Charity Bike and Blade (Saturday 27 May – Monday 29 May 2006)
Saturday 27 May 2006:
I taught myself to ride a bike when I was 6 or 7 years old using a wall along the corridor to prop myself up and glide as far as I could push or scrape myself on the wall. The earliest bike I had was a really ugly kids bike designed like an old man’s bike, but it introduced me to the fun and freedom of going wherever I wanted to go, faster than any other means within my reach. Riding the streets of Chennai, my range was a 5 km radius around T-Nagar which was the entire world to me.
One day the scout master at School was looking for people to ride to Mahabalipuram which was about 75 km away. And I volunteered to go along. Since it was part of the scout organization I was allowed to go. I consider this my first day of Bicycle touring. Flashes of the day still live in my memory.
I remember the salt fields filled with sea water which evaporated and left the salt behind which the workers piled into humps like small White Mountains. I remember very clearly the lunch we had in a farm in the middle of nowhere and I guess the deepest impression is of the unearthly time we started the journey and the darkness in which we finished.
Charity Bike and Blade – Day 1
The Start and the crew
The bike and blade event is similar to my childhood journey with the Boy Scouts. Gabe and I left home at 4:15 to pick Fuji up. Poor sleepy Eva tagged along to drive my car back and send Gabe off. We found Fuji waiting and “good to go” when we reached his place.
I must say I have known Fuji for a short time but he has amazed me with his never say die attitude to everything. He got into bike n blade because of some small talk in the office we used to engage in to ease the boredom and stress. Fuji trained as hard as he could (which was honestly not very hard) given his busy schedule and drinking sessions and contrary to many opinions made it to the starting line. My Hat goes off to my “Brother” for that.
We collected our tickets and boarding passes in awe of how well organized the organizers were. They even had plastic ziploc bags for all our stuff. We rolled off sleepily and I rode with Fuji to the Ferry Terminal, it was the easiest of easy rides and I could see that he was not really comfortable and the ride had not even started.
The ferry trip across was smooth and I chatted with Vik, Sid and the others while admiring the beautiful machines made of steel, carbon, titanium and many other alloys. A Cannondale Six 13, a fine specimen of American craftsmanship in red and an even more attractive Specialized Roubaix in Gerolsteiner colours were the highlights for me, of course apart from my understated Cervelo R2.5 which everyone thought was a Taiwanese bike – which it is.
Fuji My Friend
The first few hours I spent with Fuji from Belungkor set the tone for my ride. It made me slow down and increased my enjoyment and saved my legs for the workload to come. This also let me finish off each day relatively strong (strong is a very relative word my friends). Fuji had cramps and bravely suffered the hills and refused to take the bus until he absolutely had to.
Fuji and I are amazed by how well Denise and Sonia were doing and Fuji even mentioned something about him riding slower than the kids. I assured him that it is nothing to be embarrassed about. There is a saying in Golf “No matter how well you play someone will beat you, no matter how badly you play you can find someone to beat”. His spirit showed in the reality that he was there, trying to go the distance, trying to push himself beyond his known boundaries. That is the definition of a Champion in my Dictionary.
We ran into Natasha and Zuhaimi on the way. Zuhaimi is another Champ, ever present when someone at the back needed encouragement, offering kind words, H2O, reminding of food at the end of the ride. It was a pleasure to meet him.
I rode a bit faster after I left Fuji, passing mostly mountain bikers and people who had started out too fast. Somewhere along the way I saw CK who looked like he had just woken up from a nap!
Long lonely ride and Mr. Ramly
The food stop was welcome but I think I stopped too long – none of the riders lounging at the stop was in any mood to leave. Finally a couple of people on mountain bikes left and I followed them without even introducing myself to them. We rode together for a while and I tried to pull them but I guess the pace was not comfortable as they kept asking me to go ahead without them. I dragged myself into Mersing. As I was struggling into Mersing, Gabe called me to find out what was happening. He thought I must have gotten lost or bonked.
The most wonderful thing about Day 1 was that Fuji had taken the bus to ease his cramped legs and as I finished he came up to me and asked quietly “Bro, do you eat beef, I’ve got Ramly Burgers for you”. Best tasting Burger ever!
Ritz Carlton and the perfect roommate
The food and accommodation at Mersing weren’t exactly Ritz Carlton like but we were assured by Sidney and the crew that this was the best Mersing had to offer. I took their words for it as always, got a back massage from the Physio and went to bed.
Gabe turned out to be the perfect roommate. He was sound asleep with the lights on while I removed the extra bottle cages I had been carrying (a testament to the confidence I had in the crew by now). Then I slept as soundly as ever.
Charity Bike and Blade – Day 2
Sunday 28 May 2006:
Another early morning
Gabe woke me up at 6, it felt like noon compared to the first day. I honestly cannot remember what I had for breakfast. It was clear daylight when we got ready to ride and Queen Nur gave out some instructions followed by either John or someone else who said something about staying in groups for safety etc. Everyone must have been as dazed as I was because the biggest group I saw was of 2 – me and Jeff. Luckily Jeff and I hooked up at the beginning of the ride and we planned on riding slowly again.
Fuji was trying out his new Shimano SPDs and clipless shoes. It was painful watching him wear his running shoes and use his instep to pedal up hills on the first day. So I advised him to use his clipless shoes even though I knew he was going to take a few tumbles. I left him early in the ride to avoid talking to him and disturbing him while he was riding.
The unfixable tube
Jeff and I rode out slowly, Jeff nursing a sore back and I still dazed from waking up so early. Some parts of me were either aching or just screaming from having been woken up so early 2 days in a row. Ronald had a tear in his tire which we tried to fix with old tubing but it refused to stay fixed. So we left him behind and later that evening he told me that he was not very pleased that he had to get on the Bus.
I would have loved to prepare better in the weeks/months before the ride by doing at least a couple of 120km rides. But riding had to contend with family, work and the other multitude of things. As a result, the 100km mark felt like the wall that marathoners run into – there was no more energy or enthusiasm left at this point. My mind and the fact that the sweeper Bus was too far behind were the only things that kept me riding. My feet hurt to a point that I could not put any power on the pedal and had to resort to spinning wildly with little or no pressure to keep me going – try this on the hills between Sedili Besar and Sedili Kechil and see how fast you go.
Pizza
Anyway, after enduring the torture and the rains for a while Jeff and I reached a deserted flat section where we saw Gurmeet and another crew car. Gurmeet said “you are 14.9 kilometers from Desaru” and offered Pizza. I gratefully took a slice because there was no way anything I took was going to hurt any more. Miraculously, either because of the Pizza or because I rested my feet for a while or knowing we were so close to the end, all the energy came back and I was really hauling the mail from there on. We reached the roundabout and Jeff announced “5 more hills to go” while there were only 4, I was counting. We got to Pulai and Gabe had already finished the ride and finished a swim to cool off. The rooms were really nice, the food was great and the beer flowed freely. Sleep was not as sound as the first day but I did not tweak the bike any more.
Charity Bike and Blade – Day 3
Monday 29 May 2006:
Decision time
As usual Gabe was all set and ready to go early in the morning. I told him I was not going to ride when he woke me up. But I jumped wide awake when I heard him leave the room. I joined the group at the lobby and shoved some food down my mouth just to keep myself from bonking later. We flagged off after Jimi led us in Prayer.
The pace was really slow and watching the sun come up without as much as a cubic inch of concrete in sight was spectacular. We took in the scenery, swapped stories of the last couple of days and just enjoyed being there. It was a welcome break from being in Raffles Place on a Monday morning.
We rode 20 km out and 20 km back as we were joined by Jason, Desmond and a couple of others. We had more Ramly Burgers at the food court outside Pulai. We took a break and started riding to Belungkor.
Wrong Train
My plan was to ride as fast as possible and decided to stay with Gabe or someone else faster if I could. About a km into the ride I saw Ronald go past and thinking Gabe can’t be too far behind I jumped on to Ronald’s wheel. It was really fun for a while until Jimi and the others joined in and decided to treat the uphills as flats and not slow down. I got dropped and was picked up by Sidney & Gabe’s peloton after the turn from the road with heavy traffic. Soon Foo Yew and I got dropped by them as well and we rode steadily, helping each other when we could until we reached the Ferry Terminal where Foo Yew lost the sprint to the gate. He now has to drink all the beer I buy him, he refused to drink any Beer on the Bike n Blade. Got to catch up with him on this one. . . . .
Everything went smoothly and we were welcomed by the people from St. Andrews Hospital which I must admit was unexpected and a pleasant surprise. I was touched by them and by the spirit of many others during the trip. Special mention must go to Sidney and Jeff my perennial ride buddies, Gabe - who started riding so recently but has already gotten so far, Nur, Fuji, Nick Chia , the crew and so many others. Thanks for a good trip, hope to see you all again next year. Now, if only we could raise the other 100k as targeted, it would be a nice touch as I think the people who dreamed this up really deserve it.
Saturday 27 May 2006:
I taught myself to ride a bike when I was 6 or 7 years old using a wall along the corridor to prop myself up and glide as far as I could push or scrape myself on the wall. The earliest bike I had was a really ugly kids bike designed like an old man’s bike, but it introduced me to the fun and freedom of going wherever I wanted to go, faster than any other means within my reach. Riding the streets of Chennai, my range was a 5 km radius around T-Nagar which was the entire world to me.
One day the scout master at School was looking for people to ride to Mahabalipuram which was about 75 km away. And I volunteered to go along. Since it was part of the scout organization I was allowed to go. I consider this my first day of Bicycle touring. Flashes of the day still live in my memory.
I remember the salt fields filled with sea water which evaporated and left the salt behind which the workers piled into humps like small White Mountains. I remember very clearly the lunch we had in a farm in the middle of nowhere and I guess the deepest impression is of the unearthly time we started the journey and the darkness in which we finished.
Charity Bike and Blade – Day 1
The Start and the crew
The bike and blade event is similar to my childhood journey with the Boy Scouts. Gabe and I left home at 4:15 to pick Fuji up. Poor sleepy Eva tagged along to drive my car back and send Gabe off. We found Fuji waiting and “good to go” when we reached his place.
I must say I have known Fuji for a short time but he has amazed me with his never say die attitude to everything. He got into bike n blade because of some small talk in the office we used to engage in to ease the boredom and stress. Fuji trained as hard as he could (which was honestly not very hard) given his busy schedule and drinking sessions and contrary to many opinions made it to the starting line. My Hat goes off to my “Brother” for that.
We collected our tickets and boarding passes in awe of how well organized the organizers were. They even had plastic ziploc bags for all our stuff. We rolled off sleepily and I rode with Fuji to the Ferry Terminal, it was the easiest of easy rides and I could see that he was not really comfortable and the ride had not even started.
The ferry trip across was smooth and I chatted with Vik, Sid and the others while admiring the beautiful machines made of steel, carbon, titanium and many other alloys. A Cannondale Six 13, a fine specimen of American craftsmanship in red and an even more attractive Specialized Roubaix in Gerolsteiner colours were the highlights for me, of course apart from my understated Cervelo R2.5 which everyone thought was a Taiwanese bike – which it is.
Fuji My Friend
The first few hours I spent with Fuji from Belungkor set the tone for my ride. It made me slow down and increased my enjoyment and saved my legs for the workload to come. This also let me finish off each day relatively strong (strong is a very relative word my friends). Fuji had cramps and bravely suffered the hills and refused to take the bus until he absolutely had to.
Fuji and I are amazed by how well Denise and Sonia were doing and Fuji even mentioned something about him riding slower than the kids. I assured him that it is nothing to be embarrassed about. There is a saying in Golf “No matter how well you play someone will beat you, no matter how badly you play you can find someone to beat”. His spirit showed in the reality that he was there, trying to go the distance, trying to push himself beyond his known boundaries. That is the definition of a Champion in my Dictionary.
We ran into Natasha and Zuhaimi on the way. Zuhaimi is another Champ, ever present when someone at the back needed encouragement, offering kind words, H2O, reminding of food at the end of the ride. It was a pleasure to meet him.
I rode a bit faster after I left Fuji, passing mostly mountain bikers and people who had started out too fast. Somewhere along the way I saw CK who looked like he had just woken up from a nap!
Long lonely ride and Mr. Ramly
The food stop was welcome but I think I stopped too long – none of the riders lounging at the stop was in any mood to leave. Finally a couple of people on mountain bikes left and I followed them without even introducing myself to them. We rode together for a while and I tried to pull them but I guess the pace was not comfortable as they kept asking me to go ahead without them. I dragged myself into Mersing. As I was struggling into Mersing, Gabe called me to find out what was happening. He thought I must have gotten lost or bonked.
The most wonderful thing about Day 1 was that Fuji had taken the bus to ease his cramped legs and as I finished he came up to me and asked quietly “Bro, do you eat beef, I’ve got Ramly Burgers for you”. Best tasting Burger ever!
Ritz Carlton and the perfect roommate
The food and accommodation at Mersing weren’t exactly Ritz Carlton like but we were assured by Sidney and the crew that this was the best Mersing had to offer. I took their words for it as always, got a back massage from the Physio and went to bed.
Gabe turned out to be the perfect roommate. He was sound asleep with the lights on while I removed the extra bottle cages I had been carrying (a testament to the confidence I had in the crew by now). Then I slept as soundly as ever.
Charity Bike and Blade – Day 2
Sunday 28 May 2006:
Another early morning
Gabe woke me up at 6, it felt like noon compared to the first day. I honestly cannot remember what I had for breakfast. It was clear daylight when we got ready to ride and Queen Nur gave out some instructions followed by either John or someone else who said something about staying in groups for safety etc. Everyone must have been as dazed as I was because the biggest group I saw was of 2 – me and Jeff. Luckily Jeff and I hooked up at the beginning of the ride and we planned on riding slowly again.
Fuji was trying out his new Shimano SPDs and clipless shoes. It was painful watching him wear his running shoes and use his instep to pedal up hills on the first day. So I advised him to use his clipless shoes even though I knew he was going to take a few tumbles. I left him early in the ride to avoid talking to him and disturbing him while he was riding.
The unfixable tube
Jeff and I rode out slowly, Jeff nursing a sore back and I still dazed from waking up so early. Some parts of me were either aching or just screaming from having been woken up so early 2 days in a row. Ronald had a tear in his tire which we tried to fix with old tubing but it refused to stay fixed. So we left him behind and later that evening he told me that he was not very pleased that he had to get on the Bus.
I would have loved to prepare better in the weeks/months before the ride by doing at least a couple of 120km rides. But riding had to contend with family, work and the other multitude of things. As a result, the 100km mark felt like the wall that marathoners run into – there was no more energy or enthusiasm left at this point. My mind and the fact that the sweeper Bus was too far behind were the only things that kept me riding. My feet hurt to a point that I could not put any power on the pedal and had to resort to spinning wildly with little or no pressure to keep me going – try this on the hills between Sedili Besar and Sedili Kechil and see how fast you go.
Pizza
Anyway, after enduring the torture and the rains for a while Jeff and I reached a deserted flat section where we saw Gurmeet and another crew car. Gurmeet said “you are 14.9 kilometers from Desaru” and offered Pizza. I gratefully took a slice because there was no way anything I took was going to hurt any more. Miraculously, either because of the Pizza or because I rested my feet for a while or knowing we were so close to the end, all the energy came back and I was really hauling the mail from there on. We reached the roundabout and Jeff announced “5 more hills to go” while there were only 4, I was counting. We got to Pulai and Gabe had already finished the ride and finished a swim to cool off. The rooms were really nice, the food was great and the beer flowed freely. Sleep was not as sound as the first day but I did not tweak the bike any more.
Charity Bike and Blade – Day 3
Monday 29 May 2006:
Decision time
As usual Gabe was all set and ready to go early in the morning. I told him I was not going to ride when he woke me up. But I jumped wide awake when I heard him leave the room. I joined the group at the lobby and shoved some food down my mouth just to keep myself from bonking later. We flagged off after Jimi led us in Prayer.
The pace was really slow and watching the sun come up without as much as a cubic inch of concrete in sight was spectacular. We took in the scenery, swapped stories of the last couple of days and just enjoyed being there. It was a welcome break from being in Raffles Place on a Monday morning.
We rode 20 km out and 20 km back as we were joined by Jason, Desmond and a couple of others. We had more Ramly Burgers at the food court outside Pulai. We took a break and started riding to Belungkor.
Wrong Train
My plan was to ride as fast as possible and decided to stay with Gabe or someone else faster if I could. About a km into the ride I saw Ronald go past and thinking Gabe can’t be too far behind I jumped on to Ronald’s wheel. It was really fun for a while until Jimi and the others joined in and decided to treat the uphills as flats and not slow down. I got dropped and was picked up by Sidney & Gabe’s peloton after the turn from the road with heavy traffic. Soon Foo Yew and I got dropped by them as well and we rode steadily, helping each other when we could until we reached the Ferry Terminal where Foo Yew lost the sprint to the gate. He now has to drink all the beer I buy him, he refused to drink any Beer on the Bike n Blade. Got to catch up with him on this one. . . . .
Everything went smoothly and we were welcomed by the people from St. Andrews Hospital which I must admit was unexpected and a pleasant surprise. I was touched by them and by the spirit of many others during the trip. Special mention must go to Sidney and Jeff my perennial ride buddies, Gabe - who started riding so recently but has already gotten so far, Nur, Fuji, Nick Chia , the crew and so many others. Thanks for a good trip, hope to see you all again next year. Now, if only we could raise the other 100k as targeted, it would be a nice touch as I think the people who dreamed this up really deserve it.
posted by AdvRider at 4:56 PM
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