Where there is a will, there is a way..: Melaka Training Camp: Day 10 Race day

Day 10: Race day

Tonight is the night we'll be racing the KL Midnight Challenge. Very excited for the first race of the season and with my new team DB2 Bikelabz! Eager to show something for the team and get a good start to the year. We woke up early, went down for breakfast and then came back up to pack our remaining stuff. Fairoz came around 12pm in his 20years old van. Though old, still running well, and could fit 12 bikes in his rack! It could technically fit the whole team in it. It looked small from the outside but was actually quite spacious inside too! After picking us, we headed over to Umair's place to pick up the rest of the boys before starting on our journey to KL.

8 of us, including Fairoz, went up for this trip. Fairoz, Ryan and me, Travis and Ashyad, stayed in a hotel near the race site while Umair, Adhil, Naim stayed over at Umair's dad's place 15km away. All of them will be racing the U21 race while I'll be doing the Open race. Too bad for a 24years old me. We rested in the hotel for an hour then went out nearby for dinner. Came back and got ready our stuff for the race. Finally it's 8pm and time to head down to the race site for registration. The U21 race starts at 8.30pm so after a short warm up they headed over to the start line. I watched their race with Travis at the side of the road. After a few laps there was a break of 5 riders who would eventually go on to finish the race headed of the bunch. Ryan finished amongst the front few in the bunch sprint.

My race had a few of Malaysia's top riders, Anuar manan of Champion System, Amir Mustafa of Drapac Posche and a few other top Malaysian State riders. Right from the start I had problems clipping in my pedals and at the moment, Anuar Manan and Amir Mustafa broke away. The pace went up immediately. And after the first left turn, there was a long gradual climb which forced everyone into their red zone. another 3 Malaysians broke off to chase the duo. The pack had by then strung out and everyone was too tired to be working at the front to pull the break back. Many tried to attack but were caught back quickly. After the first lap, there was a huge crash happened just behind me as people tried attacking again. Good thing I managed to stay at the front of the pack and was able to react to any attacks. After the crash, only a handful of riders remained in the pack. I was able to spot one strong rider from PDRM. I knew him from the Cameron KOM 2 editions ago where he won. I decided to mark this guy. Each time he went, I went with him. For 3 times he attacked the pack and looked back, I was behind him. He then started mumbling something in malay, I guess he was a bit frustrated. After that, he gave up and stayed at the back of the pack. I started getting people to work together at the front and took my turns. But the efforts were not hard and I knew the breaks would succeed. On the second last lap, I launched a huge attack. (Fairoz told me to try in the last 2 laps as this is just a tune up race for me) After 30secs of burst, I settled into an effort between my threshold and VO2 and maintained it there. I got a huge gap. The pack was at least 100-200m behind me now. I started to believe I could hold out till the end. But after half a lap, 2 riders breached up to me (one of them the PDRM rider I was marking). We started working well together. The other rider, though not wearing PDRM jersey, seemed to be working for the PDRM rider as he pulled hard at the front and was listening to his instructions. I was a little cautious and did not go all out in the break. On the last lap, we were unfortunate to be caught back by the pack. By then, everyone was marking each other. In the last 500m, the PDRM rider went again, I responded immediately. When I reached his wheel he signaled for me to go through. It was a mistake! I went through to the front as I took the last corner. Now everyone was on my wheel as we round up for the final sprint. I had no choice but to keep going hard for the last 400m. It was full gas to the line. It was as if I was leading them out. I had nothing left by the last 150m and my legs were all lactic. 3 guys passed me in the last 50m and I finished just behind them in 4th, 9th overall (5 men ahead in the break). I thought it was a good tune up race and test for my legs to see how much I've improved over the last 2 weeks. It also showed that I wasn't afraid to try and go for it and it has boost my confidence tremendous. 9th place was still a good result even though this race was not a priority for me. Most importantly, I managed to stay safe and out of trouble. Looking forward to the next race in two weeks time. Melaka Midnight Challenge then followed by Sepang F1 Circuit race! :)