Bau - Sunday 6th May 2012
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| CBD of Bau Town |
Escaping the maelstrom of normal morning traffic, Sunday mornings are usually a great day to go out riding. Today was just that. A perfect Sunday morning for a euphoric ride. It is 7:00am & I wasn't too sure where to go. Ride down to Siniawan again? Boring! Or push myself further? The problem with riding solo is the fear of what ifs. What if i suffer a puncture? Call my wife to pick me up again and face the wrath of death itself? Or walk the miles and suffer the same consequences with ample time to reflect on the dilemma? What if i met with an accident and there was no one around? But really, I still think riding solo is the best way to ride. It gives you the mental stamina without the peer pressure, the self-confidence without the " hey look my bike is better than yours" syndrome. One of the pro bike retailers in Kuching once told me when I bought a foldy off him, and he went, "Kuching cyclist are in a category of their own. They only go for the expensive bicycles". I was like thinking, WTF? You won't catch me singing Kumbaya with this guy, that's for sure. Then I realized that he was getting rich like nobody's business simply because of the mania that human nature creates. You know,... the mine is bigger than yours or mine is longer than yours thingy? Sigh!
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| My GPS Kit Tracking |
Fifteen minutes into my ride i was still unsure where i was going. I needed what the behavioral economists termed as "priming". For example and I read this somewhere, if Asian women were reminded of their ethnicity before a math test, they did better. But if they were reminded that they were women, they did worst. I wonder what will happen if the test subjects were transvestites? Errrrr.... but anyhow, I primed myself with upbeat music. Changing my iPod album selection from Lionel Richie (don't ask) to Gipsy Kings did the trick. It was like a leap of faith & I finally decided to ride down to the town of Bau. From my previous calculations, it would take me approx 60km for a return trip. At a minimum speed of 20km/hr, the return trip should take 3hrs. This came as a a self-fulfilling prophecy as I always wanted to reach Bau ever since I reached Siniawan about a year ago (see previous blog) and have been making Siniawan one of my weekly destinations. Was I ready for this long trip on this Sunday morning? The answer came back like a rush of blood compressing into my head as the roller coaster did a 5G turn, Negative! I have but only one bottle of plain water. Not enough & not even spiked with glucose to give me that extra energy. Riding on an empty stomach was another anticipated problem. I would be running out of energy very fast. Without any energy bars or bananas in my back pockets, I was rather ill prepared. Calmly I looked at my GPS tracker. It was telling me that I have been performing great for the past 15mins with an average speed of 30km/hr. So kudos, nothing to worry about. I love this application which you can download from apple apps store. It is called GPS kit. It is able to track, record & plot your route, chart your pace, speed and elevation. Highly recommended for any cyclist, especially for mountain bikers riding through the outback which is without 3G reception. The beauty of this application is that it does not need 3G to work. The map can pre-downloaded and GPS signal is always free & available every where in the rainforest of Borneo.
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| Tasik Biru |
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| My old Scott at Tasik Biru |
I reached Bau town after climbing a small incline. It was like a hardwork-pays-off experience. Surprisingly, I was not tired and continue to ride past the CBD (ya rite, 2 rows of shophouses) and onto Tasik Biru, a small man made depression in the ground which used to be a gold mine until it got flooded and became Tasik Biru or Blue Lake. There I met another solo rider who carried his bike on a Nissan 4WD, parked his car at Tasik Biru and rode off on his MTB from there. After greeting him with my Australian-want-to-be accent, "Good Morning Mate, how are u to die?", I started my grueling ride back home. True to my prediction, I was down to my backup energy. The last 10kms was tough with my legs starting to cramp up. They were like staring hard at me yelling, "You just try! Push me harder & I will make sure you will never be able to paddle again!". I was like OK.... don't go near there and started coasting ever more often. Reaching home was like finding solace in the midst of woe. It was already 10:00am and the sun was unforgiving. I felt exfoliated, as if my skin could just drop off. Surprisingly though, my arse was malleable enough to endure the 3hr journey.
In the end it was just another one of my many achievements in life that will never be appreciated.... Why were you so late? Do you know that the kids have Sunday School to attend? Won't they be late? Hahaha.... It is here that i recall the best quote of the year that i have heard in the history of HGST Sarawak.... It is suppose to give us this comfortable feeling that you have done your best and just accept the consequences of it all. And I quote, "It is what it is!". Simple but profoundly powerful..... Cheers!
