One more milestone

So, yet again, another random post to the blog that is on and off forgotten. This time, I'd like to talk about my experience on my first ever Century Ride, also my longest ride in go, yet.

This event fell on the 29th of May, 2016. That was just about a week ago. It was held at Perak, covering nearly the whole outer perimeter of the state, circling Ipoh town. The event was called the "Perak Century Ride" for obvious reasons. A Century Ride, is a non-competitive endurance ride event for cyclists of all walks of life to challenge themselves and their endurance levels. Usually 100 miles in distance, that's 160 in kilometers (1mi = 1.6km), it's a test of physical and mental endurance and not for the faint of heart. To complete a Century Ride, a cyclist needs to be physically fit, as well as mentally strong. Adequate training before hand is encouraged (more like, a must).

Fast forward to a day before the event. I took the Electric Train Service(ETS) from KL Sentral. ETS is an intercity rail service operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad(KTMB). I must say, I was amazed at the punctuality of the ETS service as well as the comfort of the interior of the train itself. It was clean and well maintained, as opposed to the regular KTM train services. The ticket pricing was also quite affordable for a student like me, if I were to travel within Malaysia. I boarded the train and the journey from KL Sentral to Ipoh took about 2 and half hours.

Waiting at KL Sentral

On the way to Ipoh

Upon arriving in Ipoh, I made my way to the race pack collection venue. I was a little wary due to posts earlier in the day stating that the management was disorganized and cause a long queue for the collection, but when I was there, everything seemed to be moving in order. 

Event Jersey

After collecting my pack I waited for my group to arrive and proceeded to check in and freshen up. The next day, everyone was up early to grab breakfast at the hotel breakfast buffet, food was average, the standard hotel menu of noodles, eggs, sausages, ham, dim sum, toasts, coffee and tea, as well as cereal. After a small breakfast to provide a small boost for the ride, we went to retrieve our bikes, only to be greeted by a small rainfall. The rain dampened our mood considerably. We steeled ourselves and prepared for what was for sure going to be a wet and cold ride.

Bike retrieval area

Wet and cold start, yet we lined up

 There was a rolling start of about 10km before the official start of the race, the participants lined up amidst the drizzle. We were slightly drenched before we even started. Upon the starting gong, we all started moving. It was a brief warm up during the rolling start with the top contenders for the prize money and podium placement jostling for a good starting position at the front of the race. My aim for this event was just to finish with the best possible time I could achieve.

The first 120km was a breeze, although there were rolling slopes, I was prepared for it as I had trained myself before the event. However, the longest ride I have ever attempted before hand was only 135km. At 120km, my mind starting doubting if I could even finish the next 40km. The last 40km. My legs were heavy, I was well off my targeted time, the distance on the speedometer didn't seem to be increasing, and my speed kept decreasing. The scorching afternoon sun in contrast to the wet and cold start, was not helping morale. On and off, I managed to strike up a conversation with some fellow cyclists, some I dropped, some went ahead of me. There was a period during the last 25km that I was moving along alone, till I caught up to another cyclist, who was also struggling as the road was a short incline. We talked a little and went together till 10km from the finish line where I dropped him.

Finishing with an official time of 6:28:14

Just glad to finish the ride

Passing the finishing line at 6 hours 28 minutes and 14 seconds for 168km to me was a great achievement for myself. The longest distance yet in my cycling experience, and I successfully completed it 1 hour and 30 minutes from cut off time. It was a great experience throughout, and an eye opener into the life of the pro tour cyclists, who do this everyday for weeks on end and even higher intensities.

My group coming in 10 minutes later

Medal biting photo is a must

If I was to participate in an event like this again, I would probably train harder beforehand. Keep my mind strong and not doubt my own capabilities.

Frozen loot - Energy Drinks (It's like we were preparing performance enhancing drugs)

Till next time

Whenever that is

Vincent

Throwback to that first race

Life after graduation is kinda dull. I need to get a job.

That said, I had a sentimental recollection of my first race back in May 2015. I was still in Kuching at that time and so I thought, why not? Registered with some club mates from uni and I was in. We didn't really trained much before the race. In fact, we never trained. We were so inexperienced then. Two days before the race, we did a route recon and that was it.

The event I am talking about is ABC Race that was organized by a "Koperasi Al-Bait". It covers a distance of 120km. The day of the race, it was raining and the roads was wet but that didn't stop us from going ahead with the race.

Look at our inexperienced self then. Except for Mark. The one on the left in 3T.

So yeah, at the starting line, there we were in our sports shoes and platform pedals and a good 70% of them were using clipless pedals. You know things are getting serious when over half the playing field goes "clack clack clack". Me and the guy beside me on platform pedals just stared at each other and had this "oh shit" look on our face.

It was a good race experience for us and yeah, I've come a long way since then. I recently just registered for another event in Perak. The Perak Century Ride. So I hope I'll be better in that event....since it covers 160km.

Cheers.

Half.A.Year

It's already June. That was awfully fast. My last post was last December. That just shows how much I care about my blog. Guess this might be a long post, or maybe not.

So far, what's new? I started my third year in university, which literally means, final year. First semester. It was hectic. It was tough. Most of it was also mainly caused by my poor time management (no surprises there). I've also started going a little serious into cycling. Nothing intense yet though. Just a few long rides here and there, a race once in awhile, and just cycling. Got myself a new bike. A road bike to be exact. 

My road bike(left) compared to my hybrid(right)

I'm pretty happy with it. Been riding it for six months, I can say I'm getting very familiar with handling a road bike. A lot of people say that, an expensive bike is the best and fastest. I would say, yes, an expensive bike with great features is in fact better, but it all also comes down to the rider. Although a lot of people argue that a carbon fiber bike is lighter and thus faster, there's nothing that says an alloy/steel bike can't be just as fast. In my view, the bike is only about 25-30% of the overall factor that makes a cyclist. 55-65% is the cyclist him/herself. So while most of my peers are talking about their shiny new bikes, and carbon fiber frames, I'm content with what I have and how my performance is without a doubt, on par with them.

Every weekend (Sunday), we will have long rides. So far, I have been to Damai Beach, Kampung Serikin(near the Indonesian border), Samarahan, Bako, and Muara Tebas. It was great riding out far, proving the quote "Have bike will travel". In fact, the second photo above, was taken at Tasik Biru, which translates to Blue Lake, because of the blue waters. Taken while we were heading back from Kampung Serikin.

I've made a lot of great friends in the Cycling Club here in Swinburne Sarawak. We ride, we laugh together. They're the best company during the long rides.

See these people I ride with. These crazy bunch of people I ride with

Riding with them = Best weekend spent. I seem to have fallen in love with cycling a lot. So much that I can literally say that "Cycling is love, cycling is life". To some extent, that sometimes when people ask me if I would ever get a girlfriend, I can just nonchalantly say, "Nah, I have my bike. I'm happy enough." Weird huh?

Another thing that happened was that, since joining the cycling club this semester, I feel like I contributed in bringing more life to it. This was done via what I learnt in my studies. Design. Best part of it? I loved doing it. Wait, I LOVE doing what I do when I can do it for what I have passion for. The weekly ride poster promotions was nothing big. The thought of designing a club cycling jersey. That decision and the agreement from the club members was a great moment. After the many discussions and idea generation, we finally decided on one design. May I present to you,

 

My pride and joy. My creation, and design brainchild. Swinburne Sarawak Cycling Club jersey. There will be the sense of pride of putting this jersey on, knowing it was my design and also knowing that, we are a group, a team, and a club.

Cycling is also a means for me to relax and rightly so. The things you see while on a ride, breathtaking. 

Yup. Beautiful. Also, these views are different. You only get to see this and experience it once.

I also took part in a race with a distance of 120km. This was last May. The experience riding amongst professionals was great and also an eye opening one. Seeing them ride and the pace of speed they ride, showed me that there are better cyclists out there, and I want to be as good as them.

I guess, cycling has become a part of my life again right now, and it's going to stay.

Cheers,

Vincent

"Go fast or go last"

"Go fast or go home"

"Don't stop pedalling"

Something new

It's time for a routine dust off. Been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened. To whoever still drops by occasionally, sorry you guys are stuck with so little updates. Too many things going on, and I'll just try to summarise the happenings that came about this past few months.

As you guys may know, from my previous posts, I'm currently undergoing my studies at Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus. That's in Kuching, nice place really. Been here for a little over six weeks already, and I must say I've pretty much settled into the living style here. Being away from home doesn't really bother me, still miss home cooking occasionally, but everything is going well. The classes were a little mix of old and new, learning some new stuff while brushing up on skills I learnt whilst in diploma. It's a great experience here as I get the chance to mix with a lot of international students and learn more about their country and culture, as a matter of fact, because of the diverse student culture, Swinburne organizes a cultural night event every year where students perform their cultural specialties or just take the chance to perform. I was lucky my enrolment was timed just right as I got to experience this event.

 So far, I've already passed the middle mark of the semester and ended my mid term break(JUST today actually). The first half went well I would say and then it's onwards to another 6 weeks and I'll end my Semester 2 Year 2. Recently, actually just a week ago, I acquired a bicycle.

700c Nexus Hybrid Bike

I got a bike for a few reasons, transport being one of the few reasons, and recreation being another. Why a hybrid bike? Because mainly, I'll only be using it for road and minimal off road. This bike can handle gravel as well as "kampung" roads no issue. It's a great bike, even though I only managed to take it out for a spin no more than 5 times. Pretty sad, huh? Why? Cause foolhardy me went and attempted a ramp take-off. 

Like I said in the title, "Something new", and by that, I meant, loads of new experiences. This was, as painful as it was, something new to me, as well as exciting. Back 4 years, while I was still in high school, I used to do a lot of "little" stunts with my then MTB(Mountain Bike). It wasn't a really high end model but at RM450, it was a pretty damn good bike with full suspension and toughness to take a beating. Which in the end got stolen by some scumbag, whoever it was, hope it serves him well like it did for me(posted about this ages back). 

So, I went on a cycling session with the Swinburne Cycling Club and they brought us to a dirt trail to have some fun. A little too much fun for me I guess, when I decided to do the ramp take-off. I borrowed one of the cycling member's MTB cause my hybrid for sure wouldn't be able to pull off the stunt. Went for it but close to the ramp, I faltered and braked, causing me to lose momentum. Which ended with me plunging down the ramp rather than flying off it. The resulting fall cause me to fracture my left collarbone which required a surgery to realign it back as well as a metal plate and 7 screws.

Fractured collarbone, overlapping

Although it was a pretty serious thing, I just felt excited throughout the whole ordeal(okay maybe a little nervous cause...surgery). Everything was a new experience to me and I'm pretty glad I got this chance to experience things like this while I'm still young and capable and able to go the extreme. Don't get me wrong, a broken bone is no fun, but experience on the other hand is, priceless.

I was in really good spirits throughout the ordeal, dad even flew down to make sure I was alright(feeling guilty about this). But we got to spend some quality time together. I also thought I was gonna be lectured, but then, they just said, they warned me and I had to be responsible for my own decisions, which was my broken bones.

Before the surgery, submitting some assignments (with one hand)

After the surgery

Pretty much in good spirits

 I was discharged after three days in the hospital with no signs of complications. Overall, I'd say I had a really eventful mid term break. I have to wear a sling when I walk for the first two weeks after ther surgery but my arms can still function normally for typing and writing. A really good experience for me in my opinion. Now, I'm just making sure I take care of myself and get a speedy recovery and have my bones joined back together. 

Today, begins my 2nd half of the semester, and things are bound to get busier. I guess, you guys won't be hearing from me for a while(again). Video of the fall can be watched here. It's kinda funny watching myself. I can even laugh at myself, weird.

Here's to another one of the longest post I've done.

Cheers

Vincent Loke

P.S.: I'm so sorry bike, just wait for me for a while longer alright?

I'll take you out onto the road again. Soon I hope.