Run to the Hills

Team Clowns has made an official declaration of war with the other teams and Team Librarian/Cengkerang would not keep quite. We will attack the hills.....behind Team Clowns and expect an ambush from us..guerilla style hahahaha

Weekend is coming and we'll meet insyaallah at Genting Trail Blazer this Sunday :D

The Dragon Back

Last weekend was unique since all my weekend warrior friends were scattered around having their own respective races. Those who had emerged victorious in the ultimate endurance trail challenge of TNF 100k Duo, I would like to re-express my heartiest congratulations to each one of them. Though I have said it before that I did not have a slightest doubt that all of them would cross the finishing line, the fact that some of them thought of throwing the towel just shows the difficulty level of the race.

My congratulations as well to those who dare to accept the challenge to be the King of the Mountain by cranking their 2 wheels 54km up to Cameron Highland. Crazy? You tell me but again they earned the right to be the King that day. And those participating in the Nike 10k Run (ramai awek tapi sungguh heran Ijam x nak masuk) and HooHaa run or Eco-Challenge (tak ramai awek tapi Ijam masuk!), thumbs up for all especially those who had their PBs.

As for myself, though I had not participated in any races, I had my own personal challenge as well. Acknowledging that lot and lot of works need to be done to strengthen the legs in cranking my “Merry Please Go Fast”, I accepted the lambong from another cyclist friend to join a 50 km-ish ride with the Bkt Jelutong Cyclists (BJC) plying the GCE (Guthrie Corridor Expressway), so I assumed. Only later when I tried to lambong Shuk to join the ride that I knew that the plan was to take the undulating roads of Shah Alam- Puncak Alam/Batu Arang and in between to pass the “Dragon Back”. I first heard of this “Dragon Back” from a cyclist relative. Though I understand that it is not comparable to Perez, Genting Sempah and those multi hills of the Langat/NS border, it did provide a tough challenge for newbies. In the hope that there would be others in the group that are of the same level as myself (assuming that all the hardcores would take a day’s rest before attempting the KOM race the next day), I dared myself to be at the gathering point Saturday morning. One by one the other cyclists appeared and it was obvious that I was one of the youngest among these peeps (age range I guess from early 40s to late 40s) but kid you not, these guys are regular cyclists (at least compared to me) and later showed that most of them had stronger legs in pedaling their carbon frame/fancy sets.

So about 15 of us were off around 7.45am from BJ and the undulating stretches started soon after we exited from BJ. Since I was not familiar with the route, I tried to put myself in the middle pack for not wanting to be left behind alone. I was comforted with the fact that about 5 other older riders maintained a slower pace than mine. After about 8kms we then exited from the main Shah Alam – Puncak Alam road and turned to meet the Dragon. There is no turning back for me. I tried to maintain the right cadence to maintain the momentum of passing the first hill, which looked like a wall from below. It was a short climb but steep. I need to push myself very hard by resorting to stand pedaling and by the time I reached the peak, I was almost breathless, due to the climb and the view on top of the first hill. Ammah! The Dragon had just introduced me to the first hill and there was another wall that I need to climb in front of me and another. All in all there were 4 inclines, all in straight road, which formed the so called Dragon Back. I managed to get a picture of some part of the Dragon Back from the internet and I believe that the shot was taken from the peak of the first hill.

On top of the First Hill

After passing the Dragon Back we turned to another main road leading to Puncak Alam and made Petronas Puncak Alam as our first re-grouping point. There was a bit of incident before turning to the petrol station when I had my third fall from the day I used the clipless shoes. Malu bang jatuh beskal macam nangka busuk hahaha.

Mamils Resting after Conquering the Dragon Back

After quite a long rest waiting for the last 2 riders of the group (one guy needed to stop and rest after tackling 2 of the hills of the Dragon Back), we proceeded to the direction of Paya Jaras, Sg Buloh via Bandar Saujana Impian. At Paya Jaras the group splitted to 2, one going back to Bkt Jelutong via GCE and the other stronger group decided to proceed to Kuang. Going back to Bkt Jelutong was quit a lonely affair for me being the sole rider in the middle under the scorching Saturday morning sun. I also decided to ditch the breakfast re-grouping at R&R GCE and proceeded back alone to Bkt Jelutong. All in all the distance covered was 53km. The distance was just 5km more than the last ride but it was a progress for me with the Dragon Back conquered. The experience proves that apart from stamina you really need a strong legs in cycling. This week I need to squeeze in a riding session but may not be able to do group ride due to other commitments.

I will skip Mizuno run this weekend and for those who run, I wish you guys all the best.

Of Trail and Expressway

Trail

The Kiara trail run a week after SCKLM was my first brief introduction to trail running and I had to concur whole heartedly with others who had done trail running before that it was FUN. Far from being a walk in the park and at certain times, the inclining narrow, tricky and twisted trail would made you want to scream for air but once you managed to be at the peak, you will be rewarded with a great endorphin released going downhill. The connection between you and nature is also awesome, as reflected in the pictures captured by Diket and Yim below.

Left - Trail head to the Dream Trail - Pic courtesy of Diket

Right - On the way to the Steroid Hill? -Pic courtesy of Yim

I don’t think I had to re-write or re-express the awesomeness and the fun of the run at FRIM last Saturday with other RBUs (Syah, Ian, Diket, Nik, Syed, Yim, Zack Yui, Shuk, Deo and Shanaz). You can see the excitement on our faces in the pictures below (taken from Diket's blog and Yim’s Facebook album). What’s more with the food fiesta that we had in celebrating Ian’s belated birthday and I pampered myself with 2 of the the yummiest homemade coney dogs prepared by Ian after completed the introductory loop of my FRIM trail run comprising the Dream Trail, Rover Trail and the Steroid Hill. Yeah, that Steroid Hill, its name suits perfectly with the mental and physical demand that it extracted from you in conquering the same. It was also my first run with a hydration pack and being a gas guzzler, I enjoyed the convenience of sipping ribena drink mixed with ORS at anytime I wish to. That day was also the first car pool arrangement I made with Deo and Zack Yui going to FRIM. Next time we can car pool again guys! I wish another session of trail run to be organised in anticipation of Genting Trail Blazer end of this month.



Left - Bukan malu kucing nak lambung tapi malu nak lawan betis-betis gebu yg lain -Pic courtesy of Diket

Right - All excited to start the much awaiting run- Pic courtesy of Yim

Expressway

With some soreness at my legs being the left over from the trail run the day before, I decided to join the Bukit Jelutong cyclists (BJC) for a Sunday ride and on their menu was either (i) a 150km ride from Bkt Jelutong to Sg Tengi (somewhere in Hulu Selangor) via Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE) and Ijok or (ii) a 70km+ ride via GCE to Ijok and return. And as the icing on the cake, the ride would also be joined by the LeTua riders and these guys are like a local semi-pro tour team, if I am not mistaken. With no mileage at all since my last ride in Ramadhan, I was apprehensive to do even the 70km, what’s more with the unknown BJC riders (and the story of their super expensive bikes), not to mention the LeTua riders, who all looked “pro” (what do I expect anyway).

GCE but we used the motorcycle lane

I was saved from the humility of being an unknown newbie with an entry level bicycle in a well established group with fancy bikes (seems that all were using carbon frame and high end group set and wheels set) to be left behind with the appearance of my junior in school, who is not a so new rider but decided to do a 50km-ish ride only that day with another friend of his. The plan was to ride strictly on GCE, breaking away from the main BJC group at the Paya Jaras exit and proceeding to the last toll booth of GCE (Toll Lagong) and return to Bkt Jelutong.

Briefing by BJC President. Menyorok kat ujung2 ajer - Pic taken from the Facebook album of Nazlin Abdullah

Some of the LeTua riders - Pic taken from the Facebook Album of Nazlin Abdullah

We did as planned save that we were left behind about 2km after we entered GCE from the GCE-Bkt Jelutong’s junction LoL. They were just too fast for me especially with the “tarik” service provided by the LeTua riders. GCE is not flat but not hilly as well but has a fair share of undulating stretches. I would say that it was more or less like riding around Putrajaya minus the flat Putrajaya-ELITE stretch. Acknowledging the feat of chasing the main group would surely be an exercise of futility, 5 of us continued to ride at our own pace. After a long rest from cycling the legs felt really weak in cranking the pedals, especially on inclines. Obviously I need a much stronger legs to even keep a decent gap between me and the regular and otai riders and to achieve that I need to do more rides (could Trainer helps?). There is no short cut if you want to get better, full stop.

This Weekend

This weekend I understand that everybody would have their own races. Syah, Ian, Yim, Haza, Kash (Nik?) and shanaz would be in Singapore attempting the TNF. I wish you guys all the best and I am confident that each one of you would nail it fine. Others, i.e. Ray, Zack Yui, Deo, Ijam and Shuk I believe will participate in the Nike 10k run. I have not registered for this event and do not have a plan of pirating it as well. I still have issue with my right knee after my run last evening and I may just do a slow run of 7-8km in my neighbourhood this Saturday and do a 50km-ish ride on Sunday. My best wishes as well to Diket, Det and Jaja for their King of the Mountain race this Sunday. Jgn lupa minum teh boh panas dengan makan strawberry kat atas Cameron tu nanti OK! :D