Distance: 16km (short ride)
Hares: Geoff Foote, Mike Grover, Riza Shaharudin
My last bash was back in June and finally got the chance to ride the last bash of the year. I didn't have any time on my bike between that period. With that said, I was not "bash-fit". I always thought that it's going to be easy and relaxing. But the reality was, it's always hard. Even waking up on a Sunday morning was already a challenge for me.
This time around the bash was held at Taman Wetland, Putrajaya. Riding with Johan and took the truck out for the first time to carry our bikes. We got lost to find the place. We circled Persiaran Sultan Sallahudin Abdul Aziz Shah like three times. As we arrived at the bash site the ride had already started. We registered quickly and off we went.
At first, we were riding on pavement in Taman Wetland. It's good to get the legs warmed up when you got no time to do pre-stretching which nobody in the bash does anyway. Then we got onto the tracks in the area. Then there was a nice detour to Taman Saujana Hijau which is a well managed public park. Here I took lots of photos of the park when all of the sudden mother nature called, and that's the last thing you want when you're out riding. Good thing there was a public toilet on top of the hill. If it was one of the other bash rides, I would most probably gone Tarzan.
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| Scenic view at Taman Saujana Hijau |
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| One of the many hurdles that day |
So I was among the last riders if not the last one that made it out of the park. There was like no way I could catch up with the FRBs now. So I was riding alone until I reached a ditch. Here I managed to catch up with several riders and some riders caught up with me too. Then continued riding through a palm oil plantation. After all that, I thought the ride was about to end much to my delight. But then when I was riding into the MARDI gate entrance I saw Riza was waiting. He told me that I had just completed the short ride route and I still have half way to go to finish the long ride. It took me 2 hours to complete a simple 16KM short ride and I got another 16KM MARDI tracks which will just get harder from there on. So I decided to chicken out and returned back to the car knowing that I was already a bit worn out and my upset tummy wasn't helping at all.
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| Riza laying out what's to be expected ahead |
Only managed to join 4 bash rides this year where I did only 2 long rides. Hopefully next year would be a better cycling year for me. Till then happy new year everybody!
