Sunday, January 18, 2009

Penang Fellowship Ride






Over the Christmas period (27th Dec), Penang's KOTRT together with the City Council organized what I thought was a massive event with 700 riders. All it cost was RM10 through an online regsitration.










I have ridden in many group events before but never with so many riders of all levels of fitness.










It was very well organized and gave me a chance to ride from the Esplanade to Balik Pulau and back (I think it was about 70 to 80km-not sure I haven't got a cyclocomputer).










The route from the city centre to Batu Ferringi was great in the morning but not so great on the way back. The route from Teluk Bahang up the Balik Pulau hills was spectacular and I would recommend anyone going to Penang to ride this route. The best way is to park your car at Teluk Bahang/Muzium Perhutanan and begin your climb up a deserted hill route. The view is worth the climb. I think the climb was just about 10km and the gradient is less than 10% mostly so it wasn't so bad.










We then rode down to Balik Pulau and into scenic kampungs. I had my nasi lemak stop in Kg Sg Pinang. I was all alone by this time but heck I was having a great time exploring the backwaters of Penang.










As usual I was pretty much a "back marker" . Although I knew there were a few riders behind, most had chosen to be picked up by the broom wagon. By the time I rode the Batu Ferringhi stretch back to the city centre it was well past noon and the traffic was pretty heavy. This was the part I least enjoyed.










Anyway kudos to the KOTRT and the cycling fraternity of Penang for this ride. As is usual with all KOTRT events, they are very well organized (I recommend readers to join their mountainbike jamborees as well).

2 comments:

Man CIOCC said...

Salam Amir,
Penang has always been a heaven for cyclists, but during the late 80’s it took a downturn. Glad that it became massive again.

Used to rendezvous at Gurney Drive before the ride to Teluk Bahang every day.
Miss the round island trip so much where we would sometimes whack the famous Balik Pulau durians.

Daoh suggested we go there again…masuk kampong sekali.

Pi mai-pi mai tang tu jugak...

Amir Faezal said...

Man, it was massive and I think it had to do with a very sincere effort by Lydia Ong, an ADUN who happened to be a cyclist. She's cool. She rode her bike to Xiamen. You should see the picture of her touring bike. I think she probably got it from Carrefour and it took her to Xiamen!

Penang has a clearer objective on cycling. The city wants to promote itself as an eco hub, it is offering what is described as "heritage trails". It has a cycling agenda. It may be slow in implementing it but the state is talking about it.

I am not sure if any our our Putrajaya politicians/technocrats realized just what a great potential Putrajaya has to offer in terms of getting its people to start riding.

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