"Spooky" in the Kulim High Tech Park, 22 April 2001
This is our third time riding on this trail. Funny, we have accidents every time we ride in that place. I do not know why. Accidence just happened. First was me, who had the most spectacular fall and twisted my wrists. Then, Gary fell at the place that is considered to be the safest stretch of the trail. Then, a new rider, who just rides his Gary Fisher Level Betty for the second time fell at the place that no one has ever thought that even a newbie will have trouble to tackle!
We all gathered at the trailhead at 0830hours. I was a little bit late because of the late outing on Saturday night. Bullshit lah, I just did not feel like riding. But at Azmi's insistence(he called me three frigging times in the morning!), he virtually dragged me out from my cozy dog hut and talked me into joining the ride! Gee, can't you guys give me a break? Anyway, I managed to arrive at the trailhead 15 minutes later, driving at 180kph on BKE! A roll call before the ride revealed that there were 24 of us. Half of the 24 was from Penang. The rest from Parit Buntar and Kulim folks!
The ride started half an hour later after they patiently waited me to stretch body and have my trusted Diamondback fixed. Considered that I only had 4 hours of sleep, I decided to take it easy. The plan was to complete the whole 56km loop. But my gut feeling told me that it ain't happen! We had one new rider here, a guy whom I met at Gary shop. The first 25km should not be a problem for him. But 56km? Hmm... Anyway, I decided to baby-sit him until someone else took over me and let me fly on the trail!
As usual, the first part of the ride was just a plain old tarmac kampung road. Though undulating, because of the smooth tarmac layout, we had no problem to cover it in less than 10 minutes. No very long lah, less than 5km, I think? The real fun began when we turned to the wide doubletrack in the oil palm estate. The new guy looked nervous. He always worried that he would be left behind by the rest. I assured him that I would be the sweeper of the ride, and I would take care of him. Funny you know? When there's SYT around, all volunteer to be a sweeper. But when there's "batang" riders, tough luck, you are on your own. You died, your problem. Who ask you to join us? I understand the feeling of being left behind by the rest. I did not feel good when I was left behind, especially on the trail that I first visit. So, volunteer or not, someone will have to take care of this newbie!
We had quite an interesting chat along the way. He kept on worrying being left behind. I kept on assuring him that at least I would be with him at the most difficult section. I found out that he was also a Teochew. We agreed that Teochew is a dying language now(sad isn't it??) I shared with him about my first time on MTB, and first time to climb that god forsaken Penang Hill Jeep track. Believe me, the suffer I went through I was first climbing that track has created a mental block in my mind, which I find it impossible to overcome. I had no problem to attack the Tiger Hill, no problem with K6. But when it comes to the Jeep Track, you gotta be kidding!
It was a ride in the park for me. Since I decided to take care of this newbie, often time we were the only two on the trail. Man, wish he was a SYT. Hehe... Actually the chat helped the guy a lot. He started to forget about worrying that he would be left behind. The shady trail also helped a lot. Just imagine, if I bring him to ride in Juru Firetrack, he's gonna to curse me for life for bring him to the BBQ oven. If you don't believe me, go ask Faz! Anyway, along the way we started to see few riders taking a break. I suggested him to take a break whenever we saw riders stopping by. I could see a relief from his face. Poor thing!
I decided to leave him to the group we managed the most difficult part of the ride, a steep but short climb halfway to the oil palm estate's workers hostel village. Since the rest was downhill incline and no hard uphill climbs, it is time for me to enjoy the ride. I turned my twin scramjet on and ready to challenge that Parit Buntar guy with Zaskar again. He beat me in the last two rides. This time I wanted to try my luck again! With roaring pulse from my SCRAMJET unit(sorry lah, SCRAMJET got no moving parts, so no high pitch whining sound!), I sped to the front pack and initiated evasive maneuver. He did not realize I was approaching fast from behind. By the time he sense a pressure from his neck, I was already whooshing past! He quickly engage his engine and started chasing me. It was a high speed chase. I took a risk by making a high speed turn a sandy hairpin turn. Have you tried that before? No? Try it next time! It was the best turn I had ever experienced! But you must know how to balance your bike, or the loose sand will sure give you the best "wash" you have ever experienced...:)
It did not take long to reach the village. We went straight to the nearby coffee to enjoy an icy cold chrysanthemum tea. The rest of the riders showed five minutes after the first batch of riders arrived. But there was no sign of the newbie. I felt strange but I waved the thought. Since I was so thirsty, I just paid my attention to the drink. Minutes later when I came back from the nearby sundry shop to get my feeding, I saw riders leaving the shop. "That was fast!", I thought. And then one of the riders ran to me to told me that the newbie had a bad crash! Let me tell you, my heart sunk to the deepest bottom of the Pacific ocean(how deep already? 14000 feet?). Without any hesitation, I climbed to my Diamondback and followed the rest to the scene.
It was not far away from the village. The bike looked intact. Not a scratch. The rider had been taken to the village by a passing-by workers. I was later told that his bike just washed with no apparent reason. Some said he jammed the brake at the downhill slope and the bike washed away. Other said something else. When we asked the rider, he had no idea what happened to him! Spooky? You bet! He could not move his left arm, apparently something happened to his left collar bone. My first aid training came into a good use after 20 years! His hand was secured using Fatt's towel and Annuar's neckerchief(Thanks guys!). With his arm secured, and ST decided to go back to the trailhead to drive his 4x4 truck over to pick the newbie up, we decided to leave one rider to take care of him and the rest would go back to trailhead to pick respective vehicle.
The ride ended halfway again! Spooky stuffs. Three times I have ridden on this trail, all ended one of the riders having a bad crash. And it is getting more and more serious. First, I flew over my bike, my bike flew over me and I sprained my wrists. Then, Gary crashed at the flattest section of the trail and torn his left leg's ligament. Now, a newbie crashed at the "safest" section and broke his collarbone. I think next time I come to ride again, I had better bring along "Datuk-Kong Liao" or Datuk-Kong offering and offer it to the Datuk before we start the ride! Oh yeah, for those who know nuts about what the hell is Datuk Kong, Datuk Kong is a Malay spirit that Chinese believe is the guardian of the jungle. Normally, a pack of betel leaves, betel nuts and chalk and banana will be offered to the Datuk before entering the jungle. A courtesy call to the guardian before entering HIS territory lah.
I think we should start doing that now, don't you think?
Stay tuned!