Lumut Duathlon - Report

I did my best. And i guess it was good enough, to a certain extend.

I went with Bacin to Lumut on Saturday morning, reaching Lumut some 4 hours later because we took some big major detour. Now it dawn to me that the Average Joes got lost in the last Eco-X race was because guys sucks at giving, and understanding directions.

Reached the Lumut Countryside Hotel and was pleasantly surprised to see Karoline waiting for us at the entrance (actually, she was going for lunch).

She joined me and Bacin and we went to the Orient Star for race registration. We then went to one of the nasi kandar joint for carbo loading, rahter last minute, we know.

Nothing beats a whole load of rice with fried chicken and vegetable when you are hungry. We gobbled down the whole plate within minutes. It was then at about 4.30pm that we went back to the official hotel for high tea. more food and carbo loading. Immediately after race briefing, the gang, me, bacin, steve, azman, bean, zabil, ashley, stephanie, ellaine, azam and zabil's local contact went for dinner.

Dinner was gobbled within seconds.

Later that night, loads of preparation was made for the race proper. Checking and preparation for the race proper.

I know i didn't sleep all that well. Anxious. I remembered struggling in my last Duathlon. I also know Bacin couldn't sleep as he was tossing and turning in bed. I only knew i fell asleep when i was awaken by my own dream. I dreamt that all of us woke up late at 715am. WAAAAYYY late to check into the race transition area.

I woke up at about 6am, after catching maybe 2 hours of sleep. First thing i did when i woke up was to call all my mates...now, i don't want them to be oversleeping either, i enjoy healthy competition!

Karoline knocked on the door and me, bacin and stephanie went to the starting line together. I poured the night before, and it was still drizzling when we were at the starting line.

Slowly, more participants came, and the gang showed up one by one.

Zabil asked for vaseline which i left in the room. Bean showed me his bike strapped with 5 powergel, so was Azman's and Zabil's.

Race started at 7.32am and within seconds, the rest was runing for their life. I was at the back pack with Steve. I think we were like 10th from behind and slowly, more people from the back overtook us and we somehow managed to catch up with El at the 5km mark.

Before the U-Turn, we saw Azam, then bean, then ashley, then bacin, then zabil (in this order).

Me and steve ran an average 10k. We clocked in at roughtly 1H4Mins, about the same as what we did for Dataran's Duathlon. By then, we already saw: Azam, Bean, Azman, Ash, Bacin and Zabil (in this order as well).

In front of me was Steve and behind me was El. I was secretly hoping that my Le Run bike would not act up on me. I've got a 60km biking to do. After grabbing what seems like the whole box of bananas and some of those cheap chocolate i bought as replacement for Powergel, i started to cycle while eating and drinking.

Lumut was flat, i managed a max speed of 37.5km/h before the 10km mark. Along the way back to the transition area, i saw: Azam, Bean, Ash, Azman, Bacin, Zabil and Steve (in this order). Theni saw karoline and Steph doing their 20k biking for their sprint event.

I felt kinda intimidated with those aerobars bikers that whizzed past me at their maximum speed. I find it hard to even maintain a 32km/h pace. It doens't help with my crankwheel having a max 36teeth upfront when those racer boys has 52 teeth. it was like fighting a losing battle. I made mental note, Steve was about 1km infront of me after the first lap.

Then shit happens as i exited the transition area after the first lap. At the bend before some factory by the seaside, my chain jumped gear and got logged between the rear cog and the bike body. The tension and power pedalling snapped my chain. Hardly can't believe my luck.

I had my chain cutter with me, so after removing 2 links, i put it back together again. My fingers were all Oily and teh gay boy pink glove i was wearing has grease stain on them, which was alter transfered to my spandex. Damn it. I lost about a good 10 minutes there.

As i approached the U-turn, i saw: Azam, Bean, Ash, Zabil, Bacin and Steve. Steve was a good 5km infront of me now. Dumbass. My average speed started to drop due to those frantic pedalling. I only managed an 28km/h average after the 30km mark.

That was when i noticed one roadie had a punture and he was starting to push his bike...all the way to the transition which was about 10km away. I was secretly smilling, and was hoping more roadie will suffer punture at this point of time.

The Whole biking section was more of a mental game. Balls losing feeling because of the long ride, and fear that i would collapse when i dismount the bike like what almost happen in Dataran, kept playing in my mind. It wasn't fun. As i was approaching the second transition to finish my final lap, i saw: Azam, Zabil, Ashley, Steve, Azman, Bacin (in this order) and karoline was on her final KM for the 3km run and Stephanie was about 1 km behind.

My distance from Bacin was about 6-7km by now. I now suspect that Steve took some powerfulGel...he went up in rank suddenly. So did Ashley, she was smiling while cycling...gosh..how sinister!

I was at teh U-Turn when i noticed El to be right behind me. Got to push on and she finally caught up with me when we were about 4km away from the transition area.

By then, it was clear that Karoline and Stephanie was busy snapping pictures of us dumbarses that are still racing.

I got into the transition area and dismounted. It felt ok. i was relieved.

removing all my cycling items, i walked to the RUN OUT section. Final 8km. Daunting. Took some bananas on my way out and noticed stephanie snapping my pics.Thanks babe.

I ran, and caught up with El. Strong cyclist she is. I was humilated i must say. karoline snapped a pic of us runing and clowning togehter. Will upload it soon.

My final 8km was with the mission to finish the race without walking a single meter. I only knew i ran, and ran, and i saw: Azam, Zabil, Ashley, Steve, Azman, Bacin going for their final 1km -4 km. I know El is behind me and she could catch me any moment. I ran. Overtook a numbers of 30-40 age group racers, which was nothing to be proud off.

It was 3H30Min when i first saw zabil at my last 8km run. I'm a good 30-40 minutes behind, i reckon. And i knew Bacin was almost 4km infront of me by now. I must had made up on some lost time by running faster.

I finished the race in 4H 8Mins. With the MC announcing my name, and the Crew at teh finish line giving out finisher medal and POWERBAR towels!!! Heck, that made my day! Stephanie was there to snap a pic of me, with the time it took me to finsih the race in the background.

I'm now looking forward to JB league, which is a 10k-60k-10k event. I will look forward to finish it in below 4 hours. Better start training again, and this time, harder. It's no fun to be at the back of teh pack, and eb a sweeper like i always do.

The only good thing? you get to see all your friends finishing the race first, and you, left behind to recall, and curse at them...

hahaha!!!!

Anyway, here is a more cheerful report from Zabil:Zabil's Report

My apology as i'm really tired from those shifting and fixing up of the house yesterday. I now have 2 patches of 20sens sized blisters on my palms because of those hammering and screwing to fix all the furnitures until 4am today. YAWN!!!

Pics will follow later.