2014 - My Third Participation in OCBC Cycle

 Click here for .... My share of 2013 OCBC Cycle Malaysia,

... then months later for a taste of 2013 OCBC Singapore.

and...

this year's OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014 was held at Dataran Merdeka. Last year it was at KLCC. I love it here at this historical Padang of Kuala Lumpur.

These were the professional tricycle riders taking their rest after their race on a beautiful Saturday morning.

 The Junior Challenge with escorts on the track.

A folding bicycle race named as "The Ultimate Foldies Challenge" was also held on Saturday where the riders will dash to their folded bikes, unfold and cycle around Sultan Abdul Samad Building & others as many laps as possible for 20 minutes .

 An opportunity to meet friends from the cycling fraternity.

This was the route of 24km going around interesting sites of Kuala Lumpur. I registered myself a few months back for "The Challenge" category, covering a distance of 48km which means 4 laps of this route.

By 5.15 in the morning I was already in Dataran Merdeka.

Met up with Yong Lim & his colleagues from Paramount Berhad taking part in the Corporate Charity Challenge.

The flag off time was supposed to be 6.30am ... somehow somebody came late and thousands of riders have to wait. I was disappointed that there were no pom pom girls to cheer us up at the starting line. Come on OCBC you could do better than this.

At last the siren blasted and off we went .... into Jalan Parlimen.

@ Jalan Sultan Salahudin.
 "The Challenge" category is not a racing event, finishing time is not the essence of the ride.... I really pity those young newbies being frightened by groups of fast riding cyclists as if they were racing at Tour de France. True enough the newbies should learn to keep left while riding but you need not have to scream at them.

Met Wai Fatt @ Jalan Tun Ismail

@ Jalan Dang Wangi formerly known as Campbell Road.

I missed the drink station on my previous 3 laps and I was not going to miss it again at the last lap..... the bottle of 100 plus I had tasted so bloody good....

What a relief after a good quench.

Rolling up @ Jalan P. Ramlee

finally approaching the finishing line for "The Challenge".

yaa... my good old neighbour was there too accompanying me to the line.

All jammed up to collect the medals.

@ the medal presentation. 

Most of the participants have dispersed after the ride making the Padang looks a bit bare. 

Nothing really interesting that warrants a longer stay at the Padang. A mini concert would be fun. 

I had a chance to meet somebody important in our Malaysian frontline.

As usual we will be looking for places to eat especially after a hard day's ride ...... heading to Chinatown.

so it was the food court at Madras Lane.

We managed to secure tables despite it was crowded on a Sunday morning and we met some of our fellow cyclists friends having their brunch too.

Curry Laksa is among the popular food found in this eating war zone. There are others like Yong Tau Foo, Chee Cheong Fun, pork noodles etc etc etc.....

Our bicycles were safely detained at a corner of a nearby car park.

I was glad that I could finish the entire ride despite both my ankles were not in a good shape. I guess I was born to cycle and not to walk...... hehehe. 
See you next year!

My result from OCBC ... looks like an old engine.