At very last minutes, I managed to secure the necessary approval to participate in IS-2009. And managed to convince my sister last night that she have to go balik kampung ... tengok mak bapak, ayam itik, rumput dah panjang bla bla.. :) , and managed to get her to drop me off at Seremban Allson Klana. Met Fendi and Zaba and the rest of BJcyclist gang at the hotel. Wah.... fendi have a spanking brand new Bora Ultra 2. i didn't plan to join PCC all the way. I planned to ride till somewhere near Gemas, then turn left to go back to my kampung. As I write this email, I am resting and lepak at my parent home. No computer here, so I'm gonna write this email on my nokia phone. This is my first ride with PCC. Everything look quite organized. Plenty of support vehicles. Actually I have not register for IS-2009, called a PCC guy yesterday, and he said just come and join the ride. I did enjoy very much the first 35km. The weather was cooling (still early morning), tight peloton, legs still fresh, and no crazy climbing just yet. At about 40 km, then came the real challenge for this stage.
Climbing from 40m to 270m in a 2km stretch. Most of the guys get off their bike and push at about one-third of the way. Same goes with me. Further up in front i saw fendi. He also get off his bike. So i feel not too bad after all, cause even our King of the Mountain also pushing his bike. Must be one hell of a climb. There are few who climb all the way. They probably not human...Kryptonite maybe.. Once we done with the climbing, we were rewarded with a breathtaking 25 km slow descent under the shades of the jungle. At this stage, i join a group of mat salleh that called themselves Team Mayhem (from their jersey). Some dutch, and some english, and they all from Miri, working for some oil & gas company. At the end of the descent, stopped at a small town restaurant, did my refueling (drinks and gel). When i continue my ride, i found myself in a group that go relatively fast. I draft behind the group, and we never get below 30 km/h. The rider that did the pulling could be from LeTua, since he wear LeTua jersey.
At 69km, then disaster strucked for me. Our group probably have about 25-30 riders, and we occupied the whole lane. At one narrow stretch, a bus appeared from the front, sudah sikit makan jalan, and the peloton became tight. I ride on the left, and my space became tighter, and i have to move closer to the edge of the tarmac. It become too tight as we passed the bus, somehow my wheel slide of the tarmac, and bang.. My first peloton crash. The good thing is i didnn't bring anyone else down with me. As i lie on the tarmac, i turned left and there's a honda civic, and he managed to stop just in time. How relieved i am didn't get ran over by the honda. The whole group stopped, and checked myself, feel no broken bones, just minor bruises. Seems like no damage on my bike, just one or two things that came off, and my seat shifted a bit. I signalled to the group that I'm ok, re-adjust my seat, and continue riding. Then realized my back wheel is punctured. I been riding for few months now, but still haven't learn the skill of changing the tube. Fortunately i have this young gentleman name Chester, that i couldn't thanked enough. Now, learning to change tire/tube is in my to-do list.
The last 30 km is pretty tough for me. Maybe because of the scorching hot weather, and fatique got the better of me. My finger is getting tired typing on this tiny keypad on my nokia phone. To keep the story short, I reached at my parents home at 1255 hrs. All the other guys carry on their ride till gemas town. They must be relaxing at their hotel by now. But wait a minute, there's no hotel in gemas, i wonder where they stay.
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