Monday, April 12, 2010

110410 Hunchback of Notre Dame

110410 Bandar Baru Bangi - Genting Peras (Perez)

I wasn’t perturbed of the last ride in Lenggeng.
Even though some of us nearly "Bonked" towards the last quarter of the ride, we had to move on. No point crying over spilled milk. One BIG lesson learned. Dontcha mess around with the "Lady boys". They'll drain your stamina dry...

Bonk - The term "bonk" for cycling fatigue is presumably derived from the original meaning "to hit". In endurance sports, particularly cycling and running, hitting the wall or the bonk describes a condition caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, which manifests itself by precipitous fatigue and loss of energy. It's actually a bodily form of sedition.
In some form or another, it becomes a collapse of the entire system: body and form, brains, spirit and soul.
If you bonked thoroughly enough, how you began to see beings that belong in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, demons from another realm going in a trance from lactic acid build-up.
Aha, you remember how your strength held until you hit 140 km and your feet turned into jellyfish.
After about 150km, I began hallucinate minute orange "Toyols" jerking up and down the alloy wheels.

Holotropic breath-work is a great technique for accessing inner experience which could lead to altered states of consciousness & images. But if you "Konk"/trip yourself out, you can unleash some pretty powerful unconscious material & you should be psychologically and emotionally prepared for it. You're a wacko if you want to induce hallucination on yourself because any means of doing it is likely to be detrimental to your health. Hallucinating is not your brain's normal function, so inducing your brain to hallucinate involves causing it to malfunction.
I thought of hallucinating for my own sake but it felt odd...


By sun-break, I had already gulped down a mug of cocoa & cereal.
Only after 70km mark we will stop & refuel our empty belly. Choking fumes filled the air as guzzlers lined up in chains all the way in Jalan Sungai Lalang. I see, many were still offering the lost spirits. They're still seen wandering around hungrily in limbo, as the gates of hell are yet to close.



Normally I'd get stressed by the sight of the Semenyih Dam but I just smiled at her & composed myself. Most of the others took-off & left me, Fhami & Bokat behind. As my momentum was slightly faster (Coz I'm light!) I waited-up at the peak & caught their gestures of triumph on film, uh... I mean digitally. Rolling looooong hills deprived us from beating up the incline too much. By the time I rolled down on the back end of the dam, Bokat & Fahmi trailed behind not so far away in the distance.



An "Orang Asli"/indigenous boy was so engrossed catapulting some birds & the pebble missed me by mere inches. How can he not see this "South African" gaudy lookin ol' man in tights? He just smiled shyly & continued playing with his green friendly toys. What a carefree life, I'm so jealous.


D "South African" Cape Malay rider

Here in the urban concrete jungle, we slog days & endless nites to put bread on the table.
Why can't we just slow down a little bit & enjoy the "Real" life? Work never ends - life WILL end. I do not want to end up like a walking zombie all my life. To be waken up later to attend my own funeral.
At the end of the day, what are we really chasin after? Does it add more value in our life?
What value do we have when we can't even free ourselves form the brunt of this current demanding civilization? How I wish sometimes we never ever evolved into modern man. Life was much2 simpler those days.
I felt regret for not being born a hundred years ago.




It's a first for Bokat, ridin this distance. Though he did suffer a bit at the Semenyih Dam & Perez climb. Overall he did pretty well. Smiling ear to ear & sniggering like a hyena. I know how it feels bro. The sense of accomplishment. Hey dude, we've got another 50% to go. So don't smile too much. I & Rizal paced each other till the top of Perez even though my right "Anak anjing"/calf was feeling a bit stretched, hope it can last the journey.




Rays of Light







Najib chucked these away as the heat got the better of him.

At the usual congregation area, we met up with Bob Saiful, his two friends Loke & Zim, which they obliged later with a conquering shot of the Selangor & N9 border. A peeping tom was spotted lurking behind the scene. Apparently it escaped from Akma's Costume Zoo. No wonder I could hear ruffling sounds within the Imperata Cylindrica.


Me, Bokat, Najib, Loke, Fahmi, Wak Jali, Rizal, my twin, Bob, John John & Zam.

The rest zoomed passed me. I'm not as young & a thrill seeker as used to be - let the wind flow over my head & roll down gently.
Don't wanna get skinned by the tarmac. It was pretty easy from Perez to Tekala but by now, the belly had started to growl. We had burgers, coconut water, bottles of isotonic fluid to clench our thirst & drench our dry gear.


Beggars banquet

I had morphed/evolved into the Hunchback of Notre Dame @ Iceback of Not so Dame. Stuffed some ice atop my shoulders to subside the burning sensation & stiffness coz I made a silly a mistake rubbing Deep Heat to sweaty pores. The result was stinging unbearable pain!


The Hunchback of Notre Dame @ The Iceback of Not so Dame

On top of that, we doused ourselves with a chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen = Water!
It's vital for the survival of all known forms of life - Especially weekend warriors like us...

Ciao raggazi!

Bandar Baru Bangi - Perez


Bonked - Hitting something hard, to strike or cause to come into contact: She bonked her head going through the low doorway
Bonking - Creating more humanoids/Gettin physical with your partner/To make luv: Shagging
Konk - Kong/Knock out/Dead/Mati/Sih, sounds like the word "Death," = No. 4

Green friendly toys - Made from Wood or something natural. Not from plastic which will never decompose nor recyclable even after a thousand years.
Toyol - A small mischievous child spirit who steals. Has a big head, small hands, clouded eyes and usually grey skin. More accurately, it resembles a goblin.
Holotropic means "Moving toward wholeness" (from the Greek "holos" = whole and "trepein" = moving in the direction of something).