PCM No. 19 (Ramadhan ride)

With a week done fasting & two weeks after my last ride, eventually I found my enthusiasm. After prez ride (a week before Ramadhan), the days were spent incuperating & recovering oneself & also preparing for the Ramadhan break. A week into Ramadhan, I was struggling to get myself out of the sofa. The evenings were so indolent after surviving the evening traffic from work back to home. Some evenings were so hot that it drained remainings of juice for the one hour inside the car. Days gone without even a minute of thoughts to do workout. My mind were fighting vigorously but the body remains shutdown.

Until last night. The night that most of us looked forward to. Us, the cycling community. It was the last Friday of the month. It was the monthly Putrajaya Critical Mass. I took the chance to get myself committed. Plans were made, though only a handful of buddies managed to participate, we swarmed the streets. It was my second time. A promising 70 cyclists let loose their hunger for adrenalines.

The ride started at almost 11.30pm with the first 10km rolling lazily towards PICC & back vied the Shape Run route. Weather was perfect, though with some pretty rain clouds & guzz of pre-storm wind added some drag to us. The remaining ride from Alamanda back to PICC vied Jalan U4 was awesome. We managed to squeeze in sort-a interval ride. Most of us agreed in silence of the night that it was a great short session.

Though with the adrenalines fed & satisfaction accounted for, the ride was accompanied by a casualty. A young fellow from MSN was a casulaty from egoism & extreme fatigue. With young blood flowing in those legs, this guy didn't want to miss every piece of the action. He was pumping the climbs like we did & won the polka dot jersey. He was sprinting his guts out at every flats we could find & boasted the victory. But he forgot to listen to his body. It's fasting month la dude. No superhuman can deceive the biological condition of oneself. He ended up fainted on the staircase of Palace of Justice during our finishing group photo. Macam ni punya orang pun ada.

I reached home at almost 4.00am after a mamak session at post ride (a compulsory agenda). Prepared some menus for sahur for kids & wifey before I embarked my long journey back to recovery. With adrenalines pumped in, I looked forward for my next workout, perhaps a run. Next week?

Dirt, dust & bang on Prez

After the Bagan Lalang ride, I was bogged down to hit another 100km mark on the saddle. Every weekend seemed too exigent be it in time quantum or physical. I decided to cool off from joining the Broga Classic ride the following weekend and opted to accompany a friend newbie on cycling into Langat. It turned out to be a great relaxing and good workout as well.

As usual, the weekdays were none other than the self yoga workout behind steering wheels. I was attending meetings more than I can imagine. The evenings ended up me being knackered to reach my running shoes. The weather was also a bit haywire. It rained most of the days, morning and evening. Cools off the haze & humid from the last few weeks. It even cooled off my gusto to run. Slack.

From too much public exposed and meeting people, I was proned to the outbreak of flu. I was down with fever on Friday. It was a restless Friday. Joints were aching and my solitary condition ended up me being tossing myself on the bed for 8 hours. It was not a rest indeed. I kept reminding my sons not to come close, knowing the power of flu infection. I kept myself disciplined to repeat with antibiotics and hydrations and stayed focus to recover for the Sunday Presidential Ride.

Saturday I felt fine though with still bitter taste from the fever, I thrusted in carbos and fuel up though I was still hesitent for the Sunday event. My son was down with flu pulak. I ensured that he gets the same treatment as I had for fast recovery. Alhamdullillah it did and he was joyfully shouting across the hall by evening.

The annual mtb gathering organised by PCC took place at Univeristy of Nottingham, Semenyih. This would be my first mtb event for 2009. It was greatly anticipated by a few of us since the route would take us through 68km of rolling hills across Broga and Lenggeng. I was a bit cautious as not to push hard on myself considering the recovery rate I'm in.

Turn-up from fellow friends was awesome. It was like a get together ride, especially when we get to meet old friends. A mega weekend ride with the same purpose, to get tired and dirty. 4 loops with 3 checkpoints waiting for us with 3 major hills reaching as high as 236m. We tried to stay together most of the time, just to ensure that we stayed focus & euphoric. As the milage clocked in and fatigue crept, cramps along the trail were a common sight which includes a few of our fellow buddies. They had to pace themselves as not to push harder. Cut-off time at checkpoints gave us the pressure to pursue.

Managed to reach CP3 20 minutes before cut-off time when I decided to call it a day. It was 1.10pm and body gave signals that it was time to take it slow. I've clocked 5 1/2 hours of ride covering about 50km hovering across plantations and forest. Nothing better than to spend a Sunday in dirt, dust & banging on the trails. Just like the old times.

A few of us didn't reached CP3 on time. Another few took up the challenge of the last Loop 4 while some of us pedal off through chicken loop for another 7.5km back to the university on the Broga trunk road.

Our curses and desperation on completing this event will always be an awesome memories, just like the previous years where we can still share every detail of it. Best of all, our laughters and nonsense be it at the parking lots, on the trail and even over late lunch will always be a cure for stress and flu. Looking forward for another ride Mr. Prez.

Gold Coast...Bagan Lalang aje

Weekends come and go. Those are the days noticeable. The weekdays are more like a waiting period. As I recalled before, the weekends ahead are going to be a colourful ones with full of activities which I should pick wisely. Previous weekend agendas filled with ride & run was magnificent & so was Saturday's long haul.

Yesterday I revisited down to the coastal line of Selangor. My last ride here was 2 years ago & both was not a proud one when I waved the white flag at 90% of the war. This time, I could consider I came prepared.

The ride rolled off from my place at 7.20 a.m. with Bacin, Adeline, Bahri & Saiful. We rendevouzed with Alwin & Arif at MTD Bangi 45 minutes later. Alwin overshot his wakeup call. Weather was splendid but a bit of haze as we approached Sepang. Traffic was innocent enough except for one lorry driver who honked & drove by us & that shooked out hearts out somewhere before Sepang town. Crazy guy or perhaps he's late for work. A pit stop at Shell Sungai Pelek for a leak & continued the ride to Bagan Lalang covering the remaining 16km. All went smoothly until approaching the kedai makan, tiny sprinkles of the morning coastal rain welcomed us. We stayed calm & expect it was just a drove-by, just like the lorry driver.

We picked our favorite bi hun soup & drinks which was scheduled to be a 30 minutes refuelling. Then it started to rain heavily. It rained for the next 2 hours. Calmness turned nervous. Full stomachs want more. Another glass of teh 'o' panas...recap...make sure 'panas ye'. We prayed that the rain would subside & permit a safe journey home.

12.00 p.m. it cleared but with a bit more of drizzle. We took the chance with the gap & hoping that it will stop & stayed that way. The first few hundred meters on the bike was tormenting. It was cold & we were yelling & shaking to pump the blood faster. Yes, it did drizzled all the way back to Sungai Pelek & Sepang town. We were drenched, cold, filthy & fatigue started creeping in slowly. We concluded the ride eventually with some detour to shorten the time which most of us concurred to. It was already 2.30 p.m.

The afternoon was too tired for a nap. By 4.30 p.m. I accompanied Det to fetch his dream Scott Speedster S30 at Bikepro as promised. The transaction ended at 7.30 p.m. as I signed off the evening as early as 9.00 p.m. My mind already sent signals & decision that the Sunday run at Adidas King of the Road had to be abandoned.

Figs:

Route milage : 132.36km

Time on bike : 4:59:59

Ave spd : 26.4 kph

Mx spd : 53.8 kph