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· Date : 24 FEBRUARY 2008 Honest eye witness account: ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| · Date : 23 FEBRUARY 2008 Honest eye witness account: This round, we started with six of us – Azmi, ST, Rin, Jane, Wei Liang and myself; all of us met-up at ST’s Balik Pulau house. Except for the other blokes in the group, Wei Liang was the newest person to join MTB – just a few weeks on the saddle. Our journey started from ST’s house that took us into a few villages, small roads – mostly a combination of tarmac and dirt roads for the first 5km. Easy flat ones with some undulating mounds, nothing punishing. It was a great warm-up before the actual trail itself. The ‘fun’ started right after we went into a village backyard literally. It was a singletrack trail that snaked upwards eerily into the foliage. The stronger ones had very little effort clearing the upward inclines. I had to pedal slowly as I was still recovering from my knee injury – not fully healed but I was itching to get back on the saddle. Doc said I could still cycle but not to stress my knee too much. It just goes to show that some people were just sado-masochistic, not listening to the doctor! Anyway, still heeding the doc’s advise; I just cycled slowly up most of the slopes – where it got too difficult – I just got down and pushed the bike slowly so not to over stress the knee. Rin, had another view on that… Now back to the trail. After a hard climb, we reached a cement hut that had a fork in the trail; one was to lead us to the farmer’s house while the other we weren’t sure. However, during the discussion of which path to take, our newest member, Wei Liang, misunderstood and took off in a flash! I guess he was itching to try out the downhill singletrack on his newly purchased freeride bike; it was an Ellsworth Id. Sweet bike, dude! ST and Jane tried to catch him but couldn’t. Within that short burst he disappeared into the greenery – he took off like a bullet! Since failing to locate him, we decided to follow in his wake, deviating from our intended route and pedaling into the unknown… more like down-hilling into the unknown! When we caught up with him; he was waiting for us and was wondering where everybody went; where we regrouped which was at the end of the downhill portion, there was a bridge that was very rickety and had loose planks. We had to cross it gingerly without falling through. Once we had crossed over – a couple of bends later, we were at the edge of the Teluk Bahang dam or lake (whichever you want to call it). This was the other part of it which you couldn’t get from your usual drive around Teluk Bahang to Balik Pulau. You would have to either hike or cycle in like we did. The scenery here was something out of a postcard; very serene blessed with clear and sunny skies. It was a great place to unwind and de-stress yourself. We walked around the edge of the lake admiring the view but realized part of the trail had submerged underwater; our return trip was cut-off. We had to find an alternative route around the water’s edge to get back on the trail. After much reconnaissance and pushing deeper into the bracken, we still failed to locate the trail. At one point, we had arrived at a farmer’s shed and even used his rusty sickles to help clear our way but that was useless too. Finally, we had to backtrack our way at least until the rickety bridge. After the bridge, we discovered a left-fork in the trail. ST and Azmi went ahead to check out where the trail led; it was the original path that we wanted to take before Wei Liang darted off on the wrong one! So we took the left-fork making our way down-hill, passing the farmer’s house – our landmark for the return trip. The home had a very nice garden with streams running through it that was well cared; you definitely can’t get this in the city. We continued our journey back up-hill to exit the trail. Halfway up, disaster struck; Wei Liang’s bike chain snapped! All of us stopped to chip in, fixing Wei Liang’s predicament. Fortunately, the area was shady and a breeze was blowing – so it was a welcome breather for our tired legs and aching bodies. After the repairs, we continued our journey. By then, it was already pass noon and I could hear my stomach rumbling. Quickly packing our stuff, we made our way back up to the gates of the plantation. The exit point was about 200 meters short of the durian stall where we normally regroup for our road rides. There was still the road-ride back to ST’s house which thankfully, was a downhill ride. So less pedaling to do! Reaching ST’s house, all of us were glad to be back safely, and as a reward for our exploring crew, we decided to adjourn for some finger-licking good Nasi Campur at the Peladang Restaurant. Recapping the experience, the good part of this trail; we got a good workout, singletrack haven, plus some fantastic views of Teluk Bahang dam and Balik Pulau. Definitely can’t get that if you were to venture on four wheels! Would we recommend this trail to other fellow bikers? You bet! We’re going back for more. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| · Date : 10 FEBRUARY 2008 Honest eye witness account: ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| · Date : 3 February 2008 Honest eye witness account: I received an email from ST on 31st Jan because Azmi has entrusted my well being into his good hands for this Sunday Ride at Bukit Ginting. Then ST arranged Chew to convoy with me and entrusted him to escort me to the top of Jalan Tun Sardon. 8 o’clockin the morning, I met Chew at Rin’s house instead of the Caltex Petrol Station at Green Lane which was proposed by ST. (I think Chew’s GPS tells him this is the easier way to reach there?) Chew and I arrived punctual, then we met ST and Pang, surprisingly…Dennis and Shamoon joined us! Because Dennis always complained tak boleh cari makan if ride with Chew, because always kena smoke by him…and no fun! But I was happy he joined us, because I got a chance to smoke him! Ha-ha-ha… We parked our cars at the Playground besides the Mamak Nasi Kandar shop Ginting (opposite KKTM at Jln Pondok Upeh), and started our journey at 9am. Pang has a good excus for being a slow rider today, he was coughing. (but…I didn’t hear any “cough ” actually :P) Chew led the ride, followed by Dennis, I was smoked by Pang, and ST rode with Shamoon covers the back. We reached at the Thai Restaurant, Bukit Ginting; continued our off road downhill. The off road was not well maintained, a lot of hidden stones, it was really technical downhill!!! I fell down (The Poor Princess) when pushed the bike downhill, I hurt my left knee (sob! sob! sob!) We have finally done the technical part; we took a break at Gertak Sanggul then continued to Pulau Betong. The Poor Princess recovered and led the way to Pulau Betong…but at the halfway, the Poor Princess fell (again?!) into a ravine that was hidden, on the side road, because too much of “indirect” pressure given by Chew? Luckily it was just my waist high and ST helped me up. (Chew only showed his sympathy and looked at me!) Of course the falls never made Princess down. We reached at Pulau Betong in noon time, Shamoon and Dennis went back first, as Shamoon had to drive to KL at 4pm. We had the famous Laksa and Char-Kui-Tiao at a Coffee Shop. My conclusion…Chew betuk-betuk TENGKAR!!! ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| · Date : 02-10 FEBRUARY 2008 Honest eye witness account: I have been tasked with a report on the ride for the Bukit Genting to Gertak Sanggul trail, but since I had four nice rides in a space of 8 days, I will do them all in one go. Instead of detailing how each ride turned out, who was complaining of fatigue, who threw his bike, who slapped whose ass during the ride (my hand is still numb), I will bullet point each interesting observation throughout the rides: 1. Pang was the only person who rode with me on all four rides. His gym workouts are working wonders, as I could barely shake him off in the quartet of rides. He is much improved to everyone’s amazement. It must be the protein infusions from his gym showers. Forget Amway supplements – Amgay rules. 2. ST Chia has been hereby christened Gaylord Chia. He introduced the word “daisy chain” to us philistines on bikes. A google search produced this definition, among others: “a group of three or more male homosexuals cojoined penis/anus to form an endless chain. the idea is to all ejaculate at exactly the same time”. Forming the chain is not a feat. Simultaneous ejaculation boggles the mind. 3. I sometimes freeze up when I see snakes. Despite the fact that I see a lot of them on my rides. And the sight of a python every morning. That is a different story, But on today’s ride (Blue Mountain to Hilton and down Air Itam dam), a three-footer-ish brown snake of undetermined species slithered past the farmers cemented trail on the way down from the peak of Blue Mountain to Hilton. I stopped the bike in shock. And completely forgot about Pang, who was blasting down behind me. I managed to mutter a “sssna…” before he rode past it, missing running over its tail by about 3 seconds. Guilt did not manage to last given the fear still resonating within me. 4. Dennis has a high heart rate. He maxed out at 191 during our Jeeptrack-TigerHill-Terrapin-Hilton trail. I maxed out at 160 hearing that piece of information. He used to do zero to 168 in like 42 minutes. Fatherhood is bad for mountain biking. Google Sany for before and after Hady pictures for that. Come to think of it, it could be a natural evolutionary trait for people to develop a big tummy prior to entering fatherhood, as it facilitates the carrying of the baby. Actually, it was way before that he lost his fitness, when he slid down a rock several years ago and broke his hand. Resulted in my DNF (I do not count the last jamboree as DNF as the trails were poorly marked. Ahem). 5. Rin is firmly entrenched in the dark side now. He promised to go for the ride mentioned above but said his muscles were aching from the CNY ride with Adrian the day before and opted out. So he lent Dennis and I his car to use for the ride, and said he was going back to bed. He proceeded to sneak out for a road ride with Azmi and Sany. Betrayal – to think we have the same car and bike makes. And stay in the same area in Penang. 6. Shamoon, my faithful riding partner in Penang, is out due to a knee injury. He nevertheless accompanied us on a ride (Bukit Genting-Gertak Sanggul). Big heart, weak knees. I suggested laying off the doggie style for a while. ST said daisy chain standing up is a good alternative. We got very excited. But he said he had to drive down to KL immediately after the ride and his rear end will be firmly planted on the car seat for several hours, thus he had to keep it fresh. Pang frowned. 7. Jane, or shall we call her Lady Jane, was a tough cookie. But prone to falling into holes. In a valiant attempt to make way for my climb, she side stepped without looking. Ended up in a waist-high pit. Don’t worry, she is fine and will be back. Pity she can’t form a daisy chain with us. 8. Pang and I found the lost trail from Blue Mountain to Hilton today. Given how clueless we are on directions, it was an amazing feat worth celebrating with a month-long festival. For the uninitiated, Pang is even more blur than me direction-wise. He is so bad he will probably face the wrong direction when forming a daisy chain. With a bit of help from the farm hands and some sense of adventure with no sense of direction even when we can see the sun in the clear blue morning sky, we managed. And with extra time on our hands and given Pang’s fascination with all things phallic, we headed up to the three towers on the way back. That is all that comes to mind. Eight is an “ong” number to end up with anyways. With that, I look forward to more rides in Penang with more riding buddies when I come back next time.
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