Merdeka Ride for Green 2009

Have been missing in action for quite sometime. My injuries ( yes you read it right..injuries not injury :( all on the same side..that make it even worst) had kept me away from lots of running events ...The long healing process is making me frustrated ! When my physiotherapist told me I could start running ( that was like 3 weeks back) I was kinda happy, but then it didn't happen because my knee and ligament near to my ankle were still giving me discomfort even during short distance walking. The discomfort subside and I thought I will give it a try to run on treadmill . After 15 minutes, I started to feel the pain starting from my toe moving up to the ankle( basically my extensor hallucis longus tendon giving me probs) , decided to stop. I'm disappointed! Didn't try running since that weekend I was suppose to join a bike ride with Chin Chin back in Penang (16/08). I could sense my fitness level had drop tremendously compared to 3 months back.....Though I'm frustrated on and off... I'm waiting patiently to start running...I wish someone could tell me when!!

Okay set aside the misery... I will deal with it, I was requested by Chin to post up the ride report for the ride event we participated last weekend in Penang. She had been posting all of the reports reasonly on the website and lost the momentum doing it..(sorry...I know I'm lazy..but I haven't been active that much...so you can't blame me of not writting right ?!! ) I will try my best to report it out.

Event : Merdeka Ride for Green 2009
Time : 7.30am to 12pm
Venue: Padang Polo
Cycling Category: Professional Ride ( 52km) , Family Ride ( 15km)

Last week, Chin Chin and myself participated in The Merdeka Ride for Green event which was held in Penang on the 16/08/2009. There were also a few of the WWW runners that participated in the event - Lyn Holden , Siew Suan, Guan Choon and Sunny. I'm not sure who in the group suggested to do a run -bike -run thingy on that day as well. Lyn, Sunny and Chin Chin had been doing a few brick runs lately...I was doubtful to join in as I haven't been running at all since after KL Marathon. Anyway after the deep massage which I had on Saturday before the event, my legs felt totally good. No pain and my legs felt so light! I decided to try out ( I know I'm crazy! ), so I agreed to meet over at Sunny's place at 5.15am to start off with a run. I woke up next morning around 4am and as about to head out Chin text and said it was raining quite heavy over in the Penang island. I was happy, thought I got excuse not to go over to early and sleep in a little ( since I had stopped running, it had made me tad bit lazy to get up early in the morning) ...after contemplating to go back to sleep :P , finally the devil side of me made up the mind to go over. Load up my bike in my car and off I go , driving across the island. It was still pouring quite heavy when we arrived at Sunny's house. Chin and myself unloaded our bike, while waiting for Lyn to arrive. I totally respect her, despite the rain, she cycled all the way from her house to Sunny's place. She was totally drenched when she reached. Poor thingy! The rain subside at about 6am. We decided to head out to run. Even before starting to run , my ligament started to show sign of discomfort. I thought the pain would go away...I tried to ignore it ( big mistake! ) and started to run with the rest. It had been a long time since I run in the morning. The morning breeze was nice that morning! Ran through the route that I had never run before. Since I left Penang, the WWW running group had indeed came out with few new running routes.Was quite a nice route. We clocked about 6km upon reaching back to Sunny's house. Lyn's needs to use the washroom , Lyn, Chin and myself decided to do another 4km to complete the 10km. Sunny decided to test out her bike for the ride later because she adjusted her seat post the night before. After completing our run, we changed into our riding outfit and waited for Siew Suan and Guan Choon to arrive. As we were about to head over to the bike starting venue, Siew Suan found out there was some issue with her brake. She seems to get panic. Chin tried to help to get it adjusted but it didn't seem successful, at least manage to release a bit of the brake tension to avoid rubbing too much against the wheel. We decided to get someone to help at the starting venue. We were quite lucky, as we were approaching the venue ( which is at Polo Ground along Sepoy Lines) we met the Kenneth running with a few of WWW runners, Chin asked him to help. He managed to fix the brake problem! Thanks Mr Handyman!

There were lots of people at the venue already when we arrived. We thought that it they would flag off at 7.30am sharp but we waited for quite a bit. Since we had time before it start, we decided to register ourself for the lucky draw, I was suprise to see them giving us a bottle of mineral water each. Where on earth they expect us to put! We opened up and drank a bit and left the remaining by the side of the road ( not littering! couldn't find any garbage can! ) . During the opening ceremony, I just realized that this event was to be written into the Malaysian Book of Records as having the largest cycling convoy. ( Cool! This became Chin and my second event for the Malaysian Book of Record ..ahhaha ) ...Anyway at about 8.15am or so , they flagged of the ride. This is the first time Chin and myself are starting in front of the pack, got a little bit nervous, not because we wanted to, its because we came late ( and headed from the opposite direction of the starting route ) and its hard to squeeze ourselves to the middle fo the group as the back was the Family Ride group.
3....2...1..off we go....Quite a bit of people were rushing and came quite close to me..scary! Tried to stop and let them passed. Lost sight of Chin admist the rushing crowd. As I was riding past Komtar, manage to catch sight of Chin, she called out to me, there were still people rushing to get past each other, some kids came pretty close to us as I was trying to catch up with Chin. Trying to squeeze their way between us...Gosh! Decided to just go on myself. Not too long, saw the first accident on the road. Not sure what made the cyclist fell. I think might be the pot holes on the road.. As we head out to the Jelutong highway, it got quite scary, no traffic control! I was wondering why they wasn't any people controlling the traffic. Everyone was on their own trying to stick in a group to be safe. Lost sight of Chin again as I headed out to the highway. I guessed she might be in front. Decided to follow a group of guys which I think the pace was alright for me. As I approached Queensbay Mall, I thought there would be a checkpoint, indicated in the event map but I didn't see anyone stopping, continued on. At about 30km or so, saw another road accident. Saw a group of riders helping a guy at the traffic light. Lyn came from behind and zoom past me :) She is not only a strong runner but also a strong biker.! I wanted to catch up with her, but decided not to, I don't think I can keep up with her speed. Decided to go on my own speed. The tortoise mode! :) As I reached the end of Bukit Gambir it was quite a long stretch of going uphill. Gosh! My quads were yelling for HELP! I was so tempted to come down to push my bike! ahhah ..but decided not to..I saw this guy who held on to the marshall bike to pull him all the way to the top. SHAMEFUL! After about 10 minutes of torturing, managed to get over the ascending hill. PHEW! ( I know its only 10 mins and here am I complaining!! Whinner! Bluek) I need to train more on hills..YUCKS! ..The remaining route was flat, I got excited decided to increase a bit of speed since I know its going to reach, but as I hit out to the road along Greenlane, the traffic was really scary, I tried to stay as side as possible. Finally I reached the ending line. Lyn reached about 10 mins earlier if not mistaken. Chin arrived not too long after me followed by Sunny. I think I did about 1 hour 50 mins for about 51km. Appeared to be slightly under distance. Hang around for a bit before heading back to Sunny's house. As we reached Sunny's and taking the bike in, we were out to run. My ligament start to hurt as soon as I put my feet on the groud, this time is not the extensor halucis longus tendon but the extensor digitorum longus tendons ( the tendons tha holds your 4 toes). The plan was to run 4km. But I just did one round , decided to stop , I didn't want to excert it anymore further. Clean up and waited for Siew Suan to arrive. Got a bit worried when she didn't turn up at the time we experted her to be back. Waited and waited finally she arrived, she told us she got lost and had taken extra route as directed by the marshall! Eiks!! ! After changing and loading back the bicycle into the car, we went for lunch with Kenneth. ( Thanks Kenneth !For waiting for us patiently )
After lunch, I head back over to the mainland. Took shower, packed and headed back to KL at about 3pm. I'm glad mom offered to drive me home to KL. She actually took the bas to KL and drove me to Penang on Friday and drove me back to KL on Sunday...Fall asleep at about 10pm that night..was so tired !

-ribbit-