Kita Bakor!

Orang tua cakap, jangan main api nanti terbakar. Tapi doktor cakap lemak-lemak dan minyak-minyak sapi yang dah terkumpul dalam badan kita kene dibakar, kalau simpan boleh jadi pekat cam minyak Ghee. Aku rasa kandungan lemak dan minyak dalam badan aku dah tahap nak overflow, org kerje kilang penapis minyak cakap dah "tank top".

Events tahun ini yang aku plan nak masuk memang di tahap minimum. Niat nak register tu mmg ada tapi tahun ni masa agak terhad. Jadi pilih mana-mana yang patut dan sesuai. Lagi pun kalau tak masuk events bukan tak boleh exercise, cuma kurang ler motivasi nak berletih yang sepatutnya.

Lepas dari KL Marathon, next major individual event bagi aku ialah Powerman (walau aku dalam tahap Tapauman ajer sekarang). Ingat start dari second week of Shawal boleh ler start berletih tapi hareeemmmm, layan kambing golek dgn satay ajer yang banyak. Bibik pulak pulang menyambut lebaran di Surabaya, weekend kene juga ambik duty laundry dan vacuum carpet, kalau tak memang ada potensi lesen training akan kene tarik, lagi parah.

Takut fitness level terus turun ke zero, aku paksa diri juga buat larian-larian anak jarak pendek di ujung2 Shawal. Stride pun dah jadi macam ketam. Kayuh jgn cerita ler, langsung tak sentuh beskal aku tu kecuali time aku kene alih beskal aku keluar waktu sedara-mara datang beraya kat rumah.

Pasal ada satu hari tu sekretari aku tegur badan aku nampak naik (esp tang perut), aku terus tersentak dari lamunan panjang memikirkan sesi kambing golek dan nasi mandy yang seterusnya. Pasal kawan-kawan semua dalam tahap advance latihan untuk menghadapi TNF dan PNM, memang aku rasa aku cari pasal kalau berletih dgn depa. Takut jadi kacau daun ajer pasal pace dengan endurance dah jadi tahap siput bayi. Nak lari sorang-sorang pun cam kurang plak motivasi, senang sgt nak ambil diskaun mega atau pun terus DNS sesilap haribulan.

Jadi last weekend aku pun menyambut lambungan Diket dan Azmar Org Besi buat larian geli2 di Putrajaya. Dengar plan depa nak buat brick tp lebih mirip brick untuk biathlon Chin Woo ajer (i.e. run and swim). Aku signed. Macam biasa, larian pagi sabtu aku mmg hancus, ntah ler naper susah nak recover dari letih hari jumaat. May be biasa sampai rumah lambat, dekat 9 pm kot. Apa2 pun pasal target just nak lari setakat 1 jam, dapat juga habis 8.7km dgn pace aku yg semput tapi puas mendengar borakan sakan Azmar dgn Diket.

Lepas lari, masuk pool pulak. Sah dah lama tak swim, muscles kaki mmg tak ready, baru 75m dah kene massive cramp. Kene plak masa dekat pool's depth at 2m, menggelupur ler kejap nak tenangkan diri before slow2 pergi ke tepi. Ingat nak call off terus plan swimming tp teruja tengok Azmar dgn Diket layan swimming, so sambung balik lepas lepak 4-5 minit. Bila dah dpt konsisten breathing ikut tips Diket and Syah last week, syok ler plak layan. Dpt ler 600m, ala kadar tapi puas hati. Nak kene lebih kerap turun pool kalau nak improve mileage.

Minggu ni mmg tak boleh ponteng weekdays' runs. Weekend may be buat brick solo kat shah alam. Pasal Sabtu nak ambik maid kat LCCT (yahooooo, boleh pulun lebih sikit lepas ni pasal dah boleh excuse duty laundry dgn vacuum carpet), so most probably Ahad. Next week still tak dpt buat brick dengan kawan-kawan pasal kene panjat and camping kat atas Gunung Dato'. Ni actually kes paksa rela, client suruh ikut. Aku kira cincailah this trip serves as part of my endurance training.

Harap-harap lepas ni proses pembakaran lemak dan minyak sapi dalam badan akan berjalan lancar supaya aku dapat mengelakkan dari jadi lemau tahap gaban masa Powerman kelak. Last sekali, Selamat berKOM pada kawan2 weekend ni!

1/2 Yearly Report (ramblings)

Mak oit, dah nak masuk Ogos baru nak tulis blog! Last posting aku bulan February, lepas tu terus senyap sunyi. Ada juga pikir nak tutup account ajer terus tapi dramatik sangat plak jadiknya. So, if PLCs need to submit their financial statements/reports to the Stock Exchange on a quarterly basis, I hope I will not be "de-listed" from the RBU List by submitting this 1/2 yearly report.

The thing is (sorry shuk, pinjam phrase ni kejap) I didn't really have interesting news to be updated. Not so suprising as it is reflective of my YOYO involvement in either running or cycling activities. If I could recall correctly I had a good momentum in cycling starting from the HoHoHo Fraser Hill's Ride late last year and followed with a few enjoyable and fulfilling long rides with friends, peaked when I did the Broga Reverse (captured in my last report). After that, things went downhill.....at a very fast pace. The culprit was when I was instructed to handle a deal with a crazy timeline. What to do, cari makan maaa.

So, to cut the story short, after suffering from my maiden Gombak - Janda Baik's ride due to lack of rest the night before (dah ler mmg kureng power), from that point onwards I 'd been bailing out many-many weekends of endorphine seeking retreat with friends. So, up to 30 June 2011, here are the races that I managed to force myself to do (no worry, it couldn't even qualify as a list):

(a) Energizer Night Run - Didn't register for it. The plan was to run with another's person bib in the HM category but ended up I did my maiden pirated run :-). Supposed to be my HM's PB with 2:24 but was told the distance was 1km short. No big deal since I treated this more as my first LSD after months of absence.

(b) SCKLM 2011 - A primary event for the local running scene. It was difficult to miss this so register I did for the Full Marathon category. I should have known that to run a good full marathon (of course in your own respective standard), training momentum is key. With zero events done since ENR, I found out that I was severely lacking in that aspect. Never mind, the "hayun ajer" spirit was in full swing. The result, no need to guess lah, I'd received the real life lesson of not respecting the "respect the distance" mantra. It was not a mtyh for sure! I had my PW of 6:00:40. It was not the timing that made me remember this run but the suffering that I had to endure to complete it. I had never imagined that I would even think of taking my first walk break at KM7 due to fatigue while running a Full Marathon race. Res Ipsa Loquitur!

Head down, end of suffering

Yes, that were the 2 races that I had participated so far this year. This weekend I am having my 3rd event, a relay in PD Tri. I was under coercion by OtoRayMau when I signed off for this as the team's cylist (Ray did all the registration hehehe). I hope Mr. CR1 (still lack of Buk Reynol's charmness) will be in good behaviour comes Sunday.

TO THOSE PARTICPATED IN PD TRI THIS WEEKEND, WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!

Larian Berdamping Malam dan Broga Auww CNY

Larian Berdamping Malam (bersama RBU)

Sejak masuk tahun 2011 ini memang aktiviti larian aku boleh dikira dengan jari tangan. Setakat ni dapat ler layan LSD sekali di Putrajaya dengan geng RBU, sama tarikh dan masa dengan Putrajaya Twilight Challenge tu. Nak kata kita org lari dalam event Twilight Challenge Putrajaya memang tidak boleh kerana tidak register pun tetapi sempat lah memeriahkan sekali acara tu walau pun dating sebagai geng lanun-lanun (sila rujuk gambar di bawah). Lanun tak lanun, memang seronok berlari dengan kawan-kawan, terutamanya bila melalui jambatan depan PICC. Amat menarik pemandangan di sana walaupun tak kelihatan pun air tasik di bawah jambatan itu.

LSD malam tu memang aku dah berniat nak diskaun dari 2 loops ker 1 ½ loop sahaja, jadi dapat lah jarak dalam 16km lebih kurang. Cukup lah sebagai latihan larian tahap “separa serius” yang pertama untuk tahun ini. Bila cerita hal larian ni, masalah plantar fasciitis kaki kiri aku tu masih ada, tidak lah serius tetapi sehari selepas larian tumit mula terasa sakit dan akan berterusan sehingga 4-5 hari (kalau aku rehat dari berlari). Rasa-rasanya memang kasut Brook “Hantu 3” terpaksa di simpan di dalam setor dahulu.

Lanuns Malam

Kayuhan Gong Xi Broga

Dalam usaha merehatkan otot kaki larian, aku pun melayan aktiviti kayuhan setakat mana yang termampu. Selepas kayuhan LeTua 100, aku tidak ada membuat apa-apa aktiviti kayuhan jauh, hanya setakat kayuhan santai dengan rakan-rakan BJCC dengan jarak 40km +-. Apabila terdengar ura-ura segelintir geng ‘intermediate level’ dalam BJCC untuk membuat kayuhan loop Broga “pondan” atau “Broga clock-wise” pada hari CNY, aku pun terus teruja untuk mengikut sekali. Mungkin bagi majoriti orang awam nama Broga ni lebih diketahui apabila ada cadangan Kerajaan untuk membina pusat “incinerator” pelupusan sampah di sana. Tetapi selain projek incinerator, Broga loop ini juga terkenal kerana ia menawarkan route kayuhan sengsara yang amat digemari oleh “insane-insane” cyclists yang cukup seronok nak panjat Peres, Bukit Tangga dan Bukit Lenggeng dan mungkin juga tapau sekali Bukit Hantu masuk dalam menu sekali gus (khas untuk cyclists otai powerut). Nama tempat-tempat tersebut aku ketahui melalui blog, perbualan atau dari FB status rakan-rakan cyclists. Walaupun diberikan gelaran Broga Pondan, aku tahu route ini tetap mencabar fizikal dan minda tahap gaban bagi sesiapa yang tidak sekuat mana kederat kayuhan atau tidak cukup jarak latihan (nota - siapa lagi kalau bukan orang macam aku). Tetapi kerana keghairahan hendak merasakan kesengsaraan kayuhan Broga, aku pun dengan hati terbuka menyahut lambungan member BJCC aku dan semakin teruja apabila kawan-kawan RBU/Bukit Hantu Cycling Team (ini memang group cyclist tegar/power bagat) pun ada yang bercadang untuk mencangkuk geng BJCC pada hari tersebut (walaupun secara rasminya jemputan kayuhan BHCT di FB adalah untuk kayuhan loop Broga Klasik).

Sg. Tekala – Puncak Peres

Nak dijadikan cerita, pada hari kayuhan geng BJCC lewat tiba di tempat permulaan kayuhan iaitu di Pusat Rekriasi Sg. Tekala, Ulu Semenyih. Aku tiba di sana lebih kurang pukul 7.20 pagi dan kelihatan 6-7 orang rakan-rakan BHCT (i.e. Diket, Jaja, Bahri, Bacin, Zakuan, Saiful, Doc Taufik etc) sudah pun tiba di destinasi. Tidak lama kemudian aku menerima panggilan dari rakan BJCC aku dan dia memaklumkan bahawa rombongan cyclists BJCC akan lewat tiba dan mencadangkan aku bergerak dahulu bersama rakan-rakan kumpulan BHCT. Selepas menunggu beberapa rakan BHCT lain sampai, kami pun bergerak waktu jam hampir menunjukkan pukul 8.20 am. Kayuhan panas badan adalah pada tahap sepoi-sepoi bahasa, melalui route naik turun Sg. Tekala ke simpang naik Peres, dihiasi dengan pemandangan indah Empangan Sg. Langat.

Cabaran besar pertama kayuhan adalah mendaki ke puncak Peres. Ini juga adalah cabaran pertama aku untuk menawan puncak Peres. Aku tahu kalau menawan Peres pun aku gagal atau jika aku lengit tahap gaban apabila sampai di puncak, mungkin lebih baik aku lupakan saja niat untuk berkayuh loop Broga Pondan pada hari tersebut. Jadi aku amalkan sekali lagi strategi kayuhan siput aku. Aku kekalkan kayuhan sepoi-sepoi bahasa dan aku pastikan Azwar dan awek dia kat depan aku tidak hilang dari pandangan lebih dari satu selekoh (Geng lain dah hilang lepas 4 selekoh). Pemandangan juga menarik semasa kayuhan naik, penuh dengan kehijauan hutan hujan tropika. Tahap tekanan kardio dan mental juga adalah terkawal. Aku sebagai first timer dalam kayuhan Broga terpaksa mengambil pendekatan selamat untuk jangan “bonk” di peringkat pertengahan atau hujung kayuhan. Dengan pace sepoi-sepoi bahasa aku sampai ke puncak Peres dengan selamat dan menyertai rakan-rakan lain yang sabar menanti untuk cabaran seterusnya.







Bergambar di Puncak Peres

Puncak Peres – Kuala Klawang

Laluan selepas puncak Peres tak keseluruhannya menurun. Ada juga bisul-bisul mencanak yang menanti. Aku layan sahaja hingga tiba di kaki bukit sebelah Peres (apa nama yer, TIti kot?). Bermula dari situ laluan kayuhan adalah bercampur-campur antara rata dan juga bukit-bukau tahap sederhana sehingga tiba ke re-grouping point di Stesyen Petronas Kuala Klawang. Pace peloton agak laju bagi aku. Walaupun pada mulanya aku berjaya mencangkuk peloton tetapi hanya mampu bertahan sehingga separuh jalan sebelum cangkuk aku terputus dan terpaksalah aku melayan pace kayuhan sendiri di belakang. Ada seorang rakan juga melayan pace dia sendiri di hadapan aku, jadi aku cuba pastikan dia tidak hilang dari pandangan kerana aku khuatir kalau aku terlepas mana-mana simpang. Apabila hampir tiba ke pekan Kuala Klawang aku berjaya mendekatkan diri aku dgn brother tersebut, Azwar dan aweknya untuk bersama-sama tiba di Stesyen Petronas. Geng lain sudah sedia menanti bersama-sama dengan geng BHCT yang buat loop Broga klasik. Kami berehat, re-fuel dan berjenaka secukup rasa sebelum bergerak untuk menghadapi sengsara seterusnya.

Kuala Klawang – Bkt Tangga – Bukit Lenggeng – Pekan Lenggeng

Dari Kuala Klawang kami bergerak ke Bukit Tangga. Aku meletakkan diri aku di tengah-tengah peloton supaya dapat mengekalkan motivasi mencangkuk peloton dengan Bro. Adli sebagai tukang tarik. Seperti yang telah dimaklumkan oleh Diket pada aku, Bukit Tangga akan ditempuh di dalam jarak 10km dari Kuala Klawang dan aku mula menguatkan minda aku bila aku nampak…tu dia di sana….. dinding Bukit Tangga menunggu di depan mata! “Layan ajer bro!”, Bahri memberikan semangat kepada aku.

Betul, apabila sampai di Bkt Tangga sebenarnya kita sudah tiada pilihan. Berpusing balik bermakna kita akan terpaksa mendaki Peres dari sebelah Kuala Klawang (pendakian ini lebih sengsara berbanding pendakian Peres dari sebelah Sg Tekala). Oleh itu samada Bukit Tangga itu bertangga atau tidak, kayuh tetap kayuh. Aku kayuh sungguh perlahan asalkan roda bergerak seadanya dengan kelajuan setakat 9km/jam – 11km/jam, cukup untuk memastikan kardio dalam keadaan terkawal. Berbeza dengan Peres, jalan di Bkt Tangga kurang selekoh, oleh itu pendakian adalah panjang dan curam serta kurang fasa “recovery”. Matahari pula sudah betul-betul berada di atas kepala. Di waktu itu kesengsaraan memang sungguh terasa tetapi aku tahu kalau aku terus berkayuh insyaaallah aku akan sampai ke puncak jua.

Sampai di satu selekoh yang terdapat kawasan teduhan dari sinaran terik matahari tengahari, aku dari belakang dapat melihat Hailmi CAR (first timer Broga loop macam aku tapi berdesup dia kayuh!) berhenti, Diket juga berhenti (aku rasa dia nak tanya khabar Hailmi) dan Doc Latif di belakang mereka (bro yang kayuh depan aku sebelum Kuala Klawang) pun turut berhenti. Jadi apabila aku tiba di selekoh tersebut aku pun turut sama berhenti mencari alasan untuk berehat. Hanya seketika selepas aku sampai, Hailmi CAR dan Diket menyambung pendakian mereka, tinggal aku dengan Doc Latif di situ. Aku pun mengambil peluang menelan power gel aku yang pertama untuk kayuhan ini. Selepas seketika aku pun menyambung pendakian diikuti oleh Doc Latif. Rupa-rupanya pendakian dari selekoh tersebut adalah yang terakhir untuk sampai ke puncak Bkt Tangga. Rasanya kalau pun tidak berhenti rehat di selekoh itu insyaallah aku boleh terus kayuh perlahan-lahan sampai ke puncak. Apa-apa pun kami berehat dan bergambar di puncak Bkt Tangga sebelum memulakan kayuhan turun yang menakutkan. Sememangnya kecut perut aku melayan kelajuan basikal menuruni selekoh panjang ditemankan lagi dengan tiupan angin lintang yang menggegarkan basikal, jantung dan isi perut aku.

Selesai Bkt Tangga kami terpaksa pula melalui 2 lagi pendakian di Bukit Lenggeng. Kerana aku sudah menelan power gel di Bkt Tangga, bekalan tenaga terasa mencukupi dan tidak terasa angin bonk datang menyerang walaupun boleh menahan tahap pendakian 2 bukit tersebut. Aku juga lega kerana ditemani oleh Diket dan Jaja dalam pendakian Bkt Lenggeng hingga tiba di Pekan Lenggeng. Setelah berhenti berehat dan re-fuelling, kami berpecah kepada 2, satu kumpulan mengambil keputusan untuk terus berkayuh kembali ke Sg Tekala (lebih kurang 30km lagi jaraknya) dan satu kumpulan lagi hanya akan menyambung kayuhan selepas makan tengah hari di kedai makan mamak di Pekan Lenggeng. Aku masuk di kumpulan yang kedua bersama-sama Diket, Jaja, Saiful, Hailmi CAR, Azwar dan aweknya. Menu utama makan tengah hari adalah maggi sup.

The first timers of Broga Loop (Pondan ajer) on top of Bukit Tangga

Pekan Lenggeng – Broga – Pekan Semenyih - Sg Tekala

Dari Pekan Lenggeng sudah tiada bukit untuk ditawan tetapi masih ada laluan “undulating”. Angin tengah hari juga agak kuat dan kami cuba bergerak di dalam peloton. Sampai di Pekan koboi Broga, aku, Diket dan Jaja berkayuh lebih perlahan dan kumpulan berpecah kepada 2 dengan yang lain berada di hadapan. Kami re-group kembali di Stesyen Petronas Pekan Semenyih sebelum kembali berkayuh untuk lebih kurang 12km lagi untuk tiba di Sg. Tekala. Jalan dari simpang Pekan Semenyih ke Sg Tekala menguji mental kerana cuaca panas, berdebu, keadaan jalan yang berlubang-lubang serta bilangan kenderaan yang agak banyak melalui jalan yang agak sempit. Dengan berbaki separuh lagi jarak untuk sampai ke Sg. Tekala, kumpulan berpecah lagi dengan pace kayuhan masing-masing. Pinggul aku sudah terasa kebas tahap gaban, mungkin saddle jenama Scott yang lembut tidak dapat menampung berat pinggul saiz “L” aku. Akhirnya kami tiba di Sg Tekala lebih kurang pukul 2.20pm dan dengan itu selamat aku menamatkan kayuhan loop Broga Pondan sejauh 117km.

Setelah berehat seketika aku, Diket, Saiful dan Jaja mengambil peluang berendam di dalam kedinginan air terjun Sg Tekala sebelum masing-masing memborong ayam percek Sg Tekala yg amat mantop keenakannya sebelum bergerak ke destinasi masing-masing.

Broga loop clock wise was my 4th long ride and I enjoyed the journey, the camaraderie with friends and the chances of being to places, which I would possibly never encounter if not for the ride. I hope I could do the loop again in the future with some new faces from the RBUs, possibly :-)

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 :-)

Kayuhan Panjat Bukit Fraser - Versi Bahasa Rojak

Sejak aku terbabit dalam aktiviti kayuhan ni, sememangnya aku tak pernah berkayuh lebih dari jarak 60km. Kalau tak silap aku, that particular ride was one of the Ramadhan night rides done this year. Dengan geng BJCC pun paling jauh aku kayuh setakat 54km, termasuk Dragonback. Other than those rides, the other distances of my rides were hovering around 30-46km.

So aku pun rasa macam tak logik kenapa aku sambut dengan tak berfikir panjang (dan terasa macam bagus) lambongan untuk kayuhan Bentong – Tranum - Fraser Hill last week. Ikut anggaran awal, jumlah jarak kayuhan pergi balik adalah lebih kurang 116km, termasuk panjat Bukit Fraser sampai puncak! Berpinar mata aku tengok, gilo apo? Tak cukup lagik tu, yang join ride tu semua dari geng-geng 2 alam, 3 alam yg bergelar Orang Power dan Orang Besi, tak pun dari golongan otai (bukan otai umur tapi otai ke”poweran” dan pengalaman dia orang tu).

Memanglah aku kena dapatkan mileage kayuhan pasal dah terdaftar untuk kayuhan LeTua 100km bulan Januari 2011 tapi, sekali lagi, kalau ikut logiknya aku patut buat kayuhan setakat 70km-80km dulu dan rasanya tak sesuai nak naik bukit yg masuk kategori gunung kot kalau panjat pakai basikal. Oleh kerana dah sambut lambongan panjat Bkt Fraser, aku pun dengan penuh rasa rendah diri terpaksa menolak lambongan kawan BJCC aku untuk buat kayuhan mingguan BJCC berjarak 80km termasuk Dragonback.

Tetapi kalau dikeluarkan faktor logik itu dari ekuasi pertimbangan, macam manalah aku nak tolak lambongan panjat Bkt Fraser kalau member-member RBU iaitu Diket, Jaja, Det, Shuk dan member sebilik kat Marathon Singapore, Azmar Orang Besi pun join kayuhan ini. Kalau yang bukan dari RBU pun rasa-rasanya golongan insan-insan (bukan insane) yang boleh menerima diri ku ini seadanya. Dibandingkan kayuhan panjat Fraser dengan kayuhan BJCC Bt Arang-Dragonback, memang aku pilih kayuhan panjat Fraser hands down, cukup hanya dengan faktor keseronokan (pikir seronok ajer, sengsara tak ingat) nak berkayuh dengan geng RBUs.

Jadi, tuan-puan, adik-abang, inilah coretan caca merba pengalaman kayuhan 100km saya yang pertama dalam sejarah.

Ready for the roll - Pic courtesy of Diket

KL – Bentong

Kita orang naik kereta lah, bukan kayuh. Berkumpul di Petronas Taman Melati dan bersarapan di McD. Syahsully aka Speedy GonSyahlez aka Kingfisher membuat special appearance di McD, ingat nak join kayuh sekali rupa-rupanya sarapan untuk persediaan merempit di FRIM. Tak per bro, next time kita buat kayuhan sama-sama. Lepas semua kaum dah muncul, rombongan berlepas ke Bentong. Cuaca adalah mendung dan menggugurkan gerimis pagi.

Bentong – Tranum (31km)

Aku tak ingat bila last time aku sampai Bentong. Aku, Diket, Det, Shuk, Azmar, Jaja, Julie (MissJewels), Helmi (cap ayam?), Shah (tinggal kasut cycling, kayuh pakai croc pinjam), Doc Taufik dan sorang lagik kawan Helmi) start kayuh dari Medan Selera, Bentong. Kat tengah Pekan Bentong join dengan group satu lagik (Bacin, Ishsal, Azwar, Jeff dan 3 org lagik kot). Masuk ajer simpang ke arah Tranum, berdesup-desup peloton depan buat breakaway. Kena ukur baju kat badan sendiri, so aku kayuh dengan pace yang aku mampu dan bernasib baik pasal Julie took it easy at the earlier part, so aku pace dengan Julie together with Doc Taufik. Kalau Julie the Ironman pun tak pulun takkan aku plak nak tunjuk terer! (yg mmg tak terer pun). Sambil-sambil tu banyak guidance Julie bagi kat aku sambil berkayuh. Sesekali Julie tekan sikit-sikit naik bukit-bukit pengenalan, terus aku tinggal belakang, tak tercangkuk aku hehehe. Kita orang re-group kat simpang Tranum – Bukit Fraser. Ride ni ada 2 support cars (wife Ishsal and wife (or GF Jeff?) manning the cars), so lega sikit aku kalau-kalau lah terkantoi atau terbonk, boleh naik support car tapi aku akan berusaha tak nak naik pasal punya jauh nak buat kayuhan ni pastu naik support car..issshhh malu wei!

Kat Simpang Tranum - Pic courtesy of Diket

Tranum – Fraser Gap (20km)

Actually usaha memanjat bermula dari simpang Tranum. Macam biasa lepas 3-4 selekoh, semua kat depan dah hilang dari pandangan. Pasal aku tak tahu setakat mana jauh dan intensiti kederat untuk kayuhan nak sampai Gap (kene pikir lepas tu ada 8km lagik nak panjat sampai puncak Fraser) aku kayuh pelan-pelan. Speedometer aku plak tak berfungsi, nasib baik Doc Taufik saing dengan aku, ada member nak borak-borak dan dia pun banyak ilmu boleh diturunkan pasal dia pun otai di alam kayuhan ni. Halfway, Doc Taufik tekan sikit, maka tinggal aku kayuh kayuh sorang2 kat belakang. On the way, Jeff potong aku dia cakap ada sorang lagik rider kat belakang, so aku lega sikit. Tak lama lepas tu aku nampak Helmi dengan kawan dia stop dekat satu selekoh. Tak ada pancit tayar, dia orang stop ambik breather. Aku pun layan kayuh sorang-sorang. It was quite a lonely ride actually in an unknown surrounding. I was cycling in a noticeably thick mist at certain areas with no soul around, climbing those windy roads for quite sometimes that I started to imagine that I might have missed a junction. At one place I even wondered whether it would be possible that people entered into any twilight zone in such area (suasana sunyi memang boleh membuat perasan kita kurang selesa). Bila aku nampak support car wife Ishal dekat satu selekoh aku rasa lega yang tak ada jalan lain, just need to kayuh until jumpa Fraser Gap.

Sampai Gap, rehat sekejap tunggu the other 3 riders sebelum usaha menawan puncak Fraser bermula.

Tranum - Gap with Doc Taufik - Pic courtesy of Ishsal

Gap –Puncak Bkt Fraser (8km)

Yes, this was the ultimate challenge for the entire ride. Kalau tak lepas sampai puncak, mmg tak boleh claim yang kita dah naik Fraser Hill. Mmg seram ler pikir tapi dah sampai takat ini, the only way is up (this is not “Handsome Up” advert). Minda aku mmg fokus giler nak kayuh naik tu (pasal tak power bro, naik Bukit Hantu kat Langat hari tu pun aku dah cukup sengsara). “Slow steady, slow steady”, that was my mantra all the way. Nak bercakap dgn org pun aku takut tapi senyum masih mampu.

Pelan-pelan aku kayuh naik, memang sengsara tapi aku paksa kaki menggerakkan crank dengan keupayaan cardio yang mmg dah nak max (takder heart rate monitor). Memang aku rasa fokus dan semangat untuk aku habiskan kayuhan itu yang berjaya membuat aku sampai ke puncak. Nak ikut letih, otot sakit, mental kacau, nafas nyawa-nyawa ikan, mmg rasa nak pusing balik ajer. Infact masa naik tu, bila bertembung dengan kereta yg dah start turun, aku rasa sure dia org kata kita org ni giler hahaha. Pada mana-mana member yg aku tak dpt tegur atau berhenti bg moral support aku minta maaf pasal aku takut kalau aku berhenti buat aku hilang determination (supply level dah ujung-ujung). Aku tak nak jadi masalah atau beban pada org lain nanti kalau aku kantoi di tengah jalan.

Setelah mengharungi segala sengsara, Alhamdulillah sampai juga aku ke puncak Fraser, yeahooooooo! Tak termimpi aku nak naik Fraser kayuh basikal. First time plak tu naik Fraser. Pada semua kawan-kawan yang sampai ke puncak, congrats to all, it was not easy for sure.

Fraser's Peak with Shuk, Doc Taufik and Azmar - Pic courtesy of Diket

Kayuhan Turun/Balik (58km)

Ride turun mmg exhilarating tapi menakutkan juga dengan korner-korner baring yang ditawarkan. Boleh cramp jari tekan brake, kene plak aku kira newbie, mmg tak berani nak layan korner macam Moto GP racers. Rupa-rupanya turun bukit pun guna tenaga, i.e. body needs to hold the down force.

Time balik yang paling mental part dari simpang Tranum sampai Bentong. Cuaca mendung dah jadi panas terik, jalan plak open, not much shade from the trees beside the road. Macam biasa aku duduk group belakang, tak tercangkuk aku peloton depan with Bacin/Azwar as prime movers. Tak per lah janji habis. Mmg seronok bila sampai Medan Selera Bentong. We high fived and congratulated each others for completing +-118km ride with Fraser Hill conquered. It was an awesome ride and I could not have asked for more for my first century (km) ride. The cendol Bentong was nice too.

Thanks to all who were there. You guys were great.

Pesanan Khidmat Komuniti RBU

For those who are yet to buy a bike, please do so and join us for a spin :D

AMARAN EDISI BASI! SCMS 2010 - The 42.2km Journey Vol. 2

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010 - The 42.2km Journey Vol. 2

Mukaddimah

SCMS 2010 was originally planned to be my first full marathon run (FM) but the temptation of running my first FM with many friends around and on my home soil has relegated SCMS to be my second after I dared myself to be a gung-ho in running SCKLM 2010. I did my clicking for SCMS 2010 very early (without much thought as I normally did for the other races) and on hindsight that was fortunate as the entire 19,000 slots were taken up in less than 3 weeks time! Unthinkable!

Prep, Initial Plan and Tweaking

One of the biggest lessons that I had learnt from SCKLM 2010 is to be able to start a FM run injury free (or almost injury free). This is a key factor since you could easily pick up new injury (or injuries) during the race, on top of the usual cramps and pains. Hence when I suffered my plantar fasciitis (PF) after Genting Trailblazer 2010, the main concern was more to recover from such injury than building up mileage for SCMS 2010. A self assessment that I could attempt SCMS 2010 was made after I managed to survive the last LSD a week before the race. The degree of concern as well as the extent of the injury on the PF was much lesser compared to the shin splints prior to SCKLM 2010. In my mind, barring any additional injury which may be suffered in the run, with the trademark snail pace, I would be able to complete the run in sub 6 hour (I did my FM SCKLM 2010 in almost 5:59!).

The initial plan had a bit of tweaking when the King of all Kings, i.e. King Mambo aka King Lambong aka Diket Menchanak aka Abg Jaws aka Abg Syakir Ishak, asked me whether I wish to join him for a lari-lari makan angin in Temasek. Hmm, a lari-lari makan angin pace for the no. 1 King cannot be near to 6 hour, he could be bored to death running at that pace. So, I challenged myself by telling him, we could run for a sub 5:30, still slow for him but at least that would possibly bore him to sleep only. So the goal post was shifted a bit and frankly if I want to achieve a timing of sub 5:30, it would be far from jalan-jalan cari angin pace but rather running until keluar angin kus-kus pace.

T-1

T-1 was the travelling day from KL to Singapore and race pack collection and the huru-hara sampai kaki lemau session of the RBUs at Novena Velocity Mall with the peeps, i.e Diket, Ray, Azmar, Zack, Kak June, and Aza. Those moments were best captured by Diket, Ray and Zack in their blogs.

May be it was the due to the trip and window shopping session as well as spending the night with great peeps, I had almost no pre-race jitter. We still bantered jokes and lambongs till 11.30pm before calling it a day. At least there was no Twilight Zone issue that we need to endure that night.

T-0

Actually I did not have much to report on the running itself. No drama, no bushmen, no pangsai (but small one done in a proper toilet), no wall, no busted knee (Thank God). Due to that, point forms would be appropriate:


Starting

• Went out from our hotel quite late, around 4.45 am to be exact.
• Jogged down to Orchard Road and saw a sea of runners already moving slowly.
• Me and Diket climbed and jumped into the pen and since we were in the second wave, the colour of our bib made no difference at all (i.e. we were at the back pack).
• Almost 20 minutes to reach the starting mat.

1-10km

• Run slowly in the huge running traffic.
• The first few Kms, just following the crowd and stuck at no less than 7.20 km/min pace, zig zaging looked futile albeit with some moderate squezzing plus “elbowing” as necessary (we said “excuse me” of course).
• Saw few runners already walking at KM3-4 point! (ayoyo, this is a full marathon run, walking may start at least a shade below 20km (unless you were injured lah).
• Running side by side seems impossible almost all the time, so no chit chat and just “layan perasaan” pace.
• Did not know the route at all, just run in the dark, wide road or tight lane, I follow.
• Left Diket for him to attend his small (may be big) business somewhere at KM 6 or 7 and continued plodding alone.
• No pace notes, supposedly to follow the King but remembered the King said it would still be OK to reach KM10 at 1:15 for a sub 5:30 target.
• Timing at 10km CP [from runningpix – 1:15:33]

10-21km

• The route now going to East Coast Park (ECP). Diket caught up with me near the entrance to ECP (or somewhere before) and continued to run in his makan angin pace (i.e. faster than me lah, what do u guys expect?).
• Forgot to ask him what would be the target time to reach 21km and 30km (hence now the target was whatever felt right/comfortable/better than SCKLM 2010).
• Running in ECP was mentally challenging as the lane is tight, needed to slow down, stop, zig zag, squezz plus elbowing as necessary.
• Reaching the U-Turn was felt like forever.
• Timing at 21.1km CP[From runningpix – 2:40:59]

21-30km

• Still in ECP area and started to feel sluggish after 23-24km.
• Stopped at one of the toilets for small business.
• Bumped into Kash may be around Km25? Said hi, she asked me to continue plodding.
• Started to imagine that the distance markers were located so far apart (read- dah start lengit).
• Calves’ muscles were stiff (no more pushing, if not sure cramp maaa)
• Did not know what timing to target to reach KM30.
• Timing at 30km CP [From runningpix – 4:02.01]

30—42.195km

• At last we left ECP but now running under open sky, scorching hot.
• No view to enjoy initially, construction sites, lot of people already walking slowly, tried to run as much as possible for every KM.
• At last had a refreshing sea view on the way to the Marina Barrage, windy a bit but HOT HOT still.
• Reached the long bridge near Marina Sand, of course I walked to the top and jogged going down but walked again once I reached the U-Turn, initially thought that the finishing was just a around the corner since I heard the gendang already but at the last water station it shows 2km more..aiyak!
• Last 2km seems like forever, tried to run all the way but just could not lift the spirit once I saw another bridge to pass (not steep pun tapi dah lengit). Over there Diket ran beside me and we chit chatted a bit.
• As many others, been misled by the dummy finishing gantry, darn! Could not stop and walk with so many people around, had to cover my water face to finish the race with a run.
• HABIS, TAMAT, KHATAM, FINISHED full marathon SCMS 2010 with a net time of 5:41:38



Conclusion

I managed to finish my second FM this year. Even in the eve of SCKLM 2010 I was still doubtful to run in a full marathon category (I registered for both FM and Half Marathon (HM) for SCKLM 2010 and kept the HM bib till the morning of the race day, just in case I lost my guts). At the end of the day if you have been running consistently and with the appropriate preparation, completing a full marathon is a doable feat, difficult but doable. If you put a good finishing time to nail, then you have to train more and harder. Nothing is easy in a marathon run, regardless whether you are a fast or slow aka snail pace runner like me. The most important thing is to enjoy your run and complete it injury free and that would be the best result of a marathon run as far as I am concerned.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL FINISHERS OF SCMS 2010!

The Coming Lion City Run II

God willing, this coming Sunday I am going to experience my second race at the Lion City this year, the first being the Adidas Sundown back in May. There is nothing much to do from now till the race day other than doing the anchoring. Whether you are satisfied with your training or otherwise, that is now a secondary matter for you to worry about.

I had attempted my final LSD prior to SCSM last Friday (taking the day off since I had planned to travel to JB after solat Jumaat with my family). Later drove south to and spent a night in JB with the itinerary of visiting an old friend of my wife on Saturday and attended a kenduri of my wife’s course mate in Muar. We then spent a night in Melaka on the way back to Shah Alam and found out that I love “nyonya cuisine” after having a sumptuos dinner at a Nyonya Retaurant in Taman Melaka Raya (note-my office mate told me that there is a nice Nyonya Restaurant in SS2 PJ, will check it out). Sunday was full attending the kids’ fooling around in the pool plus the sight-seeing at Bandar Hilir after checking out from the hotel. The partly cloudy weather made it easier for the kids to walk around and enjoying themselves in Melaka.

I did my easy run of 5.5km this morning and I am going to rest my legs till the race day in the hope that there will be no niggling issue related to the PF and knee in my second attempt to slay the 42.2km dragon, God willing. Of, of course I am not going to skip the best part of preparing for a full marathon run, the carbo-loading!

Good luck for those running in Singapore and wish you peeps all the best!

Transisi

Baru check official timing Powerman sprint. Seperti yang dijangka, tempoh di transisi sampai 6 minit, boleh lepak borak2 camtu hehehe.

T 1 - 3min 20 sec

T2 - 2min 51 sec

My First DU Race - Sprint Category Powerman 2010

Intro

I’d never intended to register for the Powerman in the first place. My running ability was still at an elementary level and I was in no hurry to enter into the multi-sport horizon or to be more specific, join a multi-sport race. It was after I bought my road bike during my “running sabbatical” due to my shin splints and knee injury that I was being lambong-ed by who else, if not the King Lambong himself, to consider registering for the Sprint category of the Powerman 2010 (note – “Sprint” is a “fun run” equivalent in a Powerman event).

I officially did the clicking just a few days before the closing registration date of 30 September 2010. The decision to register was made easier with the comfort that few RBUs will be there, i.e. Diket, Shuk, Yim and Det, as well as few other friends from the Putrajaya Ramadhan Night Riding sessions.

Target

Nope, I didn’t have any target in terms of timing. With no qualifying time for the Sprint’s category my personal target is to finish the race based on my ability at that time. The principal objective of the Seri Manjung’s mission is to experience my first DU race.

The Trip

On this, I need to extend my thanks to Diket for being the lead arranger for the group’s trip and accommodation. My appreciation to CK and Jaja for a nice accommodation (coupled with interesting experience) offered to us at OBS.

My travelling preparation was done last minute. I went off from office a bit early on Friday evening as I need to prepare my MPV to be the main carrier of 3 bikes, mine, shuk’s and Nik’s. I had never carried more than a single bike in my MPV and due to that I have to make sure that all spaces in my MPV would be optimized. Nik reached my home from JB around 9 pm and later around 10 pm shuk came sending his Italian babe to spend the night with my Merrie and Nik’s Trackie in my MPV. I drove to Seri Manjung with Shuk’s company and met with the others at Sg Buluh R&R before the Group de-toured to Kuala Selangor, opting for a coastal route.

For the trip, lodging and jalan-jalan cari makan, Diket has perfectly captured those moments in his blog (not forgetting the Twilight Zone mini-series as well). One thing I could say here is that I love every seconds of my time with the peeps. Felt almost like my college days’ road trip.

The Race

“Apa barang buat Sprint category Powerman!”

I just could not help from telling myself that because the full category of Powerman is darn tough, the Sprint seems more “like a walk in the park category”. The Powerman race is not just about finishing but to complete the course within 5 hours and that is a huge challenge. Please read Yim’s blog on his debut and fantastic achievement in the Powerman 2010.

Hence if you are a newbie in DU and not a strong runner and/or cyclist and could not or not willing to commit to put in enough or decent time for training to compensate your weakness in either discipline, in my humble view you better opt for the Sprint category. Would you just be content without a finisher’s T and certificate by finishing beyond 5 hours? My personal answer to that is NO because after a grueling and difficult challenge, you could not claim the title of a “Powerman” by being a mere finisher. It is harsh but that’s the rule of the game and everybody has to live with it.

Run 1 – 5.5km

At the starting line - Pic taken from the FB of Estim

We were gunned off the last, i.e. about 20 minutes after the full category was released. The advice from the “otais” was to keep an easy or moderate effort in the first run. I sort of expected a lot of people to start with a dash from the word GO. I tried to maintain my pace in a range of 5.30min/km to a shade below 6min/km (agak2 ajer) though it seems that everybody was overtaking me. Run a brief moment with Jaja before she activated her turbo power. Super mom there! I have not done any running for 2 weeks (except the 3-4km easy run in our last brick session held 4 days before the race day) due to my plantar fasciitis and hence I did not dare to increase my pace for the lack of tempo trainings and the potential bonking in the remaining 2 legs. The ‘roti planta” issue in the mean time was kept at bay with the Rocktape’s protection, courtesy of Ray.

T1

I was a bit clumsy here but I think that was expected from a newbie. The funny thing was I took my bike down and out from its place but I was yet to put on my helmet and gloves. Normally I took my bike out from my MPV and leaned it against the side of my car or any nearby “tiang” or “wall” but of course there was no tiang available in the transition area and I was supposed to push my bike out from that area before I can even put my leg over it or be disqualified. So, I had to push back and hang my bike and did the things that I was supposed to do in the first place, i.e. put on my helmet and gloves.

Cycling- 32km

I considered myself as a runner first before a cyclist but I think I did better in the cycling leg compared to my running. The almost flat course enabled me to maintain a decent speed overall and since we would do only a loop of the course, the 2 inclines of Jambatan Raja Perempuan Bainun had extracted a moderate effort compared to the task of conquering the undulating GCE for the same speed. But as many people have said before, cycling would easily invite cramping of muscles and that is the last thing you would wish to happen in a race. With a pre-cramp pain and tightening of the calf muscles about 7km before the cycling end, I decreased my pace to allow me to finish my cycling leg and complete my second leg of running cramp free. I would not dare to take a risk as far as muscles cramp are concerned. It would be nasty for sure if the big one attacked you during a race.

T2

A bit of improvement from T1 since the main task was to put on your running shoes. I need to wait the official timing to know how bad or well I’d done at my transitions. I am inclined to believe that it would be the former.

Second Run – 5 km

“Apa barang lari 5km!”

It was quite a “barang” I guess if you had done a 5.5km run and 32km ride right before you started the run. Felt awkward at first but later managed to steady my pace albeit at a snail equivalent. My target was a non-stop running regardless of how slow it would be. Not a huge issue but the pain of my heel re-appeared after the ride. As told by Diket, cycling could cause plantar fasciitis as well, normally through “pulling” of the crank. I ran at a very much slower pace anyway at that point of time and hence I just need to watch my foot strike to minimize the pain.

Unofficial Result

With a snail pace second leg run, I crossed the finishing line with a hand timed of 2 hour 22 minutes. Officially I had done my first DU race. Can I call myself a duathlete then? I could stand being called a snail pace aka cengkerang duathlete. Hahaha giler POYO! I was just kidding guys as the most important thing is to subscribe to a healthy activities regardless of being a runner or duathlete or triathlete.

Post Race

I was handed over my medal, spent time whalloping the watermelon, had a bowl of cendol, enjoying the views of errrr..observing the brands of the vests and trisuits of others whilst waiting for my fellow respected comrades from the full category coming back to base. After lingering around for sometimes I decided to wait and cheer my friends at the running track just outside the stadium, under the shade of a row of small trees but enough to cover me from the force Seri Manjung’s heat. Made small talks with a lady nearby whilst she was waiting for her hubby to finish the run. It was a perfect spot since I could cheer all peeps that I know passing through for their second loop or final push to the finishing line (see pictures below).

L-R

Pic 1 - Azmar the Ironman with his normal cool and steady pace...

Pic 2 - Yim on his final push to victory singing "kalau anda gembira angkat tangan"

Pic 3 - Diket Menchanak aka Abg Jaws aka King Lambong aka King Mambo smiling to the finishing line though he had less than an hour of sleep the night before due to the...... ("twilight zone theme song in the background")

L-R

Pic 1 - Det steady and strong nak masuk second loop.

Pic 2 - Shuk playing the mental game to nail his debut attempt to become a Powerman...pheewitttt

Pic 3 - I understand that Nik had a monster cramp during the second loop of cycling. Good job bro for never giving up in finishing the race

left pic - Bahri, another comrade who succumbed to injury along the way with never say die attitude marching to the finishing line.

Right pic - me with the Powermen and Powerwoman (frm L-R, Hanchik, Det, me, Diket, Nik Raiha and Azmar) - pic taken from Nik Raiha's FB.

Conclusion

It was a new and great experience for me. For the runners out there who are water phobia like me, you guys should try a DU race. It will be awesome I tell you. Congratulations to all my friends in Powerman 2010 regardless of their timing. Each one of you guys earned a pat at the back for doing this difficult challenge. Hopefully a bigger contingent from RBUs will join the trip to Sri Manjung for Powerman X Factor 2011.

For those going to Penang this weekend, I wish you guys all the best!

Of Plantar Fasciitis, Dengue Fever & Some Rides

Plantar Fasciitis

I first had the injury in one of my weekday’s runs in the final week of October. It was not too bad initially but the downhills’ pounding in the Genting Trailblazers 2010 made it worse the next day. I had to force the early retirement of my mizuno entry level’s trail shoes after GTB and if I need to do trail running (I don’t think there will be any in the near future) I would just use my normal running shoes, at least they have better cushioning and stability than the Mizuno.

Because of the injury, I did not do any running for the entire of last week and as of today, I decided to rest for another 2 days to see the progress of the healing before I’ll do short easy runs. Powerman 2010 (Sprint category only) is approaching soon and I pray that the injury would at least 75% healed for me to do the running leg of the race. Ray had kindly donated the “Rocktape” for me to use in my training and Powerman’s race. Thanks bro!

The Dengue Fever

My second kid was diagnosed with a dengue fever after being down with what we first thought as normal fever for almost 3 days. I rushed home from office on Thursday evening after receiving the call from my wife informing me of the news. Considering the logistic and what’s not, I have decided to admit him in a hospital at Shah Alam (which is 5km from home) rather than the usual choice of SJMC at Subang Jaya. Alhamdulillah, he was responding positively to the treatment and his blood platelet count was increasing after the 2nd day of being admitted.

Left - Looked good on the 3rd day

Right - The others fooling around

By the afternoon of the 3rd day (Saturday), he started to feel a bit restless and eager to join his other siblings playing and fooling around in the ward. He was discharged yesterday after recorded a blood platelet count of 189 (150 is categorized as normal). Thank God for the speedy recovery.

Some Rides

Due to the rest from running, I tried to do few rides last week. I therefore accepted the lambong from Diket for night ride at Putrajaya on Wednesday night. Me, Shuk, Diket and Det started our ride from POJ and took the same route as per our ramadhan nite ride for a distance of 49km. I think I had better cadence with the adjustment of the height to my bike's saddle. Thanks to Det for appointing the height issue during the aborted brick session at Putrajaya 3 weeks ago. On Saturday, comforted with the recovery progress of my kid, I managed to slot in a brief ride of 30km solo around Section 13 Shah Alam. I noticed that the wind was much stronger in the evening compared to a morning ride.

Concerns

Not to claim that I don’t have any concern on the coming Powerman, I am actually more worried on the coming full marathon run of SCSM. I have not done many LSDs and the current injury compounded the issue. On the assumption that I would be OK for a long run after Powerman, I will be left with only 2 weeks to clock a decent mileage for SCSM. Seems like there will be no option but to nail a 32k LSD by next week *sigh*

Of Raining and Blazing the Trails at Genting

Saturday Morning Ride

I knew some people had to abandon their plan on Saturday morning due to the rain. The drizzling sound of the rain outside that morning made my mind ponder whether I would have to ditch my ride. My mind travelled back to the previous weekend where our brick session was called off due to the rain. My only consolation that morning, the rain started early and hopefully it would stop by 7.30 am to 8 am for the planned ride with the Bkt Jelutong Cycling Club (BJCC) to be materialized. By now, I had learnt from the senior riders that riding in a rain, though drizzling, is dangerous. A text from my riding colleague confirmed that, i.e. the team captain of BJCC decided that the ride will proceed if the rain stops by 9 am.

By 7.30 am the drizzling continued with an intermittent heavy downpour. The sky still covered with the grey cloud. Shoved my Merrie into my MPV and off I went to BJ. Along the way I received a text, which essentially conveyed the message, Rain=2, Diket =0. I knew exactly how the Langat Riders felt that morning but I could not help myself from replying back with a “poyo” message to the sender about the BJCC planned ride though at that point of time it was very much contingent upon the weather. In fact the ride was almost called off. The weather, with God’s blessing, stopped a few minutes before 9 am and it stayed that way till about 9.20 am whilst the group waited for another BJCC rider who accepted the lambong to join the ride.

As for the ride itself, no fancy stuff due to the late start. We completed 46km of GCE and the highlights were 2 punctures (of both the front and rear tyres) suffered by a newbie (what a bad day for him). Unlike my first 2 rides where I had no spare tubes, I donated my spare tube for his second puncture and made full use of my pump, which at the tail end of the ride got crushed by a lorry when it fell from my bike. So, the planned ride done and the best thing for the week had been reserved for Sunday, the next day.

The Genting Trailblazers 2010 - What a Blast!

Without any doubt, this was the much awaited event of the RBUs and many runners. With few earlier lambongs in blogs and FBs not forgetting the Team Clowns declaration of war, plan was laid out for this event starting from the travelling part. The meeting point was Petronas Taman Melati. For the fear of reaching there late, me and Zack made our move from Shah Alam around 4.35am and with a leisure drive reached the meeting point a few minutes after 5 am. Ray arrived shortly after that. Diket and Det were already there waiting for their orders at the counter of McD with a fierce or “mengelamun face” (u can pick and choose either one). One by one the other RBUs arrived, Ijam, Nik, Shuk, Syed and Shanaz, Syah, Jaja and her partner Mas. Done our breakfast and subuh prayers and we convoy up to Awana Genting Highlands like a scene of the “Initial D” touge battle with Shuk aka Takumi Fujiwara leading the pack.

Left - Sahur for puasa sunat or puasa ganti ni? (Pic courtesy of Ijam)

Right - Ready for the Tmn Melati - Awana Touge Battle (Pic courtesy of Diket)

With many RBUs around (Ian and secret tapi dah tak secret partner Yim and Che, who spent the night before at genting), the lambong and cam whoring sessions were continuing almost non-stop and lets just hope that you had not been caught off guard by some of them with camera in the hands.

Teams RBU (pic courtesy of Diket)

The Men Open category was the first to be gun off at 8.30am. My strategy was simple, to pace myself to last the course. Me and my team mate Zack, started with a comfortable pace and tried not to be sucked into the pace of the other runners. By the way, from the word GO, all the other RBU teams disappeared from my radar (sungguh mantop and power dia org semua ni). Not knowing what would be in store for us, I think we just did the correct approach by not trying to outdo our ability in attacking the earlier inclines.

I was not sure whether we were in the back pack or in the middle pack but my main indicator was effort level. Trying to keep pace with the front guys would be futile if it end up you bonk before finishing. When I went through the first HUGE climb, I was somehow relieved with the pace that I had restricted myself into at the earlier stage and managed to tackle it without stopping for long breather. It was a long que anyway and I was never “a podium potential” to ask people to move aside in those tight line of a single track inclining trail unless there was a clear room for overtaking.

It was during the second HUGE climb (after crossing the second stream) that I had drained out almost all of my energy. The slippery and steep track extracted all juice of energy that my body could produce. Along the way I sort of wish that I had brought along my power gel, in the hope of attaining the second wind. Looking from another perspective, I was at least had enough water for rehydration when some people did not even have a proper rehydration opportunity with no water station along the way save at KM11 (which I think was too far and too late). On that score I am not going to whine about not having the luxury of downing a power gel for this race.

After another substantial climb, came the obstacles stage of the race. This was where it tested not only the physical ability of the participants but their guts as well. Hence you could see some people hesitated to jump into and played in the muddy pools. We managed to finish the run at position no 80 of Men Open Category with a hand timed of 2 hr 22 minutes. Not too shabby I guess and most importantly it was fun….as someone has said before “sakit tapi sedappp (bila dah habis lah)” :D

The post race lambongs and cam whoring continued with the additional members of RBU gang specially driven from Klang to Genting, F1 style by our Kak June with Deo, Kak Justiffa and Azza in tow. Zarin @ Tsar was already there with us before the gun off. You guys should be at the startling line for GT 2011 OK :D. We were in full force cheering Jaja and Mas coming back to the base. Well done ladies!

After the Mud Battle (Pic courtesy of Diket)

The grand finale of the action packed day was the Birthday makan-makan party for the October Birthday boys i.e. Diket and Nik and coincidently they were team mates for this GT and finished ranking no.1 among the RBU teams. Congrats! My appreciation as well to those who had contributed the foods and drinks for the party. You guys ROCKS! (macam rambut Ray, rock kapak wa cakap luuuu)

Bagai Pinang dibelah Kapak, tetap manis hehe (pic courtesy of Yim)

It was an awesome race with awesome peeps having simple but awesome party for everybody to end the day with a high note. Now peeps, get back to training with PBIM and Powerman just around the corner ! :D

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