This year, I signed for Amir Yusof as well. He ran his first run race last month, and today his first bike race. He was excited upon receiving the first gesture from me about the race, and it's at the Sepang International Circuit some more! He likes bike and he likes cars. Let say, he likes speed. I guess it's a boy thing la kot. And he thought he could witness any F1 cars around on race day.
Too bad we don't actually get to train much. Al-maklum, kerja makan gaji full time, dok bertenggek atas saddle as part time. Amir urged me for a last minute tutorial, Saturday morning. It was actually a very nice morning for a spin. Why not? Since he asked for it. I don't have my rear wheel, still kat workshop. Spoke patah from last ride. That only left me with Amir's BMX since he's riding Kaklong's Trek. OK la, setakat kerja-kerja coaching no need proper bike sangat, and in fact I was in a pair of kakis long pants aje. To top it up, Umar was excited with the idea and he hopped onto the top tube. Dah macam sakai kampung, nak pi petik buah kelapa. Kah kah kah. Lucky la no orang kampung as witness.
There is this 200 meters stretch near our place with low traffic and flat as a pancake. Under a canopy somemore. The Orang Kampung used to do speed training for SCKLM 2010 here. Amir had the whole road to him. All he needs to do was intervals and gear shifting skill. Start light and drop heavy as momentum gains with only 2 to 3 tabs of the shifter. We did about 5 sets. Cukup la tuh. Sebenornya ayah dia yang penat mengejor naik BMX. Berat oooo the BMX. Anyway, Amir looks natural on the bike. I admired his fluid pedal stroke and his spirit. A champion in the making. Level orang kampung je :]
The Race
The whole family went to SIC that morning with Dett & Naufal in separate car. A quick pit stop at McDonald Kota Warisan and moments later kids were aw-ing the circuit as we approach the entrance.
We have lots of teams, local & foreign. Hmmm....and I thought, the Master's Category (40 yo & above) is a small crowd. I thought wrong! And these guys looks old enough, like me but those lean legs and body are remarkable...just like me also, minus the 'one pack' of course. Muahaha!
Chill brader. No need to panic. If I trust my butt and my saddle, then I don't have to worry. I told Alwin, Azmar and Det at the starting line and nothing can be done at those final seconds to count down. I had to go with the flow, or I'll miss the race. The strategy was to stand pedalling or avoid from rocking too much on it. The first option seemed impossible though. Hehe. Hence, I had to workout some extra glutes strengthening la ye.
The best about racing with otais, we had wisdom. So we stayed together on the first lap. In 2008, when I was in the Open Cat, we were strung out immediately after the gun went off. Guess who the devil was? Anwar Manan and his geng la. He was with Team LeTua back then. Habis peloton strung out all over the circuit. Well, that was the race strategy normally they would do also la.
Surprisingly most of us had no problem staying with the group of....I estimated about 100 over MAMILS. Hahaha. Of course the pace was high, it's a race! Even rolling down inclines also have to spin to catch up. That was at 50kph I guess. I didn't had my speedometer, tukar wheels with Azmar so the sensor was not reattached. But Azahari did told me we clocked 9 minutes on the first lap and 7 minutes on the second. God! That was fast!
There was headwinds and sidewinds as we cut and sliced into and away from the bends and corners.. I was relieved I left my Reynolds, kalau tidak kompom jadi kapal layar! I don't want to imagine the exaggeration part. The other thing was the sharp turn followed with inclines. We lost momentum and quads were straining to get back up into the bunch. I counted 4 of these repeatitions per lap. The drill was to spin on flats and descends, grit teeth and squeeze the brakes at sharp turn, and stand climb at short burst inclines. And again I can't imagine how the pros do it. At grand tours, they spend 21 days on the road. Scary.
My initial plan was to complete more than 2 laps. Improvement than previous race. Yes, last time I only managed 2 laps. Salah kan Anwar Manan lagi. Another 2 laps would be a bonus. Affendi Rosli and gang escaped from the bunch on the third lap. The domino effect took place right after. The rest of the bunch started showing distress calls. The pace went unsteady. Adding to the situations, we have some nuts who don't know ride ethics. They swerved happily into and out of the peloton as they want. There's also one sakai rode with an aerobar!!! Damn dangerous, for us la of course!
In the middle of the fourth lap, things when haywire, totally. A small crash took place involving 3 cyclists. Biasa lah, tayar bercium. Right after the third incline, all hell broke loose. Unlike running, when the legs said no, there's no shame in accepting the fact that you can't pedal anymore. That happened to most of us half way into fourth lap. The nervous peloton cracked and a quarter of us soaked away into the pavement like oil spill. Muahaha! I had to let go and wished that I could wave goodbye but the strong wind shook the bike aggresively.
We tried to gather what was the remaining of us. The ones closed by. We slowed down and formed a new bunch. All 6 of us. We took turn with the rotation drill and completed the fourth lap. Azahari and me straight away pulled aside and call it a day. We waited for Det and Rozaimi and called upon them. Surprisingly they responded without the tiniest hesitant to carry on. Hehe. Heart pounding & nerve cracking avg 37kph! Great race. Great organiser. And great buddies.
Amir's Race
Amir was in the 8-10 years old Cat. 400 meters straight line race. Means there's only one strategy. Attack straight on! I think about 50 of them girls and boys. These younger generations have their race face on upon waking up that morning la rasanya. Semua garang aje. Hehe. My Amir was enjoying every moment. He had Naufal and Azhan as part of his trikidz buddies. But Naufal is already in the Junior Cat. Some last minute pep talks and strategizing, Amir lined up at the start line. Nobody looked nervous though. Semangat betul.
I was running along the track towards the finish line before they started. Kalau ada lubang celah rumput tu, kompom aku dah buat adegan sakai no.2 untuk minggu ini. Nasib baik takde. The oraginser was awesome. They kept the event going with Mr. Emcee playing along with the suspense of count down to start and finishing.
The race started as I reached three quarter of the way, huffing and puffing. Maklum la, dah lama tak ber-lari. I saw Amir was in third position half way into the race. He was spinning and revving up. Reaching the final 50m, I think a few kids overtook him. Bonk la tu. Hehe. Apa tak nya? Hours before the race start, he was cycling all over the SIC Complex with his gang. I was reluctant to remind him to reserve some for the race but that would be against the fun concept. Let him explore and socialize.
Amir seemed confident he got placing under 10 but it didn't. It's OK buddy. We must learn the spirit of defeat as well. Next race OK. As soon as started travelling back, Kaklong who was earlier didn't want to pursue the Trikidz races, suddenly said she wanted. And Amir also want lah. Aiyak!
The Race
The whole family went to SIC that morning with Dett & Naufal in separate car. A quick pit stop at McDonald Kota Warisan and moments later kids were aw-ing the circuit as we approach the entrance.
We have lots of teams, local & foreign. Hmmm....and I thought, the Master's Category (40 yo & above) is a small crowd. I thought wrong! And these guys looks old enough, like me but those lean legs and body are remarkable...just like me also, minus the 'one pack' of course. Muahaha!
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| The Clover Circuit |
There was not much time for a proper warm up after our sign in, and we were called upon to the start line moments later. Argh! No time for suspense langsung. As I was spinning graciously on my new carbon braided red Fizik (ehem...poyo sikit bleh?), then the thing started rocking like a rocking chair. Alamak!
Chill brader. No need to panic. If I trust my butt and my saddle, then I don't have to worry. I told Alwin, Azmar and Det at the starting line and nothing can be done at those final seconds to count down. I had to go with the flow, or I'll miss the race. The strategy was to stand pedalling or avoid from rocking too much on it. The first option seemed impossible though. Hehe. Hence, I had to workout some extra glutes strengthening la ye.
The best about racing with otais, we had wisdom. So we stayed together on the first lap. In 2008, when I was in the Open Cat, we were strung out immediately after the gun went off. Guess who the devil was? Anwar Manan and his geng la. He was with Team LeTua back then. Habis peloton strung out all over the circuit. Well, that was the race strategy normally they would do also la.
Surprisingly most of us had no problem staying with the group of....I estimated about 100 over MAMILS. Hahaha. Of course the pace was high, it's a race! Even rolling down inclines also have to spin to catch up. That was at 50kph I guess. I didn't had my speedometer, tukar wheels with Azmar so the sensor was not reattached. But Azahari did told me we clocked 9 minutes on the first lap and 7 minutes on the second. God! That was fast!
There was headwinds and sidewinds as we cut and sliced into and away from the bends and corners.. I was relieved I left my Reynolds, kalau tidak kompom jadi kapal layar! I don't want to imagine the exaggeration part. The other thing was the sharp turn followed with inclines. We lost momentum and quads were straining to get back up into the bunch. I counted 4 of these repeatitions per lap. The drill was to spin on flats and descends, grit teeth and squeeze the brakes at sharp turn, and stand climb at short burst inclines. And again I can't imagine how the pros do it. At grand tours, they spend 21 days on the road. Scary.
My initial plan was to complete more than 2 laps. Improvement than previous race. Yes, last time I only managed 2 laps. Salah kan Anwar Manan lagi. Another 2 laps would be a bonus. Affendi Rosli and gang escaped from the bunch on the third lap. The domino effect took place right after. The rest of the bunch started showing distress calls. The pace went unsteady. Adding to the situations, we have some nuts who don't know ride ethics. They swerved happily into and out of the peloton as they want. There's also one sakai rode with an aerobar!!! Damn dangerous, for us la of course!
In the middle of the fourth lap, things when haywire, totally. A small crash took place involving 3 cyclists. Biasa lah, tayar bercium. Right after the third incline, all hell broke loose. Unlike running, when the legs said no, there's no shame in accepting the fact that you can't pedal anymore. That happened to most of us half way into fourth lap. The nervous peloton cracked and a quarter of us soaked away into the pavement like oil spill. Muahaha! I had to let go and wished that I could wave goodbye but the strong wind shook the bike aggresively.
We tried to gather what was the remaining of us. The ones closed by. We slowed down and formed a new bunch. All 6 of us. We took turn with the rotation drill and completed the fourth lap. Azahari and me straight away pulled aside and call it a day. We waited for Det and Rozaimi and called upon them. Surprisingly they responded without the tiniest hesitant to carry on. Hehe. Heart pounding & nerve cracking avg 37kph! Great race. Great organiser. And great buddies.
Amir's Race
Amir was in the 8-10 years old Cat. 400 meters straight line race. Means there's only one strategy. Attack straight on! I think about 50 of them girls and boys. These younger generations have their race face on upon waking up that morning la rasanya. Semua garang aje. Hehe. My Amir was enjoying every moment. He had Naufal and Azhan as part of his trikidz buddies. But Naufal is already in the Junior Cat. Some last minute pep talks and strategizing, Amir lined up at the start line. Nobody looked nervous though. Semangat betul.
I was running along the track towards the finish line before they started. Kalau ada lubang celah rumput tu, kompom aku dah buat adegan sakai no.2 untuk minggu ini. Nasib baik takde. The oraginser was awesome. They kept the event going with Mr. Emcee playing along with the suspense of count down to start and finishing.
The race started as I reached three quarter of the way, huffing and puffing. Maklum la, dah lama tak ber-lari. I saw Amir was in third position half way into the race. He was spinning and revving up. Reaching the final 50m, I think a few kids overtook him. Bonk la tu. Hehe. Apa tak nya? Hours before the race start, he was cycling all over the SIC Complex with his gang. I was reluctant to remind him to reserve some for the race but that would be against the fun concept. Let him explore and socialize.
Amir seemed confident he got placing under 10 but it didn't. It's OK buddy. We must learn the spirit of defeat as well. Next race OK. As soon as started travelling back, Kaklong who was earlier didn't want to pursue the Trikidz races, suddenly said she wanted. And Amir also want lah. Aiyak!
