Five Hills Adventure! 12 August 2001
Man, this is the third time I have ridden on the same trail since my first visit in June. But one thing I can't deny is it is one hell of the trail. The distance is just right(~17km), the climbs are not as extreme as the ones in Penang, i.e. k3, and the most important thing is I enjoy it every single time I go there!
It was a large group this time. There were 73 riders from as far as Kuala Lumpur joining the ride. Too bad I did not have my camera with me, or it would be nice to have a large group photo before the ride. I brought my VooDoo Erzulie with me since both my red devil and race machine are at Gary's shop for a major medical checkup. One thing, I just bought a pair of Specialized Mt. Baldy 1.25. Yeah a super thin 1.25 inch XC tire! Can you believe that? I check the Specialized homepage to find more info about it and the only width that is available is 1.95. Tried it on road and a short hardpack on Saturday, and I must say it was a love at first sight. Awesome low rolling resistance and tons of grips on hardpack. Kind of contradicting right? Anyway, it was good at short distance but whatabout the actual XC ride? The at the five hill trail would be able me to find out!
Since the tire is a thin tire, the air pressure to pump it up tends to be higher than usual 1.95 XC tires. So a bumpier ride is expected. But I did not expected the ride was that harsh! I was thrown off the bike when I hit the bumps or the mud holes! The bump intensified as I go faster. I realized I had to change my way of handling bike if I want ride on a set of thin tires, worst, thin tires on rigid bike! But nobody could beat me in terms of acceleration and climb, well, most of them could not catch up with me(satisfy???)! My body became the suspension of the bike and I had to relax so that my bone would not have to take all the beating.
This time we had lady riders, and there were lots of them. Of course, knights are gentlemen, so I volunteered to be a sweeper. But I could not hold the position for too long. Just after finished the first hill, the need for speed took over the need to enjoy the view of them climbing. I switched on the turbo unit and went all out!
It was like all the sudden I have all the energy I needed to finish the ride. I did not stop until I swept the third hill. I stopped to wait for the rest to come up. Feel guilty lah. My original plan was take a brief stop to cool myself down and continue the ride. But one of the riders had problem with his front derailuer. I decided to help him to fix it. It turned out that that asshole from the bikeshop he bought did not fix the front derailuer correctly. It ended up we had to take down the derailuer and put it back to the proper way. It took almost half an hour since I was not familiar with the model of the derailuer the bike was using. Luckily Maverick caught up from behind so I threw the junk back to him and continued my journey. I decided not to stop at every pit stop since I was way behind from even the mid pack. Catching up with the front was already out of the question. I think by the time I reached the forth hill, the front pack was already at the trailend.
The more I rode the tires the more I liked it. The steering was much more precise than the fatter ones. The grip on ground equally matched to my all time favorite Velociraptor. Maybe the rigid fork helped in some way. But one thing, it really hurts to ride on 80 psi 1.25. My whole body was like falling apart after the ride. Another thing is since the knobs were so tiny, a shallow mud puddle would definitely clog up the tires and made it a perfect slick! It did not do well on sandy trail also. I think it's due to the width.
Anyway, it was a fun ride. First time I have ever managed to sweep the five hill trail with only two stops. Next target: Non-stop! But if you ask me if I want to ride that 1.25 slim on my rigid VooDoo again, I think I will wait until I get my red devil or my old faithful Diamondback back from the shop first!
So, what about next Sunday? My body still ache today. I don't think I am going to ride for the whole week! Need time to recover man!
Stay tuned!