Up Up Bikelicious, From Left: Seb, Soh, Chye, Tony, writer, Jose, Bong, Matt, Smiley, Eric, Hon, Marcus
When my friend, the Chairman of G Club Penang Cyclist and organiser of the Penang Fellowship Bicycle Ride Bridge-to-Bridge on 28 July 2024, invited me and my friends to join the event, we were more than enthusiastic about the rare opportunity to cycle on both the Penang Bridge and the Sultan Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge (Penang Second Bridge), which are usually closed to cyclists.
The mammoth, non-competitive fellowship cycling event drew more than 2300 cyclists. The route of 68 kilometres started and ended at the Sungai Nibong Pesta site, and took participants through the Penang Bridge, Juru Industrial area, and Batu Kawan before returning via the Second Bridge and Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu highway. The event was graced by the Governor of Penang, who also joined the ride.
KTM train to Tanjung Malim
For this event, G Club Penang Cyclist collaborated with KTMB, the national rail operator, to provide a special train coach, known as Ekspres Koc Basikal (XKB) for participants and their bicycles, from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, and back. Penang Ferry Terminal was also a strategic partner in this collaboration, offering a seamless connection via special ferry service for the participants.
While we were all excited about the event, especially the thoughts of cycling across the two bridges, we wanted to spice up our participation beyond the bridge-tobridge ride experience. We decided that our journey up north would be a combination of train, cycling, and ferry rides, while the return trip would be via the special express train coach.
The initial plan by Seb, our teammate and organiser for this event was to take a regular KTM train, with our bikes, from Kuala Lumpur to Tanjung Malim. From there, we would cycle to Ipoh, catch the scheduled KTM train to Butterworth, and then follow it up with ferry to Penang Island. Finally, we will cycle through the city to our Airbnb in Jelutong, near the event’s starting point.
Train to Tanjung Malim
As we anticipated the cycling route from Tanjung Malim to Ipoh would take us about 7 hours including breaks, and in order not to miss the scheduled regular KTM train coach to Butterworth, we started our train journey from Kuala Lumpur’s Segambut KTM station early at 9 am. It is about an hour’s train ride to Tanjung Malim. There were 12 of us on this trip. It was a smooth journey and everyone was in good spirits and a cheerful mood as we chatted and exchanged banter.
At Tanjung Malim, with curious stares from the locals, we disembarked with our bikes and carried them across the overhead bridge. After exiting the station, we cycled to a nearby restaurant for a quick breakfast before starting our journey.
Lunch in Tapah
It’s a hot day
Writer
Pit-stop for a rest
The hot ride from Tanjung Malim to Ipoh
The day was already heating up when we started our ride at about 10.30 am. Following our planned route via the old trunk road, we first passed through the small town of Behrang before reaching Slim River for our first pit-stop after the initial 20 kilometres ride. After a brief rest, we continued our journey towards Sungkai, passing by the small town of Trolak along the way. We reached Sungkai at about noon, having cycled 45 kilometres from Tanjung Malim. The scorching midday sun, with temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius, began to sap our energy. The backpacks that we carried felt increasingly heavy on our shoulders, adding to our exhaustion despite the road being relatively flat and wide. Still, after a short rest, we continued and rode past Bidor for our lunch destination in Tapah. We reached Tapah at about 1.30pm, 70 kilometres into our journey and slightly behind schedule. It was a much welcome break for lunch and a relief to find shelter from the blazing sun.
Cyclist on the bridge
Stopping for a snapshot
A ride in the wind
After an hour, we resumed our journey towards Ipoh, passing by Kampar, Gopeng, and Simpang Pulai, with breaks at about every 20 kilometres or as needed. The route does have its fair share of speedy and heavy vehicles as the trunk roads are for most stretches, straight.
We finally reached Ipoh’s KTM station at about 5.30 pm, on schedule, and ready to catch the connecting KTM train to Butterworth. Or so we thought.
Writer
Plan B in Ipoh
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned. We were earlier given the understanding from KTMB headquarters that we could take the evening KTM train to Butterworth with our bikes, but it seems the notification did not reach the Ipoh office. As such we weren’t able to convince KTMB Ipoh station to allow us to board the train, which we eventually missed.
Stranded in Ipoh, and pressed for time, we scrambled to find a way to Penang for the next day’s event. In the end, fortunately, we managed to charter a bus to Penang. That solved, with exhaustion and tiredness setting in, most of us fell asleep during the bus journey to Penang. The bus driver kindly drove and dropped us off at our Airbnb location. Tired and hungry, we were luck our teammate, Bong, had arranged supper for us. It was a relief to finally reach Penang, and that our participation in the Penang Bridge-to-Bridge event remained very much on track.
At Penang Bridge Ferry Terminal
Penang Bicycle Fellowship Ride Bridge-to-Bridge
We were all up early and eager on event day. After gearing up and a quick breakfast, we set off to cycle across town to the event starting site, about 10 kilometres away. It was carnival-like at the event site as groups of cyclists steadily filtered in and lined up behind the starting line. After the usual formalities, the ride was flagged off. We were happy to stay at the back of the queue, allowing the early birds, the enthusiasts, and the excited ones to take off first.
On Penang ferry
It was a spectacular sight to see a throng of cyclists, all wearing matching dark blue and grey flowered jerseys flooding the highways and moving toward the Penang Bridge like a swarm of bees moving in unison.
The scene of cyclists cycling freely and at a leisurely pace on the car-free Penang Bridge is a sight to behold. Everyone enjoyed the scenic beauty, and the rides in the wind as they cruised towards the middle of the bridge.
Despite the organiser’s best intentions, they just couldn’t prevent the enthusiastic crowds of cyclists from stopping and taking pictures at various points of the bridge, especially near the middle span. The rare opportunity to capture such moments proved irresistible.
We soon reached the end of the bridge, moved into Seberang Perai, and cycled into the industrial areas of Juru and Batu Kawan. The Penang Bridge and the Second Bridge together with the roads involved were closed in stages during the ride. Traffic controllers and ushers were present throughout the route to ensure a smooth ride for the cyclists and minimal disruption to vehicle traffic.
At the Batu Kawan industrial area, we stopped at the water station to rest and quench our thirst. From there, we soon rode onto the second highlight of the event, that is, the 24 kilometres Penang Second Bridge. The wind here was much stronger, but as we were riding with the wind for most of the bridge, it was enjoyable to cruise at higher speeds with much less efforts than usual. It was exhilarating to see groups of cyclists, including ourselves, riding in pelotons across the bridge. The wind grew stronger as we approached the end of the bridge, forcing most cyclists to slow down and hold their bikes steady against the mild crosswinds that caused wobbling.
Soon, we were back onto Penang Island, up Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu highway before we finally concluded our rides at Sungai Nibong Pesta site. The area was crowded and hot, and feeling tired, we decided to skip the lunch provided and opted to ride back to our Airbnb in Jelutong, preferring to stop for lunch and drinks along the way.
Enjoying Penang’s famous hawker foods
Back at our Airbnb, after some rest, it was time to enjoy Penang’s famous hawker foods. We spent the evening indulging in delights such as Penang Lobak, prawn noodles, cendol, nasi kandar, and Penang char kuey teow, among others.
A group photo with Group CEO of KTMB, Datuk Mohd Rani
The trip back home
Our trip back home the next day started with delicious breakfast kindly bought by Marcus for everyone, before we began our ride navigating through the city’s busy early morning traffic and roads to reach the Penang Ferry terminal. There, we were greeted and taken to Seberang Prai by ferry before boarding the special KTM express train. The train is special as it has different coaches for specific purposes. Besides the cafeteria coach, it has a coach specially fitted to hold our bikes and another equipped with bean bags for resting, with no seats. Along with the karaoke and cafeteria, the train ride was enjoyable and relaxing. We finally arrived at Kuala Lumpur’s Brickfields train station in the evening. Overall, it was a fantastic and unforgettable trip for our group Up Up Bikelicious, not just for the event but for the journey there and back.
Ekspress Koc Basikal (XKB)
Karaoke in XKB
XKB special coach with bean bags only
