#245 - Kulaijaya MTB Jamboree 2012

Oooohh bad idea to do on a night before the race : cramming

View from outside the bus. Around 6AM at the JB Gas Station
where everyone from Singapore assembles before heading on
to races in Malaysia

Nice! The sun hid almost the whole day in Kulai.

My friends fixing up their bikes.

  55Kilometers of trail ! That is what the Kulaijaya

Extreme MTB Jamboree promised us! Actually, we

found that out after we registered. But that's not the point :)

Anyway, this race was made as smooth as possible by

CrestPursuit Owen and StairRider Deck who took care

of all the transport arrangements AND also Edward C.

from PadyakPinoy for helping us with the registration.

I'll spare you the blow by blow account of our travels from

Novena to the race site. However, I continue to be amazed

at how much fanfare the Malaysians could inject into these

bike races. Before the MTB race started, we saw the flag off

for the 120km bike race. There were definitely lots of racers

from Singapore for both the road and MTB race.

So, after the Roadies were sent off to start their 120km race,

we lined up for our MTB race. All the girls were asked to go

to the front and they will be given a 2 minute headstart. We

said bye bye to NoLights Louie as we realized that she's a girl.

Whereas the announcer in the KIP Mart race told us that

there will be no marshalls/medical support if ever we meet

an accident on the trails, the announcer for this race told

us that the trails are wet due to recent rains and that he thinks

we should not run our tyres too hard ... I slowly looked at my

rear wheel ... and before I even saw the Presta valve on my

rim, Roadie Rio emerged out of the fog and told me : "I

know what you are thinking... don't do it. If you do it then

you will have doubted yourself. Believe in yourself. "

... After saying that, he melted away into the fog ... errr
I mean he went further in front because that is his race
strategy.

... and so 2 minutes after the women set off, the announcer
finally let the GU powered peloton take off !

I saw all my friends jostling for position. Me on the other
hand don't want to be in front of people who can go downhill
faster/better than myself and so I literally let everyone go.
I was telling myself : I have 55km to pick off each and
everyone of you one by one ... teeheeheeheee.

The first bottle neck. This is the left side.

... and this is the right side

See! At this stage of the race, I was taking pictures and

conserving energy. BUT it all changed when we

encountered the first stretch of singletrack. Would you

believe everybody, and I mean everybody was pushing

their bikes?! The singletrack was not even technically

challenging. It was just narrow. If you've been to Rooty

Trail here in Singapore, you will be wondering at what

the fuss was about. ... and so I couldn't take it anymore

and asked one local why we were pushing our bikes.

He told me because that was a technical section. Huh??!?!

Really?? I thought there's an accident in front. He

assured me there's no accident. Just that the front

guys can't ride that singletrack. Arrggghhhh!!!!

After emerging out of the singletrack, we went out

into ... something like a plantation ... I tried to catch

some water coming out of the sprinkling system and

the guy in front of me had the same idea. Well bad idea

it turned out as the water hit us while we were going

downhill and the guy in front of me slipped and he rolled

with his bike. I almost ran over the guy. I braked and

asked the guy if he was ok. He told me he's fine but I told

myself no hydrating from sprinklers from now on.

When I reached CP2, I saw two team mates of mine,

Ronald and Neil having a picnic. Their helmets were

off and they were eating bananas and exchanging war

stories. I think they only realised the race is not yet

over when they saw me. I told myself : Aha! My strategy

is working! See these two?! I will overtake them now!

Mwahahaha!

I let them go first and followed immediately behind.

... and while I was planning my next move ... I noticed

I was no longer pedalling! I was swimming in mud!

Yup, it happened that fast. I didn't even have time to

unclip from the pedals. I stood up and said "I'm ok!

I'm ok" ... and then realised nobody cares hehehehe.

So, my two friends cycled thinking I was just behind

them and listening to their conversation.

So, I cycled alone until I got into this verrryyyy long

downhill section. I was off the brakes. The guy in front

of me was quite a long way ahead ... until I couldn't see

the guy anymore. Alarm bells rang in my head and I

started braking ... at the bottom of the section I saw the

guy was trying to wipe away blood from his knees.

It turned out the downhill section ends into a sharp

right turn and he couldn't turn in time. I asked him

if he's ok and he told me he's fine. Good thing

mountain bikers are a macho bunch :)

I caught up with my friends again on CP3. Their

helmets are off again and they were eating more bananas!

I said hello and proceeded to take a leak at the side of the

road thinking I hope I don't get fined for doing that.

Then I think my friends thought I was going to chat for

a while since I'm off my bike but I decided to be

sneaky and took off nyahahahaha.

... Only to find out that the next section is road

and it was damn boring when you don't have anyone

to talk to when cycling on road. But the first surprise

of the race greeted me! After the road section, CP4

was there! Huh?! was that 15KM already??? Can't be!

But who am I to argue? So I doused myself with water

and cycled furiously. I was thinking those people

I let go were not yet dropping like flies to my

superior stragedy , er strategy.

... and while thinking about this, I saw the 2nd surprise

of the race! There on the ground is a stake with a sign

saying "1Km to Base". HUH?!! I'm quite sure I haven't

cycled 54Km yet! If this is 54Km, then there will be

lots of really weak people on the floor nursing their

cramps , at least that was what I was expecting.

But the sign was there and so I stopped for a while

and ate my last GU and Endurolyte capsule and pedalled

as fast as the mud would allow me. I think I passed

6 to 8 people who no doubt are wondering why am

I pedalling like I was after a podium place LOL.

In the end, I got the last sticker that said I was 195th

finisher awwwwwww!

 

Nice view near the end of the race.

Me at the finish line showing some signs of 'buying' some land
in Kulai

A few top 100 finishers in my group.