Ipoh Ride #2 : 2011 Ipoh Century Ride

- July 21, 2011

On Saturday, we had a good day of rest and massages. Registered for the event, made a new pair of spectacles (destroyed mine the previous day no thanks to the fall) and met up with the contingent from Singapore. Great to see Mark, BP and Gary in my town. We went out for dinner at a local joint together with some of the guys from Performance Cycles. Fully carbo-loaded for the next day!

On Sunday, we Ben and I cycled from my home to rendezvous with the rest of the Masher group at their hotel then proceeded to Dataran Ipoh, the designated start area. The initial start was slow as there were 1200 participants this year (a record high)...it started with a rolling start where we were led out of town at a modest speed of 25-28km/h. At a turnoff near Gopeng, the ride went to full pace and it was to me a "omigod!" pace! Right after the turn all hell broke lose as everyone sprinted to stay with the front groups. At some point we were cycling up to 53km/h! The pace was locked > 38 km/h for long periods with one stretch of 20km hitting averages of 40+km/h. It was not as bad of course as we were in a huge group up front.

I was mostly with Ben for this ride. We did not stop at any of the stops, just grab a drink and go. At the halfway point, the average speed achieved was 36+ km/h. The sun was getting higher in the sky and temperatures rose accordingly. Average speeds dropped to 35km/h and I was popping in gels like candy. Ben veered to the left and I passed him but thinking to see what happened I turned back. His post went loose and had to tighten it. Went to take a leak. That cost us about 8-10 minutes I believe (some queue at the toilet!).

When we were ready to go, there were no more big groups to follow. We had to do all the work. We picked up and I motioned to those riders to join up and "kerjasama" some did most didn't. Before long, we were leading a train of rider behind! Amazing. After a while of leading at 33-34km/h we backed off and motioned some riders to come up front, none did! Luckily after a while some guys came up from the back to join us up front and there were 4-5 of us cooperating until the last water stop. No thanks to come KHcycle jersey guy who tailed us and when it was his turn to lead, he just sped off.....but we picked him up again soon after that. Dumb.

The road to the last waterstop was the worst....neverending and hot! We were all relieved when we reached it and I got a nice sponge cold water bath which rejuvenated me. We surged towards the finish....led with another 2 guys (a Pina with Di2 and an old skool 6-7 speeder!)...passing through Kg.Kepayang and then passing Sam Poh Tong towards Ipoh town. Ben at one point told me to go on at Sam Poh Tong with about 9km to go. Arrived at Dataran Ipoh at 12pm sharp....total of 5hr on the road. Final time was 4hr 58mins.....not bad and achieved my goal of doing it below 5hrs. Gary and some of the PC guys arrived in about 10mins earlier...boy these older gentlemen were FAST!

We all had a good nice rest just bumming around after that and enjoying the lucky draw and result announcements. What a nice event!