Is 'cycling' really for me?

I dont know and I cant answer it for certain until I tested Bandit's road bike. In fact, this would be the topic that I want to share for this posting.

Since starting distance running (tak de la jauh sgt, max so far 15K), the thought or the urge to really trying out triathlon becomes stronger and harder to ignore. And Bandit's invitation to join his 'rubberman' gang was just too hard to resist, and came at the right time.

But even before I start, there are 2 main issues.
1. I dont have a bike.
2. I know I will be hurting my ass, the end of my tailbone to be precise, thru my experience so far of doing stationery bike in gym.

For problem no 1, I was fortunate enough that Chipang was more than generous to let me borrow his Mountain Bike, helmet and gloves. For problem no 2, well, I'll explain in details later.

The plan was to complete about 50K distance on Sunday morning. Route - the whole stretch of Guthrie Corridor Hway, from Bkt Jelutong to Rawang.

I'd be crazy to go and ride without having any practice session. So on Saturday, met up with Chipang at Tasik Permaisuri Cheras in the morning. He taught me the basics on cycling, things like wearing the proper gears, some terms eg; cadence and of course how and when to shift the gears to minimise usage of energy and maximise performance. We did about 12K just circling the park for few laps.

It was a good session to prepare me for the next day, but, as I mentioned earlier, I could already feel some tingling pain at the end of my tailbones. Chipang told me its 'sikit aje, besok aku bawak gelled saddle, mesti OK punya'.

Come sunday, I woke up at 6. Gobbled up 2 donuts and a plate of leftover Kuew Tiow from the night before. And managed to 'kubab' twice before going out of the house. Reached Shah Alam toll arnd 7am. And since i can still feel some deposits in my stomach, decided to 'kubab' for the 3rd time. Fuhhh..baru lega.

We all met up at Bkt Jelutong Golf Academy. It was 15 of us. Bandit stole the limelight with his gay-ish new bike, damn sexy. We pushed off around 8, it was smooth sailing for the 1st few KM. But as we entered the hway, the first long climb was the real test. I was struggling a little bit, more of it bcos I was disheartened to see all the other bikers easily passed over me with their canggih road bikes. U see, I was using a mountain bike, the main disadvantage was that mtb uses off road tyres which is 3 times wider and have more tractions compared to the slim road tyres. Furthermore, the body of mtb are built sturdier and tougher than road bike, hence it uses heavier material. In summary, I had to used 3 times more energy to a road biker.

But again, this was not the major hurdle that I had to face. It was actually the pain in my ass, no, literally pain in my ass. For a trained cyclists, they knew how to distribute their weight correctly between their legs and the ass. So even when they looked like they are sitting on the saddle, they dont really put all the weights there. Unlike me, being a newbie, I basically put most of my weight on the seat. And this had put tremendous pressure on my tailbones, hence the pain in the ass.

So after riding abt 23 KM, we reached exit Rawang. By this time, my ass was already in unbearable pain. We stopped abt 20 min. Continued the journey back, and the target was to stop at halfway point (hentian Elmina) for breakfast. For the 13 KM journey to reach there, I only sit like 20% of the time, I had to stand or sit using my sisi bontot, ala2 senget mcm perempuan dulu2.

At Elmina, we stop for abt 40 mins. So I took this oppotunity to really sit comfortably. As we started back for the final strecth, pain was just too much for me to hande. This time, I think I only sit for about5-10% of the time. And I was pedalling quite hard just to reach back ASAP. So to them yg nampak aku pulun kayuh, its not bcos I'm super fit, its more bcos I cant stand the pain and wanted to get it over with.

We reached back arnd 11. All in all, it was a satisfying ride bcos of the distance that I covered and the calories that I burnt, but I cant say the same for the 'ass pain' part. My highest gratitude to Chipang for lending all the stuffs to make this possible and sticking with me the whole time even when I was practically not moving (bila naik bukit kdg rasa mcm tak jalan je). And thanks to Bandit too for giving me all the tips to minimise the 'ass pain'. Not to forget, all the other OPs and cyclists for letting me join the 'rubberman ride'.

Lessons Learnt: I seriously need to get the paded cycling shot. If i really want to cycle, I think I need to consider purchasing custom made saddle, bcos of my ass problem.