126.9 km

7th October 2007

4.30am
I couldn't sleep the whole night. Since 1am turning in bed, probably excited abt the days ride. Just lay in bed and turned around. So finally i got up brush my teeth, dress up, load up my bike and prepare for another special ride.

5.00am
Reached Sam's( cycling buddy) house. Lights off, still snoring away. Went for a few rounds then Yong and Albert came. It seems all of us have had some sort of sleep problem. Yong got 2 hrs of sleep, Albert complained abt needing more sleep. Sam was well......himself. Waited for Khalid to mount the bikes on his car.

5.30am
Finally Khalid arrived. Saw his nice Cinelli bike. Dura Ace parts. Cool. Loaded 3 bikes up on the rack. My bike was in Yong's Waja along with his bike. So 5 of us made our move to Ipoh. We will be doing a 125 km ride according to Albert. I was stunned........ Ipoh-Sg Siput-Salak-Kuala Kangsar-Parit-Ipoh. I didnt get any sleep at all and i was going to ride 125km. Couldnt have asked for anything worse. :p

5.45
Finally really moving. Sat in Yong's car. Chatted along the way. The other 3 in Khalids car.

6.45
Stopped somewhere in Tronoh for breakfast. Well the order of the day was Roti Pisang. well we got special offer too - 1 roti 2 pisang. Sounded good. So i had one also. We were going to need those pisang's for our ride. Sam hantam mee rebus and kopi ais. We were catching time so we all hantam our roti pisang. Albert slower coz he ordered 2 roti pisang.

7.00am
Started our journey again. 15 more minutes and we will be at the meeting place.

7.20am
Finally reached the meeting place (a food court) after Yong overshot the junction. And to my surprise, there were about 40 cyclist waiting, gearing up, setting bikes. Never seen this many cyclist for a long while, let alone ride with them. Some from as far as Kulim and Penang. Just to be here on this century ride. Got out my bike from the car. Changed to my jersey. waited for the rest to gather. saw loads of cool bikes. in fact, all of them were except mine. :p the total value of bikes there probably more than RM100k....... Couldnt help notice the Pinarello's, Look's, Scott's, Giant's, Trek's, Proton's, Merida's, Cinelli's, Matrix's. So many cool bikes. We were all getting looks and stares from people very soon. Kinda "syok" feeling too. we were cool no doubt tat day. ^^
7.30am
A short briefing by the road captain. Briefed the route, stop points, precautions and other things we needed to knw. One prominent question popped out, "Wats the speed limit?". Haha.

7.35
LETS GO! As everyone shouted, so we went off. A whole big bunch of us. Wearing cool attire riding cool bikes in one cool fashion. But i was kinda afraid to ride in such a big group. Not seeing the guy behind, touching wheels, rubbing shoulders. So i just hang at the rear end. Both Yong and i agreed, it was kinda scary. But no doubt fun. As we pass traffic lights we definitely got every other road users attention. I would have liked to see their expressions.

First 5 km
Well this is where it all gets nice and easy. Rolling out into the highway. We took up nearly one whole lane coz there are so many of us. we had support vehicles. A car with camera man on board, some motorcycle assistants and a lorry laden with food (mainly bananas and water. Glad it wasnt hijacked by al-monyet). Every so often, the camera man would stop by the road side and snap shots n videos....CHEESE!

5km-22km
Things started to get a little fast here. The "peloton" started to pick up speed to 40kmh. I was affraid these guys would up the pace. I stayed at the rear end always. Shielding from the wind. It was my only chance to save energy while keeping up with pace. We rode along some nice sceneries and a few bad roads. Whenever there was a pot hole or man hole cover the guys would use hand signals and shout "HOLE!". Then along the way suddenly i heard "WATERMELON!". =.=, which idiot dropped water melon on the road.......

But as soon as we exited to town, the bunch sped up to 42kmh.I was beginning to struggle. And soon enough i was left behind wit a few other riders. Albert joined me too. we were both shaking our heads. By this time we did about 18km. wats another 108? So we took our time and steady rode, keeping 3okmh.Then we reached Chemor, small sleepy town. We saw them stop. According to our meters it was 22km. We were suppose to stop at 55km in Salak. BUt one member had a flat tire. So we gladly paused for a short rest. Me and Albert were almost out. I hadnt got enough sleep and it was apparent now. My legs were already feeling as if it did 60km. Albert mentioned want to turn back. I had the same feeling. I was really almost not in the mood to ride. But Yong chipped in saying, "Finish it la, just take ur own pace n time.". But i was still a little discouraged. Sam added thers just over 30km to go to the next stop. After some thinking......well......wat the heck.....suffer lor. haha. I was yet to knw wat is suffering. So after a good 10 minits rest, we moved again. We were the center of attraction for the whole town. I mean, seeing 40 cyclist gather in one empty lot.

As we moved towards Sg Siput we went tru some smooth roads. tried my best to keep up with the group. We went a little slower at 35kmh. Was much more tolerable.

Started to reach Sg Siput town, my old NS camp wasnt to far away. haha. But we rolled into town like a superstar. First we took a whole lane of the road. We went tru red lights (which the motorist we kind to wait for us [told u like a superstar] ) rather slowly. And we made lots of heads turn along the way. ^^ was beginning to like tat feeling. Sg Siput to Salak

Here we just blazed along the highway. Km's ticked away. And suddenly we reached our first stop. Ate some more pisang's and top up some water. Took just 10 minits rest. Then road captain said "lets go". Now i wanted to let those pisangs get to the legs first but well, let them go down later. I just ate one pisang btw. So off we went again into the unknown. At this point, 55km covered. Almost half distance

Salak to Parit
Well during the briefing i didnt knw wat rolling hills were until Albert explained to me. And it seems we were in for a nasty ride. According to him also, Parit is at km98 and around km 60 we will go tru the hills. So as i innocently go with the flow, everything seemed nice. Pace was good after a stop. Cycled tru some old kampung roads. Till this stage i see a lot of kampungs and beautiful scenes.

I was in the middle of the bunch suddenly and was enjoying the drafting. When suddenly my front wheel pointed UP. And i was in my big chain ring in my 4th rear sprocket. I got a shock and i shifted down quickly while the others sailed pass me up tat 1st leg ripping hill. It wasnt too long nor too steep, but the manner which i approached it caused me to get a bad start. Soon the men were seperated from the boys. Roughly 10 of us struggled. I just got out of the saddle and pedaled up as best as i can. In the lowest gear ratio it still seemed like agony. Surprising enough Yong is a catholic. So with some bible knowledge i shouted out Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things tru Christ who strengthens me!"

As i reached the top, my troubles were far from over. Going down is always fun. Tat was just one hill, i heard there were 20...........

Along the way, most of the hills were long and shallow, probably less than 10% gradient. Gradient works like this : 10% means an elevation of 1 feet for every 10 feet traveled. So u get the idea. It may seem small but when u ride up with ur bike u will feel it deeply in those legs. And i was cursing the pisangs havent turun to my legs yet. Well Albert and i were one of the few last ones. He suffered a bit. I did slightly better a bit. BUt that all changed when he got help from the motorcycle. Well his job was to help those riders up the hill faster. I wanted a push too....but for 3 consecutive hills Albert got help....."Not fair!" i yelled.

I didnt even pay attention to wat distance i was travelling. I just looked at my speed. sometimes 12, 11, 10, 9 or even 8kmh. Now tats slow. Some hills i climbed wit the momentum from the previous decent, saving energy. After about 5 or 6 hills i caught up with Albert and we climbed the next few hills together. I said i was gona take my own sweet time and i dont care how fast u go. Just leave me if u wana go ahead.

Many times i said if i cant go up anymore i was gona get down and push. Didnt happen. But my legs were hurting already. Some riders in front slowed and i caught some. By about the 10th small hill Albert said there was going to be a series or about 3 big hills, one after another. Honestly i was scared. I didnt knw if i can handle. Suddenly he said "I think this is it". so i went ahead climbing. Was kinda shallow if u wana call it BIG. Turns out it wasnt. But still having agony all over.

Having to get out of the saddle.....pumping those legs away. I hear my heavy breath with each pedal stroke. I was all over the road. And my head bobbing up n down. My tongue was sticking out like a dogs. Good thing the cameraman wasnt there to snap me. I looked back a few times and see Albert struggle, so i shouted "Come on Albert!". He just laughs.

On a couple of hills we were chatting some fun stuff. Suddenly i had the thought of putting a turbo charger, intercooler, supercharger and NoS to the bike so we can get up these bloody hills. Just to make some humour. Then finally we reached the big trio, El Grande, the Big Papa. i just looked up and it went on and on and on......well time to get cranking(literally). It was a good 100 meters long and probably gradient about 15%-20%. KILLER! And it was. I shouted to Albert "Dance on the pedals!". He said, "Who teach you?". "Lance Armstrong.......,". So dance on the pedals i did. And after i reached the top of the first hill, i looked in front and saw another monster. I shot down the hill and went UP again. Albert got help from the motorcycle......again. I was feeling my legs were gona burst anytime.

By the third hill i was almost out......then fortunately, it was my turn to get a push! Finally! I shot pass Albert happily shouted "My turn!". Haha. While he pedaled up the hill. Then i thought the big trio was over, yet little i knw there were the Kids left to attend to. Little Devils. Much as annoying as the other 3. Then suddenly Albert came from behind and yelled "My turn again!". Sheesh...........

One of the last really medium hills i got another push......and i was about to pass Albert again. This time i made tat gear shifting noise with the turbo charge kicking in. "Vroooom *PESSH!*". He laughed a lot. After a while tru some more small hills, i caught Yong! For so long he disappeared. I came up side him and ask how he was, well the pain on his face was evident he was in a suffering mode. I went pass him up a few more small hills. I tot he was KOed. BUt suddenly i look back i see him come again. Man, he just joined the group for a few months and hes doing better than me and Albert. Shame on us seniors...... :p

So after the final hill at km96, we, i mean.....the few of us tats left, rode slowly to Parit just 2 km away. It seemed eternity to get there. My legs were beat up real good. Almost nothing left there. Still griped the pisang not yet turun to the legs.

Stop, eat, drink n chit chat.........NOT
According to road captain, we wud take a food break at Parit and do some socializing. In my mind it was sitting down at a shop to eat and get to knw each other. So when i reach the waiting group, we gathered at one spot for a short food break. I was almost out of order. 98% of me was spent. I was wondering where we were going to eat.

Stopped for about 10 minutes and suddenly "LETS GO!" again. wat the crap..........i tot we were gona do more stuff. Albert and i couldnt believe it. We were gona have to ride again, the remaining 30km back to ipoh. Dreaded it.

Soon we were moving again. I heard they were going to take it slow, which was wat i wanted to hear. But no. They still kept a 35kmh pace. My legs just said "We're done here. We aint doin no more work for u boy. Your on your own". And i was......soon i couldnt keep up with the group. Albert was behind me. Kinda tired too.

I said to him i condem liao. cannot go any faster. So he went on by himself. I cycled agonisingly slow by myself. Only can do 22kmh at best. Otherwise i will be around 17-19kmh, just spinning a light gear. I really cant go any faster. It was almost noon. with 25 km to go (after touching the 100km mark) i tot it was going to take me another hour to reach ipoh at this pace. Again slowly the kilometers went by. I looked at my skin and it was red from all tat sun exposure. Even the tiniest incline was a struggle.

Soon i was back on the main Ipoh-Lumut highway. with another 20km to go. And i was gona get more pain as this route has a few hills in it too + more cars. with every ounce or strength left i pushed each pedal stroke.

10km left. I caught another rider who stopped to take a short break. I just greeted him and passed him. The a few hundred meters down the road i heard a shout from behind. Another 2 guys caught me. They also took a small break at the petrol station but i didnt see them. They overtook me effortlessly nonetheless, demoralizing me even more.

5km left, so near. I know it. Just have to bear another set of traffic lights and i will be back at where we stared earlier. I reached the traffic lights to turn right. At this point, 126.4 km was done. I was just 5 minits away. I couldnt feel more happier. Its almost over. An epic century ride for me. My furthest and most grueling cycling trip. cycled a bit down the road, and finally i see the finish point. When i arrived most of the guys racked up their bikes on the cars and pickups. They were already changed and had lunch at the food court. Saw Khalid. Wanted to find Yong so i can stash my bike in the car and sit down to eat. Then i saw Albert coming from behind. Seems he stopped at the petrol station 10km back also. Didnt know he stopped but he saw me cycle pass the station. I reached at atound 12.30pm, nearly 5 hours after we started.

With my bike finally dismantled, wore fresh new clothes. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Its finally over. I did 126.9km. And i could barely walk properly. Almost like a cowboy. sat down with the guys. And talked back about our experience.

Bad News
Well i learned tat we had two crashes today. One guy was alright. One guy sadly broke his collar bone (common cycling injury) and also two ribs (another common injury). Seems he feel while climbing and it must have been a heavy fall. Later we went to Ipoh Specialist to visit and see wats the situation. Found out he needed to stay a few days for observation. Hope he is doing fine now.

Home
Finally left for home around 2.30pm. Was an interesting trip back coz Yong kept shaking his legs at scratching himself like a monkey. why? To keep him from falling asleep at the wheel. After all, we were tired. But no problems at all. reached home at around 3.40. Thanked Yong for his kindness to send me to my doorstep. I wud not have been able to cycle another mile! But the oil stains on his poor rear seat. Ouch.

So tats all for a trip well worth talking about.

P/s: My bike is in KL with me now. Have already done the first 25km in KL around my area. So far so good. Hope to join a group soon.

Cheerz!