Genting Trailblazer 2010 - Boom De Ya Da!

I love the mountains
I love the clear blue skies
I love the sore legs
I love the smell of Perskindol
Boom De Ya Da!

The world we live in, it is simply awesome. It is such a better place when you can share it with fellow friends. My Genting Trailblazer 2010 debut was another chapter of having beautiful great peeps get together in getting mud in our pants.

The morning peeps met up at a morning joint as early as 5.15 a.m. for some morning talks, morning foods, morning chores and morning cam whoring. Weather was pretty much gorgeous unlike the day before when it rained cats and dogs disbanding all training attempts. We carpooled to Genting with Shuk leading the way.



Bulb faces and ready to take the world

Most of us parked at the old cable car station (Ziff told me about it). Ample parking and since we were hyped with secret partners and conspiracies flying around prior to the day, everyone looked a bit secretive that morning whilst prepping up for the race. See what I mean?

Zack : Air apa tu bro? Lain macam je kaler?
Ziff : Uish! Rahsia bro. Ini aku bagi kena embun 7 malam Jumaat ni

Ini komplot sorok Kelas A. Almost kantoi by me

The biggest secret group around. Ni mesti kes seludup budu dalam camelbak

Zack was surprised as I sneak behind him for this pic. Kenapa Zack?

And see that innocent face la konon. Subskin tarak pakai ka bro?



Even the strongest team still have their last minute secret strategy. See?

Lucky we have the most honest person. Det. See that jujur face? Lu OK ke bro?
Mau lari kutub utara ka?

Well, the checking in for the teams and bib pinning session and also special stretching slot by CA went on smoothly at the football field. Now and then some of us were quite annoyed by the voice from the loudspeaker whom kept on reminding the bib numbers should be on the chest and not down at the tummy level. I almost felt like it was school assembly. The stretching and cam whoring was a good mix that morning.

Pelari kutub utara admiring Ijam Superman's pose

Stretch those legs wide enough. The hills will kill ya if you don't

We were also entertained by some creative RBU with their race appearance. These, I present some samples of Boria Bukit Mertajam :)

Team Clown Superman Ijam & Rayzeef with their latest costume

Jaja and Mas cladded in Brooks and Subskins. Shopping bag pun masih ada?

Enough with the smiles and laughters, Men's Open were flagged off first at 8.30 a.m. I noticed not quite a huge crowd behind the starting line. Exiting the football field and straight onto tarmac road winding down and up around Awana resort. The Orange Team Macam Bagus paved the way, strong pace, and some of us attempted to hook on. Rayzeef almost got carried away with the pace until he realised Ijam was not close by.

Approaching the golf course route, the Orange guys left Nik and me. The view was indeed breathtaking but I was a bit occupied when Zairinator came to my side for a short chat before he sped off giving chase for whatever he had in mind. I was however got sucked into the race as well, only to be caught by surprised when there is this mega hill standing right in front.  The steep winding incline reminds me of the Jeep Track of Penang Hill back in the mountainbiking days. The closest resemblance where mere seconds of pushing the pace a bit will only result with disaster. Shoving into lower gear, this diesel engine legs started to switch to smaller steps and higher rev while control breathing. First Orange Guy decided to take it easy half way up while Syah have left the scene. "Aku nak stop minum air kejap, kau go ahead." Nik said to me. I waited for him at the end of it before jumping onto the slippery technical singletracks.

We were fortunate to make it through most of the runners by the time we hit the singletrack. I tried to find the best opportunity to overtake here where it was slippery and deep gorges awaiting for the careless footsteps. It was a downhill trip and when dry leaves cover the trail, the friction was good enough for a fast descending with switchbacks. I noticed a few of us kept on overtaking each other. There were this guy from Safra Runners, a young Malay bloke and a team of strong Chinese guys. The Womens Team came up close from behind at one of the descend, I gave them way sensing they are chasing the podium.

World class dirt slide

The first off road hill welcomed us after the stream. It was massive. Reminds me of Bukit Apek. Only that most of us were in race mode unlike Bukit Apek hike and chat mode. We were on four most of the times. Continuous jerking of the calves will only cause disaster and zapped too many juice. I also used my hands to hurled me upwards keeping a smooth transition in between the steps. It was more like wall climbing rather than a hike up at times. View upwards/ahead only gave butt sights and endless incline. Crazy.

At the second monster climb Dino and Steph hurriedly overtook us. An attempt to cangkuk only lasted for 15 minutes before the monster bit back. Once in a while I can hear Nik self talk but we were quite a distance apart only to have visual contact when the terrain permits. Ronnie caught up with me again after the golf course climb. "Waaa...you laju maaa? Manyak kuat?" and kept on asking me to slow down. Only today I can be infront of him, else he'll be smoking me at KLCC park every Thursday. Lol.

We exited the monster's belly and into the open only to find another 1km. With small strides, I forced myself to run together with Nik who by this time have a second wind. From a top, we could see the football field and there were not many participants finishing yet. Is that a good sign? No idea but cramp symtomps started creeping in. Nope. Not this time dude. The fun just about to start. The obstacles.

Jump across the first pond. Saved. Second one was slighly a feet wider for my attempt and a big splash officially marked my soaking entry. Cold water and muddy bottom shall trigger cramp anytime. I tried to ignore the possibilities. Up and down and splash. The thing repeatedly went on until at one of the mega slide down, Nik's camera sunk to the bottom. OMG! We blindly meraba-raba for it while more people sliding down made it worse. Aiyo! I caught his foot instead when I thought it was the camera. Lol. And a few attempts only gave me old shoe soles. How many shoes lost their battle here? Finally Nik found it. Phew! We continued on with the rest of the obstacles and crossed the finish line at 19th place. Fuh! I almost didn't quite believe it but the effort was justified. Was that 1:48 Nik? My stopwatch clocked 2:40 which included shower and eating time. I forgot. Lol.

The cold shower, cleanups and food and more lambung with fellow RBUS on the field under the beautiful sky was perfect. We waited for Jaja to complete and headed to Ian's place for a warm birthday gathering arranged by RBU for Nik and me - the October guys. Thank you so much for everything guys. You guys are simply awesome.

The food was fantastic.

I always kept an eye on what CA Chief eats. What he eats is always a good one :)

Chin up everyone. Self cam-whoring the easiest way to have me inside the pic :D

Ahmed Lamchanak the Men Open Champion.
We always come across each other lately. Why eh?

Without the Pirate King himself, I am nobody at Trailblazer 2010. Thanks bro!

The Circle of Blue Calves