Training Ride to Mersing

I literally jumped at the opportunity when I saw the post about the Mersing trip on the Joyriders forum. After some quick checks with the MHA, I mailed in my confirmation. I was a bit concerned that I would be slower than the rest of the group. I was to find out later that though I may have been among the slower riders but I made up for it by having trained smartly, getting my eating and drinking strategies right and having much better endurance as a result.

A few emails and text messages later the trip was confirmed and plans were finalized. I was there to enjoy the trip and I did exactly that, I did train as well as I could though. I did my long rides during the weeks I was in Singapore and took easy weeks when I had to travel to India and Australia. These weeks were quite hectic in terms of work and the business socializing (tandoori, schnapps and Kingfisher were staple) that I had to do.

Training the week before the ride had to be a bit aggressive to make up for the lost time in the previous few weeks. I hammered an especially long ride on Tuesday by getting to WC McDonalds early after work and riding about 25k before I joined Mike and the gang for the usual Tuas loop. I had cramps about 35k into the ride which I managed quite well and finished the ride quite strongly. This gave me the confidence that I could manage any physical discomfort on the Mersing ride itself.

The Thursday ride was quite easy but enlightening. I rode with Nur and watched her spin all the way to Tuas and back. The viability of spinning to manage fatigue literally unravelled before my eyes during this ride. I used the technique very effectively during the Mersing ride.

Friday evening was spent trying to rest my legs by lazing in front of the TV. Then I tried to sleep early by getting the kids into bed before 9 but ended up sleeping at around 10.

I met the rest of the group at exactly 6:10 AM but found out that I had forgotten my water bottles. My lovely wife came to the rescue and took a cab to drop off the water bottles, she then bought Tim Sum for breakfast. Two of our most wonderful friends Iris and Johnny drove her back home. This is not the first time these people have gotten me out of my foibles.

When we got to the customs checkpoint at Woodlands I had the pleasure of experiencing the bus lane at Woodlands for the first time in my life. I have been across to Malaysia in a car, a boat, a train, a motorcycle and on a plane. But this was the first time I have taken the bus lane and I have to say it is much, much faster than getting through by car. And to think that I always wondered when I was sitting in my car queuing up how the people who go by bus make it across. Like everything else in life a point of reference brings clarity to experience.

Breakfast was Dim Sum at a little coffee shop in JB. This is when learnt the first good thing about this group. We all dropped $20 into a kitty for drinks and other incidental expenses. This way everyone contributes the same amount and does not hesitate about using up more and the whole group gels together. So much for my “grown up” friends and pulling out wallets and plastic to pay for things all the time. We then went on our way to Desaru, the trip was pretty uneventful and we reached the Pulai hotel, got changed, set up the bikes and ready to roll after a few photos by Colin.

I rolled off spinning the hills in a very small gear. Thinking back, I felt absolutely great after about 120 KM so the conservative start must have worked. I was also very conscious of the need to stay fed and hydrated so I pretty much started drinking endurance drinks straightaway. Then I sucked on a pack of powergel raspberry or plain energy (alternating to keep the taste fresh) almost every hour – having set my powertap to show “energy expended” I used it to gauge my food intake. The mixed fruit jam and butter white bread sandwiches Pauline made were a welcome treat everytime I could get to the van and get my hands on them – they made me look forward to the breaks and kept my mind looking forward to something. In short, my hydration and nutrition strategy worked better than ever before!

I kept reaching the tops of the climbs feeling very strong but I think I may have taken it easy towards the tops and down the hills. This was OK for a training ride but I have to rethink my strategy on these sections when I ride the BnB. I should try to ride hard until I get to the downhill sections and try to conserve the momentum as much as possible to help me up the next hill. To do this I need to train to keep my power up on flats.

Some interesting points to note as far as landmarks and directions are concerned are the new road with the bridge after Sedili (shown in the picture above) which helps avoid the section of road with the WWII bunkers and the traffic there, the road into Tanjong Leman was very challenging with some steep climbs and lots of rolling hills (If you look closely at the picture below, I am the 3rd rider and you can see my head hanging from the climb).

It is possible to start time trialling or hitting the hammer after the T-Junction in the road where we need to make a right turn. It is a fairly longish section with medium sized rollers. A strategy of staying around threshold power/heart rate would probably work well and conserve some energy for the more pronounced climbs that come up just before Mersing. The big school type of building is the highest spot, some hard effort after that if there is still some energy left in the tank would close off the ride to Mersing quite well.

The ride back from Mersing is also likely to have some mean rollers and even some longish climbs at around the 91 KM and 87 KM marks to JB. Need to watch out for these and conserve some energy for them. The last few hills up to Desaru also need some energy if you hope to make a fast run back home.

There are some big rollers as soon as you get out of Tg. Belungkor too. A good strategy would be to spin until you get to the main road and even along the main road before turning right and turning on the power after that depending on how things go. The first 25 KM or so at the beginning of the ride will determine how you feel before the end. Nutrition and hydration are going to play a huge role in the success of the ride.