Sunday, June 08, 2008

Batu Arang Ride

I had a bad fall yesterday during my ride to Batu Arang. Blame nothing but myself for being careless and not focus while cycling. I hit a patch of sand at one of the corners and "crash" I was down on the ground!!! Thanks goodness, there were sand, mud and grass at the side of the curve, I had a soft landing. I was fortunate cos' if I were to fall to my right, I would end up on the road with some incoming cars behind me. That could spell more disaster!

As I was on the ground, the first thing I did was to try yelling at Dr Raymond who was just 10 metres in front of me to inform him a man is down. Immediately I felt my chest pain and a slight difficulty in breathing. The next thing I did was of course to check my precious bike which every riders would do...hahaha! The last check was then on the damage body, if any?

We - Lisar, Gane, Dr Raymond and myself then continued our journey to Batu Arang. Just a few kilometres to the destination, we had a climb. I must say this is the best part of the whole 100km of our ride. A view from the hilltop overlooking the green and beautiful palm tree estates. Quite refreshing to an otherwise boring, flat and stressful ride where we had to keep a constant look-out for traffic, potholes and any other obstacles.



We met the gang of Emma, Siok Bee, Christie, KK and Randy at a coffee shop in Batu Arang. Apparently, Emma also crashed during the ride but escaped with a minor injury. When they saw the back of my jersey filled with stains and sand, they teased and asked if I had a mountain bike ride instead of a road bike...hahaha! Hey! What are friends for, laughing at each other mishap!

After breakfast, we bade farewell and proceeded with our own journey. Dr, Lisar, Gane and I returned to the same route where we came from. Nothing much happened this time...

As soon as I unclipped my shoe off the pedal and came down from my bike, I instantly felt a sharp pain on my right rib. I predicted something worse than I thought as I've experienced that similar pain before. I broke my rib about 3 years ago during a fall while playing ping-pong! Yeah! I know you can laugh out loud because I am such a fragile old man now!

I went for an x-tray in the evening and confirmed that I've a hair-line fracture on my right rib. Well, nothing major but just a slight pain which I have to endure for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can start cycling and running again after a month or two! Meanwhile I will volunteer myself to help man our vehicles at the Bukit Aman car park on Sundays morning.

Lastly, to all my concern friends and teammates, I have one sentence for you - I may be down but I'm not out yet! Keep running and cycling safely and I will be back to join you guys soon!

8 comments:

yipwt said...

wow...breaking a rib sounds bad. Cycling is definitely dangerous, but heck...we all still do it.

sofiantriathlete said...

aiyo, what man you.
No cyling or running for one or two months some more. Probably swimming oso cannot.
Actually u can continue riding a bicycle trainer. Fix the bicycle properly, no way can fall down.

Take care

John said...

Ultraman, don't worry, I'll be back into cycling again.

Ironman, m trying to get a bike trainer ie. TACX. Any jalan?

sofiantriathlete said...

get trainer that grips the rim. Not one that grips the tyre as tyre will go bald

Keipo said...

Bro...take care ya..sure will see u again in action of running and cycling !

Raymond said...

No wonder u were unusually quiet during the return journey;apparently u were grimacing in pain huh?
Aiyo....bike accidents are so common to us cyclist until im so immune to it lah. :-(
U take care ok,cant wait to ride with u again.Speedy recovery John!

John said...

IM Sofian, tyre can be replaced, but rim? very expensive to replace!

Tey, thanks. shld be able to run/cycle in a week or two. no prob. can take the pain, just need to be xtra careful.

Dr,I was amazed with myself that i was able to cycle 50km back. When I lift my bike to my car, I knew I was in deep, deep trouble!

cRAzYtoMatOmaN-D said...

hey john the scott rider,
your bike miss u lah...
your scott gang member, mich, can't challenge merida gang without you...
heck, we all miss you!
get well quick!

oh ya, to rub salt into your wound, you missed our ampang hill-pekan bt18-peres-tekala and back for 105km.....hehe!