A Royal Welcome…My 2008 comeback ride with MKH.
KOTRTpit view by Azmi “the chief”

5.45 am…I sat on my throne, undecided, if I should join ST and Adrian on the round island ride which meant getting the luxury of another hour sleep or join Rin and Chen for the “kayuh shiok-shiok”(more of this later!) ride with Kulim Lee and his Maju Ke Hadapan crew.

This would be my 2008 comeback ride with MKH on their home turf as the last time we rode together was our annual New Year round island ride. Ok, it’s decided then, I texted Rin to inform him I will join him and Chen since it’s supposed to be a shiok-shiok, meaning easy ride.

We carpooled with Rin, the drive to Jabatan Perhutanan car park was smooth and traffic free. I observed there weren’t many vehicles on the road today and even the schools were closed, hmm…I wondered why? Kulim Lee was already at the car park giving us that u better hurry up look! We unloaded our bikes and got ready for the ride. I made sure I applied sun block anticipating a hot ride in spite of the cool morning air. As usual, the morning calmness at the car park was shattered by Kulim Lee’s bark as he rallied everyone in front of him for his pre-ride briefing. I reckon he would make a good drill instructor if he was in the Army!

We rolled out of the car park and the peleton headed for Serdang. The peleton pace picked up and a glance at my odometer showed we had only covered 15.7km. I have hardly warmed up; although I welcomed the cool morning breeze it only made warming up slower...for me. Luckily, the pace didn’t go any faster else I would have been dropped out of the group. At Selama, I observed a nice colonial style school building and I asked Kulim Lee why it was empty on Sun which was normally a school day in the state of Kedah. He replied; “mana uh okh, Kedtar Sortan eh sae jit, lu emm chai meh? Ok, for the non Hokkien speaking; where got school, don’t you know it’s the Sultan’s b’day! It was only then I realized that it’s the state ruler’s birthday. No wonder the roads were free of vehicles and school’s out for the day. At Kubu Gajah the group stopped for brunch. My self, Rin, Chen and other riders rode across the road searching for other food stalls as there weren’t enough food at the first stall we visited.

After we filled up, the group rode towards Kampung Masjid. We turned off at a junction and headed for Batu Kurau and eventually Kampung Yaman. The rolling hills beckoned us sadistically. I remembered this area well. We rode here last years PCC Interstate. For those unfamiliar with this place, they weren’t aware what was in store for them…the D Cup climb! The rolling hills made mince meat of our peleton as the weaker riders struggled to maintain their pace up the steep climb. Kulim Lee and some of the stronger riders breezed by me as if powered by an invisible kinetic force. This Optimus Prime of a guy really has my respect and admiration. If you bum into him sans his cycling outfit and bike, you would not think much of him as a cyclist due to his gargantuan size. Mind you, he’s not fat or overweight; he’s just tall and well, tua chiak! To have a better idea, just join the mainland ride and experience first hand what I’m talking about.

Well what goes up must come down; after the D-Cup climb, it was a fast rolling descend to Kampung Masjid. My speedo showed 73km/h! At the junction, we regrouped. Kulim Lee remarked a lot of riders were missing from our peleton. Actually, some of the riders turned back at Selama. Smart fellows! They knew what was in store for them had they continued all the way to Kampung Yaman with the peleton. Kulim Lee checked with a local and the pachik suggested we try out the new short cut to Selama. He told us the kampong road will adjoin with the new road to Kem Bina with “minor”(an understatement as we found out to our dismay later!) rolling sections and subsequently short cut to Selama. At this stage, we couldn’t be happier with a short cut to avoid another section of long rolling hills. The ride through the kampong road was nice and shaded. In fact the weather was especially kind to us on this beautiful royal day with an overcast sky.

Alas, it was to be a short lived happiness the moment we exited the kampong road! The new road aka “short cut” turned out to be a long steep climb with no horizon in sight! Yikes! Kulim Lee reassured everyone it would most probably be just one climb and downhill the rest of the way, yea, right! It was to be a very painful short cut as our muscles struggled to climb a total of THREE hills before the junction to Selama! The 2nd hill took its toll on us and depleted most of the riders’ reserves. We scattered into small groups and you could only see tiny specks of your friends riding in the far distance. Well, so much for the “short cut”!

After a short distance, I noticed we’re back at Selama when I saw the same colonial school building. We went to the nearest coffee shop and lepak while waiting for the rest of the crew to come in. By then the sun was up and looking at the tan everyone had, boy, was I glad I applied the sun block before we started out. We rested for almost an hour before continuing our way back to Kulim.

At Sg Tengas the peleton pace picked up speed. I was looking forward to a nice comfortable coasting pace back to the car park and my usual pilgrimage lunch at Pelita. I was in for a disappointment! Perhaps it was only 15 km back to the car park or that the guys don’t fancy being scorched by the sun; the front pack just kept going faster and faster! Not relishing the idea of being dropped and riding alone back to the car park, I reluctantly hung on to the peleton! Adoi!

Everyone sprinted for the car park as if a grand prize awaits them with a beautiful girl to garland the winning rider! The were no prizes nor any babes in sight but there was a consolation though…an ice cream mamak vendor was waiting at the car park as if he knew the riders were returning. I didn’t even bother to change or take my cycling shoes off; I hailed the mamak over and helped myself to a vanilla cone ice cream. Rin had one too and we bought one for Chen as well. He will definitely appreciate this. Hmm…bliss!

Chen returned shortly. Me and Rin just smiled and I clapped my hands to cheer him in. We could see he’s as tired as us but defiant as usual he quipped; “What? I’m not tired lah…just in pain!” I thought to myself; I couldn’t agree more with him! My hamstrings ache, something I haven’t felt in a long time!

We cleaned up, packed our stuffs and made our way to our usual makan spot in Pelita Chai Leng Park. For the first time there wasn’t a bee line queue at Pelita, probably because it was more like tea time when we got there! In spite of the pain and suffering, the three of us collectively agreed waking up so early for today’s ride was well worth it! What a royal comeback ride I got! The fun, food and fellowship I shared with my cycling buddies…PRICELESS!

A note of thanks to Kulim Lee and the MKH riders. I look forward to my next ride with them!

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