Kangar 40km Solo Ride

When I first bought my folding bicycle, I thought I only wanted to cycle around my housing area as a form of exercise. Soon however, I wanted to do more than that because cycling has a lot more potential. It began with my first ride around Putrajaya area. Then followed by a book on touring around the Peninsula. I really want to try longer distance cycling but being a siput cyclist, I'll probably slow others down. I saw many times my Chinese cycling friends would do the long distance ride. They would stop to eat at Chinese eateries and have beers at the end of the day. So probably susah sikit nak join though not impossible. As long as we're in Malaysia there are many alternatives. I just have to cycle a lot more faster to catch up with them, much older ladies with a lot more stamina.

Last Monday hubby has a meeting in Kangar. I thought that would be the best place ever to cycle with a lot less car and almost the flattest terrain one could ever find in Malaysia. So I packed my foldie in the car.  Alhamdulillah after a breakfast of capati and a half hour tummy rest, I began cycling at 8am. It rained the night before and the road was still wet in the morning so it was cool and the haze cleared a bit. The day we arrived in Kangar, hubby and I drove around potential cycling route towards Kuala Perlis. The road with shady trees and beautiful paddy fields along the road side is the perfect choice.

I was torn between distance cycling or relaxing cycling with photo stops. Another consideration is the hot weather at later part of morning. This is my opportunity to cover more distance without stressing my lungs. However, I don't want to pass the opportunity of being able to explore areas not possible by car. So it shall be a bit of both. I thought later when I reached town I won't stop for photos as often. So while I have photo op around kampung areas, I would not passed it up. True enough there are actually many small roads leading into the kampungs that I could explore. I just put them in mind for next cycling opportunity here. I wanted to cover more ground and see what's available. I do stop by the road side to take photos of the sceneries. When I reached Kuala Perlis, I didn't go to the jetty area. I continued my journey and saw a park that I never noticed before. Hutan Lipur Bukit Kubu. I didn't explore because I have to leave my bicycle outside the compund of the park and if I explored the area, it might be too hot later that I might not be able to cover more ground. So I continued my journey back towards Kangar. I saw another lone lady cyclist on road bike. We waved to each other. Some cars and van honked me. There were wide enough road shoulder so it's probably not because of warning to me. Maybe they are not used to see women cyclist like me exploring their beautiful town and kampung.

I have a general idea that I could continue to Arau, Sintok or Padang Besar but it all depends. My phone 3g has a problem that morning. I smsed hubby to tell him any communication will be through sms. My strava was on but my phone kept giving message restarting required that it frustrated me. Almost every photo stop, i have to restart my phone before I can use it. My crazy Note 3. Thank God strava kept my cycling data and able to continue documenting my historic cycling moments. But I can't use my Google maps to research routes so I have to follow my gut feeling and my feet willingness and ability to kayuh.

I saw signboard that says 7km to Kangar and 14km to Arau. So Arau got to be in my radar. I didn't cycle up the flyover but use the flatter road and waiting at the traffic light wasn't an issue as compared to going uphill. But at the second flyover, I can't go straight if I didn't use the flyover. Alamak... of course I can carry my bicycle and cross the road but it wasn't that important anyway. I can just try different route. So I cycled through part of Kangar town that I'm not familiar with until I reached its town center. Then I decided to head to Padang Besar and make a u-turn when I think I have enough distance covered. So there I cycled and saw another road heading towards kampung that I would love to explore some other time. But I stick to the main road. I made a u-turn when the road side marker showed 28km to Padang Besar. By that time I have cycled 30km. There were hilly areas and jungle on the way to Padang Besar. I didn't plan to go that far alone anyway.

As I cycled back I make a 3 km detour and u-turn before heading back to hotel as I didn't think the straight route would reach another 10km. I'm glad I did because as my bicycle reached our car, the cyclometer showed slightly over 40km at about 11.30am. A personal milestone for me \o/.

It's a cloudy day. That helped a lot as compared to cycling in the scorching sun. I have some dates and mini snickers with me, and a 500ml water bottle. I also carry a chrysanthemum tea drink I got from KUD fun ride the weekend before. So that helped with my sugar and energy need for the ride. I wished I used hubby's cycling sunglasses in the car. Didn't think much about it until dirt got into my eyes and face when vehicles passed me by. I thought I brought my cloth face cover but I couldn't find it in my bag. Turned out it was on the coffee table at home. By the way, hubby texted that he'll be finishing his meeting by noon as his client has other event after lunch. Thank God he also texted me to take my time. Otherwise I  probably won't be able to cover 40km.