It is that time of the year in Malaysia. The northeast monsoon is here. Enough rain will fall in the next few months to cause flooding in parts of the country.
Both our rides last weekend were interrupted by heavy rain. On Saturday we got as far as Jenjarom, from Kota Kemuning, before the heavens opened. We ducked into a coffee shop on Lorong 3. Some of us had stopped here a week before. The nasi lemak and the chee cheong fun were good.
Photograph courtesy of Simon Soo Hu
The chee cheong fun stall had moved to parts unknown, but the nasi lemak lady was there. With her chicken curry and sambal petai.
Photograph courtesy of Hsing Chou Pai
We were still at that coffee shop an hour later. The rain had not stopped. Some of us had a second breakfast. Others watched movies in their mobile phones.
Photograph courtesy of Hsing Chou Pai
Eventually we gave up waiting, and headed out into the rain.
This is known as taking advantage!
Photograph courtesy of Marco Lai
The rain had become a drizzle by the time we got back to Kota Kemuning. Some of us decided to continue on to Bandar Botanik, for some extra kilometers.
We stopped at a coffee shop in Bandar Botanik, ostensibly for a short rest.
You would have thought that everyone was still full from the double breakfasts at Jenjarom.
But no!
Some of the guys couldn’t resist the Sup Tulang, a Malay style bone marrow soup, usually made out of beef bone marrow.
The rain had stopped. Happy faces all around!
Photograph courtesy of TH Lim
There was a trace of sunshine as we rode back to our cars.
Photo by Nicolas Brown on Unsplash
It was more of the same on Sunday. It had rained hard overnight, so the roads were wet as we made our way from Bukit Jelutong and over the humps along Persiaran Mokhtar Dahari. The Dragon’s Back.
Photograph courtesy of Danial Shaz
There were more very wet roads as we continued towards Ijok.
Photograph courtesy of Danial Shaz
The rain started again just as we got to Ijok. What to do but to duck into our regular Ijok coffee shop for breakfast, while waiting for the rain to stop?
Photograph courtesy of Alex Wong
Forty five minutes later, it was clear that the rain was not going to let up. If anything, it was getting heavier. So we all got thoroughly soaked, both from the rain and the spray from the wheels in front of us, as we rode along the LATAR Highway to the Kundang Timur R&R.
Photograph courtesy of Alex Wong
More riding in the rain to the Elmina R&R on the Guthrie Corridor Expressway. And some singing and dancing in the rain when we got there.
Photograph courtesy of WK Woo
We rode in the rain all the way back to Bukit Jelutong. Fortunately the volume of rain had lessened by the time we got to the d’Bayu carpark. We were able to load bicycles into vehicles without the interiors getting soaked.
Photo by Rubens Mittag on Unsplash
It is raining, and thunder is rumbling, as I type this. We have rides planned for this weekend. The odds are not good for dry rides.
But hope springs eternal!
Photo by Chelsea Aaron on Unsplash
Old Roots, New Routes 
It was raining all over that day, with Penang getting hit the worst. But surprisingly, Genting Perez was spared by the weather and was cool and misty instead. I am sure a lot of people who woke up, saw the rain and decided to skip out on the Rapha ride that had been planned over there were regretting it afterwards.
That happened today too. Seven out of nine, who had planned to ride this morning, bailed out.
It turned out to be a very nice morning for a ride.
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