Bukit Penara aka Three Pole Adventure, 27 February 2000
I was promised by the group that this was going to be a "Nice medium 2hr ride." In fact, it was another torturous ride organized by cOOOl kNIGHt! Sometimes I wonder if I could trust them or "thrust" them for their promise. "Easy one lar. If you can go up to Batu Kawan in one breath, you can do this also!". "Moderate ride! No harder than Air Itam Dam!" Bullshit! My knees are still sore and I can hardly walk right now! Maybe it is because of my recent chain smoking, staying up late and drinking lots of Carlsberg Y2k. Maybe they are getting better. Hmm...Maybe I should think starting another group yeah? Let's call the new one as The Lazy Riders, are anyone interested? Only one rule: You have to be the one who own a super duper expensive, state of the art and the newest mountain bike and only use it for wet market shopping! Game? Hehe...Okay enough of whining and complaining. To be honest, this was one hell of the ride. The initial climb really taxed me out! I was lied down flat when I finally reached the first pit stop! I can still remember all the devilish grin of the rest when I finally made it to the pit stop...
Eight riders showed up at ST's house at 7.30am(Fatt did not show up for the ride again! Well, kind of forgiving since he is deeply involved in the courting ritual!). I was the last one who arrived since I got up late this morning. With all the gears ready, and the kids were admiring Daniel's newly acquired Specialized FSR(wish I have a "caring" father that always buys me a new bike after using an old for couple of months!), in a hurry, I fixed up my gear and we all set to go to our usual breakfast place, 1997. We met another rider in 1997. He was about on his way to ride in the Air Itam Dam. At the insistence of our organizer, he finally agreed to join us(Big mistake!). We set to go half an hour later. With my stomach full of century egg porridge and three liters of water at my back, I suddenly felt this was not my day. You know, that kind of feeling that you know you are going to screw no matter how? My mind started cranking for excuses to excuse myself from the ride. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one by the time we reached the trail head.
Let me tell you how I felt when I took a first glance at the slope: It was steep! And it seemed never ending!! I was already beaten even before we started the climb! Everyone was looking at me but I just motioned them to go first. Actually I was preparing myself to chicken out if the climb was proved to be too much for me. Tough luck! Maybe ST sensed something fishy about me when he saw my expression. He decided to be with me! Boy, it was the most torturous climb I had ever had! The front of my Diamondback was lifted no matter how hard I pressed! I wished I didn't make it this morning! We started to see the first casualty after a mere 100 meters. Ah Hwa, one of the tengkahs got down and pushed his bike. You know what? Seeing Ah Hwa pushing really destroy my confidence to continue! I finally reached the first pit stop after the torturous 15 minutes climb. With all the devilish smile on their face, it really convinced me that I should not continue the ride. So I raised my hand and said, "You guys go ahead. I think I am going home now!" Next thing I knew was I was bombarded with all kind of threatening, swearing, cursing that I would never thought of these would come out from their mouths! "If you don't continue, I would let the whole world know that you chicken out in this ride!" "Next time I won't invite you if you turn back now!" "We will scratch your car!" "Don't me see you in Penang again if you quit now!"...
Anyway, with all the pushing and their insisting, I finally agreed to continue. ST volunteered to be my babysitter. Thanks to him. Maybe he really sensed that I was really not in my usual top form. Of course what, I only slept for three hours. What do you expect? The rest of the ride as promised by ST was an easy one. Luckily, ST kept his promise. The ride up to the Hilton and then to Bukit Penara were not as "giri" as the first portion! Still, we saw few casualties along the ride! Daniel slammed to the mud when he was tackling the downhill single track from Bukit Penara to 1200 steps. It just happened that his FSR went endo and he was thrown off the bike! Nothing serious happened to him except he was nearly thrown to the cliff! The second incident happened when Oon was trying to chase after me during the high speed down hill chase. There was attacking a curve in front of him. I did not know what happen. I was way in front of him. When I tackled that curve, I went smoothly but Oon's bike just skidded and threw Oon off the bike! He was not as lucky as Daniel though. His Shimano spd shoe's strap was tore off and a big bruise on his left knee! Fortunately, I had first aid kit with me, or else he would have to bare with the pain and continue the journey until we hit the first medicine store at Air Itam!
Okay, makan was done in Air Itam wet market. Hmm, maybe one fine day I should write about this place. It was famous for Jawa fried noodle and Koay Chup but I didn't have them this time. I found their "Wat Kai Ho Fun"(Chicken Ho Fun) was as good as the first two! Will I come back to this trail again? I don't know. I think I will need more training in Batu Kawan!
Stay tuned!