Sometimes life happens. Not everything always goes the way we planned. Whether it’s long hours at work, increased family responsibilities, mental burnout, a serious injury (…or not so serious injury), there are a many of reasons from you might need to take a break from cycling.

Returning to cycling after a long break is not easy. I know I tried a few times. I made a few mistakes in the past that eventually foiled my comeback. One of the silliest was to compare myself now to the cyclist I was in the past, wishing I still had my past fitness and power. It was frustrating, discouraging and demotivating. 

Start fresh... or restart fresh. Set new goals. For me it's not to compete but enjoy the ride, workout and "ngeteh" with the company. Keeping track of progress helps and consistency is the key to happiness. A small, steady but consistent improvement  is better than hoping to achieve a leap of improvement and risk overexerting myself in the process. 

There will be days where I don't feel like riding and at times, it can be pretty tough wall to bust. My mind could be racing at high RPM to produce excuses and some are pretty darn convincing. I keep reminding myself to stay the course. Nothing comes easy. In the words of Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler, “You Can Do It!”. Once the shoes are on, the ride is on! 

Last Saturday was a good ride day. For the first time, after so many years, we had KAMBEKS, two Dewa Sungai Long, James (Eh-eh) Newman and Najib. Bravo abang-abang seluar ketat. Until the next ride!

It has been raining almost every day these past few weeks, a mix of light rain and at times, a deluge. Come Friday, the “Abang Basikal” gang will start paying extra attention to the weather report, particularly Saturday and Sunday morning. It’s just not fun cycling in the rain and it’s not safe too with the reduced visibility, cold feet and hands, road spray from the wheels and the list goes on. But I’m digressing. 

Its amazing how advancements in technology come in leaps and bounds as well as the speed of tech commercialization. Heck it doesn't take long for new gadgets or tools to become obsolete. Things get done faster and relatively easier. One of my all-time favorite piece of tech, which most of us take for granted is TV remote. A wonderful piece of device... but hey, voice command is caching up!

When it comes to bicycle, the one thing I hate the most is pumping the tire, even more so for road bikes because of the high pressure. Too soft it will slow you down, too hard it might blow your tube. Fixing  a flat during rides is even worse especially when you ride with a bunch of serious cyclists. 

Chores have become simplified thanks to technology. From mini portable pumps that don't work well at times, some riders now prefer to carry compressed CO2  cartridges to inflate tires after repairs. Wundebar! No pumping is involved and its fast. The downside is you  need to get the right size cartridge for your tire size. Smaller ones will fill a single road tire while the larger ones can fill two tires. Tiny cartridges are most likely not refillable (always read the warning and product instruction), the seal is a one-time only seal so you'll need to buy more. 

I have a love hate relationship with cycling. It's complicated. One might wonder why? Well these two greats couldn't have said it better. Fausto Coppi, who many might consider the greatest of all described cycling as “Cycling is suffering.” And Eddy Merckx said “Cyclists live with pain. If you can't handle it, you will win nothing. The race is won by the rider who can suffer the most.”

Today was a rather fulfilling day. For the first time since 2 years ago I was back on the Madone saddle. To be honest I was unsure what to expect. I had mixed feeling about doing a 30Km ride. One part of was saying this was a bad idea, need more training while the other was nudging me to take the leap of faith. If not now when?

My recovery ride was rather simple routine, 3 laps, 10KM, max elevation of 45m on my MTB…hence the doubt. But I'm glad I did it. Even though I took one hell of a beating climbing the 225m Sg Long hill, almost bonked, sore thigh and battered legs…the pain was in way a joy. I have never hated the Sg Long dragon backs more than today.

An yeah, I've had to relearn the route again...the hills, metal grates, holes, bumps, crossing, which toll booth to sneak through and pacing. Route familiarity helps in making a better and safer ride experience.

The Sungai Long's Posse 

  

Doc's new (B)ride