Last Night was Putrajaya Critical Mass Night. PCM Night is always held on the last Friday of the month, in many cities in the world. Critical mass bicycle rides have gained popularity since its inception.
Last night was made for ridding. We had skipped two PCM Nights; last Friday in November 2009 was Hari Raya Haji and last Friday December 2009 was Christmas. Putrajaya Masses were raring to go in January 2010, come what may.
It was the first ride for the year; it should start with a oomph. But alas, it had rained heavily earlier in the afternoon, in Putrajaya and also in KL, Shah Alam, Cheras and all over the Klang Valley. The rain did not let up until about 7 pm. I had rushed back to Putrajaya from PJ at 7.30 pm, hoping against all hope that we would ride. It was still raining.
Rain stopped at about 8.45 pm. I quickly changed, geared up the bike and dashed out of the house. The road to the assembly area in front of the Palace of Justice in Presint 3 was still wet. When I arrived I was pleased to see others had arrived earlier and were just getting out of their cars and gearing up. I was not alone. 9.30 pm people were still coming in. Cars screeming to a halt and people quickly gearing up. The delay to roll out was welcomed, given that the rain had just stopped and people were still coming in. I did not take any pictures as I did not have a waterproofed bag for my camera, and could not risk my camera from getting wet, as the sky was still heavy. But I was glad others took pictures and hope they will post them up soonest.
At 10 pm there was already a larger than expected crowd; all eager to roll out. Man Ciocc gave a quick welcome and briefing to all. Daoh Darko led the ride out and I took up the rear.
There were surprisingly a lot of new comers. This is very encouraging. An assortment of new bikes, new lightings and a couple of families.
Since we had not rode for the last two months and also we had started late, last night's route was short. We had decided to ride the route that we took during our first PCM Night.We rode only 16 Km. A circuit from the Palace of Justice,to PICC, down south to Alamanda and finally back to Princint 3 via Taman Putra and Dataran Putra. And we rode surprisingly at a fast pace, given that we had some kids in our entourage. The night was cool and the road had dried out. Oh it was so nice, we could ride without any sweating. We finished not quite exhausted at 1145 pm.
Thank you all for coming, see you all last Friday in February 2010.
