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Now, to the ride. Bear with me as this will be a bit long winded as this is my maiden trip for Broga Loop, unlike Bacin, which summarised his ride in less than 200 words.
On Friday, i was in Melaka, burning under the hot seaside sun (no, i wasn't on holiday) trying to get a few things running at site. It's frustrating to see the place not maintained as per promised by the client, which only knows how to pick on you and make you feel like giving him a good whacking.
"You got your electrician to modify what i did, you don't trust me, so why in the world you are asking me to come and fix this for you, DUMB ASS", I was silently shouting while holding my tongue.
I had to ask for some money from my boss to go to Melaka. It's that bad.
So, when Shazly and Bacin asked if i am interested to join them to cycle to Broga, you bet i wanted. And all i'm left is to get the visa from wifey.
"It's a 140km ride to and fro", Shazly said when i called him to confirm the details.
"Ramai datang la Stupe, come along la", Bacin says.
Wifey agreed to give me the visa, knowing that i need to clock in some serious mileage before IM next year.
"One hour massage ok?", wifey said.
"OK, break into 6 days, 10 minutes each time, can?", i asked.
Look, i sucked at massaging, my fingers just refuse to press and press and it gets numb after 30 seconds. I can't tell which muscle is knotted and which is the bone. I usually ending up hurting wifey more than making her back feel better.
Things i do to get to cycle on weekends.
So, on Saturday, i met up with Shazly at Batu 18 Ulu Langat. Some are starting from Batu 14, Bacin from his house at Batu 9 and Dickie from his place at Bandar Tun Razak. That is the regulars that i know is coming.
By 8am, Chipang showed up at Batu 18's bridge. Bacin says he will be a bit late, waiting for some other riders.
By 8.30am, Bacin, Azwar, Dickie, Puzi, Mohamad(an Arab, Puzi's friend) and Laif were at the bridge.
The ride was supposed to start by 8am, if we were to finish by 3pm.
So, we cycled towards the K.Klawang junction. There we met up with Azmar and his friend, Adi. A big group this time around.
With exception of Me, Puzi and Mohamad, the rest has been on the Klawang route and Broga loop like twice at least.
This is my first time riding up Genting Peres. With such strong cyclists around, i was afraid i will be left behind.
"Ala, 10km jer the climb up Genting Peres", Bacin lamented like he eat Peres for breakfast everyday...
I've climbed Genting on my MTB and shy to say, it's almost granny all the way up. Lightest gear possible, spinning and moving at 7km/h max. Now, i'm on a road bike. Granny gears are made up of 42 front and 23 back. My MTB has the luxury of 24 front and 34 back!
Did my balls shrink? Yes, it did.
But it came back right up normal when Puzi says that i lost weight.
I will do this ride up Genting Peres
So, i started off with granny, 42-23 combi. Noticed everyone pulling away and was slowly left behind. Inspiration came in the form of Azwar IronMan and old man Puzi cranking up the hill with their 52/52 - 19 combi...And then, i noticed that even Bacin is riding on the big crank....
I'm not much different, also got 2 legs and 2 hands. And so, with a few push on the left STI, i was on the large crank and on the right STI, i dropped 3 gears to ride on the 19 cog...
"push Stupe, push", i silently tell myself.
"Stupe, training amacam so far?", sifu Azwar asked...
I was actually half dead going up the first 2km of Genting Peres, It never came across my mind that i will do this ride up on such big gearing.
I was consistently riding at 10km/h to 11km/h, heaving sigh of relief once a slight flat was seen/reached. But that only meant there is more to climb.
I finished the 10km up Genting Peres and survived it.
"Stupe, apa laju laju, ada lagi 2 big climb", Bacin burst my bubble, just when i wanted to give myself a pat on my back.
Azwar Armstrong
Me with Laif...He was damn strong on the hill...
Those that came that day
Chips had to cut his cycling short because his wife called for some emergency. From the top of Genting Peres, it was then all the way down towards klawang before another short climb. Azmar, Adi and Laif has to go earlier too, because they have a wedding to attend to. (nola, not Pak Lah's). So it's only me, azwar, bacin, shazly, dickie, puzi and mohamad left on the route to Broga.
We then reached a flat and we saw Steph leading a pack of P2K riders back towards Genting Peres. That was also when i realised that i'm actually in Negeri Sembilan.
Look, no one tell me that i'm going to Negeri Sembilan. I thought Broga is in Semenyih. And Semenyih is in Selangor.
Imagine my shocked face when i saw the postcode changed from 68000 (Ampang) to 71570 (Jelebu). Then it was confirmed, from the phone dialing code of 03 (for KL) has turned to 06 (Negeri)...
We reached Klawang about 50km plus from Batu 18. Stopped at Petronas to refill the bottle and take a quick bite for more punishing route towards Broga.
Bread, Coke and Water...
We proceed true enough, if i were to turn back now, it's anohter 50km UPHILL back up Genting Peres and if i were to go ahead, it's 100km to KL. There is no CHICKEN route on this ride.
Bacin were tip top that day. He just changed his old 105 to the new 105 parts. He is the only one with a 10speed cassette. Secret weapon being the 28 teeth cog at the rear...made for climbs!
Seremban????!!!!
I found out midway through the ride that Azwar rode from his home in Bangi. Damn hero. No wonder he is what he is today! There is simply no shortcut to be an IronMan!
Then, came the second big climb. This climb is so big there isn't any flat except at the apex of the hill.
The hill up in front
This time, i can't crank using the 52 crank and had to be happy with the 42 crank. It must be the afternoon heat, mixed with the huge climb that made that moment extra hard.
But i'm secretly enjoying it.
Love it
Loving it!!!
The climb was almost 5km in distance. The Apex of the hill was also the boudary between Jelebu and Seremban.
Will come back for more!
Coincidently, this was also the ending/starting(?) point for one of the Le Tour Le Langkawi climbing section.
KOM = King Of Mountain
From there, we headed towards Broga, then we came upon the 3rd climb. it's a short stretch, but it's the steepest ever climb. It's like staring at the road as you were climbing. Puzi and Dickie coudln't resist the temptation to draft a 10tonner truck going up hill and they even overtook the truck. That is going at minimum of 15km/h and i was busy trying to find the pace going up at 7km/h!
From there on, it was rolling hills until we reach Broga. Time for lunch. Azwar had a puncture on the front tyre about 3km from Broga.
Lunch was ordered and i did not eat anything except one bread, 2 cups of limau ais and one Air Batu Campur. Resisting to eat rice as i'm really trying to lose weight. OK, maybe the ABC won't help much, but the heat was burning down my neck...
Lunch done, we rode out of Broga and towards Semenyih. Along the way, we passed the Nottingham Uni campus in the middle of no where. About 2km after that, we were stopped by some contractor which were trying to bring down a coconut tree using an excavator. It was a funny sight as the excavator failed to bring it down, but only managed to bend it over...maybe they just wanted to take the young coconut to drink?
Don't mess with nature!
Maybe i should send the pic above to Star to see if i could bag RM50! :)
From there on, i was pushed/pulled by Puzi. This Old Timer is really a fit chap.
"Stupe, make sure maintain 30!", he shouted from the front...
I was trying really really hard to maintain 28km/h even, but if i'm serious about finishing IronMan, i better start to do some mental workout. So, i pushed myself to follow Puzi. Surprisingly the legs felt mightily fine that day, which gave me the extra confidence.
We reached Semenyih and turned back into Tekala to head back to Batu 18. We cycled past Nirvana Memorial before reaching Tekala picnic spot for a quick refill. By then, Puzi and Mohamad decided to leave earlier and me and Bacin waited for Azwar, Shazly and Dickie to reach the picnic area.
By then, Azwar already clocked in more than 140km and understandly he is already tired. He just recovered from a bout of bad viral flu.
As for me, my spirit is still high, because this is the longest i've cycled on one sitting (no pun intended). My longest is at 110km when me, bandit and amir cycled to Lumut, doing 100km++ a day. it's a good indication for me too, as i managed to finish 90km of cycling in 3hours 50minutes, that should give me a rough estimate of my cycling time in Desaru this year.
The Heat was evil, the company was great!
We cycled passed Semenyih Dam and headed towards Batu 18. Bacin were in top form and he pedalled like he never did before. I had a hard time catching up with him.
Bacin Ullrich
I tried to maintain the speed of 30km/h, even on the flat, i'm doing less than that. No thanks to the heat.
finishing soon...hang on there!
I reached Batu 18 and parted way with Bacin and Dickie. I cycled to the car and coudlnt' resist to check how burnt i had become.
It's like battle scars...
It was a good ride. I managed to cover 136km in less than 6 hours. That give me an average of about 25km/h. I will definately do this again. Here is the stats of the ride:
Distance: 136.6km
Time: 5:40:07
Ave : 24.6km/h
Max: 65.8km/h
Ave HR: 128bpm
Max HR: 166bpm
Kcal: 6051kcal
I'm dedicating last Saturday's ride to Terence, Rest In Peace Bro!
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