This Friday ride to Sungai Long its a bit exciting because a new friend will be joining the ride. Mr. Joe Wong from Cheras left a message on the chat box a few days ago. We corresponded through email which ended up with mobile phone number exchange and a date to Sungai Long ride.

Thank God it was a sunny and glorious Friday morning.  If we weren't on our recovery plan, we would have ridden to Mantin or beyond. I got out of the house at 7.15am and headed straight to the Sg. Balak toll plaza. Joe was already at the RV, sitting near the shade looking anxious and a little nervous.  I didn't take long to get warm up to this guy.  He was excited about the ride that he started riding his bike all the way from Cheras at 6.00am in the morning. 

Since Syamsul and Najib (found out later)  bailed, we hit the road at 7.50am. We cycled casually through the SILK highway heading towards the Sungai Ramal interchange. While cruising on the route to Bukit Kanjang we saw a lady cycling along side the road. She was shocked when we passed by her and greeted her "Selamat Pagi Aci!". All I could here was her trembling voice "Huh Aiyoo!" followed by "hooh... pagi". Sorry la Aci, we didn't mean to startle you. Next time around, we'd say hello slowly.

I noticed that Joe was using heavy gears and he struggled a bit when we cycled through slopes and hilly areas.  I did the same when I started cycling a few years ago. Back then I thought heavy gears meant power and speed. It takes time to build power, speed and stamina. It requires right technics, discipline and most importantly patience.  The best way to learn is learning while doing it, while on the job. 

We met up with Farizal the 2nd RV and stopped there for a short break before we continued climbing the Sungai Long dragon backs and straight to The Joint. Najib waited for us at the Joint followed by Doc. Azlan who came later who started cycling a bit later than us.

It was  good ride. We met a new friend, Joe. Hopefully he will continue cycling and join us in our weekend rides.