Penang Three Hills, 14 October 2001
I don't know why. Every time I want to do this three hills thinggy, there always something comes up to lure me to cancel the plan. But thanks to Faz insistence, instead of going to Michael Ooi's Mahang ride, we decided to stick to the plan. But the call of Michael's Mahang ride was very tempting. Man I hate to miss it! Nine riders showed up for the ride, which included riders from Lumut. We had a quick breakfast at the mamak store and after a few chats and introduction of the Lumut folks to the rest of riders, we were off to the trail!
This was the ride that we would cover three trails: Sungai Ara waterfall trail, Sungai Ara farmer trail and Paya Terubong farmer trail. We would start from Sungai Ara waterfall trail, proceed to Sungai Ara Farmer trail and then Paya Terubong farmer trail before went back to the starting point again. The toughest section would be the Sungai Ara Farmer trail. I myself sometimes would need to stop at the middle of the climb when I am not in my top form. I was kind of worried for some riders since from the way they look, they were going to be slaughtered on the Sungai Ara Farmer trail!
It was wet and slippery. We had to be careful not to jam our front wheel when braking. Still, one of the riders decided to try his luck and squished the front brake to the full. He was trying to slow his bike from going too fast at the steep descending cement pavement. Next thing what I heard was "kelupak! kelupak!". I could feel the vibration on ground on my bike! Luckily he was okay besides a huge blue black on his thigh. Because of this, he decided to call it a quit after we cleared the first hill. Knowing that he was going to be slaughtered on the second hill, I decided not to persuade him to continue. This is one thing nice about riding the tree hills. If you don't feel like continue, you always have a choice to use the chicken trail to end the ride early.
We continued the ride after a very short break since the second pit stop was at the foothill of the first hill. The condition of the trail was almost the same as the first one. I was having a hard time to keep my Red Devil's rear wheel from skidding. I had to stop at midway of the climb when the rear wheel decided to give way. The worst part was I was in the middle of the steepest climb. It was very difficult to continue the ride again. I had to push my bike to the flatter terrain and tried again.
I heard a lot of cursing from other riders during the climb. Some of the riders were so overwhelm by the gradient of the slope that they had to stop halfway for a breather. And you know what? I didn't have to ask them why, and they already told me that they were waiting for me because they did not know the way! Come on lah, the direction is very straight forward. As long as they stay on the main trail, they would reach the third regroup point! I decided not to tease them for giving me an excuse. Not very nice lah. Otherwise they would not join my ride anymore. But I was quite impressed with the Lumut folks. No doubt two of them looked like newbies, but they never gave up and tried their best to catch up with the group. I salute them! We took a slightly longer rest at the third pit stop since the climb took a toll on most riders(I stopped twice, including the slippery section). Annuar would have to excuse himself since he had to go home before noon(okay...
The descent at Jalan Tun Sardun was a exhilarating as usual. It did not take long for us to reach the trail to the Paya Terubong farmer trail. Again, we took another rest. I think we had a lot of rest stops for this ride. Up to the trail head of Paya Terubong farmer trail, we already had four stops. Hmm...anyway, I was pushing to go since the time was approaching noon. I wanted to get it done before twelve!
I was lost in trail again. I don't know why, I always have problem to memorize the way on the Paya Terubong farmer trail. Maybe it is because of many branch off and they were all look alike. Faz and one of the Lumut folks were with me. I was the sweeper on this trail. They had to rely on me to lead them out of the trail. Too bad lah, at the end we had to ask one of the passing motorists for the right direction. Lucky us, the front pack was waiting for us when they realized that we go lost in the trail! The ride on the Paya Terubong farmer trail was the most fun part of the ride. Not like the Sungai Ara farmer trail, which was 90% expose to the sun, this trail was well shaded. And the trail was more downhill incline. Since I decided to take my time to enjoy the trail rather than bust off like the rest, by the time I reached the peak, there was no one in sight! I decided not to stop as well since time was very close to noon. I had to push the riders that were following me to go down. I could see their hesitation to go down when they saw the gradient of the slope. But I assured them that as long as they balanced their bike, they would not fall. Also, since it was an offroad trail, even if they fell, the pain will be less than falling on hard surface like cement pavement! I was the last rider to go down. Compare to last time, the trail was much narrower. But it was much challenging than before. It was an idea place to see if my Red Devil were as good as what I have read on Mountain Bike Review. I can't deny that the presence of the rear suspension did help a lot. My favorite WTB Velociraptor 2.1 also helped to provide stability of the bike. I was able to clear the section that last time I had to come down and push the bike over. But I still did not have the gut to go over the deep groove. Maybe next time!
But the descent did not prove to be accident free. I saw two falls in front of me, which one of them was caused by the front rider sudden stop. I always warn them not to follow too close together during the descent but they still do. Luckily the falls were not serious. One of the riders who fell must thank me for loaning him my spare helmet! I agree sometimes it's hot to wear a helmet. But you have to think about your own safety. The helmet can be the rider's life savior when his head hit something hard or sharp!
We finished the ride by having a 100 Plus stop at one of the coffee shops in Relau. I decided to go home to make myself a Turbo Snail special burger for lunch. There was a talk of riding in Sedim next week. Lets see what happen lah. If there were no response from other riders, I think I want to go solo next week again! Gertak Sanggul maybe?
Stay tuned!