Penang-KL Ride!

Day 1

December 4: Penang to Taiping (Perak), 87km

We set off at 9am after an enjoyable buffet breakfast at the hotel. The ride starts off at a smooth pace. It’s flat ground in Penang, though fairly sunny as we left late. As we crossed the border into Perak, a strong headwind emerges. My lack of preparation for this ride soon shows. Around the 30km mark, I struggle to keep up. But I persist, pedaling doggedly when the hills come. After another 50km, we enter Taiping. It used to be the capital of Perak, but it’s now small and quiet town as Ipoh is now the capital.

Lunch is Bak Kut Teh, Ipoh style. It’s pretty tasty but it contains much more liver than we are used to. We refuel at one of Taiping’s main shopping centres for dinner. Amazing that such a small town has Starbucks and Tesco hypermart, among other stores.

Day 2
December 5: Taiping – Ipoh (Perak), 88km
We rolled off at 6am. After a few km, the street lights of Taiping fade away and we plunge into near total darkness. Soon after Padang Rengas, we encountered a 6% climb that seemed to last forever. Even the lorries struggle to go up the slope, their engines chugging furiously. One of the team gets into the support car, but the rest plod on. What keeps me going was my memory of a harder climb up Genting Highlands (gradient 10%) in 2008.
What goes up must come down. It took very long for the downhill to come, but it was an exhilarating experience. On the long, straight road down, I hit 50.5km/h. That’s nothing: some hit 57km/h.
Stopping by a petrol kiosk in Kuala Kangsar, we admire the scenery. Clouds float on top of a hill that looks like “Big Guilin”. It’s like dreamland, like heaven. If only we could sit on top of the clouds.
For some reason, I turn sluggish again in the middle, my pace dropping to around 20km/h. But after a rest stop where we eat chocolate bars, I’m recharged.
We soon reach the outskirts of Ipoh. The city is the size of Singapore despite having a population of only 700,000. On the way to the hotel, we pass by the civic district and the central business district. Lorries horn to greet us, and ask where we are from. It’s so different from Singapore, where a horn means “get out of my way”. There’s an exception though – a lorry whose cargo was not secured properly spews small granite stones at us. Even I am tempted to hurl vulgarities at that lorry.
After cycling 20km from the north of Ipoh to reach our hotel, we arrive at noon. Lunch is delicious and cheap Yong Tau Foo at the hotel coffeeshop.

Day 3
December 6: Ipoh to Lumut (Perak), 59km

It’s a recovery ride today. We set off slightly later at 6:45am at a slower pace. The road is flat and the weather is good. The sun doesn’t even come out; it’s blocked by the clouds.The ride ends uneventfully when we reach Ayer Tawar, on the outskirts of Lumut at 11am. That’s too early, we can’t check into the hotel yet. So we do one hour of bike maintenance. After lunch, we stopped by Old Town coffee. Its motto, “take your time” has a completely different meaning today as compared to when we were in the army. Dinner is a “coffeeshop buffet”: we stock up on carbohydrates for tomorrow’s long ride.

Day 4
December 7: Lumut (Perak) – Sungai Besar (Selangor), 108km

Setting off at 5:30am, we chiong south. I grudgingly start pedaling, wondering if I can survive today. However, my fears prove unfounded. My legs move as smooth as butter. It’s once again good weather and excellent flat terrain. Halfway through the ride, we are surrounded by beautiful fields on both sides. We stop for photos. For almost three whole hours, we ride on never-ending roads that run as straight as arrows. Padi fields stretch interminably. It’s simply picturesque. We stop once for photos.
Around the 80km mark, there’s an odd structure in front of us. It seems pretty tall. Is it a building? A tower? No – it’s a bridge! Some of us gasp in horror and crank up speed. I, however, take my time. The view from the top of the bridge is indescribable. A gorgeous river is on my left and right. To my front, a coconut plantation stretches as far as the horizon. I’m in awe of both God’s and man’s creation. Another river, a few km away, has water buffalos swimming inside. We finally reach Sungai Besar at noon, after having made a 6km detour due to erroneous GPS. After 3 days in Perak, we finally reach Selangor. It’s as if this ride is a “Tour De Perak”.

Day 5
December 8: Sungai Besar (Selangor) to Kuala Lumpur, 126km

We pushed off at 5am, hearing the Islamic call to prayer at the mosques we pass by. Some of us give thanks as it hasn’t rained yet for the past four days. Oops – a drizzle starts, turning into a downpour. We rest at a petrol kiosk until the rain stops. Soon after we set off, the rain starts again. Ouch! We continue pedaling and decide to stop at the next petrol kiosk, but that only occurs in Kuala Selangor, some 15 km away.

We pause in Kuala Selangor very briefly to regroup and drink water. The next 30km are straight roads, flanked by open fields and by plantations. For once, the sun appears out of the clouds, just as we are taking our group photograph. Some 40km after Kuala Selangor, we reach a road that could’ve been used to film “Initial D”. Twice as shiong as South Buona Vista Road, cycling up and down felt like Daytona.

The rural scenery gradually fades away as we approach Kuala Lumpur. On the last day of Tour de France, the riders enter Paris. On our last day in Malaysia, we enter Kuala Lumpur. Hmm… At the first flyover in northern KL, I can see the towers of Genting Highlands in the distance, and the Petronas towers to my right. But I can’t admire any of them – the traffic is extremely heavy, far worse than in Singapore. My mediocre bike handling skills become also evident here. Not only that, the GPS fails us too. We are forced to stop at a petrol kiosk while the support vehicle searches for the hotel. The car finally locates its after more than an hour, and we cycle the last 5km to our destination. We reach our hotel at 3pm, tired but glad. Dinner is a Japanese buffet near the Petronas Towers. We learn the meaning of “spoilt for choice”. It’s as if the long highways of Malaysia have been changed to long lanes of food.

Day 6
Kuala Lumpur – Singapore

We spend our last day in Kuala Lumpur viewing a bikeshop. Owned by former Malaysian national cyclist Edwin Ng, its sign displays prominently the virtues of cycling: No License needed. No Road Taxes. On the bus back to Singapore, I reflect upon what has been a wonderful trip. I’ve met 13 new friends. Rode through 450km of beautiful roads. And got my legs and butt more seasoned.

And I’m thankful too: thankful for the organizing committee for putting together a fantastic tour. Thankful to each member of the team for making the experience a memorable one: Jamie, Terence, Lionel, Calvin, Gerald, Fengru, Benedict, Jeremy, Zao Yi, Kelvin, Marcus, Kheng Yew, Ce Wei. Thankful to the numerous motorists who gave way to us. And thankful to God, through whom all things are possible.

Finishers!