AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again: May 2013

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Putrajaya - Lovely Lakeside Ride
Putrajaya Core Island & Vincinity - 19th May 2013

Medium-size Group Ride : Millenium Monument>Putrajaya Core Island>Putrajaya International Convention Center (PICC)>Maritime Center>Putrajaya Core Island>Millenium Monument

Time : 8:30 am to 12:00 noon
Time Taken : 3 hrs. 30 mins. (including stops for breakfast, photos & re-grouping)

Route Recommendations :
1. The Putrajaya Lakeside (... see blog) is a scenic place, ride there at a leisurely pace and stop wherever you feel like it.
2. The bridges there are beautiful, viewed from both the top and bottom.
3. If time permits, try to stop at the maritime center and do some boating.
4. The lanes are shared with other users such as joggers, stroller, other slower cyclists (like children), so do be considerate of others.

PRE-RIDE

The Putrajaya lakeside around its Core Island and vicinity is a lovely place to ride at. I was introduce to this place when Yong Sin invited me to ride there with a few others on one fine Sunday night.
Even at night I could see that the place was very scenic, but in the darkness I could not take many photos while riding.

Then in early December 2012, I rode in the Cuti-cuti 1Malaysia event (... see blog). This was a morning ride, and I did get to see more in the daytime. But this public ride event hardly covered much of the lakeside.

At the end of 2012, I attended another public ride event - the Putrajaya Interpark Ride (... see blog). It was a nice ride ending with all of us ushering in the new year with a bang of beautiful fireworks.
But then again it was a night ride, and not much could be seen of the lakeside.

Then in January 2013, Irene Cho organized a ride to view the bridges of Putrajaya (... see Beautiful Bridges Ride). Viewing the bridges would entail much riding along the lakeside, and it was indeed a pleasurable ride.
But then we could not complete the ride as it started raining mid-way through ...
Aaaaaaargh!!!

So when my friend Tailim (of the hApPy HaPpy blogs) organized a Putrajaya Lakeside ride for a Sunday morning; it was a GO for me!

THE RIDE

Part map of the Lakeside that can be found at strategic locations.

We will be starting from the Millenium Monument, head for a quick bite at Precint 9, then back to the Core Island to cycle along the lakeside towards the Putrajaya International Convention Centre cross over to the Maritime Center and then head back.

We all met at the car-park near the Millenium Monument Surprisingly the turn out was superb, our friends always like Tailim's rides - there are always surprising destinations during his rides.

But first things first - our stomachs!
Need to fuel up for the ride. So we rode over to Restoran Darussalam at Precint 9.

We sat down and made our orders. Tey is here with his wife and two kids, riding can be a good family bonding affair too.

Some of us had roti chanai; including this roti pisang, that's roti chanai with round slices of banana added in.

While some others had a simple nasi lemak with just a fried egg, deep fried anchovies and ground nuts together with some sambal curry.

Fueled up, we rode back to the Core Island to begin our ride proper. That's Melody (in a yellow T-shirt) - she's from Hong Kong - it's great to have her along as we proudly showed off some of the best scenes in our country to her.

At the same traffic lights junction, was these two men on a scooter motor-cycle with a toddler sandwiched in between them. It's great taking the young one out for a "wind-in-the-face" experience, but I do hope they hold on to him tight, and ride safe.

We rode on the Seri Wawasan Bridge to cross back to the Core Island.

Just after the bridge, we took a right turn and a ramp down to the lakeside.

XiNme & Sheeren happily riding at the lakeside, approaching below the Seri Wawasan Bridge.

And just like that we are cycling along the lakeside.

Passed by an area with artistic square arches with a fountain at the center, and a peep of the curved Ministry of Finance Building that can be seen in the background.

At the start, the lanes skirts the commercial buildings of the Core Island.

But further along we reached the Putra Bridge, rode under it and ...

... on the other side we were on tree shaded lanes, cycling away from the commercial zone.

This is where our ride becomes more scenic and serene.

At some stretches the lanes are quite wide and slightly away from the lake.

At others we were riding next to residential houses.

Tailim leading the pack.

It's good to ride here; the more we rode, the more we felt a peaceful and joyful mood sneaking onto us.

Round the corner, we stopped to take a scenic group photo (the one that appears at the top of this blog).
Bikers do strike odd poses when it comes to taking photos; here Radzi & Kookkeong seems to be catching fighting ants.

Or Kwan here bending down and (as he himself put it) showing off some bottom cleavage. Hahaha!

We had to ride the roads again on the Seri Gemilang Bridge and leave the Core Island, heading for Precinct 5.

Not wanting to ride on the roads too much, we quickly took a ramp down to the lanes below the Seri Gemilang Bridge. Here there is a scenic view of the modern office towers on the Core Island.

The mid-morning was getting rather hot, so we took a short hide-away from the sun under the bridge. But then it was time to continue on, some took their time coming out from the shade.

On the public roads again, this time heading towards the Maritime & Water Sports Centres.

At the Maritime Center grand stand we took a group photo.

Ann Diam brought along her new DaHon Dash P18, 2013 model.

But then it seems like there were others who were interested in her Dash too, and would go to great lengths to take it off her hands.

From here at the boat launch ramp, the hotels at Alam Warisan can be seen across the lake.

Parked at a small marina, there are boats to be rented from as low as RM25. There are also kayaks, canoe, etc to be rented.

Nearby, there is even a short stretch of man-made sandy beach where families could be seen picnicking.

A few of us lingered on at the Maritime Center enjoying the place and scenery, and got detached from the rest of the group; but still it's time to ride back.

Cycling back on the Seri Gemilang Bridge, we saw the cycling lanes that we would be riding on down below.

Trying to catch up with the others, we took a "short cut" and carried our bikes down a few flights of stairs, 30ft. down.

Cycling along the lanes again, we passed by these weird trees with aerial roots, perhaps they should be growing just at the lake's edge.

Riding under the Seri Wawasan Bridge we saw...

... these men rowing a scull boat.
Putrajaya lakes are not just for cyclists, joggers, strollers to enjoy; these guys know how to make good use of the lake too.