Sunday, May 04, 2008

Saturday Ride

I had a good ride yesterday even though at the last 10km I was really gasping for air ..

I started out quite early from the house, right after Subuh prayer. At first I was planning to go out as early as 5.45 am and stop by at Nora's house for the prayer before proceeding to Changloon, but then I thought I might as well start from the house rather than knocking on Nora's door when shes still in Dream Wonderland. I had done all the packing that night and so its only a matter of dressing up and putting on the make up ( kidding..make up hapanya nak kayuh basikal) and sped off to Changloon in a matter of 25 mins. I took the highway.

Alor Star is a very flat land, you wont find any hills around and we dont have that many flyovers here to try climbing. Thats why I always love cycling in Jitra because of the few small hills here and there. This time around anyways, I had Changloon in mind, thinking of climbing that hill again on the way to UUM and make a turning to go to Perlis through Pauh and go down to Kodiang before coming back to Changloon. The ride should be around 56km.

I only had one bottle of plain drinking water and a power bar. What a mistake, I should have put Gatorade instead, as I learned later in the ride.

Its only after the 5th km when I met with THAT HILL, and since I'm quite new, the climb was really a test. When I started to climb I was pedaling at almost 60rpm and when I was about to reach the top my HRM was shouting at more than 160 and the speed was at about 10-13km/h. I had to stop to at the top to make sure the heart dropped at 131 before coming down. But the climb was worth it because what a descend I had. I was going down at 51.6km/h !!! Yeehaaaaa.... Last week I only managed to get 44km/h doing the same hill.

I had to face a few small hills afterwards and more climbing before coming to the round-about in front of UUM for the turn. The returning trip from UUM was not as bad as it was now a matter of going down and I could try the big gears for a speed. Again I had to face the HILL and tortured my heart, my feet and all of my body for the second time. I was climbing at the last few meters to the top at 5-6km/h !!

I took the Changloon-Kuala Perlis highway which was about 13km from the UUM-Changloon junction and took a turn to Pauh. The ride on the highway was smooth. I was pedaling at the rate of 25-30km/h which to me is quite fast as my usual average is about 21km/h. Maybe this time around I was trying pedaling with the big gear. Pauh was nice and the road was not as bad as I had expected. I was cycling under shades of trees and it was quite refreshing, especially after coming from the scorching hot sun at the high way. It was cool and relaxing from Pauh to Kodiang but when I reached the latter the road was apparently under construction *sigh* . I did not have to suffer that much as after about 400m I then made a left turn at the famous junction of Kodiang towards Changloon again.

This road should take about 13km but I was very close to bonking. I did take a few sips during the ride and I even stopped for a half of the powerbar at one point but my energy level was very low. I saw a shabby closed old shop hut with and old rattan chair with cushion outside and decided to take a break. I finished the other half of the powerbar and just sat there watching the kampung folks going up and down. After 5mins or more I continued the ride but I was having a tough time. The road greeted me with many ups and downs, and its all about "oh no..another climb" and "ahh yes...coming down" and "oh no..another climb again..".... It was not supposed to be that bad, all are very small climbs, but since I was close to worn-out, I was crying all the way..! And there were a few kids on the road who were trying to have fun with me by pulling some rope in the middle of the road (like coming to finishing line) that I had to shout out loud "Wehhhh Hoii..! Jangan ! Jangan !! Tak mau mainnnn.. Jatuh nanti...!!" Ya, I was cranky because I was tired.

I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, when I saw Changloon town again ! Alhamdulillah. Since I was dead beat, I didnt bother to use the proper lane, and since my car was not very far from the junction and all the cars were not speeding, I took the incoming car lane and carefully rode on the right side of the road. Yes, it was dangerous, but I took the chance.

I had never been happier to see my car again!


Dist: 58.8KM
Av : 21.7 km/h
Mx: 51.6 km/h

Heart Rate

Av: 148
Mx: 164

4 comments:

Aku... CikSekut said...

Heh! Heh! Bravo kawanku!

Eh! Hang mai kayuh kat shah alam yg seciput ni... hang tau la mcm mana jantung hang boleh kena torture... Shah Alam ni seciput ja... bukit bukaunya berciput-ciput... mcm hampeh je

Jaja Shah said...

hang ni ride sorang2 ke? kalau beginner kena ada orang teman. kena bebaik sket, orang2 zaman sekarang merapu merapan tah mende2

keep on writing anyway :D

a.n.i.Q.u.e said...

Sekut:-

Cis...hang cabar haku nooo.. Nanti lah bagi aku kayuh laju sikit baru boleh sampai Shah Alam cepat sikit, kalau tidak mau dua minggu kayuh baru nak sampai Ipoh

Ciken:-

Ha ah la... tak jumpa geng lagi lah. Kalau ada pun yang pro, tak dan aku nak naik basikal lagi depa dah kayuh nuh...mana hala dah.

Berbuih mulut-mulut berdoa tiap kali nak naik basikal minta Allah jaga bagi selamat...

(but i can always notify my LBS who provides emergency help shd anything happen)

Aku... CikSekut said...

cikfit, cek mana ada cabar, cek habaq jaaa... tapi kalau hang ghasa tercabar baguih laaa... hang kayuh la laju laju lepaih ni nooo :P

tup tup hang kayuh sampai sini cek nengok hang dok sblah keta yg cek naik. masa tu cek buat tabik spring kat hang... caya la ckp cek ni hahaha