Saturday 4th June 2011, my first 400 km ride
The 300/ 400 km rides are organised by the Audax which is an association of Long Distance Riders from France, proudly represented in Singapore by my friend and fellow citizen Jean-Francois Torrelle, one of the most passionate cyclists I have ever met. http://audaxsingapore.com/
The day started will a “Changi loop (87 km)” leaving our usual meeting point in Singapore (“Longhouse”) at 1 a.m. after 2 hours sleep. Then breaksfast, met the rest of the group at 4 a.m. and set off for a long day around 4:30 a.m.
We were 12 in total (8 guys doing the 400 km “brevet” and 4 on the 300 km). After the customs clearance, we set our tyres on Malaysian soil. The first part of the ride in Malaysia is not really nice, dodging traffic and potholes on a busy highway in the dark. Fortunately we had so many rear lights that we could be seen a mile away. Some of the guys in the group set a good pace. This was probably the lowest point of the ride as far as I am concerned. We were only 120 km in the ride, it was pitch black and I was struggling to stay awake on the bike.
Rapidly the group split into 2. The most experienced riders thought that the pace was just a bit too fast to ride the distance comfortably and they were probably right. Nevertheless, I decided to stay with the faster group but I kindly asked the guys to slow down the pace a little, which did not really happen. Probably too much excitement to hit some near empty roads. I was thinking to myself “some legs are going to hurt badly this afternoon”. The pace was quite variable with is not really good for long distance efforts.
We stopped for our first lunch around 10 a.m., a full hour ahead of schedule with an average speed around 31.5 km/h after about 200 km.
After lunch, I started to feel good. The tireness of the morning was gone, the legs were good and the Pratas were succulent, although they did not do Banana Pratas, what a shame! Our American friends went for the adventurous food option: Mac Donald's.
We then started a long stretch of 90 kilometers rolling gently in palm plantations. To break the monotony of this long stretch of road, each of us pulled the group for 1 kilometre. We had a break mid-way and one guy, Eric, decided to wait for the slower group (they must have been 1 hour behind by that time). The temperature recorded on my Garmin was steadily going up: 36, 37 and at one stage it went up to 38C. But we were lucky as there was a few clouds in the sky. The faces started to be tensed. I upped the pace a little bit to test the group (sorry I cannot help being competitive). As we reached Kota Tinggi, 1 guy (Dave) was not looking too good and his buddy Jeff waited for him. They carried on at a slower pace. Jeff is an impressive guy, really strong.
We were now down to 4: Alan Grant, the recent winner of the Tour of Thailand in his age group who can talk like a real Scott, Gilles Daumas a seasoned Ironman and excellent cyclist born in the French Alps (so prone to excitement whenever the road goes up) who says about 1 word per hour, Matt Kinch (a new Anza member freshly arrived from Oz and former racer) doing the 300 km and me doing the 400 km.
We were now down to 4: Alan Grant, the recent winner of the Tour of Thailand in his age group who can talk like a real Scott, Gilles Daumas a seasoned Ironman and excellent cyclist born in the French Alps (so prone to excitement whenever the road goes up) who says about 1 word per hour, Matt Kinch (a new Anza member freshly arrived from Oz and former racer) doing the 300 km and me doing the 400 km.
The last part of the ride in Malaysia is hilly. You would think that we were all dreading the hills at that stage. When we struggled to find the hilly route I suggested that we could cut straight to Kulai. Alan and Gilles gave me a funny look saying something “what?! We are not going to miss the best part of the ride!?”. At that stage, I realised that I was riding with seriously insane buddies but they are my friends and I am probably as bad as they are.
Alan and Gilles who are natural climbers pushed the pace through the Kulai hills but I was not going to give up and I think they may have had a surprise when they looked back. Oh Yeah baby I am not going to drop your wheel!
I managed to drag my 84 kilos and my heavy Bianchi up the hills, but after a few hard pushes, they got me. We were just crazy pushing through some hills like if we were racing each other (and I think we were). And surprisingly the legs were not hurting as much as I thought they would but my heart rate was quite fast so Matt and I decided to take it easy and let the two crazy lads contest the King of the Mountains trophy.
We stopped for a few minutes as Matt punctured. Then time for a final water stop before the cruise back to the lovely town of Johor Bahru. Matt who was looking strong throughout the ride started to shiver and his heart rate went into over-drive. He sat down, or actually lied down along the road, waited and by then two our two American friends turned up so he joined them for a nice ride back home. So down to Alan, Gilles and I for the final quick stretch down to JB rolling nicely at about 37 km/h.
Once we got back to Singapore the adreline kicked in (again!) and we started sprinting up Mandai (our usual cycling route). The two crazy Frenchmen and the outgoing Scott were back in Singapore. I looked at my GPS and I was nearing 400 km. I must confess that a thought quickly crossed my mind. Could I do another Changi loop and complete 500 km by midnight? But at that stage I had enough. I still had a bit of fuel left in the legs (not much) but my back, my arms and my wrists were starting to hurt badly.
Back to LongHouse to collect the final stamp of the day (to validate our "brevet"), quick beer to rehydrate, then back home after 411 km at 30.6 km/h in time for dinner. Over 10,000 calories burnt, 10 liters+ drank, 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2,000 meters of climbing. 14 hours on the saddle! I went to bed pretty early on that night, actually I think I fell asleep before the kids.
What a day! Thanks Jean-Francois for the organisation. And Thanks to all my fellow riders. The memories will last forever.
PS: all riders made it back to Singapore without incidents in small groups at various paces. Saw Matt and Gilles this week, they have already recovered from the ride, they were flying up South Buena Vista on a fast Kranji ride.
Here is the ride (only the Malaysian part):
