Week 21

Monday: Did 2 x A Very Dark Place at low Zone 5 for the ON sets, targeting above 273W. 115 TSS points.

Tuesday: Balls out effort for HHNF. All above 95% of FTP. NP 251W, 253W, 254W. 100 TSS points.

Thursday: 2 x 20 (1 min @ 280W, 1 min @ 220W) Over/Under. NP 255W and 256W. 85 TSS points.

Saturday: The first of our 9 hour rides. Home - Bukit Hantu - Perez - Klawang - Kuala Pilah - Senawang - LEKAS - Home. Managed 271 km @ NP 198W. Had a hard time after the LEKAS toll Kajang side as I was close to bonking. But managed to get a 2nd wind as we got to the Taman Desa hill. having Leonard as a carrot definitely helped. 500 TSS points.

800 TSS points with some solid weekday rides and a 9 hour ride. Just one more big block before we start to taper for Flanders.

Week 20

Tuesday:Wanted to do 16 short hill climbs to emulate Flanders, but only got up to 12 before the legs told me to shove off. A combination of a heavy weekend and not eating for a medium length ride left me quite shagged. 12 times up Kiara at a bigger gear for some low cadence work to prepare for steep bergs. All intervals were above FTP. 180 TSS points.

Thursday: Some low VO2max work on the trainer. Wanted to go for 12 sets to be equivalent to Tuesday, but legs rebelled so only completed seven sets @ 280W doing HHNF. 90 TSS points.

Saturday: Wanted to do a big figure-eight loop from the Bukit Merah toll. But had to cut it short as legs were feeling heavy and blocked. Turned for home after breakfast stop in Selama. Managed to get in 143 km still at mid Zone 3 for 295 TSS points.

Turns out doing something stupid like the previous weekend had a detrimental effort. "Surprising", I know. A semi-recovery week, it turned out to be. Only 560 TSS points this week. Hopefully the legs come around for the last two long rides of this training block.

Week 19

Monday: Did Hell Hath No Fury with Extra Shot at high Zone 3 for some sweet spot training. NP 240W, 242W, 245W. 115 TSS points.

Tuesday: Backing a hard ride the day before with some VO2max work. A Very Dark Place with NP 293W, 303W, 306W, 303W, 306W. 80 TSS points.

Wednesday: A short and sweet Revolver before heading off to the Dashboard Confessional gig. Went for 330W for the ON sets. NP 282W. 65 TSS points.

Thursday: Did the HHNF + Extra Shot combo again, but this time aiming for 95% of FTP for a Zone 4 workout. NP 249W, 245W, 247W. 115 TSS points.

Saturday: Didn't know how the legs would respond on the long ride after 4 days of hard work. Did Broga Classic from home with the boys. Felt decidedly average at the start but ended up well. Good threshold climbing work all the way with a PB up Perez (time) from the other side. Bukit Hantu NP 253W, Bukit Lenggeng NP 261W, Bukit Tangga NP 263W, Perez NP 240W. Solid long ride for 440 TSS points.

Sunday: Backed up the LONG ride with a mod-hard ride with P2K. Initially we were supposed to go to Kuala Selangor but detoured to Batang Berjuntai after someone hit a bump and fell hard. As well as I was feeling rough after a hard start post Indian temple. The pack were dawdling after the breakfast stop so I pushed on to see how long I could last before being caught. Turned out almost until the end at Satay Hill on Guthrie. Too bad I was in the motor lane and the pack was on the highway. Would have been interesting to see if I could have held on as they sped up the last hill. NP 243W for my breakaway effort.

A big week DONE! 975 TSS points with a mod-hard ride they day AFTER Broga Classic from home. If that doesn't prepare me well for Flanders, I don't know what will.

Week 18

Monday: VO2max intervals at Kiara Hills. Initially wanted to do the loop at Mutiara Damansara but that had too many speed bumps. So did 1 interval there and another 5 at Kiara. Didn't quite manage the 300W on the climbs due to the gate and short downhill section, but good enough. 110 TSS points.

Tuesday: Short and sweet. Did Revolver with 330W during the ON section. Highest NP so far @ 279W. 75 TSS points.

Wednesday: Was supposed to follow Terry to Sempah but miscommunication led him to start off without me, so I did Tour de Damansara Heights with JK. Did an FTP set NP 255W to get to iDamansara, then just followed JK on the climbs. TDDH gave an NP of 205W which gave 131 TSS points for the day.

Thursday: Initially didn't want to ride today, but given the fact that we were about to have a nig dinner, I forced myself on the trainer to do HHNF. Didn't do the last 3.5 minute TTT though. Took it as it came. W/U 239W, Set 1 245W, Set 2 251W. 80 TSS points.

Saturday: Home - Junction to Tranum - Home. Took it slightly easy on the climb to Sempah on the way there for an NP of 237W, and pushed it hard on the way back from the Hot Springs for NP 241W. It was quite hard on the way back and I felt that I was just "hanging on" instead of "pushing on". But turned out feeling was just that, a feeling as it was a slightly higher wattage coming back compared to the Bentong ride 2 weeks back. Nice to finally manage a 30 km/h average Bentong ride which did not involve drafting the Le2a train.

The recovery week proved to be a boon and I thought I did well this week, with interval rides on weekdays and a strong long ride on Saturday. Initially wanted to prepare legs for the SIC Bikeathon, but family events curtailed that plan. So the weekend ride was adjusted. Wanted to ride both Saturday and Sunday but the Sunday ride was washed out by rain. Nevertheless, another good week in the legs for a total of 770 TSS points.

Week 17

Thursday: Got home early from the office and did Home - Sempah - Home. Didn't feel to sprightly on Sempah so only did 1 x 20 @ FTP on the climb before turning back for home. But really pushed through for an NP of 262W which I thought was OK on quite heavy legs. Wanted to car pace Terry on the way back but he had already left by the time I got back to HOA.

Saturday: Big ride of the week. Home - LDP - KESAS - Sungai Besi - Bangi - Sepang - Lukut - Sepang - Bangi - Sungai Besi - Sprint - Home. No intervals marked on the ride as it was a long, steady endurance ride. Spent a lot of time on the front at high Zone 2/low Zone 3, and really pushed it on the way back after Bangi. 355 TSS points.

This week proved to be a bit of a recovery week. With the super long ride on Sunday to Sungai Besar, I couldn't stand the sight of the bike for the first 3 days of the week. Only managed 2 days of riding during the week. But the rest seemed to de me quite the amount of good as I felt quite strong on the Lukut ride on Sunday. Only 520 TSS points for the week. This should be the last "recovery" week before the last push to Flanders.

Week 16

Wednesday: Initially wanted to do a long steady ride but some of the guys needed to get home early, so the plan was changed to a slightly shorter ride with hill intervals. Did Home - Batu 14 - Bukit Hantu - Tekala - Perez - Batu 18 - Bukit Ampang - Home. Bukit Hantu NP 251W, Perez NP 282W, Bukit Ampang NP 257W. Did a PB up Perez from the junction tailing Leonard. Only lost him at the last 300 metres at the steepest bit. But it was a time PB by far. Wanted to hammer it on DUKE heading back home but had to play bus driver as Faisaal was cramping and struggling. Still managed a decent 285 TSS points.

Saturday: Rode with the BJCC boys. Home - AI - GCE - Latar - Ijok - Fruit Valley - Batu Arang - Jalan Kuala Selangor - GCE - Home. No intervals marked on the computer just steady hard all the way with rotating paceline on Latar and hammering it on the Fruit Valley climbs. NP for whole ride was 224W for a TSS of 290 points.

Sunday: A long aerobic ride to Sungai Besar. Was conned by Razali who said it was 180 km from AI, which would have given me 210 km. But when we clocked 135 km at the u-turn point, I knew we were in for a longer ride. Turns out that it was 255 km. The only system that was put to work was the "ass-hardiness" as I clocked 8 hours of saddle time. The objective of the ride was slightly compromised as I had to drop back to tow 2 guys to Kuala Selangor. Was bonking a little from Kuala Selangor to Ijok as I didn't eat at Kuala Selangor. But managed to get in some nutrition at the Petronas and finished the ride strong for 375 TSS points.

Only 3 days of riding this week. Wanted to do a 3 day block across the FT Day public holidays, but mentally and physically I was pretty drained. Legs didn't quite want to work on the Tuesday and Thursday, but perhaps it was for a good thing. As it was, total TSS across the 3 days was already 950. A sizeable load for any given week. Add that to the 1000+ TSS from the previous week, no wonder I was a left a little mentally and physically fatigued.

Week 15

Monday: Rode with Adly, Shyrim and Kenny to KKB via Ulu Yam there and back. Wanted to work the climbs, and put in some decent amount of work on the front. Managed to do both. On the way back, I decided to pull a Maxime Monfort from the right turn after the bridge. In my mind, I was on the Galibier. And the terrain was quite similar too, but on a smaller scale. The first part was more of a false flat where I monstered a big gear, and the part after the camp on the left was steeper, akin to the steeper section to Sierre Chevalier. NP for both climbs were 248W. 280 TSS points.

Tuesday: Longest ride of the 4 day block to Bentong and back. Legs were very heavy out the door and on the climb to Sempah. NP was only 232W and I felt like I was working very hard. But on the way back from Bentong it felt that whatever it was blocking my legs were gone and I pushed it as hard as I could from the hot springs to the top. NP was 240W for almost an hour. Not too shabby on the back end of a 4 day block to be pushing that hard. 325 TSS points.

Saturday: Rode Home – Batu 18 – Tekala – Broga – Lenggeng – Broga – Kajang Perdana – Home. Although it was supposed to be a ride WITH BJCC from Batu 18 to Lenggeng, it turned out to be a ride IN FRONT of BJCC for almost the entire route to Lenggeng. Took it as my responsibility to control the pace and bring the group to the climbs in good condition. Mission accomplished, I would say. Pushed it really hard from Kajang Perdana to TTDI averaging a (wind-assisted) 37 km/h. 325 TSS points.

Sunday: I thought my legs would be OK after the long ride on Saturday. But turned out to be otherwise. Knowing the nature of rides with P2K, I just had to suck it up and bear with it. Couldn’t respond when Kelvin jumped away at Kuang, and couldn’t close the gap just before the left turn to the rolling climbs on Jalan Batu Arang. Felt better on the way back and helped close down Leonard who was feeling VERY frisky. A hard and fast ride for 180 TSS points.

After the weekend extravaganza, wanted to log another ride on Thursday but the legs felt really iffy and I was quite fatigued. So decided to save it for the next day. But Friday turned out to be a case of slight fever and stomach discomfort. So THAT plan was shelved. However, target was achieved. More than 1000 TSS points this week. 1110 to be exact! Now to back this up with another big week next week as Wednesday is a public holiday and next weekend will be a long 4 day weekend.