Ipoh Century Ride 2009

At the head of the peloton...Zain 3rd from the right

Great company made this trip a memorable one. This was my first time doing the 160km century ride. The first time I heard about it was last year, but didn't join because I was not into cycling at that time.

We reached the starting car park around 6:45am. But I wasn't sure where was the starting line when suddenly the marshalls were clearing the way. The race has started with cyclist pouring into the main road. Without wasting a moments time, I quickly mounted on and pedal furiously. Abu had advised to stick to the first peloton, so I just did that.

Bumped into my cycling buddy Zain, along the way. The pack was really not going that fast at the start. But things starting to pickup soon after. There were a bunch of blue jerseys UCI and orange jersey cyclist which seems like a team. There was the occasional attack when one guy would charge afront. Then the rest would follow.

Now the funny thing is, Zain and I was at the front, sort of creating a lead pack, but of course we know this won't last long. At times, I find myself pulling the peloton, and sometimes chasing the attacker, who was trying to create a breakaway. Zain and bernard was gracious to advise to save energy.

After like 50km plus, I decided to keep at the middle pack, hanging there for the draft. But it was still fast and furious as usual, up hills and down hills.

I didn't go aero because it would be darn dangerous if I fell.

But when we proceeded after 80km to do some serious climbing, I missed the first peloton. It was not much fun at that point. Just hanging with 4 to 5 guys working the group. Some parts of the hills looks a bit steep but not for long.

Almost fell into a hole by the road just below the rails as it was a 90 degrees turn. But luckily managed to remain calm and averted it.

I did a quick check at my time for the last 10k back and it was sufficient to guarantee a sub 5. Finished the ride in hot sun with 4:47:23. Not a pretty good time, but just happy to make it back safely.

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I used the arogon 18 TT bike. Not a good choice for this route with lots of climbs. Easily gets dropped if the rest attack hills.