Othewise, everything had turned out the way it should be.
On the average, I was doing 20km/h with the high gear on this bike.
It was a smooth as silk and it took me about 35 minutes to get to the Federal Highway motorcycle lane.
While I was making a turn towards Persiaran Tujuan from USJ1, I saw three cyclists on the road.
One of them was confused and made a U-turn towards USJ 2.
Then, in the distance, I heard someone yelling my name.
"Hey Sam! I am Victor!"
So, it turned out that the guy is Victor Loo from USJ Green Riders.
These are a serious bunch of cyclists whom I have met at the Putrajaya Interparks Ride a coupla times.
I wave to them and turned towards USJ4 and began my climb at SS19.
With only 8 gears, the chore was simple - grind and spin.
A slow day on the highway
The motorcycle lane on the Federal Highway is designed in such a way, you can access places like Shah Alam, Klang, Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur with your two-wheelers.
But, as a precaution, always ride on the left-hand side of the lane. The white line closest to you is a guide.
So, there I was, at an intersection, setting up my camera.
While I was at it, I noticed a roadie gliding by.
It took me less than 45-minutes to reach Sungai Way and while I was preparing to climb towards the back road near Tukang Basikal Fook Sang, I noticed a middle-aged man on a Yellow-coloured Brompton folding bike.
I waved at him and yelled: "Good morning!"
The man replied my courtesy as I crunched away on the bike, pulling further into Jalan 223.
The hunger..
My attempts to fill up my tummy was unsuccessful. Most of the coffeeshops were closed.
From the Federal Highway, I turned towards Jalan 222 and cruised towards Section 14.
It took me about 1:30:00 to reach Section 16 and the last push was a climb towards Menara Star in Phileo Damansara.
My legs were already sore from the Raub ride, but since the Speed P8 was performing, climbing the short slope in Jalan Datuk Abu Bakar wasn't that bad.
As soon as I hit the office, I changed into my part working attire and went to to do the day's chore.
Later, I had lunch at an Indian restaurant near the office and continued with the day's worth of work...
In proper perspective..
Well, I reached my office just on time to carry out my work. There's a long day ahead and plenty to be done.
The bike blended well with the environment and since I had to close my pages for the regional edition, I had set my target to leave the office by 5:30pm...
When the day is done..
My target was set at 05:30pm.
That's my que to leave the office and head straight towards the Federal Highway motorcycle lane.
But there were some technical issues.
The lamp assembly on my Cateye HL-EL520 broke. So, I had only one set of lights left.
That was not a big issue as I was taking full advantage of the daylight to move.
Shortest route possible
I began with a short climb on Section 16 towards Section 13 in Petaling Jaya.
After clearing a slope, it was a smooth downhill roll towards Section 14 as I made my way towards Jalan 222.
The trick is to get across the Federal Highway via Jalan Templer and connect with the motorcycle lane.
There weren't many motorcyclists on the road as it was a public holiday and my journey was really smooth.
It took me about 20 minutes to get from Menara Star to the highway. I did good with the timing on an average-speed of 23km/h.
Dangerous places
Its not all rosy along the Federal Highway motorcycle lane.
There are several hotspots along this area and if you are not careful, there is a very likely chance for you to get hurt.
One of the worst stretch is located along the Guiness-Anchor brewery.
There is a bad patch here and speeding motorbikes can be seen thrown off-balance.
I took a break at the area before continuing my journey towards the Subang Jaya exit.
he nick of time...
Earlier, my wife had offered me a ride home.
I declined because I wanted to complete the cycle to work experience.
That said, the journey home was shorter than expected.
From SS13 in Subang Jaya, I began a slow and gradual climb towards USJ 1.
I completed the ride in over an hour.
I think I can make it a point to cycle to work on public holidays as the dress code in the office is not strict.
Panniers bags would certainly come in really handy to store some spare clothes as well as extra lights and recovery gear.
So far, the Speed P8 had held up really well and my Schwalbe Big Apple tires are well into its third year of service.