And off we go, Massers...

On the last Friday of each month, masses are held all over the world. Nope, its not the Christian kind of masses, but its a cycling movement of sort called a 'Critical Mass'. So what is this Critical Mass is all about? As usual I asked my friend, Mr Google and he came up with these...

Anyway, in Malaysia there have been a few instances of Critical Masses held, to increase awareness and provide safe biking experience to the... masses (of course). I first heard about these masses are the one held in KL, but it seems to die a natural death (correct me if I am wrong) as i was just contemplating riding one.

As I was surfing the Net, I stumbled upon.. Putrajaya Critical Mass. The venue is near enough to where I live, and the thought of a social ride once a month seems a great idea to me (especially when I seem to grow in weight every month ;P) Even the distance is do-able for a semi-retired rower like me.

Finally after two month of missed Mass riding opportunity, I manage to haul my sorry arse to the meeting point for the October mass. I even dragged CH to come along. We reach Double Trouble at 9pm, in time for 'ngeteh' session. Slowly the place is filled with cyclist who rolled in on all type of bikes, (body)shape and colours. Hmmm...

The actual ride started a bit late, as we waited for a few more of the late comers. Make some new friends, ogled at nice bikes. after a short briefing by Daus, off we go. The first few kilometers were slow, to get everybody in the rhythm (moi included as i am a Critical Mass newbie) but just after the Botanical Park entrance, the ride is stopped by marshall due to some members are left waaaay back by the group. Oops, it must be those roadies in front, hehehe...

We regrouped and rode slowly to Alamanda, after which all hell broke loose again. The roadies seems to be in a hurry to get to the RV point (maybe riding slow is detrimental to their health or almost falling over due to the slow speed), while for some of us, we are taking our own sweet time. Hey, its a social ride :) and I reached the RV point in the middle of the pack. Not too bad. Not too bad at all. Once everybody is in and accounted for (and after a few minutes breather) we are off again.

As I am riding away, got a call from CH. he says he's at the traffic light. OK. No problem. Aiyoh! A few minutes later only it makes sense that CH is actually at Double Trouble traffic light. Duh! can't let him wait for so long so crank it up for the ride home. Caught a few cyclist along the way, but overall a good ride, not too tiring which we topped up with a glass of tea with fellow cyclist :) Whats not to like about that? Can't stay up too late, need to go back now before I woke up the baby.

For this Mass, i am content to just ride slowly and enjoy it. Maybe next time I'll hang out with the roadies. Nice to meet and make acquaintance with Daoh Darko, Bro Zizan (singlespeed some more), bola2api, Kak Syarifah (all the way from KL), Razlan and his 'Everybody can Fly' friends and some other people I can't seem to remember. Hope to meet you all next month :)