An X'Mas eve ride, ST's Downhill Mania, 24 December 2000
*Yawn*!
Okay, it's X'Mas eve and I am playing around PC updating the KOTRT homepage. What a life! Anyway, we have not been to Tiger Hill for some time. As long as the rides that I have recorded, our last visit to the Tiger Hill was like six months ago guys from A2W paid us a visit. Since then, we had never had a plan to ride there. So out of the blue, ST decided to do it during the X'Mas eve, and he promised to be an easy one. "Downhill all the way from 168. No climb! And we will take tram car up to 168 so you don't have to suffer!" Right. Sometimes I wonder why I keep on falling into his trap of "easy ride and no climb" thing?
There were many riders showed at the meeting place, Penang Hill tram car station. When I was there, I only saw Ah Hwa and Leong. 5 minutes later, ST and the rest showed up. All together, including me, eight riders! Not bad for a group of riders whose physical capability are not far away. At least, the fast riders will not have to wait for the slow ones for too long! Ben was nice enough to get the ticket for us and we were off to go! It was a thirty five minutes(was it?) ride on tram car to the peak. We had to squish in due to the arrival of a group of Indonesean tourists. We really caught their attention by our fancy jerseys, tight bibs with our manhoods so vividly displayed!
We had our breakfast at 168 while waiting for another riders, who would be riding up to 168 via the jeep track. They were fast! If I were the one, I don't think I could make under one hour. Two hours are more like it! Anyhow, after a quick breakfast at the stall, we wasted no time and proceeded to the Tiger Hill trail.
This Tiger Hill was quite a technical one. Don't know why, ever since I changed replace my tires with IRC Mythos XC 1.95, I have found that my guts to go fast has gone! I have become the slowest one in the slowest riders! Man, it was painful to see others zooming by and gave me a pathetic look! Am I getting old to do this kamikaze thinggy? Or my magic of going fast at DH has gone? I was puzzled! But one thing, the trail condition in Tiger Hill had been tamed. The farmers had laid cement trail on it, which I hated the most! No doubt cement trail is convenient to motorized two wheel vehicle, it can be very dangerous if the trail were wet. It will become very slippery. If the rider has wrong set of tires fixed to his bike, he's gone man! He will experience the greatest skid he will ever have! The IRC Mythos tires are great for XC. I raced on them in the Sungai Sedim MTB race. I loved it! But when it comes to steep downhill, I lose confidence! I just could not go down like I used to be. I squished the brake levers so hard that my fingers are still sore now while I am writing this journal! Maybe I am not used to the narrower tires yet. All the while I have been using WTB Velociraptor 2.1 Kevlar. The Velociraptor has become my secret weapon to smoke the kiddos who dare to challenge me when it comes to DH. Now? They look at me, they smile at me, they wave at me and then, zoom! It was a painful sight to see them one by one passing me!
Worst of all, my knees were still bothering me. The pain I experienced during my ride in Gunung Jerai after a short climb at the Tiger Hill. It came back at the middle of the climb. It was painful. I think my knees tell me to be easy, or maybe it's time to seek advice from sport injury doctor! The cement trail was slippery, my knees hurt and "new" IRC Mythos. Man, what a ride! I had to climb down from saddle and pushed my bike all the way to next regroup point!
The group decided to cut short the ride after seeing me in pain. I really felt sorry for them. Though I insisted they should continue the ride, they still decided to call it day! Since the group decided to adjourn to our next agenda, the rest was just a smooth ride down to the Air Itam wet market on Air Itam Dam road. Of course, the kiddos still did not want to let me go. Sorry lah, I was not in the mood to fly on the road, so I just glided down. It must be a great dissapointment for them!
Makan was done at the wet market. Next time you have chance to visit Air Itam, do not forget to try Lam Mee and Lo Mee at Air Itam besides their ever famous Asam Laksa!
Stay tuned!