Another road ride, 24 September 2000
Yup, another road ride again. This time I do a little longer in distance. Fifty plus kilometers. Well, speaking of road ride. Someone has been upset about my plan to do some road ride here. He even came out a comment like "if you like to do a ride and go home, roadie is good for you. We mountainbikers are more socializing" Yeah sure. Cycling is always a loner sport. No matter how one claims, it won't change my perception about it. Well, once a roadie, always a roadie...:). I miss the speed and gusting wind on flat road. Also, I need change. Everyday goes to the same farmer trails can be quite boring. Climbing all the time will definitely killl the interest of mountainbiking. "What to do? This is the nature of the trails in Penang Island!", one rider claims. One thing for sure, I need a break! So I fix my Diamondback a pair of Cheng Shin slicks and a pair of Odyssey clipless(finally!), I am all ready to go back to the sweet tarmac riding, the one that I fell in love with 15 years ago!
Instead of joining ST's "easy" climb to the farmer trail or Azmi's Penang Hill escapé, I decided to join Vipers' 50 plus kilometer road ride. "We will do slow, promise!" Sometimes, what they call it slow can be a breathtaking pace! I wasn't too convinced about his assurance. He has become one of the newly bred "teng kahs" in the mainland! I found out later that I was right about my skepticism!
Five of us met at Vipers' shop at 0730hours, with three more to join us on the way. Cool papa was quite nervous about the setting of my bike. "Wah, slick tires! Clipless somemore!" He was still at his sarcastic mode. To stop someone for being sarcastic is to totally ignore him. I was tempted to do that but decided otherwise. "I am going to fry you so watch out!" Boy was I enjoy to see his face turning from red to white! Wanna fool around with me on tarmac? Better watch out man!
It was quite cooling in the morning. Traffic was just nice for us. We had no problem to travel in one line at moderate speed on our way to Tasik, where we would detour to Junjung at the junction. Everything went smoothly until all the sudden my rear burst! It just happened silently. I just felt heavy when I was pedalling downhill and trying to pick up with Vipers and his brother in law, who were crusing down at higher speed. When I looked down, the rear was already dead flat! Cool papa was the first to shout "flat tire!". So we had our first stop to fix my flat after travelling 12km just under 20 minutes! It was quite a sight to see Vipers helping me to change the tube, a job that normally takes me half an hour he just did it in minutes! Since the weather was so cooling, I had hardly needed to gasp for a quick air after travelling 12km. Well, not for all of us though. One of the riders already showed sign of giving up. Apparently, this fast road ride was not his cup of tea. Anyway, we decided to continue after Vipers pumped up my bike's rear tire.
We were getting faster and faster. It was apprently Vipers really meant it when he said he would need to go back before nine thirty to catch up the Olympic MTB action. The road became more undulating by the time we turned into the Junjung road. It was still the same Junjung road that I rode 15 years ago. The climb was still there and the shaddy was still at the place it was supposed to be. The only difference was I was riding a mountain bike now, not with my carbon frame Alan Carbonio anymore. I wish one day I will get a good roadie. Maybe a Colnago M40? Hmm....
We had our second pit stop after we realized that two of the riders were left behind. We continued after the last two caught out with us. I really felt for the last ride who was on a suspension bike. We did not give him time to rest and gasp for air. I am pretty sure he was cursing like hell when he was chasing us at the sub 30km/h speed range. We did not alloy any time lose so we try to take only very short rest, as oppose to 5 to 10 minute rest as we did before!
The ride became more interesting as we were at Sungai Lembu. The road became more twisting and more climbs. The twisting downhill road really put my Cheng Shin slicks to their limit. The front showed sign of skidding when I was doing a highspeed superbike turn at one of the hairpin corner. Man was it scary. I was attacking the corner by leaning the bike and the tire in front scheeching in protest! Luckily there was no incoming traffic. Otherwise I would be in deep shit if the tire really gave way! I think it was due to high tire pressure(I pumped the tires to the max!). Maybe I should lower it a little bit. Of course lah, Vipers started to talk me into buying the more expensive Hutchingson slicks afterwards! Shit, 95 bux for a slick. It's more expensive than my Daihatsu's Dunlop Le Mans!!!
It was an inetresting ride. We managed to finish this fifty plus kilometer loop in one and the half hours. Some might claim it wasn't a fast ride but me, who has not ridden a medium to long road ride for more than ten years, doing road at an average speed of 33km/h was great feat! Oh yeah, what happen to cool papa? Yup, I fried him left and right. He was silent when we finally arrived at Vipers shop. I am sure he would come out all kind of excuses if I asked how did he feel like for being fried. Hehe...Watch out buddy, a roadie is coming back!
Stay tuned!