Watch the first bicycle commute to work of a novel bicyclist and her reactions to the Kuala Lumpur road conditions and peak hour traffic. This is the result of a New Year's resolution of promising to do a weekly bicycle commute to work, from downtown Kuala Lumpur to Bangsar, a distance of 10.5 km, and a vertical climb of 110 meters from the lowest point to the highest point with the office being located at a hilltop in Bangsar, Malaysia. The two bicycles in the video are a 10-year old Brompton, and a brand new "fake Brompton" at 1/3 the price, namely a Camp Pikes 3. During Covid-19, the delivery time for a Brompton shot up to 1 year or more, hence, copy products started to emerge....

Video highlights include:

0:16 Start of bicycle commute from downtown Kuala Lumpur
2:33 Fallen tree blocking bicycle path + venting of frustration
4:00 Honked by car cutting across bicycle lane. Tsk tsk....!
4:46 Obstacles on bicycle lane (edge, low branches, potholes + dangerous road grills)
6:24 A lot of traffic
7:21 Riding through the Old Town (Chinatown)
8:13 Street market
9:51 Killer grill (where front wheel of bicycle will fall inside. Dangerous!)
11:05 River of Life, starting the ride along the Klang River
17:20 Entering Brickfields
23:25 Most dangerous road, Jalan Bangsar, with fast traffic
23:43 Pedestrian crossing, for crossing Jalan Bangsar (very slow to change green)
24:50 Immediate reactions to trip so far while waiting at traffic light
27:32 Person walks into traffic without looking. Dangerous.
30:09 Adjusting seat post height
32:00 Bicycle basket + strapping of handbag. Heavy load, good way to carry additional bag
35:10 Steep hill climb begins!
38:45 Riding behind Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC)
43:12 Steepest slope section
46:53 Chinese cheer for last steep hill to reach the office
51:18 Entering the office gate (final destination) without stopping on the steep long hill
52:09 Recapping the ride, and why it is difficult/unsafe to ride fast on Kuala Lumpur roads
54:15 Entering office and telling interested colleagues about the bicycle commute ;-)

The bicycle route map can be viewed here:   / strava  

The commute is filmed with a GoPro 8 using a chest strap. The ride was recorded using a Corus GPS watch, which allows the on-screen dashboard to display: velocity, distance, elevation, heart beat (bpm) and time. The onscreen dashboard was created using the free VIRB Edit software. The ride was done on Thursday 24 February 2022 at 8 am in Kuala Lumpur.

If staying true to the New Year's resolution, the next bicycle commute should be next week already! ;-)