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| The first fall!!! This rider from Defi continued all the way to Pontian with a huge bandage |
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| "First Gentlemen" all ready to assist the riders |
The breakfast area was already abuzz at 6 am in the morning. Gathering outside the lobby later, saw Anna and Maggie doing Yoga stretches. Both have never done long distance riding and were taking it seriously today.
Mingling with yesterday's arrivals were Alex, Boon Yow and Say Yeow. The trio had driven to Kluang this morning to join the ride. In fact, Christina and Cathy came along to send the boys off.
After the ceremonial group photo, we rode 1 km downhill to Taman Tasik Kluang to meet the locals. Supposedly a funride co-organized with Majlis Perbandaran Kluang, the reception there was dismal. Other than the incessantly loud speakers blasting aerobic tunes, we did not see many riders out there. Yet, MPK still arranged their own ambulance support as their riders will only escort us out of the town before turning back.
After the official sounding of the airhorn, we rolled out and turned left almost immediately to climb up Jalan Pejabat Kerajaan. It was quite an assault especially so soon after breakfast. As she heaved and huffed, Claudine could almost feel the spicy curry puff from breakfast making its way back up her throat. Meanwhile, her sore butt cheeks were protesting another day of grinding on the saddle!
Passing Auntie Siew Guay, she claimed to have no power up the slope. Knowing she had just returned from Taiwan, these slopes are nothing more than a molehill to her.
As we were about to cruise downhill on Jalan Besar, Ah Ping came alongside to Claudine on his Tern D16. Today is his funride, escorting us midway hence his steel Colnago was left at home.
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| Defi Cycling Team | |
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| Graziella Cycling Club |
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| Kluang Riders |
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| FR Riders |
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| The Old |
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| The Young |
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| The 2 Singaporeans |
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| The banana wielding photograher |
We exited the same way we came in yesterday, passing by Guocera tiles factory and the mild rolling hills. All this time, Anna led Maggie ahead while Mr Lim was slowing down on his second day. Zoe had long disappeared with the lead riders leaving us a bit confused as to who we should be riding with and sweeping.
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| Some of the Kluang riders |
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| The first pit stop by the junction |
Where the funride cyclists turned left to head back to Kluang, we, End Polio Riders made a pitstop just after the junction. Here, Maggie shared a banana with Anna before rushing off with the rest of the riders much to Anna's chagrin. It will be quite awhile before we caught up with her again.
Everyone regrouped at the Caltex petrol station just before Simpang Renggam. Thereafter, we started our descent, all the way to Benut.
By this time, Maggie was slowing down her pace while Anna, on her best element was riding ahead unaware that she had left a big gap between her and her riding partner. As Eva was comfortable with Anna's speed, we soon decided to split with VT taking the last group.
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| Dull ride |
While we had a good cloud cover in the morning, it started to drizzle on the flat plains of Benut. As we plough on the never ending straight road that ran alongside canals, we got wetter and wetter. It was a dull ride with nothing much to see and no challenges.
Twice, the ambulance with the back groups caught up with us. The first time was when Claudine decided to pull Anna and Eva. Anna could not understand drafting and kept slowing down whenever she came close to the lead rider!!! Another time was when the mineral bottle that doesn't fit into Anna's bottle cage was on the verge of falling out. She took a bit too long drinking and refilling her other bottle.
Upon the second contact, Mr Lim exclaimed that his butt was killing him. As for Claudine, the protest had stopped 5 minutes into the ride, probably too numbed by then!!!
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| Third pit stop |
At the third pitstop, just after the junction to Ayer Baloi, Claudine had stopped and was receiving instructions from Joseph when she lost balance. At that time, her right shoe was still cleated to the pedal. The fall tore her pants and gave her a mild abrasion on her knee.
Meanwhile, a fellow rider shared his banana with Claudine, upon knowing there were none left! Then, as everyone started rolling, Maggie decided to adjust her shoe laces. Eva had gone by then and Claudine was anxious to chase after her ward. This left Anna in a dilemma...to wait or not to wait for Maggie.
Rolling just 10 m later, Claudine realized her brake pads were rubbing against her wheels. Stopping to adjust the brake caliper; VT, came to his wife's rescue. He had abandoned his sweeper duty by then, passing the job to another rider! Beyond that, everything was a blur....
Petron, our fourth regrouping point came 11 km later. It took awhile before Maggie, Lim and the last rider arrived. When they did, we moved out to Restoran Kemangi for our briyani lunch, compliments of Rotary Pontian.
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| Thumbs up |
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| Where there's good food.... |
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| Fantastic lunch |
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| 'Wheels of Fortune' |
Quite a few riders quit at this point. Some are not seasoned to long distance riding while some are unaccustomed to back to back daily grindings. The rain was another defeating factor, as besides the wet and cold, the shoes can be very heavy when soaked through. But at cycling's core lies pain to which some can drive deep into the pain cave whereas some others can't. While one rider buried his abdominal pain, another discovered his urine was crimson in colour and decided to call it a day!
After lunch, Maggie was persuaded to try hitting her first 100km. We were all riding well with Anna leading the last pack for at least a 10 km distance. Claudine was pulling Maggie at a pace she could keep up with while VT assumed his sweeper duty again.
Just before it all happened, Claudine was feeling amused that Anna was pulling Zoe, Eva, Sherry and Chuan Soon. Many times, she had wanted to call out to them not to bully a newbie.
Then, just before the ill fated junction, Eva and Zoe overtook Anna. This left Sherry and Chuan Soon behind her. We saw it all happened....
Sherry and Chuan Soon were swerving to the right to avoid the obstacle in front but Anna started screaming 5 feet to contact. It was too late to brake. We watched in horror as she crashed and somersaulted over the police motorcycle parked in the middle of the road to block traffic. She became unconscious as soon as she landed on the ground!
As we were the last in the pack, the ambulance was right behind us. Rizal and his partner went into action. Anna was placed on the stretcher and brought into the ambulance. Meanwhile, Maggie was quick with prayers for her safety, sitting on the grass at the corner of the road. After that, she made a quick decision to ride with Anna in the ambulance.
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| Some of the lead riders arriving at Pekan Nanas |
As they left, we all rode on solemnly to Pekan Nanas. Midway, Sherry made a quick stop to readjust her bike rack that was rubbing against the tyre. When we reached Pekan Nanas, she too quit having exerted too much energy from all the frictions!!!
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| Squating at Petron |
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| Lean back and/or stretch out at Petron |
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