MBPJ Fun Ride

Some catching up to do...

Edward R Henry, a colleague of mine had informed me about the Petaling Jaya City Council's Fun Ride covering a distance of 14km around the city.
I took this opportunity to ride with Michelle and since we have cycled extensively around Putrajaya, Subang Jaya and Kuala Lumpur, this was a great avenue for us to re-connect with some old friends as well as try out what Petaling Jaya has to offer in terms of Social Rides.

At the City Council's HQ in Jalan Yong Shook Lin

A simple plan

I had to work on the later part of the day, so, we loaded up the bikes on my Nissan Livina X-Gear and drove to SS3 where my in-laws live.
There, we set out towards Petaling Jaya and it took us less than 20-minutes to reach our destination.
The crowd was slowly trickling in as we made our way to the event site
Michelle said she had some issues with her brakes.
I had this looked at later and sent it for a tune-up.
We met Mohd Radzi, our regular cycling kaki and Tengku Nash, another cycling enthusiast who was riding his Tyrell minivelo.
This is an expensive compact bike with all the bells and whistles.

Radzi at the registration counter

Eager to go: Participants at the starting line

We met more friends at the registration counter and moved to the starting line for flag-off by Petaling Jaya's Deputy Mayor.
This was a short ride compared to most of the events we've attended in Putrajaya.
The course was a simple route covering some sections on the city and we had the chance to cover a short distance on roads that were too busy for bicycles.

The official garb for Malaysian Foldies Forums

My colleague Ehfan and his nephew

Michelle on the road

A decent effort... 

The MBPJ had done a decent job in grouping people for this ride.
Traffic control was below average as some motorist, especially cars had strayed onto the cycling route.
There were some close calls when irate drivers had blared their horns.
And since the cyclists were quite far apart in terms of distance, some weak ones had to find their way without any safety marshals guiding them.

A cyclist giving his partner a push

We're done..

Refreshment time.. 

There's room for improvement..

Since this was the City Council's first social ride, I think they've done pretty well. 
Compared to the NTV 7's run in Bandar Utama, this was safer as three runners were mowed down by a vehicle at the event.
We completed the short 14km course and made our way back to Michelle's parents home and after a good shower, I went to work.
I hope that the MBPJ would continue to organize more social rides in their area as it is a good means to foster the community spirit and camaraderie through sporting events such as cycling..