A ride on Batu Ferringhi Coastal Road, 20 May 2001
Call it a call of nature, I find that I am slowly going back to road riding. Maybe I am getting bored of off road riding. You know, same old trail every week and never ending climbs. The climb part is my least favorite part of the ride. I want speed. That's what Scramaniac is meant for. SCRAM engine needs hypersonic air velocity to start. No hypersonic air no power. I was supposed to join the rest of the Knights to do community service at the Penang Hill. Volunteer one lah. We do it not because we have got godzillion speeding ticket. But it is just the time to do some trail maintenance jobs. Oh yeah, we call it gotong royong, helping each other. But my wrist told me ain't ready for serious offroad XC ride. "Excuse lah!" Huh, I heard it my friend. This is no joke. I don't want to whine at old age that my wrist hurt okie? So I decided to skip the gotong royong thingy(maybe next time buddies!) but do a short road ride at Batu Ferringhi at the evening.
The ride started after I helped my mum to clean our apartment at the Ratu Mutiara. Oh gosh, I was glad I could escape from the house cleaning job because I am the one who always use the apartment but never bother to do some housework. Man what. This is woman's job okay? Men are supposed to go out and ride(ride whatever you want!). So I quickly changed my cycling short after I helped her to clean the windows and hop on to my VooDoo to get some spins on the road!
I have not ridden for almost three weeks. I could feel the effect of not riding for such a long time. It was a flat road but windy. Either the weather was making fun of me, or I was truly weak, I found the ride was quite tiring. With wrist guard on my right wrist, I still could not stand up to climb. My heart was panting madly and I was always short of breath. At one point, I could feel my heart was trying to jump out of my throat! I found myself struggling to grasp for more air, and I did not have the time to enjoy the view at all! There are breathtaking view to the sea along the coastal road. The breathtaking part had taken a toll on me. My body was screaming for more oxygen!
I still managed to finish the ride in 45 minutes although I almost crawled on the way up to the main entrance of the Ratu Mutiara!! I just could not believe the three weeks absence could make such a huge difference! The other big time KOTRT ride is coming soon. I think I had better start intensive training now! Luckily, I was riding my super flex VooDoo Erzulie(It rocks on Sedim racetrack too! Second wife always better than the first one right???) If I rode the Diamondback instead, the stiff frame is definitely going to wear me out! Oh yeah, I saw quite a few road riders when I was on my way to Teluk Bahang. We greeted each other although we rode different kind of bike. Theirs full blown road racer and mine a steel frame mountain bike with fat slick(1.5!!!) . Jack was right, cyclists are easier to make friend to another cyclists. Who says roadie is dying in Penang? I think I should give a thought of getting a good road bike a serious thought. But first quality road bike nowadays is so expensive, almost beyond my reach! My mum and my fiancée are going to kill if I tell them I am planning to spend twelve thousand to get a two wheel thing with no engine!
How is my wrist doing then? It is still weak. I will need to wear wrist guard whenever I ride. Maybe next week I try some less technical off road to see how is it holding up. A ride at Sedim maybe?
Stay tuned!