LeTua 100 - Expired Edition with Cut & Paste Pictorials

To tell you the truth, although I had almost mentally and psychologically recovered from the crash in the LeTua Trial Ride the previous week before the official one, with about 800 cyclists participated in the official event, I had taken a cautious approach, especially in the earlier part until I passed through the site where I crashed somewhere in the Kg road in Kuang. By that time, a wider gap and space between the various groups of cyclists were apparent for drafting, break aways and whats not, with lesser degree of concern of hitting or being hit by other cyclists. Having said that, cautious ride (or defensive riding) was the theme of the day for me and I completed the route safely without any incident and that was the paramount target for me that day.

Here are some pictures of that day taken from various FB albums of others (I claim no ownership of those pictures except for pic no. 2). With LeTua 100 done I would attempt to reactivate my running log and there is a lot of catching up that I need to do especially in my trademark snail pace but I look forward to ply those LSDs routes :-)

I joined the Bkt Hantu aka Cheras gang for the ride. We made Al-Ihsana of Bkt Jelutong as our meeting point

At the starting area. I think that bro in white was trying to check the coverage of his Blackberry

Don't know the location but may be after Bkt Rahman Putra, Sg Buloh

Riding in this kind of tight and big peloton scared me, one wrong move, you would taste the hard surface of the tarmac

The Shah Alam-Sg Buloh Road, we conquered the entire lanes

Before Bkt Rahman Putra, aach time the peloton met any corners or inclines, the situation would be like in the above picture

Once in a while the gap becoming wider along Jln Shah Alam- Sg Buloh during the flat area but would not be for long. Quite dangerous when we later met a corner or incline


Sg Buloh to Bkt Rahman Putra? I am not sure where is this place

Hahaha, here come the Dragon! Some of the cylists were just mentally or physically not prepared to conquere the Dragon Back. Please bear in mind that we only met the Dragon at KM80 onwards

Some cyclists thought after the Dragon Back, it will all the way smooth sailing riding back to Bkt Jelutong. How wrong they were with 2 more inclines, not that steep but long, especially your legs already fatigued tackling th Dragon Back. The BJCC guys call this Alam Budiman incline

Some cyclists just gave up on the last 2 inclines, i.e. Alam Budiman and Cahaya SPK.

Geng Bkt Hantu Cycling Team, semua power2, aku hanya cyclist dipinggiran :-)

I'd Done the LeTua 100 Trial Ride and ..........

God willing, I will do the official one this weekend. As I had declared in FB, I experienced my first crash during my first ever ride in the biggest cycling session so far with the participation of 160 cyclists. Alhamdulillah, i suffered only minor bruises. How it happened? There will always be conflicting versions depending whether the question is posed to me or to the other person. But the most appealing version would of course potrayed a scenario of an over excited newbie who foolishly lost control of his bike by hitting the rear wheel of the other person, who happened to be an "otai" rider with a well known cycling group. Such version, when told, was so appealing that even I had a lingering doubt on my own recollection of the event! But what I can tell you is this, if no otai rider can make any mistake then there should be zero crash in any pro tour as the pros should be, well, super expert in handling their bike.

My spirit was a bit dented immediately after the crash but I soldiered on after assessing that both my and Scotty's condition were OK. Though I need to stop 4 times to attend to my derailer problem due to the crash, alhamdulillah I managed to complete the entire route, no discount.

Riding has its own risks, as in other activities involving wheels. Looking forward, what I have to do is to be extra careful and alert in future rides and pray that God will protect me always.

Not me but this shot was taken on top of the 4th hills of the Dragon Back rolling series

That is me, tackling the 4th Hill of the Dragon Back Rolling Series, with a snail pace :-)