Trying to squeeze in 3

Triumph after the Dragoback

With kaki already into the drivetrain mode, plus the cycling kakis in jovial mood for another Batu Arang ride, we embarked into the self retrace back to the suburbs of Ulu Selangor. One of the largest state, Selangor still boast more untouched lands which sooner later will be flattened in no time. As the name says it, summer time throughout the ride was expected. Milage 82km, not quite worth the burning sensation above and under from the torching sun and tarmac. Leburrr...

Anyway, the trip and sunburn was justified when I managed to secure a good deal for Amir's BMX right after the ride. Thanks to mudah.com, a mint condition BMX for him to join the neighbourhood peloton after this.

BTHO Pro Tour Team

That was two weeks ago, which I had to summarised things again.

Last weekend, things went a bit above average. I did three workouts. Nothing that I planned for but things kinda fell into pieces and went smoothly without tampering other chores. Since swim was pushed to evening, my biological alarm clock had me wide awake by 5.00 a.m. Thanks to fellow old time "orang kampung", we made a last minute plan for LSD around the infamous McDonald loop. Four of us, but in reality, I was sayur-ed halfway into the run by no other than Det and Nizam. Damn fast these guys. Apa taknya, belasah gym almost everyday. So I had Asharul to tackle my envy and pep talks. Asharul will be a FMV in the June SCKLM, so as usual I had him pouring with loads of tips and knowledge. We ended up with him waiting for me to email him the Hal Highdon marathon training program.

Awaiting 5.00 p.m., I was restless. With almost the whole day I was not quite as the laze around type, I was a bit worried I couldn't meet the distance menu tabled out. As a beginner, putting in effort for something new is near impossible at times. But, I gave it a shot. SIGN!

The introductory drill already had me twisting every part of my body. Kick drill, one arm drill and the best drill was stroke "ikan sebelah". Completing the drills was only the appertizer, because the main course was yet to be served. Followed with 500m front crawl or whatever crawl I managed. Then the 500m crawl with only my arms without the legs since I had the pull buoy. Now, this almost broke me. As the laps and soreness accumulate, I had only my mind to push me through. Wall after wall, stroke after stroke. Leburrr...

OK that was "fun". I was struggling to catch up with the guy next lane who did breaststroke. Damn, he's good. I had only 30 secs recovery before the main course bell rang. 1 kilo shall we? Wha...t? The whole one lump sum? Again, without any chance to bargain nor beg, the cangkuk phenomenon took place for the second week. The longest in single attempt so far, eventually completed when the pool light made the bubbles seemed therapeutic, enough to last me for 33 minutes 47 secs. OK, the time was extra motivation because I was 200% barely surviving the distance. The rest of the night snuggled into the compression tight, hoping I could make it for the ride next morning. And now I wished I have upper compression wear as well, the soreness was total!

Next morning, again the orang kampung camarederie was the driving point. Fortunately recovery was speedy. Four of us from the same neighbourhood. A great peloton. Nizam, Det, Doc Taufiq and me pedalling away into the morning darkness, only to rendevouz with the rest of the peloton along the way. We met Bahri at Batu 9 and two more cyclists caught up. By the time we reached Batu 14, we had 7 in line. Plus 7 more we had the whole lane to ourselves all the way to Batu 18. Weather was kind enough to lend us morning shower. It rained so hard, we had to take refuge under the lontong stall. Lol. No excuse not to taste the hot bowl of lontong with 13 other hungry souls while the rain washed away our sunken anxiety...konon.

Half an hour bowl digging, the rain stopped and we had to justify what was left of the morning. It was still 9.00am, so we pursued the eager legs up Genting Peres and Bukit Hantu and back home just in time to dig lunch pulak. Tammat.