KEMENSAH - LUBUK TEDUNG RIDE 28-MAR-2004

 

 

TRAIL     :     KEMENSAH ? LUBUK TEDUNG

START     :     09:30HRS

FINISH    :     15:00HRS

RIDERS    :     SR deFSR, Asri deEnduro, Bro Ali, John Boy, Rudy

deManoMano & Helmi

 

PROLOQUE

After  discussing with the interested parties the night before the ride, we

agreed to ride up to Lebuk Tedung only instead of up to Kg Sg Pusu.

Most  of  us  reached  BP,  Melawati at 8:30hrs.  We had breakfast at a new

stall,  facing the main road.  The nasi lemak was much much better than the

ones available at the stall that we used to patron.

Done  with breakfast, we left for Kg Kemensah at around 9:00hrs.  We parked

our cars on the big road shoulder where there is a bus stop on the opposite

side of the road.  The space was just enough for 4 cars.

 

THE RIDE

After  changing my deflated Phytons to FireXCs, we started our ride through

Kg  Kemensah  at  09:30hrs.  Upon reaching the Wooden Gate, there were many

people  standing  and  blocking  our path through.  So, we just climbed the

tarmac road in front of the gate instead (thinking that it would lead us to

the  correct  trail?.).  After climbing for about 100m, Bro Ali asked me if

we  were  on  the correct trail.  I checked my Vista, the arrow pointer was

close to the route (not on the route), thinking that it could be because of

the  fluctuating  accuracy  of the GPS, I sais "Yes!".  Then we reached the

top of the climb, the tarmac road sweeping to the left, a few wooden houses

on  the left, swampy area straight ahead, a walking trail on the right into

the bushes and Bro Ali telling me "confirm ni jalan salah ni?".

Rechecked  the  Vista.  Confirmed.  So, we went down the tarmac road to the

Wooden  Gate.  People still standing watching us (felt like celebrities for

a while) passing through the gate then taking the sharp left junction.

Throughout  the  ride,  Bro Ali was having a go at Asri, showing him how to

climb,  teasing him.  There were 2 wooden bridges/'titi' made of small tree

trunks before the first long killer climb. Last time we had to make an S to

clear the 1st  "titi". But it was just a "ramming thru" on Sunday.

The  1st  Killer  Climb was not as rutted as I could remember.  The ruts on

the  left  &  right  were deep.  Resulted from spinning 4x4 tyres trying to

find  traction.   The center had a long center rut from mtb, cubcai & motoX

tyres.   Quite  deep  on  some sections.  After the 1st killer climb, there

were  a  few  flowing  crests  & throughs (2 if I'm not mistaken) before we

reached  the 2nd long climb. Same landscape feature as the 1st but shorter.

The throughs had long wet muddy patches.

 

After the 2nd long climb, it was just a flowing ups & downs with more downs

before  we  reached  the  last  climb  to  the  big tree. (Oh, there were 2

tarpaulin  tents after the long downhill). New trail had been cut by 4x4 as

indicated  by  the  lanscape  feature.   The  4x4  road  swept to the left,

possibly  going to Klang Gate dam.  Had photography session next to the big

tree (Joe, help me out here, what's the name of the tree, TQ).

 

The  descend  to Lubuk Tedung was wet & slippery.  Upon reaching the bottom

of  the descend, there were several trail, missed the 1st one, there Asri &

I  was,  on a small campsite which I could tell immediately not the correct

waypoint.   Bro  Ali,  went downstream and found the correct campsite about

30m from where we were standing.

 

The  river  was  not  as deep as I remembered.  The clear water showed much

less  sand  at  the  bottom.  We took off our gears, "berlengging ? minimal

body  coverage"  we  lay  parked  on the tree trunks (2), laying horizontal

bridging  the banks of the river.  We had our packed nasi lemak.  Wow, nasi

lemak  never tasted that good before.  After that, it was time to relax our

body in the natural spa.  Bro Ali, was busy arranging river stones to raise

the  water  level to our thigh.  About 30 minutes later, a groups of people

(the  same  group  standing  next  to  the wooden gate earlier) arrived and

spoilt  the  serenity  (pun  intended).   We  would  not  mind  having some

beautiful  girls dipping next to us.  Later we found out that the group was

from JW Marriot Putrajaya.

 

Around 13:00hrs, we geared up and started our return leg.  I was thrown off

my  Norco,  when  the rear FireXC couldn't bite, the 4" diameter horizontal

root.   Luckily,  I  landed  on  my feet.  The ascends were quite slow.  We

stopped  several  times to take our breather.  Rudy experienced the dreaded

chain suck.  Luckily, Helmi was kind enough to "buddy" him.

The  descends,  quite  fast.   Had  to keep up with Asri on his lightweight

Enduro.   Had  too  much  fun.   Halfway down the 1st Killer Climb, I slid,

bruising  my  inside right leg (contact with the seatstay of the swingarm).

Then  Asri & I waited for the rest of the group at the culvert (the culvert

was used as titi, last time? remember?).

 

After  regrouping,  we  had  our  final  blast  going  down rocky descends.

Reached our cars at around 15:00hrs.

 

EPILOQUE

It  was  a  nice 5.5hr ride with intimidating climbs/descends, fast flowing

downhills, cool natural spa.  Wish more people turned up.

 

After  a  few  long  rides,  I found that my Norco is much much more fun to

ride.  Easier to crawl up ascends, inspires confidence going down.

 

Till next time, keep the bike clean!

 

Cheers!

SR deFSR