It's been raining......quite a lot lately!
This is a natural cycle in Malaysia. Come November, the north easterly wind will blow and together it will bring the year end monsoon. Every year, we get reports of floods, destructions and deaths.
During this rainy season, the idiom "Make hay while the sun shines" cannot be more true, especially for a cyclist! Ride whenever there is a dry day ..... or hour!!! Be prepared with a back up plan and be ready to ride in the rain!
It was with such thoughts that the few of us decided to hit the road this morning. We did not create an event but just called up a few close friends to ride together.
However, our covert plan was sniffed out by the Angels!!! As early as 5.30 am, Andrew Loh messaged that his side had decided to postpone their ride to the next day following a wet tarmac. Jolin also confirmed the rain in the city. And while it was dry in Horizon Hills, a light mist of rain fell from heavens at roll out time!
Another group pushing off from the same point were in the same dilemma. Sai Kit, Desmond Loh and Chiam, guest riders of GCC were enjoying breakfast at Pan Kobo when they saw Alex and Boon Yow turn in and backed out from the car park. Two more men from Johor Jaya were unloading their bikes, flustered but finally relieved when Patrick came.
Ground zero was like an arena for sportsmen! Hea, Sue, Ching Po and a few more runners were flexing and warming up. We were revving to go and GCC riders were beginning to stream in.
Like all good sportsmen, we exchanged greetings before rolling out. Just ahead, we bumped into Alex, Boon Yow and Anthony. Yet another set of greetings were exchanged.
Enroute to Pendas, Jolin was initially pulling Claudine and Eva. But when Eva fell back at the GP climb, Jolin slowed down for her. Claudine though was charging ahead, knowing VT was taking the sweep!
As on all hills, ladies tend to loose out. Jolin was first to arrive at the Pendas junction. Hesitating, Claudine cautioned him on the turn. He slowed down but decided to wait for Eva and VT instead, leaving her to ride on her own, all the way to Warung Poyot - The Heartstopping Roti Prata!
We all arrived at our breakfast stop in due time but our roti man was somewhat late. Just after a few mouth fulls of nasi lemak and bihun soto, Claudine had an abominable stomachache and had no choice but to use the toilet. When she finally came out, the roti man had arrived and together with him, he brought rain! This gives Jolin and Eva a chance to sample the Roti Prata.
When breakfast was done and the rain refused to stop, we knew we had to leave. We rode back in the rain, sometimes heavy, sometimes light. With each passing vehicle, we got wetter and dirtier. Where there were cars, we didn't mind one bit. But there were one dump truck and another lorry with garden produce .... and that's when we wondered if we got faeces on our faces!!!
It was also times like these that we appreciate our friends. Sweet Joshua had offered his rescue vehicle but we didn't mind riding in the rain at all.
While we were soaked wet to our underpants, another group of riders were in the same quandary. They were a group of Brommies on their way to Kukup. It was much later that we found out amongst them was our friend Jennifer Oh and traveling in the group were 2 young kids aged 11 and 14!!! Kudos to the Singapore kids for doing 76 km per day, back to back, made worst by bad weather conditions!!!
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