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| Muar's Landmark |
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| Street food for our dinner |
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| Muar's streets were closed due to a parade |
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| Nice day for a race. The sun hid all morning, there was a hint of fog and for a while there I thought it would rain. |
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| All smiles. Me in blue being a snob. |
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| This is already part of the trail ... but you may be forgiven for thinking this is a road race. |
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| Last few meters |
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| Exchanging war stories |
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| All smiles. She has been in the podium for all three races that we have joined in Malaysia. 5th here in Muar... and she donated her winnings as beer money. |
I have always heard CrestPursuit Owen mention
stories about the Muar race/jamboree ... and I have
always wondered what's so special.... and so after
having been bitten by the 'racing' bug, I trawled
through malaysiacycling.blogspot.com and saw that
THE Muar Jamboree is to be held on the 1st of July
and that entries are limited to 1,500 people only!
So! A vote was called and IronMan Randy, Uncle Bal
and the recently nicknamed Podium Louie were voted
as the organizers for this road trip / race. ...
errrrr actually, there was no vote. But those three
can't stand being disorganized so they volunteered
themselves hehehe.
Anyway, after a lot of phone calls to Malaysia,
exchanging of POSB accounts and reminders that of all
the fruits in the world only bananas have a heart
(hmmm nevermind the banana part. something got
lost in translation), IronMan Randy managed to get
all 19 of us registered in the race, Podium Louie
managed to get us a 3 star hotel for just 12SGD per
head and Uncle Bal managed to get a very very nice
bus for us and our bikes... complete with a very
accomodating driver.
We left Singapore on Saturday morning and since
the bus ride is 2 hours plus, we asked the driver
to bring us someplace where we can have lunch...
and so we had a five-course lunch at Yong Peng :-)
... not just that, before we went to the hotel, the
driver asked us if we would like to see the race
start site. We said yes and he drove us to the race
start.. and found lots of people being busy preparing
the grounds for the race tomorrow.
Once we reached the RiverView Hotel, we just dumped
our stuff and bikes in our rooms and off we went to
explore Muar. There seems to be a festival going on
as some of the streets were closed. We can walk in the
middle of the streets and there was even a parade in
the late afternoon. It was a nice, laid back place.
The only problem was the language barrier ... the
hawkers can't speak English. Good thing that between
me knowing how to count in chinese and Rico's meagre
knowledge of Malay, we were able to order drinks.
Hehehehe of course, quote of the day belongs to Sugar
Rush Rey... or is it the hawker serving us?
It goes something like this :
hawker : what do you want to drink (in Malay)
Efren : Asahi Beer
hawker : ok
Me : Coke
hawker : ok
StairRider Deck : Carlsberg
hawker : ok
Sugar Rush Rey : Let me think ....
hawker : Lemon Tea, ok
All of us : nyahahahahaha
After the drinks, we decided to go where we could just
point to the food and do less talking. Or else, we might
get inundated with Lemon Tea. So we went to this place
where there are lots of street food and had our dinner
there. After dinner, on the way to the hotel, we saw a
parade comprised of children from different schools.
When we got back to the hotel, some of us played billiards
and drank a few bottle of beers. Podium Louie, Brother Louie
and I went for a massage. It was lights out at around 11PM.
Our bus picked us up at around 7AM and we thought that we
will be the first ones in the race site. But when we got there,
it seems all the racers were already there! We quickly got
our race numbers and proceeded to go to the race start gate
where we had to wait for 45 minutes because the race start
is exactly at 8:30AM.
I wasn't in a talking mood most mornings and this morning
is one of those. That's because I didn't sleep properly
due to one of my roommates snoring so loudly. My roommates
are Uncle Bal and Podium Louie. Guess who is the loud snorer :-)
to go all out since the first 8km was road. We were on a slight
downhill and everybody was pedalling furiously and passing me
left and right. I looked at my CatEye and was surprised that
lots of people were passing me when I was going at 47kph!
(Later on my friends said they were going at 50+kph)
Hmmmm there are lots of people and it is very clear that not
everyone were expert cyclists. I got nervous and feathered
my brakes until I got to 42kph. I told myself there will surely
be an accident here... and true enough, just before we went
into the trail, on the left, lots of volunteers were assisting
some one who obviously took a spill. I hope that guy is ok.
... and while I was doing my mindless pedalling technique,
Brother Louie and AirTime Mark passed me.
From the trail head to CP1 was just rolling terrain. I reached
CP1 and found Ronald and his nephew, Brother Louie and Airtime
Mark and Podium Louie. All of them took off quickly and last
to take off was Podium Louie followed by me.
Last thing I heard from the organizers were : 'go slowly,
singletrack ahead!!'
CP1 to CP2
The singletrack reminded me of Scorpion Trail (sniff sniff).
But this one is a long and dry Scorpion Trail. Anyway, if you
can clear Butterfly Trail, then this piece of singletrack is
very easy for you. All this time, I can still see my friends
in front of me.
After we exited the singletrack, I managed to pass Podium
Louie and I told her that we should go and chase the rest...
... and then I saw it.
It's THE climb. But at that time I didn't know it since I
can't see the end of it. Podium Louie and I started slogging
using our granny gears. While pedalling, I can still see some
of our friends disappear on the top (I thought it was already the top)
of the climb.... and then a light bulb flashed in my head and
I got off my bike and I started to run and push my bike.
I thought when I get to the top, my heart rate will be lower
than if I spin on my granny gears.... but when I got to the
'top' I saw that the climb continued on to the right. But there
was no way to get back on the bike anymore as the climb was
quite steep ... arrrgghhhh and so my strategy turned into another
stragedy. The worst part was when I thought I reached the top
(for the 2nd time), the climb continued again :(
Anyway, when the climb was finally over, I cycled again and
saw these two guys who were poised for a split second at the
start of what obviously looked like a downhill section (what
comes up ... must go down). I thought what's up with
these guys? It's just a downhill section. When I finally got there,
I knew why they didn't want to go down. The downhill was
steeper than the China Bowl Section in Ketam and it was very
long! Not just that! There is a cliff on the right side and
view is actually fantastic! But I remembered one of the basic
rules in cycling : you will go where you are looking. So if I keep
looking at the cliff, I will eventually go there! I semi-ignored
the cliff and went down.
There was another climb that is similar to the previous climb
but much shorter. I managed to clear the second climb as
I have learned my lesson already. No more 'bright ideas' from
now on.
After a few more rolling terrain and I got to CP2.
CP2 to CP3
I think this is where the mountain was taken out of this
mountain bike race. From what I remember, this stretch consisted
of paved dirt path. I managed to go behind a guy dressed in
a black Scott kit. His cadence was consistent and we were going at
28-30kph. He noticed me behind him and after a while I signalled
that I will go in front and he go draft me (in an MTB race?!?!?!).
So this arrangement went on for a while ... until the guy suddenly
threw a tantrum! He braked and he seemed to be saying "why are we
pedalling like this on a mountain bike race" or something...
So I left him and after a few more minutes I reached CP3.
CP3 to Finish Line
I think there were many of us who reached CP3 at the same time
because I remembered one of the volunteers shouting :
Roooaaaaaddddd!!!!
I swear everybody in front me of hunkered and did their best
aero tuck on a mountain bike. I managed to hang on the coat tails
of one guy in another black jersey. We were going at around 32-35kph
all thanks to him. This stretch is like the roads in Pulau Ubin.
The two of us passed two more guys who decided to hang on our coat
tails as well. The four of us took turns in pulling the group (on
a mountain bike race??!!) until we reached the main road. The main
road leading to the finish line was going up and so our group became
separated. In the end only I and the guy in black was left. I got
a medal saying I was 495th and I looked for my friends and plonked
my ass and refused to stand up for picture taking hehehe.
Historical Moment in this Race
The hands down winner for this honor... is again Sugar Rush Rey.
It goes like this :
Sugar Rush Rey (rushing to checkpoint and shouting at the top of his
lungs) : give me 100 plussssss !!!!!!!!
One of the marshalls gave him a Salonpas (LOL)
Sugar Rush Rey then decided 100+? salonpas? sounds the same?
So he went and sprayed the salonpas on his face. (LOL)
stories about the Muar race/jamboree ... and I have
always wondered what's so special.... and so after
having been bitten by the 'racing' bug, I trawled
through malaysiacycling.blogspot.com and saw that
THE Muar Jamboree is to be held on the 1st of July
and that entries are limited to 1,500 people only!
So! A vote was called and IronMan Randy, Uncle Bal
and the recently nicknamed Podium Louie were voted
as the organizers for this road trip / race. ...
errrrr actually, there was no vote. But those three
can't stand being disorganized so they volunteered
themselves hehehe.
Anyway, after a lot of phone calls to Malaysia,
exchanging of POSB accounts and reminders that of all
the fruits in the world only bananas have a heart
(hmmm nevermind the banana part. something got
lost in translation), IronMan Randy managed to get
all 19 of us registered in the race, Podium Louie
managed to get us a 3 star hotel for just 12SGD per
head and Uncle Bal managed to get a very very nice
bus for us and our bikes... complete with a very
accomodating driver.
We left Singapore on Saturday morning and since
the bus ride is 2 hours plus, we asked the driver
to bring us someplace where we can have lunch...
and so we had a five-course lunch at Yong Peng :-)
... not just that, before we went to the hotel, the
driver asked us if we would like to see the race
start site. We said yes and he drove us to the race
start.. and found lots of people being busy preparing
the grounds for the race tomorrow.
Once we reached the RiverView Hotel, we just dumped
our stuff and bikes in our rooms and off we went to
explore Muar. There seems to be a festival going on
as some of the streets were closed. We can walk in the
middle of the streets and there was even a parade in
the late afternoon. It was a nice, laid back place.
The only problem was the language barrier ... the
hawkers can't speak English. Good thing that between
me knowing how to count in chinese and Rico's meagre
knowledge of Malay, we were able to order drinks.
Hehehehe of course, quote of the day belongs to Sugar
Rush Rey... or is it the hawker serving us?
It goes something like this :
hawker : what do you want to drink (in Malay)
Efren : Asahi Beer
hawker : ok
Me : Coke
hawker : ok
StairRider Deck : Carlsberg
hawker : ok
Sugar Rush Rey : Let me think ....
hawker : Lemon Tea, ok
All of us : nyahahahahaha
After the drinks, we decided to go where we could just
point to the food and do less talking. Or else, we might
get inundated with Lemon Tea. So we went to this place
where there are lots of street food and had our dinner
there. After dinner, on the way to the hotel, we saw a
parade comprised of children from different schools.
When we got back to the hotel, some of us played billiards
and drank a few bottle of beers. Podium Louie, Brother Louie
and I went for a massage. It was lights out at around 11PM.
Our bus picked us up at around 7AM and we thought that we
will be the first ones in the race site. But when we got there,
it seems all the racers were already there! We quickly got
our race numbers and proceeded to go to the race start gate
where we had to wait for 45 minutes because the race start
is exactly at 8:30AM.
I wasn't in a talking mood most mornings and this morning
is one of those. That's because I didn't sleep properly
due to one of my roommates snoring so loudly. My roommates
are Uncle Bal and Podium Louie. Guess who is the loud snorer :-)
Start to CP1
We were all let go at exactly 8:30AM and everybody proceededto go all out since the first 8km was road. We were on a slight
downhill and everybody was pedalling furiously and passing me
left and right. I looked at my CatEye and was surprised that
lots of people were passing me when I was going at 47kph!
(Later on my friends said they were going at 50+kph)
Hmmmm there are lots of people and it is very clear that not
everyone were expert cyclists. I got nervous and feathered
my brakes until I got to 42kph. I told myself there will surely
be an accident here... and true enough, just before we went
into the trail, on the left, lots of volunteers were assisting
some one who obviously took a spill. I hope that guy is ok.
... and while I was doing my mindless pedalling technique,
Brother Louie and AirTime Mark passed me.
From the trail head to CP1 was just rolling terrain. I reached
CP1 and found Ronald and his nephew, Brother Louie and Airtime
Mark and Podium Louie. All of them took off quickly and last
to take off was Podium Louie followed by me.
Last thing I heard from the organizers were : 'go slowly,
singletrack ahead!!'
CP1 to CP2
The singletrack reminded me of Scorpion Trail (sniff sniff).
But this one is a long and dry Scorpion Trail. Anyway, if you
can clear Butterfly Trail, then this piece of singletrack is
very easy for you. All this time, I can still see my friends
in front of me.
After we exited the singletrack, I managed to pass Podium
Louie and I told her that we should go and chase the rest...
... and then I saw it.
It's THE climb. But at that time I didn't know it since I
can't see the end of it. Podium Louie and I started slogging
using our granny gears. While pedalling, I can still see some
of our friends disappear on the top (I thought it was already the top)
of the climb.... and then a light bulb flashed in my head and
I got off my bike and I started to run and push my bike.
I thought when I get to the top, my heart rate will be lower
than if I spin on my granny gears.... but when I got to the
'top' I saw that the climb continued on to the right. But there
was no way to get back on the bike anymore as the climb was
quite steep ... arrrgghhhh and so my strategy turned into another
stragedy. The worst part was when I thought I reached the top
(for the 2nd time), the climb continued again :(
Anyway, when the climb was finally over, I cycled again and
saw these two guys who were poised for a split second at the
start of what obviously looked like a downhill section (what
comes up ... must go down). I thought what's up with
these guys? It's just a downhill section. When I finally got there,
I knew why they didn't want to go down. The downhill was
steeper than the China Bowl Section in Ketam and it was very
long! Not just that! There is a cliff on the right side and
view is actually fantastic! But I remembered one of the basic
rules in cycling : you will go where you are looking. So if I keep
looking at the cliff, I will eventually go there! I semi-ignored
the cliff and went down.
There was another climb that is similar to the previous climb
but much shorter. I managed to clear the second climb as
I have learned my lesson already. No more 'bright ideas' from
now on.
After a few more rolling terrain and I got to CP2.
CP2 to CP3
I think this is where the mountain was taken out of this
mountain bike race. From what I remember, this stretch consisted
of paved dirt path. I managed to go behind a guy dressed in
a black Scott kit. His cadence was consistent and we were going at
28-30kph. He noticed me behind him and after a while I signalled
that I will go in front and he go draft me (in an MTB race?!?!?!).
So this arrangement went on for a while ... until the guy suddenly
threw a tantrum! He braked and he seemed to be saying "why are we
pedalling like this on a mountain bike race" or something...
So I left him and after a few more minutes I reached CP3.
CP3 to Finish Line
I think there were many of us who reached CP3 at the same time
because I remembered one of the volunteers shouting :
Roooaaaaaddddd!!!!
I swear everybody in front me of hunkered and did their best
aero tuck on a mountain bike. I managed to hang on the coat tails
of one guy in another black jersey. We were going at around 32-35kph
all thanks to him. This stretch is like the roads in Pulau Ubin.
The two of us passed two more guys who decided to hang on our coat
tails as well. The four of us took turns in pulling the group (on
a mountain bike race??!!) until we reached the main road. The main
road leading to the finish line was going up and so our group became
separated. In the end only I and the guy in black was left. I got
a medal saying I was 495th and I looked for my friends and plonked
my ass and refused to stand up for picture taking hehehe.
Historical Moment in this Race
The hands down winner for this honor... is again Sugar Rush Rey.
It goes like this :
Sugar Rush Rey (rushing to checkpoint and shouting at the top of his
lungs) : give me 100 plussssss !!!!!!!!
One of the marshalls gave him a Salonpas (LOL)
Sugar Rush Rey then decided 100+? salonpas? sounds the same?
So he went and sprayed the salonpas on his face. (LOL)
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