Back on the saddle

Burp! (Pardon me)

Nasi lemak with ayam percik and Milo, together with a 64km of awesomeness. I don't get to do this on runs. The best meal at Seri Hartamas Petronas was a jelly pudding  credits from Ian. Of course the mee hun soup at Bukit Aman carpark is still the best but that would be after the workout. Yep, one thing cool about cycling is that we have pitstops and sometimes you drowned yourself into the pit and struggles to climb back up again.

Eversince my last biggie, my runs were sporadical. Managed to squeeze in a few miles now and then. That particular Saturday morning, I revisited our McDonald loop and still lovin' it :)  There was no orang kampung around for chats. Det attended a charity gathering while Nizam was in the land of the lost - my only evidence of his existence would be his pic besides Shuk's car during one of our GKL's LSD.  It was a solo run then, and the pictures from the side lanes on Saturday morning made me wonder about a lot of stuff.

To treasure a few, we have Saturday morning life:

• My schoolmate who was queueing for nasi lemak with seven other starving corporate figures. He's one of the top guys in TM and he sure tops it up with those nasi lemaks.
• A dozen of Indonesian construction workers who suddenly appeared from bushes of pre-developed area and jumped into a 3 tonne lorry and a pickup for their meal of the day. That lorry will definitely be an attraction for our good-on-the job police officers.
• An old pakcik who can hardly walk in a good posture but can still smile and greet me with a thumbs up.

The rest of the morning was back on the fast lane, driving my kids to tuition and Kumon and some other strength workouts i.e. scrubbing the carporch drain (lower back and arm strengthening) and shifting kilos of potty plants (another risky attempt for lower back strengthening). Wifey took charge of potong rumput. Hehe. I stopped at the seventh pot and call it a day. Phew! No wonder I was napping soundly in the afternoon la - I thought it was the run.

Kaklong and Amir attended Coach Azwar's running class. Those tuitions and Kumons and Play Station games throughout the afternoon require some release and the Kampung Pandan running track was the best place. The class was delayed an hour from the thunderstorm but kids were enjoying every bit of the splish and splash.

Going back to cycling took me awhile. After those months of marathon trainings, I could hardly squeeze in a ride or two. So my bike was the best place for hanging praying mats and clothes spray. How cruel of me. It was payback time and I have beautiful kampung road to spin and majestic climbs to tackle. I started off with purchasing a chain cleaner and a pair of new Sky Team water bottle - talking about starting a motivation eh?  Splendido! My gorgeous beauty was sparkling and ready for Sunday come back ride - another reason to skip Shape Run on top of missing the closing date. Haha!

From the Saturday thunderstorm and continuing rain all over KL that evening, we have overcast and mists all over Ulu Langat on Sunday morning. Yes, we were chasing clouds climbing up Genting Peres. Nicely gathered cycling friends whom most of them I've missed. We have Bacin, Saiful, Alwin, Fadil, Jaja and Det. I was chilled from the riding menu for the day since we'll be tackling the 9km Genting Peres followed by 3km Bukit Hantu (named after every attempt from most cyclists...Hantu betul!)

The speed was nice before Jaja vanished from the peloton only to be learned later she had some tailoring to do. Fadil had a flat tyre just before the climb up Peres, only to be known that he purposedly skipped it due to Shape Run post workout dilemma. While the rest of us continued with the pedal pushing-pulling pursuit. Lucky me the stamina from running was still dangling around to make the climb less torturous. And the view over the clouds was awesome. We don't even dare to stay long at the peak with only our cycling attire to keep the chilling wind at bay. And the ride down was not exceptional either - I was shivering.

We rendevouzed with Fadil and Jaja at Sungai Tekala rest area for refuelling and spent the minutes laughing at nonsense among us. Fadil started to realise the jawcramping ride will definitely require a rerun - just like LSD kan?

However, Bukit Hantu was the main course. All laughs and IQs were swallowed away as we confronted the gruelling thing. As the sun was so happy to streak her rays after struggling to penetrate the thick morning overcast, we bowed in loyal to the power of nature at it's best. It was only 10.30 a.m. and my quads and glutes were freaking out. The back of my neck and arms started to feel the burning sensation from the streaking rays. It was a pleasureable pain and cycling serves it best.