OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014 - Part 2

Flag off!

We slowly moved our bikes to the main starting line.
The Sports and Youth Minister waved a flag with a loud burst from the airhorn, signalling for everyone to roll out.
By the time we rode past the VIP stage, at least a thousand cyclists had made their way to the hills in Lake Gardens and Bukit Tunku.
As we were moving, remnants of the 48km challenge participants can be seen either resting by the roadside, or had completely given up.
If you don't train for such an event, you will never be able to complete four laps in the 12km loop.

Radzi and Me at the rider's pen

At the starting line

An interesting combined route...

If you have done the first OCBC Cycle Malaysia Ride back in 2011, you will notice that the climb and descent from Bukit Tunku would lead to Jalan Putra and straight towards Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.
This time round the organizers avoided Jalan TAR completely. 
Instead, the riders went straight towards Jalan Kuching and up the ramp towards Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Campbell.
This is a combination of the 2011 and 2013 (There were no Cycle Malaysia event in 2012) where the ride was done at the KLCC.
Even with such a short route with a distance of 12km a loop, cyclists tend to fumble.
The first casualty was spotted near the JKR complex in Jalan Hishamuddin. A lady fell and injured her face.
Other than that, we saw a few novice cyclists suffering cramps along the way.
The climb to Bukit Tunku was taxing on them.

Radzi on his Joe P24

Rolling downhill towards Bukit Tunku

Motorists and pedestrians aren't too happy when the roads are closed...

Meeting people along the way..

As we rode towards Jalan Campbell, I met a few cyclist friends.
And right there in front of Yut Kee restaurant, stood a dude with his arms folded.
Radzi told me who he was and I was kind of freaked out at first at the sight of a psycho cyclist who advocates 'no-helmet because it's a choice thing'.
But seeing as it is, we rode off our fear.
At KLCC, I saw Fei Lee of GW Cycles setting up his camera to capture his clients in action.
We slowly made our way back to the Dataran and completed our first round.
With the prospect of riding back to Subang Jaya, my strategy was to conserve energy by riding at a leisurely pace.
After clearing the hills, we made a pit-stop in front of the KLCC and refilled our water bottles.
The Dataran was not far away and as we slowly rode back to the event area, I can see and old dude lifting both his hands.
To me, its fulfilling the ride for the third time.
Radzi and I collected our medals and moved on to the large helmet where we took snapshots.
I met up with the kids whom I had advised earlier and talked to them.
They wanted to take a photo with me which I happily obliged.
After the snapshots were taken, we rode towards Kg Baru for a taste of Nasi Padang..

A snapshot with the kids

Mission accomplished!

The scene at Dataran

Our Terns

The best nasi padang in Kg Baru

A rewarding meal

The journey home...

It was all over for the rest of the people at Dataran.
I had to make my way to Brickfields to enter the Federal Highway bike lane.
Took me about 30-minutes to clear the city centre and made my way to Angkasapuri.
This was a non-stop ride averaging at 20km/h. 
The pace was a relaxed one as I slowly rode towards the Subang Jaya exit.
Once I got into the the USJ1 interchange, it was home-run.
Slowly, I rode towards Persiaran Kewajipan and with every stroke on the crank drawing me closer to USJ 20, it was clear that I made good time.
When I reached the gate at my home, the GPS read 82.3km. That was the total mileage clocked from Subang Jaya to the Dataran and back.

Summary

Having ridden in two OCBC rides, this was one of the best event ever and sadly, its also my last. So, that said, I hope the organizers would look into the participant's needs and I think the OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2015 is going to rock harder if they've maintained the good work.

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..

The Mayor's Night Ride

Here's the catch..

I received a mailer from OCBC Cycle Malaysia. Spectrum, the event organizer has invited cyclists who are registered with the event to ride with the Mayor on Jan 18.
Then, my colleague Fitri Majid from the Sports Desk had forwarded an invite by Naim Mohamad of the MNCF to join Datuk Seri Phesal Ahmad, the KL Mayor on a short night ride.
I told Fitri to fix it and that we would join him in the ride.
The main event was on the next day, so, we don't really have much time to rest.
I planned to ride from the KTM KL station to Dataran Merdeka with Kevin Tan, my colleague and the plan was to fill up with a simple dinner in town.
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Leaving for Dataran after setting up in KTM KL station

An early dinner at Soong Kee

We rode off from the KTM Station towards the city centre.
It was a breezy ride as it took us less than 10 minutes to reach Soong Kee noodle shop to have our dinner.
While we were at it, a patron there came up to me and greeted: "Hello Mr Samo, I read your blog a lot!".
I wished the guy well and told him to have a safe ride the next day at the OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014.
From Jalan Silang where we had our dinner, we proceeded to Dataran Merdeka.
By the time we got there, the crowd was just filling up.
Fitri had informed us that he couldn't make it because his daughter was sick and hospitalised.
So, there were just the few of us at Dataran who eagerly awaited for the ride to take place.

Kevin and Ehfan

At the bike parking area...

A last-minute affair..

To take part in the Mayor night ride, participants of the OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014 had to pay an extra RM20.
For this, they get a special tee shirt and a wrist band.
Access to the starting grid is given to those with the special tee shirt and wristband.

The long and short of things...

While waiting for the rest to group-up, I overheard Kevin yelling "Boss!".
I looked over my shoulder and noticed a little man coming forth.
It was the event sponsor's head honcho and his henchman, the PR guy.
We shook hands, exchanged in a light conversation and moved on.
After two rounds with the OCBC Cycle Malaysia event, I found the PR guy to be real phony and insincere dude and later, the consulting PR team greeted Kevin.
These people are only bothered to get publicity mileage for their client on the newspaper and for this year, they tried to pitch an interview with a former national cyclist and his daugther for the ultimate Foldie challenge. Which fell through..
And since we were invited by Naim on behalf of the Mayor, well, there isn't much to say..

At the starting line..

With the gang 

Rolling..

A short ride...

We set out towards Jalan Kinabalu and did a short loop towards the Lake Gardens and then exited Masjid Negara and headed back to Dataran Merdeka.
In a zip, everything was over.
At the fairgrounds, cyclists were given supper courtesy of the KL City Hall.
We hung around for a chat and later headed back to the KTM station where we parted.
It was a short 6-km loop and I guess that everyone was happy to be able to rub shoulders with the Mayor and get on with their business..