Crit experience

Aku berani bet rata-rata most extroverts melopong dok bernyawa kat rumah on Saturday morning. Klang Valley ditimpa hujan sejak dari Jumaat malam sampai la ke Sabtu late morning. Every hour aku dok jenguk ke luar just to check the weather, kot any chance dapat do my long run today...as scheduled. Too bad, hujan sampai ke pukul 10.00am. Anyway, nak lepas gian punya pasal, aku pi lepak kat lbs in the afternoon dgn geng.

Sunday morning, though aku have to postpone my run one day later, tidur yang sungguh enak telah mengikat ku untuk terus merengkok. Committment & guilty punya pasal, aku mula jugak lari, walaupun dah agak lewat 7.30am. Takpe, berbekalkan Pearl Jam & Linkin Park wa bedal je making my way around the favourite neighbourhood running route. By an hour, matahari dah mula tembak dahi, nak qadha' semalam punya sinar yang dilindung awan hujan. Aku pulun jugak. Thankful enough, my last 5km was accompanied by a neighbour yang saja nak take a spin with his bike. The 5km was great. If not, aku dah masuk gate rumah once dah mula panas...hehehe.

Petang, aku struggle to make my way to Sepang International Circuit for their 10th annivessary. Depa anjurkan criterium. Sebaik aje kenduri kahwin in KL settled, aku terus shoot to Sepang. Since dah register & dah bayar, bedal aje la. Janji dapat kayuh atas litar, merasa macam mana Schumy amik corner...hahaha!

Disebabkan nasi minyak & lauk pauk masih belum sempat hadam, aku terpaksa menamatkan perjuangan selepas 2 lap aje, less by 10 laps yang macam Anuar Manan buat. Perut sebelah kanan dah mula rasa macam nasi minyak & daging masak merah dah mula jadi batu. Yep, trying to catch up with the peloton was one thing impossible, trying to survive the cross & headwinds was another thing. First lap je struggling to maintain 40-45km/hr tapi 2nd lap dah macam weekend ride 30 je. Nak ajak rider lain buat kerja sama2, jangan harap la....ada pulak yang cuba menumpang plak tuh...ciiis!

The best part was meeting friends. Jumpa ramai & sembang2. Even member from JB pun tegur wa, ingat lagi rupanya. Most of the friends are cool, despite some yang ada poyo sikit, tapi wa bedal je.

Ilmu yang dapat : Jangan drop gear masa amik corner, rantai akan jatuh. Jadi kat aku masa 2nd lap...ekekekek...

From left : Zairin, Jami, wa, Azahari & Farid

The Man

My 1st main-main criterium

Baru dapat feel daaa...

La ni, tahap adrenalin ada tinggi sikit. So, aku tak sabar nak channel out ke dalam blog kisah-kisah weekend aku yang sangat memuaskan hati. Ye la, selepas hampir 3 minggu hidung tersumbat & mood yang berbuai ikut angin panas KL. Minggu ni baru dapat feel utk training balik.

Sabtu pagi, geng2 bas sekolah semua ada program masing2. So tak boleh nak set utk bersama. Ada yang pi main tanah kat FRIM, ada yang layan road & ada jugak yang hari keluarga ofis. Aku ikut schedule yang dah set seminggu yang lalu....lari beb. Last Monday masa try berlari-lari anak lepas 2 minggu tinggal, agak merisaukan...kaki ada lembik sikit. Pagi semalam, dengan mp3 yang dah siap charge, 7.15 aku dah berdiri depan gate utk test power. Sekali terjumpa sparing partner daaa....Nizam, jiran aku baru lepas 1 lap. Apa lagi...henjut ler. Sembang baik punya...Nizam 8 lap, aku 7. Puas hati. 1 hour solid maintain at 70-80% HR. Part paling best, aku sempat utk pi hantar kids ngaji & breakfast dgn wifey. Susunan yang sungguh manis. The rest of the day was cool quality time chill kat rumah sebab cuaca kat luar panas yang amat. Aiskrim connetto & coke pukul 4.00 ptg memang menu paling lazat. 6.00pm dok layan neighbours main takraw. Part layan EPL mlm tu je ada kantoi sikit. Arsenal dah leading 2-1, bleh plak bagi penalty kat Birmingham. Full time 2-2.

Ahad pagi dah set dengan Red Robbie, Awe & Waklah utk revisit route Langat...konsep santai...konon...hehe. Waklah yang pulak down with selsema, terpaksa akur dengan keadaan dia. Kayuh from Batu 14 to Tekala with 2 pit stop tunggu waklah. Balik 1 pit stop. Since kayuh yang takde pressure, the 3 of us henjut bila ada bukit & maintain bila kat flat...sambil jaga HR. Puas hati gak. Kena pulak jalan lengang sebab maybe ramai orang pi check out penamaan calon...hehe. The ultimate part of the weekend was petang tadi....gelanggang takraw menjadi saksi. Menjadi pulak aku hari ni. Almost semua bola boleh sambut. Entah mana skill aku dapat daaa...hahaha. Tu yang la ni tak ngantuk2. Part nak mengenangkan esok kerja tu yg letiiiih :(

Cycling Malaysia

An eventful weekend that was. Started with my came back with confidence from 3 weeks flu. The last CNY KLIA ride was tremendously awful. On Saturday, I decided to give it a shot upon confirmation from geng Puchong that they are doing a 50km 2 hours ride. Cool.

Alhamdullillah, it all went well. Heart rate was ok most of the time, though recovery time requires a bit more improvement. Six of us attempted the Puchong - Pulau Meranti - Cyberjaya - Putrajaya route with a few sprint zones, short bursts & definitely one long straight climb before heading back. It felt good, for a come back ride.

Facts:

• Ride distance : 56km
• Ride time : 2 hrs 13 min
  Average : 25km/hr
• Max flat : 40km/hr
  Weather : Just nice

Sunday was different. My early morning event was dramatically an embarrassing one when Arsenal was hammered 4-0 by Manchester United in FA Cup. That one an a half our till 3.30 a.m. was a long morning. No morning run for me. Slack.

The le tour de Langkawi ended their edition in KL. Took the opportunity to be there with fellow cycling lovers...yep, met old & new friends. This 13th edition of ltdl was something to be remembered about when our local racers made us proud. Anuar Manan, the name that bloomed in almost all the stages from Kedah to Kuantan. Tried not to miss all the stages. It was awesome. A race that I think a prestigious one. A world class race with world class riders, wonderful landscape, unique atmosphere & challenging terrains.

Hitting the wall

Bonk (condition)
In endurance sports, particularly cycling, bonk describes a condition when the athlete suddenly loses energy and fatigue sets in, usually caused when glycogen stores in the liver and muscles are depleted, resulting in a major performance drop.

Etymology, usage and synonyms
The term "bonk" for cycling fatigue is presumably derived from the original meaning "to hit", and dates back at least half a century. A recent DVD issued by the British Transport Films Collection contains several old films, one of which entitled "Cyclists Special", a colour film produced in 1955, tells the story of a party of cyclists touring the English countryside. At one point they stop for refreshments and the film's commentator states that if they didn't rest and eat they would get "the bonk".[1]
The term can be used both as a noun ("hitting the bonk") and a verb ("to bonk halfway through the race"). This condition is also known to long-distance (marathon) runners, who usually refer to it as "hitting the wall". It is also referred to as the "green grass" as pupil dilation causes vivid hues to appear.

Atau, dalam perkataan Melayu lama, kita panggil dia sawan tangis. Hahaha!

Yep. Itu lah yang aku rasa during my recent ride on CNY. Despite semangat melebihi kemampuan & gigil punya pasal tengok tour of Qatar & the recent tour de Langkawi promo, aku join geng way2ride Puchong branch doing their 100km from Puchong to KLIA & back.

The ride was awesome from the start where 11 of us rolled out on to LDP towards Cyberjaya. Some splinters & sprinters making the warm up part a bit quick. Traffic volume was light, so we had the road to ourselves most of the time. As we reached Dengkil, we took turn working up front. I was strong enough to maintain the group speed averaging 30km/hr from Dengkil to Kota Warisan. It was cool.

We headed towards KLIA Bomba junction using the straight Salak Tinggi road & still it was awesome. As we exited the roundabout taking 9 o'clock towards F1 Sepang, we were stuck in a wind tunnel. Cross wind was strong, so was the head front which was pushing us backwards. Trying to maintain the 30km/hr pace was using the 35km/hr effort. Most of us were drained on that stretch upon reaching our refueling post at a airport limo service canteen near LCCT. Time was 9.34 a.m. A half an hour ride where 30 minutes of it was battling the cross winds.

Half an hour for refuelling & we were off towards KLIA. A stretch was parallel to the runway. It was an awesome sight when those giant aircrafts take-off & land. Still we struggle to get pass the strong wind.

The moment of truth came when we reached Kota Warisan stretch again. That was where I hit the wall or bonk or kena sawan tangis. Suddenly kaki terus tak larat, especially climbing the Kota Warisan flyover. Memang betul kawan2 pernah kata kat situ kalau kena tinggal sorang2, confirm kena sawan tangis. Hahaha!

The rest of ride back to Dengkil & through Cyberjaya was all in cries. I was struggling to maintain 25km/hr in the vertical hot humid. Yep, masa tu jugak matahari dah mula terpacak. These few days, memang panas. We finished our ride at almost around 12.30 p.m. at Restoran Mawar, Bandar Bukit Puchong where it seemed like a never ending ride back.

I concluded the ride with these:

1. It has been awhile since I did my 100k. Last one was Kuala Klawang almost 2 months back.
2. My flu condition did not recover since the last 2 weeks.
3. I bet my body will suffer on post ride.
4. Aku bonked maybe sebab flu took away some of my stamina & dah lama tak buat long ride.

Facts :

• Route : Bdr Bkt Puchong - KLIA
• Distance : 98.34km
• Duration : 3 hours 45 minutes
• Average spd : 26 km/hr
• Weather : Too hot too handle
• Riders : Farid, Awe, Zali, Faidi, Amir, Yahya, TdF Green Jersey, Omar Abdullah, Dale, Saiful & me.

Recovering

Another Saturday run at Bdr Tasik Pemaisuri. The planned 2 rounds of the big loop had to be cut short upon realising that my fellow run buddy had some restless night when his son down with a fever. We only did one round and a quarter, I think it was only 4km. With me still struggling to recover from a week's flu, it was a cool move. The rest of the morning was tasting the breakfast at the newly opened Cafe Santai nearby. Cool place.

I was looking forward for the santai ride on Sunday where a large gathering of cyclists showing their support for the upcoming tour de langkawi. Though the early morning sky was a bit gloomy, we made our way from Sg Besi to Putrajaya for the event. There was a large crowd at the registration. There was also a confusion when some was thinking that it is a 40km race while the rest thought it's only a casual promotional 40km ride around Putrajaya. Both were wrong, it was only a 20km ride. Nasib baik a few of us rode from Sg Besi & back, enjoying the flat smooth Besraya highway from Serdang.

With the flu still hanging around, every run & cycle was light. Bila mau recover daaa...?

Dirt play, torn apart

The weekend was another ordinary weekend filled with loads of adrenalin & heart pounding activities. My long gone mtb ride was rescheduled & it was time to hit kiara again. Never felt better. The normal casual timing of mountainbiking were spent at every second of the morning. Started with a casual time to wake up & drive to Restoran Ismail for loads of mamak’s carbo & fat complete with enriched colored teh tarik. However, the mtb crowd that morning appeared to be fellow freeriders & downhillers. A few of us, the long gone cross country cyclists rather found it a bit odd mingling around them. The topic of upgradings & new stuff starts to flood the breakfast table. Yeah…it’s been awhile since we talked about upgrading. Mountainbiking is all about upgrading, unless you’re the patient ones…like me.

Three of us started climbing the tarmac to the cross junction where a bunch of XC riders gathered. It was a non-official regrouping, however place & time is the usual. Most of them opted to roll down 4K, but we chose to pump our hearts up to Twin Peak. Alwin was suffering at some steep sections due to his new single speeder. No cursing so far…yet.

We discussed quite a lengthy deciding which way to go up on twin peak. Nobody remembered the way since we didn’t plan to do the kampung loop. A few riders came which we opted to join them down to the kebun where we met the earlier riders from 4K.

The next sightings we came upon deep in Bukit Kiara was something devastating! It was not like the beautiful & sweet Kiara. Four 30’ wide earth road torn the place into pieces. Another cross junction right at the bottom of the trail. It was total madness. Definitely a bulldozer came in & ripped the place apart. These earth roads were tearing the place all the way top & bottom. The forest floor became sticky muddy, potholes everywhere breeding mosquitos & fallen trees destroying the bike & jogging trails. Yeah…talking about city green lungs & green spots & love our nature & stuff eh?

We made our way back to the cross junction. Had a flat front. A quick tube replacement did the trick & we rolled down 2K, beating every drop & switch backs as a revenge to the sorry state of the previous trails. Our awesome old times memories reappeared at every laughter & shouting of “woo hoo” down to the equestrian. The greatness of mountainbiking felt our hearts again where there were no strong nor weak…it was just plain skills...breaking & entering.

We ended our enjoyment humping the race track before making way back to the carpark joking around while washing the bikes from those unnecessary muds & dirts collected from bulldozed trails.

Sunday – no tarmac cycling. It was time to focus more on running. Yesterday was fun, Sunday is for run. The same Kiara fellows decided to run together making some milage part of our halfy preps. Tasik Permaisuri was the chosen place. 3.5km a lap where we did 2 & one hill killing run. Another significant weekend spent despite the warm weather making the afternoon part a nice time to stay indoor & nap.

Come Monday evening, I was involved in a new kind of sport. Sepak takraw, yes...it's kind of new for me. I won't missed those fellas flying around "lipat" the rattan balls when I was at college. The sight of them jumping & hitting the ball zooming across the net was something scary for me. Today, I was enjoying it! Maybe sebab dulu ramai sangat pro. Today, I joined my fellow neighbours with their new 2008 self-made grass court with "cat kapur" for the lines...hehe :) I guess maybe we were enjoying laughing at each others' clumsiness that made the game happening. Cool.

Janda ter-baik

Had the chance to squeeze a run on Saturday morning, saja nak gauge stamina sama ada still there or dah gone with the flu. The result was rather comfortable. Looks like Sunday is going to be like any other ride…long & sustainable. Selepas hampir seminggu stuck with a mild flu, my much awaited Sunday ride to Janda Baik turned out as anticipated…pongeh! Hehe.

A few of us started the ride from Sri Gombak Petronas at 7.36am rolling in to old Gombak road covering about 10km before meeting a few others at HOA. Ten of us rolled off, climbing towards Genting Sempah. However, a breakaway by a few friends split the group to two which ended me up chasing the front group in anaerobic tempo. 49 minutes…my fastest climb up GS so far. Deep inside told me that I'm going to suffer my cycle back.

We checked in at the usual breakfast inn for roti canai, nasi lemak, teh ais & mile ais. Nasib baik kali ni brader tu punya servis ada improvement sikit. My last ride here with PCC last year, roti canai was served after 20 minutes. Maybe sebab brader dah ada skill how to be ready for the hungry cyclists on weekends. On top of the typical Malaysian breakfast, ada pulak yang gatal bertanya kan buah-buahan tempatan. Despite having panas telinga listening to the brader's wife joking around in a laser-ly manner, we were finally served with a tray of fresh durians & manggis. All good, the table was filled with loud jokes & photographs were taken due to the rare ocassion...cycle & durian.

Having to cycle back with a belly stuffed with rare mixture for breakfast, the spirit to climb back up to Genting Sempah were dampened. Kayuh tetap kena kayuh, so we just rolled out of Kg Janda Baik, back to Genting Sempah...almost crying & back down to HOA & Sri Gombak.

Not forgetting to conclude the ride by Brahim who did a stunt when his rear wheel stuck in a drain grating just before getting into the carpark. Aiyo! Some scratches yang gerenti pedih & yang lebih pedih is noticing bar tape koyak + brake lever calar....aaargh!

Facts:

• Distance : About 80km (lepas Greenwood baru teringat nak on cyclo)
• Ride time : 3hrs 21min
• Weather : WIndy up GS & hot on way back at Gombak

Jelajah Malaysia

The first attraction for local cycling crowd this year started with Jelajah Malaysia 2008. I was made known to this event last year when I stumbled upon some foreign cyclists among KL busy traffic did their training, but the temptation to know deeper wasn't there. This year, it was something different, I got to witness the event from a passionate cyclist point of view. Yeah, I can admit that we are a kind of a tribe on 2 wheels. All the familiar faces were there at Goh Tong Finish Line to admire the pros do it in style for their 2nd last stage of the tour.

Some of us opted to cycle all the way from Genting Sempah to Goh Tong & some drove all the way from home. I opted to cycle up to GS, went down back to HOA & drove back up to Goh Tong. The spirits among us were there all the way from HOA this morning. There were quite a few bunch who cycled up.

We were too busy admiring the pro riders, their race machines & their team jerseys which we just don't care what was the result from the race. Can always click here to check though http://www.jelajah.com.my/result.php

Not forgetting, Saiful & me happened to ran into abang Zul during our ride up, our long lost mtb friend. It was awhile since we rode together, my best bet was our awesome Cameron ride. He was on his Giant NRS just completed the GS loop via Karak Highway. We chatted for a moment there by the roadside, recalling our glory days bashing every single track available.

It suddenly struck my mind this moment to think about our ride buddies. Yeah, we started as the holy grale seeker, almost every single track, every drops, every rooted climbs, every mudholes were our playground. Those were the moments. Now, we followed separate ways though we still speak the same language. A few of us depart to freeride or downhill riding, some stayed with cross country & a few chose endurance ride. However far we go, however long we roll down, I trust someday we shall ride again enjoying every piece of grain from the single track.

Weekend in Langat

Doing Langat for both Saturday & Sunday was something. It is a great route for my backyard playground indeed. The best part was, I don't need to drive to enjoy the pleasure of thousands of rpm.

Saturday was more of accompanying a fellow beginner for his introductory road ride. He just bought a bike & was looking forward to add some stamina through cycling. With a bit of knowledge & experience, Saiful & me tried our best to share what we have. Both of us cycled from my place to meet waklah at Batu 14.

His first lesson was to check the tyre pressure. 15 minutes pumping in the high pressure stretching my bicep & tricep. Off we went heading towards Batu 18. Along the way, cyclo meter was not functioning, the wheel sensor was off-position. Need to tie a few new cable-tie later. Lucky for waklah, saiful managed to notice that his quickreleases were loose. Never start a cycle without checking those stuff unless you want to taste the beauty of tarmac.

We reached Batu 18 & waklah decided to adjust his seatpost height. We pedalled all the way to Peres Junction & met up with Sharom our powerman athlete and Adib from wayride. We were brought upon with a good news when Sharom told that the duathlon series will be back. That's great.

Off we went back to Batu 18 for roti canai before trashing through the busy Saturday morning traffic from Batu 14 back to Batu 9.

Sunday, Azahari, Saiful & me did the Semenyih loop, also known as the "1-Lap" as named by a few. Totalling at 75km, we managed to clock at 2:59:33 averaging 25km/hr. The route was great, accompanied by a beautiful weather considering a long evening shower the day before. A good combination of short hill bursts, long climbs, endless flat road & low traffic volume at certain stretches.

It has been a great & ass-hauling rides since we started Bentung, Bagan Lalang & Kuala Klawang for the past few weeks. I think it's about time we give a light spin & some quality time with our love ones before repeating again for the upcoming duahtlon series.

1-January 2008 : Kuala Klawang, revisit

I think yesterday & today time flew in a glimpse of an eye. After a tiring journey to Kedah during the weekend & an exhausting & boring day at work on Monday, the new year eve passed by almost unnoticed. I was stucked in front of Channel tv9 watching Starship Troopers with Amir & Umar sleeping at my side. The struck of midnight was nothing much to be excited about considering it was just another chapter of "spoil the social life for the people" in KL.

Though the next morning was going to be a tough ride, I was not cautious enough with the physically preparations. The weekend drive drained most of it. So, my new year ride to Kuala Klawang and back was done in a moderate pace.

Five of us started off from Batu 18 targeting to push our limits. It was a 2nd time for Awe & me while the rest were nervously expecting the torment with cool looks. The ride went out well without a hickup. All of us survived the trip to & fro, especially the big 13km climb back greeted by Barisan Nasional majestic signboard at the peak. The climb back was not left without a few moments of laughter. Axy & me were snooping up on each other as we unofficially raced up. While Syam was caught surprised by two dogs at the steepest climb & yet he was on his two feet due to cramps.

Ride facts:

• Distance : 106km
• Ride time : 4:45:44
• Ave. sp. : 22km/hr
• Max. sp : 56km/hr