Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Full Collection of Interstate2007 Photos

For full set of Interstate2007 Photographs, please feel free to browse the following links, courtesy of Endorphin Addict

Thursday, September 6, 2007

View from the Ground - Interstate2007

Successful event is like baking a cake, it takes many ingredient to make it a success. This posting discusses among others my observation of what has transpired to make Interstate this year to be one of the greatest PCC event ever.

The crowd
Lets face it, without the crowd, no event can be a success. You will not have a good time if there are only a handful of participant. This year, PCC had 265 wonderful participant who brought with themselves good humour and excellent team spirit. For someone who is new to biking, i find that the crowd are so friendly and came from all walks of life (we even had a pastor from Singapore). Everyone was very accommodative and patient. To sum it up, wonderful crowd. There may be friendly rivalry but there are also sincere camaraderie.

The passion
The passion of the organizing committee in undertaking its task to complete their work is complemented with the participant seriousness to complete the journey. You can see the effort of all in order to meet dateline only perhaps to be let down by machinery such as lift etc. But I do need to make a mention to the route Marshall who, after riding the day ride for the day, had to continue working in putting up signages and marking for the next day ride (another 5 hours of job for the day) , and they did this tirelessly. Some of them volunteered tirelessly to ensure all critical junctions are covered.

Endless Energy
The pace and seriousness in cycling was tremendous. Though Interstate is not a race, people were just pushing to see how far they can go. The perseverance is tremendous. You can see the never say die attitude of the KOTRT people in ensuring that we can cross the bridge and making sure that we had police escort. If that is not a demonstration of endless energy, I don't know what else to say.

The cooperation
Sometimes we forget that this is actually a cooperative ride and requires everyone to chip in their bit. This time round, everyone did their bit and the prep before the event itself is tiring if not exhausting. Even in safety, the riders were kind enough and not taking that great a risk and had made the ride across the bridge manageable. I am proud that I can assist the committee in one way or another. Looking forward to offer any assistance in the future.

The processes and preparations
The arrangement this year is excellent and many people said it was very "meriah". There were set backs like blown hotel fuses and late delivery of rooms in Penang, but nothing that is a show stopper. The patient crowd were reasonably forgiving as they were out to have a good time. The tulip was helpful, the marshall were there at junctions and the prep was better then years before.

Ultimately, I would like to thank everyone from the organizers, the volunteers and also the participant who had made this IS2007 a success.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Listening to new stories

Interstate is where u make new friends. Some people just go there for the ride, but not me. I go there for the company. Meeting new friends from the South (Singapore) and some newbies who ironically with very little training decides to join the Interstate 365km ride.

Among the stories that I have managed to listen to, here I would like to share some.

Perseverance
This plucky girl with a mountain bike took 12 hours to complete the 150km journey on the first day and had to pass many challenges. Some of the challenges, though I find it funny, may not be at that moment of time. If it was me, I would have given up after 10 hours of ride, but no, she made it thru and arrived just as we were having dinner.

Cramp and resting
This same girl had cramped up along the way and fell into the drain at a Kelapa sawit estate. Falling into the drain, she was in a awkward position with her back and butt in the drain and legs lifted up. With good humour, she managed to answer passers by who had asked what she was doing in the drain. She quipped wryly that she was resting and taking time out from riding.

A few minutes later, another passer by remarked, "girls, there are snakes in that drain". She suddenly felt all her cramps gone and started clamouring to get out of the drain. Fear can be a miracle cure of cramps.

Of stupid remarks and comments
As she was riding up the Bukit Berapit hill climb, a lady bus conductor that passed by asked her, where was she going?. She retorted, "I am going to Taiping". The lady conductor then replied, "Why don't u just take the bus". Now, that really tested her patience as she wanted just to reply for the conductor to just shut up and leave her alone.

Cooling Down and recovering
Another guy also used the whole journey to stop by kampung house to take shower. Ironically, most of the makciks had asked him whether he needed changes in clothing?. To which he replied coolly, "Nope, mak cik, just shower me with water and I will be on my way", much to the chagrin of the makciks.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Interstate Documentation - The Video

Day 1 Video - Ipoh to Ayer Kuning Taiping

Day 2 Video - From Taiping to Bukit Mertajam

Day 3 Video - crossing the Penang Bridge


Enjoy

Monday, August 13, 2007

Interstate Namelist and Event Guide

The Final Namelist is out. Please take note of your number as this is your ID number that you should use for any reference and Identification in your SMS or other conversations


The Event Guide is also available for you to go through and please read this carefully. As these event is done as a Community Ride, please take note the Do's and Dont's. This is extremely important as we have to do our part to keep the positive views and perception of all cyclist.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Interstate T- Shirt and Briefing

Hey, the organizers will be passing around T-Shirt as part of the package.

IS2007-T-shirt-4

There will also be a briefing tentatively on the 28th at McDonald near Curve (if I am not mistaken). So watch this space.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Interstate2007 - Day 3 Route

day3

Day 3 - The trip to Independence. Its a Sunday Ride, starting from Bukit Mertajam, we will hit Penang Bridge and go to Balik Pulau and then hiting Telok Bahang and then to Batu Ferenggi.