Sunday, 16 Oct 2011. Today is the day. I have waited since July for this major event. This is a major cycling event, at least for me. It is even bigger than Critical Mass, PDRM Open Day or Putrajaya Interparks Ride.
21km of fun ride. I have already collected the jersey at Avenue K on Friday. I was at Dataran Merdeka yesterday to catch the kids’ events. Today, it is my turn to ride.
Luckily, the ride didn’t start so early. 9am was the flag off. We took our sweet time to drive to Lake Gardens, parked the car, unfolded Chevy and Abby and applied the RFID chip on them. Cycled towards Dataran Merdeka, collected Doubletree meal vouchers, went to the public toilet and pumped in some air into Chevy’s tube.
Chevy and Abby are ready to go
queuing up at the start point to be flagged off (foldies are on the right)
The route was 10.5km long, and it was not difficult to ride. The stretch of Jalan Tun Ismail towards PWTC was not that steep and the rest of the course was mostly flat(ish). Anyhow, I still managed to crash at the drinks station (Life Center at Jalan Sultan Ismail) on the 2nd lap. No, I don’t want to talk about it, because I now realised it was my fault that I crashed. It was amazing that I sustained no injury at all. I was glad that I wore gloves today.
According to Endomondo, we finished the race in 66mins and 34secs. If I exclude the waiting time at starting point and pushing the bike to collect the medals before stopping Endomondo, I reckon I made it well within 60mins. I’ll just have to wait for the official results from OCBC Cycle Malaysia.
Abby and Chevy arrived back safely at Dataran Merdeka
Missus with her medal ala Nadalesque
my first sports medal since Standard 6
Well, it was a good experience riding at a relatively high pace on the streets. But riding Chevy took its toll on my knees, as Chevy’s seat post was not long enough – thus the saddle was not at its optimum height. And Chevy has a smaller chain ring. I couldn’t pedal at all at high speed. Maybe next time, I could do the 52km on my hybrid – nice height, big chain ring and big wheels.
My best accessory today was my gloves. They saved me from some grazed skin on my palm.
Ride Details:
Distance: 21.57 km
Duration: 1h:06m:34s
Average Speed: 19.4 km/h
Calories: 808 kcal
Don't Fart Too Loudly! 
Cool! I have yet to join a OCBC cycle event! I think you have me convinced!
It is quite fun actually to cycle in downtown KL with the police “blocking” the road halfheartedly. Anyway, it it a nice experience though. I would try ocbc cycle singapore too if possible, but i don’t have a bike there, though rental is possible. You should try it.