Cahaya SPK - A Solitary Cyclist

When I came back from the tour, there was a small window to train for the next century ride. I know that I didn’t gather any fitness advantage from the tour considering the easy pace and ‘threshold’ eating habit.

As a backup, I signed up for the Shah Alam Endurance Ride, about two weeks after my tour. I have one weekend prior to the event to test out the route and my bike and my stamina. Hence, this event should be my gauge stick to the bigger Kuantan Century Ride on 1^st June.

As I jotted down millions of time before, the route on this part of Selangor was never easy. I guess the climate played the most factor. Hence, it is an ideal place for us cyclist that wish to torture oneself to the heat, terrain and boredom.

The climax of this route is the Cahaya SPK climb. Cyclists frequent here find it spine chilling like we used to listen to legend folklores about haunted road or something like that. The place would simply give you the ‘stars and chill’.

The loops can be altered to suit ones level of stamina. However, opting to finish with the Cahaya SPK climb is the best alternative.

The week after my tour, we did the small loop, excluding Kuala Selangor flat and straight death road. Still, the Cahaya SPK was in the menu. And I misread the pace from the earlier Jalan Puncak Alam. My last ride here was a few years back and it didn’t quite safely kept in my good memories bank.

A total of five magical climbs and the slightest miscalculation of energy regulated means doom.

My training ride that particular weekend taught me that attacking the first two climbs after 80 km in your legs is not smart. I paid the toll, witnessing the front riders fade away into the afternoon glare. The churning of the crank was heavy as I dragged the bike and myself to the top.

During the Shah Alam Endurance Ride, we had 120 km already in our legs after making a huge loop from Batang Berjuntai to Kuala Selangor and back via Asam Jawa. Both are straight as an arrow road and flat as a pancake. There’s not a chance of coasting on flat route like this. Gauging your cadence and heart rate is the smartest way to survive the rest of the ride.

Come Cahaya SPK, most of us were scattered along the Jalan Batu Arang 16 km stretch. We were blessed with good weather that afternoon, right exactly at the climb itself. It drizzled with cool breeze against our half-awake legs and fatigue bodies. We were solitary riders by then. We completed the 149 km challenge. Alhamdulillah.

A week before Kuantan Century Ride, it was taper week. Now these legs are itchy twitchy to get it spinning after the good outcome of Shah Alam Endurance Ride. And the spirit is also itchy to have Cahaya SPK in the menu again. And this time, though we made a smaller loop, we managed to churn our way up together finishing with huge grins on our faces as we scattered on the floor of Bukit Jelutong 7-Eleven.