PD Sprint Triathlon 2013

PD Sprint Triathlon 2013

Date   :  6^th July2013

Venue:  Avillion Admiral Cove, Port Dickson, Seremban

The following is a brief write-up of my first ever participation in a triathlon.

Introduction

It has been a spell of two years since my first attempt in a “triathlon” event.   The first attempt was a “Hoohathlon” event.

“Who-what!?” you might ask.  Well it was an event organised by HooHa Asia in Putrajaya in 2011. The Hoohathlon was a bridging mini triathlon meant to give participants a feel of how a triathlon would feel like.  I must say it whetted my appetite and so in mid-2012, Boon and I told ourselves that we had to take part in a triathlon the following year.  We had missed the triathlon of 2012. We were talking about taking part in the PD triathlon 2012 and when I checked the website. To our dismay, I found out that we had just missed the PD triathlon event of 2012. So we told ourselves that we would take part in 2013. We told ourselves that at least now we would have a year to prepare for it.  We made sure we kept an eye out for the following year's call for registration.

We managed to register for it. Cycling buddy Edward also joined us when we told him that we were taking part in the event.  Little did we know; he signed up for the Triathlon relay event also. (very ambitious of him)

Ha.ha.ha..

We took part in the sprint event and not the actual full triathlon event. The following were the distances we had to complete :-

SWIM  - 750m;

CYCLE  - 20km;

RUN    - 5km

Due to the long distance between our house and Boon’s, he did his own training near his home, while I did my training with Edward.  We trained twice in Bandar Tun Razak as there was a swimming pool next to the Bandar Tun Razak park.  This was an ideal area as we would first cycle on the roads surrounding the park in the early morning hours.  We would park our cars in the swimming pool car park.  After our ride, we would keep our bikes in our cars, run around the lake in the park and timed our run to complete at about 9:30 am where into the pool we would go for our swimming training.  There were also the two times where we would cycle around TTDI Kiara and then swim in the pool in Edward’s club.  Based on my timings during my training, I was confident that I would be able to complete the event below 2 hours comfortably.  I made a mistake and thought that the cycling leg was only 10km.

When I found out the actual distance to cycle was double that distance about 2 weeks before the event, I began to worry and knew that it was going to be tough to complete the event within 2 hours. Alas it was too late to increase the training distance.
So with the motto: "To COMPLETE  and not to compete", there was no turning back.

The Carbo dinner (night before event day)

The sprint event was held on a Saturday morning and the carbo-dinner and briefing was held on Friday nite.  Boon took a day off and arrived at the Avillion Admiral Cove hotel early.  Edward and I went to work as usual on Friday and drove to PD after work.  I arrived late as there was a jam out of KL. Hoping to avoid the Friday evening traffic jam, I took the smaller roads through Seremban town instead of the highway.  In short I was late but there was plenty of food for all.  There were other participants later than me.  I must say the food was a plenty.  We were wondering what a “carbo-dinner” was.  Once there we found out the meaning of carbo-dinner.… It was a free for all BUFFET DINNER!!  Dig-In!!  Mr Chan aka Uncle Chan, the organiser also gave a pre-race briefing to all of the attendees.

Boon brought his son along to PD. He left early after dinner as he had to get dinner for his son. Edward and I stayed behind to listen to the talk. We went back to the hotel immediately after the talk and tried to sleep early.  We were staying in the Methodist Resort Centre which was about a 15 minutes drive to Avillion Admiral Cove hotel.  We rented a two bedroom apartment.  Boon took the master bedroom with a queen size bed to share with his son.  Ed and I took the second room which had two single beds.  Boon wanted to get to Avillion extra early the next morning so as not to miss out on finding a car park spot near the transition area. 

Event Day (6^th July 2013)

Group photo - pumped up with excitement

I did not sleep well that night.  I kept waking up (about 3 times) which is not normal for me.  Anyway when 5:30 am came, we got up.  We made ourselves hot drinks of milo and cereal.  The apartment was new but it had no utensils. So we had to drink from paper cups which Edward brought.  Boon and son were the first to leave for the event.  Ed and I had to stay back to answer the call of nature.

one more photo before the start

There was still plenty of time when Ed and I arrived at the hotel.  As with the rest of the participants we busied ourselves with our preparations: going for body painting, placing our bicycles into the allotted spot in the transition are, getting our running shoes ready, last minute bike checks,etc.  

With our "body paint"

Body painting is not in the literal sense.  I was expecting to be painted with a paint spray can/gun.  All they did was just use rubber stamps to imprint our participant numbers on our arms.

Swimming Leg

Participants (in their lilac caps) -all ready at the starting line

From the transition area which was basically the outdoor car park of Avillion, all the participants were eager and walked to the beach in anticipation for the first leg i.e. swim 750 m. We could see the markers and the buoys indicating the swim route.  Several of the participants dipped themselves into the sea and started their warm up swim.  We also followed them. The water was cold. Once in the water I had to force myself to swim to warm up the body.  Ed who had trepidations of the swimming leg should have felt a sense of relief as there was a rope marking the entire route.  He was worried that there was nothing to hang onto just in case one had to stop and rest along the route .  We also swam out and tested the rope.

The swim leg of the event started on time at 7:30 am. Uncle Chan was at the beach to kick-off the event. He again gave us a late minute briefing before he flagged us off with his air-horn.

Group photo at start line

The three of us made sure we were not positioned in the front of the pack of swimmers. We were advised earlier to be careful of kicking legs that might knock the wind out of us. So we opted to be start towards the end of the swimmers.  Boon gave a loud “Hoo-Haa!”, when Uncle Chan blasted his horn to start the event.

Throughout our preparations we were worried that we might loose our directions when we were swimming the front crawl. We could not swim the front crawl with our heads up and out of the water. So it was either to swim the slower breast-stroke or swim the faster front crawl “blind”.  Boon opted for the breast stroke while Ed and I opted for a combination of breast stroke and front crawl.  So in the end both Ed and I were very inefficient as we were not swimming in straight lines as everytime we swam the front crawl we would deviate from course.  
(Mental Note: learn to swim front crawl with head out of water)

Boon - first out of the water

The swim route was a straight line out to sea followed by a route parallel to the beach and another straight line heading back to shore.  After the swim, I was feeling pumped up and feeling fine as I ran up out of the beach towards the transition area.  The row of showers to douse the swimmers were not comforting as the water spewing out from the shower rose was brownish.

Cycling Leg

Out of the sea and onto the transition area I went to gear up for the cycling leg.  I brought a spare cycling water bottle to wash the sand from my legs before putting on my socks and running shoes.  So it was off to the cycling circuit. Boon was nowhere to be seen.  I noted that his bike was not at its place, so he must be on the road cycling. Ed was just behind me.  I noted that he was swimming off course as we were on the return leg to shore.  Luckily I decided to go breast stroke towards the end and I was able to re-adjust my heading to swim towards the right location of the beach.

I borrowed a road bike from my nephew. I borrowed it a week before the event and I had not tested it yet. My nephew said that the bike was in a rideable condition.  When I took possession of it I noted that the front tyre was a little worn but my nephew said that it was still okay.  I thought Port Dickson was a flat area but as we cycled inland there was a slight uphill climb as the scenic route went through the oil palm plantations. The cycling route made a U-turn and the other half of the route was basically using the same route only in reverse.  It was there that Boon shouted out to me.  He had made it to the mid-way point and was making his way back to the hotel.  I jokingly shouted back to Boon saying that he was heading in the wrong direction.  Surprisingly I did not see Ed.  He had caught up with me early on and zoomed on ahead up the scenic route.

one down.. two to go

 

On the return leg towards the last three kilometres or so, as I made a left turn at the road junction heading to the hotel, my bike went through a sandy patch. That was when I realised that I had spring a leak in my front tyre.
(Mental Note: should change tyres when they are looking suspect)

DANG!! Shall I stop and try to replace the tube or not?  I had brought with me a spare tube but I knew it would take me a while to change the tube as I had not tried changing the rubber tube of the road bike.  I had done a tube change on my MTB and it took me about half an hour to pry the rubber tyre out of the tyre rim. There I was, approximately three kilometres from the transition area/hotel. Based on the half hour to change the MTB tube, I decided it was better not to change the tube. I was hoping that the leak will hold out all the way to the transition area/hotel.  As the metres rolled slowly by, I could feel the front tyre losing its air pressure until the handle bar started jarring my hands. Thankfully the final stretch was on a downhill incline. I was hoping the momentum of the bike would carry me home. The bike was running on rim power as I cycled the road leading up the hotel entrance to the transition area. I had to make a right turn to the transition area.  It was there where my front bike rim almost slipped as I turned the corner.  My bike wobbled for a while and Mr Chan saw it as he was standing beside the road. He came forward and asked if I was all right. Without looking at him (I was concentrating on keeping my bike steady),  I shouted back, ” Tyre puncture….tyre punctured!”

Phew!! Made it to the transition area with a fully deflated front tyre.  I had no time to inspect the tyre and rim.  I hung the bike up and grabbed some bananas to eat as I headed to the last leg.

Running Leg

This was my weakest event. I was and never will be a long distance runner. I never had the endurance to run long distance. I suppose one would say its only 5 km, what’s the fuss? Anyway I was not able to start out  running as I was gobbling a few bananas.  I hobbled along the road leading out towards the PD Royal Yacht Club. The running leg included a short stretch of run on the beach.  Now this was the most difficult of the route as running on sand with running shoes gave no traction.

Photo of Ed at finish line

I must confess, I half ran and half walked this last leg.  Heck! I even stopped to help a participating couple to take some shots with their mobile phone. They were busy enjoying the moment together and I thought I would offer to help them take a picture or two together instead of each taking pictures of each other.  The route beside the sea was scenic as there was a stretch that went uphill where you had quite a good view of the sea. (Mental Note: don't get distracted by "lovey-dovey" couples?)

The organisers had strategically placed a support group to give us the last push to complete the event.  I remembered a man on a wheelchair cheering us , “Keep going, Almost there!!”  I also remembered a young lady giving these words of encouragement, ”Pretty lady just in front of you.. go and chase her!”  Now, did that perk me up? Hahaha..

I ran passed the pretty lady and headed to the final stretch past the finish line.
(Mental Note: need to remind organisers to sponsor more pretty ladies; and guys too![for the female participants] )

Finished
When I reached the finish line, I collected my finisher medal. Both Boon and Ed had finished earlier and were waiting for me. While talking to them and walking out of the area, I forgot that I had to return the timing chip which I wore on my ankle. The lady in charge stopped me and reminded me. There was a PD triathlon towel soaked in cold water which was a welcome relief.  I had a free Isotonic drink and there were plenty of cut watermelons.

Group Photo- on completion

Luckily the weather on that day was cloudy and not too hot. It drizzled slightly for short while as I was doing the running leg. As usual the most important item to do was to take a group finisher photo.

We decided to head back to the hotel to check out and to take our shower. Boon and son left for KL immediately after  that.  Both Ed and I drove back to Avillion, hoping to see if we could still catch the lucky draw. By the time we reached and parked our cars in the hotel, all was quiet and everyone of the sprint participants had gone back.  At the hotel lobby the sponsors' booth were still open and there were still some activity. I suppose they were open for tomorrow's main event.  We 'lepak' for a while in the hotel enjoying the use of the free Wi-Fi.

When we wanted to drive to PD town for some food, we were stuck and could not drive out of the hotel as the road right in front of the hotel was cordoned off for the youngsters event.  The junior triathlon event had started.  We stood by watching the youngsters compete and were really amused at the competitiveness of some of the kids' parents.  They were really shouting and urging their kids to hurry up.

After lunch in PD town, I bid Ed farewell and wished him good-luck in the following day's Relay Team Triathlon Event.

First leg done and onto the transition area

Finish line

To run or to walk? That is the question?

 

course outline- not to scale

cycling route map

Results:-
Overall time: 02:04:51
Swim : 00:27:10    Cycle : 00:55:10    Run   : 00:42:25





Footnote : double click on the photos for a larger zoomed-in view

Malakoff Powerman Duathlon –Sprint Event 2012

Malakoff Powerman Duathlon –Sprint Event

4^th November 2012

Powerman Duathlon Completion Medal

Prologue 1: Duathlon?

I have always been keen to take up the challenge of a triathlon. So this duathlon seemed like a good build up towards a triahtlon. Take part in a “duo” first then graduate to a “tri”, was my thinking. Found out about this Duathlon event sometime in July 2012. “Good! There should be plenty of time to train for the event”, we thought. Buddy, Boon last year mentioned that this duathlon event was held in the Universities where you run and cycle only. So when the Malakoff event came to our radar screen we decided to try it out. The shorter version of the duathlon;  a 5.7 km run followed by a 32 km bicycle ride and finally another 5.7 km run was achievable, we collectively agreed. Hence began another “chapter” in my life and my “to do list” where I can say, ”Yup! Been there, tried it and DONE it!”

This time Boon and Eric have joined the cycling group. Boon bought over the other Raleigh Diablo from MK and he also signed up for the Duathlon. Edward did not join us. Instead he registered for the team relay event with his office colleague runner.

The following is a brief  story of my first sprint duathlon.

Prologue 2: PRE-Race Anxieties

Stamina

I am not a runner and I opted for this event as the run distance is only 5.7 km which I considered as not a long distance.  As I had done a few rounds around the KLCC park, I thought to myself that the distance is only about 4 laps of the KLCC park running track (1.3 km/lap). “It should just be a bit more than 4 laps”, I thought. I just have to force myself to run at KLCC park and make sure I can do about 8 laps.

I eventually did only 6 laps which took me about 1 hour 15 minutes. I did not run the entire distance. When I stopped running I would force myself to walk at a fast pace. During the not more than 5 training sessions at the park, I timed myself and realised that at best it would take me about 10-11 minutes to pace walk one lap. If I jogged I would be able to shave off 2-4 minutes. As the distance of the sprint is only 5.7km, I reasoned that it won’t matter much if I jogged or walk. I would probably gain about 10 minutes if I jogged.  I thought I’d better focus on endurance and stamina.

I estimated that it would take me 3 hours to complete the sprint event. (45 minutes to walk 5.7 km and 90 minutes to cycle 32 km).

Event Day at PutraJaya - View of the Starting Point

Bicycle

At this point in time, Boon and I only have an entry level mountain bike which is already three years old (Raleigh Diablo; a new version of the Diablo is already in the market).  Boon and I were already discussing the disadvantage of the MTB’s weight and speed. We estimated that we would be only going at about 20km/hr.  Boon had tried cycling on the Guthrie corridor bicycle/motorbike lanes and timed his speed.  We concur that our MTBs will be severely handicapped.  Initially we were thinking of purchasing another bicycle i.e. a road bike.  On second thoughts, we decided to hold buying a road bike as this was just our first duathlon event and we were not sure if we would enjoy it.  We did not want to purchase a road bike and then find that we did not like the event and would not want to participate in any future duathlons.  So we opted for the easy and cheap way to gain some additional speed.  Change the MTB bike tyres to that of a road type (slick tyres).  Boon was the first to change and he phoned back saying that they road tyres really help increased his speed significantly.  That was good news for me.   (I changed my tyres two weeks before the event and so I tested out the road tyres once)

So I put my focus on increasing my cycling duration such that I can have enough stamina to endure a 3 hour exercise duration.  It is this time that I discovered a beautiful cycling track in Ulu Langat-Pangsun-Semenyih Dam.  I could also cycle from my house and back and the duration taken was about 3 hours.   It was perfect!

The three of us;  Eric, Edward and I would eventually settle at this location for our training area.  We also tried two other training routes i.e.  MRR2-Duke Highway (Ulu Klang to Duke highway throught to Setiawangsa and Wangsa Maju) and Mount Kiara-Jalan Kiara.  Boon did his training on his own at the Guthrie corridor location near to his house.  The Ulu Langat location was actually far for Eric to travel to in the early mornings of the weekend.  We could only manage one training session per week. I would cycle from home to Eng Soon coffee shop at Jalan Sungai Tekali, the meeting place and from there we would do our training after our early  morning ‘tea-si”. Eric bought himself a new car boot bike rack to transport his bike as he changed his car and could no longer transport his bike in the rear seat.

Knee joint pains

My left knee joint has been complaining lately.  I noticed that once I have been exercising more than two hours my left knee would be screaming out to me to stop moving.  This is more so when I am running/jogging.  This now lead me to try taking glucosamine tablets. (Oh no!  Drugs!! J)  It seemed to work during the training sessions as the pain subsided during the long training stints.  My left knee did not complain anymore.  Little did I know….

Prologue 3: Race PACK COLLECTION and Briefing

The race pack collection point was to be at The Marriot in Putrajaya.  I decided to go on my own instead of going together with Edward and Eric.  I wanted to go on my own so as to familiarise myself with the route to Putrajaya Palace of Justice, the starting point of the race.  I left home at about 8:45am on Saturday, 3rd November to drive to the Palace of Justice.  I had the old “google map” printout and as predicted I missed a turn and had to come in from the North instead of from the East.  Coming in from the North was not advisable as the main road was closed to traffic in preparation for the duathlon.  (there was an on-going event as I saw a group of cyclist on Jalan Persiaran Perdana too.)

Putrajaya- Palace of Justice and participants

As the road was closed I could not find the parking area that I had wanted to park my car for the following day’s event.  On top of that I was running low on petrol.  I had earlier thought that I could refuel along the way or in Putrajaya.  (NOTE: there are not that many petrol stations in Putrajaya.  At least on the roads in Putrajaya that I had wondered looking for one).  Eventually I found two Petronas stations one on either side of the road.  Once I had refuelled, I made a mental note to come in from the East for the event tomorrow.  I then went to look for The Marriot Hotel.  Finding The Marriot was easier as I had driven past it on the way to the Palace of Justice earlier.

I arrived there at 9:45am. The organiser’s registration and collection tables were not ready, so I wondered around the room looking at the big information board with information of the race.  I was one of the earliest participants to arrive.  There were three queues set up: full duathlon, sprint duathlon and relay duathlon.  I was at the first queue and thinking that this must be right one as there were more people of my age group.  When the organiser informed us that the second queue was for the sprint event, I was a bit embarrassed.  Wow those “old fellas” all taking part in the full event and here I am the “younger fella”, taking part in the sprint event only.

The room was beginning to fill up with participants. The organisers were still frantically preparing the race packs.  I then moved over the other room to view the instructional video. I had finished watching the video and as I was coming out of the door, I bumped into Edward who had just collected his race pack. I said my goodbye to him and headed to the car park to go home.  (In my haste, I had forgotten to collect my Power Bar. Eric and Boon mentioned it on the morning of the event, just before the race)

Boon called me up later as he went to collect the race pack.  Told him he could actually park beside the road as there were many cars parked along the road even though there were numerous “no parking” and “towing zones” signs along the road leading to the Marriot.  Boon wisely decided not to take the risk of having no car to drive to the race tomorrow.

Prologue 4: THE NIGHT BEFORE

I was getting all my gear ready, making sure that I would not leave anything behind the next morning. I received a call from Boon telling me that after reading the information booklet that came with the race pack,he did not have a rear seat bag to carry his spare tyre tube and pump.  He also rang his friend up and the friend told him that he should bring a puncture repair kit in case the tyre springs a leak on event day. Boon was worried as he recently had two leaks while training. His call also made me get worried. I had not planned to bring the puncture repair kit and I had wanted to reduce my already heavy MTB weight. I also did not plan to bring my water bottle. The booklet on the other had advised us to bring those items. So now I decided to bring all the items. 

Event day

Race Morning

Got up at 4:30 am on race day.  I received a text each from Boon and Edward, there were already there at 5:15 am.  I was preparing steam bread with butter and kaya at home with my new steam oven, when Boon called up asking where I was. When I told him I was at home, he was surprised and told me that it is already 5:30 am and I should be on my way to Putrajaya. That call panicked me and I quickly gulped down my bread and Milo and drove like a mad-man to Putrajaya. I was mentally cursing why the route I had chosen had so many road bumps that morning. On one occasion I did not see the road bump and had to brake at the last minute. I was worried for my rear boot bike rack as the bump really jerked my bike and the rack. This time I found the right turning as Boon in his early morning call reminded me to follow the Precinct 3 road signages. I found the correct parking spot (near to the Palace of Justice) and wheeled my bike to the transition area. The time was 6:30 am. There were many participants still wheeling in their bikes. Once I had everything ready i.e. the bike placed at the right spot and cycling gear all ready, I called the rest of the guys and met up with them. The atmosphere was jovial.  Many participants were taking photos and chatting. There were a lot of group photos being taken.

Group photo  (note our well coordinated colors  XD )

All four of us still managed to meet up and chat and to take group photos. We were all resigned to the fact that if ever we had the ill luck of having a puncture that would be the end of the race for us. None of us had any experience in repairing a puncture.  I had done it in my school days but it was a long, long time ago. The rules also require that we obtain no help from anyone. 

(Mental Note:  Learn how to repair a puncture!)

Run 1

The flag-off was held in stages. The full duathlon started off at 7:00 am while the sprint event flagged off at 7:10 am.  I was hoping that the running route did not have any incline.  Initially it was flat but towards the halfway mark there was a slight incline which we had to climb. I was running with a rather a good rhythm but as expected Boon and Eric were nowhere to be seen.  They sped off ahead.

Bike

Reaching end of Run 1

We made a loop back to the transition area.  At the transition area, when I glanced at my watch I was pleasantly surprised at my pace. It took me 41 minutes to complete my first run. I was feeling fine and not tired at all. My expected time was 45 minutes if I ran or 50 minutes if I walked at a fast pace. I thought to myself, “Great, I can complete in under 3 hours”. [Fat hopes… it was :-) ]

I put on my helmet, gloves and my backpack. I placed my bicycle repair kit in the backpack and cycled with it. One of the event organiser was watching me closely as I got ready for the cycling leg.  I was wondering why he was observing me. Pushed the bike to the bicycle mount area and sped off overtaking some cyclists on the road. I was happy that my pace was quicker than I had estimated. My spirit was high.

The initial route was flat and uneventful. I was on a mountain bike and was slower than the road bikes. I eventually found a pair of pacers with whom I could follow.  I noticed that I was faster on the downhill stretch but the two pacers would overtake me again on the next uphill. So this happened a few times and I was glad that I could keep up with the two road bikes. However disaster strucked after the 10 km mark. My left knee started aching. “Dang! No! Its not even half way.” At this point onwards my two pacers overtook me and were nowhere to be seen.  

It was here too that I realised that I had put my gloves on wrongly. The padded part of the gloves were now on the back of my palm. No wonder the organiser was watching me. He probably was laughing quietly back at the transition area.

Eventually both my left and right knees began to ache continuously. I had to bear the pain and relief came whenever I was travelling downhill as I need not have to pedal. I could not straighten both my legs together to relieve the pain as I had to continue pedaling. This went on until I reached the transition area. I had to tell myself to take it easy, relax and enjoy the scenery. I remembered this as I was passing the equestrian area of Putrajaya. I was resigned to the fact that I would not be able to complete my estimated cycling time of 1 hr 30 minutes. (This was my estimated time of completion based on my training pace with Mountain bike tyres). So from the equestrian point onwards, I just took it easy and enjoyed the view.

Edward who took part in the team relay also passed me on his road bike

I was wondering if I could run the last part and hoped that I could still jog slowly.  If my knees were to ache I would have to walk the last 5.7 km.

Run 2

I was very relieved to reach the transition area again.  I got off my bike and wheeled it to my parking spot. As I walked to the running area I was surprised to see that the organisers had bananas for the participants. I took two and gulped them down as I walked to the run area. I  dared not test my knees at running yet. I kept on walking for another 100 metres. I then decided to try to run and was again hit with pain on both my knees due to the jarring action of the run. “That’s it!, I told myself. I had to walk all the way to the completion line. I was overtaken by all the runners from this point onwards. I noticed one guy who was behind me and he was doing an extremely slow jog with small steps. I thought I could make him my pacer but he eventually pulled ahead of me and could not be seen at the next uphill.

Finish line

The weather was really ideal. It was not hot as expected for Putrajaya is known for being hot and the organisers kept advising us to take plenty of fluids. In fact during the last run I thought that it might rain and I would get soaked as drops of rain were beginning to fall from the cloudy sky at the halfway mark of the run 2.  Luckily it did not.

After an extremely long time I was on the downhill stretch leading to Jalan Persiaran Perdana.

Buffet lunch after completion of event

I thought to myself , “OK the finish line is in front. Go and run to the finish line man!.......”

….pant!

……

…….

…...pant!
(Dang! my mind was playing tricks with my body!!) I walked past the finish line and stepped on the timing mat to record my completion time. I collected my finisher certificate and medal. At the same time my timing chip was taken off from my left leg by one of the organisers.  If I had to bend my knees to remove the timing chip, I think it would have taken some effort from me. Phew!

I could not sit and I just rested while walking slowly and leaning against the table. I also enjoyed my free Cornetto ice cream bonus and water melons at the finisher tent. It was this time that Boon called me on the phone asking what’s taking me so long as he was going to go home. (He had reached the finish line much, much earlier than me and must have been getting bored. Hee..hee..hee)

We met at a shaded spot at a building and managed to take a few celebratory photos and exchanged stories. Both Eric and Boon were complaining that they were being overtaken by the road bikes. Their mountain bikes just could not generate enough pace.  (Lesson learnt : Need a road bike to compete with the competitors.)

Boon did not stay for lunch. So Eric, his wife and I queued up for lunch. The dining area was air conditioned. My jersey was soaked for I did not change into dry clothes. My change of clothes was in my car at the car park.  So it was quite chilly in the air conditioned dining area.  It was while we were having our lunch that Edward showed up. He had completed his 64 km bike ride and was totally wasted. He still had to wait for his relay partner to finish the race. We had lunch together. After which both Eric and I decided to pack up and leave. We did not stay for the prize presentations. We went to collect our bicycles at the transition area and there were still participants who took part in the full duathlon coming into the finishing line. Both of us noticed that some of the finishers looked much older than us. Our admiration goes out to them tough blokes for being able to complete at that age. We wished we could still remain fit in time to come.

Epilogue 1:

The old and heavy steed (psst!..who r u referring to?)

My overall timing is as below. It took me 3hours and 18 minutes to complete. I was surprised that my cycling time was just 3.5 minutes off my estimate time of 1.5 hours despite my pain. My new road tyres actually helped to increase my cycling pace. Of course my timing for Run 2 was disappointing. It took me 57 minutes.

Official  3:18:39
Run 1    0:41:36
Cycle    1:33:30
Run 2    0:57:38

OCBC KL Ride 2013

OCBC -Cycle around KL city roads

Date : Sunday 20th January 2013

This is a brief account of my first OCBC ride.

This would be my first cycling ride around KL city roads since secondary school days where we would  go on cycling treasure hunts organised by the Scouts. We would spend the night cycling around KL streets looking for clues and solving the cryptic clues/messages to get to the next point until the final check point. The objective was to be the first to solve all the clues and reach the final check point  (a mini version of the the immensely successful reality TV series “The Amazing race”).

 “This would be fun”, I thought it would be a novelty as the KL roads would be closed just for us cyclists.  It was also  a “deja-vu” ride for me: to relive my younger days of cycling in KL.

This year the starting point was at the front of the KLCC entrance facing Jalan Ampang.

OCBC KL 2013 ROUTE

Three of us office colleagues registered as a group. In the end only I turned up for the event. One of my office colleague backed out a week before and I managed to find another colleague, KK to take his place. The other colleague did a no-show on the day. He later said that he did not feel up to it.

My other cycling buddies also took part. There were four of us. This would be Ed’s second time. The rest of us Boon, Eric and wife,YL, KK were first-timers on this OCBC event, like me.

The pre-ride goody bag collection was done at the newly completed office building, The Intermark along Jalan Ampang.

On the morning of the event, I parked my car in the office car park and cycled to KLCC.  KK had no bike and I had to bring in two bikes (my old and newly acquired MTB).

And they are off.... start of the 48km category.

Anyway the OCBC event started about half an hour later. According to the schedule, the 48 km challenge ride was to start off at 6:15 am. At 6:15 am we were still waiting at the starting line. While waiting for the official start I noticed one car whizzing along Jalan Ampang. There were two bikes on the car roof. These guys were really late!

There was confusion at the starting line as the organisers did not know how to organise the riders. Initially they attempted to group the riders into their respective categories but in the end everyone just started off in one big group.

majestic twin towers in the background

On the 48km ride, looking back I think I witnessed four accidents over the 4 laps that I cycled. At the very first lap going down along Jalan Raja Chulan there was a section of the road that was flooded. When the oncoming cars drove passed us the cars actually splashed water over to our side. This stretch was also going slightly downhill hence one would have a tendency to speed especially on the first lap as the adrenaline would still be pumping.  “Bad mistake!” This was where I saw the first mishap.. There was a depression in the road and one would not be able to see as :1) it was covered by the water;  2) it was on a downhill stretch. I reckoned the Marshall in-charge of that stretch was not prepared initially. I noticed on my subsequent laps the marshall was more vigilant and more pro-active to warn the riders coming downhill of the hazard ahead.

Ed, Eric and wife used road bikes while Boon, KK and I used mountain bikes. Everyone of us cylced off at our own rate. So in the end we all lost sight of each other.

 

To complete 48 km, we had to cycle 4 laps. Boon and I  had earlier timed our training stints' speed and noted that our speed on the flat would be 24+ km/hr but that would drop drastically down to less than 10km/hr if we were cycling uphill.  We estimated that it would take us less than 2 hrs to complete 48 km if we changed our tyres from “knobbies” to  “slick”  tyres, which we did.

Now, going around 4 laps proved to be more difficult than it seemed.  After cycling around two to three times, one’s memory seems to get distorted (must be my age...hehehe). I was not the only one having memory lapses.

The traffic jam at KLCC

On the third lap (I think), one cyclist cycled up and asked me, “Err..Excuse me, how many rounds are we were supposed to cycle?”  I told him 4 rounds and jokingly asked, “Why? Did u do 5 rounds already?”  He gave me a confused look in return. I think he wasn’t sure himself (hahaha)

After that, for a moment; I too lost my own counting self-confidence and wondered if I had completed 3 or 4 rounds?  Luckily my “Endomondo” apps confirmed that I did 4 laps. No more no less   :-)

Boon too had the same issue:

“...I really thought the whole ride was only 2 laps......until I realised it didn't make sense, why was everyone cycling so fast and some riders seemed to have passed me more than 3 times.....then I figure out there was another 2 more  laps to go! Wah-liao man!  Then after a while I forgot how many laps I have completed....so did not know whether to go an extra lap of 12 km or go into the finish lane. So complicated man.!!!”   He jokingly complained that I left him behind.

Satisfaction of job completed

Initially Boon and I were cycling together but after the second lap where we witnessed an accident, I lost him.  I thought he had sped on ahead as usual and throughout the remaining laps I was pushing myself forwards to catch up with him.

The plus

The 12km route was a fairly easy route except for the short stretch along Jalan Tun Ismail near the Bank Negara where the route climbs up.  But what goes up must comes down, so there was a nice descent back to Jalan Sultan Ismail. Overall the 12km route was relatively flat and easy to cycle. (see route map)

The minus

There were far to many accidents.

When I arrived at the finish line in front of KLCC, there was a huge traffic jam(see video below) of OCBC jersey clad riders lining up to collect their medals and to return their timing chips.

Amidst the huge crowd we found each other via our mobiles and waited for the rest of the gang to arrive. After the customary group photos, we then loaded our bikes into our respective cars and drove off  to Jalan Ampang for our hearty reward.

Our Reward : Breakfast !!

Note: - as usual double click on the photos for a larger view

My time: Overall 1:58:53
Lap 1 :-  0:28:53,     Lap 2 :- 0: 25:30,     Lap 3 0:26:51,     Lap 4 0:27:24


The video below tries to capture the carnival-like feel of the OCBC event  at the finish point of the 48 km event.  The other shorter(24km community ride) event was just about to start when I reached the finish point at KLCC.

Addtional link:-
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Community/2013/01/23/OCBC-Cycle-Malaysia-2013-draws-even-better-response.aspx