(written by Dave)

I’ll start this post by apologising for any contextual or normal spelling errors in the text.  My editor (Nancy) has gone to bed as she is a wee bit under the weather.  She is better tonight, but not great at all last night.  She must have eaten something yesterday that the rest of us didn’t as she had a bit of the “Bali belly” throughout the night and was in no shape to join me on CFAL today.  Just as well really because the ride was accompanied by torrential rains for at least the first half.

The ride was scheduled to start at 7AM but with rain and very dark clouds, they delayed the start by 30 minutes.  It was only a drizzle until the start but as soon as “flag down” (as they call the start), it started to dump.  Hats off to the Malay riders as it seemed like most of the 3000 pre-registered riders showed up at least to start the ride.  The lead government minister came out to join us for the start of the ride and included some fairly specific promises for new bike routes in his welcoming speech (complete with completion dates – I hope the local advocacy group folks were taking notes).

For the first 10k we had police escort and full traffic control at all intersections.  In fact, the intersection control continued for the entire 80k ride.  This is a big deal when you consider how few roads that there are on the island (nice job CFAL team).  I thought I was near the front for the start but even though I passed people consistently throughout the first 10k, I couldn’t seem to make much progress on the flashing lights of our escort.

The riders came in all shapes and sizes, as these things go.  Mountain bikes held a least a 10 to 1 count over road bikes.  Tennis shoes were at least 10 to 1 over any sort of pedal system.  I don’t think that they have too many group rides here as there was way too much zipping in and out of line for my liking.  Unfortunately, there were also many folks either on aero bars, holding their bars right at the stem in an aero position or simply ridding no hands.  I didn’t see any crashes but I was sure expecting some.  The rain made matters much worse.  I had water over both feet a few times and lots of other full wheel dips.  Not knowing the road made this more problematic for me as I was never sure when the bottom of a puddle would include a massive pothole.  I tried to stay off everyone’s wheel and to the outside.

There were three climbs on the ride and I was overjoyed to finally reach the first one.  At least here I was able to make some progress on the long line of mountain bikes.  I road up all three climbs about as hard as I could and by the end of the third one, I finally felt that I had some space to relax.  Of course, I have no where near enough guts to ride downhill full throttle like the guys on mountain bikes.  Here again, I was expecting a tumble.  There was much standing water and plenty of lane paint to create an issue.  But again, I saw no crashes (thankfully).

I finished about 10:15 and was amazed how many folks were already at the finish.  I couldn’t see any bailout options so I suspect that quite a few folks pulled the plug early and headed back.  Here again, the Malaysian riders get points for their post ride enthusiasm.  Even though the event area was a swamp and there was still some rain, everyone seemed to be hanging out and enjoying being part of the event.

Overall, I’m glad that I braved the wet and carried the LeaveWithoutPay and Aussie flags on the ride.  Congratulations the the G bike club, you put on a great event.  And what the crowd lacked in bike skills or fancy bike gear, they more than made up for in their spirit.  If they get everything the minister promised, they will have some nice riding available.  I think that the island loop would be a nice ride if it didn’t rain.  I saw little of the scenery but given the ups and downs I think there would be some great views.

I am happy to report that Nancy recovered enough for her and Gretchen to make their spa appointments.  And even better Nancy was able to enjoy a little of the fantastic Thai takeaway that we picked up for dinner.  Steve and I made the restaurant run.  I’m looking forward to Thailand sometime next week – perhaps a little nervous about reading the Thai script – we could barely make out the menu and there was only one person who spoke English – next week should be fun!

Tomorrow we are playing tourists again – off to a spice farm 10kor so from Georgetown.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.