Kulim High Tech Park XC, 11 March 2001

I have been lazy to update the journal since I came back from Pos Mensun. I need a break lah. So, I decided just to enjoy the rides on Saturday and Sunday and not having to write something about them! Actually it was cool though. I felt much less burden during the ride than before, since I do not have to do frequent stops to take picture and observing what had happen during the ride. I can fully enjoy the ride without worrying how am I going to put this ride into a form of writing. It is a dirty job lah. But some stupid ass like me will have to do it. So no choice lah.

Ng the cool papa called me up when I was scratching my head to decide where was I going to ride on Sunday. The Merbok recce was off in the last minute when the guy who suggested the ride could not make it in the last. ST's ride was in Gertak Sanggul, the place where I had been there for countless times. Azmi was planning to lead a group of riders to ride in Ulu Paip, another trail I have visited at four times. Cool Papa's call was a blessing. Parit Buntar folks were thinking of riding with Kulim riders in Kulim High Tech park. Cool papa promised that we, mean me and him had never visited the trail before. I had wanted to revisit Kulim High Tech park for some time. There is an oil palm estate, just right after the traffic light to Kulim High Tech Park that I have been thinking to visit since it looks big and it looks like it has a good potential to have nice trail!

We met the Parit Buntar and Kulim folks at one of the Chinese hawker food cum coffee shop in Kulim, 0900hours. After having a light breakfast, we all set to the trail head! Apparently, they read my mind. We were heading to that oil palm estate! More riders were waiting over there. We quickly set up our bike, and we started the ride without wasting any time.

We were greeted by shaded narrow tarmac. The weather was just nice. We had no problem to ride in group since the ride was so easy. There was no tedious climb. Within minutes, we made a left turn to a laterite track. I looked around that two were missing. I alerted the front pack that we had missing riders. We found out later that two riders were spending too much time tweaking their babies that they did not know we started the ride!

The ride became interesting when we started to attack the laterite trail. The group began to split into sub groups. I was with the front pack. The trail became more and more challenging as we venture deeper into the estate. We faced more and more climbs, and the gradient of the climbs are becoming steeper. Of course, not as steep as that 14km singletrack in Sungai Sedim or K6 alike. But they were steep enough to give your heart a good workout! I could feel that those Kulim riders were testing me and cool papa since we were the oldest in the front pack. They started to attack the trail faster and faster. I was riding my Diamondback with all the recent upgrades to it. I was also fresh from the Pos Mensun challenge. Testing me? On descending slope and my endurance? Lets play man!

This was a shady trail. It means I can ride in this estate for hours without worrying about sun. The front went faster and faster. The rest were left behind and we did not bother to look back. My heart was panting like hell and the ride was getting more challenging. Try going on the trail with lots of ruts and mud pond and tell me how you feel. Either the front stuck in the pond and catapult the rider from the bike, or the rear wheel gives way and the rider will eat the shit in front of him/her! I had lots of near miss when tackling those mud ponds. The Kulim was in front, Daniel the kamikaze kid was the second rider chasing after them, I was at the back spinning with both of my turbine fully engaged. Time was good. We went in the range of close to 50 clicks. At some section we even went up to 60! And then all the sudden, there was a steep slope, rivaled K6 but much shorter. Three of us had no problem to spin up to the top. But the rest would prefer to push the bike since they were either out of breath for chasing after us, or the undulating trail has worn them down!

We did not take the opportunity to have a pit stop when others were struggling to climb that short but killing slope. The Kulim rider and Daniel shot down to the trail. I followed after I took a sip from my "Kamelbak". It was a descending slope, and the trail was bumpy. Maybe I was over confident. Maybe I thought it was just another easy slope to go down. So I charged the trail, both hands from the brake levels! I went faster and faster. I could feel the gusting wind rushing through louder and louder. And then, just in front of me was a little drain running across the trail, which was just deep enough to stuck my wheel into it. By the time I saw it, it was too late for me to bunny hop! I slammed the rear brake. The bike did not slow down. And the front wheel hit the drain, stuck in it. My bike became a sling shot. I was thrown off with my legs still mounted to the SPD pedals. It was spectacular. My legs yanked the bike into the air, and she just flew over me and saddle landed first about 50 meters away from me! I slammed to the ground, hands landed first and my head hit to the rock that sat right in the middle of the trail. I saw stars afterwards. And I could not get up! My whole body pained like hell! The hands felt like they had severed from me! I was lucky to wear my helmet, or I will be lying in hospital with head concussion now! Of course, the saddle was gone. Time to change a new one. Other than that, all were okay. The front wheel did not even bend an inch!

It was a good ride other than the terrible fall I had. We managed to cover 25km in 3 hours. Not bad considered that we made three stops to fix flat tire and broken chain. The whole loop is close to 60km. We only did one third of it. So I am thinking of going back to ride again, if I wrists were okay by that time!

Stay tuned!