MTB and Road Training in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

DAY 1

As part of our training leading up to the Cape Epic in South Africa in March, Mike and I spent the Chinese New Year holidays in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Today's ride was from our base in One World Hotel to Genting Sempah - 88 km and 800 m total climb. Thanks to the local boys Edmund and Shang the Animal for their company.

DAY 2

Today's MTB ride was based on the the 2011 Presidential trail in Semenyih. We were led by Cas Brentjens, a Cape Epic veteran who is also racing in the 2012 edition. Despite some mechanical issues and wrong turns, we managed to complete most of the route - 55 km and over 1,000 m total climb.

DAY 3

Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy Dragon Year! Today’s MTB ride at Bukit Kiara was an absolute gem – technical, lung-busting, yet flowy single-tracks in the old rubber estates and secondary jungles of Malaysia. The trails were pristine and well-drained, topped off with a bike washing bay at the foot of the hills.

DAY 4

Our final training was a 90 km 5 hour off-road jaunt via the Rubber Research Institute to Ijok. The terrain was mainly rubber and oil palm plantations and relatively flat, quite ideal to stay within the “Fuel Efficiency” zone of 115 bpm to build endurance.

Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper 29er for Cape Epic 2012

Team Singapore Racing's bikes are now complete with Specialized 29ers, mine being the fourth bike in the line-up. And what better way to start 2012 than to have the inaugural ride on my new weapon – the S-Works Stumpjumper Carbon 29er! This hard tail features SRAM XX components plus a custom 90 mm travel RockShox SID Brain fork.

The bike is a weight-weenies wet dream because of the crazy exotic materiel, you name it and it's got it. Carbon galore - rims, crank set, hubs, seat post, shift levers, dropouts and everywhere else just to drop a gram or two. But wait, there's more - titanium bolts, quick release, saddle rails, and PF30 BB with ceramic bearings. Actual weight on a calibrated Park Tool scale is 8.6 kg without pedals!

Our support crew at Attitude Bikes tuned the bike and lovingly prepped the frame with protective stickers and converted to tubeless with Stan's.

Morten kindly accompanied me to Pulau Ubin despite completing 6 laps yesterday. Perhaps it was the wonderfully dry but tacky trail or the placebo effect, but whatever it was the bike is fast. 5 laps later, the one word to describe the bike is "precise", in the way it tracks and it's response to my inputs. So much so that one has to concentrate on proper handling and body positioning or the bike will punish you with a skid or fall, which happened to me a couple of times.

The 2 x 10 XX transmission is also precise, a little clunky compared to my XTRs but click-click-click and it just shifts like a machine gun.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the SID Brain fork, but it seem to work just fine. I found myself moving a lot more with my arms and legs and with some body English thrown in, the rear was surprisingly smooth even though it's a hard tail. I suppose it has to do with the 29er geometry and design of the stays and seat post which feels vertically compliant but without the horizontal flex. I also ran the tyres reasonably soft.

I love my Stumpy!