Kulim Capers, 22 April 2001

Have we finally found the perfect newbie trail here? After riding all those "killer" trails, its always refreshing to find a nice easy ride like this.What with shade on more than half the ride and easy rolling hills meant for transporting latex and other produce, can a newbie ask for more? No scary technical sections and killer Pos Mensunic climbs, this is Heaven for most of us who want an easy ride, once in awhile at least. And the Kulim folks, wow they really know how to make us feel welcomed, Great bunch of riders. But, wait a minute, is this not the trail that claimed the knee of our Gary Yap? Is there something sinister lurking underneath the surface, waiting for overconfident Penang riders. We have to find out.

It is for this reason that some of us want to return, to uncover the Mystery of Kulim High Tech. At the appointed time of 0815, we found ourselves at the trailhead looking dumbfoundedly at all the closed makan stalls. Oh oh, not a good start. What can be worse than a poor Knight with an empty stomach, most of us lost our fighting Knight spirit right there, after all, Napoleon said " an army fights on its stomach". So we made our headcount, myself, Su Aun, Azmi,Sup,S T, Lai, Alan,Fatt,Malik,Annuar,Zel and Feisol(?) and a new rider James Lee on a Gary Fisher Level Betty. Relying on our numbers for strength, we rallied around our KOTRT flag, actually a discarded nasi lemak wrapper, and let go a most fearsome battle-cry " We will take this one for Gary". Why, with Annuar on his new Giant 890 looks positively invincible, Malik with a careful eye out for any agents of evil lurking within our midst, our heroic leaders, even our Iron Lady was comfortable enough to catch up on her beauty sleep.

Finally our Kulim comrades showed up after having their beauty sleep and breakfast. It was a beautiful morning, and our time has come. We gallantly rode into the Dark Forest without any fear, nor inkling of the misfortune that was going to befall us. The black top track soon turned into the typical estate laterite and as we warmed up so did our pace. At crucial junctions we found a Kulim comrade always waiting there to guide us further forward. It did not dawn on us that while they were all riding at the back, why was there always someone up ahead. But we were too busy having fun, after all such rides are hard to come by. In Penang you can hardly ride 5 minutes before running headlong into some vertical real estate.

At one of the innumerable junctions we regrouped. All of us looked in pretty good shape with the exception of James who is perhaps our weakest rider. The single track section has taken a toll on him and he was panting and saying how tough the ride was. Looking back now, I realised that one of the agents of evil must have caught on to this and singled him out. A short while later, Annuar was seen sitting by the trail, no problem, he has been riding his new steed too hard and one of its horseshoes came off. A quick fix and we were instantly on our way, someone had mentioned that there is Makan ahead. The humble rubber tappers shed that doubled as grocery shop, pub and centre of social life was a very welcomed sight. We proceeded to strip the fridge of its cool contents, but there was no food in sight. The locals know a hungry band of marauders was coming and had taken the necessary precautions. We also did not see any village belles.

But we were happy enough to be able to quench our strong thirst and were patting ourselves on the back when the call came. One of our Knights has fallen and needs immediate evacuation. In our haste to get to the watering hole, we had let our guard down and broken formation. Poor James was left behind and the Kulim curse befell him. We had not taken care of our own.

By the time we got to him, James has regained consciousness and was being transported to the watering hole. It seems he had braked too hard and his rear tyre washed out coming downhill. He spoke of suddenly seeing a car coming his way but those around him did not see it. Perhaps it was nothing, he was too fatigued and just made an error.

It is usually on the easy stretches that you can hurt yourself when you either take your eyes off the track or just allow yourself to be distracted, such is mountain biking.Or, perhaps its the Kulim Curse. We assessed the damage, he has broken his collar bone and was in no state physically or mentally to ride out. Luckily no serious damage.

S T, our Kool Knight, very quickly rode off to bring his 4wd to take James to the hospital. A little while later, we gave chase but he was nowhere to be seen. Luckily another Kulim rider was kind enough to rush back with us, if not we would have never found our way out. Riding a fast pace, we soon dropped our Iron Lady, this is not her kind of terrain, too flat. Fearing the worst, we regrouped and soon she was safely within our circle and a little while later back at the trailhead. S T got his 4wd going and very soon James was on his way back to Penang and the Specialist Centre.

Thus, our ride ended. We thanked our Kulim comrades and hurried to our Mountain of Strength, Pelita Nasi Kandar.The drive back was a silent one as each of us pondered, What went wrong, Why? Was it just bad luck, fatigue, carelessness, inexperience, or a combination of everything. Or is it the Kulim Curse again? James said he blacked out for a few seconds and was totally unaware of what had happened when he came to. What caused the blackout, we may never know. But one thing we know for sure, the next time we ride this trail, we will be extra careful and will not allow a third victim to be taken. Right guys?

So shall we all go back there and ride in May, of the year 2020?

Derek Neoh