In Case It Rains

OK, before i want to blog about waht i want to blog today, my sis, which is doing her sixth form just smsed me.

" Ko, what is kuih tak menjadi in bahasa?" She asked.

Kuih tak menjadi? I thought she just answer it herself!

OK, back to what i want to blog today.

Not being able to cycle yesterday certainly dampened my mood. With A Formosa so near and me trying to figure out if racing on the road bike is better than my trusty mountie, it kinda put me in some dilemma.

No doubt, i've been clocking mileage recently since the road bike came to my possesion.

"Stupe, kau tunggu, your wife will say "you and your bike! you and your bike" !!", Azwar told me.

It was in respond to me saying that my wife is supportive of me and my sports....

So, anyway, Boss was away this morning for a meeting. I took the opportunity to clock in some mileage, just in case it rains in the afternoon...

Have every intention to do hill climb and at least 30km. Die Die must do 30km.

So, i started at my apartment, headed towards the usual route to Hartamas. Along the way, i've pedalled the slight uphill of the Pencala Tunnel, which my legs are used to by now. The slight undulating road towards RSC was also easily conquered.

I then decided to go on straight and headed towards Jalan Damansara and turned left towards Bukit Damansara. Turning left where the row of shophouses are at those Jalan Setia-dunno-what and emerging at the Esso station at the far end. It's hill climbing from there on. I went up, and turned right towards Manulife, a quick downhill to recover and release those lactic acid before attacking a longer climb.

I reached Menara Manulife where Fitness First is in 15 minutes, covering a good 11km. I secretly hope that this route will give me 30km if i know how to "guesstimate" the distance. The hill dawned upon me, refusing to shift to higher gear, i stood up and crank the intensity up. Climbing up the hill, struggling, sweat dripping.

The legs felt strong, took some advice from the gang to maintain cadence and find my sweetspot. I'm riding on a 5 speed. Biggest/lightest combo is a 42x24, which gives me a ration of 1:1.75, meaning with every 1 big crank turn, i get 1.75 wheel turn behind, compared to the heaviest combo of 52x14, a ratio of 1:3.71, one big crank turn gets me 3.71 wheel turn behind...this will be explained in my next blog entry...

My point is, i need to get a pair of strong legs to make up for what my bike isn't. Pedaling up the hills in Bukit Damansara is certainly one way to work those muscles.

I go straight on up the hill and turned left at the Bukit Damansara School, passing by the row of shophouses (with name so fancy i don't think i'll be allowed in) and emerging where SBB main office is. I turned right and climb yet one more hill and at the end of the road, head left and down a straight, stopping at the traffic light before going down hill towards National Science Centre.

Checking the meter, it showed i've covered a good 18km by the time i reached National Science Centre. I decided to turn left and cycle towards Jalan Damansara and U turn back towards Hartamas.

Pushing myself further, i managed to cover 20km in 44 minutes. If i could maintain the speed, i could finish a 40km ride in 1hour 15 minutes. My previous races shows i covered the 40km distance in 1hour 20mins (my last olympic distance triathlon in PD last year). But obviously the energy level will dip exponentially. But i got to keep it up. After the U-turn, there is 2 small hill to climb. If you are driving towards hartamas, you would know which 2 i'm talking about.

Trying not to let my speed and momentum to fall. I pushed more, eventhough i know my energy is dwindling (I did not eat breakfast...).

I rode back, pushing myself along the way and up and into the tunnel and the meter showed i still need to clock 1km by the time i reach the shoplots where Citibank is. I turned left and cycled along the Business Centre area and reached back home.


Google Earth registered 29.84km

Total distance: 30.06km
Total Time: 1:05:30
Average speed: forgot to check...
Max Speed: 61.2km/h

I'm happy with the distance covered. Perhaps i did a good 29km/h average speed. As i stepped into the office, Hin Tong called me up, asking if i want to go swimming. He must had saw me cycling from the apartment this morning.

With the indicative timing above, i guess i'll do a slow 1:20 again for this weekend's cycling portion of the race. Perhaps i should just bring my Mountain Bike instead.

And by the way, Kuih yang tak jadi is called bantat. Please don't pronounce it any other way. :