 |
     |
The views and opinions expressed in the media, articles or comments of this page is provided as sharing of experiences and views only. It should not be treated as guide, examplary, model or instruction in any decision making. If you are seeking advice on any matters relating to information on this page, you should seek advice from qualified professional people. No legal liability or other responsibility is accepted by or on behalf of KOTRT for any errors, omissions, or displeasure statements on this page, or any site to which this page connects.
Interstate 2007: Charge of the Orange Train by ShamoonPrelude The way we rode through these places was like how you would ride a train; a locomotive connected with coaches, passing various countryside sceneries. You name it, we passed it; virgin jungle, plantations, small towns, and villages (aka ‘kampungs’) as we chugged along the tracks. Most of these places many city-folks have never been and this event also served as an eye-opener of the hidden treasures these places held. From food to sights, you have to be there to experience these – words aren’t adequate to describe the experience. Getting There; Penang to Ipoh – 30th August 2007. Tea break was at Yut Sun café. Among the locals, the café was famous for their fried mee hoon, fried rice and roti-sayur-telur. One bite and you had your mouth watering even more. So much for tea – it evolved into a binging session. Sluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp! Our first night was at Seri Malaysia – our usual residence in Ipoh. It was also not far from the starting point – Casuarina Inn, just 2km away. One of the funniest incident happened after checking in at the hotel – our room’s air-con wasn’t working. At least that was what Pang told everyone. True enough, after inserting the key into the usual power-on slot, we got the lights, water heater turned on but no air-con. 9 of us were wrecking our brains how to get it working. Finally everyone gave up and called for maintenance to take a look. That’s when someone discovered the power switch hidden behind the curtain! Duhhhhhhhhhhhh….. Even though we walloped a lot in Taiping, yet the gang was all for dinner. Again, it was another favourite hang out of ours – next to Billion Supermarket not far from Hillcity Hotel. This place was good for it’s Nasi Lemak where the rice is kept in the traditional wooden tub – that really keeps the flavour! However, they had other goodies too – satay, grilled fish and the usual Malay goodies. Yum! Yum! (Note: just typing this made me hungry…growl) At this time, more team members joined us; Linda See, Derek and wife. Malik, Deen, with Han Por were the last to arrive just before the stroke of midnight – MERDEKA! Day One, 31st August 2007: Our day started at 5am – there were four of us to a room and so we had to take turns using the bathroom. While one was inside, the others did other activities. For me, I prepared breakfast – cereals with coffee before taking a shower. Yummy! 6.30am, we pushed off for the starting point – Casuarina Inn. When we got there, already a swarm of riders were waiting for the flag-off. Almost, like how people would gather before boarding a train. Could virtually hear the train blowing its horns…Whooo! Whooo! Noticed traffic was heavy on the roads due to Merdeka Day celebrations. 6.45am, - departure time! The train conductor blew his whistle, err, I mean the organizers flagged us off. I kept close to Pang since I couldn’t find the rest of the gang – we got separated in the push-off. So it was just Pang and I running the Orange train; where the former was the El-Loco and I was the caboose. The first few kilometers we kept a steady speed; 26-29km/h – still early to burn the engines at full steam; getting a warm-up. The roads for the first 30km were the same ones used for the Ipoh Century ride a few months back. As we got out to the outskirts of Ipoh, the area was quite misty and cool. It was like a page out of some fantasy tale. Cycling through it was like cycling into one of the pages of Harry Potter’s journey except this was near Ipoh. Air was crisp and clean – great for the lungs; need all the clean oxygen we could get. An hour later, about 30km into the ride, the other Orange train caught up. Meaning, the other KOTRT riders. When merged, the Orange train was transformed into a full fledged passenger train equipped with El-loco, coaches and caboose. Not only did the size increase, so did the speed…. 30, 31, 32, 33, 34…by then our engines were spinning on full crank! So off went the Orange train, with passengers in tow. I lost count after 36km/h but noticed we were hurtling down the tracks even faster – definitely felt like we were hitting the 40’s! The first refueling stop was at 55km into the ride, had my refill with Coke and Power Bar and took some shots of the guys. At present can still smile. Wonder what they would look like after 100km??? 20 minutes later, the Orange train took-off – this time, refueled and with full passenger load. Just after going down the first slope, I had a puncture. Drat! Just when I caught up with the Orange train again, I had to see it chugging away. As the saying goes, the train waits for no one – this time it just went off oblivious they left one passenger behind… Fortunately, I had help from a few cyclists who happened to pass by. They were Andrea, Fabian and Syaiful. So my tire repair went by quite pleasantly, chit-chatting with my new found friends. Very thankful they were around – helps kill the boredom. After the mending, off we went in our mini-peloton, sans-Orange train. Unfortunately, the Orange train was neither nowhere in sight nor any of the support drivers were in the vicinity. It was only later I was told that the other Orange train members thought I had cramps – and I would catch up with the guys. Wonder who was the psychic for that? Goes to show how much they enforced the hand-in-hand theory. Anyway, I continued the ride with my new-found peloton but half way through the ride, we lost Syaiful and Fabian or they just dropped out of the peloton – only Andrea was left. We kept pushing on, maintaining 30km/h. Incidentally, she works at Intel Penang – will look her up when I’m back. Around the Kuala Kangsar junction, approximately 100km into the journey, we caught up with Kulim Lee’s gang. That’s when they told me the Orange train had left a long time ago. Great! So much for riding hand-in-hand. Need to make a mental note that whenever the guys say ride hand in hand, it refers to your own hands! I parted company with Andrea – she wanted to wait for her friends. So, off I went alone. |
||||||
 |
A few km up, after the KK junction, the support vehicles were waiting for me; Beh, Halim and Linda. Linda called it quits, riding; her customized bike was already up on the the Ford. Beh said that the Orange train was way up front and it would be difficult for me to catch up – so I did the next best thing, if I can’t catch the train, might as well take the flying carpet service. It meant hitching a ride in the support vehicle!So for the next 30km, avoiding the arduous climbnear the YTL cement factory at Bukit Gantang, I was traveling in luxury. | |||||
| On the way, we passed Deen, Kar Hong and Malik, passengers ‘dropped off’ by the Orange train. Why suffer when you can ride in comfort?? I also managed to take some pictures of the cyclists. As Rin said, priceless!!! After enjoying the 30km of luxurious flying carpet service, I decided to go cycling again. Initially, Linda wanted to come along but she was very moved by the on-board service of the flying carpet crew. No cycling for her – smart girl! |  |
|||||
| After being dropped off about 20km outside the resort, I managed to hook up with Malik. So he and I went along cycling the last 20 km together. Was hoping Kar Hong and Deen would catch up as we were cycling slowly but there was no sign of them.
When we finally got to the Resort, apparently Halim had a long story to tell everyone about my flying carpet travels. Forgot to note the guy is one fantastic story teller; he can be a screenplay writer for HBO should he choose his next career move. Day Two, 1st September 2007: We pushed off at 7am – quickly forming into the Orange train. The first 30km, the roads were fairly straight and level. This part of the ride was great warming up for the long ride ahead. About 40km on, our first hill climb; it was a lung-busting killer on a road bike but thankfully, a short one. Still, the gradient was steep enough to break-up the Orange train into many individual components. We re-grouped near Kampung Masjid and continued in our peloton; the Orange train. The guys wasted no time in increasing speed – like yesterday’s, we were breaching the 40km/h mark. For me, everything was a blur as I could only focus on the guy’s ass in front of me. It felt like a TGV with all its coaches in tow, traveling non-stop to its destination. It may not be 365km/h but sure felt like it. The best part was to see the people, scenery whizzing by – just like how you would see out the train’s window. As we got to Mahang, a bunch of rolling hills greeted us. I noticed Malik was way behind the speeding train, so I pulled out of the pack and cycled with him. Seemed he was already suffering. Fortunately, the remaining ride was short before our next refueling point, at Mahang. That’s when Pang suggested riding in two trains; the fast pack and slow pack. The fast pack would consist of Azmi, Chen, Derek and Rin, while the rest would fall under the slower category. Once refreshed, off we went on our journey. Not long later, Malik and Deen took the flying carpet service at separate times. They had enough suffering for the day. So it was down to Adrian, Kar Hong, Pang, ST and I. The slower Orange train trudged on, with the guys taking turns to be the El-loco, better knowned as domestique. Here we kept our speeds within the 30km/h range. Nearing Kulim, we passed Boon Foo, he was riding alone. Further up, we also passed Derek; he was making a pit stop with the wife, Su Aun, in their red Discovery nearby. We also pass, Melvyn from Cyclas Revoluta. The 3rd pitt stop was a very brief one near the Petronas petrol station, Kg Kob. It was also a hilarious situation. That’s when we saw a different facet of ST – from Kool Knight he transformed into the Task-master! The situation unraveled near the petrol station, Beh was waiting for us in the Ford Escape. Further up front, we saw Chen riding off to join Azmi and Rin who were not far ahead. Didn’t want to waste time, ST was barking to everyone to drink up and replenish quickly. He was telling everyone to hurry up. I thought he wanted us to catch up with Azmi and gang. He was like the Sergeant Major yelling out to his merry-men or should I say, weary-men! Kar Hong, who had just opened a can of Coke was bewildered. He didn’t finish his drink and was forced to empty the remains onto the road. Adrian, seeing this, quickly grabbed the can from him and gulped down the remaining liquid-fuel in two seconds flat! In 5 minutes or less, we were up on our saddles and cranking, mustering our remaining strength following ST’s lead, or should I say, orders. From then on, ST had gained another nickname, the Taskmaster! We rode into Kulim high-tech and into the town itself. We were not sure of the directions but saw a bunch of riders in front of us. One of them I thought was Per Li. So we just followed their lead. ST was still leading the pack – he was goading us to keep up. By then, it was already noon, and the roads were really busy due to the long weekend. Finally, just before 1pm, the Summit Hotel crept into our sights and we, the remaining Orange train, were glad to have come to our journey’s end for today. The last portion was challenging but thanks to our new taskmaster, we arrived in good time. Timing was great too! Not long after that, it started to rain heavily – I was thankful that we got in dry but was sorry for the remaining buggers who were still out there cycling in the rain or did they take the flying carpet service as well?? Day Three, 2nd September 2007: This part of the ride was the ultimate journey for the participating cyclists. It marked the climax for this year’s Interstate ride and a milestone for the Interstate event; we would be allowed to cross the Penang Bridge – on our bikes! The bridge is off-limits to non-motorized traffic. So far, I could only recall two other non-motorized events allowed; Tour de Langkawi and the Penang Bridge Run. The PCC Interstate marked the first for an NGO, non-competitive participation; a breakthrough of all sorts for us. All this was possible through the joint cooperation of the various governing bodies, local authorities and non-government organizations. 6.30am, we gathered outside the hotel. The police was already out there, together with the pink-jerseyed Marshals from PCC. They were to escort the Interstate participants all the way to the Bridge Toll plaza. At the toll plaza, each cyclist was checked for their participation tag – no tag, no bridge crossing. This is to prevent any gate-crashes. There were many people whom I hadn’t seen riding for a long time, pop-up for this ride; Gary, Nadia, Su Aun, Fuji, Han Por, and Ah Beng (He was riding for the whole three days), all joined today’s ride. Even Linda, who didn’t ride on the second day, rode. The ride was made even more memorable or should I say, cuter, by Pang in his ‘Waiter’ outfit; got the attention of the local daily, The Star!!! |
||||||
| The ride was made even more memorable or should I say, cuter, by Pang in his ‘Waiter’ outfit; got the attention of the local daily, The Star!!! He got his 30 seconds of fame… and it’s available in print and online!!!!
The ride across the bridge was overshadowed by dark, cloudy skies and strong winds. It was rainy weather in Penang. From the mainland looking into Penang Island, we could see many parts of the island drenched by the downpour. As we got closer, we could feel drops of water pelting our skins and faces. While on the bridge, strong winds were blowing and at one point I felt a strong gust wanting to push me off balance! The peloton riding across the bridge stretched for a few kilometers. This was the only time where all the riders were riding hand-in-hand. Also, it was re-enforced by the instructions from the Penang Bridge authorities that we were to ride together and not to stop at any time for picture taking session. However, sad to say, some of our riders were hearing impaired on the last piece of instruction. Despite the rainy weather, we kept going. Leading the charge was the escort vehicle carrying PCC’s photographer fervently snapping pictures of the cyclists, oblivious of the danger or the weather around him. Our next stop was at the Queensbay Mall. There, we had a welcoming committee – both the Queensbay Mall |
 |
|||||
| representatives and also Penang Town Council (MPPP),especially Encik Akbar, were there to greet us. On top of that, there was some light breakfast prepared for us. It was a great way to refill after a cold ride across the bridge.On top of that, there were more picture-taking sessions at the mall. Especially, with the Mall folks, featuring one particular PR and Marketing department personnel. Some hormones were too wild to contain. Tsk! Tsk!
Then, we were off to Balik Pulau Sports Complex, where apparently, there was another feast awaiting us. That’s when the rain started coming down hard but fortunately, was only for a short while. The first batch of cyclists arrived too early for the reception committee at the Sports Complex – 9.30am. Apparently, the schedule was to get there only by 11am because the organizers underestimated the riders’ ability and thought we would take a bit of time to get there. How wrong were they!!! At the complex too, some of our families came to join us – ST’s, Azmi’s and mine. They accompanied us, cheering us on for the remaining part of the journey |
||||||
 |
For the final leg, the Orange train was supposed to finish the ride hand-in-hand. Somehow, as they got to the Titi Kerawang climb, that promise faded. Or should I say, left at the foot of the hill.
1pm, we finally arrived at the Sandy Bay hotel, Tanjung Bungah; our final destination came to an end wrapping-up this year’s epic journey. The event was capped off with a spectacular dinner at the hotel – and thrown in for the first time, prizes for the participants. For me, this year’s interstate marked an improvement of all sorts for the guys and myself. Food and lodging were the best in the three years I had participated, better coordination, and above all, the Orange train was born, coasting along the tracks and finally bringing its passengers safely to their stops.
|
|||||
 |
||||||
