Pedalling the Metal

I love to speed on the highway. But I don't think I'm very good at it. I met a speed freak by the name of Sree once who told me that he made the trip from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, toll to toll, in two hours, in his souped up Golf. Since I'm a guy, I'm entitled to do silly things without explanation, so with that in mind, on my next trip to Penang, I decided that I would put pedal to the metal. There would be none of that artful feathering of the pedal or eloquent steering like I'm sure my friend and speed connoiseur, Art Harun, would have pulled had he done the same stretch. I was a man on the mission. If the degree of one's machoness was directly related to the speed one traveled at, I wanted the highest damn degree. I picked a late departure at around eight o'clock at night hoping that the highway would for the most part be deserted.

As I passed the toll at Damansara, the beep from my Smart Tag told me that the game was on. So after the long roundabout into the main track... I mean highway, I floored my black big assed Honda Accord 2.4. I am still not quite sure how on earth Sree did it. It was hard maintaining a cruising speed of 160 km/h because of the bloody traffic, which even though was sporadic, was significant enough to eat into my fly time. Doing that in the dark of night also not something I would now encourage others (although the dark of morning is another matter!). I had a few near misses with some cars, some railings and thankfully the tyres held at about 130 km/h on a wet surface (yes, I was nuts but it was a straight stretch and that goddamn water was slowing me down!). After fending off the call of the bathroom, almost totalling my car on several occasions and no doubt scaring many people on the road, I made it to the Penang toll. Not bad. I beat my last time by fifteen minutes. I made it in two hours and fourty five minutes.

I know it was still fourty five minutes off the pace but I thought that the time would merit some encouragement from him when I saw him next. Maybe he could give me tips on how I could deal with the drizzle, traffic, darkness and perhaps suggest a change of car (you never know!). When I finally saw him a few months later at some function, I enthusiastically told him of my attempt to better him and after my thrilling story (probably not for him) announced my time. He smiled beningnly at me and told me that it was pretty good for a first try. He then went on to tell me that his wife made the trip in her souped up Satria in two hours twenty minutes. Bastard.

But I made the Damansara toll to the Johor Bahru toll in two hours and a half hours today! (That's decent right? [Please say yes!])