Klang Premiere Century Ride 2014

After my struggles at the Shah Alam Enduride, I was hoping for a good outing at the Klang Premiere Century Ride.  This was advertised as a 108 km ride.  The route consisted of a loop through Klang town, a run south to Telok Panglima Garang, a second loop with an out-and-back to the coast on Carey Island, and finally the reverse run from Teluk Panglima Garang to the start.

I had a 2.15pm flight to catch, so I didn’t have time to do the full 108 km ride.  I planned to skip the out-and-back to Carey Island.  I was told that cutting out  that section would reduce my ride length to 73 km.  I reckoned on about 2 ½ hours to complete my ride.  Which would give me plenty of time to drive the 47 km  back home, shower etc. and get to the airport by about 1.00pm.

The start and finish were at the Premiere Hotel in Klang.  It was a pretty good choice.  There was lots of room for rider packet pickup the day before, and lots of secure covered parking on the day of the ride.  The goodie bag did have some goodies in it.  Registered riders got a jersey, a t-shirt, a bidon, and some discount vouchers.

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Malaysia magazine

There was the usual mix of registered and ghost riders.  Yue-Jin was a registered rider.  I can’t speak for his friends on his right.

Photograph courtesy of Cheong Yue-Jin

Marco, Mark and I were in our Flipsiders jerseys.  Ching Chua, Cher-Ryl and Griffin were there too.  That is Marco’s and Mark’s post-ride lunch btw.

Photograph curtesy of Marco Lai

The route was very flat, so once we finished the loop through Klang we rode at a fairly high average speed.  I expected to get to the water stop that marked the beginning of the Carey Island sector after about 45 km to 50 km.

50 km came and went.  55 km came and went.  60 km came and went.  I began to worry about overheating and running out of fluid to drink.  I had been sweating a lot.  It was at least 35 °C / 95 °F, and it felt more like 45  °C / 113 °F.

65 km came and went.  I was slowing down in the heat.  I still had some sport drink in one bidon.  I hadn’t brought anything to eat.  That was a mistake.  I began to worry about missing my flight.

The junction I was waiting for finally came after 72 km.  I had been riding for 2 ¼ hours.  No one manning the water stop was sure how far it was to the finish.  Whatever the remaining distance, it was clear that I wouldn’t make my target finish time of 2 ½ hours.

I filled both my bidons with 100 Plus.  I poured water over my head, and tied a wet bandanna around my neck.  Then Marco, Mark and I set off toward the Premiere Hotel.  We were on our own because the route marshals were manning the junctions on the way to Carey Island.  So we had to stop at red traffic lights.  Perhaps it was because of the heat, but it seemed like almost every traffic light we came to was red.  It was with considerable relief that we got to the finish after only 14 km.

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Malaysia magazine

I was only 30 minutes behind my planned finish time as the volunteer crew removed my timing chip.  They were surprised that I was at the finish so quickly.  Our average speed of 32 kph / 20 mph was not the only reason.  I did have to  explain that I took a short cut.

Photograph courtesy of Cycling Malaysia magazine

It took another 30 minutes before I stopped dripping sweat and was able to pull on a t-shirt and shorts for the high-speed drive home.

The good news is that I felt pretty good after a very hot 87 km.  And I made it to the airport on time.