OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2013: Part 1

A ride way overdue..

The 2013 OCBC Cycle Malaysia ran its second installment here in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
Originally slotted for Jan 12, it was postponed to Jan 20.
Despite all the hoo-haas, the show went on smoothly.

I paid a visit to the cycle pack collection centre at the intermark hotel in Jalan Tun Razak,
There was a Cycling Lifestyle village here, which looked like a pasar malam.
My colleague Kevin Tan nearly had a heart-attack when he was told that his team was not registered for the ride.
Now, after making a few phone calls, things were back to normal.
In my case, I had everything under control. I registered myself and Michelle way in advance and received an email from the organizer to inform me that my cycling pack is ready.
It was a Friday and I spent the next 24hours in Port Dickson, managing my section's team-building event.
On Saturday, my wife called me to say that the pack was filled with crap. Even the T-shirt was a cheap-assed cotton tee unlike 2011's dry-fit tee, which was tastefully done. 
Anyway, I wouldn't expect to be treated like a Rockstar like most media people who expects OCBC to drop on their feet. 
The Star Cycling Team boys, man, they are the VVIPs!
They were given a spot at the Corporate team challenge. In my case, I did the right thing by paying for the Community Ride (24km)

Kevin and Ruey Chan of Le Run Industries at the Bike Village

The crowd, making a beeline to collect their cycle packs

From the wok into the frying pan

I fought sleep depravation, physical exhaustion to head home from Port Dickson, the venue of my section's team-building event.
After a hike up Cape Rachardo's Light House and winning the best team in the event's adventure race, I made sure that everything was allright before heading back to Subang Jaya. 
It took me an hour to get home and just a few hours of sleep before we head to KLCC for the OCBC Cycle Malaysia event.

A car-free affair...

This year, we planned to cycle from our home to the city centre.
The plan was to ride from our house to SS19 and link-up with Andrew Ng, a fellow cyclist.
Then, we ride towards the Federal Highway motorcycle lane and shoot straight to Bangsar and down towards Lebuh Pudu where we make the climb towards Jalan Raja Chulan.

Listen up!: Mrs Samo giving the Queen a piece of her mind... 

Riding out to SS19 from our home in USJ26, Subang Jaya

Arriving in Jalan P.Ramlee

We woke up at 04:00am, set up the bikes and 30minutes later, we were on the road. 
Traffic was light in the wee hours of the morning, but I am on high-alert for drunk drivers.
The journey to our RV point was smooth.
While waiting at a traffic light in USJ 4, we saw Andrew and I gave him a blast on my bike's airhorn.
We continued to ride towards the city and it took us about an hour or so to hit Bangsar from Petaling Jaya.
The rest was a smooth ride towards Jalan P.Ramlee as we made our way to the KLCC area in search for breakfast.
After some futile attempt, we made our way back to Jalan P.Ramlee and had a meal at a mamak restaurant.
While we ate, the first batch of cyclists were flagged off..

On duty: The Star photographer Chan Tak Kong

Michelle at the start/finish area...

At daybreak, we saw more cyclists at the scene.
Some were our friends as we caught up and indulged in a conversation, while we wait for the 24km community ride to begin..