My plan for a morning ride on New Year’s day suffered a serious blow as I sat in a traffic jam at 2am. The injury proved fatal to my plan. The official time of death was 5.45am. Which was the time when I turned off my alarm, rolled over and went back to sleep.
So my first ride of 2013 was on 2nd January. There were about twenty of us who set off from Van’s Urban Bicycle Co for an evening ride around Kelana Jaya. Most people were riding what Van’s specialises in – folding bicycles. I had not ridden this route before I so was very happy to stay at the back of the group and take in the sights.
As you can see from the route this was an urban ride in every respect. Van’s occupies shop space in 3 Two Square, which sits in a group of commercial buildings on the edge of a large residential area. We alternated between busy main thoroughfares and quieter neighbourhood streets. We rode past restaurants, schools, banks, mosques, sports facilities, a park and of course lots of homes.
Naturally we had to stop for refreshments at a mamak restaurant a kilometer or so before we got back to Van’s. We parked our bikes in front of the closed pharmacy next to Al-Ehsan restaurant.
As is often the case in the evenings folding tables are set up on the sidewalks, and where possible, on the edge of streets as well. We joined some tables together and plonked ourselves down on plastic stools. We tucked into what else but roti canai, nasi lemak and teh tarik.
We didn’t cover many kilometers, but that isn’t the point of the Racun Cycling Gang rides. There will be time enough for kilometers and climbs this weekend. This was a good start to the year.
Old Roots, New Routes 