A recce at Air Itam Dam, 04 February 2001

How should I start? Hmm...

I have not been riding on the island for some time. Partly it is because we have run out of trails to ride in Penang. There are trails that we haven't ridden on the island yet. The problem is we do not manage to spend some time to explore. ST told me he just discovered a new trail in Gertak Sanggul, which I missed it big time. Well, there always a chance to visit again, not that I am not going to be in Penang soon! You know, it's very boring to go to the same old trails again and again. Like Sungai Sedim, I wonder if some of us have got bored to ride there already? Anyway, Azmi, Derek, Sup and I talked about where were we going to ride after our night ride on Wednesday. Since Pos Mensun ride is around the corner, I suggested to do few tough rides just to get ourselves ready for it. It always puts them off when I mention K5 and K6 in Penang. They are tough. But if you conquer them, I am pretty confident that you will have no problem to ride anywhere in Malaysia! The discussion ended up that I would have to ask ST if he had any ride in mind! Pity them, I came out three suggestion, ST took one of them, which was a very "scenic" ride! Derek volunteered to provide map as he suggested to do some recce in the trail we are going. So, decision was made, Air Itam Dam-Hilton-Farmer Trail then detour to a temple. We would go beyond the temple to check out if the trail ended up somewhere!

It ended up only me, ST and his usual riding group showed up for the ride. The rest were no where to be seen. I was late because I stayed up late a night before to tweak around the KOTRT homepage. It seems the rest decided not to do this "scenic" ride and either seek refuge in Sungai Sedim or mountain biking in the dreamland! I arrived 5 minutes late, so I did not have chance to have my half boiled eggs and toast breakfast, which always gave me magical power to "conquer" the Air Itam Dam ride. The absence of breakfast cost me dearly in the middle of the ride, which I had a terrible stomach cramp! Can you imagine you can have a muscle cramp on stomach? It was painful man!

The ride up to Hilton was as usual, moderate climb at Air Itam Dam road and easy cruise at the Dam's back road. What was different for today was the heavy motorized vehicle traffic along the AID road. There were lots of cars on the way up. Especially when we were on the way to the Kit Lok Si second entrance. Traffic was so heavy that we had to ride with care. Sorrylah, normally Malaysian drivers are not very gentle with bicyclist. You block their way, they will honk you to the sky! Equipped with new XT/XTR wheelset, I found it easier for me to crank at much heavier gear, which I would never imagine to achieve before! Still, I could not catch up with the rest. Maybe I am a slow starter. Like turbo diesel engine, no power before the engine was fully warmed up!

I was started to get better after our second pit stop at the Hilton hut. I decided to go slow this time instead of moderate pace like I did on AID road and the AID back road. Reason: the Farmer trail is no joke. The gradient of the slope is much steeper than the previous two climbs. I wanted to try my new XTR cassette to see if the 32 tooth cog really helped! I ended up used 28 most of the time. We detoured into a dirt road before we reach the junction to the temple. Apparently, they would like to check out if there were any route leading to somewhere. It turned out that the trail was a dead end. By the way, Oon was injured when he came back from the trail that he went exploring. There was a bag of cement lying on the road. I did not see how he fell but from the loud noise I heard, I could sense that it was terrible one. I was right. When I rushed to Oon. He was lying on the ground and could not move. Apparently, his bike pedal got tangled with the bag and yanked him off his bike. It was a bad fall with bruises on his left hand and leg. Luckily I always bring my first aid box with me all the time. We were able to fix him up with bandage and antiseptic solution.

It was another dead end at the temple trail. We did not know where to go. Answer from the farmers revealed that the trail either led to someone's house or nowhere. Without Derek's help, we could not proceed further. This is a recce trip, so we already expected we might end up finding nothing. We decided to turn back via Bukit Penara and 1200 steps. Again, having been to the track for couple of time, I think I can ride the track with my eyes close! Anyway, with my new wheel set, the steep climb from Hilton hut to Bukit Penara was not a so steep anymore. The larger cog really helped. But one thing, I tend to free spin whenever the terrain becomes flatter. I think it was because of my smaller front granny chainring, 22. The original XTR crank has 26 as the smallest chainring. Mine STX, 22. It definitely tends to over spin!

ST decided we should check another trail again. This time, we would check out a trail that detoured from the 1200 steps cement pavement. I was having a problem to come down at one section of the trail that links Bukit Penara to 1200 steps. The thinner tires still gave me problem to do technical downhill. Maybe it was lack of confidence from me to go down with them. By the time I reached 1200 steps, the rest were already started heading to the trail that ST mentioned. I was not sure whether they went up or down. They were no where to be seen after I adjusted my seatpost. I decided to go down.

I finally met them after I covered three quarter of the pavement. The trail was new. It was made for the construction of the new crematorium. Certain portions of the trail were quite technical. There were ruts, which made the descent more difficult. And the loose gravel on the trail made it worst. Ben was in front of me. When he went down, I just looked at him helplessly fell from his bike. He was riding at the trail shoulder. His bike's rear tire slipped off and that was it. The bike slide and he had to fall from the bike. Was that simple! At the end of the trail was a nearly vertical 10(approx.)foot cliff. According to ST, they did not dare to go down. Ahh, time for me for show how to do it. Momentum is mountainbiker's best friend. I release both levers when went down and applied brake before my Diamondback hit the bulldozer, which was just 20 feet away. Seeing me going down so easily, ST, Hwa and Ben decided to follow suit. No problem!

Was it a boring ride? From the way I write. It seems like it! It was not actually a "boring" ride. The "new" trail at 1200 steps was fun. Too bad it wasn't long. We ended the ride at the hawker store in the Air Itam wet market, where we enjoyed famous Nyonya style curry noodle and "Lam Mee".

I have not decided where are we going to ride next week. I think I will bring up the ride at K5 again to see if they want to take it or not! We have to train hard right? Otherwise, how are we going to face the ultimate challenge at the Pos Mensun trail?

Stay tuned!