Okay after much delay here is the news for Day 2 IS10 from my saddle view.
Day 2 - 1st May
After the terrible ordeal i went through yesterday suffering like a whale out of water on the long slopes under the hot sun, i was thinking since last night whether i should ride today or not? I had 5 options to weigh : Ride the whole journey (and risk suffering again for Day 3 ride), ride first half of journey then up support car till end (To save my legs), ride last half of the journey to tunjuk i rode till the hotel ( =P ), ride first 1/4 go up support car and then ride again on last 1/4 (which sounds dumb), or dont ride at all.
I woke up at 5am to prepare for breakfast and ride flags off at 6.30am sharp for the 180km ahead of us. Long long day ahead for everyone, not just riders but support car drivers. So lots of thoughts were toying is my mind as i brushed my teeth, berak, kencing, change into my jersey, and even to the breakfast table i was still actually thinking wat is my plan for today.
Vincent was rather ok about riding todays long stage. Yong was also looking good. Kumar even more in the mood. I was dreading the first 35km climb at he beginning of the route. Early morning already have to climb. Not yet even fully awake. Finally i made a choice ( i dont know if its considered wise or not) which is : TO RIDE TODAY TILL I CANNOT RIDE ANYMORE. Hmmpph. Some philosophy i have adopted at this time where suffering always comes along. Okay so since i decided to ride, and prayerfully finish without having to call a support car to go up, I load my bags into the truck and my backpack into Patricks car. While waiting for the start of the ride i was actually doing a simply calculation to predict roughly what time i will reach Kota Bharu. IF i do the 35km hills at 10kmh that is roughly 3 hours gone. By 10am i should be on the downhill. And im left with 145km. IF i can do avg speed 20 on the rest of the journey, i should take 7 hours probably. So 10 hours. That would mean i will roughly touchdown at Kota Bharu by 5pm plus minus. I know some of you will tell me "Aiya just ride la why worry.". Hey, it pays to do some planning k? Lol. So i was trying to come to terms with myself that this will be a long tiring terrible 10 hour ride. That is IF nothing else goes wrong.
So 6.30am , time to ride. Organizers orders everyone to go down the slope and line up at the road side for a short briefing before letting us off on the longest single day ride i will ever do. We started as usual in a big bunch crossing the first Banding bridge that connects to Pulau Banding. Pulau Banding is actually a small piece of land (Previously must have been the peak of a hill, but now an island after the valley was damed) in the middle of the lake. So we need to cross two bridges, one more on the other end before crossing back to the mainland. And i didnt expect, km2 already started climbing. Zzzzz. No time to even spin and warm up the legs, already road pointing upwards.
At first he whole bunch manage to keep together steadily at 14kmh, but soon the line stretched longer....and longer.........and longer....................and longer. Soon riders were all over the road. I already said to myself i will pace and not give a cogset who overtakes me. Girl boy uncle aunty monkey whatever. Im saving my legs for 145km. Initially i paced pretty okay for the first few km at 13kmh. Legs still fresh i guess. But the longer it got the slower i got. 5km into the ride already cars and lorries started overtaking us as traffic grows. Well thank God for the overtaking lanes. We hogged all that lane. =P
Past 10km and its almost Genting Sempah distance. Still another 25km to go. Vincent was way behind at this point. He also will be taking his own pace up the hill. I pass riders, riders pass me. That was roughly the scene for the whole hillside. Vongs train even overtook me. Bahri in it. Looking good on his MadOne. Well i did feel slightly defeated on hills. It was my favourite part of riding. But not riding for so long, well, those were the days. Now i say this as if im old man already. Zzzz.
The mist suddenly came down. Clouding the hillside. It was a beautiful sight. Cool as well. My watch thermosensor recorded 25Celcius. Pretty cold, for me. I wasnt aware of the altitude but at this temperature usually its above 800 meters. Well slowly meter by meter i crept up the hill, until finally i reached the peak where there's a rest stop. Most of the riders stopped there to rest, load up water n food, take pics of the beautiful valley and mountains, take a pee coz its cold, and take group photos. Some just went on straight down. I stopped and found Yong and Patrick waiting and resting. Kumar was there also. Nathan came in later abit. I really enjoyed the view up here. Simply beautiful. My photos shows. =)
After some bread and water, Yong asked me to try some creatine for muscle recovery. I was like, hmmm, ok. 180km. Maybe would be good. I put some into my bottle of water and mix.NOW only i ask Yong "How much am i suppose to put in?". He was in shock and asked how much i put in? I cant remember coz i tilted the tin to put the creatin powder in. He was worried i put in too much. And if that happens i would bonk too quickly. Haha. But i think i put in abt 2 teaspoons. Well i double diluted with water and i think i should be fine.
Well that done and a visit to the loo (RM0.20,even up here), time to head down the hill, finally after 35km of slow climbing. The downhill was still nervous for me. I havent been downhilling for a while so im a bit not confident tackling the corners and partly coz i dont know this route. So i was careful at all times going down not more than 45kmh.I was surprised to catch Vincent infront of me. He didnt stop at the top of the climb and went straight on. His reason for not stopping? "I had enough water so i just continue". Ok fine then. After descending 35km or so we reached a place with some stalls to eat. Finally some nice solid food. Its about 11am now i think, this will be our last big meal before hitting the long way to Kota Bharu. Not much watering holes along the way it seems. So whack lots of food and water here to fill up my tanks.
After eating at the table i saw Alwin looking suspiciously at my bikes front end. I was wondering what he was up too. Last year he harassed my butt from behind. Now he is harassing my bike from the front. Weird fella. LOL. He seemed to be playing with my handlebar, and looks like he was playing with my meter. I dont know what the heck he was doing but i will have a look later. I walked over to the gang of them talking, Bahri, Bacin, Alwin all talking while i inspect my bike. Lo and behold i saw what was wrong : My speedometer was upside down. Now i knew what Al was up to. Haha. And he thought i didnt know. So i kindly asked him (as his punishment) to put the meter back to its original position for me. Serves him right i guess. Haha. He asked why didnt i cut the strap shorter to keep it tidy? I replied, "In case itchy hands like yours wants to do the same again, it will take longer for you to take out". Hahahahaha.But in the process of him doing that, he accidentally reset my meter to zero again. Zzzz. Now i have lost all data on distance, speed, average speed for the last 70km and 4hours of riding. Sien. Al said "Just add 70 to what ever distance u are at now." Zzzz......sometimes doing maths while riding isnt that fun. Lol
Anyway after the stop its time to continue the long road ahead. 145km left. From here on the roads were flat with small rolling hills and undulations. Nothing much to note about except the kampung life kind of feel most of the journey. It was getting hotter, my skin getting redder, and my butt getting more sore. I targeted to keep my pace at around 20-22kmh as this was the most comfortable pace i can bear without having too much lactic acid in my legs but constant enough to keep me going. The next 20km was alright. Wind started picking up. I was using my 39 x 23 gear most of the way. Not to light and not too heavy. Vincent and I were pretty much together. But off and on he would just increase pace and go ahead of me. I wasnt interested at all to follow anyone still. Many groups pass me like yesterday, but again i dont want to follow.
However, i later realized someone was following me. I was expecting him to overtake me soon but he kept following my pace. Well having company isnt bad. So i just looked back, acknowledged his company and let him follow my pace. He seemed alright so together we cycled in the hot windy 12noon sun. Then i got a phone call from Vincent saying he stopped over at a Caltex station. I was more than happy to stop along with him. I signaled to the rider behind and he agrees to stop along with me. Met Vincent and also Jesster at the station. We sat down and rested after the wind pounded us mercilessly. I got to know the rider tagging behind me. Mr Farid, whom i realized is actually friends with Bahri and Annie. So he expressed thanks for allowing him to follow me. I was all but glad he accompanied me. And i was aiming to go slow. With the hot day ahead i though i needed serious cool off. I got a can of Coke and ice cream and cold water. The guys stared at me.....yeah alot i know. But its hot. =)
Then i was also looking for water.......to cool down. I went to the side of the station, and i found a tap......and a small pail. Bath time! I drenched myself wet from top to toe, and it felt so refreshing. Even the guy with the high pressure hose washing the floor was more than kind enough to spray me with the water jet! Now thats having fun right there! The other 3 guys laughed at me seeing my antics. I thanked the guy, and went back to the bike soaked. And Vincent said "You will be dry in half an hour." Which sadly is true. Lol.After a much deserved rest, we continued journey to the east. For a while the 4 of us were pretty much together at slow pace. Then soon Jesster and Vince started going forwards on their own. Me and Mr. Farid kept same pace as before, and we had a master plan : To stop every 30km till the finish. Which if we do a rough calculation will take about 4+ hours to reach KB and stop for another 4 times or so. Sounded good. So we put the plan into motion.
Funny enough, till this point my legs still felt rather fresh. Must have been the creatine. Muscle recovery at work perhaps. Anyway i was strong enough to push on in the wind under the hot sun leading the way. Before we knew it we had about 60km to go. We stopped again around km130. Coz tat was where the next petrol station was. Till this point my legs still felt relatively fine. No signs of wanting to give in just yet. So fingers were crossed, and Mr Farid was doing well to follow my pace. Ok so we pushed on more. We crossed a small town (cant remember the name) where we were supposed to cross a set of rail tracks. Here things got a bit interesting.
We were at a stop light waiting to go green. As soon as it was green and I pushed off the bike, 10 meters later i heard this really loud scraping sound and vibration from my bike's front end. I knew it was something on my tires rubbing my brakes or maybe rubbing my fork. I thought it was mud or a piece of sticky paper. I was lazy to stop (amazingly) and have a look. Not until 200 meters later when the sound never ceased i decided to pull over and have a good look whats wrong. Mr Farid and I inspected carefully. Turns out............i ran over a patch of tar!! A big lump of tar with stones and sand sticking on my front tire! This was interesting indeed. And the tires are just new..........200+km old in fact. =(. So i had to take off the wheel and properly see......to my horror the inside of my carbon fork is badly scratched and full of tar also on the sides. My heart had no time to break into pieces. I just want to get this grime off my bike and continue riding.
I needed something to scraped off the thick tar. My tire level couldnt do much. I needed something hard and flat and sharp. As i looked around and behold on the road side i saw the perfect tool : A broken windshield wiper. Perfect! Its metal blade to hold the wiper was still there, hard and flat enough to scrape of the tar. In no time i picked it off the road, scraped as much tar off the tire as i can and in abt 5 minutes i manage to get enough off. Ingenuity on the road. Comes in handy always. =) Fixed my wheel and give it a test spin. Still there is some rub but much better than the drag i had. Now i have tar on my bike and on my hands but I will still ride on. With that ordeal over, the next 50+ km should be within our reach and i estimated we can be there by 5pm. Its already near 3pm. Hopefully we can achieve this target.
I personally wanted to go non stop till the end. But seeing the road conditions today plus the heavy headwinds now I am already starting to feel tired in the legs. The winds kept me down to 19kmh for a short period. I used my lowest gearing. Braving the winds, leading for Mr Farid. We were in shaded region for a while. And even a small group of riders caught us and followed us for a while, i think taking shelter from the strong winds. Then we reached the 20km to go mark. We started seeing more buildings, more traffic and more padi fields. Padi fields. My nightmare just started. Padi fields are full of : Guess? Wind. Argh the onslaught was just overwhelming. For 10 torturous kilometers the wind bashed us front to back and side to side. Riding was difficult. And with a narrow motorcycle lane and fast cars on the right, and the sun still up high, we were in a tight spot for a while. It was really desperate times and i thought the best would be to stop for a short while. But for miles and miles the padi fields never stopped. I was looking for a shaded area or a place of shelter. I scanned the far horizon for a small roof, a hut, a stall, a tree, whatever we can take as refuge. Luckily i manage to spot a bus stop. And i think I need this last rest, though its just 10km to go. I told Farid i will stop.
We stopped and i ate what are my last 2 bars of cloud9 for today. Drank up water with both my bottles now dry. But for 10km it will be sufficient. We have passed all the critical stages. The long overhaul from Banding is over. Now the final stretch is in sight. After 10 minutes, we decide to go for the final push to end the longest route of this Interstate. Slowly km by km we got nearer to KB town. 5km left and we are in the city. Navigating through Kota Bharu was interesting. Road works and detours almost everywhere. Oh and guess what, the McD team came behind us and decided to ride to the hotel together. We were abit lost with directions though we had tulips as the organizers said there are some changes to the route. Kindly one rider asked a pedestrian cyclist where is the hotel, and he gladly showed us. And amazingly, this fella cycled faster than most of us! On his crummy old mountain bike. And here are a group of 10+ cyclist made to look like tortoises, expensively equipped tortoises. No matter, we just did 178km. =P
And sign after sign by our dear organizers, we followed all the way to the Grand River View Hotel, Kota Bharu. Ending 180km, 10.5 hours, and a whole lot of butt sore. I was actually thrilled to complete today's ride and not died like i did yesterday. There was stark contrast between todays ride and yesterdays. Probably because it was lacking the hill + sun combo and i took things slow and easy. It all paid off. And I made it to the end in one piece. Better yet? We arrived at exactly 5pm in the evening. Spot on timing again. And not a moment too soon Vincent came up from behind, 10 minutes behind. Was glad to see him in one piece as well. I sat down to collect some air and rest my legs.......looking at them made me scared with the serious tan lines. Its like heaven and hell........one white one black. Goodness sake......
I got the room keys, me with Vince tonite in one room. Got our luggage and i noticed still quite a number of riders out on the road. About 30-40 perhaps? Well out of 300......i am one of the last end riders. No doubt this time. =P The room at this hotel was awesome. Much better than the economy class of last night. It was posh and it was sweet. And............i was still hyped actually. Dont know why but i was. Me and Vince took an early bath......and went walking around the place. Snapping pics. Talking to riders. Owh, and today our bikes are parked underground with 5 reserved car lots just for bikes. Now we feel like VIP's. Lol. The amount of money parked there and the guard has to watch over? 300 x RM7000 average = RM2 100 000. RM2.1million of bicycles there. Im one of em. ^^.
That night we had a really good dinner by the hotel (though some opt for more tastier outside food) a good briefing and a good day of no casualties again. Bravo. As soon dinner was over everyone (including me and Vince) wanted to buy some extra food and supplies for tonite and tomorrow. And there was only 1 sole 7Eleven just outside near the hotel. And we riders nearly swept the whole store clean of its supply of water, bread and whatever edible there is in there. Must have been a hard time for the cashier to process all of this. And for the store assistants to restock on the shelves.
I also saw one interesting thing : The parking rates in KB. 80cents for 1 hour, 40cents for 1/2 hour, 20cents for 1/4 hour 10cents for 1/8 hour. They really charge till the last minute eh? KLites if you think public parking here is expensive, think again.
That pretty much wraps up the day. I headed back to the hotel, wiped my bike and took a close look at my scratched fork. Cant be helped much so no point crying over it. Still can be ridden. After that it was hitting the bed, snacking abit and then sleeping till next morning. So here ends Day 2.
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