Imagine. Having your grip shoes on, you are surrounded by bushes and woods, standing on the top of a long, steep, rough terrain full of curves, drops and jumps. Have you felt that tickle in your stomach?
Imagine. You are in a steady position on your two wheels, riding through big rocks, huge trunks and snap corners. The rapid movement is not going to end anytime soon. Have you sensed the exhilaration, or perturbation?
While you have not gotten over the uneasiness, let us tell you, there are people who live for that feeling of rush and stimulation. Meet Fadzlee, who was hooked to this expeditious sport for about 2 decades, however he took only a year riding himself onto becoming a mountain bike coach.
What made this summit conqueror love the sport so much? “First, you need to go to the top of mountain with a downhill mountain bike. Next, go down the slope and race against the time.” Fadzlee brought us along on his adventure. He has always embraced the pleasure jumping from stumble to stumble on his two wheels.
FROM ZERO TO HERO
At a young age at 13, Fadzlee got a bike from his father. Being a novice in the cycling industry in the first 2 years, reading related magazines, participating in cross country races and picking up from all types of cycling events had never been out of his learning list. When he reached the age of 17, he developed an interest in downhill mountain biking. “It’s in my blood.” Since then, he was persistent to do it earnestly.
Without a proper training, Fadzlee would create unnecessary excuses such as mechanism issues and punctures for not achieving blooming results in his races. However, he secretly knew that he was not physically fit enough.
Fadzlee did not attend college or university after his completion of SPM, but involved seriously in a year of cycling. He also trained road cycling with Selangor Cycling Association for approximately 3 months before he was permitted to go mountain biking. In the period of time, his training included 100km on road on the weekdays, whereas a hard-hitting distance of 200km on the weekends. All in all, he was with Selangor Cycling Association for a few years.
The continuously strenuous training led Fadzlee to accomplish outstanding results in numerous cross country cycling races. Over the years, he had been to Asia Mountain Bike Championship in Taiwan as well as ASEAN MTB Championship in Indonesia.
Back in 1999, Fadzlee was in the Elite Mountain Bike Downhill Category. He also participated in SEA Games in Brunei. Eventually, he was promoted to take part in downhill mountain biking.
