The recent Tour of East Java was my first race in months since the Tour of Qinghai Lake. I arrived in Indonesia well-prepared with the training miles from Thailand as well as some finishing touches to my training during the 2 weeks I spent at home in Malaysia. Despite a small bout of the flu that gave me a good excuse to rest and taper off the hard training, I am now where I wish to be condition-wise. I will be based in Indonesia for 3 weeks of racing the Tour of East Java and the Tour of Indonesia. Based on past experiences, the racing promises to be hot, fast and furious over some very aggressive terrain.

Due to an eruption of the active volcano on Mt. Bromo, the race route of the recently concluded Tour of East Java was moved at the last minute. Lucky me as I would not be needing my compact crank and 29t cassette! The race started with an opening stage of a 50km criterium held in Surabaya. As we started the race, the Iranian team Tabriz Petrochemicals went to the front and rode as if they came here with a virtual yellow jersey on their team. They dictated the race, doing most of the pacing, and it ended as they had planned with a win from their Russian sprinter Boris Shpilevskiy. Our young gun, Seth did well to finish with a good 5^th place in his international debut with the Malaysian National Team - good on him! Rauf finished in 10^th, while Nik and I finished safely in the bunch. I had put in a few digs in the intermediate sprints getting a 2^nd place, and making an effort in the last 5km’s. We raced the 48km’s in less than an hour, so the level of racing in Asia is getting higher now.

In the 2^nd stage, a flat 185km route was met with a strong head wind for a good part of the last 80km’s. With a small group containing a Tabriz rider going away after a featured climb in the middle part of the race, the Hong Kong National Team led by two ex-World Champions on the track, Wong Kam Po and Kwok Ho Ting, decided to take on the chase, with a little of help from the Malaysian-based team Terengganu. The headwind on the long straights did help with the chase but the heat was working against everyone. When the break was finally caught, a few attacks happened but ended up nowhere until we came into the last 10km’s. The road started to kick up and with the twists and turns on small, rough agricultural roads, the peloton was split up. When I realized I was riding in the front split of 24, I put in a flyer with 400m to go hoping to surprise the other riders. But it was still a long way to go due to the long false flat. I tried to take the inside line to avoid the wind, but couldn’t hold my speed, and decide to sit back. When we finally hit the downhill section, the sprint ensued and I finished 16^th on the day. Rauf was one place in front in 15^th. We missed two team mates at the finish today as Nik and Seth were beset by cramps and dehydration after 100km’s of racing in the Indonesian heat. Both of them did not start the 3^rd stage after the effects of dehydration got worse later that day.

Stage 3 was another 185km stage taking us up to the coast and then coming back to the same last 80km finishing loop as the previous day. It was windy again. Feeling healthy and reasonably fresh given the conditions, I had harboured a little hope and confidence in myself to make a difference in the race today. Unfortunately, I crashed hard early on. Snapping the chain on my bike during an effort to bridge on to a small attack, I hit my handlebar with my knee at 50km/h, and slid on the deck, doing a few spins on the pavement like what must have looked like a crab turning sideways. I called it a day, and got into the ambulance with a few big spots of burnt skin. Oh well, that’s bike racing. I will now try to recover and hope tomorrow will be better. 

In day to day life, we make choices that set the tone for each day; simple decisions like what to wear, or what to have for lunch, and so on… But every now and then, we face choices that require bolder decisions. Recently, I had to make such a decision. Instead of continuing for another 2 months of racing in Europe, I had chosen to return home, and attend a training camp with the Malaysian National team.

The training camp was to gather all the elite cyclists from Malaysia – from the young upcoming talents of the junior and U-23 ranks to the senior squads for both men and women. The camp was to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and upon arrival at the designated hotel, I came to realize just how serious the Malaysian National Cycling Federation was about this training camp. I was greeted by almost 30 people, consisting of not only riders, and coaches, but also mechanics, masseurs, trainers, nutritionists, and managers to make sure everything would go according to plan. While the majority flew in by air, two team trucks were driven 28 hours from Malaysia. This was, by far, the biggest team training camp I have ever attended.

The goal of this camp was to prepare the Malaysian cycling contingent for the South East Asian Games to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia this November. Present at the camp were the riders from road, and track endurance for both men and women.  Many of the riders had taken sabbaticals from their respective clubs to attend the camp. They included Ng YongLi of L2A; Amir Mustafa, and Adiq Hussainie of Drapac, Mohd Harrif Salleh, Saufi Mat Senan, and Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin of Terengganu; and others from the local Malaysian clubs such as the seasoned Suhardi Hassan, and Mohd Rauf Misbah. There were also promising younger riders that I had not met previously, but would hope to get to know through this camp. The women’s squad brought Maziaton, Jupha, Kimberly, and Marianna along with others.

The camp was directed by head coach, Graham Seers, and assisted by Izham and LeeMing as Nutritionist and Physicians in attendance. There were also several assistant coaches including Harnizam Basri, Hardi Razali, Syeid Hussaine, and Rosli Salleh. Along with the mechanics and masseurs, this made a good group, and apart from getting to know each other, we learned to work better as a team.

Everyone trained together for 28 days in the hope of making the team for the Games.  Six days a week, we trained on the road with two or three additional track sessions on the velodrome. The terrain here is suitably varied from flats to hills to major climbs that make for a good block of training.

The bulk of training was spent on building a solid base, with specific workouts aimed at improving technique. While keeping tabs on our heart rate zones, we started with long rides and strength work in the hills. Then we moved on to threshold efforts on both the flat and hills, and built towards sprints and E4 efforts during the last week. The track training sessions were the most fun and interesting. My previous experience of riding on the track was nowhere as serious. This time, every track session had 30 minutes of motor pacing with the riders split into groups of 2, just like in a Madison race. These groups would take turns on and off the derny motorcycle. Every 5 minutes, the derny rider will go faster, and the objective was to be the last rider left behind the motorcycle. Ohh, it was fun and suffering rolled into one!

As mentioned previously, the riding here is great. The Samoeng loop is a hard ride with rolling hills that starts with the spectacular sights of the Mae Rim elephant sanctuary. As we go deeper into the jungle to Samoeng, the road kicks up for a hard 5km ascent at 21% average. At the legendary Doi Suthep temple, 11km from the Chiang Mai University we reach 900m altitude, and then the road kicks up even steeper for yet another 2km. From there on, you can go a further 4 or 5 kilometers to Phu Phing Palace highlighted by several 18-20% ascents. The Palace is open to the public when the Thai Royal family is not in residence. If you put in a Samoeng loop ride with the Doi Suthep climb to finish, you can easily get a 5 hour ride with more than 2000m elevation of climbing.

As I write this blog entry, we have already finished the 28 day training camp. From the day we arrived, it was raining so heavily that the Northern Thai region flooded. Our first rides had to be done on a highway to avoid the floods. We spent days riding in the rain, and although we suffered with the weather conditions and sickness, we achieved our training goals by the end of the camp. It was a successful training camp, one where every committed team member had put in their best efforts for 28 days. Before we left, the coaches and management had already prepared a program of the next 3 months. From this moment onwards, different groups of riders will be going into separate blocks of racing along with dedicated groups of coaches and support staff. It will be a hectic 3 months coming up with the Tour of Brunei, Asia Cup track series, World Championships in Denmark, Tour of East Java, Tour de Indonesia, Tour of Geelong, and the Grafton Inverell races all on the cards in the build up to the main goal of the SEA Games in Jakarta. Let us hope this will be a successful journey for the Malaysian team!

It's been a hectic few weeks. I returned home last Friday to find a pleasant surprise:

I was part of a cycling research survey, and received a new pair of Oakley Jawbone Transitions SOLFX.

Thanks to Transitions Optical, Inc.

-Editor