AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: January 2013

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Putrajaya - The Beautiful Bridges Ride
Putrajaya Core Island & Vincinity - 24th January 2013

Medium-size Group Ride : Taman Seri Empangan>Putrajaya International Convention Center (PICC)>Putrajaya Core Island>Precint 9>Putrajaya Lake Side and back.

Distance covered : 25.49 km.
Time : 8:00 am to 11:30 am | Level: Easy
Time Taken : 3hrs. 30 mins. (including stops for breakfast, photos, & waiting out the rain)

PRE-RIDE

Nash & Irene.

Irene, relatively a newbie, has matured fast in the biking circles and was organizing a ride.
She called it Putrajaya Tour de 8, we will be riding around Putrajaya to view it's beautiful bridges - EIGHT of them!

Irene's Original Planned Cycling Route Map (the stars indicate the bridges that we will visit, except that star at Precint 9 - that's our breakfast noms.

Initially she had planned for the ride to be along the main roads, but due to a clash with a public event on that day, she changed it to riding along the Lakeside - EVEN BETTER!

On that morning we met at the Taman Empangan Carpark, it's just below the Putrajaya International Convention Centre. It's called the Taman Empangan because it's where the dam of the Putrajaya Lake is located.

Irene was most surprised by the turn-out; 28 of us all in. Well, Irene is a cheerful and active person and the ride itself will also be scenic as part of it will be along the cycling lanes of the Lakeside.

Across the lake connected by the Seri Gemilang Bridge can be seen the beautiful office towers at Dataran Gemilang.

Just at the Taman Empangan is Bridge No.1 of our Tour de 8, it's an arched suspension bridge. I don't know the name of the bridge and call it the Butterfly Bridge as it looks like the wings of a butterfly.

THE RIDE

Starting from Taman Empangan we will ride to Precint 9 for breakfast and then back to the Core Island to start a lake side ride loop starting from near the Putrajaya Mosque.

In the dark clouded morning, we rolled of at about 8:00 am.

Riding pass the PICC, it looked downwards onto us with the many international flags flying full mast there.

And we were soon at Bridge No.2 - the Seri Gemilang Bridge.

The Seri Gemilang is a bottom-supported arch bridge with four towers at it's corners.

Nash & Yong Sin giving the thumbs up for the ride.

These stately towers are there to add beauty to the bridge, and I doubt if it serves any structural purpose.

This bridge is designed to have a stately look, even the lamp-post bases have crafted motifs.

The wrought metal balusters separating the road from the pedestrian walkway have that rich brassy looks with stylized rose motifs.

Further along, we reached the Dataran Gemilang, it's the southern end of the Central Boulevard of Putrajaya's Core Island.

Here there are four government office towers. They have a stark modern design as compared to the other offices (which we will pass by later) further along the Boulevard.

The Road Safety Department - I hope they have considered the welfare of us cyclist.
More cycling lanes, more cycling lanes!

Here we made a left turn, heading towards Jalan Tengku Abdul Rahman, which will bring us closer to the lakeside.

Here along the lake edge we had a peep of Bridge No.3.
Hey! But something is wrong here. The bridge don't seem to connect to land.
Well, it's the monorail bridge that has been built in preparation for the future monorail system of Putrajaya.

The Agricutlural Ministry Building.
My apologies for the many photos of buildings, bridges, etc. here, but then I am so taken in by their beauty.

We are riding along Jalan Tengku Abdul Rahman now, the Insolvency Department Building is on our right.

I am not sure what problems they solve, but their building do have beautiful lattice panels.

Up in the sky, could be seen paratroopers.
Hey! Don't jump - all problems can be solved!
Actually they were part of the other event being held here.

We turned into Jalan Wawasan, riding across Bridge No.4 - the Seri Wawasan Bridge.
It will take us away from the Core Island to Precint 9, where we will be having breakfast.

The Seri Wawasan is a single-mast, cantilevered, cable-stayed bridge.

Like a mighty sword pointing skywards, its single mast is where all the action is, it literally holds the whole bridge together.

The mast is solidly anchored to the river bank below the bridge.

On the landward side, two raking arches and cables pull back the mast, like a fisherman pulling back on his fishing rod.

On the bridge-ward side, thick cables fray out from the mast to hold up the bridge deck.
The Seri Wawasan is a modern looking bridge, aptly named as Wawasan means vision in Bahasa Malaysia. It's a bridge symbolic of Malaysia's vision for the future.

Well, enough of this techno-gibberish, let's get back to riding.
We are now away from the Core Island, riding at Precint 8.

At Precint 9, we made a quick U-turn & was at our eats destination.
Having rode about 8 km. many of our stomachs were growling.

Our Makan-makan destination, Restoran Darussalam which serves Penang Nasi Kandar amongst other things.

From the smiles of our co-riders, this must be a long awaited stop.

The Nasi Kandar, although probably good, would have been to heavy for continued cycling. Instead, many of us had the Nasi Lemak.

Or the Roti Kosong with iced Milo. The roti kosong is a basic meal, just plain roti with nothing inside (no eggs or onions). There is this joke about a politician who is similar to this roti, nothing inside.

I had this fried mee/keow teow, it was good but very spicy hot!

Luckily, I had this ice Nescafe to cool down my burning mouth.

This shop must be doing thriving business, the roti dough could be seen mass-produce and lined up for cooking.

Eats over, Irene was ready to lead and continue the ride.

Nash up to his usual antics, posed in this Gangnam look.
Is our buddy SK there at the back vomiting away, not being able to take this? Haha!

Aaaand.... we are heading back to the Core Island.
The Core Island again? Aren't we repeating, but then there is a reason for that.
Here, John (in green) is seen with his young daughter Natalie (in blue), it so nice to ride with family.

Back at the Seri Wawasan bridge, the sun is shining through.

Nash, the "Strong Man" lifting his bicycyle with the bridge mast towering over him.

This bridge is really beautiful one, even at night as can be seen in this photo I took during the Putrajaya Interpark Ride (see blog).

Back at the Core Island we took a ramp down and was onto the lakeside cycling lanes.

From here there is a great view of the Putra Mosque and the Prime Minister's Office.

We took a group photo here.

Riding on these cycling lanes is enjoyable as they are three lined and for the most parts they are next to the lakes. And it loops round the perimeter of the Core Island.

There are even nice shades, where one can rest and take in the view of the place.

Like this view of Bridge No.3, the MRT suspension bridge. Behind it is Bridge No.5, the Seri Saujana Bridge, which we will reach later.

The biking lane will also take us pass some other nice structures like the Alaf Baru (Millineum Monument)...

... and the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque.

Bridge No.5 - the Seri Saujana Bridge.
This is an interesting bridge of a composite design - part double-masted cable-stayed bridge and part arch suspension bridge.

One of the giant masts that holds up the bridge. The blue cables anchors the mast to the land, while the white cables holds up the bridge.

Nice lattice framework of the arch.

It started to rain, luckily for us the bridge gave us shade from the rain.

After the rain, part of the group decided to call it a day while the rest continue on the lakeside ride.

With the ride over, we drove to Sinki Restaurant for lunch.

Lunch was a delicious spread of large honeyed prawns, steamed chicken, stewed pig trotters and deep fried grouper in spicy bean paste sauce. YummY!
(for more on our lunch see YummY! - Seafood @ Sinki Restaurant)

Although we did not get to view all the bridges as planned; it had been a good ride of beautiful bridges, nice buildings and scenic lakeside views.
Thanks Irene.

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