Riding with Fatt at Gertak Sanggul, 28 October 2001

"Don't you ever get bored of Gertak Sanggul?", my half drunken high school buddy was half shouting at me when I told him that I was planning to ride on Gertak Sanggul during our weekly booze together time at our favorite Char Koay Tiew place. It was raining cats and dogs on Saturday night. The weather looked like riding on Michael's Mahang expedition ride was not a good idea. ST was proposing doing DH fun at his favorite playground, Penang Hill but I would have to get early in the morning to join them. You know, like 6am in the morning? So I decided to skip all the morning rides. Oh yeah, I was supposed to going down to KL to join the International Bash ride. Check my bank account, only 100 bux left! Not even enough to pay the cheapest room available in the downtown of KL. Nope, I ain't gonna stay in that cheesy Kowloon Hotel! So I was stucked in this pathetic island and scratching hard to find out how was I gonna spend my Sunday! Well, my mum had given me a very good excuse why I should cancel my trip to KL:- My pop's birthday is on Sunday! Don't know why, as they get older, they take more care about if their children have done something for their birthday. I never celebrate my birthday but I have celebrate my old folks and my fiancee's birthdays! Not fair! Gertak Sanggul is always one of my favorite. It is better than Batu Kawan in the sense that the rider will have fun by riding the roller coasting trail on the plateau. Of course, if you wanna bust your balls, there is the grandmama climb to the adbandoned golf course or go down to Pulau Betung from plateau and climb back up again! I decided instead of busting my knees, I wanted to do something easy and relaxing, like walking in the park!

Fatt and I met at Gertak Sanggul village at 1630 hours. He had just sent his love one back to his in law place and just happy to be able to escape from his in law house by joining me to ride at Gertak Saggul. I told him I was going at easy pace. With his doubt that I WOULD go at easy pace, we quickly set up our bikes at got ready to go!

The trail was half damp and half dry due to the rain for the past few days. The Nine Emperor Gods came for a visit. It always rained during their visit, never miss a day! We went up to the plateau slowly. Along the way we saw couple of hikers doing their weekend hikes on the trail. It seems like hiking is quite popular now. We chatted along the way, mostly concerntrated on how to deal with the long hairs at home and our daily work thingy. You know lah, long hairs are nice to have but sometimes when they become unreasonable, it can a pain in the ass to deal with them! As usual, we exchanged ideas on how to deal our love ones! "Shit, she talked about buting a Kanchil again when I took her home just now!". "Easy lah, help her to churn the down, and let her deal with maintenance, gas and instalments". It is easy said than done. It always ends up we men have to help them to settle the rest! <sigh> I told my fiancee that I wanted to furnish our new house with Nordic funiture. Immediately she took me to funirture shops that were selling the most expensive furniture in town! 8000 bux for a set of sofa and tea table? I'd rather spend that money to get a good bike frame for my road bike project!

We did not stop for a breather after we reached the plateau. The ride was still at easy pace. We did not talk much since we needed some time to catch our breath. The trail was again half damp and half dry. We had to be careful at certain sections since they looked really slippery. One thing, I found out the ground had sunk in few places. The "steps" between the trail had become more and more challenging to tackle with. After we cleared the last climb on this rolling coasting trail, I decided to give myself a good work out. Upshifted the front from mid chainring to the 44, my bike just skyrocketed. I swear I felt the front was lifted when I pedal down at full force! It is good to ride with someone that is also familiar with the trail. I don't have to worry about him being lost in the trail since he knows the trail like the back of his hand!

It took us half an hour to clear the rolling coaster trail on the plateau. We took a short breather after we reach the junction down to Pulau Betung. I was thinking of going down and coming again but looking at the horror expression of my high school buddy, I decided to give the idea a pass! Another good excuse to skip the idea was the time was already running late. By the time we started to go back, time was already 1730hours. Maybe next time! Seriously speaking, I have not been doing some tough climbs for quite some time. The last grand mama climb nearly killed me. But riding on the Red Devil climbing that god forsaken grand mama was really a crazy idea. Full suspension bikes will never climb as good as hardtail on hard pack/cement/tarmac trails. I am thinking of doing the climb again but on my beaten Diamondback! As usual, he checked on my gear to find out how come I went so fast after the last climb. And as usual, he grumbled under the breath after he realized I was using 44-24(Is it 24? I need to check. It is the third cog of my 8-speed XTR cassette) to finish the rest of the trail. "No wonder you went so fast just now lah!" "Aiya, I only use 44 after the last climb lah"

This time I really took an easy pace. Fatt was still in doubt after my sudden burst after the last climb just now. I promised him I would go slow to enjoy the view. For riding this trail for a couple of time, I never really spend time to really enjoy the view. A lot of my riding buddies told me that the view was simply breathtaking. I know it is breathtaking but I do not really stop and see how breathtaking it is. So this time I decided to stop and enjoy the view. I was not dissappointed. The view was simply excellent. Thanks to the good weather, I managed to see as far as the sight allowed. For someone who like the sea view, they will not be disspointed. It was simply..err...wide. I do not know how to describe it. You will have to see it for yourself!

We ended the ride by having 100 Plus at the coffeeshop of Gertak Sanggul. We were talking about my new house and shared few ideas on what to do with the power points and extra phone jack. Yeah, I need an extra phone for my Internet connection. 256kbps ASDL up/down. How does it sound like? Wish I could get the 2Mbps one but too expensive lah!

I am going to be in KL next week joining PCC's KOM3. I have no idea what will be the ride. But one thing for sure, I am going to be either enjoying it or suffering from the terrible climbs! Wish me luck!

Stay tuned!