Ipoh Century Ride 13 July 2008, 160km

I know I never mentioned about it in the blog that I was going to join the Century Ride. Actually I planned to join, but thought that I haven't trained enough for it and if I cycled, I'll be cycling alone(coz the others speed is 30km/h or more), so I abandoned the idea of joining the century.

But a last minute invitation came and I decided, do it or regret it. So, yeah, me without enough mileage, decided to join at the very last minute as an illegal racer.. not really coz I was signed up under the Letua group hehe..

I was passed a Letua jersey to wear for the event. Just in case someone stopped me during the ride, I can just say I am with Letua. Well, some did asked me for my race card to put the checkpoint stickers on but I just said, I was with Letua, so they let me off.

I was supposed to follow the Letua group during the ride but slow-joe me lost them from the beginning haha! So much so wearing the jersey! I was alone from the start, only hopping from one person to the other for drafts. I didn't felt left out. I know that it's my personal race against myself and my mind. I know that I can't depend on anyone else. I have to ride this on my own.

Apparently I left my filled water bottles in the bag in Hamid's car. DAMN! I asked a few cyclists I know whether they can lend me one water bottle for the race. Stupe was kind enough to lend me his bottle. Thanks Stupe..

Followed the Ironman Express(a group comprising Ironmans haha.. Azmar, Stupe, Shazly, AJ) for a while until they dropped me somewhere in Sungai Siput. Speed at that time was around 30km/h. Haha.. patut la air idong dah kuar..

So I was alone at that point onwards. Well, there were others around but nobody would let me draft them. I was like, hello, do you mind letting me draft you? This is not a race BTW.. it's just a ride, janji habis. Why do you have to be so stuck up and just drop me like that?

Lantaklah korang nak belagak. For this ride, the first 80km most be done within 5 hours, if not, a van will pick up those who haven't reach 80km within that cut off time and bring them back to the starting point. I just hope I wasn't one of them.

The road leading to Kuala Kangsar was a really rolling route, like a dragon's back. I was softly cursing to myself, Siapa lah yang pandai sangat kata route ni flat??!$%$#

At the first hill, the climb was as steep as climbing up a flight of stairs. One guy wearing Letua jersey cheered me on, "Come on, let's overtake them up the hill." Yeah right. He stood up to climb, I was communicating with my knee, to check whether it was OK with me standing on the climb. So I stood up to climb, one step at a time, memotong orang-orang yang menolak basikal at that incline. Well, actually I was tempted to push the bike, but I thought, wat the heck.. just do it lah.

Reached the peak and at least I got a downhill to recover from the uphill ordeal. After that there were more steep climbs and steep downhills. Up and down for at least 10km or so.

I missed the water station at the first checkpoint coz I thought I had enough water until the next stop. Somewhere near Manong, I started suffering for overheating. WATER WATER! The bottle was almost empty. DAMN! As we were going through the kampung, I thought, hey why not just stop at any houses and ask for water?? GREAT IDEA! So I stopped at the next house I came across where there was a pakcik hanging out with his kids to watch cyclists on the road. "Pakcik buleh mintak air skit tak? Air saya dah nak abis." The pakcik was kind enough to get me some water from his kitchen and returned me the bottle full to the top. Thanks pakcik!

Well, actually at that time I wanted to pee too, but thought, nahh.. Macam malu jer nak tumpang kencing rumah orang hahaha :P

I continued riding and suddenly felt a pang of hunger. Damn, my tummy was grumbling. So I stopped again and grabbed my Powerbar and downed it with water. Still, I didn't feel full, metabolism was going on overdrive. I wanted to stop and ask for food, at least bananas from the fruit stalls but there were only durian stalls! Gila apa nak makan durian on the bike?? Haha.. ada yang sakit perut jap lagi :P

Then I passed by one stall selling bananas but I was going too fast that I didn't want to stop.. Thinking there must be some more stalls selling bananas after that, I didn't backtrack. Big mistake! There were only durian and rambutan stalls from then on.

At 11.30am, I reached the water station at the 103th kilometer. YAY! I made it! I downed cups of water and had 4 bananas. Lapar bangat aa.. Only 60km more to go. I was within my 6 hours plus target if I maintained at 25km/h from there onwards. But all started to go wrong after that.

We were greeted by a few 10% inclines after that stop, which I managed to climb successfully despite the knee threatening to act up any minute. Cadence, cadence, don't mash the gears!

So for the first time in my entire cycling career(career ker???) I used more than 2 gears on the inclines. Normally I just used one - hence the mashing of gears which is bad for the knee. Bila rasa berat skit, change to an easier gear. Haih, have to maa, kalo tak I won't survive the blardy hills and also the whole 160km. Have to think economics and endurance!

Then suddenly at 130km, I felt lost. Felt like giving up. I think it's similar to hitting the wall. Not really bonked coz I had enough to eat. Thighs a little tired but still can move and not cramping.

The feeling was dangerous, to me. After 130km and to give up just like that would be a waste. Waste of effort, emotions, time. And also hubby would say, "I didn't ask you to follow the ride, did I?" Damn. Too much at stake. Tried to slow down and coaxed my brain and body and soul to endure. Zikir on the bike for God's guidance. Anything, ANYTHING to keep me going. 30km more, if I maintained at 25km/h, I could finish below an hour from that point on.

25 became 23 then became 21. I decided that I need to go faster. Changed to big chainring and cadenced some more. C'mon. I can do this. Just a little bit more. So I picked up my spirit and picked up on speed at the same time. Maintained at 24-25km/h. Quite fast, considering I had put 130km behind me and legs were already like jello.

I crossed the line at 2.15pm, which meant that I finished the race in approx. 7 hours 15 minutes. Bad timing for some people, considering some finished it at 5 over hours. So what if I crossed the line 2 hours later than them?

The thing that I'm most proud of since I didn't managed to draft anyone for more than 10 minutes(due to my slow speed and everyone was like chasing everyone!) is I am able to say I could ride 160km(100 miles) and finished it in one piece, with lack of mileage(only did on average 40km rides every weekend). Alhamdulillah. Although at one point I felt like giving up, I just shut it out and concentrate on finishing the ride. It felt great to finally reached the Finish line, though at that time some people had already changed and packed their bikes in the car.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't meet my target of 6 hours. But taking into account of my lack of mileage and hitting the wall at some points and body aching all over, I think I did quite well for this Century Ride.

Just leave that behind and concentrate on what's in front.

Saturday is MUDS and sunday is PD triathlon. And this is supposed to be tapering week. Happy tapering everyone. Eat well, stretch well. And have enough sleep. See you at the finish line, insya allah.