Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Old Gombak Road Hill Climb

I was unable to get up at 6.30am as planned due to my dining expploits the night before, but managed to get out of the house at about 10am to cycle up the Old Gombak road as I had been planning to do all week. If I didn't do it I'd be in a bad mood with myself all day, which isn't so nice for anyone.

I set off from a Kampong (village) a few km downhill from where I normally start and decided to go all the way to the top without stopping. The ride up this road is very nice. As you leave the kampong there is very little traffic, and all you can hear is the sound of the birds and insects in the trees. The road is quite narrow and winding all the way with steep ravines and small streams on either side. About halfway up the monkeys begin to show themselves. This time none of them chased me! I was passed by many cyclists enjoying the downhill run, but didn't see anyone going up - I was the last I suppose. Some guy on a motorbike stopped to photograph me cycle past him.

Despite an uncomfortable bum, soothed by standing up now and again, I plodded on up to the top, without stopping, in 1st gear. After a couple of minutes break I began my descent (this is the 25minute reward for 1 and a half hours of climbing! I descended in 24minutes, at an average speed of about 40kmh - pretty fast for a winding road - but didn't quite ever manage to achieve 60kmh.

Next time I'll start/finish from home (another 25km on top of the 41km i did today). Next bike ride will be with the Pedalphiles (dodgy name!) on Tuesday night. That'll be my second ride with them.

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