Monday, December 15, 2008

Saturday Batu 18 - Klawang Express Train

At 6.15am, AJ, Abu, Julie and myself met up at Batu 18 for the ride of the day.

We pushed off at about 6.30am and headed for Peres. The first 10km of the ride was really cold. My helmet has condensation on the surface and i could see the bike tubing were filled with droplets of water from riding through the morning mist.

Menu for the day was a 120km ride from Batu 18 to Klawang and back. That would give us at least 3 climbs one way.

With Abu Power leading the pack and AJ constantly hounding everyone with his ultra fit cycling, it is hard not to push yourself.

Going up Peres that day took me 25 minutes, that's 10 faster than my usual Peres climb.

10 freaking minutes faster.

Anyway, to cut long story short, it took us 2hours 3 minutes to reach Klawang. Average was 24.2km/h.



That's from 1800 feet elevation to 3100 feet elevation within the short 9km climb up Peres.


View from the first orang asli settlement

From the top of Peres, it's then 3 short and sharp climb up and down towards Klawang.

We rested at the usual petrol station. Total rest time was 19 minutes, and headed back to Batu 18.

One would think that the return journey would be at least 30minutes longer. But with everyone pulling and in form, the return journey; up and down the 3 peaks and back to batu 18, took just anohter 2hours and 3 minutes!

Average was 24.2km/h throughout the 107km ride.

My maximum speed was a cool 70km/h.

I survived Klawang. I did not stop nor push like i did last year, and i guess that is pretty much a better sign, despite not training enough.



It must be some record of such as i don't recall doing a 107km in those times!

Whatever it is, it was a great ride with great company. I had a great workout.

And i'm looking forward to more.


Fooling around - thanks Julie for the pics

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