Malakoff Penang Ride

At Juru starting line...

First stop at Petronas (first day)


The devil has arrived...

We get to ride penang bridge...just don't crash overside into the sea.





Keat Seong, Poh Seng, and my bro.

Adli reaching...

Balik pulau view at the top.

Teluk bahang dam....

Actually I had wanted to cycle to penang for this ride, but 2 days after an ultra run is not enough to recover. So I opted to drive there with my younger brother, bringing 2 bikes.

Since I didn't get to cycle, I decided to drive all the way to penang without using the highway. So it's going from KL-KKB-Tanjong Malim-Bidor-Tapah-Ipoh-Chemor-Sg Siput-K. Kangsar-Taiping-Penang (butterworth). That's almost 8 hours of driving plus rest. Using highway could get you there by 4. Driving from KL-Ipoh is pretty ok, but not from Ipoh-Penang.

First day. My legs are pretty ok by now. Nothing much about this ride, except the view at Bkt Merah was spectacular. At one point, I was doing solo in front on my TT bike pushing around close to 40kmh. But since this was a social ride, it's best to keep speeds around 35kmh.

Actually most of us are just drafting the motorbike or vehicle in front, so it's was all really easy.

My bro was doing good. He's fast, but still lack experience, but with more training, probably he'll be better.

Second day. Now this is actually more fun. We got to ride across the Penang bridge, which was a tad too windy. Almost had my TT bike wobbling on the descent.

Then we started to hit the first climb. And that's where you see who are the real strong ones. In cycling, you could save a lot of energy just by drafting. It's only when you hit the hills, that's when you can see which guy has the stuff to power on.

The first climb is just as tough as going up Gohtong Jaya, and I was actually liking it. I didn't pushed too hard because I didn't know how long this would take. Soon, we reached the first resting place overlooking the island below. Then it was a harrowing time downhill. With the carbon wheels it's even harder to brake, so I opted to be safe instead of hammering it all the way.

The 2nd climb was a bit more merciful, which brought us to Teluk Bahang Dam.

Up until now, everyone were well behaved. But not afterwards as the peloton separated and we were like racing up and down the roads towards the ending point.

Well, it was a pretty nice ride, and well organised by Malakoff and the participating agencies. We felt like super important Tour riders. Looking forward if they are having it next year. Thanks to the THG guys who had helped out on accommodation and planning too.