A "Cold" ride, Tiger Hill - Batu Ferringhi coastal road, 11 February 2001
I have a cold! It is terrible. But the ride was already arranged few days before. Though the cold was not serious when I joined the ride, it was bothersome. The cold virus had made me weak. Climbing at Air Itam Dam road had become the most torturous climb for me!
We met up at ST's house, 0800 hours. We had a guest rider from the UK, who is an avid tri athlete. I was late because of the flu I am getting. Feeling like shit to ride, but since I was already at the meeting point, I had no choice but to fix up my bike. I hope that my newly bought Truvativ Stylo crank would help me to conquer the climb! After our usual breakfast stop at 1997, we were all off to the ride half an hour later.
We met another group of riders before we started the climb at AID road. They would like to join the ride also since they were also going to Tiger Hill. I decided to go easy judging from my condition. Actually, I was not at all in the condition to do hard ride. The ride with Julian a day before had already given me a sign that slope at AID road and Tiger would eat me alive. Sometimes we are just too stubborn to listen to our body. Head was already at the chopping board. I would need to continue no matter what!
It was my most difficult climb on AID road. My heart sunk to bottom when I saw more and more riders rode past me. ST and the rest were already no where to be seen. My heart was pounding and I sweated like hell. I felt like it took eons to finish the climb. By the time I finished the climb, I already saw stars circling my head. Man, I threw everything I got in my stomach before the nausea thing settled!
It became worst when we started our climb at Tiger Hill. I couldn't pedal at all even though I had new crank and new XTR cassette. Luckily, Fatt was with me. His condition was no better than me as he has not ridden for two months. We decided to chat and take it easy. If we couldn't do it, push lah! My legs became stiff after we pushed our bike for almost two third of the climb. Since the gradient became flatter as we approached the peak, we climbed back to our bikes' saddle and continued the journey! I just wanted to see if I were that bad. So I tried to sprint up the last slope. First attempt was fatal. I threw out again after I ran short of breath. Those buggers at the top were laughing left and right(I wonder if the cold blood work environment in the electronic industry has made them cold blood and senseless. You know, like those insects?) Maybe they thought I was pretending. But the riders that I overtook during my attempt sensed something wrong on me. Thanks to their help, or I would fall unconscious because of short of breathing. I took a deep breath after I cleared all the sinus in my nose. This time I made it all the way to the top with 2-2 gear setting! Of course, I threw out again! But the last attempt showed that I was prepared for the climb!
After a brief discussion with my high school buddy, we decided to follow the group to the rest of the ride. We decided to go easy as me and my high school buddy were no way in the condition to whack the trail. We chose the more scenic descent trail this time so that the ride would be easier for some of us. I was very much tempted to go faster since DH is always my favorite. But I forgot that the tires I am using now are not meant for this kind of ride. Everything went okay until we hit a curve, which the track after the curve was a single track cutting from the slope of the hill. At one side was a wall. Another side was a cliff going all the way to abyss! I was chasing after Leong, one of the young rider who is very good in downhill. I was very close to him. The trail all the sudden became bumpy. He had triple crown and better shocks to adsorb all the bumps from the road. I had RS Jett T2, which had no rebound control. So I hit the track's shoulder and the front started to give way. When the front started to give way, I knew I had lost control of the bike. The bike slide and land on the cliff. I was thrown off from the bike, and fallen down to the cliff. If not because of the stone that stopped my fall, I would roll down to the cliff with my bike! Luckily I managed to grab my bike's rear tire before she was sliding down. Ah Lai was the first who came to the rescue. When he pulled me out from the stone, my legs were shaking! The cliff must be at 300 meter deep! I could not see the bottom of the cliff at all, no matter how hard I tried!
We finished the ride quite early consider the distance we covered. It was only 12.35 noon when Fatt and I arrived at the last regroup point in MacDonald of the Gurney Drive. Maybe it was because of the short stops we made. Especially the stops that made by ST and the rest to wait for us. When Fatt and I made to the pit stop, we did not slow down. Instead we continued the ride. We were at easy pace, free spin most of the time. The rest caught us up easily! Fatt discovered that it was fun to do free spin. Actually it was the ride tactic that I learned during my roadie time. If I were not in the mood to ride fast, I would change to the easy spin gear and free spin!
It was a good ride. Too bad I was not in the condition to ride at all. We decided to do another hard ride next week again. This time we will conquer the K6. So folks, interested?
Stay tuned!