Putrajaya : The New Year Interpark Ride

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures Putrajaya - The New Year Interpark Ride
Putrajaya Core Island ; 31st December 2012

Large-size Public Ride : Putrajaya Core Island>Putrajaya Convention Center and back

Distance covered : 25.9 km. | Level - Easy
Time : 8:00 pm - 10:30 pm
Time Taken : 2 hrs. 33 mins. (including stops for photo, regrouping & refreshments)

PRE-RIDE

2012 is coming to a close and a new year is starting and what better way for bikers to end one year and usher in the new one than with a bike ride. So when the Putrajaya Inter-Park Ride was posted; many of us who were eager to celebrate & to usher in the new year with friends, joined in.

Irene Cho was most helpful in helping many of us register so that we did not have to go earlier.
Still many of us wanting to avoid any traffic jam went there at 5:30pm. even though the ride only starts at 7:50 pm.

Having parked our cars and unloaded our bikes, we rode over to the Umai Cafe for an early dinner.

It's right next to the Monumen Alaf Baru (The Millennium Monument).

And has a great view of the Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque and the surrounding lake of Putrajaya.

There's even a convenient bike parking rack nearby. They are very considerate.

Mee Rebus @ Umai Cafe

With our bikes safely parked, and sitting at the beautiful lakeside, we sat down to have a good meal and a good chat.

Nasi Goreng Kampong (Fried Rice Kampong Style)

The pricing is very reasonable too, at RM5-50 per plate for most of the noodles and rice dishes.

Fried Kuey Teow

It was good having that nice meal and chatting at the lovely setting, but soon we had to head off to the start point of the ride.

THE RIDE

Cycling Route : Putrajaya Core Island>Putrajaya Convention Center and back

Distance covered : 25.9 km. | Level - Easy

The ride was touted as a inter-park ride and I was expecting to be riding a route at the lakeside along the cycling lanes and to the various parks of Putrajaya.

But sadly I was disappointed, we actually rode along the main roads of the city from the Core Island to the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) and back.

But I guess that with so many riders, it would be difficult to ride along the biking lanes.

We rode over to the Palace of Justice (PoJ) where the ride will start.

Opposite this is the Perbadanan Putrajaya's headquarters.

In the surrealistic pink light, we gathered, waiting anxiously to kick off.

"Paaaaahhhhh!"
went the starter's air-horn and we are off.
(Sorry for the blurred photo, it's quite hard to ride and get good photos at the same time -
OR I have to invest in a better camera!)

We cycled along the Wadi Ehsan Highway, heading towards the PICC.
Along the way, I slowed down to take a photo of the beautiful lights of the lake dam.
Oops..... another surreal photo.

Somewhere along that stretch, we made a regrouping stop. I mingled with some friends...

... met up with some new acquaintances (saw this guy and his small son at the Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia Ride).

... looked around and tried to make new friends.

And we are off again.
Hey! That man riding with his little son has a wife with an even younger daughter following on another bike.

We are getting close to the PICC, see it sitting grandly up on the hill. With it's glowing lights, it looks like one of those Star Trek spaceships.

Spurred by the beautiful sight we sped on, riding up the hill leading to the PICC.
But many could not make it and just got down and pushed. No shame there, most of us have done our pushing before.

Reaching the top was an achievement as evident in Irene's smiling face.

We stopped here for about 15 minutes for drinks and refreshments (supplied by the organizers).
"Bananas, anyone?"

Of course, when it comes to rest stops, us cyclists will tend to have some tom-foolery.
Here's Rita & Nash enacting a Hindi movie routine.

And Chin doing a stunts-man pose.

The night view of the Core Island from the top was simply spectacular.

Time's Up!

Time to ride on!

I was having a bit of problem with my bicycle, and good old Nash accompanied me in riding slow. We were among the last riders.
A true friend indeed. Thanks Nash.
But riding slow does have its perks as we could observe the other riders, like this guy - all dressed up in a fancy suit of a colonial policeman from Malaya in the 1960's.

Or meeting up with another acquaintance. He seems to have slimmed down since the last time I saw him about a month ago. Good job, man!

Nash just could not resist taking a photo with the colonial policeman. Only this time, the policeman was joined by a kampong teacher of colonial days too. Great costumes chaps!

At the next regroup point, we manage to meet up with our other friends. Together we continued on riding back to the Core Island, almost at the end of the ride now.

The FINISH LINE.

Yahoooo!

POST-RIDE

The Finish Point was at a large car-park behind the Palace Of Justice.
It was only 10:00 pm, still two hours before the New Year, so the participants broke off into smaller groups to rest, eat and wait for the New Year.

Well, might as well look around since there is some time to spare.
To one side is the Energy Commission Sustainable Building, looking like an inverted diamond set into the ground.