Pedalphilic: Sungai Buaya Report...12FEB 2012

PCC's Old Cock

SG BUAYA OTAI JAMBOREE – 12 Feb 2012

Great idea this Old Timer Jamboree organized by Sg Buaya Cycling Club last Sunday. Such a refreshing change to see riders closer my age or older ONLY up there on the rostrum collecting their prizes! For the uninitiated, the event called Sg Buaya OTAI Jamboree was open only to riders above 41 years old and involved riding a loop of 25km in those great hills around the small little town of Sg Buaya, Selangor.

We managed to round up only 10 old cocks from our regular Mud & Dirt riders (so it seems our riders are relatively young) and didn’t win the prize for the group with the biggest contingent this time round. In case you didn’t know, that was exactly what we won last year at another jamboree organized by SBCC!

Lest you are wondering, the 10 old cocks were Fong, Simon, Gerard, Gan, Choy, Vincent, Victor, KY, Kenny and I. Our best bets for a placing were Kenny, Gan and Simon in the above-50 category but alas, the field was just too strong. Didn’t know we have so many fit old cocks out there. Which included our good ole’ friend Robert Madge all the way from Spain who took 2^nd position in this category (and 5^th overall if not mistaken)!

Shortly after flag off at 8.30am sharp, I was left very much to my own devices at the back of the pack, me being a slow warmer. For some genetic reasons, I can never dart off like most people do at any rides but require a rather long period to warm up. Which is why I can never do well in short events. Not that I do well in longer events either, but at least I get more time to catch up with my buddies.

So last Sunday, it was a ‘lonely’ ride for me all the way until about 5km to the finish line that I finally saw KY as he trudged up a hill. He told me Gerard, Fong and Victor had just overtaken him. From there we stuck together and at the bottom of the last big hike-a-bike, Gerard radioed to say he just collected his last sticker at the top of the hill. Even our ‘sick’ Vincent was way ahead of us. May be he rides faster when sick. Victor was supposed to keep me company at the back but I think I last saw him before even the start of the offroad sections…. Somehow everybody was fast that day. No stopping every 2km for a chitchat or 5km for a makan. Yet they didn’t win any placing, sigh…..

Overall, another good ride on those lovely singletracks of Sg Buaya even if a bit too short. All of us were back at the finish line just after 11am. Seems Kenny was back even before 10am! This time Simon outrode Gan. Must be the new wheels that cut Simon’s bike’s weight by 2.7lbs! Or may be Gan was held back by the long queue of riders squeezing into the first singletrack. I was.

If it’s any consolation, at least Kenny was lucky once again in the lucky draws and brought home a funny looking bike with 20-inch wheels. A minivelo? And I was given the honour by the MC to give away the special prize for the biggest (heftiest) rider! First prize was a 4-wheel ATV but this was won by a lucky dude from Perak. Wonder how he brought it home!

Ride Report Courtesy of Yellow Manta.

The Real Reason Why PCC won nuts at the Jamboree: