Taking part in this trial run are Ganesan, Sean working with St Nicholas' Home Penang, Naveen the marketing and communications manager of Grand Kampar Hotel and me.
We assembled at the Lobby of Grand Kampar Hotel and set off shortly before 0800hr
By 0802hr we have covered 7.08km as we crossed the bridge approaching the Malim Nawar - Tanjung Tualang intersection.
It took us another 17 minutes to arrive at the bridge over the Kinta River before Tanjung Tualang, at the 11.31km mark of our journey. At 0819hr, we crossed the bridge.
Sean and I were ahead of Ganesan and Naveen. We reached Chenderong at 0854hr. Sean, a friendly Irishman from Belfast, waited with me for the other two at the roadside opposite the entrance to Chenderong Village. The sun was shining in our faces.
When Ganesan and Naveen arrived, we decided to stop for breakfast at one of the coffee shops, although Sean was somewhat concerned that it's getting late and we're not covering enough ground.
This was the 21.32km point in our ride.
We tried not to take too long to finish our breakfast and, pushing on with our pedalling, we reached Batu Gajah at 0955hr, covering 28.21km of our ride.
Turning right at the traffic intersection, we crossed the tall bridge over the railway tracks below and rode on until we arrived opposite Kellie's Castle.
After passing Kellie's Castle (34.31km) at 1035hr, we reached the Shell service station on the approach to Gopeng town (42.13km) at 1110hr.
There was a Chinese confectionery shop adjacent to the service station. Sean bought us bottles of cold refreshing water from the shop. We met a convoy of superbikers who stopped by to take a break too.
Pressing on through Gopeng town, we entered the Kopisan - Lawan Kuda junction, 46.94km, at 1156hr.
Despite the hot sun overhead, we went on to cover another 14 km, reaching Kota Bahru station (60.42km) at 1310hr. The heat was enervating and I was really "feeling the heat", literally.
Eventually we reached Malim Nawar 70.22km at 1420hr after a slow laboured ride. I was suffering from the oppressive afternoon sun with sparse cloud cover. My water supply was running low.
In the end, I had to abandon the ride after getting some cold drinks at Kenneth Sai and Chooi Yin Chong ''s coffee shop. My wife drove over to fetch me home, leaving the other riders to proceed with the last 15 km to Grand Kampar Hotel.
It was a reach too far for me today.
