Penang Jamboree 2009
It’s that time of the year where we make our yearly pilgrimage up Penang Hill for the Kayuh Lasak Penang Jamboree. Last year, the organisers took a break. So we were all pretty psyched when we heard it’d be back this year.
Day 1 was spent doing the necessary such as race registration, breakfast shopping and preparing for the big ride on Sunday. It was Jo & Grace’s first time to Penang, so we made sure to cover the famous makan spots around town on Saturday too. That is a separate blog post all together.
Day 2 – Race Day!
5:45am: Wake up, shower, wiggle into cycling shorts, get water bag out of freezer, breakfast, pump tyres, check bike, spray lube, check I have all supplies in bag: spare tubes, tool kit, hand pump, energy gels, happy food.
And we’re all set to go!
We stayed quite close to race central, so it was a 15min warm up cycle to the start point. Met up with the rest of the crew and before you knew it, start horn begun our several hours of torture.
This is the first year I was doing the Penang Jamboree without Wayne, and I did feel anxious knowing there was no one but myself to rely on. For the past couple of Jamborees, it was always comforting to know that he was just a phone call away. This year, I spent most of the ride solo.
It was Me Vs Penang Hill.
As usual, if you don’t manage to get in the front pack, you quickly get bottle-necked at the climbs. What you will see are hundreds of people pushing their bike up 30 degree tarmac climbs with the hope that every hairpin turn would reveal a flatter gradient or downhill section.
Here’s an elevation map from Ming’s bike computer.
At every checkpoint, marshals will give you a little sticker on your race plate to indicate completion of that section. And only if you complete the whole route do you get to be entitled for the grand lucky draw.
A few picturesque highlights of the ride would be at the top of Tiger Hill. There was one point of the ride I just stopped and watched the fog roll in between the hill peaks, nature’s air-con at work.
I finished the race broken and humbled. Clearly my inactivity was showing at my poor performance especially on the climbs. As usual, the hill claimed many victims; riders with cramped legs were sprawled in pools of mud, scattered on the side of the trails like litter. And every now and then, you can hear screams of pain and agony in the distance. Ah, another cramper!
For me, I went home with chaffed inner thighs – friction from my cycling shorts. It’s not pretty and definitely not comfortable especially in the shower when water touches the raw skin.
Again, as I say every year, I’ll be back Penang!
