The 50/50 Ride
by Rin The Jinx

Disclaimer : Names of some individual(s) may have been withheld/changed out of respect(actually, more for fear of repercussions ie. bodily harm, permanent injury to life, limb and bicycle!) and some events that took place may sound fictional…but you have to be there to know the truth!

Knights,
It’s been an enjoyable ride, fun activities, actions and stories during our two day outing on 10/03/2007 and 11/03/2007.

First of all, a BIG THANK YOU to our b’day boy, Derek for initiating this ride and not forgetting his generosity in footing the accommodation and dinner for everyone.

Nevertheless, it’s not just the ride BUT the stories during and after the ride that makes the trip so much more interesting. Too bad some of our crew had to miss this trip.

The plan was to ride hand-in-hand on Sat morning BUT as usual some people broke the pact with excuses such as:-

Day 1:
The Excuses
1) I don’t know where Gap is and I’m looking for it along the way…
2) I need to ride at my own (faster)pace if not I’ll be left behind!
3) Have U lost your contact lenses ah?

The Truth!
1) Mr Kiasu just needed to be ahead from the rest of KOTRT members! He coveted the Yellow Jersey so much, he even declined to stop at Gap when Mr MKH invited him for a drink, he said “No thank U, I need to be ahead of them….I have to be 1st! I’m 1st! I’m 1st!”
2) Mr “Tak Training”(refer excuse No. 2) reached Pine Resort behind Mr Kiasu (refer excuse No. 1)!
3) This “cricket” really kwai-lan….people gasping(facing down) for air, he said people looking for lost contact lenses!

Mr Kiasu reached Pine Resort approximately 30 seconds ahead of the main pack. He cheated by breaking away from the hand-in-hand peleton, starting out almost 15 mins ahead of us from KKB dam. To add salt to the wound, he even coughed sarcastically as we reached Pine Resort. Very unsporting lah and our friend claimed he arrived a long time when in actual fact he only had a mere 30 seconds lead(as attested by eye witness, presently relocated under witness protected program!); we expected more as we stopped to help a friend with his punctured rear tire. :)

( Mr Kiasu has this to say; “Apparently the eye witness were bribed. I hate to reveal the truth….but I also caught them busy talking about golf rather than time keeping . Such is the outcome when you end up # 1 and the price to pay will be blatant backstabbing…. Remember Landis and the drugs !!!” )

Some of the moments to remember…Mr Ellsworth teased the roadies as they ran out of gears while ascending the 15% climb from Gap to Frasers. Needless to say, he “smoked” the roadies riding his mtb up that short burst climb BUT his victory was short lived as the road ahead favored road bike gearing! He got smoked back big time BUT we strongly suspect he was just taking it easy!

After dinner, Derek’s and May’s cake cutting, birthday wishes and cheers, it was time for sing-song-talk-kok session. The organizing committee sat down to plan for day 2, Sun ride. Initial route planned was from Frasers to Bentong, then changed again from Frasers to Raub and back. The route was again changed for the 3rd time as some kiasu members felt that the 1st day ride was way too short and would like the 2nd day, Sun ride to be more “challenging”(read intimidating!). We also obligated our b’day boy’s wish to end the 2nd day ride with a climb! Of course, it was also to be a surprise ride for our Yellow Jersey Mr Kiasu and what a surprise he’ll be in for!

( Quoted from Mr Kiasu; “More dirty tricks to beat the champ. Take note to all readers. I take with stride as a champion with the evil plot that continued.” )

Day 2 :
Aiyah! As we were getting ready to leave, Mr Keo let the cat out of the bag and Mr Kiasu caught wind of Sun’s actual route! We could see Mr Kiasu getting restless and apprehensive. We wondered what he was scheming next to have the edge over us. He even lubed his chain after he saw Proton 1 doing it before the ride started. Anything to make him that little bit faster!

( Quoted from Mr Kiasu: “I have a secret plan which was hatching to teach the cheaters a lesson.” )

The ride down to Tranum was awesome! Our B’day Boy(inspired by the Audi Quattro TT?) overtook us during the descend. J The awesome downhill was interrupted twice when the same friend we stopped to help on Sat suffered similar punctures again and again on his rear tire! L Although we counted two punctures he had on our descend Yang Alim corrected us that our friend actually had three punctures on Sun! More of this later…read on! :)

We regrouped with Mr MKH and the rest at Tranum. The pace was smooth and easy going(25ish km/h) for the 1st 20mins or so as Mr MKH wanted to warm up. Soon as he warmed up, it was roaring thunder as he shifted to the big chain ring, with gears mashing and the pace was pushed to an average 36km/h(please refer to speed file attached). The peleton headed by Proton 1, Proton 2, Khalib, Mr MKH and Mano was fast but consistent. The pace was constant at 40ish km/h until we reached the main road junction. Our pace resumed after we crossed the main road towards Bentong town. Everything was fine, pace was comfortable till Mr “Tak Training” came along and kacau daun! He overtook the main peleton with a little help from Mr 18-wheeler! Proton 2 then increased the pace just to let Mr “Tak Training” know who’s “The Boss!”

With all the adrenaline of the speed, the challenge of the chase and keeping up with the fast and furious, the pact to ride hand-in-hand had been forgotten! We only realized some of the crew behind the peleton had dropped when we hit Bentong town to regroup. Time to look for Bentong’s famous Ais Kacang and Nasi Lemak! Eat to ride, ride to eat mah! :)

Proton 2 lead us to Kow Po Restaurant for the ice kacang. As ST reminded us earlier, the nasi lemak stall starts late, so we made do with the ice kacang. Every one enjoyed the much deserved break. However someone just stopped a while for a drink and continued to ride ahead. He could not afford to rest as he just warmed up by the time he got to town. He was concerned his legs might take a while to warm up again and might not be able to follow the peleton’s continued pace. It’s just like diesel powered engine lah… :)

We were about to leave Kow Po, when we received a call from our friend that he had lost his way…he was approaching the Karak Highway instead of the old road to Genting Sempah!

No problem. He joined the peleton soon enough as we paced slowly to warm our legs. Mr Kiasu made sure he’s ahead of us and he rode right behind Proton 2 who lead the peleton from Bentong towards Genting Sempah. BUT his kiasu-ness was a short-lived one. The moment we hit the climb, Proton 2 handed over the lead to him…po-ooff! He got dropped as he was unable to pull the peleton! That was the last we saw of Mr Kiasu!

( Quoted from Mr Kiasu; “The secret plan never materiaised as the evil plan was too evil. I suddenly felt dizzy at that point when I led from Proton 2. May have been drugged at the ice kacang shop. More evil scheme unfolded . As I write I am gathering more evidence. My secret plan will have to wait till the next time….” )

The pace was fast and furious…Proton 2, Proton 1, Philippino guy, Khalib, Mr MKH, Mano and Mr Colnago were consistently pacing at 32km/h during uphill! I was just hanging on to them like a leech and my legs felt all pumped as if it was going to explode! They surged again! This time Mr "Exercise Only", Philippino guy and myself were dropped!
Out of no where, Team Discovery “overtook” us furiously, double line, any line also potong...all this in an attempt to smuggle their Yellow Jersey contender! Remember ChipsMore advertisement? “Kejap ada, kejap tak ada!”….macam-macam ada and macam Jeannie in a bottle...grant my wish to be in front of the peleton! :)

However, Team Discovery’s plan was busted when I saw the smuggled bike in their car as they overtook us. Alas, their rider also got dropped by the fast peleton as he was unable to cope with the pressure for less than a few hundred meters.

Mr “Exercise Only” and myself just kept riding at our own pace. I occasionally turned around to see if there were other riders to share the leap and to keep check in case some other riders do a David Cooperfield magic and pull up behind us when we least expected them to! J Anyway, Mr Kiasu claimed that both of us were within his sights but I doubt it! During the time I turned to check he was no where in sight! My eye-sight could be bad BUT not that bad…ha-ha-ha…mau tipu pun kena lah pandai sikit! :p

The last 8km to the peak was the best, I observed Mr “Exercise Only” doing some acrobatic/yoga moves on his bike! Man! I have to learn his moves, I guess that helped him to be the fastest among the KOTRT riders.
Mr MKH had this to say when he greeted both of us at Petronas Genting Sempah; “Ini jersey mia orang manyak dahsyat loh…mesti tak mau mati mia…jaga muka kuat! Macam-macam taktik pun ada!” :)

We thought the story ended there BUT there were more to come! Mr Keo and Mr TT arrived almost 15mins later and a confession was made on the spot! This wasn’t the usual confession done behind a partition like the one in the Church! We will keep his identity a secret for the time being…

Commando and Mr “Tak Training” were still nowhere to be seen. Finally our support driver, Yang Alim showed up. He shared some rather interesting stories of deception ie. another KOTRT rider CONveniently CONvinced his friend(the one with two tire punctures) that Genting Sempah was another 20km to go although they were actually only 1km away! Yang Alim mentioned in total this poor guy got punctured for the 3rd time today…twice on his tires and third time himself! :)

We were feeling rather penat after the ride but excuses were cooked up to cover the ensuing bloopers ie. someone left his Oakley behind, one was looking for his cyclometer although the meter has long gone missing since last IS2006 and someone actually left his bicycle behind! Luckily his bike was left where we were resting, else it would’ve been “God’s Gift” to some lucky person!

Mr Kiasu as usual never admitted to being tired. He even had an excuse for his car not coping up with the convoy speed of 110km/h. I volunteered to drive his car on our way back and guess what? Mr “Exercise Only” and Mr TT were unable to chase after us! J It’s not the arrow BUT the Indian lah!!!

Day 2
The Excuses
1) I need as many advantages, lubing my chain is one of it…
2) I can follow the peleton BUT they were gone after I took a drink!
3) Yoga can be done anywhere, even on the bicycle!
4) I’m NOT cheating, I’m holding to the car to adjust my shoe cleat, technically I’m right!
5) Jeannie help me, make my wish came true! I was sent ahead of the peleton!
6) It’s still far…another 20 clicks to go, we better rest here!
7) I don’t even consume any PowerGel or PowerBar BUT those things went missing! Must have dropped out from my jersey along the way.
8) Worn shoe cleat = maximum power transfer

The Truth
1) It’s not the arrow BUT the Indian!
2) Every ride, new tricks. More to add to KOTRT’s glossary
3) Jeannie in a bottle ah? Magic Carpet? :)
4) Tak penat…hibernate je!(please refer attached)
5) 1st day Yellow Jersey lead the main pack by 30seconds, 2nd day Yellow Jersey arrived after 30mins. So overall Mr

Kiasu lost 29mins 30 seconds lah! Mathematic Brother! :)

Our THANKs to Derek for organizing one of the best road ride and to all for making this such a memorable weekend!

The ride reminded me of our peleton during IS2005 from Kuantan to Kuala Terengganu etc.

Looking forward to more long road ride excursions in the near future!

Thanks & regards
Jinx.