The Five Hills, again! 02 July 2001
Yeah, the five hills again! Initially, we were thinking of paying Ulu Mahang a visit, or maybe continue our adventure at Sungai Sedim to expedite the new trail that we did not finish. At the last minute, the guy who was supposed to lead decided to go down to KL to do his business. And ST and the gang were not in the mood of coming to the mainland to ride. Whatever lah. It is not going to be the end of the world if they can't ride. So, I called Vipers. Vipers said he did not feel like leading the ride. Called Maverick and he said he would be doing the five hills again. After discussing with the remaining KOTRTs(Faz, Annuar and Julian), we came to an unanimous decision - lets do the five hills! Oh did I forget to mention that we had a visiting rider today? Yeah, a young chap(well, he looks young!) from California, Mark decided to join us to see what could we offer him. I must say he was like, "Oh my god, this is awesome!".
So, I woke up at seven fifteen to take a shower and a dump. Julian called me fifteen minutes later that he was on his way to the meeting point at the Jawi exit with Annuar and Mark. I was still having a good time in the toilet and they were already finished crossing the bridge! Without wasting much time, I threw my jersey into my Daihatsu and sped to the meeting point! Fatt called me when I was just passed the Juru toll. He would like to join the fun. I told him to hurry up since we were already late. I was going like 160(well, it was in kilometer an hour!) all the way, and I managed to meet the rest at the meeting point barely on time. It was a good turn up for KOTRT. We had 8 riders, including me coming for the ride! We proceeded to the second meeting point to meet Maverick after Fatt showed up! The number of KOTRT came to 9 when we saw our lone rep from Sungai Petani at the second meeting point. And he brought another two riders with him! Can I say 11 riders from KOTRT?
36 riders showed up for the Maverick's five hill ride. I saw riders from Vipers group and Kulim's Lee's. We did not spend much on socializing since time was running late. Why do we always start our ride late really beats me. But anyway, the set up of the bike just took me 5 minutes. After all the woo and aah about my newly acquired VooDoo Zobop, we headed to the ride of the day. I saw one of riders brought his San Andreas instead of his usual Giant ATX890. God bless him man!
The trail was much better than last time when I rode the same trail for the first time. Faz kept me asking if the ride were going to be tough or not. I kept on assuring him that he would make it because he had improved a lot. Well, compare to me, he was in much better shape than me at the same riding age(he had been riding for 4 months). We took shorter time to reach the first hill than the first time. Partly it was because most of us were already familiar with the trail. Those who were new to the trail, like riders from KOTRT were safely with the first group. The view at the open space before the first climb was as breathtaking as always!
When I finally reached the foothill of the first hill, I was one of the last few riders arrived. This time we took the slope that we did not take last time because of the falling trunk and bees. The climb surprisingly easier than the slope we took last time. I was expecting for the worst. I did not see Faz on the way to the peak. It was a good sign that means he did it! After a short breather, we continued the ride to the second hill, which has the second longest climb of all the five.
Again I used casual pace to tackle the second hill. Maybe I was better prepared. Even with a bobbing full suspension bike I discovered that I had no problem to climb the second hill! It was barren slope, which means there was no tree to provide shading. And it was hot. Last time I had to come down to push my Diamondback at one half of the climb! It was harder to climb on Zobop. The bike would not bob if I know not to put my weight on the rear triangle. I had no problem to find the spot to make the bike stop bobbing but the extra weigh of the bike requires extra effort to finish the same climb than my 4 pounds lighter Diamondback! Anyway, of the silent complains about the extra weigh of the bike, I still managed to finish the climb! I still did not see Faz on the way up to the peak of the second hill. Another good sign showing that he still managed the ride. Actually I was a little bit worried if this ride were too much for him. But it seems like my worry was non-existence. So far so good. I did not worry about my high school since he knew how to take care of himself!
Of all the five hills, the third one is going to be a killer. It is a short but steep slope. It is quite discouraging when a rider sees the slope at the first time. Most riders would rather be pushing than staying on the saddle to climb. I decided to try my luck on the slope. Faz was on the bottom of the slope. Apparently the gradient of the slope scared him to death. "Faz, short climb only! You can make it!" I decided to use my granny gear to conquer the slope. This time I did it again. The third climb told me something had happened to me. My secret training in Batu Kawan works. I should not have problem to deal with Janda Baik by the end of this month!
The ride was getting more and more interesting as we proceeded to the fourth climb, which was the easiest among five. The trail was very dry compared to the last time I visited. I still had the fear of going down at the technical slope. The green stuff on the trail still gave me the chill at my back. I think it is going to take me a long time to overcome the fear. The descents after the fourth and the fifth hills were the best among the all. The descent after the fourth climb was steep enough to tell the difference between the rider who know how to redistribute his body on the bike and the one who doesn't. I move to back of the bike as far as possible but when I hit the hairpin turn, a peek at my right wrist really made me to decide to climb down from the saddle and pushed my bike! The fear was awesome. I could feel the indecision whenever there was a challenging turn/slope to tackle. And the green stuff on the trail. That really freaked me out!
We finished the ride at slightly earlier than last time. We decided to have Parit Buntar's famous beef noodle as our lunch. It must be like months ago since I last visited the store. We proceeded to pay Maverick's bike shop after the lunch. I must have brought him some business over there, I think! Too bad I did not bring enough money with me, or I would grab that endo boy jersey from his shop. Yeah, Turbo Snail has become an endo boy. I think I had more falls in the last few months of this year than all the falls I had before!
I am sure everybody enjoyed themselves very much. Especially, Fatt who has absent from the rides for so long. He enjoyed the climb very since the climbs was not as extreme as Penang Hill's K climbs. Apparently, besides all the cursing, Faz also enjoyed the ride as much as the rest of us. What about our visiting rider? Well, he said he liked the last downhill. I think he was trying to be polite. Lets see what happen when I bring him to our secret trail at Sungai Sedim lah!
So what am I going to do next week. Well lets see, Fatt's wedding on Sun(Oops, did I say Fatt's getting married?) and International MTB race on Sat and Sun next week. Hmm, maybe I should call it a day!
Stay tuned!