Donations are still slow, only GBP210 donated last week, please help to spread the word!

Three mid week rides and an awesome 300km audax ride (actual distance 327km) into Malaysia.  13 of us braved the thunder and distant lightning and met up at 5.30am Saturday for registration.  I was pleased to see that Murli was also there after previously saying that he wasn’t coming. By 6am we were on our way at a steady pace.  After a brief stop after clearing customs we met up with our support driver (ice cold drinks) and we made for the now regular stop at the SPC petrol station (or gas station as I shockingly find myself calling it nowadays – clearly, I have been away from home too long!).  Here we met up with a real hero.  At the back of the station was a padlocked touring bike and a small tent belonging to Eric Smart.  Eric is cycling from Aberdeen to Adelaide www.aberdeen2adelaide.blogspot.com in support of ME.

Having been a previous sufferer of ME, Eric is now trying to help others raising money on his adventure.  He’s been on the road 14 months now and is just over the half way point.  Having suffered a few setbacks wrt visas in Eastern Europe (I haven’t caught up with all of his blog yet) he’s now extended the trip by crossing Canada and the USA.

The previous night was the first time that he’s slept in his small tent for 2 months, normally he sleeps on a small thermo mat but the Malaysian wildlife had got the better of him.  In India he’d witnessed 46 deg heat but it was the humidity in S.East Asia was causing him real problems.

From here we basically followed the first 300k of the previous 400k route.  Chicken Rice in Kluang (140km) followed, after 90km of the ‘road to Hell’ as Wally has now christened it, to Roti Prata in Kotta Tingi.  I was on fire today and led the way for large chunks of the day.  At 200k (approx) we found that 5 of us had broken away, myself, Jeff, Wally, Brian and Martin.  We could see lightning on the horizon and we could feel the rain coming.  We upped the pace for the last 30k to Kotta Tingi and as we arrived, the heavens opened.  The remainder of the crew were stranded and found refuge in a small café 10k back.

This was an enormous storm – the thunder simply didn’t stop and the lightning was both sheet and fork, hitting ground just a few km away every 20 seconds or so.  We were stuck.  After an hour (it still hadn’t stopped) the remainder of the crew arrived in the minibus support car complete with 8 bikes.  Peter had given up after around 100k as his rear hub had seized.  1.45 mins later and the 5 of us decided, enough was enough – we’re going for it!  The rain was still lashing down but the thunder had ceased, the only worry was lightning – but now it was every 5/6 mins rather than every 20 secs and it had drifted further away from our direction of travel.  The reminder of the gang threw the towel in, definitely the more sensible option.

Wow, it was cold, in the last 18months here in SEA I’ve never been cold outside but this was not nice.  I wasn’t the only one suffering either.  Still, away we sprinted, and although we still had 100k to go it really was a sprint.  Eventually we hit the hills of Kulai where the darkness meant we had to slow down to avoid the potholes.  A dash down the main expressway into JB and we were at the border.  Immigration has all recently been upgraded but its not bike friendly.  There are numerous grates with gaps engineered perfectly to both run in line with the flow of traffic and be just the right width for bike tyres.  To cross you have to traverse diagonally, not easy with all the other traffic present.

Having successfully crossed every grate, we were through but here my personal horror started.  Navigating a speed hump my front wheel caught in a concrete drainage groove running at 45 deg to the road.  Before I knew it I was falling and heading straight for the concrete bollards lining the road.  I knew I was going to fall and I knew it going to hurt.  I braced my fall with my left forearm which hit the bollard with a sickening thump, I remember thinking at the time that my arm was going to break.  I was on the deck (I remember swearing – sorry mum!) and Wally approached from behind after witnessing the whole thing and helped me uncleat.  My left forearm and left knee had some nice grazes and my lower back (kidney area was screaming at me).  Worse, my left brake lever was bent and I scratched my handlebars!!

25k to go and not wanting to fail in earning my official 300k Audax medal I sat at the back of the other 4 and in no time at all we were back at Longhouse, arriving at 10pm, 16 hours start to finish but with 11.5hrs of pedaling.  Avg speed was 27kmh, avg cadence 72 (hills), avg heart rate a respectable 132bpm.  I burnt up 7500 calories but that was soon balanced with a beer at longhouse followed by 2 more beers and a huge Cowboy burger at Brewerkz.

It wasn’t until I got home and showered that I saw how badly grazed my back was.  I hope that when I clean my bike I don’t find more scratches! J  A great days biking and I was pleased with my fitness.  No biking Sunday – back is pretty sore.  Hope to make the ANZA run tmrw.

Have a great week.

Chris

Tue 9th June    Joyriders – Tue Sprints             54km       1.52hrs   29kmh

Wed 10th June    Joyriders – Wed Ride               51km       1.45hrs   29kmh

Fri 12th June      Joyriders  - Fri Ride                  50km      1.47hrs   28kmh

Sat 13th June     Joyriders – 300km Audax         327km      11.36hrs  28kmh

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 6:40 am by chrism and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.