The RJ Ride!
KOTRTpit view by Rin The Jinx
R-A-C-I-N-G…..
noun
the sport of engaging in contests of speed
J-A-C-K-E-T…..
noun
1. a short coat
2. an outer wrapping or casing
3. the outer skin of a potato
4. the tough metal shell casing for certain kinds of ammunition
It all started last week when Kulim Lee decided to take a small fraction of his Gong Xi Fa Chai expenses to pamper himself with a new sports sunglass. He kept pestering me to check on the specs of the sports sunglass. He was very particular that I recommended him the correct frame ie. Radar, M Frame, lens shapes, lens tint etc.
We decided to play it safe so I lent him my shades for a try out before he actually went out to buy one for himself. I lent him my Oakley Racing Jacket Pro Grey with G30 Vented lense…quite a mouthful eh?J
Its kinda SOP every Sun am for me to have my breakfast at Tmn Tun Sardon foodcourt while waiting for Chen. By 6.30am we loaded Chen’s bike and we’re off to Jabatan Perhutanan Kulim to start our weekly ride with Kulim Lee’s group.
Unfortunately we arrived late at 7.30am! Kulim Lee greeted us with his usual “@#$%^!!”(apologies, words not allowed for reading here!) morning greeting. I quickly handed over the “test unit” to distract him while we got ready.
He was like a kid who just received a new toy! He was obsessed with the “test unit”, taking it on and off, asking for opinions from fellow cyclist whether he looked good with it! Finally, we started our ride at 7.50am. The pace was reasonable for the 1st 10km and then the “RJ” mood kicked in! RJ? Yes, Kulim Lee felt a rush of power and adrenalin pulsating in his veins wearing his new pair of shades! He just zoomed away for the next 14km till we reached the town of Serdang! I continuously cursed at him as a lot of roadies who were unprepared for the power surge were dropped along the way due to his extensive speed!
Upon reaching Serdang, I checked with Kulim Lee if his speedo was faulty again. He was going consistently at 40-ish km/h from KM10 to KM25 heading towards Serdang town. He smiled cynically; “Racing Jacket manyak laju wor...pakai Racing Jacket, mesti mau lasing-lasing lah….” Duh!
We had a short pee-break at Serdang while waiting for the rest to catch up. We waited almost 10mins for the rest of the tail enders but it was a much deserved breather which everybody needed! We arrived Serdang in record time; 40mins from the carpark which usually took us an hour!
From Serdang, we head towards Selama. The terrain was rolling and fast. Traffic was fantastic except for a trailer exhaling thick diesel smoke polluting the air we breathed for a while. Our pace gained momentum again after the lorry pulled away. The peloton was peaking again, averaging 35-ish/kmh! I’m barely hanging on to them, luckily Kulim Lee was wide enough to shield me from the furious headwind. J.
When we reached Selama town, the group decided to stop for breakfast/brunch but it was still early for me. It was just past 10.00am, my tummy was still full from the early am breakfast. We were indecisive on which stall for our breakfast, we hopped from one coffee shop to another and finally decided on the 1st stall.
We helped ourselves to rice, some local kueh while Chen had to excuse himself for his usual “weigh-loss” short term program! I had half a plate of rice, one-sided curry fish head and some vege. Guess what? I was charged RM7.80 inclusive teh tarik while the rest only paid averaging RM5.00 with drinks!? Well I supposed it was just not my day as I have been “slaughtered”!
The group rendezvoused around 10.40am. I was a good 40mins break and we slowly cranked to our next junction heading for Mahang. I still remembered this route as it was the route we took last Sun during the Royal ride; Sultan of Kedah’s birthday! Quickly I asked Kulim Lee if he was going to Kem Bina Negara again since we were heading towards the direction. He responded; “Tarak lah…ini mau pi Mahang mia...”
Shortly 10mins into the ride, the Khaw Bros and Chong Meng broke away followed by a few other riders. The rest of us just took our own sweet time to reheat ourselves. We noticed they took the left junction while Kulim said we should actually head straight. After shouting and wailing, the front peloton was just too fast to hear us.
Kulim Lee quickly called them via his mobile and informed them they had taken the wrong turn. The rest of us continued straight ahead and I notice the road was getting narrower; there were more cow dung on the surface the kampong houses were more spread out. Gulp! I had a bad feeling we had taken a “hol-land” route liao!
Kulim Lee was confident there would be a route leading to Mahang the way we took. Shortly after, Ah Boy’s tire burst! All of us stopped to take our breather while a few other riders helped Ah Boy fix his puncture. Khaw Bros, Chong Meng and a few other riders in the front (read fast!) peloton rejoined us. Kulim Lee suggested to Chong Meng to check out the road ahead while the rest of us wait for Ah Boy and gang fix the tire.
After 15mins, Chong Meng and Kito returned with news that the road only lead towards a waterfall recreational park with no thru road! Dang! I knew I was right. We retraced our route and took the junction where the font pack had taken earlier J
This road was nice but with many pot holes. We were unable to ride fast as we need to put full focus on the uneven road ahead.
The road lead half-way to the new Selama highway and I was relieved after I sighted some common landmarks which could help me gauge roughly the upcoming mileage.
From Selama, we headed towards Mahang junction and we took the road towards Sedim. I look at my speedo, I had only clocked 78km. I was praying hard hoping that Kulim Lee would not take the Sedim hilly way back. My prayer had been answered as we passed the junction! J Ha ha ha…selamat!
From Sedim towards Sg Kob, the headwind was strong. The strong headwind broke the peloton, our ranks were scattered along the 10km stretch towards Sg Kob. Our Chen-PION was nowhere to be seen! I reassured myself he should be ok as he was equipped with the GPS on his bike J
There was only a handful of us in the middle pack while the rest of the tengkars were no where to be seen!
We reached the Sg Kob Petronas Station after we struggled the last 10km strong headwinds. I pampered myself with a bottle of 100plus, Coke and an ice-cream! <cough!> J
After the tail enders regrouped and refreshed, we headed home via Kulim Hi-Tech road.
I learned an important lesson; don’t ever sell any addenda with “racing” acronym before any ride for that matter! Although we had only done 99km today but the intensity was so great, I felt like I have ridden a century ride!
Still, it was a good ride overall and I hope we will do it again soon!
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