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.