City Slicker Part II - TTDI to Home

Continued from City Slicker - Part 1

After dodging thru bustling late evening traffic, making silly and stupid detour, I made it to TTDI. Made a stop at TTDI Petronas for magrib prayer. Sky was clear. Looking forward to the ride. The first road nite ride on MTB.

But fate changed in a matter of minutes. When I opened the door of the surau after performing my obligation, my jaw dropped. Water falling from the sky...It rained. Not heavy, but enough to call off the ride. Time was 2000hrs. I prayed that the rain would stop in half hour.

Lazily, I pedaled slowly to KSH. Chucked my bike in front of the coffee shop next to KSH. Killed time by browsing the stuff at KSH. 2030 db SMS that he was on his way. Rain still pouring down...

2100 hrs, db arrived with ckng. We made quick introduction and began to assess the situation whether or not to ride. 2 ironmen were busying themselves prepping to ride despite the drizzle. I was tempted to ask the ironmen whether we could follow them. Wise thinking stopped me from doing so. Those metal dudes were on roadbikes. And, they were ironman athletes! I would be distrupting them with my ayam brand MTB and my ayam brand speed and stamina. Better not...

We decided to just "ride" in the coffee shop. So off we went...Later, Brader Bob joined us. His new bike, a Nomad, had just been completed by KSH crews. We spent some time admiring his new rig. Total cost hovers around 23K. Twenty three big grand! Whoa!!!

I called up Udang, who was about to fall into deep slumber especially on a cold rainy night. He took the trouble to drive to TTDI from Kelana Jaya to join us for the Kedai Kopi ride...I'd never met hime before. Just chatting on BBS forum. But that's the beauty of the biking community. We were like no strangers. Just like close friends who had known each other for ages...

2230 hrs. It was getting late. Rain subsided. The shop owner was hinting for us to leave by packing up and cleaning the shop. On that cue, we departed.

I geared up. Heavy backpack on the back. Office's attire in some spares for emergency. Lighting checked. All set to go. Gombak...hmmm...20KM to go. I psyched myself not to think too much of the distance. It's the journey that counts.

2245 hrs, tires roll. Bye-bye TTDI. Off into Jln Tun Mohd Fuad then Jalan Damansara. Traffic still heavy. I had to tread carefully. Puddles of water everywhere. Front tire squirted continuous flow of water to the face. Sheeeshhhh...

Again, largest chainring was put to good use. Felt heavy at first,but once momentum gained, it felt lighter and lighter. I maintained a moderate cadence. Cruising around 20km/h estimately. Traffic began to thin down as I approached Pusat Bandar Damansara.

To conserve energy, I decided to avoid all flyovers. The first one being the one near Eastin Hotel after the toll. The traffic light could become a good excuse for stopping. Then the one near Pusat Bandar Damansara. The pace changed there because of the climb. One important thing to note when you chose that way is that you'll have to switch lane back to the main lane if you want to go straight on. If there's a slip road there, be extra careful when converging back to the main lane.

Another challenge faced after turning in into Jalan Duta. Long climb but fortunately not so steep. Arrghhh...But there's allways a reward after completing a climb. The downhill...I glided all the way till the junction to the Jalan Duta old government complex. Traffic light was red...Not good when you were going downhill...

From Jalan Duta, straight on to the roundabout to Jalan Ipoh. Lesser traffic as night grow older. But one thing about lesser traffic was that, it'll faster traffic. Cars having clear lane tend to speed faster. Switching lanes would be trickier...

From Jalan Ipoh, I turned into Jalan Perhentian, then continued with Jalan Haji Salleh that eventually merged back to Jalan Sentul. All were flat roads. Jalan Sentul brought the smell of home stronger and stronger. A glimpse at the watch showed 2315hrs. Excitement...excitement. All of the sudden, I felt a surge of power kicking in. Cadence gradually increased as smell of home grew stronger and stronger.

I went past Sentul Pasar, then veered right into Jln Kampung Bandar Dalam. DUKE constructions at the junction to Karak Hiway caused congestion and traffic will slow down. A good chance to pick on motorists. "Hey look, a bicycle overtake you...".

Arriving at the junction was as good as arrival already. A quick left after the junction. Then into the nooks and crannies of Kampung Padang Balang...Voila...I was home. Approximately 21km of solo, after rain, wet nite ride...Phewwww...