Charity Bike n Blade 2009
This was the single most toughest ride I've ever had to face up to till now!
Ben started it all and I jumped on the bandwagon. We had to collect SGD900 each to participate, he had some spillover donations so he passed some on to me to ease my collection woes (I work in an engineering firm, guys here are either stingy or too lowly paid). Managed to get some of our cycling friends to donate as well so thanks guys! Its for a good cause.
The Charity BnB this year (as always organized by the folks at The Salvation Army) was held 5-6th September. 70 riders and countless more support guys participated in this event. We took a boat from Changi Ferry Terminal to Tg. Belungkor in Malaysia, which was to be our starting point.
The ride took us 150+km up north to Mersing on day 1 and back the same route on day 2. The rolling hills were quite bad toward the last bit and the weather on the first day was not too nice. It was really hot! Good thing was that the support vehicles were always around to pass us drinks, food etc. Also, the fact that it was a fun ride so no pressure at all as to how long we need to take to complete the ride. Ben and I stayed with the faster guys almost till halfway until they stopped for lunch or something. We were too tired to eat!
Our food were bananas (lots of them, my rear pockets were pretty much stuff with them!) and some power gels. Tried my first ever power gel and it tasted terrible. Much like eating toothpaste, except its much thicker.
We reached Hotel Seri Malaysia at Mersing at about 3pm or so, and we think within the top 10! Average riding speed was about 28km/h which is quite fast for us!
We checked into our room and went down for a well deserved complimentary massage arranged by the event organizers. For dinner, we cycled in our normal clothes and slippers around town. We made sure we ate enough and we did eat a lot!
The next morning it started to drizzle upon kick off and it rained for a good 2 hours. Contrary to expectations, the rain was very much a sigh of relief as throughout the ride, the air was cool and the sky was cloudy. It was a very nice, pleasant ride back. Ben and myself rode up with Paul (who was on a really nice vintage Tommasini) all the way back to the Ferry. Yeah, we had roti canai at the halfway point. One of the best I've tasted....well, with that kind of effort expended, anything would have tasted great!
All in all a great trip, wonderful experience, good workout and most of all the thought of going through all this for something meaningful, is really priceless. I will join again if have it next year.
Kudos to the organizers and those people who supported the entire ride! And for the photographers who took all these magnificent photos!
Me drafting Ben on Day 1, please don't fart!
The duo from Perak! Ben on his newly acquired CIOCC and my PIU!
This is a familiar sight throughout the ride....endless roads....
We can't help but smile as the photographer's car passed us...believe me, we were suffering
A most impressive shot!
One hill down couple of hundreds to go....
Sights as above were commonplace...we were only 2 guys!
Stop to top up on some sports drink.....
Reluctant faces at breakfast on day 2...
Right before the ride on day 2
Look who's there. Our dear friend from NUS is a marshall!
Ben, trying to keep up with the fast legs of Jack
Jack with his new helmet and obviously aching legs..
I blocked myself!
Ben wishing he was on the bike behind him
Day 2 Lead Group, I was with them with Ben until they decided to go fast and I got dropped. Ben manage to follow but got dropped 20kms on.
Day 2 right before the ride at Hotel Seri Malaysia
And here's the elevation profile recorded by my Edge....
Ben started it all and I jumped on the bandwagon. We had to collect SGD900 each to participate, he had some spillover donations so he passed some on to me to ease my collection woes (I work in an engineering firm, guys here are either stingy or too lowly paid). Managed to get some of our cycling friends to donate as well so thanks guys! Its for a good cause.
The Charity BnB this year (as always organized by the folks at The Salvation Army) was held 5-6th September. 70 riders and countless more support guys participated in this event. We took a boat from Changi Ferry Terminal to Tg. Belungkor in Malaysia, which was to be our starting point.
The ride took us 150+km up north to Mersing on day 1 and back the same route on day 2. The rolling hills were quite bad toward the last bit and the weather on the first day was not too nice. It was really hot! Good thing was that the support vehicles were always around to pass us drinks, food etc. Also, the fact that it was a fun ride so no pressure at all as to how long we need to take to complete the ride. Ben and I stayed with the faster guys almost till halfway until they stopped for lunch or something. We were too tired to eat!
Our food were bananas (lots of them, my rear pockets were pretty much stuff with them!) and some power gels. Tried my first ever power gel and it tasted terrible. Much like eating toothpaste, except its much thicker.
We reached Hotel Seri Malaysia at Mersing at about 3pm or so, and we think within the top 10! Average riding speed was about 28km/h which is quite fast for us!
We checked into our room and went down for a well deserved complimentary massage arranged by the event organizers. For dinner, we cycled in our normal clothes and slippers around town. We made sure we ate enough and we did eat a lot!
The next morning it started to drizzle upon kick off and it rained for a good 2 hours. Contrary to expectations, the rain was very much a sigh of relief as throughout the ride, the air was cool and the sky was cloudy. It was a very nice, pleasant ride back. Ben and myself rode up with Paul (who was on a really nice vintage Tommasini) all the way back to the Ferry. Yeah, we had roti canai at the halfway point. One of the best I've tasted....well, with that kind of effort expended, anything would have tasted great!
All in all a great trip, wonderful experience, good workout and most of all the thought of going through all this for something meaningful, is really priceless. I will join again if have it next year.
Kudos to the organizers and those people who supported the entire ride! And for the photographers who took all these magnificent photos!
Me drafting Ben on Day 1, please don't fart!
The duo from Perak! Ben on his newly acquired CIOCC and my PIU!
This is a familiar sight throughout the ride....endless roads....
We can't help but smile as the photographer's car passed us...believe me, we were suffering
A most impressive shot!
One hill down couple of hundreds to go....
Sights as above were commonplace...we were only 2 guys!
Stop to top up on some sports drink.....
Reluctant faces at breakfast on day 2...
Right before the ride on day 2
Look who's there. Our dear friend from NUS is a marshall!
Ben, trying to keep up with the fast legs of Jack
Jack with his new helmet and obviously aching legs..
I blocked myself!
Ben wishing he was on the bike behind him
Day 2 Lead Group, I was with them with Ben until they decided to go fast and I got dropped. Ben manage to follow but got dropped 20kms on.
Day 2 right before the ride at Hotel Seri MalaysiaAnd here's the elevation profile recorded by my Edge....
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