The First Anniversary ride, 26 October 2000

KOTRT is one year old! Well, aren't we supposed to do something to celebrate the birthday of the KOTRT? Funny though, I wasn't in the mood to do it! We decide to have a ride to commemorate the KOTRT's birthday. I am thinking of doing something easy. Something like doing the ride in Juru. My proposal was turned down by most riders who were thinking of riding! Anyway, we finally agreed to do the Batu Ferringhi coastal road ride!

We all met at Azmi's house at 0730 hours. The weather was not as sunny as the past few days. In fact, some part of the island were raining cats and dogs, which some of the riders decided not to come. I was the second rider who arrived at Azmi's place. ST the cOOOl kNIGHt was already there. 20 minutes later, Sup showed up and told us that the rest were waiting at the temple of Qan Yin at the Mt. Erskine. My heart sunk to the bottom of my bowel when I heard about it. Shit, wasn't it a leisure ride? I had a bad feeling that it was going to be just like other rides that ST and Azmi had been doing. What a way to celebrate the anniversary!

I was right! Azmi shot off like he just fixed himself a turbo booster! I made a mistake by chasing after him and leaving the rest behind. I am always weak in climbing, be it on feet or on wheels. Maybe my legs are too short for such activity. There was a climb right after we left the temple. I was already having problem to catch up with Azmi!

Luckily, it was only a short climb. The descent afterwards was a welcoming relief. Still, Azmi showed no sign of slowing down! I wasn't in a mood to charge down at full speed on twisting downhill tarmac. So I just maintain a distance between me and him and continue the journey. When he went fast, I went fast. When he was slowing down, I followed suit! It was fun actually, but I would have to have energy and power to do that since I would have to fight the incoming gust also!

The traffic was scarce on the coastal road. We went faster and faster. ST was with the rest. Azmi was leading and I was 3 car distances away from him. You see, we ain't no robot. There was a sign of slowing down. The rest was catching up, especially ST! By the time we reached Rasa Sayang hotel, ST was already at my behind. I thought he was going to draft me, but he decided to tailgate me instead! Man, Azmi was charging full speed up front, and I had to draft someone behind! Believe me, drafting a rider drained energy! I could feel the presence of the other, and it made me nervous. We decided to stop in front of the Park Royal Hotel to wait for the rest to catch up.

I decided to slow down after the regroup. Apparently, some of the riders had problem to catch up. I could see some of the expression of the faces when they arrived at the regroup point. "I thought it was a leisure ride!" Sorry folks, I felt the same way also! Anyway, after 5 minutes of rest, we continued the journey to Teluk Bahang.

I had never realized that the ride from the Park Royal to Teluk Bahang was so scenic! We could hear the sea beating the shore and it was quiet! Since my mind had set to go slow, I had a chance to enjoy the view. It wouldn't last long. As the speed went faster and faster, Azmi was far ahead. ST was with me. We started to race each others again!

We finally reached the destination after 45 minutes of riding! I was so tempted to come down from saddle and push the bike in the last one kilometer climb! Only few of us managed to the Teluk Bahang dam. The rest were waiting at the Teluk Bahang roundabout! Again, a short rest at the dam to catch the breath, and we started to meet the rest at the roundabout.

We had our breakfast stop at one mamak store near the Park Royal. The Nasi Lemak was nice. I had a very delicious and filling Nasi Lemak with two pieces of spicy beef, which cost me dearly on our home! Always remember not to eat something spicy. I did not forget the warning but it was very tempting. I was hungry, so I didn't care anymore!

The ride back to Azmi's place wasn't going smoothly. My front tire decided to give up after we passed the Rasa Sayang Hotel. You know what? I forgot to bring spare tube! Worst of all, I told the rest to go ahead and I would catch up with them later! Sup was with me, and he did not bring spare tube with him either! Luckily I always have the repair patch with no matter where I go to ride. It became handy now when I had no other choice. Sup decided to catch up the rest and asked them for spares! I did not just wait there for their rescue because I knew by the time Sup caught with them, it would be somewhere in Tanjung Bunga, judging from the speed the group was going! There was a hole on the tube that was apparently punctured by the spoke itself. Is it a sign to change my wheels soon? It seems like so! The front had punctured quite a number of tubes already. I think I should be starting to plan to buy a new set of wheel!

It took me "only" 10 minutes to patch the puncture. There still wasn't any sign of the rescue team. I decided to go on my own. Maybe I had stopped too long. I felt weak to continue the journey. The traffic on the road became heavier and heavier. There was no where could I stop! When I passed by our condominium in the Ratu Mutiara, it was so tempting to stop and ask my mom to drive me to Azmi's house to pick up my car! The evil thought of persuading me to stop became stronger when I started to tackle the uphill slope in front of the Novetel Hotel! My will told me to continue but my evil side told me otherwise! It was a battle between the good and the evil. I finally fought over the evil thought and continued my solo return to the starting point!

I finally met up with Azmi, Gary and ST when I hit Tanjung Tokong. They were on their way to me after they heard about my tire puncture thing. I could sense the surprise from them. Well, always go riding prepared. I always bring the patch with me although people were asking about the usefulness of it. You will never know when you are going to need it!

It was a fast ride in a moderate distance. But it's kind of low profile to celebrate the one year anniversary of the KOTRT. I know, we should do something grand. In fact, we did have a dinner feast at 747 restaurant at YMCA Penang a night before to celebrate this noble occasion! Thanks to Azmi, it was an excellent dinner! Anyway, it wasn't easy to survive one year. Without the core group, KOTRT will not be able to survive even in a month! Also, thanks to some of the riders who spend some of their time to write something for the KOTRT homepage. I really appreciate it. Lets hope we will see more and mroe riders are willing to share their experience in the future!

Ok, what are we going to do this coming Sunday? Ulu Mahang anyone???

Stay tuned!