Nite Ride to Gertak Sanggul- March 29, 2001

FYI, last nite we had a three-some ride from Vistana to Gertak Sanggul. We expected a few others to join the ride but unfortunately the others seemed busy or had domestic chores to do like cleaning the dishes, doing the laundry, chopping firewood or doing something which is not discussable in this mail.

The Turbo Snail, Julian and I pushed from Julian's place at approximately 8.50 pm, ( Turbo parked his car at Julian's place and made Julian and I ride up the grandmother's hill to join him there). We rode up Bukit Jambul, passed Sg. Ara and by passed the normal Permatang Damar Laut turning. We went up the road called Bukit Belah and passed Sg. Batu and made a left turn at Teluk Kumbar leading us to Gertak Sanggul. The road was very dark, a little bit eerie and somehow spooky.Lucky Julian stayed behind me and his lights help me see the way as mine was not very good. i should buy another pair of Cateye next time for such a ride! We reached Gertak Sanggul and found that there was a free movie (the one with the big screen erected in between two poles) featuring a Jet Li movie. We didn't stop to watch the movie however.

We reached Gertak Sanggul at approximately 9.30pm. Julian's CycloComp. showed that we did about 25 km in distance and the time taken was about 40 minutes. We started back after about 15 minutes (after befriending a cop who was on the watchout for illegal immigrants). We detoured to Sg. Batu for some seafood but alas, the shop was closed. There was a climb the moment you leave Sg. Batu entering Bukit Belah. The others might not call it a climb, but, by my standard, it was a climb.

We made our way back through Jalan Tun Sardon and regrouped at Kayu. There was another climb by my standard and Turbo and Julian showed their prowness here. On the way back, Turbo Snail and Julian had to stop and wait for me twice.

Julian's CycloComp showed that we took about an hour to get back. The fastest speed was 56km/h (maybe we did a downhill w/o realising it )and our average speed was about 22km/h, or maybe it was the slowest speed.

Overall, it was a very nice ride as we covered 44km in distance and for me, there's no tough hill to tackle. It was a welcome change to our normal nite ride route.

Turbo and Julian, thanks for not doing the Sg. Ara trail last night and thanks for waiting up for me. I apologise for slowing you guys down. Remember the story about the Langsuirs and the Pontianak at Gertak Sanggul. Never ride alone there at night ..hieeeee...hiiieeeeeee...hiiiieeeeeeeeeeee!

Another info I found out about the route, there were some grave yards on the hills by the road and also a suppossedly haunted bungalow........again, hiieeee....hiiiieeeee....hiiiiieeeee!

Faz Harris