CFAL 05 - Part 3

Everything we've prepared comes down on this one day..

We've had enough sleep and a good rest.
The alarm bell went off at 05:00am and the first thing I did, was to prepare breakfast.
Earlier last night, I bought some food from Cold Storage.
We had bread with ham and some fresh vegetables including a slice of cheese.
This was really easy to fix and after a good fill, we made our way down to the Esplanade.

Rock'n Rolla!

The ride to Padang Kota lama took us about 20 minutes. We covered some 5km to get there and our buddies were already waiting.
This time round, we had six riders from the Star Cycling Team.
But, none of the Star reporting team was on the ground. Not where we were and since it was a no-show, I decided to snap a shot of the team.
I am proud to report that our turnout was higher than before and it is my hope to see more journalists and staff from the company taking part in such rides.

Michelle, at the hotel's lobby

The Star cycling team

Get set, and go!

We rode into Padang Kota Lama and while I was at it, Kevin Tan, our team captain shouted out. He came past and we rolled into the staging area.
There were already a large group of cyclists at the starting line. We linked up with the rest of the team members and waited for the flag-off.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng gave a short speech before he flagged off the cyclists at 07:00am sharp.
As usual, the roadies would go full-steam ahead and complete the ride in less than two hours.
We slowly made our way to the first checkpoint and half-way through, got off our bikes to waterproof our gear.
At the War Museum before Teluk Kumbar, there was an accident.

Cyclists heading out towards the Jelutong expressway

Climbing Bukit Gadung

Working our way up

Getting a snapshot of the beautiful scenery

The long climb...

It began to pour as we made our way around the Bayan Lepas industrial area and the rain actually stopped when we approached Teluk Kumbar.
Slowly, but surely, we climbed the elevated road and made a pit stop to snap some photographs.
I was struggling with my double chainring as it did not engage from the small to the large ring properly.
After rolling down to Balik Pulau, the problem was no apparent anymore.
While cycling there, I bumped into an old friend Derrick Thesiera. 
He was an old macro photography kaki who took up cycling.
We chat a bit while making our way towards Pantai Acheh.

Preparing to climb Titi Kerawang

Cyclists along the route

When it pours, it pours!

Barely reaching the foothills of Titi Kerawang, the sky emptied on us.
Mohd Radzi and Michelle was ahead as I slowly cranked my bike up the hill.
I couldn't snap any photos as the rain was too heavy.
Slowly, I started overtaking the mountain bikers who were pedaling on their 'granny' chainring.
We progressed pretty well and made our way down to the Teluk Bahang dam where Michelle had signalled to stop for carbo-loading.
Our effort to pack enough food and energy nutrition actually paid off.

Part of the cycling lane in Tanjung Bungah

A cyclist suffering from leg cramps

Enduring the ride...

After rolling down from Titi Kerawang, we were really energized.
I downed a pack of energy gel and cranked my bike to a top-speed of 35km/h.
Along the Batu Ferringi route, I smoked a few mountain bikers and noticed a truck carrying a bunch of cyclists.
There, at the far right corner, sat a large-sized dude in a red jersey. 
I can see the faces of people who conceded to defeat in the truck.
The guy looked at me, I raised my right hand and gave him the "peace" sign.
He smiled as the truck sped away.
There were a lot of inexperienced cyclists in this ride who succumbed to leg cramps. Some even crashed and injured themselves.
Michelle and I played it safe and kept in constant communication with our VHF transcievers.
As we progressed, we slowly entered Gurney drive and knew that its a matter of time before we cross the finish line.

Michelle completing the ride

Dirty, but happy!

We did it again...

And for the third year running.. 

This year, we did pretty fine in terms of timing.
Michelle and I completed the ride under five hours.
Our record was 4hours 30minutes back in 2011.
Being in the first bunch, we did not encounter heavy traffic like last year.
I picked up the finisher's medals while Michelle went over to the food counter to claim our lunch.
While we were at the waiting area, the Taiping Foldie Fans congratulated us for finishing.
Their ring leader Jamell said we actually finished faster than before.
I caught up with Md Ehfan Shah and Sean Shazarin from team Star before they head off to their hotel.
Some of the guys had to return to KL on the same day.
Michelle and I stayed in Penang for two more nights before we went separate ways.
I had to drive back alone while Michelle flew off to Bangkok and Brunei for her work.
The CFAL05 was a success with more cyclists taking part in the ride.
We hope that the organizers would continue with the good work next year...

CFAL 05 - Part 2

The weather..

September is a wet, wet, wet month up in Penang.
Its been raining in the evenings, nights and mornings. So, we do expect a real soggy ride on the event day and had to make do with that.
We had our breakfast at the hotel's cafe and after a good fill, we went up to our room to bring down the bikes.
As usual, we folded our ride and brought it down to the lobby and set it up.

Our simple plan

Michelle wanted to take a look at the touristy area downtown.
We rode towards Fort Cornwalis and spent some time there taking photos.
There was a steady stream of people in the area, mostly out of town visitors and foreigners.
I got a closer look at the walls of the fort and staged a shot there with Michelle.
From the Esplanade, we rode off towards Weld Quay where the action is.
To my surprise, there were quite a few tourists on bicycles.
They were rented at a cost of RM15 for three hours from tour operators within the area.
We saw some funky little bikes parked at the Chew jetty and later realized that it belonged to a group from Singapore.

Getting ready

Ready to roll

The bicycle lane

No bicycles were allowed on the planks, so, I stood watch over our bikes as Michelle made her way down the Chew jetty.
She said that it was "no great shakes". 
So, we moved on down Weld Quay and after reaching the end of the road, we rode towards Carnavon road before shooting off to Straits Quay where the CFAL05 goodie bag collection was held.

Sea pooch: a dog at the Esplanade

The Sea-dog checking out Michelle

Strolling along the jetty

At Fort Cornwallis

Murals at the Chew jetty

Goodie bag time

We arrived at the Straits Quay before noon. 
While pushing my bike towards the entrance area, I saw a group of cyclists on their folding bike.
There, I met Mohd Radzi Md Noor.
He came a day earlier with his family and had just collected his jersey and cycling kit.
While we were chatting two middle-aged Ah Bengs walked past.
They stopped near me and one of them was looking at my bike at the same time, sizing me up.
His expression was something of shock and disgust.
I don't know what his problem was, the guy just kept staring at my bike.
At the collection centre, I also picked up my Garmin Fenix which was sent for repair.
Mr Yong of Quicksports was kind enough to deliver the watch to me in Penang.
After all the formalities, I met Mr Chan from Singapore. He was much friendlier than the lot that came with him with their expensive bikes.

Michelle picking up the goods at the registration counter

We cycled back to the hotel and parked our bikes.
Later, Michelle and I went to the Gurney Plaza for lunch.
There was a nice place serving bbq pork ribs and that was our treat for the day.
The rest of the day, we kinda lazed around and headed out for dinner with our host, the Goh clan. 

CFAL 05 - Part 1

The pilgrimage begins...

Michelle and I made it a point to join the Campaign For A Lane ride every year.
We did it for the first time back in the CFAL03 (2011) and had really enjoyed the ride.
Last year, we returned for our 82-km round-island fixed and fared rather okay.
I paid for the ride (RM70 per rider) as early as May and booked our places as a team.
This year, things are very different.
Instead of the regular 20" folding bikes, we used our Tern Eclipse 24" bikes.

A long haul

We left our home in Subang Jaya at 10am.
Before that, we had some makan in Putra Heights and started our journey on the highway.
By 2pm, we exited Batu Kawan toll and headed to our favourite restaurant for a late lunch.
It's been a year since we had some food there, so, it was a pure bliss to chill out and feast of the "Hai Wong Fan" (claypot crab rice) and a plate of steamed razor clams.

A real treat: Claypot crab rice

Choice morsels on the plate

After a good fill, we drove to the island.
Traffic was okay until we reached the Jelutong expressway.
It was a slow drive to Weld Quay where we slowly made our way to Gurney Drive.

Driving to the Penang bridge

Checking-in at G-Hotel

On the lap of luxury

It's a norm for us to crash in a budget accommodation.
This time round, Michelle had a complimentary stay at the G-Hotel in Gurney Drive.
We've been to this place to collect our cycling pack back in 2011 and it was quite an impressive joint.
Well, to our surprise, the hotel management had thrown-in a junior suite for three nights which we had gladly welcomed.
There's plenty of space for our bikes as well as room to chill out.
The bikes were bagged and brought into our room without any issues.
We set it up and chilled out till much later in the evening where we had a dinner appointment with Michelle's friends.

The spacious junior suite 

Complimentary beers courtesy of G-Hotel

Our first day in Penang was spent pretty much on settling down and heading out for a nice dinner treat by the Goh clan, Michelle's close friend.
I was pretty amazed with the accommodation arrangement as this time round we get to stay in style at the Pearl of the Orient...

Four weeks and counting

Penang round-island redux
Its official! 
We are on the rider's list.
Thanks to my buddy Eddie Chua who went to Penang to register our team, we know have a place at the CFAL4 round island ride.
I thought it was a goner as the event now stands at 3,500 participants.
This is by far, one of the most successful social cycling event of the year.
I hope the weather won't screw-up things like last year..

A screen-capture of the participant's list

Now that we are good to go, there's not much time left to train. 
I am happy to report that we have done pretty okay by doing at least half a-dozen rides at Hulu Langat.
We will maintain this until the last weekend before the ride.. 

Last week's session at Hulu Langat

Better luck next year!

Penang Round-island ride registration temporarily closed...
The ever-popular Campaign For A Lane 4 ride is now full-house -- months ahead of the event on September 9.
We had a blast riding at the 3rd edition of the ride last year and well, since registration has been closed temporarily, we'll give it a miss.
G-Club Penang, the event organiser had issued a statement on the event's overwhelming response..G-Club's official website

Overwhelming response: This year's ride is almost full!

 A great experience..
The CFAL is a good avenue to know Penang as you will see many parts of the island like never before.
Its pretty well organised with a 82-km course and a time limit of five hours.
Any cyclist with decent training will appreciate this event.
So, to all who had signed-up, ride safe and have a great time!

CFAL3 part 01

Highway star: A cyclist transporting his ride to Penang on the N-S highway on Saturday

Michelle and I had signed-up for the 'Campaign For A Lane' ride in Penang since May.
We were pretty stoked about the prospect of cycling round island with 3,500 people from all over the country.
As it is, the CFAL series has been a runaway success.
Its aim was to equip Penang with bicycle lanes and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had stated this at the flag-off on Sunday.
Since returning from China on Friday, I had very little time to sort out the logistics.
We were to ride as 'Team Jetstream' at the third series of the CFAL.
And like any other rushed trip, I tend to forget things. This took a heavy toll on my post-ride recovery.
So, that said, there we were, packing up, loading our bikes into the car.
Our kids were throwing tantrums again.
Queenie had shown signs of seperation anxiety by protesting with her whine.
Sir Naughty, well, he's fine.
We hit the road at about 10.30am after filling up with breakfast.
The road conditions were bad as it rained heavily.
On the highway, we saw plenty of cars with bicycles mounted on their roof racks.
By 1.30pm, we reached Nibong Tebal.
We checked out Cheang Kee restaurant which is said to be one of the best makan places around by the food gurus....

A disappointment: Cheang Kee

All the years I've experienced as a reporter is not to take hyped matters at face value.
I've read blogs and even food critic's articles on the newspaper about 'Restoran NT Cheang Kee' and how good their food were.
So, with plenty of enthusiasm, I tried their boiled baby octopus and deep-fried snapper.
The octopus was okay, but the fish, very disappointing.
And at RM40 a pop, its a lesson paid in full.
Cheang Kee left a bitter taste in my mouth and the food guru who raved about this place, well, I think he's a bogus! Hahahah...
Anyways, when we were done, we drove all the way to the Penang bridge and made our way to G Hotel to pick up our CFAL3 Jerseys, meal and medal ticket including some crappy door gifts.

Cyclists registering themselves at the counter in G Hotel

While making a beeline at the Powerbar counter, I heard a conversation between the salesman and a cyclist.
When he turned around, it appears that I was standing next to my old friend PC Lim.
Lim took my wedding photo and I've known him for more than two decades.
He rented a mountain bike to ride the 82-km course.
Later, we checked-in at the Red Inn and met one of the folding bike gurus. 
He gave us the low-down and said that the KL group including a large entourage from Singapore had arrived a day earlier.
Since the fallout over mailing lists and who's in and who's out, its now down to a level of professional courtesy and strict observation of diplomacy.
Its like closing an embassy and leaving behind a small trade mission in a hostile country.
That said, Public Relations must be observed...

Team Jetstream at Red Inn in Love Lane, Penang

Prior to arrival in Penang, Michelle had made some arrangements with the Goh family to pick up a child seat for her God Daughter who will be visiting Malaysia in December.
As for me, I was supposed to meet my buddy Echo Charlie who is in Penang at the same time.
We made our way to Ayer Hitam and spent some time with the Gohs before heading back to the hotel to freshen up and prepare for dinner.
Michelle and I had walked to Georgetown from the hotel to pick up some supplies.
The plan was to get some bananas and a loaf of bread to make tuna sandwiches.
We found a corner coffee shop at Carnavon street and savoured their Lor Mee, stewed chicken feed and Horr Chien. 
The food was excellent and a well-deserved treat after a long day on the road.

The corner coffee shop and its excellent hawker fare

Chicken feet for the soul

Back at Red Inn, we bumped into Wey and Ming, our old foldie friends and were introduced to Alvin, Patrick and his wife.
They survived the Ko Lanta tour and are now among the few and the proud 'Storm Riders'.
I saw Master TT Siang's photos of the tour where the cyclists had to endure gail force winds and heavy rain. Well, that was simply amazing....
After catching up with them, we were back at our rooms, checking emails and doing the internet stuff before meeting up with Echo Charlie for some beers.
When we walked out from our room, the foldies were lounging at the Inn's hall.
We told them we needed our daily dosage of Vitamin B.
Wey shooked her head as we sauntered away from the crowd.
We had three jugs of beer before calling it a night in anticipation of the big day that looms ahead...

Getting our dosage of Vitamin B