Week 35 - 24/08 - 30/08

Monday: -

Tuesday: -

Wednesday: -

Thursday: 6km treadmill run

Friday: -

Saturday: -

Sunday: Trail walking at Tasek Lama

Not much happening this week due to I was away in KL for 6 days. I've only managed to run 6 km while I was there. The time was very limited. Sungkai was around 7:23pm - 1 hour behind Brunei and at least 1 hour after that baru dapat berlari but remember to makan ala kadar saja, takut nanti perut panuh, inda mampu terlari. Lapas berlari baru tah makan berabis.

Next week, I'll try to do 3 to 4 times maximum. Some of my friends already started their training on the 2nd day of fasting.

Puasa dan beramal ibadat tetap dibuat tapi latihan tetap diteruskan at a minimum level.

Week 34 - 17/08 - 23/08

Monday: Rest and UF practice at JIGSAW
Tuesday: Morning 7km run
Wednesday: Afternoon trail run at Tasek Lama
Thursday: rest
Friday: Morning Bike Hill Ride 30.95km
Saturday: Rest
Sunday:Rest

2o1o mtb project

I was thinking of buying a TT/triathlon bike early next year 2010 but since I already have a good road bike and there is not that many triathlon competition in Brunei and furthermore only 1 or 2 overseas competition involving a triathlon bike that I’ll be competing, so I’ve decided to put on hold on buying a TT/Triathlon bike for just another year. I don't want my TT bike to be dusty inside the store room due to kurang pemakaian.

Instead I want to buy a full suspension MTB since I'll be using it more often compared to TT bike. My current MTB is 5 years old and it is very heavy (around 15kg).

Target value around 4K with components at least Shimano SLX or SRAM X-7 or a mixture of Shimano XTR/XT/SLX. Most of all, the bike should be RED COLOR. The weight should not exceed 13Kg.

Specialized Full Suspension XC Trail Bike

Stumpjumper FSR or FSRXc

Scott Full Suspension Marathon/Trail Bike

Genius Carbon or Genius Alloy

Trek Full Suspension Marathon/Trail Bike

Top Fuel or Fuel Ex

Expedisi Berbasikal sempena hari keputeraan 63 tahun

 

Registration counter open around 6:45am. Lim Boon Teck of HSBC checking the route with the organizer.

It’s 7:30am. It’s getting hotter and there no sign that the xpdc will start any sooner.

At around 8:10am, the xpdc started and most cyclists are really relieved that their Sunday was not wasted by just standing next to their bicycle waiting for the event to start.

 

The event finished just before 11:00am and the distance covered just around 35km. It took 3 hours to complete the whole journey.

Much of the time was wasted at Yayasan checkpoint. The break was around 30mins and some of the cyclists was really frustrated for lack of respect for the time.

Certificates presentation and Aliuddin managed to get the bicycle again for 2 years in a row.

This year all our group managed to get all the lucky draws prizes. The event finished around 12:10 in the afternoon.

Week 33 - 10/08 - 16/08

Monday: Recovery/Rest
Tuesday: Afternoon 7km run
Wednesday: Afternoon 5 km run
Thursday: Morning trail run 5.60km
Friday: Morning bike ride (hill training) 28.96km
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Expedisi Berbasikal 40KM sempena Hari Keputeraan Ke 63

cycling buddies 0ffroad ride

From Left to Right – Sofian Thani, Mozart, Aliuddin, Zaeidi and Baharudin

Event Name: McFarm Offroad ride (75% offroad) Time & Date: 6:30am, 9th August 2009 - Route: 1) Mc Farm to Shahbandar, off road trail 2) Shahbandar to Jerudong, on road (we climb back up from the fish pond) 3) Jerudong to Katok, off road trail (passing by Tg Bunut) 4) From Katok & back to Mc Farm.

Last Sunday, 9th August 2009, Facebook Group – Cycling Buddies held its 1st anniversary ride – this time OFFROAD version. Last week was already Road ride celebration.

I already had expected that not many MTBikers will show up due to

1. Through Facebook invitation, only 6 riders confirmed their attendance and out of that only 1 did not showed up.

2. Due to last week road ride – Century Ride 160km – where many cyclists did not finished the ride and also the ride was way too fast for some cyclists and some were left behind to ride the route alone thus I guess they don’t want the same thing to happen to them again if they decide to join the MTB ride. Its not fun to be left behind.

3. I guess some of the MTBikers are busy with family functions – Marriage and Doa arwah since fasting month are just in a few weeks time.

4. Maybe 35km off road riding is way too much for them. To tell the truth. this was way too long (distance and time) but that the purpose of the celebration – to test the physical and mental fitness – offroad and onroad.

When the 3 of us arrived at the McFarm car park, it was already late around 6:40am and there were no other cars. Sofian Thani and Mozart was already waiting for us. Their home was just nearby, so they just cycle to the car park. We waited until 7am, nobody showed up and nobody call us up to wait for them. So we just go ahead with the 35km off road riding.

All 5 of us are in the same fitness level, so nobody was left behind and we did not have to wait for too long for the back rider to catch up with the group. It was a HOT HAZY day and it made the ride a bit difficult especially on the climb. On every climb, we did not rest for too long since everybody seems to be not that too tired. The only time that we rest for more than 10 minutes was at the Jerudong small shop – refueling.

35Km offroad – downhill riding, uphill climb, dusty road, sandy road – ALL in one package.

.

This is one BIG killer hill. I was already too tired and I only managed around 30% of the climb. Zaeidi managed to climb all the way without stopping and Mozart managed to climb all the way with 1 stopped and continue the climb again. Sofian and Aliuddin managed to climb around 75%. I would love to try and conquer this hill again.

There were so many hills big and small – Mozart and me was already getting too tired of climbing hills. Sangal udah rasanya meliat bukit. Bukit damit pun macam inda kan ternaik. Boring udah meliat bukit – ada rasa kan muntah. –> that how I was feeling at that time. It was a very challenging mentally.

The ride was divided into 2 parts. McFarm to B.Shahbandar and then from Jerudong fish pond to Katok. The last parts it took us around 2 hours to complete the ride.

Those 4 guys are so happy that they are on top of the world.hahahaha. 34.42km completed in a time of 3:39:36 hours Zaeidi time. My time was around 3:41hours.

Comparing this off road ride 35km with last week Century ride 160km, I would choose this off road ride because it was so much fun and challenging compared to the road ride. With road ride, everyone was sooooo eager to show off their fitness level and speed by half way, almost half decided either to quit or shorten (short-cut) their distance because they cannot keep up with the speed.

Next year anniversary ride will be much better and hopefully more will join in the ride – Road & OFF-road.

Lastly Happy 1st Anniversary to Cycling Buddies and to Sofian Thani, the creator of Cycling Buddies for organizing the ride. Good job Buddy.

Week 32 - 03/08 - 09/08

Monday: Rest/Recovery
Tuesday: Morning run 7.36km
Wednesday: Afternoon UF practice
Thursday: Bukit Salilah 5X hill climb
Friday: Morning road hill ride 28.81km
Saturday: Morning trail run 5.39km
Sunday: Morning McFarm ride 34.42km & Afternoon UF Funday at JP

RTB-DST Tower Hill Climb

Date: Friday, 31st July 2009
Location: RTB-DST Tower Hill
Entrance: Via Kota Batu Road before Muzium
Distance: 1000m (1km) uphill climb all the way with 6 corners
Gradient: Don't know how to grade but the same as Ministry of Foreign Affair (MFA) Hill.
Time Taken To Climb: Don't have time to measure, maybe 8 to 12 mins
Results: Did not managed to climb all the way up non-stop. Have to stop halfway due to energy drain out. Wait for 3 minutes and continue again.



Advice: Try first the MFA Hill. If you can climb the hill smoothly without any problem, then most probably you can finish the climb. MFA hill is 200m S-bend Climb while this hill is 1000m 6 Corners hill i.e. 5X MFA hill. Once you conquered this hill, other hill like Muzium Kota Batu Hill & Mentiri is like peanut. very easy.

Recommended: After going downhill safely, turn left and climb Muzium Kota Batu hill and then to Mentiri Hill. You'll be surprised that its kinda soft or the other way round, you'll collapsed....hahahaha



N.B. I used 39/23 - the lightest possible configuration on my bike and I'm struggling. If the configuration was 39/25, 39/27 or 34/25, that would most probably make my life easier - kali jua tu. I think I need to change my cassette again from 12-23 to 12-27


Next target: This coming friday, 7th August 2009. Morning



Results: Friday Morning, 7th August 2009 - All 3 of us managed to climb in 6:08mins. Next target is to try to get 5:30mins.

Cycling buddies century ride

Event Name: Century Ride 100Miles (160Km) Time & Date: 6:30am, 2nd August 2009 Route:Indoor Stadium-SMJA-Jalan Kebangsaan--Sungai Akar Highway--H.Bolkiah Highway-- Tungku Link -- Muara Tutong Highway--Bukit Beruang --u turn towards Muara-- u turn Muara roundabout -- back to stadium through berakas(lambak).

That was the planned route but due to miscalculation of the distance and a lot of the cyclists don’t have the energy (but still has the heart to go for it), the route was shorten up to Perpindahan Lambak and back to Stadium instead of going all the way to Muara. If we decided to go to Muara, most probably our meter reading would read around 180km.

The ‘Chief Organizer’ Sofian Thani giving last minute briefing before the ride.

Around 35 cyclists showed up for the challenge including 2 cyclists using MTB with big tyres.

Jalan Kebangsaan (7:22am) and everyone was still happy and smiling. 8:25am, taking a break at Bukit Shahbandar. Everyone was still happy and a few complaining that it was too fast.

Tutong Highway (8:38am) which was around 26km to Tutong Mall and along this stretch of highway, is where the challenge really begin. Just after the JP bridge, someone got a puncture, at first the whole group stop but after a few minutes they decided to go on and to meet up at Tutong Mall. After that a few more cyclists got punctured tyres.

After the break at Tutong Mall, a few (more-lah) decided to end their journey and a few decided to wait at Pantai Seri Kenangan to wait for the cyclists that continue their ride to Bukit Beruang and back.

Taking a break at Pantai Seri Kenangan Tutong. By this time 11:21am, less than half already gone. I was still doing fine.

NO PICTURES !!!

After this, no pictures were taken because I was too tired and my leg was already giving up on me. The ride from Pantai Seri Kenangan Tutong to Pantai Jerudong was very hard and alone. At Tasek Biru Police Station, I’ve decided to take a break along with Mike, Zarin and John. I needed the break, it was very hot and I need to massage my leg. John have to end his challenge at this point due to his tyre was severely cut/injured by sharp object.

I had a bad cramped on my right thigh. Sometime it is not a good idea to stop when a cramped occurs. Just continue riding, do some spinning (high cadence) and if that doesn’t work, change to a heavy gear (not to heavy lah), and hopefully it will go away.

What I’ve noticed is, it doesn’t matter how much you drink electrolytes, isotonic, ORS (oral rehydration salt), Powerbar GEL, Dencorub HOT massage,banana, Cramp spray, if you don’t have enough training, rest, recovery period and most important the fitness level, you gonna get cramped.

In conclusion, my fitness/endurance level was only until 90km and an additional 10km without cramped. After that, the leg cannot take it anymore. Thanks to Mike and Zarin for escorting me from Tasek Biru to Pantai Jerudong. Most of us had a small/big cramped. I think the only person that didn't get a cramp was Sofian Thani. He was in a good shape and his fitness level was above us all. Salute !!!!!

At Pantai Jerudong, I guess there were around 13 cyclists ( I think so lah) which include Aliuddin, Zaeidi, Ahmad Fathi, Mike, Zarin and his friend, Shariff, Azizul, Sofian Thani, Boon Teck and friends and maybe a few other cyclists yang inda ku tau atau inda ku nampak.

The road along Perpindahan Lambak Kanan all the way to Berakas Secondary School was very very windy – a strong wind coming from the front. This was not helping at all.

When I reached at Indoor Stadium, I think it was around 2:30pm, there were Ahmad, Aliuddin, Azizul, Sofian, Zahrin and his friend. Zaeidi was no where around. He should be at the indoor stadium before me. Aliuddin call him up and he said he was doing a few more laps around stadium to complete the challenge of 160km. So we (Ali and me) decided to round up the number from 147km to 150km. Actually Aliuddin managed to get 151km. The rests of the cyclists decided to headed home directly leaving their car behind at Indoor Stadium since their home was along the route.

The BIG Makan was at Usoff Cafe Berakas. In attendance were Ali Sofian (the BOSS), Zaeidi, Aliuddin, Rafidah (driver), Michael, Zahrin and friend. We finished around 4pm.\

In conclusion

Covered 150km
Ate 4 Powerbar Gel Tangerine 2X Caffeine (every 30km)
2 sachets of ORS (oral rehydration salts)
3 bottles of 100 plus
3 bottles of mineral water
3 spoons of Powerbar Recovery (at home)
and in return a good experience torturing day. I wouldn't say it was fun lah. It was Challenging.

Next year, if the 2nd Anniversary Ride for Cycling Buddies is still a Century Ride (160km), then I hoped we will be given at least 2 months advance notice, so that I can practice and complete the challenge with ease.

Lastly thank you to Sofian Thani, the creator of Facebook Cycling Buddies - The Organizer and to those who have contributed the ideas and suggestion for the Century Ride.

Next week, Cycling Buddies Anniversary Ride - OFFROAD STYLE. So to those interested in joining the ride, please be at McFarm parking lot by 6:30am. Bring along your MTB with your spare tube, Hydration Bags, Powerbar Gel, Basic bicycle tools. Most importantly do not leave behind your sense of adventure and fun. Without it, you gonna suffer BIG time.

Week 31 - 27/07 - 02/08

Monday: UF practice at Jigsaw
Tuesday: Rest + body massage
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: Morning 10.93km run
Friday: Morning ride 39.18km
Saturday:rest
Sunday: Cycling Buddies Anniversary Ride - Century Ride. Only Managed 150km. Report will follow later. Late afternoon UF funday at JP