It was quite unsurprising that David Zabriskie blazed away to victory, winning margin was just over a minute to Drapac’s Adam Phelan.   Zabriskie was excited and wanted to go out fast, and fast he went averaging 49.5km/h on what was a deceptively tough course that looked easy on paper. “I started faster than I should have and that initial effort caught up with me in the end.” says Zabriskie. In preparation for the heat here in Malaysia, he spent time sitting inside saunas to help the body adjust to the warmer conditions. “It now comes down to the hilly stage in Genting and I have a good gap of over one minute which is good for me as it puts me ahead of my key rivals in this race.”

Stay tuned for the Tour de Langkawi updates on my Twitter: Bikedan and tomorrow’s 151km stage to Melaka promises to be a sprinters fest with many ‘sprinter’ teams looking to stamp their authority!

If you wish to read more in-depth reports checkout the following sites for good reports. Keep on scrolling to view a selection of photos I took for the day.

CyclingIQ

CyclingTips

Cyclingtime

Tour de Langkawi

Photo: Jojo Rinoza

Cycling races that include resort living are on the rise in Asia, races like the Tour of Matabungkay and the Tour of Bintan both offer resort accommodations with picturesque tropical surroundings for riders to unwind after hard racing.  As I type this, I am sipping on ice-cold fresh Mango juice and enjoying the laid-back style of Filipino lifestyle. Quite a contrast to the frenzied life in Mainland China, mind you Manila, Philippines largest city is a sprawling metropolis that is in some ways crazier.

The Matabungkay Beach Resort is less than three hours away from Manila, but it is a completely different world in the Southern most tip of Luzon Island. General Manager of the Resort, Rico Violeta, is an avid cycling fan himself. “I want to promote Batangas as a cycling destination and show the world what we have to offer” he said.  While out pre-riding some of the stages, it was quite evident that the region has some great roads with punchy climbs and rollers. With the great beach nearby, the cyclist is never far from cooling off if riding is becoming too hot…

The 2011 Tour of Matabungkay is shaping up to be a very tough race; a race that does not favor the climber or the sprinter, but favors a rider that has strong all-round ability.  It is also a race that is dependent on your ability to time-trial and the organizers have mapped out extremely challenging parcours for both the team time trial and the individual; so challenging that the winning time in 2010 was only 59 mins, averaging 40.22km/h. But this year’s competition looks like the course record will be broken.

There are 80 riders starting the elite category with several strong teams, including the two-time winner Mossimo Team and The Franzia Wines Teams. Both these Filipino Teams have imported quite a few foreigners to not only bolster their ranks but also to showcase the Batangas region to the world as a destination for cycling.  But I think it’s really to strengthen their teams in the bid to win the coveted team title.  Mossimo with their 17-strong rider squad with imports Lee Rodgers, Rob Gitelis, and Daniel Carruthers definitely look to be the favorites on paper.  A strong challenge to topple the Mossimo Cycling Team from achieving their hat-trick will come from the Franzia Wines Team led by Scotsman Colin Robertson. Roberston has been training specifically for this event for months and the former Scottish time-trial champion will be a formidable force to be reckoned with, especially in the two time-trial stages.  Other strong riders include Mark Cook and Damian Barrett, both expats living in Hong Kong.

While out pre-riding the time trial stages, I was impressed with the course they had put together. It is not an easy course and definitely favors the powerful rider that can punch it up the numerous climbs. Stage two is the team time-trial over 30kms and our Mossimo team will have nine riders but only three need to finish for the official team time. For me, it will be a case of riding well at the front over the flat and rolling downhill sections but have to hang on during the climbs. It will also be in the afternoon – the hottest part of the day and it will be important to start well hydrated as we will be coming from completing the 90km road race first up.

I did not expect to find this tour to be predominantly climbs. The first stage features a long 20km climb after 20kms and this is expected to break the race to smithereens and leave the field in tatters. After this first brutal stage, riders will have to pick themselves up again for the TTT in the afternoon. Recovery from the stages will be key to doing well at this tour. The second day features an epic 120kms taking in the best of what Matabungkay offers. The tour ends with a super hard 40km individual time trial; it will be a true test of who is the strongest after a very testing first two days. All of the stages finish atop a tough 2km climb.  After staking out the time trial route today, I was sitting with the Mossimo Team drinking coke with ice-cubes and I observed one of the Filipino make himself a raw-egg coke cocktail. We nick-named him Ricky Eggman as he proudly said that it was one of his proven methods for recovery after a hard training ride!

Protein-coke with raw egg - Filipino Style!

Despite the hard-coreness of the race, riders have the luxury of coming back to the Matabungkay Beach Resort to enjoy some relaxation and fantastic Filipino hospitality and food.  Enjoy the fantastic photos below, click on them for larger sizes. Stay tuned for my reports over the next several days. Here is a preview of the race on the Philippine Inquirer.

Since, the organizers of the Tour were on a budget crunch due to lack of sponsorship funding,  they were squeezing riders and support people into the rooms.  So it was four people into one room (2 riders in one bed) and while this is hard enough among the teams but at least they knew each other. Imagine trying to sleep in a bed with another person you don’t even know?! Following logic, it would have been the right thing to do by giving NZL a room regardless of how many people. But I was initially squashed in with the Belgian riders and their support crew. No offence, but I knew I could not sleep with them. So I moved all my things out into the lobby and asked for another solution.  In the end, I was given a satisfactory solution, but it was only for the night.  The next night, I agreed to stay with the Czech’s in Tainan since I had become friendly with their trainer who spoke good English. Fortunately we were able to arrange the beds so that four people could sleep separately and we all slept in peace. The next night, however, in Kenting, was different. I was attacked in the middle of the night by the Czech coach who thought he should be sharing the bed with me. He had been out drinking with others and came back late, after the three of us had gone to sleep. Before going to sleep, we had discussed the sleeping arrangements and the trainer had already made his bed on the floor while the Czech rider was sleeping on the big double bed. I was told that the coach/manager would sleep on the same bed as the Czech, no problem. I had the second bed to myself and was sound to sleep when I was shaken awake by the burly Czech coach. I was confused and since he can’t communicate in English nor I could use sign language, it was hard to convey the arrangement. The Belgian coach comes running in and is yelling at me that two people should be sleeping in the bed… anyway, the trainer got up and calmed the two men down and told them of our arrangement. The Czech manager apologized and proceeded to sleep on the bed with his rider.

During the middle of the night, I woke to see that the Czech rider was now sleeping on the floor (found out in the morning that he had moved because the manager was snoring and causing the bed to vibrate violently). But what was even more perplexing was that the manager had also moved to the floor space in-between the beds and was using a bag for a pillow and no mattress!  Things were going ok with the Czech’s till the crash incident at the finish of stage four. The Czech manager had blamed me for causing his rider to crash in the final 250m to the finish when my left foot clipped him as I surged ahead in the final sprint. You can watch the Youtube video here – Last 4kms of Stage 4 (those in China will need a VPN to access). The Czech rider’s tubular had rolled off completely and I suspect that is part of the reason why he went down like that – apparently the tubular was nearly 2 years old and had not been re-glued! Had the tubular not rolled off, it might have been possible for the Czech to re-correct himself as my clip was hardly a blow to him – if it was, I would have become entangled too. So, after this incident I was kicked out of the Czech’s room and I was faced with talking to the organizers again to get a room. I managed to stay with the Aussies for one night and then for the rest of the Tour I was kindly put into the room with one of the Chief Commissionaires and had a bed to myself.

It was quite stressful as you can see and as the only representative from New Zealand, I had to do most things myself like cleaning the bike, adjustments, pinning numbers, washing race kit, organizing my daily race food, getting massages, making sure I got enough rest etc. On top of all this, I also was writing the official daily race reports for cyclingnewsasia.com which took some time – once I had found internet access!  Some nights I would not get to bed till 12am and was lucky if I could be in bed by 11pm and rise at 6am for breakfast.

Communication was difficult for me since I did not know sign language and has made me realize that it will be essential to learn more sign language to actually communicate well with the other riders.  I did establish some great friendships and now I have a nice network of World Deaf Cyclists who share the same passion as myself for the sport. The standards of Deaf cycling is increasing all the time and there are quite a few that compete well at the PRO/1/2 category level in the United States. The next big Deaf Cycling event is the World Championships held in Quebec, Canada in June 2011.

Every training ride its like an adventure in itself and I’m constantly having to avoid traffic that cross my line, even when I have right of way. I find that the most dangerous of them all is the pedestrians. They seem to wander onto the roads, completely oblivious to what might be coming past. I have had more close misses with people walking on the roads then I have with the motorcar drivers and electric scooters combined. Have even managed to knock one Chinese person down on the seat of his pants! It was shocking. I was cruising along one of the roads that fringe the West Lake, and saw this middle-aged man about to cross the street. However he was looking in the other direction and then without looking my way, he stepped into my path. It was also wet on the road, so I could not slam the brakes on and the best I could do was yell out my warning. He still kept going and there was nowhere really for me to go, I managed to swerve and lessen the impact on him. It was still enough to knock him to the ground looking completely stunned. Since I veered off the path away from him, I had careered into two heavy cones and knocked them both down too. I miraculously stayed up-right, but my left hand was hit hard. Immediately a swarm of Chinese people formed around me and the man that was still seated on the ground. There was even a policeman on scene. They all tried to blame me for the incident, even though I could explain it clearly enough in Chinese that it was the man’s fault for not looking both ways.  One particular woman was yelling at me and saying that I was going too fast and therefore it was my fault (in fact I was only cruising along at 20km/h). Arguing with them was no use, so I said that I was sorry and left the scene to continue riding.

The above scenario could happen quite regularly if I am not on the alert. It gets tiring though and it feels good to be able to ride on roads that don’t have so many moving obstacles.  The other main threat is the large fleet of Chinese on e-bikes, their maximum speed is only around 30km/h, but most of them potter along like there is no tomorrow and they have a tendency to zig-zag. This increases the chances of getting side-swiped as you pass them. It is best to ride on the actual road where possible – its safer to ride with the main body of traffic and not in the bike lane. If you are just interested in cruising along at slow speeds – then the Hangzhou bike lanes are perfect for that. They are all over the city and make cycling for regular people somewhat safer as it is divided from the main traffic.

I recently found a fellow cyclist’s blog who writes about his experiences on the crazy Chinese Roads – alot of which I completely agree with. Very interesting in-sights to living in the land of the Middle Kingdom. You can check out his blog Waffles & Steel – China Watching from the Seat of a Bike

Although this is not Chinese traffic, it shows the extreme of chaotic traffic patterns in Manila

Self-portrait taken just before the fast approaching bus

The bus passing by so close, that it made me utter some bad words...

SHANGHAI, China—Despite air traffic problems in Europe due to volcanic ash that forced the delay of some European company executives, the Shanghai show enjoyed strong turnout with exhibitors representing thousands of factories from China and Taiwan.

The April 27-30 show was considerably bigger than the Taipei Show held a month earlier, but focused on mass- produced lower-end bicycles and parts. Taking center stage were electric bikes. Attendees had the opportunity to test ride the e-bike President Obama was presented with on his last visit to China.

The e-bike category has seen amazing growth over the last few years and it is one of China’s most competitive indus- tries as evidenced by a hall allocated to the category. The Chinese e-bike indus- try boasts a volume of more than 20 mil- lion units a year.

Chinese e-bike exports are on a steep growth curve, especially in the United States. Within a short period of time, electric bikes have grown to become a global industry worth over $11 billion.

Attracting quite a bit of attention was this Harley Davidson-style bike made by Chinese company Dijiya

Also propelling the bike industry in China is a cycling-for-leisure explosion. The Chinese have more disposable income and are developing an interest in traveling to explore their country. This is evident in the proliferation of cycling events throughout China such as the recent Yellow Mountain (Huangshan) MTB event with more than 500 competitors. With the increase in cycling events comes the demand for higher-end bikes. Fueling the growth of bike events in China is an ever-increasing middle class population. And the Beijing Olympic Games has further inspired the Chinese to participate in more sporting events. Also stimulating demand for bicycles is the need for environmental conservation and energy savings. Domestic sales aside, with a great deal of manufacturing taking place in China, the fluctuation of its currency has a direct impact on product pricing. A large number of buyers from around the world could be placing their orders now to stock up their inventories for later in the year given the pending revaluation of the Chinese RMB. Not only will the revaluation impact prices, but China’s current labor crisis is contributing to wage increases that will have an impact on the bicycle industry worldwide. “Raising the value of the Chinese yuan will affect the cost of bikes and bike products as most brands outsource from China,” said Eric Koh, director of Specialized Bicycles China. “Apart from labor costs, which have been increas- ing regardless of the exchange, material costs would also affect the final cost.”

These factors could result in a price increase of nearly 40 percent for companies sourcing bike parts from China. Combined with longer lead times, this may encourage a number of international companies to outsource their products to other low-labor cost countries. Still, China is a growing market where global companies need to channel their energies with their marketing strategies. With the Chinese earning more and seeking out leisure activities including cycling, they will become discerning buyers of higher-end bicycles and parts.

President Obama's E-Bike