Finally 56 Merdeka Ride 2013 was executed - Penang 2nd Bridge

The long awaited event has finally made it with several postponements and tons of disappointment. Many have given up, lost hope with the organiser and refused to take part. Anyway I made it even though it dragged into year 2014 and I don't mind the delay so long as I can enjoy it.  

Joe and me went over to Batu Kawan Stadium the evening before the actual day for a joy ride in Bukit Mertajam and stayed over for the official event.

A group of us gathered at a homestay at 6.00am and were ready for the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. Yes! we were geared for the historical moment.

The organiser claimed to have 10,000 riders on the bridge but with the confusion and others this figure is questionable but visually the crowd was really fantastic.....

The crowd was so huge that we decided to wait a while before joining the ride. It was indeed a wonderful cruise on the bridge.

A screening of ghost riders was conducted at the toll booths, anyone found without any valid proof of registration will be asked to turn back. I know a few lucky unregistered riders who got through for the ride .... some even got their medals ... hehehe .... 

We were blessed with an excellent weather, the wind was strong but lovely and at times it resisted our motion. I just wonder whether there will be anymore cycling event on this bridge I would love to come back to do it again. 

After pedalling a distance of 20 over km I reached the cable stayed bridge and another 5km or less to we could have touch the island of Penang. A U turn was made immediately after this cable stayed bridge and back to Batu Kawan Staduim for a total distance of 47km. It was simply awesome even though there were plentiful of negativity about the event.

Thank you Cycling Malaysia Magazine for this nice photo.

The rain came later in the afternoon just before we reached Bukit Tambun for lunch. The rain was everyone's dream on a dry spell suffered for the last couple of weeks. Another blessing for Penangites.

Bukit Tambun is very near Batu Kawan we shall explore these places like Pulau Aman and the food in the near future. We had our lunch at Jetty Restaurant before we split. My last visit for seafood here was at Gee Seng Restaurant (just next to Restoran Jetti).