Started my commuting.

Today I've started commuting by bike to work. Maybe I'll start by riding to work 2 days a week first. It was great, haven't done that in a long while. I was feeling great at the office, not lethargy but fresh all day.

I was soaking wet when I arrived at the office. Most of my office mate were suprised, as to their knowledge, no one had done commuting by bike to work before. Especially once you have a car & a motorbike. You see, commuting by bicycle is not a culture or a norm here in Kuala Lumpur. Reason often given is the weather is hot and humid, thus one will sweat like crazy and will feel uncomfortable working later.

So, before work, I make sure I arrive early and have ample time to clean my self. Since there is no shower, I had to bath in the toilet stall. Well, it gets the job done.

Tomorrow I'll ride my motorbiketo works, but comes friday... another bicycle commute.

It was gout!!!

The pain I felt a few days ago was from gout. How do I know? the next day waking up, I could step on my left foot. If it was muscle sore, I would've been gone after several days, but this got was. I called in sick for work yesterday and went for a traditional treatment since modern medicine need me to pop more pills and pain killer to stop the pain. I don't want to pop more painkillers since it will ruin my kidney.

I went for the "bekam" treatment. This is where a couple of tiny cuts are made onto the skin where the pain is, in order to draw blood. Then a suction cup is used to draw the blood out together with the acid which causes the pain.

After the treatment which took about an hour, I was able to walk without feeling any pain and today I cycled for 25 km, including a couple of km walking up a climb (too steep for me). Yet I am not feeling any pain. But of course, after this I will need to drinks lots of water to nuetralise the residual gout causing acid in my body. Normally when I got dehydrated and forgot to drink up, that is when gout came for me.

Since starting road cycling, it seems easier to get dehydrated. Maybe since while mountain biking I use a hydration bagpack. On the road only a water bottle to replenish my fluid. Need to get another bottle then.

Cao.

My foot is aching

I don't know for sure whether this pain i feel on my left foot, just below the ball of the foot (below the little toe) is due to gout or sprain from over exertion due to cycling.

Since my road bike has a double chainring up front with 44 the smallest, I have to stand up a lot for the ride within my residency since it is a hilly area. Maybe also due to me not getting use to clipless pedals yet. After some time of pedalling, i feel numb at certain parts of the foot.

I could not rule out gout since normally this is how it feels when I'm getting gout (early stage) attack.

Thus, for now I have to be content with limping to walk. Luckily, when pedalling the pain kind of disapear. Anybody have the same experience may want to share them here.

Cao.

100 km

After 2 weeks i managed to clock 100km on my road bike. Not such a feat to boast. But for a >200 lbs guy, who just taken up cycling which include actual pedalling... it is tough.

For more than 7 years I have not been doing any real pedalling. My mountain bike is set up as a playbike, hence it is not an efficient geometry for medium or short distance cycling. It discouraged me to to use the bike for "real" cycling". Since I also suffers from gouthritis, it means I'm always off the bike as any jumping or drops hurts my ankle.

Which is why I bite the bullet and bought the roadbike. At least I won't be jumping using it. Plus, the pedalling does not hurt my ankle too much compared to jumping. So, slowly I'm getting back my fitness, and I wish it can return to the same level, if not better then 7 years ago.

Tomorrow morning might be going for another long ride. hehehe... for now my long ride is > 20 km & < 30 km...hehehe.. or I may go for a MTB downhill session at Kiara...

Cao

Welcome to my world of bicycling

Just been having some free time on hand. So I decided to create a blog on my cycling life... or anything related to two wheels.

"Gerek"... this is my first word for bicycle. Where and when I was growing up, bicycle is known as "gerek" (a local dialect) but nowadays many do not even know the meaning of this word anymore.

I have just started to ride a road bike. Will be blogging about the experience here later on....
Cao....