So the 600k that I completed over the weekend was touted as the toughest BRM600 in Malaysia to date, and I went in with two things stacked against me. First of all, it was a 3am start so I planned to try and get some sleep the day before, but failed miserably. Tossed and turned, didn't really get any sleep at all so I was going in sleep-deprived and that would come back to bite me in the ass later on.
The second thing was that I was using some new equipment for the first time -- a very big no-no but too late to really change up anything. I decided against using a drop bag service so I brought everything with me. All the usual tools and supplies, plus spare tyre, change of clothes, toiletries, rain coat, spare lights, spare USB charger. That's about 5kg hanging off my saddle, something I was not used to. Bike handling felt wobbly and unstable... and it took me over 150km to get used to it. I'm pretty sure it impacted my climbing as well.
The first climb from between approx. 137-182km was a nasty one. The Strava segment makes it appear to be a benign avg 3% grade continous climb, but in reality there are a lot of little ascents and descents all along the way. The Garmin showed 8-9% slopes way more than I would have thought. Furthermore, there was very little shelter from the sun and almost no stores to stop and resupply on the way up, so hydration strategy was extremely crucial. From what I hear, a bunch of people DNF before reaching the peak. I took over 4h 40m of slowly inching my way up, needing to pop an energy gel near the peak to continue, and then the weather turned bad.
I think a lot of people waited too long for the rain to let up which led to their eventual DNF later on. Me and a couple of riders decided to brave through the inclement weather though, which was actually a particularly risky move on my part. With 44mm carbon clinchers and rim brakes, heavy downpour and a long descent... yeah, you know what I'm getting at. Fortunately the roads were wide and traffic was very light, I bombed downhill minimising brakes while constantly looking ahead for road hazards. There were a few rises which helped me to slow down without needing to touch the brakes too.
I thought the worst of it was over but noooo... the rolling hills after the descent turned out to be a nightmare. Another slow crawl for hours with very little civilization along the route ensued, plus there was riding in total darkness when night came. When we reached the next checkpoint, we were short on time that we could only afford ourselves about 3+ hours of sleep before needing to ride again. A bunch of people DNF by this point -- they didn't think they had enough time to sleep and then finish on time.
There was this very long, monotonous 40-ish km stretch of highway where the effects of sleep deprivation kicked in full. I could barely keep my eyes open, I may have even nearly dozed off two or three times without realizing it. We found a nice little spot by the side of the road to take a power nap, and I also tried napping anytime they decided to stop to rest, eat, or just take a break. We passed a lot of riders who also did the same -- somehow this felt like the stories I hear about the return leg of PBP where everyone just finds spots all over the side of the road to sleep, lol.
The next stretch of time suckers was another set of rolling roads heading towards the next checkpoint. This wasn't as bad as the previous day, as this time there were a few where I could use the momentum from the downhill to get over (or at least get near the top) of the next rise... but there were some gems (or should I say, "walls") amongst them. Counted several 12% and one 15% all coming in sequence. Had to pop an energy gel here to keep going.
After that the roads were being merciful but we were already short on time from all the crazy climbing before. Upped the pace, took turns to pull, minimized our breaks and we eventually finished in a somewhat staggered time with the slower riders dropping off behind while the faster ones kept pushing onward. We were fine with that arrangement -- if you had the energy to push forward, by all means go ahead if it means you complete within time. I managed with 6 minutes remaining... that was a hell of a ride!
Did a math thing on the whole route. Total elevation as reported by Strava is 6,138m (20,138ft). The two major hill climbs are 1,312m (4,304ft) and 587m (1926ft). So where did the rest of the elevation go??? :-o Rolling hell, that's where. :-D
Finally, my boring ride video:
https://tinyurl.com/yayxlrf9