Tour de Pendas 79km

Somehow, it turned out not to be so easy to recall what had happened during my ride to Pendas last Saturday morning after being busy with work for three days. Bringing my camera during that ride at least has helped me a little in the effort to share with you all how my ride went on.

OK. Normally I would be doing long ride only once every weekend, either on Saturday or Sunday. NEVER on both days! Somehow, there were a few bunch of people who gave the idea of riding out from JB to Pendas and back, which would cover the distance of around 80km.

“Pendas eh?” Hmm, it’s a new place for me. For sure I won’t miss the chance to cycle to another place which I’ve never been before, not even by car. Knowing that few of them wanted to ride with their MTB, I would guess that this time I could ride slightly slower.

We started off our ride as late early as 7.35am. This time, there were 4 MTB riders and 5 road riders. Weather was fine. Realizing that I will also be doing another long ride the next day, I took this ride easily. A very santai ride.

I rode very santai-ly by just following the MTB riders. Though for them, cycling with average speed of 25~28km/hr were already tough, but with road bike you can pretty easily cruise along with them. The other 4 roadies were already far in front. Speed demons, normal lah.

At one point, we were regrouped with the roadies as one fellow rider had a puncture. Everybody stopped and gave him a helping hand drank water. One guy helped him out with his puncture. I helped a bit to continue pumping air into his replaced tire.

Anybody wants to buy this brand new design of road bike stand? Belom ada dijual kat mana-mana lagi tau, not even at bicyclebuysell.

There were a few rolling hills, one after another. But they were not as tough as the climbs we had to do when going to Tanjung Sedili. Not long after that, we reached Gelang Patah.

Kalau ada gelang yang patah, jangan di buang ke tong sampah,
Kalau nak cari gelang yang patah, pegilah cari kat Gelang Patah… keh keh keh

The journey onwards from Gelang Patah to Pendas brought us to a very peaceful village area. The scenery was wonderful, with fresh morning air serving our lungs.

We then came across an area where we saw lots of cars and motorcycles besides the road. I thought they were going for morning market, but in actual fact there was a school there and they were having kind of sports day. But, somehow I found the name of the school to be kind of weird.

Sekolah Kebangsaan MORNIPOK

Un-invited spectators.

Not so long after passing that school, we at last reached the u-turn point, Pendas. There is a jetty at Pendas, where fishermen would park their boats. We could see Singapore from there too. Before we headed for our breakfast, time for more snappy-snappy.

“Alamak, budak-budak basikal ni dah datang. Kejap lagi mesti diorang nak melantak macam orang tak makan seminggu nih… confirm.”

“Lihatlah gigiku kulit wajahku yang semakin hitam legam berkilat”

”Haa, kan betul. Macam seminggu tak makan roti canai”

I had one roti canai kosong + one roti canai telur SAHAJA.

The journey back was as pleasant as before, except for the heat which started to give us some challenge. I’m not sure whether it was because of them eating too much of roti canai or was it because of the heat, but most of them were cycling slightly slower. Good for me as I need so save up some of my energy for the longer ride the next day.

Riding on the rolling hills in the heat with their MTB proved not to be so easy for some of the guys. One guy got dropped very far, so we all had to stop for a while at a bus stop while waiting for him to arrive. That have always be our practice, to wait for the slow ones to arrive at certain check points, so that we could make sure everybody is safe.

The MTB champion is playing-playing on the off-road while waiting for the rest to arrive.

When the last guy arrived, he said he had a cramp at his right thigh. We let him rest a bit before proceeded our ride home. Not so far, perhaps another 25km to go I would guess. As soon as we arrived at the gathering point (Petronas station), pssstttttt my back tire got punctured.

Aduhai, dah penat-penat kayuh ni la pulak nak kena tukar tayar pancit. (nampak macam real tak gaya lakonan orang tengah pulun pam tayar ni?)

After settling my punctured tire, I headed to a friend’s house where I parked my car. Weather was already scorching hot, and the two guys decided to stop by to refresh ourselves with some fresh cut cold fruits.

“Eh, apesal buah ni makcik tu tak potong lagi? Aku gigit karangggg….”

I then ended my 79km long ride at a friend’s house, followed with a nice cold shower and a wonderful and free lunch. Thanks a lot Kamal!

The route taken.

P/s: Eish, for a 79km ride pun report dah panjang berjela. Lepas ni nak kena karang report untuk ride 131km la pulaaaakkk…. Ya ampuuunnn. …

Weekend tours - 79km + 131km

Kerja gila? No, no, no..

Aku gila? No, no, no.. of course not.

But, I actually did something which long long time ago I could only wonder how would there be people who can cycle long distance for two days in a row.

Now, not only that I know it is something do-able (provided you had enough physical training and mental preparation - compulsary!), but I also know how it feels after cycling 79km on Saturday morning, which was then followed by a 131km cycling on Sunday morning.

Tour de Pendas - 79km.

Tour de Ayer Baloi (re-visited) - 131k.

Ini bukan kerja gila, dan aku bukan orang gila. Tapi ini memang menggilakan.

As usual, full reports coming up soon. Stay in touch!

P/s: 220km is already in the book. I wonder how much further can I go...

I like to brick-it, brick-it..

Nah, I don't like doing brick training. It hurts!

For those who are new with triathlon terms, brick training is where you combine two or more discipline into one training. Like swim + bike, or bike + run, of do all the tree swim + bike + run. You know, things like that. Doing one right after another.

As much as I don't like doing brick training, looks like I have to start liking it from now onwards.

A first attempt was put yesterday during the weekly night ride to add in some running right after the cycling. Normally, I would be cycing about 30km and then call it a day. But last night, I cycled for 18km and then I switched to my running shoes and off I went, running 3km. At first, it was kind of painful. But to my surprise, I did not get any cramp in the legs.

A very baby-ish effort at this moment, yes I know. Not wanting to shock my body with excessive brick training yet as I don't want to get injured while training. I know I should increase the intensity of this brick training in the future, if I were to race in triathlon again. Maybe I'll try cycling 30km and then run 6km by next month.

We'll see how it goes. You'll know it when you hear me singging:

I like to brick-it, brick-it,
I like to brick-it, brick-it,
I like to brick-it, brick-it,
I like to... BRICK-IT!!!!

Yeah right...

Tour de Ayer Baloi 125km – The Report

Ouch, ouch, ouchhh…, Adoi, adoi…

That were among the first things I shouted when I started the 125km ride as early as 6.45am on last Sunday morning when I felt the pain in my legs. I started to have doubts whether I could finish the distance planned as soon as I started to paddle. At that point, I’m not sure whether running 2 hours non-stop almost 24 hours earlier has made my legs stronger for the ride, or has it became a killing factor.

I parked my car at a friend’s place, and started cycling with him to the meeting point where another 10 cyclists “should” be gathering there by 7am. Nothing was surprising. I mean, some were late as usual. Well, they have their own reasons I guess.

Being active cyclists and triathletes who love to have fun, I would say we do not really know how to just sit down and wait for people to arrive. Having had two people with digital cameras (me included), we all started to “have fun” in our own ways. Well, people say pictures tell thousand words right? You judge it yourself.

Patung Petronas tepi jalan pun jadi mangsa.

My trustworthy machine.

Hiroko-san, very powerful Japanese tri-mom who has won few prizes in triathlon and duathlon events here in Malaysia. Watch out!

By 7.50am when the last person arrived, we immediately shoot off. Altogether 11 roadies and one “berani-mati” mounties (bawak MTB lah tu maksudnya). The true fun begin.

For me, its always fun to be riding on a new route, to a new place. Once again this time, I’m riding to a place where I’ve never even been yet, not even with my car. Though the distance can be considered as a bit far, but having friends around will ease off the pain in the legs that you may have.

After the first 20km or so, some of the speed demons have blasted their ways ahead. Me? No, I was not one of them. Knowing that I’m cycling with partially fatigue pair of legs and the distance to cover was in three digits, I maintained a mere speed of about 30~33km/hr almost all the way through (on the flat road, masa panjat bukit lain cerita lah).

We made our first break stop after cycling about 45km if I’m not mistaken. As soon as I took out my camera and said “haa, lekas lekas.. nak ambik gambar masuk dalam blog/facebook ni”, below is what you’ll get. Hahaha…

Not only cycling was fun, taking break stops too can make your gum juicy (tak kering gusi lah)

The “berani-mati” guy with his MTB which we called – PAJERO of the day (because of the sound made by its huge tyres).

After about 15minutes break, we made our way towards Ayer Baloi. It was flat all the way, long stretch road with pineapple farms on the sides of it. I’ve never seen such a huge pineapple farm. Bak kata pepatah, saujana mata memandang.

Hmm, nak pegi Ayer Baloi ke nak pegi KL?

My silhouette.

Long stretch road with pineapple farms on the right and left sides. Maybe this is the reason why there’s such a place with the name of Pekan Nenas here.

Some of the guys in action.

Once again, the speed demons couldn’t resist the temptation to break away and burst their way through. Later that I heard they were doing 40~43km/hr on this flat road. Gilakkk!!

We soon arrived at the next T-junction and it’s time for the speed demons to stop and wait for the siput-speed people like me to arrive. What else to do while taking break other than taking more photos?

The speedometer was already showing the distance of about 65km. I forgot what time it was exactly, but roughly about 10am-ish. Perut dah lapar gile.

Aiyaarkkk.. another 75km to go meh? Adoila…

15minutes break time was over. It felt so fast. They were saying that next stop would be the breakfast stop.

”Where’s the breakfast stop? Jauh lagi ke?”, I asked the guys.

”Tak jauh lah, kat depan tu sikit je”, one guy replied.

PENIPU!!!

It was not after another 20 minutes of cycling or so that we reached the warung tepi jalan. It was like cycling to a place hundreds of miles away. Perut dah lapar gile, matahari dah makin tinggi. Rasa nak belasah je kat orang yang cakap “tak jauh lah” tadi.

Once arrived at the mostly-desired break point for some food intake, all of us twelve cyclists occupied half of the sitting area at the warung. Gegak gempita.

Waiting for food to arrive.

Some guys had mihun soto. I had this – nasi soto. Yummylicious!

Eh, aku silap order ke, atau makcik tu yang salah dengar?

The aftermath. Average of 2 glasses of drinks per person.

We had a blast during the breakfast break. It was great fun. This guy kutuk that guy, the other guy kutuk another guy. Everybody was laughing. Luckily there was no food fight.

We then continued our ride back in a very windy condition. Head wind was pretty strong at times that for me, riding at 25km/hr was the only thing I can manage. The ride back also led us to some ugly climbs. Ugly enough that it had me looking down at my speedometer while cranking up the hills which showed the speed or 14km/hr.

Tak kisah lah kan, janji aku tak turun tolak basikal.

Few people got dropped behind (again, me included) due to the climbs we had to do. The strong guys were already out of sight. Being good cyclists, they waited for the rest at an interception before we continued the remaining 20km back to the meeting point.

Drebar PAJERO dah terbaring dan terduduk, kepenatan.

I do have to salute this “breani-mati” guy who had the courage to cycle with us using his MTB, while we all are using road bikes. If you ever ride on a MTB, you’ll know how hard it is to maintain 30km/hr and above speed, even on flat road. Though we all never stop kutuk-ing him since the beginning till the end of the rides, he did not really bother about them all. “It’s a good training”, he said.

Whether he regretted following us with his PAJERO, I’m not sure. That’s totally a different issue for him, and I leave it to him to keep it inside his heart.

Not long after that, we all reached our own destinations – home. Some guys get back to their cars at the meeting point, some went straight back home. I rested for a while, and had a delicious lunch at friend’s place. Chit chat some more until it’s time for me to get home, leave the bike, grab my swimming accessories, and headed to the swimming pool for recovery swim in the evening.

Rambut pun dah jadi macam trojan daaaa..

That was how I spent my Sunday.

P/s: Maybe, I’ll do long ride again this weekend. Maybe…

Tour de Ayer Baloi 125km – The Abstract

Date:
Sunday, Feb 1st 2009

Route:
Skudai – Kulai – Ayer Baloi – Pontian Kechil – Pekan Nenas – Skudai (map below)

Distance:
125km (woohoo.. another 100km + ride done)

Maximum Speed:
Hmm, I don’t remember (At high speed need to look in front maa, not at the speedometer. Mau mati kaa?)

Average Speed:
I don’t care (Actually because my speedometer jenis lama, no average speed recorded, hihihi)

Minimum Speed:
14km/hr (While climbing those rolling hills, instead of looking on the inclination, better look at the speedometer, right?)

Number of injury:
Nil (Alhamdulillah)

Body condition:
Not that much of pain in the legs this time. No bonking.

Tiredness:
Of course la tired!! But, it’s bearable.

Conclusion:
Fun, fun, fun, fun.. and FUN!!!

The route we travelled.

Midway cycling, still can put on a smile.

After completed 125km. Not so able to smile anymore.. haha.

A prove that I've cycled 125km.

I'm a bit busy with work today, therefore not much time to spend writing full report. Later on lah ye..