Selamat Datang,

I'm living in Singapore and lived in Penang a while back. I find it much tougher to train here than in North America.
Cycling is a challenge. The city car drivers don't show much respect for bikes and the kampungs (rural areas / villages) have rough roads and are unaccustomed to seeing cyclists.
Running is fine except for the heat and humidity (Its fine if you're from Houston but stifling if you're from Canada like me)
Swimming is good and bad - tons of pools but open water swimming options are limited.

If you are going over on an expat package, you'll either be in a service apt. or in a house + a membership to a local club. Both should have a gym and pool. Some clubs have spin classes.

There is a 1/2IM in Singapore (4hr. drive south) and a good one in Phuket (1hr flight north).

http://www.triathlonmalaysia.com/other-event.php

Thanks Marky

I think you will be ok on the bike once your out of the city. I once did a solo bike tour of se asia this included cycling into KL. I also rode into and around panang and singapor and thought they where very difficult. Both are incredibly busy places these days.

Just a bit north of KL are the cameron highlands, i once rode up there on my mountain bike and it was a 3hr climb. I think you will love it. My memories of the roads are that they are generally very good much better than in surrey (UK) where I live now.

I am in Miami at the moment and there seems to be very little cycling around here, I used to live in NW chicago suburbs and there was only one place to ride there as well.
I also found a fair number of US folks to be down right hostile to cyclists in asia you wont find that just a few careless ones not expecting you. But as long as you are careful you can reduce your risk just as anywhere.

wow, that sounds encouraging. thanks

I still think you went to Miami - Ohio, did you go to Key Biscayne to see how many guys cycling? Or to Homestead?
If you stay in SouthBeach you will see tourists and they dont really ride bycicles during their vacation

There are plenty of routes for riding around KL. The good routes are usually only around a 30 minute ride out of the city centre. Whatever you want, we have it. Long climbs, short climbs, flat, rolling. All within reach.
Where will you be staying and where will you based (working)? If youre around the KLCC/Petronas Twin Towers area, you can run loops around the KLCC park in the evening after work. 50 metre pools are hard to come by, but if you're in an apartment/condo, you usually have a decent sized pool for swimming. Around 15 minute drive away is the Lake Gardens which is a popular weekend route for avid runners.
There are unofficial groups of triathletes who always train together and I can put you in touch with them.
With regards to traffic, I haven't had problems so far. If you ride around with lights and ride safely, drivers are generally tolerant of you. From the stories here on the Slowtwitch boards, Malaysian drivers are better.
Anyway, you can PM me here or get me on my email (abduladzim at gmail dot com) and I'll be more than willing to help out a fellow triathlete.
Cheers.
:-)

Yes I have ridden around key biscanne there are alot of riders around there frankly too many and leads me to think this must be the best that Miami has to offer which in all honesty is appalling. I have asked a few people for other riding routes and there are some but soon get busy with traffic. I am not here to say how bad Miami is I just wanted to respond to a previous post which said that Malaysia will be worse than north America but this isn't the case from my personal experience.

Plenty of places to ride once you're out of the city.

The Genting Sempah route has loads of cyclists plying it on any given weekend. The Hulu Langat are has some great cycling routes with very little cars. Even if there are cars, they tend to give cyclists a very wide berth.

As crocked knee mentioned, there are loads of triathletes here, both highly competitive ones and those participating for fun. You can usually meet up with them on Sunday mornings at the Lake Gardens where they do their weekly long runs. Also there are organized weeknight and weekend rides by cycling clubs. And cyclists here generally have no issues riding with triathletes.

The heat and humidity will be tough, but after a few weeks you'll get used to it.

I'm admin for the Malaysian Triathlon Clubs page on Facebook, so you can head over there and seek out training partners.

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Arif Sidek