OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014 - Part 1

An early ride...

The alarm was buzzing and it was 05:00am in the morning.
On the previous night, I rode in the city with my team and the Mayor.
I was pretty stoked about cycling into the city alone. That's roughly about 30km one-way and all I have was my trusty Ay-Up headlights and my new Moon Meteor helmet light. All 400 and 200 Lumens of lighting on hand.
Michelle my wife had offered me a lift to Petaling Jaya, but I had declined.
The plan was to ride all the way from USJ 26 in Subang Jaya to Dataran Merdeka, do the 24km community ride.

Paid before it began..

I paid for this event on January last year.
Having cycled in two previous events, the OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014 which is the third in a succession, will be my last.
I also paid for Michelle who couldn't make it because she had to attend a wedding.
That was a boring affair which was infested with yuppies and wannabes and I was really glad to have stayed out of it.
So, to sum it up, we've paid for three events since 2011 (there were no ride in 2012 because it was postponed to 2013).

All eyes on the cockpit!

It's really no joke riding out on your own to the city from Subang Jaya via the Federal Highway bike lane.
There's a kind of chilling eerie in the air and when you are riding with your headlights on full-blast, all that matters was arriving safely at the destination.

Radzi, capturing the scene

There were no major issues riding along the Federal Highway at 06:00am.
As a matter of fact, there were very few vehicles on the road during this hour.
I made my way to the rendezvous area in front of the KL Gallery where my cycling buddy Mohd Radzi Mohd Noor was already waiting with his brand new Tern Joe P24 folding bike.
The plan was to ride out, have an early lunch and bug out.

Radzi and his ride

This bike came a looong way..

Bernard @ Bird 

A participant with her Tern Verge X-10

"Ah Bird"..

I was chilling out with Radzi and a cyclist came forth and introduced himself as "Bird".
"Hello Mr Samo, I am Bird," he said.
"Ahhh.. Bird! So, you that troublemaker on the Malaysian Foldies Forums.. ," I joked.
We chat a bit and I learned that my newfound friend was working in Bangkok, Thailand.
He contemplated buying a Brompton folding bike and ended up with a Tern.
The guy later excused himself to join the Foldie Community ride. These guys were herded into a special rider's pen.
Radzi and I made our way to the end of of the lane and waited patiently for the flag off by Sports and Youth Minister Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin...

The crowd at the Community Ride

A guy fixing his girlfriend's Tern Link D8 while a curious spectator watches on..

A huge turnout..

This year, the OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014 has attracted a record number of participants. 
Some came from as far as Singapore.
I was told later that the Ternout SG gang had also participated in the ride.
While waiting with the rest of the people, I noticed a group of kids with their mountain bikes.
The girls in the group had their seatpost really low.
I explained to them that it would hurt their legs -- especially during the climb at Jalan Kinabalu and Bukit Tunku.
My friend Jones Yuen helped to explain this in Mandarin as they happily readjusted their seatposts..