After the rest day, the intensity picked up in the 2^nd part of the Tour of Indonesia. The stages were longer, the wind stronger, and the temperatures rose even higher! -Ed.

Loh back at it after the rest day.

Stage 6 saw a long run of bad luck for the Malaysian National Team. First, a teammate was prevented from starting the race after being disqualified. Then, another teammate suffered broken forks on his bike and crashed. And as if the stage had not been eventful enough, another teammate, Rauf was in the finally move with 10km to go, but fell coming into a turn. He was lucky tho’, as a fence saved him from being thrown into a deep ditch. Me? I had my share of poor luck too as I was left waiting for neutral service after puncturing on a descent with 7km to go. In the end, Rauf and I finished over 4 minutes behind the day’s winner.

The next day’s Stage 7 was supposed to be an all-out assault in revenge of the previous day’s run of bad luck. With a pancake-flat course, we prepared our fast man for a sprint finish. I had been covering moves for a good part of the race and found myself fading in the last 3km’s. With Akmal, my team mate in the green jersey on my wheel, we had to hit out but it was too early. Akmal had to make his own way, and was narrowly-beaten by Shahrul Mat Amin, the Malaysian national champion riding for the Continental team, TSG. Our efforts for the day were paid off by winning the best team prize.

Stage 8 was a long stage that offered the last two intermediate sprints in the green jersey points competition. This meant our team’s main goal was to seal the victory for Akmal. I had also set the stage as a personal goal as the parcours motivated me greatly. When I hear complaints about long stages like, “I am not so stupid to ride in the breakaway for 190km” I relish the opportunity. As soon as the stage started, I went away with a few other riders.

Immediately, I realized that my fellow breakaway companions were hitting the gas too hard as it was just the beginning of the break. I didn't feel comfortable but I had a most important job to take on the intermediate sprints for Akmal. So I pushed on, and sprinted for 2^nd place in the first intermediate sprint, and was actually 1^st across the line in the last intermediate sprint. This meant Akmal had enough points to secure the green jersey! And surprisingly I moved into 2^nd place behind him. The Malaysia team car almost exploded with the team managers’ cheers after the announcements were heard over race radio!

Back to the stage, and it was turning out to be a hard day. Riding along the coast with cross- and head-winds all day long, I was looking forward to hitting the 130km mark when we would turn inland and ride on the other side of the coast. All I was thinking about was a tailwind to aid me along to the home straight. That and the thought of staying away and finishing in front kept me motivated.

After the fast-paced riding in the early part of the day, the other escapees were slowly starting to pay the price for their exuberance. They started to miss turns, and showed all kinds of expressions on their faces. As I came forward to take a pull, I made a small acceleration, and they all looked at each other. So, with a gap starting to open, I thought, “What?! There’s still 80km’s to go!”

Regardless, I decided to take off alone. With a 9 minute lead on a day like this, I had to bet all my chips on making it to the finish on my own. But things rarely turn out according to plan, and the last 40km’s were met with a head wind, and rough roads. This combination of obstacles would either make or break me. I gritted my teeth, and dug deep. The headwind picked up again, and the road went down rougher still.

With 4km to go, I was going to be picked up by a fast-charging group. Instead, Shinichi Fukushima, the seasoned Japanese rider, burst out of the pack and came up alone. I was barely able to stay on his wheel, and he out-sprinted me in the end. I was really frustrated. But to think back, if I had been swallowed by the bunch, I would have ended up with nothing. So, 2^nd isn't too bad. My team also finished 2^nd in team’s classification. After the race, I found out that I had lost two and a half minutes of my lead in the last 17km after a chase led by the Hong Kong and TSG teams tried to split the main bunch.

Stage 9 saw us do a ferry transfer early in the morning from Java to Bali. With yesterday’s efforts and only a short night to recover, I felt sore all over. And guess what – Stage 9 was the Queen stage up a volcano of 1600m elevation.

I started the day 14^th overall on GC, and hoped to keep it to the finish, but my body has feeling worn out. I still wanted to do a good ride to finish this climb in a reasonable position. And it could only be done with a head start on the climb, so I had to start the day with a break and gain a time advantage leading into the climb. I worked hard to make sure I made it into the day’s break, and I was away with 6 others.

I didn't have the legs to ride hard, and as I also came to realize, my shoe had broken along the way. I had to ride on with a spare shoe. Coming into the foot of the climb, I was creeping. Surprisingly, I got back into some sort of rhythm after the main bunch went passed me. Hanging on, I rode up the rest of the climb with the yellow jersey, and a few others. We finished 5 minutes down on the day’s winner, and more importantly, I secured my GC place.

...as the breakaway races along the unmistakable Balinese landscape.

Stage 10 was the last day of the Tour of Indonesia, and all I could think of was the finish line. Our sprinter was dropped on a small climb, and the day’s plan to bring our fast man to the line had to be postponed until the next time around. The day’s break contained a threat for the team’s overall classification, and the Indonesian teams combined efforts to cut down the deficit. Disappointingly (for a UCI-sanctioned race) traffic control was lax and we were left to contend with motorized traffic. During the last 3 laps, cars and motorcycles were all over the race course. The break would stay away, and won the stage by 20 seconds.

With that, we concluded the 2011 Tour of Indonesia. Things had turned out well for me in the end. There had been a lot of ups and downs over the past weeks with crashes; wounds; botched recovery, and almost pulling out of the racing before it even started. Instead, the team ended up with two 2^nd places, lots of top 10’s, and a 1-2 in the Green Jersey points classification.

Personally, it has been what I would have wanted before I came here - going for a stage win, and a reasonable GC ride. It’s always hard to expect things to turn out exactly as planned, but surely, one can work hard and chase those dreams. There has been a lot of learning in the past weeks, and hopefully this will lead me to greater heights and successes in the future. It’s been a race of many seconds, but in this case, being 2nd hasn't just meant being the fastest looser, it’s been the place of a fighter!

Photos courtesy of Cycling Asia