Bike - Day 14 (My first 100km)

When I went to the gym last Thursday for my running, I bumped into a group of cyclist who were preparing for their routine ride. One of them already knew me during the Dehydrator fun ride. She then invited me to join them for a 100miles ride on Saturday for which I said “OK, I will join you guys on Saturday”. What was I thinking??? Mau bunuh diri ka?

I was planning to do some swimming on last Friday, but upon returning from work on Friday I fell asleep almost immediately. Woke up at 7.45pm and it was already too late to go for a swim. “Well, let’s just call it a rest day”, I told myself.

Saturday morning came where I woke up at 6am, took shower, had a tuna sandwich and loaded up my cycling gear into the car. Not to forget some PowerBars and 2 bottles of Gatorades. I was a bit nervous with the distance. 100miles = 160km. Gulp! The furthest distance I’ve done so far was the 43km ride which I did a week before.

I arrived at the gym 10minutes before 7am. There were Linda, Mark, Susan, Mary, Danny, Pagon and me. Once everybody was ready, they discussed about which route to take and by 7.05am, off we went. I had no idea what so ever of where they were going to go, but I know it will be a very long ride. Mark was the leader, he was at the front.

I cycled side by side with Mark for the first 25km (I think). It was fun to be at the front with him, furthermore the route was pretty flat with only some small hills and we were cycling at a moderate speed of 25km/h average. Mark works as a pilot, so I talked a lot with him about his career, his experience. I told him how much I wanted to become a pilot when I was small, and all other stuffs about flying and piloting. He told me that if he got the chance he would bring me flying with him on his friend’s light aircraft. I hope it will come true one day.

We made our first break stop at a convenient store at 27km mark (I guess). The sun started to show it’s fierce. I refuelled myself with my second PowerBar and some Gatorade. No nasi lemak or roti canai as what those friends of mine were normally having during their long distance rides back in home country. After the break, we went off towards a big lake. There is a dam at the lake, and to get there we had to do some long climbing. This was where I started to be at the back of the pack. I hate to be at the back because somehow I know I have to chase them back later. We crossed the dam. Left and right sides of the long flat road are surrounded with lake water and the wind was blowing quite hard. The view was amazing but unfortunately I didn’t snatch any photos.

We made another short break stop just after crossing the lake. The ladies had to visit the restroom. I took this chance to lepak under the shade of a tree while refuelling myself with more Gatorade.

The next stop we made was at a gasoline station. It was already 10.30am if I’m not mistaken and it was so hot. We went inside the air-conditioned convenient store at the gas station. It felt great to be inside that cool store. I bought a bottle of Gatorade, filled up my bottles and started to drink a lot until my belly became boroi. Ah, boroi pun boroi lah, janji hilang dahaga. Anyway, the guys are also boroi, so ok la tu kan.

During the break, Mark told us that he couldn’t do 100miles ride since he had to rush back home to do something. I was the first person to say “Mark, I will escort you back home”. Hahaha. But at last everybody agreed to replace the 100miles ride with 63miles ride and follow Mark back home. Phew, lega siot!

The remaining route from that stop to home was 28miles. I think Mark was really in a hurry because after that stop he really went berserk and cycled very fast on the flat highway. I was able to ride side by side with him with a steady speed of 38 - 40km/h for at least 15 minutes. When it came to some climbing I had to surrender and joined the other two guys at the back. By this time the ladies were at front with Mark and we get separated by quite a distance. The heat from the sun was really draining my energy out. I cycled slower with the two guys at a moderate speed of 30 – 33km/h.

After about 18miles high speed cycling I told them I had to stop to cool down my body. I felt very hot. So we stopped again at a convenient store, resting under a fan. There was no sign of Mark and the ladies, maybe they didn’t stop at all. Power gile!

With a good 15minutes cooling the body under the fan, we continued our journey home. I saw one mileage sign which showed “Duncan 8mi”. Another 8 miles? Oh no. My speedometer at that time was showing 87km++. I was having doubt whether I can do the final 8 miles (12.8km). It was already 11.45am and the heat from the sun really affected my strength.

Nonetheless I continued cycling in the hot sun. There were salt crystals on my face and arms due to evaporation of the sweat. Luckily I was wearing long sleeve tight shirt underneath my cycling jersey. The last few km were the toughest I guess, felt like no more energy to paddle. Luckily the other two guys were kind enough to accompany me at the back pack.

Finally I reached the car park where we started our ride. Mark waited for us at the car park just to congratulate me and to see how we were doing. I thanked them all for the good long ride. They were a good bunch of cyclists, very supportive, friendly and sporting indeed. I could never do that long ride without them. My speedometer was showing a good 101.55km.

Result of Day 14 (Saturday)
Distance: 101.6km
Time: 4hr 4min (not including break times)
V Max.: 45.8km/h
V Ave.: 24.9km/h

Will I do the long ride again? I don’t know.

After the ride I went back home, took shower and went off to Oklahoma City with my housemate to buy some chicken and beef. That’s the nearest halal butcher I can find. It took me 1.5hrs to drive there. There’s an Arab shop nearby there too where we bought kebab for lunch. Then, we ordered our chicken and mutton at a Bangladeshi shop, and I tapau two nasi beriani kambing for myself that will give me a free-cooking weekend. Lazy to cook.

I was struggling to keep awake on the way back. The combination of driving with full kebab-filled-stomach under a hot sun at 4pm was not fun at all. I kept on yawning all the way back home. My friend was already kong in the passenger seat. Luckily the car has auto-cruise so that I could sleep while the car drove itself. Hahaha.

Today is Sunday, and I have to spend it for some self-studying. Hopefully I won't fall asleep halfway through.