and etiquette are prevalent everywhere and equally the lack of debauchery so rife elsewhere is a total relief in and of itself. The people here wouldn’t allow such a thing as what is the status quo up north; yet another reason why westerners don’t come here. The featured “attractions” up north are nonexistent here, along with the hustle and the hype. I’m treated just as any other Malay is treated. I pay what they pay and there’s no ‘tourist pricing’ going on. Such humble and honest people. I can lean my bike up against a lamp post, run in to a store and it’ll still be there when I get back. Rarely do I bother with a lock. That’s just the way it is down here. People don’t mess with things as they do elsewhere.

Still, it comes back to the feelings and experience of family, the likes of which I have with my crew, my host/best friend, wife, children and mother. I’ve never felt I’ve ‘belonged’ anywhere. Sure, I’ve lived and enjoyed many great places, people, sports, etc., but this life in KB with my friends is unequalled. Easy on the system, lots of fun, plenty of exercise cycling and quiet dinners with the family.

Off to Malacca tomorrow evening for a few days, road tripping with some of the gang. Psyched. Bikes? Yup. They all fit neatly in the back of the car. Perfect. Let’s go…

 

Out Playing in Traffic

Ever since a little kid, playing in traffic has been in my bones. Risk, adrenaline, fun, heart-pounding – excitement. The first accident I can remember was not paying attention to where I was going and rode right off a retaining wall to a boat loading ramp and knocked my front teeth out. And it continues… and continues… and to this day, nothing stops me from playing on bikes. Years of mountain bike riding in Aspen, CO, many months of riding the streets of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, two summers of cycling in Chicago (mostly to get to my Bikram yoga classes). Thousands of roadie miles in upstate New York, Connecticut, Aspen and Vail . And now, riding in Malaysia. Down in Kelantan and Kuala Terengganu, things are pretty mellow, but there’s still plenty of congestion to go out and “get skinny” amidst the cars near the central market. Yes, I do prefer open roads and challenging single track, but there’s something magical about squeezing through oncoming traffic while riding against it as opposed to with it.

So, the other day I decided I wanted to pay a visit to one of KL’s premier bicycle stores, KSH Bicycle. And talk about nice people? I am continuously blown away by the manners and mannerisms of the people over here. How to get there when it’s about 14km from my place? Huh… let’s see… On my bike, maybe? Yup, that’s the ticket. Do I know the way there? Nope. That’s what the iPhone and Google Maps is for. Will I be riding on public highways? Who gives a f*ck. Hills? Yes, KL has nice ones; middle ring stuff, for certain, especially for this old guy. Oh well, who’s in a hurry? Right?

So, with backpack, tools, tubes, lights, water and my trusty X-T1/XF35mm/1.4 R combo on my back and my little goodie bag with see-through iPhone holder mounted to the top tube, off we went into the great Malay unknown to go see a bike transport case so I can put my bike on an airplane. That was the main excuse anyway. Bike-porn was the primary reason… love this stuff. Shown above is clunker #2. Clunker #1 broke its bottom bracket after about a month’s worth of near daily pedaling, plus, the drivetrain was abysmal – didn’t shift worth a f*ck. So, I bought a better one, modded it out modestly and things are better. But, I want a *machine* and I’ll get a carbon fiber beauty soon enough.

Made it to the bike shop, but had to have the obligatory Nescafé, which is Malay for coffee mixed with Carnation evaporated milk. As you can see, the four-wheeled slalom gates are out in droves. Hehe… and they move too, making it even more thrilling.

Better than Hustler, better than Playboy… this is where The Juice is. Racks and racks of pre-built alu, ti, composites of every size, config, color, purpose and description. Aye, yay, yay… Hello, Visa? Umm…

Oh, and then there’s the wall of bare MTB frames. All the names are there and the price tags to go along with them.

Then, we got widgets. Widgets on bikes, widgets in cases, widgets in the “please ask for assistance” cases and on we go… knees trembling… drool.

Slobber. ‘Scuse me; where’s the cold shower please?

The banjo bolt on the brake line just about, well, you can figure it out.

Beautiful castings and CNCing. Makes me wanna…

ZZ Top: You sho’ got that right.

But it was this one that put me over the edge. The Eddie Merckx Mourenx 69. I had a Merckx Corsa Extra back in the mid ’90s, hand-made Reynolds 531 double-butted steel with all hand-brazed lugs. Fitted with full Campy record and sew-ups. Remember sew-ups and Tubasti rim glue? Oh, what fun that was; sitting by the side of the road getting this yucky junk all over everything while gluing a new tire to the rim… Nothing like it any longer. Nope. Tubeless, baby. Get out your wallet and call Visa back and start begging.

The good news or bad news, depending on which side of the monetary fence you’re on is the Malay ringgit is at an all-time low against the dollar, so these multi-multi thousand dollar rides can be had for a song over here right now.

And Macs? Hah! 15″ Retina with i7 quads and a 512 SSD? Just under $2k. Sick…

Soft case bike bag with built in internal aluminum frame and super nice wheel bags? $280.00. Thank you, I’ll be back tomorrow.

But the name-brand thing isn’t for me. Sure, I want the drivetrain and brakes, but JP LeMere is doing something different. So different in fact, that I’ll be working directly with him on my ride(s) and having them shipped over here. LeMere Bicycle is a very unique business, similar in ethics and practices to the guys at D2 Shoe. Everything is built to order, one at a time and all done by hand.

Nuts…

Gotta admit; the concussion I had is still messing with me. It’s my equilibrium when walking. Fortunately, with the help of the gyroscopic effect of spinning bicycle wheels, all is well. Haven’t lost any acuity while in traffic on the bike. Still quick, sharp peripheral vision, very light on the saddle. Thank goodness it wasn’t any worse.

The Addiction

Bicycles and the sense of freedom that goes along with riding one (or several, depending on terrain). I got re-hooked into cycling here in Kota Bharu. Easily understood; it’s flat as a pancake around here. And it’s been decades since I’ve owned one. My last pile of bikes was in Manhattan. Still had my Merckx roadie, still had my Stumpjumper with a Judy and Spinergy carbon rims and then treated myself to a Cannondale Bad Boy for my birthday as I was also working in Larry and Jeff’s bike shop up on 3rd, just a few blocks away from Central Park.

It was like yesterday… We’d get off of work, blaze downtown, go zooming around the WTC’s and the financial district, then go hang at Battery Park or cross the East River and sit in awe of the Manhattan skyline while… never mind. That was back in 1999. Haven’t had a bicycle since, and that was after years of MTB and road riding in Aspen, CO and tons of riding in Connecticut before that. I remember when I was 15 or 16 buying a Raleigh Professional, complete with a Campagnolo Nuovo Record gruppo. I paid $575.00 for that bike in Mount Kisco, NY and people thought i had lost my mind for paying that much for a bike way back in what? 1974 or so?

Now a days… $575.00 gets you a cheap and heavy Chinese something, while not the worst you can do ($79.99 @ Walmart is about  as bad as it gets) but still… nothing like any of the nice machines I’ve been accustomed to. And now, on Alibaba, you can find EVERYTHING from China and Taiwan for a fraction of what can be bought through the big names at most bicycle stores. And Exotic??? $15,000.00 is commonplace for Pinarello, Look, Colnago, Merckx, Scott, etc. roadies and the new wave of MTB’s aren’t THAT far behind, either. Granted: All carbon fiber/composite, electronic shifting, tubeless tires and it goes on into complete and total absurdity. Sure… 6kg’s, but…

Anyway, I digress… Asia strikes me as being a fabulous place to go bicycle touring. After road-tripping by car through central peninsular Malaysia, the whole time while I was driving, I kept thinking “I could be doing this on a bike.” And, I could have – easily. Yeah, some hills here and there, but nothing as epic as Independence Pass, Vail Pass or Fremont Pass, which we used to do with some regularity. Smuggler Mountain was a ride we used to do at least twice a week if not more when I lived in Aspen. Two hours up just to get to the ride itself 🙂 Nice!

Now I’m thinking I can ship my suitcase anywhere and take days to ride to the suitcase’s destination. And guess what? It doesn’t get cold here. And all along the nearly 900km I drove, there was always little villages with food, places to spend a night or two and talk about cheap. I mean really cheap.

I could easily mount a lightweight rack to my bike, throw a couple of small panniers over it and carry my cameras, a couple pair of cycling shorts, nylon shirts, socks and a lightweight rain jacket (just in case) and go for literally thousands of miles, seeing what most tourists will never know about, while they sit on their asses in some resort drinking cocktails with little umbrellas in them. My imagination is literally burning with the possibilities…

And; I must give honorable mention to two outfits: First is Cathy Tang at Guan Thye Hin Bicycles in Kota Bharu. Cathy has been and still is fantastic to work with. She’s helped me with the acquisition of two bikes, all the mods that I’ve wanted to do and introduced me to her following of friends and clients who hook up for the Sunday night ride through the jungles and fields of rural Kota Bharu, the likes of which I’d never see on my own. Never, because all the little roads and single track are so well hidden that only a life-long local would know about them.

Next up: JP LeMere at LeMere Cycles in Minneapolis, MN. I’ve been in touch with JP through several emails now because his cycling expertise and business ethics are so entirely down to earth. You’d have to be a complete know-nothing not to realize that most everything having to do with cycles comes from either China or Taiwan. JP has done something that goes beyond humane, IMHO. He’s sourced the finest of what Asia has to offer and assembled a collection of purpose-specific bicycles which are all fully customizable/configurable and gone on to pass along **the savings** and **the quality** to the consumer. This kind of altruism is pathetically lacking in this day and age where everything reaches towards the opposite end of the greedy spectrum.

I could rant for hours about all the Asian countries I would like to see while powered by my own legs and heart… Hours…

Ready, Set, You Bettah… Go!

Ok, so it’s been over a week since my concussion. i’ve rested, taken it easy, walked a bunch while I regained my balance. It was pretty funny, staggering around like a drunk and I don’t drink, so it was like being high without the additives; sort of like the stoney feeling I get when I’m full of histamines…

So, being Sunday evening here in Kota Bharu, the weekly bike shop ride begins to assemble around 5:30-ish. And, being an absolutely beautiful KB evening, like 30 riders showed up to go bungle in the jungle. And there’s tons of single track and dirt roads within minutes of the city’s perimeter. How nice…

The bosses. They rock at Guan Thye Hin.

Yup, they do.

And so the crew gathers…

Stoked. And off we went… Buzzing through the small neighborhood near the shop and heading north into the jungle, the pastures, the fields, the single tracks by canals. And weren’t we lucky to actually stop for more than two seconds to get some shots of the gang! Very unusual for these guys…

Easily a two hour ride, probably more like three, but hey, who’s counting? And everybody rips. That’s the fun part. Everybody cooks and that puts a totally cosmic grin on my face. I love hanging out with everyone and kicking ass in the woods! Bob Marley would be proud: We just “get together and feel alright” while dodging trees, mud holes, cows, you name it.

I do not miss western society at all. And of all the places I been and lived in, nothing touches Kota Bharu/Kuala Terengganu regarding nonjudgmental acceptance, congeniality, warmth, hospitality and the most genuine sense and gestures of welcoming. And what makes it even more touching is the fact that it’s not a put-on. It’s real. I could live out my life and happily die here.

Cycling: Terengganu

Start with the beginnings of a typically beautiful Kuala Terengganu evening.

Add some local cyclists, plus one obviously out-of-towner, and what do we have? Fun!

Rolling back a few days… Happily eating dinner at the Chinese hawker stalls one block off the main drag of Chinatown here in KT, avoiding the tourist scene. In the middle of dinner at around 9:30, these three guys came rolling up on their bikes. They sat down at a table across from me, paid me no mind whatsoever and ordered food and drinks. Not to interrupt my meal, I thought that once I finished, I’d go admire their bikes and ask them about riding with them.

So, I did.

Didn’t even get to finish asking the question when one of them said “you want to come riding with us?”. Uh, yeah… I do. So we got out our phones, opened up our calendars and one of them pointed to the 18th and said 8:30pm here. Ok. Done.

Met up right on time and off we went… over the river and out to the marina at the point on Palau Duyong, right where I went the day before. Much nicer to be able to draft behind someone for a change. The Crystal Mosque was lit up and looking like a floating palace of nirvana with all its colored lighting. (Night photos of that place coming…). These guys are a blast to go riding with and everyone moves along at a nice clip.

Amazing how things just happen. We’re riding again tomorrow night and probably will continue while I stay here. Since getting out of KL and back on a bicycle in KB, the magic of Malaysia continues to evolve and reveal itself. This place is amazing…

Adrenaline: Malaysia.

And here it is where it began; the Guan Thye Hin bike shop in Kota Bharu where I re-kindled my love affair with cycling. I guess history does in fact repeat itself. Gray backpack and white bike, screen left. Kid? No extra charge for that… About 1800. Late getting going because one of the riders was having a new cycling computer installed. No big. No hurry.

Slowly but surely, the small crew arrived. But the kid was definitely parked.

And off we went into the rural wilderness of Kelantan. And I do mean wilderness. Dirt roads winding through little enclaves of wooden homes, goats, cows, chickens, coconut tress, the works. And boy do these guys ride… It was just like in the old days of Aspen with the crew, but flat (thank goodness) ‘cuz the old man’s only been riding for these past 4 days or so… I wish there was more time for pix, but I knew they wouldn’t have any part of that idea.

This shot doesn’t even begin to tell the whole story of where we were/went…

Yes; team leaders out in front – these guys cook. Actually, all of them do. Great for me. Gotta go, Clint. Build up your strength, mind your spin style and keep an eye on the livestock.

What condensation on the front element of the lens can do to an image.

Wanna get your ass kicked, Malay-Style? Go ride with these good folks.

The obligatory cigarette shot. Yes, that’s the south China Sea in the background.

An accomplished competition Malay cyclist following good health practices with which I concur… of course.

What a day. How lucky I am to have found my way to this town. Kota Bharu and its people are chill. So laid back and genuinely kind-hearted. Very open and curious with me, very inviting (as long as I don’t slow them down too much). This is such an amazing place and I continue to meet some really unique and wonderful people. KB gets a big YES on the “must hang” list for at least two weeks or more…

Kota Bharu, Continued…

Now having extended my stay in KB for another week, I bought a bicycle. Having ridden bicycles for many years throughout my life of all varieties, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed. I rented a bike at The Bike Station first. Nice people and a great restaurant upstairs, overlooking the Kelantan River. Very peaceful up there…

Certainly geared towards the tourist trade, it’s a little pricey (the bikes) but still… cheap by comparison. The staff is very friendly and will make sure you’ve got everything you need. It’s also very easy to find. Just go west until you see the river and then look for the clocktower. The restaurant is outstanding. The menu is full of goodness from many parts of South Asia. The coffee list alone is to die for… Again, an absolutely serene place to hang for an hour or two. Wifi? Yup. Bring your camera…

The place I went to buy my bicycle is a whole ‘nother story… The Guan Thye Hin bike shop in KB is a cyclist’s dream come true. From the cheapest fixie to the latest and lightest carbon-fiber/Campagnolo/DuraAce/XTR equipped roadie or MTB, they’ve got it. And nice??? Yes, extremely. And, their bike mechanic is right on the ball – very meticulous and the workshop is spotlessly clean…