1Federal Territory Day Cycling Convoy

The event banner.

The big day finally came. After weeks of nervousness (covered in a recent post here) and even a bicycle breakdown the day before (covered in a another post here), all comes to this very day. I did not sleep well the night before since I was ever so anxious. I feel like I was going to go for an exam of sorts, a test of endurance for both the rider and the bicycle. Passing it would mean crossing the finish line within the 3 hour limit. Failure would also mean crossing the finish line, but by riding at the back of a truck sent by the organizers.

10 minutes before flag off.

I arrived at Putrajaya roughly 40 minutes before flag off. Parked some 1 km away from the starting point to avoid unnecessary traffic on the way home. Had a quick light breakfast and then briskly sped my bike to the starting point. A crowd of several thousand participants had already gathered and was ready. Just 10 minutes before flag off.

Go! (Photo courtesy of Kelab Berbasikal Jerantut).

A blow of the whistle, and the crowd was off. Despite entire 3-lane highways closed off, the sheer number of participants made cycling difficult since riders were cramped close to one another. However, while the kilometers progressed, the crowd slowly dispersed as each rider gradually settled down to their comfortable own cadence and their bicycle's speed capability.

The 30.9 km route.

With the bicycle's underpowered 55 top GI (gear inches) combined with my usually high cadence (which I got from using such small wheels for some time), I found myself to "spin-out" (to be moving too quickly that no matter how fast you pedal, your gear just isn't big enough) multiple times, even during level roads. Quite a big frustration actually because it wastes precious energy. So I changed my tactics, cycling as fast as possible until near spin-outs during downhills, then coast until the the bike slowed to the point I could power pedal again at high speeds. However, the low GI range of my bike also helped me to climb slopes nearly effortlessly, while several cyclists had to dismount their rides and push their bikes uphill.

I was also, in a way, thankful that I had sent my bicycle to the shop for repairs the day before. With the passing kilometers, I saw several disheartened riders had to stop by the roadside due to problems with their gear set, etc.

After a gruelling 1 hour 37 minutes, about half of the time I expected to finish, I finally finally finally crossed the finish line. So so tired, yet so so happy and satisfied that I made the 30.9 km journey with my small wheels. My first professional convoy. I calculated my average speed that day, a surprising 19km/h. My usual was only around 11 km/h tops. What a day!

After crossing the finish line. Note: While most riders wear backpacks, I whenever possible, like to keep my shoulders free
so that I do not have stiff shoulders after a ride. I do this by
putting my stuff in a bag and attach the bag to the handlebars (since my bicycle does not have rear racks).

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Last Minute Breakdown

My bicycle being repaired.

One day left till the big cycling event. But suddenly, after just a light afternoon cycling with my eldest son, my bicycle's gearing broke down. The rear gear started making grating noises in the low gears. I immediately sent the bicycle to a bicycle shop.

At the bicycle shop, a mechanic tried to solve the problem by changing the cable for the rear derailleur, but the grinding sound persisted. Another senior mechanic then came to look at my bicycle, and he mentioned that a very small screw at the rear derailleur was missing and there was no screw with such size at the shop. The screw is used to adjust the rear derailleur for accurate shifting of gears. To compensate the missing screw, the senior mechanic cut the chain to make it slightly shorter and adjusted the rear derailleur alignment. After an hour of fiddling with my bicycle, the rough sound at the rear gears finally disappeared. In relating to tomorrow's event, that was a close call. Too close for comfort :P

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Vital Top Armour

The unbranded head armour.

Only 3 days left before the big day, the day I engage in my first professional bicycle convoy, joined by another 5,000+ registered participants in celebration of Hari 1Wilayah Persekutuan (translated as 1Federal Territory Day). I had to some extent maintain my stamina by doing some exercise (covered in a recent post here). Hope it was enough for the daunting 35 km ride (later I found out it was actually 30.9 km, but still far). Now, for the helmet.

View from the back.

For the past several days, I have visited many shops in search for a temporary bicycle helmet. "Temporary" because I was planning to buy a proper one via Internet, but the item may arrive later that the convoy date. It was fussy about what I want to buy, and was only recently that I learned of the Overade Plixi folding helmet (but that is another story). I targeted a price of around RM30 for a temporary helmet. But every shop that I called or visited quoted their cheapest price around MYR $80. There was one of MYR $50 and even a MYR $35, but then no available size.

Inside the helmet.

When wifey asked me to go to pay a visit at the Aeon Alpha Angle shopping center, at Wangsa Maju vicinity, I just followed. And by chance, I visited the sports section there and found the bicycle helmet I was looking for, offered at a freakingly low price of MYR $16. For a temporary helmet, that is one hell of a bargain, and bought it right away :)

Hashtags: #cyborg #cycling #cyclinghelmet #helmet #saibog