Better Now Than Race Day

Was the only comforting thought I could offer myself after having not finished the planned 180km ride (which I would have done a tad more if I had completed). I had done only 150km and about 10km from Balau and another 40km from Penggarang Jetty.


Sedili ride was the ride the bunch of us ironman triathletes did last year, including Clifford, Matt, Enrico, Prata, Mervyn. It was such a good experience that I had wanted to ride back there again. And when Clifford organised once yesterday, I jumped at the opportunity.


0530 at Mandai Shell and we rode out towardes Causeway. Rode with Bernard, Ping and Matt till the Desaru turn, where 3 of us went on straight and Matt turned into Desaru as he had planned to shorten his training. Short refuel thereafter and met with some of the remaining group 15-20min later. Some of us went straight towards Mersing as we thought that the right into Sedili was the wrong one. 10min later Clifford called me to uturn and use the right turn. By then, Ping, Bernard (the very strong roadie) and Chris had already sped off. For most of the ride, I was riding conservatively as I did not want to burst on the 180km ride, especially with the rolling terrain. So when the 3 sped off, I did not bother to give chase.


After the Sedili village, I was on my own as Conrad stayed behind to accompany a lady riding on her own. I had thought she was very brave to do that. The road was straight with some climbs. The heat was ever present and the road was empty. Absolutely devoid of human beings, with the exception of the few cars that sped by and some constructions littered among the forestry. I was having a good time whizzing through the quiet nature. Nutrition was on the mark and I had enough water even to pour on myself to cool my body down.


But at the 150km mark, the rear tyre fizzled out. Whipped out my spare tube and valve extender. Lo and behold! Both were short ones and could not fit into my 808s! 10min later the whole gang regrouped and tried on the pit stop. Rode for 300m and it fizzled out again. The ride was over.


Hailed some cars and finally one was kind enough to send me to the jetty. And that ended my exciting day. I had thought I would have to walk all the way back coz I spoke little Malay. I was saved by the lady rider, Angeline, who spoke fluent Bahasa Malay. Otherwise I would be stuck there for a long time.


In Arnold Schwarzenegger's infamous words in Terminator, "I'll be back!"