by Darren Lee | photos by Andrew Lee & Jordan Chong
(check Articles page for links to Days I and III)

Day 2: Teluk Intan - Kuala Kangsar, 118km

Ah … today's ride started at the leisurely late time of 7:20am. My kind of time. The whole jingling gang from the hotel all decided to start at the same time, so the peloton numbered at least 50 riders. Certainly a rare rare sight (well, at least in Penang).

Starting the ride : Group hug before the ride! Oh well, too un-macho. Group photo before the ride! From left : Melvin, Andrew, myself, Edo. Observe Edo's electrically charged wheels, which earned him the nickname The Flying Dutchman.

During the first twenty minutes, guys are stopping by the side of the road to pee, complete with the requisite cat calls and wolf whistles. We wonder why so many people are peeing so early. Ahhh … now we know. The pace hits 35~40km/h right after that and it doesn't stop until the very end.

Due to the extremely high speed the peloton was travelling at (~120km/h), this photo turned out blur. Right to left : Myself, Kulim Lee, Melvin. (Pic by Edo Vonk)

Melvin and I and a few of the Knights (of the Round Table) follow the group until Km 70, where, for varying reasons, we lost contact with the front group. We did, however, catch many of them along the rolling terrain which marked the next 50km to the finish.

Da peloton. Note the second rider. THAT is Melody Tan. She - strong. She was also the only rider to yell "On your right" as she passed me. First time someone said that to me. (Pic by Edo Vonk)

I keep Azmi company and we soon reach Melvin (who was in front) and run into Boon Foo. I make another bad joke while passing him. He laughs. I wonder if I was funny or he's humouring me because I'm a customer. Also, all my valiant attempts to get a free Colnago from him failed.

I was on the verge on bonking on the rolling terrain. Our team manager (with the support vehicle and all that food) stayed with the slower group. I got what's left of a grimy PowerBar from one of the guys by threatening to stick my pump into his wheel. Yum. Soon after ST and Sany take turn to feed us delicious bananas (nice! unlike the soggy ones we've been having) and 100Plus-es. What lifesavers. I wouldn't have reached the finish without it.

The smiles say it all! After racing for 118km, that's the only muscle that still has energy left. Melvin, left, and myself. (Pic by Andrew Lee)

Melvin and I arrive at 11:25am. Unknown to us, while we were killing ourselves, the rest of our group just settling down for a nice meal of hailam mee at Parit (Km 70). Dang! And they were there a good 1 ½ hours while both of us were sitting around staring at other people fixing their bikes 50km away. Plus it didn't help that the hotels rooms were ready until about 2:00pm. Sweaty and hungry .... NOT a nice combo.

WATCH OUT FOR THE GRILL! Once again, the Malaysian style of putting drainage grills parallel to the road causes cyclists to take evasive action. Left to right : Faisal, Andrew, Jia (Pic by Andrew Lee)

The other dudes arrive at the leisurely time of 1-ish. We have lunch, and then it's on to that other favourite activity of Interstate -- sleep.

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