The "mini" KOM, Gunung Jerai, 09 December 2001

The last time I visited Gunung Jerai was last year. Check the KOTRT archive. The last journal about ride in Gunung Jerai was some time in December Y2k, exactly one year ago! After the ride in Sungai Ara last week, Michael and Kulim Lee asked me if I wanted to join them in Gunung Jerai this Sunday. I was quite reluctant to go since I considered to be no more than a 14km climb on tarmac. Of course, the reward is the fast 10 minute descent from the peak. But climbing up is boring lah. Especially it takes me more than one hour to do it!

When I arrived at the foothill of the Gunung Jerai, there were already riders there preparing their rigs for the torture of the day. I was quite surprise to see not many newbies today. Probably they got scared away after that torture ride in Sungai Ara a week ago. After we set up our rig, we were on our way to the peak.

The pace was fast at the begining. I was on my Erzulie. It was an easy six kilometer for me before my knee started to give me problem. I managed to overtake almost half of the riders. Michael was behind me catching. Everything was okay until that god forsaken pain. I decided to slow down the pace as the pain intensified. It was a pain in the butt to see the riders behind overtook me one by one.

I finally stopped to find out if my seatpost were in the right height after I covered almost two third of the journey. It was too late. I was already the third last rider who would reach the peak. I was right, the seat was not at its right height. It was low for my leg length. By adjusting the seat post, the pain instantly dissappeared!

Feast at the peak was served with yummy Chai Koay, Nasi Lemak and down with 100 Plus. Thanks to Michael and Ong for the stuff! One thing strange though, it was not as cold as my last visit to Gunung Jerai. Weather changes has taken a toll on Gunung Jerai? Hmm...

We stayed there for about half an hour and decided to go down to foothill. I was very much careful when I was going down since there were pot holes all over the road, and I was on my skinny 1.5 slicks and rigid fork. The bad memory about my fall was still there. I just did not want to take the risk to have my wrists injured again! Still, I managed to go as fast as I could. Later when I checked the computer on the bike of the rider I was tailing, the top speed was 65kph, much slower than 134kph as I was doing on the same road two years ago! It is still a mystery how the hell did I manage to achieve such speed. One theory is the computer that recorded the speed was a faulty one. Oh well...

It was just a ride that I have done it before. I think this is the shortest journal I have ever created. What to do, got nothing to talk about what...:)

I still do not have my camera ready yet. I have been eyeing at Kodak Digital cam for RM700. But I have to put it on hold since I have spent big bucks on my Nokia 6250 and my mum's and fiancee's 3310. Did I mention 6250? Oops....:)

Stay tuned!