by Darren Lee | images by Andrew Lee & Jordan Chong

Day 1: Ampang - Teluk Intan, 173km

I sat up and blinked. Looked at the watch: 3:00am. And then crashed out of bed and into the bathroom. It was time to get ready for our ride which was scheduled to start at 5:00am. I thought whoever who came up with this idea was mad, but later I was pretty grateful for it as it would rain, very heavily, at 2:00pm that day. Had we started later we would've been drenched.

4:45am - I inspect my bike. After all the threats of sabotage by Colin, it's better to play safe. The bike looks okay.

5:15am - we're waiting for everyone else and suddenly droplets of rain started to come down! I felt a few drops on my face. But we start off anyway, as the other option would be to wait out the rain in the dark of the night, and head down the highway. "We", the Penang guys, joined the LeTua group for today's stage along with Colin and Jordan.

At five in the morning, traffic was virtually non-existent. The road was nice, smooth, and empty, and the threatening "drizzle" has stopped. Yeah baby! The "night" ride was enjoyable although it was probably so because the highway was lit up like a Christmas tree. We head into the rural areas and it starts getting dark and scary in the absence of street lights. Fortunately, as we did so dawn broke and visibility became dramatically better. As we amble along the highway, we had motormouth Colin entertain us with his funny comments about everyone else (not to mention making threats about launching devastating attacks … ).

The Northern Guys lead the way : (Front to back) Andrew, myself, Jia, Melvin. Note the Land Rover Defender in the background -- our support vehicle. Don't play play! .. And the support motorbike behind Melvin ... just kidding. (Pic by Andrew Lee)

The Flying Dutchman Edo Vonk outriding us all, faster than the trucks on the road. (Pic by Andrew Lee)

After 50km we are somewhere around Kuala Selangor. The road narrows losing its shoulders as it was being resurfaced. Forced to ride on the road proper itself, we get up close and personal with the petrol tankers, fruit lorries, lorries carrying rubbish, small lorries, big lorries, medium lorries, and generally speaking, every type of lorry you see in Malaysia. Many of them were belching sulphur heavy diesel fumes which suffice to say, didn't make for good air.

We stop at Tanjung Karang for a meal. I check my skin. I have a sun tan even though the day has been cloudy so far No, wait, that isn't a tan, ... that's one layer of fumes on my skin. And my face, …… and my legs. And my white (by now grey) jersey.

A striptease in the middle of the ride in the middle of the road. Bujoe (in yellow) is laughing. Pic by Jordan Chong.

140km. The pack ambles on. Suddenly there is a ferocious increase in speed. 40km/h. Someone at the front is flooring the pedal. I couldn't make out who it was as I was lounging around at the back. Melvin and I scramble to keep up with the locomotive, albeit at the back most of the time. By the time we reach Teluk Intan, 30km and not much of an hour later, I am pooped.

Butts of the rich and famous. "Team Kelme" sweeps the back right behind "Team Assos". Jia is on the far right (Easton jersey), Melvin is in front of him and Faisal is in front of Melvin. (Pic by Jordan Chong)

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, it rains barely an hour or so after we arrive. Was I happy to keep the bike (and ourselves) dry in anticipation of the rides coming up in the next two days. We survey one of the BikePro riders who got caught in the rain and he was soaked to the skin. His bike, too, was covered in mud and dirt.

"Dudes, that was fun": The dudes relax after the loooong 172 km ride from Ampang to Teluk Intan. From left : Jia, Faizal, TheDuh, Melvin. Pic by Andrew Lee.

Other pics of the day

Faizal leads the group somewhere in Selangor. It was a busy road. Pic by Andrew Lee.

"Healthy Eating Lesson" #1 by Jordan Chong : An apple a day keeps the doctor away. He is on a Pegoretti Marcelo. Pic by Jordan Chong.

There you have it, folks : The absolutely most expensive bike in Interstate ... a Colnago Ferrari. Only 500 produced. Look closely and you can see the prancing horse logo on the top tube near the headset. Owner Zamani takes a break along with his henchmen. He is missing the matching rear carbon wheel (replaced by a Mavic Ksyrium). Pic by Jordan Chong.

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