Sunday, February 24, 2008

Baru dapat feel daaa...

La ni, tahap adrenalin ada tinggi sikit. So, aku tak sabar nak channel out ke dalam blog kisah-kisah weekend aku yang sangat memuaskan hati. Ye la, selepas hampir 3 minggu hidung tersumbat & mood yang berbuai ikut angin panas KL. Minggu ni baru dapat feel utk training balik.

Sabtu pagi, geng2 bas sekolah semua ada program masing2. So tak boleh nak set utk bersama. Ada yang pi main tanah kat FRIM, ada yang layan road & ada jugak yang hari keluarga ofis. Aku ikut schedule yang dah set seminggu yang lalu....lari beb. Last Monday masa try berlari-lari anak lepas 2 minggu tinggal, agak merisaukan...kaki ada lembik sikit. Pagi semalam, dengan mp3 yang dah siap charge, 7.15 aku dah berdiri depan gate utk test power. Sekali terjumpa sparing partner daaa....Nizam, jiran aku baru lepas 1 lap. Apa lagi...henjut ler. Sembang baik punya...Nizam 8 lap, aku 7. Puas hati. 1 hour solid maintain at 70-80% HR. Part paling best, aku sempat utk pi hantar kids ngaji & breakfast dgn wifey. Susunan yang sungguh manis. The rest of the day was cool quality time chill kat rumah sebab cuaca kat luar panas yang amat. Aiskrim connetto & coke pukul 4.00 ptg memang menu paling lazat. 6.00pm dok layan neighbours main takraw. Part layan EPL mlm tu je ada kantoi sikit. Arsenal dah leading 2-1, bleh plak bagi penalty kat Birmingham. Full time 2-2.

Ahad pagi dah set dengan Red Robbie, Awe & Waklah utk revisit route Langat...konsep santai...konon...hehe. Waklah yang pulak down with selsema, terpaksa akur dengan keadaan dia. Kayuh from Batu 14 to Tekala with 2 pit stop tunggu waklah. Balik 1 pit stop. Since kayuh yang takde pressure, the 3 of us henjut bila ada bukit & maintain bila kat flat...sambil jaga HR. Puas hati gak. Kena pulak jalan lengang sebab maybe ramai orang pi check out penamaan calon...hehe. The ultimate part of the weekend was petang tadi....gelanggang takraw menjadi saksi. Menjadi pulak aku hari ni. Almost semua bola boleh sambut. Entah mana skill aku dapat daaa...hahaha. Tu yang la ni tak ngantuk2. Part nak mengenangkan esok kerja tu yg letiiiih :(

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Cycling Malaysia

An eventful weekend that was. Started with my came back with confidence from 3 weeks flu. The last CNY KLIA ride was tremendously awful. On Saturday, I decided to give it a shot upon confirmation from geng Puchong that they are doing a 50km 2 hours ride. Cool.

Alhamdullillah, it all went well. Heart rate was ok most of the time, though recovery time requires a bit more improvement. Six of us attempted the Puchong - Pulau Meranti - Cyberjaya - Putrajaya route with a few sprint zones, short bursts & definitely one long straight climb before heading back. It felt good, for a come back ride.

Facts:
  • Ride distance : 56km
  • Ride time : 2 hrs 13 min
    Average : 25km/hr
  • Max flat : 40km/hr
    Weather : Just nice
Sunday was different. My early morning event was dramatically an embarrassing one when Arsenal was hammered 4-0 by Manchester United in FA Cup. That one an a half our till 3.30 a.m. was a long morning. No morning run for me. Slack.

The le tour de Langkawi ended their edition in KL. Took the opportunity to be there with fellow cycling lovers...yep, met old & new friends. This 13th edition of ltdl was something to be remembered about when our local racers made us proud. Anuar Manan, the name that bloomed in almost all the stages from Kedah to Kuantan. Tried not to miss all the stages. It was awesome. A race that I think a prestigious one. A world class race with world class riders, wonderful landscape, unique atmosphere & challenging terrains.






Saturday, February 9, 2008

Hitting the wall

Bonk (condition)
In endurance sports, particularly cycling, bonk describes a condition when the athlete suddenly loses energy and fatigue sets in, usually caused when glycogen stores in the liver and muscles are depleted, resulting in a major performance drop.

Etymology, usage and synonyms
The term "bonk" for cycling fatigue is presumably derived from the original meaning "to hit", and dates back at least half a century. A recent DVD issued by the British Transport Films Collection contains several old films, one of which entitled "Cyclists Special", a colour film produced in 1955, tells the story of a party of cyclists touring the English countryside. At one point they stop for refreshments and the film's commentator states that if they didn't rest and eat they would get "the bonk".[1]
The term can be used both as a noun ("hitting the bonk") and a verb ("to bonk halfway through the race"). This condition is also known to long-distance (marathon) runners, who usually refer to it as "hitting the wall". It is also referred to as the "green grass" as pupil dilation causes vivid hues to appear.

Atau, dalam perkataan Melayu lama, kita panggil dia sawan tangis. Hahaha!

Yep. Itu lah yang aku rasa during my recent ride on CNY. Despite semangat melebihi kemampuan & gigil punya pasal tengok tour of Qatar & the recent tour de Langkawi promo, aku join geng way2ride Puchong branch doing their 100km from Puchong to KLIA & back.

The ride was awesome from the start where 11 of us rolled out on to LDP towards Cyberjaya. Some splinters & sprinters making the warm up part a bit quick. Traffic volume was light, so we had the road to ourselves most of the time. As we reached Dengkil, we took turn working up front. I was strong enough to maintain the group speed averaging 30km/hr from Dengkil to Kota Warisan. It was cool.

We headed towards KLIA Bomba junction using the straight Salak Tinggi road & still it was awesome. As we exited the roundabout taking 9 o'clock towards F1 Sepang, we were stuck in a wind tunnel. Cross wind was strong, so was the head front which was pushing us backwards. Trying to maintain the 30km/hr pace was using the 35km/hr effort. Most of us were drained on that stretch upon reaching our refueling post at a airport limo service canteen near LCCT. Time was 9.34 a.m. A half an hour ride where 30 minutes of it was battling the cross winds.

Half an hour for refuelling & we were off towards KLIA. A stretch was parallel to the runway. It was an awesome sight when those giant aircrafts take-off & land. Still we struggle to get pass the strong wind.

The moment of truth came when we reached Kota Warisan stretch again. That was where I hit the wall or bonk or kena sawan tangis. Suddenly kaki terus tak larat, especially climbing the Kota Warisan flyover. Memang betul kawan2 pernah kata kat situ kalau kena tinggal sorang2, confirm kena sawan tangis. Hahaha!

The rest of ride back to Dengkil & through Cyberjaya was all in cries. I was struggling to maintain 25km/hr in the vertical hot humid. Yep, masa tu jugak matahari dah mula terpacak. These few days, memang panas. We finished our ride at almost around 12.30 p.m. at Restoran Mawar, Bandar Bukit Puchong where it seemed like a never ending ride back.

I concluded the ride with these:
  1. It has been awhile since I did my 100k. Last one was Kuala Klawang almost 2 months back.
  2. My flu condition did not recover since the last 2 weeks.
  3. I bet my body will suffer on post ride.
  4. Aku bonked maybe sebab flu took away some of my stamina & dah lama tak buat long ride.
Facts :
  • Route : Bdr Bkt Puchong - KLIA
  • Distance : 98.34km
  • Duration : 3 hours 45 minutes
  • Average spd : 26 km/hr
  • Weather : Too hot too handle
  • Riders : Farid, Awe, Zali, Faidi, Amir, Yahya, TdF Green Jersey, Omar Abdullah, Dale, Saiful & me.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Recovering

Another Saturday run at Bdr Tasik Pemaisuri. The planned 2 rounds of the big loop had to be cut short upon realising that my fellow run buddy had some restless night when his son down with a fever. We only did one round and a quarter, I think it was only 4km. With me still struggling to recover from a week's flu, it was a cool move. The rest of the morning was tasting the breakfast at the newly opened Cafe Santai nearby. Cool place.

I was looking forward for the santai ride on Sunday where a large gathering of cyclists showing their support for the upcoming tour de langkawi. Though the early morning sky was a bit gloomy, we made our way from Sg Besi to Putrajaya for the event. There was a large crowd at the registration. There was also a confusion when some was thinking that it is a 40km race while the rest thought it's only a casual promotional 40km ride around Putrajaya. Both were wrong, it was only a 20km ride. Nasib baik a few of us rode from Sg Besi & back, enjoying the flat smooth Besraya highway from Serdang.

With the flu still hanging around, every run & cycle was light. Bila mau recover daaa...?