Damages

It was only a week after our flawless ride when today everything turned topsy turvy. So easy kan? One day we were flying high looking at everything at birds eye view and in split second, there tumbling down rolling resulted with fractured collar bone and loads of bruises, plus some other damages. God is so rich with hikmah.

I skipped another Saturday LSD just to indulge myself with the luxury of going fast on tarmac - another group ride. This time we opted to accompany a few Chap Ayam Runners. They wanted to try out the famous Langat cycling route. Nizam, Hanchik, Saiful and me left home near 7.15am to meet up with the rest at Batu 14. Traffic was magnificent & so was the morning sky - thorough overcast with some spots of rainclouds. All together, we have four of us plus Ron, Bahri, Hailmi, Zaki, Zaini, Fairol, Zairol, Det and a guy with a cap. 13 - talking about unlucky number eh? Hehe.

We rode into Pangsoon till the end of the road, turned back & stopped to patch up Zairol's puncture. Headed straight to Tekala R&R for refuelling. So far so good. We continued our back the same way and regrouped at the foot of Peres. The terrain drops rapidly from that point where it was cyclists' favourite launchpad to get momentum to cover the following 10km flat Sg Lui stretch. Some of us were eager for the launch because we have cranked almost 70km and wanted to see the daylight of home.

Hanchik was the unfortunate one. He lost balance and threw himself off bike, crashing hard on the pavement at downhill speed. In slow-mo and in sequence, it started with him dashing off after Bahri, Ron & Det. He moved straight to drop bar position and attempted to engage the pedal at the same time. Losing force for the legs to clip-in, he had to stand whilst the drop bar post & accelerating downhill. The shoving resulted to bad bike handling, drop bar post made it worse. The next thing I knew, he was there in front of me a few metres ahead flying off-bike and unfolded all over the place. Saiful was squeezing his brake lever - hard & I was swerving away from the scene to avoid Saiful & Hanchik. I u-turned and climb back up for a helping hand.

Hanchik can hardly move his right hand, nor pick himself up. He was in shock. He was blur. He didn't respond to any of our grills. Det, Bahri & Ron carried on paddling back to Batu 14 to get the car. We lugged him to the roadside, laid him down and dialled 999. Ambulance from Pusat Kesihatan Batu 14 arrived moments later. Hanchik was sent to Ampang Hospital for further treatment. Det arrived later and took Hanchik's bike home. Silently we pedalled back amid the increasing humidity and traffic at 1.30pm.

I managed to cover a four ride but Hanchik cracked his brand new Met helment, torn his new HTC Columbia jersey, torn saddle, fractured collar bone, bruises all over, traumatised and had to ditch Towerthon & ENR. I believe he will need all the support and motivation from friends soon. I pray for his fast recovery.