Ladies and Gentlemen . . .
Van’s Urban Bicycle Co is running a three-part cycling event: The Rumble Cycle Challenge.
Photo courtesy of Van’s Urban Bicycle Company
The first segment was the Alley Cats Race. Ten teams of three riders each arrived at the Van’s shop at 3 Two Square to register for the race. We all received cool t-shirts for turning up.
Photo courtesy of Van’s Urban Bicycle Company
Everyone paid close attention as Amril gave us a briefing about how the race would work.
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Each team had a sign off card and a list of five checkpoints. Once all three riders were at each checkpoint there were activities to be completed to the satisfaction of the marshals before they would sign the card. The winner would be the team that brought a completed sign off card back to the start in the fastest time.
The first challenge was to figure out the order in which to visit the checkpoints, and more importantly, how to get to them. Google Maps to the rescue.
Photo courtesy of Van’s Urban Bicycle Company
Chon and I were fortunate that Mark was on our team. He was the only one amongst us who knew his way around that part of Petaling Jaya.
Our first stop was just around the corner at K3K Benta Kaya.
Chon volunteered to do the first activity, not knowing what he was getting himself into. Which was eating three pieces of you char koay, without drinking anything to help wash the fried salted dough down.
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It was apparently a bit of a struggle (Mark and I had to wait outside the restaurant,) but Chon got through it. He didn’t want to see another you char koay that day!
Our next stop was 1.3 km away at a small restaurant across from the AMWAY Malaysia headquarters.
Can you guess what the task was?
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PSY has a lot to answer for. That’s all I can say.
Having done the horsey dance we headed off in search of the Kampung Tunku Primary School. Once there we had to give a tree a group hug while declaring our love for it. Then we had to pick a mathematics problem out of a hat. We picked a particularly complicated problem. It is a good thing smart phone calculators were allowed.
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There was more Oppa’s Gangnam Style required at the Wisma FAM checkpoint.
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More in keeping with the headquarters of the Football Association of Malaysia, we also had to answer some questions about the national football team.
Our last checkpoint was at the Auto Amcar showroom. Our task was to find the car marked with a Van’s logo, and to get one of the Van’s stickers from inside that car. There must have been a hundred cars to search.
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Chon found the Van’s sticker. Then came part two of the tasks. Count the number of yellow cars on the lot.
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This checkpoint had a third task. I now know what the Harlem Shake is.
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We had the five signoffs that we needed. Mark took us back to 3 Two Square by the shortest, but steepest route.
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Though not as steep as the route some teams took to get back to the start point.
Photo courtesy of Van’s Urban Bicycle Company
Mark’s excellent route selection and Chon’s ability to eat quickly got us back to the start in the fastest time of the day. Which earned us bike swag.
Photo courtesy of Van’s Urban Bicycle Company
Everyone had a lot of fun. More importantly everyone stayed upright on their bikes despite the wet roads. No one got hurt. Kudos, congratulations and a big thank you to Van’s Urban Bicycle Company for organising a great event. In particular Ray (left) and Amril (right), and their team of excellent volunteers who made this event run without a hitch (two of whom are shown here),
Photo courtesy of Van’s Urban Bicycle Company
YC (holding walkie talkie),
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Michael (on emcee duty),
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and the eponymous Vanessa (right).
Photo courtesy of Van’s Urban Bicycle Company
Stay tuned for the report on Part 2 of the Rumble Cycle Challenge: Hill Chasers.
* With thanks to Michael Buffer
Old Roots, New Routes 