The Merdeka Ride, 31 August 2001
I am not supposed to write this. But hell, you know all the pain. Everyone enjoys the ride. When it comes to writing something for the ride, you either get an empty promise or "Sorry dude, got no time lah!". So I am the only one who has all the time to write journal, and they are busy spending their time talking to chics in LBS. Yeah, NATO(No Actions, Talk Only). I now understand why some of the local MTB webmasters get fad-up and decide not to update their journal section anymore!
Anyway, this is gonna be a short one. The ride was organized by both Lee and Maverick, with Azmi as the middleman for the island riders. There were 88 riders showed up the ride, with approximately 80% of them were from the mainland. Yeah, what happen to the islanders? Maybe it was a long holiday. That was why there were few riders from the island showing up for the ride. I was actually 50-50 about the ride. But since my last round island ride was like in the year 1986 on my mysterious Alan Carbonio, I decided to give it a try.
It was a peaceful morning. No one gave me a morning call at dawn but got up at 6am. I went to bed early lah. What to do? Fiancée was busy with her pub thing, so after watching the VCD that I bought few weeks ago, I went straight to bed at ten(a record man!). I remembered ST said there was not going to be a breakfast stop, so I make myself a mug of Arabian to go and got five "Charsiew Pow"(White dumpling stuffed with Roast Pork) at the dim sum restaurant in Chai Leng Park.
There was not many people at the meeting point. I had a feeling that most of the riders would be late, I took my own time, pour myself a cup of Arabian and consumed the Charsiew Pow before I set my Erzulie up. Yup, my VooDoo Erzulie with Hutchingson 1.2 slick. Cool huh? After a short briefing given by ST(Three regroup points - Park Royal Hotel, Teluk Bahang Dam and Balik Pulau Police Station), the ride started exactly at eight in the morning.
I had never tried the 1.2 slick before, so I decided to give it a try. The group was going at very comfortable pace. I decided to give it a push. So I stood up and pumped all my energy to the pedals. Man was I flying! Moments later, I broke away with no one at sight! Checked my gear, oh my gawd, I had used the highest gear combo. I went faster and faster, and I started to sense a presence of riders coming close to me. You see, I was not as fit as I was used to be. So, I decided to let someone else lead the ride. Big mistake! No one was willing to do that, even the ones on road bike! I could feel that I started to slow down after I passed the Norvetel hotel. Finally, Viper Ong and his brother in law could not wait anymore and decided to break away from the front pack! I was already 80% spent but I decided to follow. Well, my intention was to stir the hornet hive only. So after a while, I gave up chase and went back to my casual pace! Still the Viper Ong's led pack was just about 10 meters away. Apparently, I really gave them a good chase!
We reached the first regroup point 15 minutes after we started from the Sunrise tower, which is 11km away. Average speed of 44kmh, on undulating tarmac? Wow! The second group showed up in scatter after we wait for about 10 minutes or so. Since we had large group, we did not resume our journey until the last rider arrived, who was about 20 minutes later! He must be cursing all the way since most of us just flew on the trail! I decided to start first as I wanted to go at casual pace. Phillips decided to follow me since I told him I would be free spinning. Hehe... It was a breathtaking sight along the coastal road from Batu Ferringhi to Teluk Bahang. I never get tired of enjoying the view to the sea. It was an easy spin for me. I saw few riders zoomed by when they caught up with me. One of the riders even gave me a suspicious look when he overtook me. Maybe in his mind I was planning for another attack when they cruised at comfortable pace. I really wanted to enjoy the view lah.
When I arrived at the second regroup point. There were already about 20 riders or so arrived. I took my own sweet time to catch my breath(the climb from the foothill of the dam to the dam entrance always takes my breath away!). Moments later Phillip arrived in one piece. Damn, I did not realize that I had left him behind! I thought he was with me all the time! I hope he did not mind I left him behind. Sorry lah. I did not take notice! There was few Kodak moments and refreshments were also provided. Few riders decided to begin the ride first since it took too long to wait for the rest to reach the second regroup point. I decided to follow since I had my drink and rest.
The ride to up to Titi Kerawang was easier than I was expected. Maybe it was because of the thin 1.2 Hutchingson slick. Of course, compare to roadie, I was always at the disadvantage. Furthermore, I decided to take it easy. The first burst before the rest stop at Park Royal nearly conked me out. And there was still about thirty more kilometers to go. The ride became more interesting again when I finally reach Titi Kerawang and started to descent to Sungai Pinang. The ride was fast, but not fast enough to overtake those fully on 2.1 knobbies! The thin tire did not give me the confidence to attack the corner at fast speed. I was always thrown behind by the rest when it came to the hairpin turns. Maybe I should learn how to deal with thin tires again since I am thinking of going back to roadie!
Again, I free spun all the way from Sungai Pinang to the third regroup point at Balik Pulau. I had to fight with strong head wind to maintain my speed. I think I was going at constant 30kmh. Not bad for my own personal record. Normally I would be very happy if I could maintain 25 when there is a strong head wind. The ride became more tiring as the gust became stronger. I don't know where does this head wind come from. Every time I ride on the same stretch, there always a strong head wind to slow me down. It must be due to the location of the place. Maybe it's close to seaside? I don't know man!
We ended the ride at the lookout point of Jalan Tun Sardun. The climb from Balik Pulau to the lookout point was really a killer for those who had spent most of their energy at the Sunrise Tower-Balik Pulau stretch. I really pity those with heavy full suspension and smaller gnarly gears. The support vehicles were busy transporting the riders who were too weak to continue the journey. I managed to finish the climb non-stop thought I was not the first riders arrived at the look out point. But I think what counts was I finished the ride!
For some, their ride ended at the lookout. For those who are like me, would have to continue another ten kilometers or so to reach the starting to pick up our vehicle. The hot scotching sun was already up and showed its color to the riders on Earth! I did not expect to overtake the riders in front. In fact, I just preyed hard that I would reach the starting point before I was picked up by the support vehicle from behind.
After another agonized half an hour or so, I finally reached the starting point. It was one hell of the ride! It seems like there were quite a number of riders that had to ride another extra 10 kilometers or so to pick their respective vehicles. Few riders went straight to the air-con room at Macdonald to cool them down.
It was one hell of the ride. I never expect myself to finish the ride under five hours, which included resting time at four regroup points. If I count out the resting time, I think my riding time is close to three hours. Can I do it non-stop in three hours? Maybe next year lah. When I finally have a budget to get my roadie, I will try to make another round island trip again!
Stay tuned!