Johnny Ng of My Bicycle Shop in Bandar Utama and his partners has been hatching a plan to organize a charity ride from his shop to a special needs children's care centre in Old Klang Road.
As a build-up, he has been conducting recce rides to the centre with friends and customers on his weekly night rides.
I never participated in any of Johnny's ride and had pretty much been in the background observing things.
He had conducted a sale of tee-shirts and a portion of the proceeds went to funding storage shelves, goods in kinds and bicycles for the care centre.
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| Ah Fatt, Ricky Ng, Randy Yap and some dude at the entrance of the shop |
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| The very humble Brommie: Mr Cheng Fook Wah |
Johnny's plan was simple. Invite some friends and ride off to the centre. There, they will set up the shelves and move on to another care centre where a special celebration will take place.
He set the date on Oct 26 and kept the event rather low-profile and mentioned it to only a few close friends.
This is so that primadonnas and nay-sayers would not ruin the ride.
Prior to this, I was invited by Ah Fatt, Johnny's partner to ride with the posse.
I agreed and rode off from Subang Jaya to meet the guys at BU4 in Bandar Utama.
I set off around 05:45am and reached the shop at 07:10am.
The distance from USJ26 to BU4 is roughly about 27km. Traffic on a Sunday was a breeze.
While I was cycling, I bumped into some guys on their recumbent bikes along USJ2. One of them recognized me and yelled out my name.
Then, somewhere in SS2, I roadie rode past and it was Aloysius, an old acquaintance who rode a Dahon Speed P8.
We parted ways as I made the turn to Kg Sungai Kayu Ara.
I made my way towards the Bandar Utama ramp and veered left on a slip road to reach BU4.
By the time I got there, the crowd was in full swing. Some were chatting while others were seen setting up their bikes...
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| An early bird.. |
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| Catching up with ex-teacher SC Chin (pix by Liliana Lee) |
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| Groupie time! |
I parked my bike at the end of the shoplot and Johnny had approached me.
"Eh Sam, can you take some pictures? Cycling Malaysia Magazine wants some for this event..," he said.
I gladly obliged. No Free Ride! Hahahah..
At the starting line, I am pretty much a stranger.
But there were some friendly faces.
I met Mr SC Chin, a retired teacher and spent some time talking to him. He said he wanted to do some solo touring.
Chin added that he wanted the "freedom" of exploring the route from Rawang to Penang by himself.
An avid cyclist, Mr Chin has been organizing rides for friends and newcomers and is pretty influential in the circle.
When the riders were ready, Johnny gave a short safety briefing and the ride leader was Mike Kium.
He blew his whistle and off they went on a 20km ride to Old Klang Road...
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| Johnny, giving a safety briefing to the cyclists |
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| Rolling out.. |
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| Riding in an orderly manner |
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| The route to SS2, Petaling Jaya (pix: MH Chye) |
To ge things going, Johnny had engaged a couple of close friends to assist Mike Kium who led the ride.
They carried whistles and kept the flock in order while maneuvering their bicycles on the roads in Petaling Jaya.
There were a few bridge crossings and even a short-cut through a parking bay in the Tropicana City Mall..
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| Riding from Bandar Utama to Taman Tun Dr Ismail |
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| Big John assisting a little rider on the ramp to Tropicana Mall |
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| A scenic view of the greater Petaling Jaya |
Since there were children in the ride, we re-grouped a few times to allow slower riders to catch up.
There were some really dangerous stretches along the route, but with the experienced riders helping out to direct traffic, the journey was rather smooth.
Even the motorists were very helpful in giving way, allowing cyclists to co-share the road.
We worked our way towards PJ Old Town and lost the ride leader who was way ahead..
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