#247 - Tampines Trail

Green Trail. Nice!

View from the top of Teletubbies (not sure if it is still called Teletubbies)

View from the top of Teletubbies (not sure if it is still called Teletubbies)

View from the top of Teletubbies (not sure if it is still called Teletubbies)

There are five water points where you can wash your bikes.

HobbyLink's Uncle Sam with his RumbleFish.
I have a time to beat now : 5 laps in 1 hour :)

I have started heeding Roadie Rio's advice to not
flog myself doing two consecutive hard rides. So Saturday
was a hard ride and Sunday, I cycled to East Coast Park.

On the way to East Coast Park, I passed by Nichol Hiway
and saw a few stragglers from the last night's Sundown
Marathon. Hehehe these guys really look spent. I even saw
one girl who seemed to be on the verge of tears (Really!).
Anyway, a few minutes more and I saw this marshall on a
motorbike telling the runners/walkers to go to the sidewalk
as the lane is going to be given back to motorists' use.

Anyway, I cycled all the way to Changi Village even if it
was very boring. I wanted to do a u-turn and go back to
Fort Road but just imagining the mind numbing ride
back was enough to make me think about other routes.
.... and then it hit me! I haven't gone to Tampines Trail
since (around) New Year of 2011. Why not pay a visit?

... and so I went to Tampines Trail and signed in.
Instead of going full throttle into Trails A, B and C, I went
into the green graded trails first.... it was sooo nice. It might
be that the day was overcast and the sun was not beating on
me so fiercely but the place is sooo green. There are no visible
signs of the green trail being overly used. The green trail
eventually led to the carpark ... but before I reached the
carpark, I saw an area where you can play PaintBall wargames!

After looking around a bit in the PaintBall Area, I went into
Trail A (the old Teletubbies?). I used my granny gear all the way
...and surprise, surprise, I saw Uncle Sam doing his laps on his
RumbleFish. I have always thought that 29ers would be "slow"
in Tampines Trail because it is all twisty singletrack. But seeing
Uncle Sam with a 29er... he doesn't look slow at all !

I finished Area A and was going to Area B when I saw
Uncle Sam and he was telling me to go to Area C
(the old Ziggurat?)  and chase him! No thanks!
I went to Area B instead and continued doing the trail
on my granny. I must say that although there are lots of
switchbacks in Area B, the trail still flows nicely!

I finished Area B and went to Area C ... still on my
granny gear, Uncle Sam passed me!??! That was fast!
Since it was his last lap, he talked to me a bit. He told
me he normally does five laps in 1 hour and then quickly
cleans his bike, because as I said in my last post, he is
"paying" for 25 years of RC racing "debts" hehehehe.
So yesterday, he was again in a hurry because he needs
to run some errands. Too bad because I wanted to try
his RumbleFish and satisfy my curiosity about 29ers.
Next time maybe.

I cleaned my bike leisurely in one of the five
available water points ... free of charge :)
While cleaning my bike I chatted with another
cyclist named Anthony who was on a Jamis Dakota.
In hindsight I should have begged him to let me
try his Jamis Dakota as I really wanted to know if
the Carbon Fibre seatstays make a difference in
taming trail chatter.

Anyway, we talked about how well maintained
the trail is. Actually, the trail is not just well maintained,
it really does flow nicely and once you are very familiar
with the trail flow, I imagine it is very easy to attain
Zen on this trail.

... And lastly! 
1. I noticed Uncle Sam was wearing a Bontrager RXL
2. I bought threadlocking compound from him to
attach SPD cleats to my own Bontrager RXL
3. points 1 and 2 should be enough hint for me
to post the review of the Bontrager RXL :)

#246 - Threadlock

This threadlock compound could be used in place of  Loctite Blue

Sam Cheng of HobbyLink @ 3rd Flr Far East Plaza

See the 1/8 buggy @ $930? Expensive toys!

Today's post was prompted by my having misplaced

my threadlocking compound AKA Loctite Blue.

 

 

The first thing that baffled me when I was learning

how to assemble mountain bikes is that grease is always

required whenever you screw something to something.

This is the exact opposite of the standard practice in

building remote control cars. For RC cars, you put

threadlock whenever a screw needs to be screwed in

to a metal part.

  

 

So when attaching the cleats on my new Bontrager

RXLs, I looked for my threadlock/blue Loctite. I can't

find it in it's usual place only to remember that I left

it in the office.

  

 

I went to HobbyLink at Far East Plaza to get a

small bottle of threadlocking compound. Once there,

I had a chat with old friend Sam, the owner of HobbyLink

and he told me that he now rides a Gary Fisher RumbleFish.

He said he prefers this more than his Trek 29er HT

and his Nicolai 26 FS. The RumbleFish is apparently

a lot kinder on his lower back. He normally rides at
Tampines MTB Park and so I asked him if the
full sus 29er RumbleFish is "slow" in Tampines
knowing that that place is mostly twisting singletrack?
He said it's ok and he doesn't have any problems.

After talking about MTBs, the topic then went
to why we normally ride alone and seems to be always
in a hurry to get home... and we realised maybe it's
because we are 'paying' for all those times that we
spent RC racing instead of going out with our families.
So now that we're out of RC, we cycle and then
quickly, without any delay, ride home. I asked him
how much does he need to 'pay' for, he said 25 years
of racing. Ahhhh, I only have to pay for 10 years.

Hehehehe this is what keeps me going back to

HobbyLink even if I'm no longer racing RC. Talk

about old hobbies (RC) and new hobbies (MTB). 

#245 - Kulaijaya MTB Jamboree 2012

Oooohh bad idea to do on a night before the race : cramming

View from outside the bus. Around 6AM at the JB Gas Station
where everyone from Singapore assembles before heading on
to races in Malaysia

Nice! The sun hid almost the whole day in Kulai.

My friends fixing up their bikes.

  55Kilometers of trail ! That is what the Kulaijaya

Extreme MTB Jamboree promised us! Actually, we

found that out after we registered. But that's not the point :)

Anyway, this race was made as smooth as possible by

CrestPursuit Owen and StairRider Deck who took care

of all the transport arrangements AND also Edward C.

from PadyakPinoy for helping us with the registration.

I'll spare you the blow by blow account of our travels from

Novena to the race site. However, I continue to be amazed

at how much fanfare the Malaysians could inject into these

bike races. Before the MTB race started, we saw the flag off

for the 120km bike race. There were definitely lots of racers

from Singapore for both the road and MTB race.

So, after the Roadies were sent off to start their 120km race,

we lined up for our MTB race. All the girls were asked to go

to the front and they will be given a 2 minute headstart. We

said bye bye to NoLights Louie as we realized that she's a girl.

Whereas the announcer in the KIP Mart race told us that

there will be no marshalls/medical support if ever we meet

an accident on the trails, the announcer for this race told

us that the trails are wet due to recent rains and that he thinks

we should not run our tyres too hard ... I slowly looked at my

rear wheel ... and before I even saw the Presta valve on my

rim, Roadie Rio emerged out of the fog and told me : "I

know what you are thinking... don't do it. If you do it then

you will have doubted yourself. Believe in yourself. "

... After saying that, he melted away into the fog ... errr
I mean he went further in front because that is his race
strategy.

... and so 2 minutes after the women set off, the announcer
finally let the GU powered peloton take off !

I saw all my friends jostling for position. Me on the other
hand don't want to be in front of people who can go downhill
faster/better than myself and so I literally let everyone go.
I was telling myself : I have 55km to pick off each and
everyone of you one by one ... teeheeheeheee.

The first bottle neck. This is the left side.

... and this is the right side

See! At this stage of the race, I was taking pictures and

conserving energy. BUT it all changed when we

encountered the first stretch of singletrack. Would you

believe everybody, and I mean everybody was pushing

their bikes?! The singletrack was not even technically

challenging. It was just narrow. If you've been to Rooty

Trail here in Singapore, you will be wondering at what

the fuss was about. ... and so I couldn't take it anymore

and asked one local why we were pushing our bikes.

He told me because that was a technical section. Huh??!?!

Really?? I thought there's an accident in front. He

assured me there's no accident. Just that the front

guys can't ride that singletrack. Arrggghhhh!!!!

After emerging out of the singletrack, we went out

into ... something like a plantation ... I tried to catch

some water coming out of the sprinkling system and

the guy in front of me had the same idea. Well bad idea

it turned out as the water hit us while we were going

downhill and the guy in front of me slipped and he rolled

with his bike. I almost ran over the guy. I braked and

asked the guy if he was ok. He told me he's fine but I told

myself no hydrating from sprinklers from now on.

When I reached CP2, I saw two team mates of mine,

Ronald and Neil having a picnic. Their helmets were

off and they were eating bananas and exchanging war

stories. I think they only realised the race is not yet

over when they saw me. I told myself : Aha! My strategy

is working! See these two?! I will overtake them now!

Mwahahaha!

I let them go first and followed immediately behind.

... and while I was planning my next move ... I noticed

I was no longer pedalling! I was swimming in mud!

Yup, it happened that fast. I didn't even have time to

unclip from the pedals. I stood up and said "I'm ok!

I'm ok" ... and then realised nobody cares hehehehe.

So, my two friends cycled thinking I was just behind

them and listening to their conversation.

So, I cycled alone until I got into this verrryyyy long

downhill section. I was off the brakes. The guy in front

of me was quite a long way ahead ... until I couldn't see

the guy anymore. Alarm bells rang in my head and I

started braking ... at the bottom of the section I saw the

guy was trying to wipe away blood from his knees.

It turned out the downhill section ends into a sharp

right turn and he couldn't turn in time. I asked him

if he's ok and he told me he's fine. Good thing

mountain bikers are a macho bunch :)

I caught up with my friends again on CP3. Their

helmets are off again and they were eating more bananas!

I said hello and proceeded to take a leak at the side of the

road thinking I hope I don't get fined for doing that.

Then I think my friends thought I was going to chat for

a while since I'm off my bike but I decided to be

sneaky and took off nyahahahaha.

... Only to find out that the next section is road

and it was damn boring when you don't have anyone

to talk to when cycling on road. But the first surprise

of the race greeted me! After the road section, CP4

was there! Huh?! was that 15KM already??? Can't be!

But who am I to argue? So I doused myself with water

and cycled furiously. I was thinking those people

I let go were not yet dropping like flies to my

superior stragedy , er strategy.

... and while thinking about this, I saw the 2nd surprise

of the race! There on the ground is a stake with a sign

saying "1Km to Base". HUH?!! I'm quite sure I haven't

cycled 54Km yet! If this is 54Km, then there will be

lots of really weak people on the floor nursing their

cramps , at least that was what I was expecting.

But the sign was there and so I stopped for a while

and ate my last GU and Endurolyte capsule and pedalled

as fast as the mud would allow me. I think I passed

6 to 8 people who no doubt are wondering why am

I pedalling like I was after a podium place LOL.

In the end, I got the last sticker that said I was 195th

finisher awwwwwww!

 

Nice view near the end of the race.

Me at the finish line showing some signs of 'buying' some land
in Kulai

A few top 100 finishers in my group.

#244 - A few more days to go ...

My friends have all been bitten by the racing bug

and so they are all back for more racing ... and this time

they did not even care how long the racing is going to be.

Everybody signed up for the Kulai Jaya Jamboree and

everybody were all equally surprised when it was finally

realized that we all signed up for 55KM instead of the usual

45KM race distance.

For those who are thinking of going at the last minute,

the organizers must have known that there are always

last minute entries and so they are accepting entries up

to the day of the race itself (20th May).



#243 - WeekEnd Ride

DirTraction @Zheng Hwa Park

See the guy wearing black on the right side of the picture

above? I didn't get his name but he is from DirTraction.

Last week, a friend of mine, Sam, posted in our FB group

page that DirTraction would be in Zheng Hwa Park in the

morning and Tampines MTB Park in the afternoon to talk

to mountain bikers about the current state of our trails and

the plans for mountain biking in the future.

The only time I ever hear/see DirTraction is when there

are races in Singapore... and if you notice, there are hardly

any more MTB races in Singapore now. Of course, lots of

people, don't think they are doing such a good job as we

tend to compare the racing in Malaysia versus here.

However, hearing this guy talk was an eye opener. He is

level headed and he is very realistic. He explained what

triggered the recent illegal trail usage hunt. He also talked

about what's going to happen to the trails that we are using.

He explained why there are few races now and why the

races in Singapore are so expensive. Too bad I didn't get

his name but my friends from PadyakPinoy/MTB Brothers

know him. Anyway, I left the session with a totally knew

outlook and even admiration for these guys who are fueled

by nothing but passion.

So, the things that I heard are the following :

1. Stop going to illegal trails. Scorpion is illegal.

ButterFly is illegal. WoodCutter is illegal.

2. Bukit Timah will be maintained in the near future.

Hopefully this will put a stop to mountain bikers

going to illegal trails.

3. More signages will be put up to warn trekkers/

trail runners that they are encroaching on trails

designed for mountain biking.

4. Tampines MTB Park will only be there for

the next 2 years.

5. It's ok to ride in T15 and Gangsa.

6. I might have to start going to Kent Ridge and like

that trail as it is one of the legal trails.

7. For 2012, the only place where races can be held is Ketam.

So, I might want to start going to and liking that place.

8. Lastly, if riders could donate a bit of their time

for trail maintenance, it would be very much appreciated.

I think a Facebook page will be created where DirTraction

will put the where and the when for trail maintenance.



#242 - Weekend Ride

Saturday morning brought nothing but rain ... and in the

afternoon, more rain. By the time the rain stopped there

was nothing left of Saturday to go trail riding with. Well,

technically, there was some time left but the trails would

be very muddy. 

With that in mind, I didn't really have much choice but

but to go and do ye olde city ride loop. But the rains have

put a damper on my enthusiasm that I didn't even bother

completing the loop. I went to the Sg Flyer/F1 pitlane

and did a u-turn home.  

and the next day, Sunday, I was still feeling lethargic.

I read in one of the threads in MTBR that I will need

to put in 'easy' days as well as 'easy' weeks in my routine

and so I made the quick decision that this week shall be

one of such 'easy' weeks.

I went up RRR, went to T15 and back again and that was

it. On the way back to Zheng Hwa Park from T15, I saw

the posse that I should have been on had I been up to the

task of some vigorous trail riding. Efren, Sugar Rush Rey

and Neil were on their way to do reverse Flowy Trail when

they saw me. Efren and Rey saw my Jamis HT and triumphantly

proclaimed that they have caught me testing my 'new' HT that

I  shall be using for the future Malaysia races that we plan

to go to. I corrected them and told them that that HT

was actually my first ever bike which I just restored.

Now they said that I had waayyy too much bike.

Hehehehe just wait till they see my carbon hardtail ;-)



#241 - Weekend

Giant ATX 880

I saw this chap using this nice, blue Giant ATX 880
in T15. The bike seems to be almost stock. The only
'upgrade' that I saw was this red bash guard on the
bike's crankset.

The bike was sooo different from the high tech bikes
that I normally see in our trails and so I just had to take
some pics and share them in here.

Mushroom for my collection

... I consider myself an XC rider and so I normally
just 'listen' to Absalon :-) (exagerrated actually).
But when a guy like Fabien Barel talks, you better
stop what you are doing and listen attentively.
This guy definitely knows a thing or two about
bike handling ;-)



#240 - Long Weekend

Above are pics taken during the long weekend rides

last weekend ... yup, I rode all three days :-)

... and by the way, see picture below.

Looks interesting, right?

Picture taken from wacycles.blogspot.com



#239 - Raining ...

It's raining outside and I can't go out to ride on the trails

today. Well, I can always go and catch on some sleep.

But then I remembered that rear brake mod I did a couple

of months back.

I put on a 180mm disk on my rear wheel and liked it.

However, what I did was just to screw the calipers

on with some not-quite-long enough screws and used

lots of spacers so that the calipers would clear the top

of the disk. I showed this to a mechanic in Tay Junction

and he was not impressed. He painted a very bleak picture

involving a spoiled frame and a void warranty.

After that I put back the normal 160mm disk and did 

further research. I found out that the front post would also

fit the rear and so I ordered that from CRC together with

 some proper screws long enough to do the job. All these

hardware are from Avid. 

So after getting a headache from sleeping too much,

I went and did the change to 180mm rear disk brakes

from the original 160mm. Result is posted above.

Looks handsome :-) I'll test this tomorrow during our

group ride.

.... after all that, I went and watched this 1960s (?)

Japanese black and white film titled 'HaraKiri'.

Ahhhhhh a nice and slow day for a change .....

#238 - KIP Mart MTB Jamboree 2012



Twas the day before race day ...
pics from our group's FB page

     

Saturday, the day before the 'race' and I struggled

to do ... nothing! I was expecting to suffer tomorrow
and so I made sure I conserved each and every calorie
that I could. I slept early the night before and I
slept 2 hours in the afternoon.

Some of my friends cycled 60km to their hotel in Masai.
From their pictures in FB, it looked like they had fun.
But it also looked like they all have sworn an oath to let
things that 'happened in Masai, stay in Masai'.

... and so, while my other friends were enjoying their
overnight stay in Masai, Deck, Efren and I stayed wide
awake at night partly due to race jitters and partly
because we were scared that we can't wake up in time for
our ride (thanks to Enrico) to the Cause Way.

4AM finally came and so the four of us went to Woodlands,
crossed to JB and waited at Shell for our ride to the
race site. It was there at JB Shell that Roadie Rio
joined us. Also, waiting at JB Shell was an eye opener.
There were sooo many racers from Singapore who made
their 'pit stop' there and it made me wonder if half
of Singapore's mountain bikers will be racing today.

The starting line at around 8:10AM. Race start is 8:30AM.

Hehehe Roadie Rio is missing in this pic. He said he
has learned his lesson and he went to the front.

The race catered to every one. I saw a few kids in the trail.

met some guys from Attitude Bikes

Our journey to the race site was quite smooth. There were

already a lot of people when we showed up and a few of

the eager ones were already staking out their place at

the starting line! We on the other hand were waiting for

our 'Team Captain' Fast Paolo as we don't have our race

numbers yet. Fast Paolo showed up with 15 minutes to spare

and everything was sorted quickly. However, the rest of

our friends haven't showed up yet. I told them to get a

massage and drink a bottle of beer to help them relax so

that they could sleep soundly instead of lying wide awake

on unfamiliar hotel beds but the one bottle of beer must

have turned out into a party ! But finally they showed

while the Malaysian National Anthem was being played.

After the National Anthem, the announcer told all racers

NOT to overtake the pace car (apparently, there were very

eager and fast cyclists who have done that in the past)

and after that announcement, the race was on!



Despair !
pic from Ronald's FB page



Rico on his way to #57th in the race
pic courtesy of An Sun-gard (KiP MOUNTAIN BIKE JAMBOREE 2012)



There was plenty of ice cold water, 100+ and bananas in the CheckPoints
pic courtesy of An Sun-gard (KiP MOUNTAIN BIKE JAMBOREE 2012)



Me!
pic courtesy of An Sun-gard (KiP MOUNTAIN BIKE JAMBOREE 2012)



 Roadie Rio pulled a veteran move on us as he didn't line up

at the end of the peloton. He was somewhere in front. All

of us led by Fast Pao, IronMan Randy, Ryan, Deck, Efren and

Enrico were weaving in and out of the peloton. It was 2km

from the start to the trail head and so the strategy was get

as near to the front as possible before we entered the trails.

When we entered the trail, the peloton was greeted by TWO CARS

going the opposite direction, one at the right of the trail

and the other on the left. There was no choice but to slow down

and it was here that we all got separated. Once we cleared

those cars, we went to a very fast and surprisingly slippery

downhill section (later on our friends said it rained hard the

day before). Braking was tricky because I thought we will be

racing on dry, hardpacked dirt and so my tires were pumped up

quite hard. Whenever I pull my brakes, the rear of my bike

fish-tailed. ... and while I was contemplating how difficult

these conditions will be, I saw one cyclist lying on the middle

of the track. He was unconscious and he had blood on his face.

He was being attended to by another cyclist (NoLights Louie

told me that she later saw the cyclist seating at the side of

the trail, he regained consciousness but he looked dazed).

I hope that guy is ok.

Well, when I saw that accident, I slowed down a bit and told

myself to just complete the race. I don't want to end up with

an accident and judging from my past endo record,

I do need to be careful.

But all caution went out of the window when I saw my
friend Bal's jersey going very fast away from me! I gave

chase but I couldn't catch up with him.

One of my ride buddies, Ronald announced his presence

behind me by showing the front end of his Yeti 575 to

me a few times. Beside me was a rider from Attitude Bikes

(I think) who was on a Specialized Enduro (I think. I'm sure

he wasn't on a Nicolai). It was like this up to the

first checkpoint.

After the first checkpoint, I rode alone for a while and then

I saw Bal's jersey again. I tried to go beside him but the

race route took us into a singletrack... and this singletrack

is really just for one bike at a time. You couldn't go at

the edges because there are trees on both sides of the trail

... and so I had to patiently follow the pace of the leading

guy. Once out of the singletrack, I finally caught up with Bal.

I caught up with him at a hike-a-bike section and the first

thing that we both did after clearing the section was to pee

at the side of the trail LOL.

I rode with Bal up to the seemingly never-ending rollercoaster

road ride. This is the stage where I saw the first walkers.

After the road ride, we turned right into the trail again.

Once I went into the trail I started riding with a guy who

is using my dream frame : Titanium Helix frame by Lysnkey.

I asked him where he got his frame. He told me he got it from

Singapore. I asked if he is from Singapore. He said yes and

whether I am from Singapore also. Hehehehe funny making these

light conversations while racing inside a jungle in Malaysia.

I rode with him for quite some time because it seemed

to me that since he and I were alone and both were from the

same place and it looks like we're on the same pace then

maybe we should 'help' to 'pull' each other.

All this, however, changed when I saw this green jersey in front

of me. The green jersey looked like the jersey worn by my other

friend IronMan Randy! So I said 'Aha! My friends are all very

near now!' and so with renewed strength I tried to get near

Randy ... then I noticed something... This guy seemed to be

struggling ... Is this Randy? Sigh when I finally got to the guy,

it was not my friend. I rode from that point to CheckPoint 4

alone.

From the race blogspot, I know that after checkpoint #4, it should

only be 3Km to the finish. Since it was just 3Km I told myself to

just go all out hehehehe but after 3Km on my Cateye there was still

no finish line (Later on NoLights Louie told me there was a sign

at CP4 that that is the 40Km mark and NOT 42Km)... The thing is

I can feel my right leg starting to cramp ! ... and then I saw it!

We all had to cross a muddy field before we get to the finish line.

I started spinning slowly, trying but miserably failing to make my

bike go on a straigth line.

After what must have been the longest muddy route that I have

cycled on, we went by road again back to Kip Mart. The organizers

were all signalling for us to sloowww down as the race should be

over for us. I went to the finish line (finish queue?) where only

one cyclist can go one at a time. I think I was 5th or 6th on that

line and I saw the first guy was being handed a gold medal. Oh,

Goody! I'll get a gold medal! So I drank the rest of my water

and poured some on my head and got off my bike. I waved to all

my friends who were already there and when it was finally my

turn to be handed a medal ... the organizers gave me a silver one!!!

Huh?! But the front guy was given a gold?! I was given the lunch

voucher and sent on my way to have lunch ... I wanted to ask

'have you really ran out of gold medals?! I just slowed down a bit

because I was gonna cramp, you know? can I exchange the

lunch voucher for a gold medal instead? '

NYAHAHAHAHAHA



Me with IronMan Randy showing the gold medal
he got for coming in #66.
Background is Fast Pao who was #93.



NoLights Louie came in as #3 in the Women's Cat.
Too bad the price money was cancelled by the organizers.

We were wondering how we are going to take this bike home
if ever we won in the lucky draw.

Roadie Rio didn't ride a MountainBike for 6 months and took
#76. Ryan (in red) took #60.

You can get your bike cleaned after the race for just 2RM.

The 2012 version of KIP Mart MTB Jamboree is
my first race/jamboree in Malaysia. Actually, I raced once in
Singapore in 2009 but it was stopped due to rain/lightning.
So I think it wouldn't be wrong if I say this was my
first race.

As a participant all I was expecting was that the trail
should at least be well marked so that I wouldn't get
lost. However, the organizers didn't just post arrow
signs on the trees, they also scattered confetti on the
trails. So when you can't see confettis, most probably
you are lost.

The CheckPoint was also well stocked with ice
cold water, 100+ and bananas. You don't even have to
pick up the nourishment you need. The officials hand
the water bottle to you unopened. You just need to
drink. If you give them your water bottle they refill
it for you while you drink from another container.

There were race officials directing traffic when you
cross a road. You literally really just need to pedal.
The organizers have taken care of everything for the
participants.

Not just that! In the end when my friends approached
the organizers because they had a change of plans
and don't have a return ride to the SG/JB Border,
the organizers brought my friends there in 2 vehicles
and they were refused to accept payment!

I think I will make this race a yearly pilgrimage.
As for my friends ... there are already talks about
a race coming up in May again in Malaysia.