When a mountain biker meets a group of roadies, 23 December 2001
It finally happens. I finally have the guts to meet the roadies! Thanks to Darren, the webmatest of the only roadie website in the Northern Region decided to invite me to join one of his weekend rides. Since I was not informed about the ride in Sedim until the very last minute, I decided to give it a pass. Sorry man. Somemore I am bored to Sedim trail. Unless I could get a bunch of riders who is interested in exploring "new" trails over there, I think I will stay away from Sedim for a while.
The group, four of them met at the car park opposite to 7-11, Hill side. I had a little bit problem to meet them on time since there was traffic jam on the bridge. I did not realize that it was a festive season. Sometimes I wonder why are there so many people coming to Penang during the festive season? Anyway, as I was inching on Greenlane, I decided to give Darren a call that I would be late. I finally arrived at the meeting point after a half an hour delay. It was quick a sight. I spotted classics like Vitus and Concor. It reminded me of good old days. I hope I still had my Alan Carbonio. Man, I never realize how much I miss my Alan Carbonio until I saw that Vitus and Concor!
After a brief introduction to each roadie, we did not bother to waste more time to socialize around and start our ride of the day. We would be riding on the Batu Ferringhi coastal road, climbing up to Mahang Dam, continuing to the Tropica Fruit Farm after a brief stop at the dam and back. It was the route that I have been riding godzillion times with the fellow KOTRTs(Speaking of KOTRT, I wonder what have happen to them lately. Oh well...). The weather was surprisingly nice, consider that we started the ride at around 1530hours(I forgot to check the time). Everyone was telling everyone to go easy since there was a mountain biker in the group. Going easy? Well, yeah for the first few kilometers before my Tanjung Bunga house, the Ratu Mutiara. We even had some time to chat about classic bikes like my used to own Alan, Vitus and Concor! And then all of the sudden, everyone was quiet and speed started building up. I did not have cyclocomputer on my bike so I did not know how fast we went. By the time we hit Mt Pleasure, the group had already splitted to two groups. Yeah, I was in the first group. It was fast. Apparently those roadies were testing me. I really had hard to catch up with them. But thanks to my old trusty Erzulie, even if I was left behind, I did not have problem to keep them in sight! Who said steel bike is out of date?
We decided to have a stop in front of Park Royal hotel so that the rest could catch up with us. I also took this opportunity to catch my breath. Man was it fast. Wish I had cyclocomputer to tell me how fast was it. It must be in the range of thirty five to forty clicks an hour! We became concern when the last two riders did not arrive at the regroup point after 5 minutes. Darren was one of them. I decided to give him a call to see if they were okay. Apparently, the other rider had a puncture. He was helping him to get the flat fixed and was not far away from the regroup point. We started the ride again when Darren and the other rider caught up with us. The weather became windy as we coasting along the coastal way. Strong head wind prevented us from going faster. I was unlucky to be the one who led the ride. After a while, I decided to let others to lead the group by moving out of the line. I slowly going to the back of the line so that I could follow the draught. Yeah, I was leading the group for most of the time!
We made another rest stop at the dam before we continued. I was virtually ran out of breath when I caught up with them. The climb to the entrance of the dam was my least favorite part of the ride since I don't like climbing at all. They thought I would have no problem with that since I had triple crankset. Not wanting to be left behind, I try to use high gear to catch up with them. Me 34-18, them 42-18, no match! There was a dragon boat race there. I am not a dragon boat race fan but I needed the rest stop to catch my breath, or I will be suffocated to death!
The ride to the fruit farm was no exception. This time I had to accept the fact that I was in an unfavorable position. My bike was heavier than theirs. Even the heaviest road bike is still lighter than my 27 pound Erzulie. Time to change the components to XTR maybe?
It was a great ride. We managed 26kph average speed although at the later part of the ride, we had to face the strong head wind. They were actually quite friendly, and we even talked about planning another ride in the future.
Century road ride at Mahang this coming new year anyone?
Stay tuned!