28th April 2012 : IS12 Day 1
I woke up from a really weird dream about cycling. Something about cycling somewhere and not able to finish. I guess the drama of the whole nite and morning got to me real good. Its 5.15am. I had just one and a half hours of sleep. My cousin still sleeping while i got up and washed my face, dressed up, packed up remaining items and do final checking for todays first day of Interstate 2012.
My aunt woke up early as well to help abit and see us off. I was just as about as ready to go..........5.25 my dear cousin only woke up after being called by my aunt. He still looks groggy. I dont know how both of us going to ride like this. Dragging out feet and bikes to IS12.
Mounting the bike on the rack even seemed like lifting bricks off the floor. Our bags heavier still with lots of water and essentials inside. Chucked two big backpacks in the back of my car. Strapped bikes on the back rack. Guess its another year of Interstate for me and my cousin bro.
Aunt saw us off. As we drove out 5.45am to the start point at Prescott Metro Inn, Kajang. This is the same hotel I started my very first Interstate back in 2008 to Kuantan. Few flash back memories of that time. 5 years on, 4 Interstates later, here I am doing my 5th consecutive. To me its a pretty neat achievement. And I dont know when I will stop and break the chain. Driving along the way my cousin fell in and out of sleep. He still looks tired. Still keep insisting he will suffer this year. I said we both suffer for sure. He reminded me to drive slow..........because theres a few thousand dollars hanging at the back of the car. Driving 100kmh only what. No big deal. I wanted to get there early and avoid any last minute jam by cyclists and other support drivers.
Reached the start point just after 6am. Ride starts at 7am. Unloaded the bikes and bags in one corner while i park the car in the designated open air car park just for cyclists vehicles. Final checks and then its lockup for 4 days. Our bags we loaded up into the transport lorry. And now for a small bun breakfast given by my aunt. Its little but i hope it helps. Now i start to see some of the familiar faces year in year out of Interstate rides. Organizing committee is basically the same people like James and Christine, Don and Ivan, Debby and Annie and so forth. Riders are of the same circle that i meet now and then. None of my Sitiawan cyclists came this year due to the overwhelmingly fast response and the super fast closing of the registration : 2 days after it was open 2 months ago and 400 places were snapped up just like that. Alot of them registered under groups like KOTRT, Bandung, Rolling Spiders, Magnum, 2 Wheels 1 Planet, Genting Grupetto, BJCC, PCC, and a lot more. Only about 30 odd riders (including me and my cousin) are under "Individuals" or riders who registered separately. Next year need to do a group registration to make things easy. Otherwise at this pace, registering individually would seem impossible next year.
Anyhow, Im here, my cousin is here. Oh yah......was looking out for Bahri and Zakuan. Bahri finally gets to do another year of Interstate after missing it last year. Zakuan doing for his first time. I bet Bahri cant wait to try his new Trek Madone 5.2 frame with Shimanos brand new Ultegra Di2 electronic shifting groupset. Well little did he know I have something new as well. Up to now no one else except 4 people knows i have a new weapon for this years Interstate. I just didnt have the time to announce it. :) Well i didnt see them at the start. Im sure I will see them along the way. Either i catch them or they catch me. The latter is more probable than the former.
Oh well, let them find out for themselves. Wahahahaha!
First day of Interstate is : Hilly. And I guessed as much when the route was announced back in February. Going to Kuala Pilah via Seremban just seemed to easy by PCC standards. I thought the most punishing way is through Kuala Kelawang (part of the Broga loop). Its just either we go up Bukit Tangga or Bukit Perez. And from the tulips that I studied..........we are going to do Bukit Tangga, harder of the two choices. There are 2 short peaks before the long grinding Bukit Tangga. And also theres another climb after the cow dung road in Spg Pertang.......just exactly like the route 5 years ago but that was to Bahau. This time we go to Kuala Pilah. So i more or less know what the terrain is going to be like. I just dont know how slow, how painful, how ugly things will get along the way.
Me and my cousin started thinking of riding strategies. I think the common goal is to just survive day 1 and finish in one piece. Day 1 being 120km is relatively short but the hills takes time. I can only judge how we will do once we finish the first 60km.
Willy parked by the side of the curb standing there ready for his maiden voyage. And its a long one. Ive only ridden the bike for 5 minutes. Ive got to get more acquainted with him along the way i guess. Nearing 7am, James gives last minute briefings and everyone is just excited to get going. Probably me and my cousin are the least excited. Grim was probably best to describe us.
7am. Time to get rolling. Traffic is stopped by the marshals. And slowly 350++ riders and about 20 support cars will head out through the town and out to the open road. Led by chief marshal's car for about 10+km from Kajang to Semenyih. I havent seen anyone else i know in the whole big bunch of riders. Im also busy trying to stay together with my cousin and getting acquainted with Willy.
So far I can only tell for the first 10km......Willy is pretty stiff, and he has a knife edge sort of handling. Crisp and sharp and lively feel. Willy likes to keep going if you push him to go. Well there are 410km to go to get more closer with Willy. Just wondering how he will perform both on the climbs and on the flat roads.
Everyone is pretty relaxed going slow behind the chief marshal. Right until the town of Semenyih, and then up to the Nottingham University campus where the roads will be much empty and more sub-urban. I was hanging out at the middle section of the whole bunch. Seeing how many heads are in front how many heads are behind me. Important for me to see which groups are front and back, because alot of them will overtake me along the way. At least i can tell if im way way behind the whole field. We got to the point where there is a short incline and ahead i saw this big inflatable banner to mark the official start of the riding for Interstate 2012. And off the chief marshal went and now serious riding (for most of them) begins. Im more serious about survival and keeping my legs healthy. My cousin bought 7 packs of sodium tablets from BikePro, each costing 5 bucks with 4 tablets inside. Its for preventing cramps. I might need them because I had cramps the last ride in Broga. Was expecting a hell of a day today.
I lost sight of my cousin. He must have got sucked in front with some of the faster riders. I just hung back and relaxed while taking the road slowly with Willy. Pretty winding roads, and some bits of rolling terrain. I was planning not to use much of the rear brake as its not really up to good optimum performance. Its still a tad squishy. And the rear wheel will shudder and squeal if I do hard braking on downhills. Im relying heavily on my front brakes now and controlling my speed. So much for perfection on a bike that costs me half of 10 grand. The C24 wheels i borrow have been used before by me during 2 years ago's Powerman. The wheels are fast and light. I hope it helps on the hills because extra weight its not what i need with weak legs. The weaker the rider the lighter the bike? Seems like a logical idea.
Just after about another 10km or so......i finally caught my cousin riding with some riders in front. So we stuck together and try to ride at our own pace. The only demoralizing factor to us is that every now and then there will big groups of riders passing us. I always have to keep looking back to see if any of these big long trains of riders are coming just so we can stay out of the way.............and roughly tell how much further back we are. At least 3 or 4 big groups of 10-20 riders have passed us. Thats roughly 60 odd riders. Not counting those already in front and shooting non stop to the finish point.
After rolling into Broga town we head towards Lenggeng where the twin peak climb is, my legs feels okay still in this first 30km or so. Just over the first hour and a half of riding. The road is familiar to me. And then suddenly another group of riders passed me and I see Shakir Ishak.........he did IS last year but is not doing this year. Obviously he is tagging along just for the first day ride I suppose. A bit more ahead is the double peak climb so probably I will chat with him there..........where things are much slower and easier to talk. The road goes into the village and I know the first climb of the day is just in front. Action time : Its either I suffer......or i suffer real bad. The last time I did this climb i cramped. Nearly ripped my knees apart. I was at the very most, prepared to get down and push to save the knees and legs. And in front as i saw lots of riders form the scattered ants crawl up the hill, and by then i can really see the road pointing up to the sky...........i gave a signal poiting upwards to riders behind........saying its time to go up up and away. I told my cousin "Now its do or die".
I can hear all the riders around me, front and back, switching to low gear. *Crak crakkk kachink tap tap tap tak tak tak kethak*. Familiar sounds when things are about to get ugly. Well fighters crack their knuckels. We erm..........click our shifters as fast as possible. Oooookay.........the road goes up. And soooo.......climbing up this short 500meter hill at about 10% grade all the way up. Steep yes. Sitting down and pedaling got abit tiring after the first few 10s of meters so I decided to stretch my legs and stand up pedaling. And for some strange reason.........the moment i stood up and pedal......................I didnt feel like sitting down ever again. Willy was telling me "Yeah thats it keep standing." and i think I head the C24 wheels say "Dont sit or I wont help you get up this freaking hill any faster".
I found myself enjoying the climb all of the sudden. For a long time I havent felt like "dancing on the pedals - Lance Armstrong", but this got really good to me. I could even shift down a gear to 25 from 27. And i was overtaking riders one by one.........standing all the way up. My knees didnt feel like breaking. I came along side Shakir finally and said hello. Just asked why is he here and etc. Says he is following till Kuala Pilah and then the wife will drive him back. Interesting I thought. And then he got a glance at the machine I was on. And now his whole facial expression changed because everyone knows I ride and old school bike. Anything different than that old school look and I will definitely get interrogated . "FUH! New bike ke Darren?" he said, looking like in disbelief of what he has just seen. I just stared back.....still standing on the pedals and exclaimed "Yeap, new frame only." Then i pedaled off further up the hill overtaking more riders.......seeing some pushing......seeing some huffing and puffing..............while I was feeling like taking a sunday walk through the park. Willy was doing really fantastic up this climb coupled well together with the lightweight C24's. I did not stop nor choked nor cramped nor fainted doing this the whole way up. For the first time in many many many many many months...............and a good year or more probably..............climbing up a hill like this felt well.................FUN.
I got to the top..........not really lost of breath but after putting that kind of effort up a steep hill.........i do need some air. I was thinking whether to wait for my cousin, but I thought I will wait at the end of the twin climbs which will be easier. Down i went on the first climb slowly taking my time...........I still am not so comfortable about the rear brake so I didnt hit high speeds down. Shakir overtook me. But its fine. Theres still one more short climb ahead. After about 1km, I see the second climb. The road now was slightly congested with cars and some lorries because alot of slow riders takes up space on the left while vehicles need to pass on the right. But the opposite lane has traffic as well...........so its abit messy but moving traffic. Up the second climb I thought "Well enough standing for one day, I'll sit this one" I pedaled up to a few slow riders and I needed to over take them..........so I stood up........accelerated...........overtook them........and........remained standing the rest of the way. AGAIN. Willy did alot of the work for me. Being a stiff frame, transferring the power to the rear wheels.......maintaining smoothness up the hills..........and keep going forwards with every pedal stroke. The old Look felt like it wanted to slide backwards. But Willy felt like he wanted to keep going forwards and kept asking me to pedal harder. Goodness me........Willy has stunned me. I guess the investment did payoff in this department. Even by the time i reached the top of this second hill...........I wasnt lung busted or having a heart rate through the roof. It just blew me away at how much a difference I am personally feeling for the first time of a really good frame that climbs well with a light set of wheels on. Now I was morally boosted to do the Bukit Tangga climb. After that climb the worst of the day is pretty much over and done with.
Going down the second hill I somehow hit 72kmh.........another record on my meter as I have never gone down that fast before with all my previous bikes. Maybe Willy has some aero edge as well? And Willy was stable going down. The light C24's felt abit too light as there was some side movement but it was manageable. If I used the Look, the rear end was my biggest scare as it flexes alot expecially under heavy braking and cornering when going down hill. But Willy was rock solid. Fantastic ride.
Riding down after the hills and some distance away is a T junction where we turn left. Once left turn, and after 1km........it will be the start of the Bukit Tangga climb of about 4km. I stopped right at the junction where i saw Shakir stop as well. So i stopped and chatted with him. Him still looking at my new ride. "Finally change eh?". Then the general Q&A session about where how much when I got it. When I told him the story, he sort of like went *facepalm* but now I find it funny telling my story of how i got things done.
Not too long Adeline Lee came along and stopped too with her small group. I was still waiting for my cousin to arrive. Waited like 15 minutes. Must have taken really slow ride up the hill. Once I finally saw him he stopped and looked like he had just finished round 10 of a boxing match. Well I would have liked to rest early but guess who rolled in then? Bahri and Zakuan. I yelled at them to stop. They stopped for like 2 minutes then everyone decided to get rolling again. Then Bahri and Zak spotted something different about my bike. Both of them went like "Shit Darren! New frame ke?! Fulamak....." And all I could do was smile and laugh.
We rode off all together but soon will be split by that other long steep hill in front. I cycled up to catch Bahri while Zak and Shakir were together up in front. I got along side Bahri and said hello as well. Then he looked at me like I went through and came out of rehab. Again he gave me that disbelieving look and uttered "Wah new frame huh? When you got it?"
"Yesterday. And i just finish setup, installing etc everything done this morning 3am"
"Oh my God, you gila ke?" *shakes head*
I could only just laugh and continued riding with him. It was a priceless moment.
Now normally..........for the past 1 or 2 years.....i usually am behind Bahri on climbs. He is the new mountain goat on the hills. And normally on a climb like this.........my legs would be telling me "Hey slow down man. Any faster or harder and we will give you more lactic acid and probably a cramp or two." But Willy and C24 spoke to my legs and said "See if you can give out enough lactic acid faster than we get you two up this climb!" My legs pumped the pedals hard, and this time i was sitting, wisely choose to sit when necessary and stand when necessary. I was taking in alot of air...........but my chest wasnt bursting yet. I followed Bahri side by side almost all the way...........
Then he uttered "Go la Darren, what you waiting for?"
I replied "Cannot.......I can never overtake Bahri M Aris on a climb like this! Can follow side by side is considered good for me". Haha. I actually wanted to save my legs.
Then I told Bahri , "You know what? I have never climbed like this, pushed so hard for so long in a really really long time" Then he just had the facial expression he was about to punch me and ask me to just keep quiet and cycle up.
A little while later I came back to him again and told him, "You know what? This new frame really makes a hell lot of difference than my old frame." Again he gave me that stern look. So this time I just quiet down and focused riding up the hill. I look back and see a broken string of riders grinding up. We overtook rider after rider. My cousin must be somewhere down slowly creeping up. But Im still having so much of a good time climbing up this forsaken hill with Willy.......and I dont feel really that beaten up. Of course the long climb seemed long and I forgotten how long more is there to go. I shouted at Bahri from behind "Are we there yet?" He just yelled "Nope, just halfway". I thought great.......halfway. But it really is different climbing this hill with Willy........because the last time I came with Look, it was really hell going 7 8 9kmh up this climb. Today? I was doing 13 14 15kmh up the hill. And that is a hell lot of a difference in bicycle terms. We were soon catching up to Zak and Shakir. Almost tailing them and following all the way to the top of the hill. I yelled "There yet?!" again......"Little bit more" Bahri replied........i just kept my mouth open and sucked in air and my legs pushing down on the pedals. My toes feel almost numb from the hard work. Well it was well worth it because I have finally reached the top of the climb!
At the top i saw another surprise : Good old Azahari@Axy whom I have not ride and seen in many months on the bike. Suddenly see him here was something unexpected. He also is following everyone to Kuala Pilah and then driving home. And everyone who stopped at the top together (all 6 of us) straight away noticed i was on a new machine. Lol. Everyone was that much surprised to see me riding something new. They all rested like 5 minutes and then down the hill they go. I decided to wait for my cousin and take a really long rest. Like 35minutes I waited at the top. Seeing rider after rider go by.......support car after support car go by..........a bee was attracted to me. Cant stop landing on my hand and leg. And ants were crawling all over the road. The sun was out..........a little windy. I think at this point I was at KM52 or so. By the time we ride into Kuala Kelawang it be half distance done. And its about 10am. So not rushing things and I think we can complete the whole ride safely by 2 or 3pm the most.
My long break waiting for my cousin ended when I saw in the distance a guy huffing and puffing up the hill with some other riders who suspiciously looks like my cousin. Oh.....turns out it was him after all. Upon reaching the top...he stopped and cursed "Damn tough la this hill!" Then i asked what took him so long. Seems he and Adeline's group had stopped for coconut water somewhere halfway up the hill. I didnt realize there was even a coconut stall! RM4 per coconut for "outsiders". Okay.......Malaysians also kira as outsiders. Singaporeans maybe okay la...............
Anyway we went down the hill after a short while. Going down Bkt Tangga has always been scary in a sense that the road is so wide and its open air with hills around. This makes the place susceptible to crosswinds. And i have to observe the trees for any signs of strong winds while going down. Willy descends fast and relatively stable. Much stable under braking going down as well. But i can still feel tiny sideways movements from the wind. Its not hard to go past 50 or 60kmh down this hill but I have to control my speed and avoid a disastrous crash. The downhill was over in 5 minutes and then its about 8km to the small sleepy town of Kuala Kelawang and Jelebu.
Riding into K.Klawang......we stopped at the Petronas station for some water. Unfortunately nothing much was left. Just as my cousin came in after me, he asked if I had tape or something like zip ties. I said why. His brand new meter bracket came off........seems that the screw flew out while riding just now. I was shocked at how that kind of screw can come off. Luckily i have a few zip ties in my pouch. He managed to get some selofan tape from the counter. And we re-engineered the mounting to make it stay firm. He complained "Good must return to vendor. Lousy product."
The town was so quite and I thought I would see lots of riders stopping for lunch. But no. Hardly anyone in sight. Did everyone not stop and just shoot straight on? I was already hungry so I suggested to my cousin we stop and eat a good meal. We found a chinese shop selling fried rice and noodles. And a table with lots of uncles sitting and chatting and having their late morning tea and coffee. And they all stared at both of us like we were aliens from another planet on weird space bicycles. Hahaha. Never or hardly see cyclists like us around here much I guess. Not too soon later the chinese uncle on the recumbent came along. He has been to every Interstate I have participated so far riding his trusty recumbent bicycle (you know the type where you lie down and pedal forwards). That caught the attention of the chinese uncles even more. They must be scratching their heads looking at us weird people. We didnt care. We are just passing this place to get to the end of a long day of riding.
After eating a full plate of fried rice, the 3 of us went off. For the next 20km or so we did not see any riders in front or at the back. Which my cousin then voiced out his concerns "Are we last?" I sort of assured that the 3 hills behind might keep some riders a little bit busy. Rolling winding empty hot roads is the way to describe the 20km that went by.......plus a small little hill. I felt fine.........not same for my cousin. Its like we switched position this year from last year. Rolling down all the way into the Y-fork road of Spg Pertang......we stopped at a small restaurant about to close to refill water and take a break. Mac's support crew and Adelines group was there taking a break as well.
My cousin quipped "Cyclist enjoy a lot of public amenities - sitting in a partially closed coffee shop, in bus stop, petrol station, under flyover etc etc". Kinda true. But basically we stop anywhere we want when we are tired. :P Okay so after a 5 minute break we continued onto so shitty roads. When i say shitty, i mean, really literally shitty. Its the same road I cycled here in my first Interstate 5 years ago - littered with cow dung all over the road. Its like threading through a landmine field. And the smell gets to your nose at the same time. Going through a village road was quite peaceful enough at slow speed. Things got slower as we cycled deeper into the estate......houses start disappearing and trees appearing. Thank God the cow dung gets lesser too.
In front I can see the hills we have to cross over. Climbing that is. I decided to take a wee by the bushes aka watering the plants. Then as I came back to my bike to have a drink...............my bottle is missing. My Camelbak bottle is not in the cage. And now i remembered... I was refilling at the restaurant and left it on the table. That was 5km back. And I AM NOT........i repeat.......NOT going to do 10km just for a water bottle. They can keep that bottle. I got a hill to climb. For some strange reason i brought 2 extra bottles this time to IS12, which is something not normally I do. I've always had these intuitions for every Interstate that I must bring something extra (which is different) because I felt they would come in handy. The zip tie earlier was also another example. Previous Interstates I've brought things like duct tape, spare cleats, trash bags, etc. All came in handy for that particular year.
Well, one less bottle, the other with about half full of 100Plus. And roughly 40km to go........well........I thought that I would be fine with that amount. Looking ahead, the road was already starting to go up. Just that i cant see how winding it is due to the tall bushes and trees. I mistakenly told my cousin this would be a short steep hill. Due to memory loss, I was wrong. It was actually quite a long moderate steep hill with rough pavement all the way up. Again...going up this hill.....Willy and the C24 did a fantastic job bringing me up. This is the 4th climb of the day and normally I would have been flat by now usually. I wondered am I pushing too hard also on the first day? But Willy gave me the assurance that I didnt. Sitting down, holding the bars, pushing the pedals, Willy just seemed like he enjoyed climbing these sort of hills and the power transfer is really good. I felt like my pedal strokes were not wasted efforts. Even at points I had to zig zag up the steeper parts, Willy carried me like I was on eagles wings. I wonder now how would it feel like to be on a Pinarello or BMC or any other frame if Willy alone was this good.
My cousin? Somewhere down and cant be seen.
I managed to catch 2 riders in front slowly riding up the slope. I just followed them and their support car presence was very very............comforting (incase something happens to me). But I went up the whole hill till the top in like 10minutes or so. Reaching to the top I found a nice shady spot and waited for my cousin 10 minutes behind. After regrouping we went down the bad tarmac road littered with potholes, humps and bumps, twigs and twists. Most uncomfortable indeed. Its like the worst 15minutes of downhill roads of my life. My arms actually hurt from all the vibrations.
Once down it was all flat (as so we thought) right through more village roads and houses and plantations. Went out right to the main road junction, turned left and onto an empty main road again under hot humid scorching conditions. Windy and dusty didnt help. Its like roughly the last 20km and about 2pm, so there wasnt particularly a big rush to finish. Going the next 10 lonely km before turning off into more village roads......and guess what? Another small hill! Willy was licking his lips seeing the hill. My cousins tongue fell to the top tube going up I think.........
The organizers really have chosen some quite roads for us to ride on because I have not seen a road this empty for so long before. If I wanted to sleep in the middle of the road I think I could do that anytime I like. After all the sub-urban stuff was behind us, we get to the main Kuala Pilah road.........which.........we wont be following straight into Kuala Pilah..........we would detour. And this was one of the craziest detours I have ever taken.
The road was just wide enough for a Proton Saga to pass through. And there will be 2 way traffic. The terrain goes up and down up and down......crossroads that looked like which ever way you choose to go you might end up in the Sahara Desert. And there are hazards like........tortoises trying to cross the road! And the houses that are build here........I dont know how they can live in such part of the town. The only word missing from describing this road is a 360DegreeLoop.
And we thought once we were in the final 1km, theres nothing else. Yeah, nothing else but a left turn shooting UPwards again. Where the organizers get to find this kinds of roads, I think the GPS must have been made by village people so that they can get back home if they are lost. New maps might not be able to contain these tiny roads.
Well after that small but tough incline, a few more hundred meters in front was our first stop for the day : The Melang Inn hotel , Kuala Pilah. Was more than happy to see the finish hotel. The only thing that I wasnt too encouraged with was the amount of luggage uncollected. 10 or so.............. we were among the last of the rear end riders for today. And we finished at 3.00pm. Lots of fast people on the hills today? Or lots of people decided to take a car ride instead? I dont know. Already finished the ride the true blue way : Not going up a support car and kill both our two legs. We had to wait like 1 hour for our room to be ready. Its a relatively new hotel with a few floors and rooms still undergoing renovation. Even our room was just newly renovated. Floor still dusty abit. Some of the furnishing and well, everything still smells new, even the air conditioning.
And they just had to include a glass wall for the toilet. A curtain doesnt really help much either. Its more like a room for........erm.............more private activities other than sleeping.
A not too bad day of riding. Despite the lack of sleep. Both of us finished together in one piece, and my bike didnt have any major problems despite being a super last minute setup. The only major problem is that we are both dead tired. We bathed and slept on the bed.........missing the photo shoot. For the first time my face wont be in the Interstate group photo. I think they should make the photo shoot on the final day at the nicest hotel of the whole trip. Doing it in front of the cheap hotel entrance made it look........out of sorts.
Woke up just in time for dinner. And the usual socializing with riders around once we enter the ballroom. Seeing some old friends. Making a few new ones. Hearing stories of the days ride. Stuffing our stomach like its a black hole.
The next days ride is 130km of rolling terrain into Muar town. My legs feel okay, not beat up. Should be an OK ride. My cousin wasnt feeling too well that nite. Said felt like a fever coming on, so he popped in panadol and crossed fingers that he will be fine tomorrow. A good nights sleep is all everyone needs now.
-End Day 1-
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