5 Hill Ride Parit Buntar
KOTRTpit view by Pang ‘d Tongue

My turn for the writeup this time. Adrian delegated his task to me. He should have been careful about this!

The Kotrter’s who went were Azmi, Adrian, Wei Liang, ST, Moon and me. The losers will be those who committed to me on eve of ride at Abe’s wedding nite BUT chicken out (KFC) . You k now who you are right ????. As usual, it is not professional to mention names BUT if anyone interested to know, when we meet next, I will point to you who they are!.

Back to the 5 Hill ride. We met Maverick or Mary to many at Sg Jawi toll. Most have partially forgotten the directions to the trail head and to some almost erased them from their memory.

How did I end up joining the gang this morning? Well, actually I was dragged into this as I have other prior engagements hindering me. My initial anticipated fear of trail will be like another twilight zone where reality and fantasy crossed in yet another crazy ride.

From the last ride, since a looooooooooooooooong time ago , I recall remnants of trails were tough, wet and dirty since it rained the night before. Also it seemed pretty long.

Maverick was the trail leader and scout to mark the trails. According to Maverick, the trail distance is between 15 to 18 km. Who cares yah, once you are there ridelah.

As it turns out the trail was superb. Mother nature was kind and brought out the sun shining over our heads for the entire trail. The entire ride can be divided into 6 phases………….which is an important information btw.

Well, I am pleased to announce that I am KOM for Hill # 1 and 2, Adrian took Hill # 3 and 5. ST was given Hill # 4 since he was my driver. I have heard threats that I will cycle home if I did not compromise. Wasn’t aware where Azmi was until towards the end of 5 Hills ride. There was this 6th phase of flat on and off road to the finishing line with the dangerous bunch AND very fierce dog fight in pursuit bursting towards the finish line. Adrian , Azmi , ST and Maverick broke away. Too hot to handle, I stayed back. Was very close behind them. Usually I do best at doggy style BUT not dog fight on the streets. Anyway………..

Yah someone greeted me at the finish line. It turns out to Adrian and this has been quite a while. Vividly remember Adrian greeted me with MY famous signature victory hand gesture. He meant to antagonize me. Never mind his turn will come next time.

Other light hearted and attention grabbing incidences as follows,

1. During the ride, I encountered interesting climbs which were easier contrary to my earlier fear. Must be my fitness level remain at peak levels!!!!!. The downhills provided much fun since they were heavily rutted. In particular very technical after the 4th hill. One of the section have lose rocks covered by wild grass which poses risk as booby traps for those taking the downhill too lightly. Ahem with us great mtbikers from Penang this wasn’t a problem except for Moon who had a fall. He did not elaborate when he told us much later. I will just keep it as it is so as not to humiliate him.

2. Moon was quite impressive with his occasional burst of skills. Noticed he whiz past ST and I on a steep climb speeding up the hill. ST and I was dazed when Moon shouted "excuse me" as he romp ahead. In a very short while, I mean really short while we overtook Moon. Thereafter, we left him behind.

3. Adrian finished ahead of me at the finishing line BUT there were tell tale signs of his fitness. He MUST have burnt out, kaput, very tired……. The scoop is this; he was over come with fatigue that clouded his sense of alertness. He sat on his sunglasses left on the seat. It was all smashed up. ST and I were in the same car pool and we concluded that our young man must be too tired from the ride AND perhaps what he did the past few nites before!!!!. On the other hand, both ST and I were still very fresh and planning to go for a Penang Hill ride in the same evening! .

Adrian’s parting words to me when he was sent home were "don’t simply write about me" with a dejected facial expression knowing the outcome was inevitable. Besides, I know a good lawyer (sue me ok! ) AND I learn that the pen is mightier than the sword.

4. Wei Liang being new will be spared of abuse from me since he bought lunch. Also because we want to keep him longer in the group. The beef noodles we had was good . Many enjoyed them BUT you know lah one or two members disagree.

5. ST was my good friend since he was the driver for our car pool. Adrian and I gave him KOM for hill # 4. Adrian reminded me "we better play our part else we have a long way to cycle home" Not that Adrian bothered; as he kept staying ahead in the front pack and of course we kept watch of each other. Tactics such as blocking ,` elbowing’, attempts to push one off the hill and removing trail markers were but common occurrence.

6. Well did I cover everyone? Yes, yes …we have Azmi. Typically all have us have this stupendous sense of perfection of keeping our feet off the ground during trail and is a sign of great mtb skill. You know what I mean.

I have another scoop. Caught Azmi in a blooper begging to be told. Azmi was almost perfect manourvering over a tricky climb with loose rocks all over…….gotcha losing balance with leg landed on the ground.

How I can live to tell, well yours truly was staying close in stealth mode . I shocked him when shouting loud "Azmi just put his leg down!!!". This shattered the tranquility in the jungle and disturbing all its inhabitants (insects and animals included) . As for Azmi, he rev up to stay away from me. Sorry, but one of those rare moments to be advertised.

Always in mtb there will be some surprises. Little did I realize Adrian was behind me. He was also on stealth mode. Notice him when he started to add more noise in the jungle like besides laughing also his usual innate wise cracks. Once he starts, he is unstoppable.

Anyway, both Adrian and I have no problem to conquer his failed effort. Dey, Azmi what is so difficult huh!.

I enjoyed that moment and relived that nightmare for Azmi when we discussed over lunch. Azmi thought I did not see him. How can you escape from me Chief. Azmi raised some concern as to the results of the mtb ride for the day. Claims such as he was ahead of me etc etc . Too bad I did not notice you. Try harder next time. Perhaps if you write the KOTRTnikels, outcome of writeup may be different yah.

Now, now how did I end up writing so much about Azmi instead of Adrian! I guess have to keep it short and stop for now before I lose all the reading interest. Until next time. Chow.

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