Monthly Archives: October 2018

Movember Recce Ride

Posted on October 25, 2018 by alchemyrider

Movember Logo 2

Pegasus Cycles is organising a charity ride in aid of the Movember Foundation.  Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide.

Last night twenty-two of us tested a potential route for the charity ride.  I mapped a route which starts and ends at Pegasus Cycles and does not require crossing major roads.  I had anticipated the first deviation from my plan.  The road around the TPC golf course is closed for repairs.  So we planned to u-turn at Sungai Penchala instead of continuing through Taman Tun Dr. Ismail.

It is a good thing we tested this route out.  When we got to the left turn marked by the arrow below, we found that the road ran through a gated community.  Not accessible by a raffish bunch of R@SKLs.

Movember Planned Recce Route

Map courtesy of Ride with GPS

After a quick powwow with people who knew the area better than I, we rode this route instead.

Movember Recce Route

Map courtesy of Ride with GPS

By the time we deviated from the planned route, we had already decided that it wasn’t suitable for a charity ride.  There was too much traffic and the road surface was poor in places.

We stopped at Plaza Arkadia in Desa Parkcity to link up with Mark and Martin.

Movember Recce 1

Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng

Movember Recce 3

Photograph courtesy of Robyn Lim

Then someone thought it was a good idea to do the 100m / 330ft climb to the water tank at the end of Jalan Desa Bistari.  It is amazing how a camera brings out the smiles, despite the gradient!

Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim

The huffing and puffing to get up that hill were worth it.  That is Genting Highlands seemingly floating on the right.

Movember Recce 4

We regrouped at the bottom of the hill to agree on a way back to Pegasus Cycles.

Movember Recce 6

Photograph courtesy of Robyn Lim

Some just waited for a decision to be made.

Movember Recce 9

Photograph courtesy of Robyn Lim

We rode back to Plaza Damas through the various Kiaras.  Most then spent a laughter-filled hour over roti rawa, roti canai, roti tissue, paper thosai, chapati and fried chicken, washed down with teh halia, teh tarik, teh o ais limau and milo.

The food was good, but the company and the laughs were better.

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The R@SKLs got soaked on the way back from Morib

Posted on October 24, 2018 by alchemyrider

I spent four weeks off my bike recovering from the effects of a fall.  And got back on my bike as soon as the respiratory specialist gave me the all clear.

The most recent ride was from Bandar Rimbayu to Morib via as many back roads as possible.

Morib Route

Map courtesy of Ride with GPS

Seven of us rode out of the IJM Rimbayu carpark at 5.40am.  (IJM is allowing cyclists to park at The Arc now).

After we approached the bridge over the Langat River a few spots of rain started to fall.  There had been lightning off in the distance for some time, and I feared we would soon be wet.

As it turned out the rain had preceded us.  The roads through the kampungs were wet, but the rain had stopped.

Morib Wet Road Khoo Bin Soo

Photograph courtesy of Khoo Bin Soo

It stayed overcast, so we had excellent riding conditions all the way to Morib.

Morib 4 Bin Soo

Photograph courtesy of Khoo Bin Soo

Morib 5 Bin Soo

Photograph courtesy of Khoo Bin Soo

Less than two hours later we were seated in Delicious Bread Coffee Shop enjoying old-style steamed bread and charcoal-toasted bread with kaya, soft boiled eggs, and packets of nasi lemak and fried bee hoon.

One of the advantages of starting rides very early is that we get to our favourite food stops before all the seats are occupied and the food has run out.

BCG Klang - PD - Day 1 Delicious Bread2

Morib 1 Heng Keng

Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng

After a leisurely breakfast, we headed back along roads that we had not ridden before.  All was well until we approached Bandar Banting.  The sky had darkened considerably by then and the rain we had avoided on the way to Morib was threatening again.

We were close to rejoining a familiar road.  We saw a green and white arch ahead.  We had ridden under a green and white arch in Bandar Banting on the way to Morib.  So we headed through the arch.  A few hundred metres later we knew we weren’t on the right road.  We had ridden to the bank of the Langat River.

Morib 3 Heng Keng

Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng

So it was back the way we came.  There is more than one green and white arch in the area.  The arch we wanted was two kilometres away.

Morib Arch

By then it was clear that we would get wet.  It was just a matter of when.  A drizzle started as we rode past the cendol stall where we often stop on our way back from Jugra, Morib or Tanjung Sepat.

Once we were on Jalan Klang Banting, the drizzle had turned into a downpour accompanied by strong winds.  We took refuge under the forecourt canopy of the PETRONAS Jenjarom station.

The rain lightened considerably within a few minutes, but it stayed windy.  We rode back out into the drizzle, which stayed with us until Kampung Seri Cheeding.  The headwind then turned into a tailwind, and we covered the three kilometres to the bridge over the South Klang Valley Expressway at just under 40kph.

We had covered about 98km / 61mi as we approached The Arc.  So we looped around a bit until we had ridden 100km.

We were all pretty wet.  After we had dried off and changed we went to Restoran BR Maju for brunch.  A very nice way to end an enjoyable-despite-the-rain ride.

Morib 6 Heng Keng

Photograph courtesy of Lee Heng Keng

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