My "recovery" ride at Mt. Erskine, 10 December 2000
After that "moderate" ride at Sungai Ara, I sill felt like I needed to flex some muscle in the evening. No, I am not implying that I am a tough rider. It's just like sometimes you urge to push yourself beyond the limit, that's all. Actually, I wanted to find out if ST's theory about doing a light exercise after a tough ride would make the recovery faster was true or not. After hearing that Khairel was planning an evening ride for his brother and his buddy in Mt. Erskine("Couldn't get up in the morning, so can only ride in the evening!"), I decided to join the fun. Probably can teach them a technique or two about mountainbiking!
I arrived at the trail head of Mt. Erskine at 4.45pm. To my surprise, no one was there! It was a beautiful evening. Since I arrived early, I decided to wait and fix my machine up. As the time approached 5pm, there were still no one showing. Apparently, they probably decided to do something else. Shopping in the Super Tanjung maybe. Since I had already gotten my bike up and home was 45 minutes away, I decided to give them 5 more minutes. If they did not show up by 5.05pm, I would go on my own!
Well, it really seems like I had to do it solo. It was my second time to do solo ride at Mt. Erskine. The solo ride in the Mt. Erskine can be very spooky. Don't know why, for the two times I have done the ride, I could still feel it eerie to do the ride alone in this ever famous trail. Was it because of the close proximity to the Chinese cemetery? I always had a feeling of somebody was behind me. It never happened to me when I riding at the back hill of Batu Kawan!
Speaking of which, the trail had changed since my last visit to the trail two months ago. The trailhead had disappeared or re-surfaced beyond recognition. The slope had been cut to make way to MPPP's wet market construction. It is a pity to see that there was no plan to rebuild a connecting trail. I had to climb before I could go back to the trail. Once I reached the part that I could really climb to my machine's saddle and enjoyed the ride, it was very apparent that the trail had not been maintained. There were overgrown bushes along the trail. Erosion also visible at certain portion of the stretch.
Although the remaining trail was not in a good shape, it did not mean that the trail was not rideable. I had no problem to pedal along at all. Since this was my "recovery" ride, I decided to make it easy. With the eerie feeling in my heart, and no one I had to chase after or someone chased after me, I could afford a easier pace instead of usual heart pumping and gasping ride. I really took some time to enjoy the ride and the view, which I never had the opportunity to do so previously. Partly also I hope Khairel would be able to catch up with me if he and his buddies came late. The view from the mid way of the trail to Tanjung Tokong was simply breathtaking. Also, I had realized that the air in Mt. Erskine was so cooling and fresh. Besides the eerie feeling I had, it was the most relaxing ride I had ever had.
It took me almost 45 minutes to finish the whole trail. The Khairel's folks did not show up or catch up with me even I was pedaling at such a slow pace. After brief rest, I decided to continue the ride to 84. It would require to hike to go across to Penang Hill. It was the part that I never enjoyed. I found the hike to be more terrible than climbing K6 on bike, or K2 at Sungai Lembu! Maybe because I have shorter legs. Nevertheless, the hike really got my breath. With my Diamondback at my back, I took one step at a time, in between catching my breath. By the time I reached the end of the hike, I could hardly breathe. It was a real workout for my legs. Maybe it's time for me to take up hiking again, so that I could have a more balance development on my legs' muscle.
Once I reached 47, it was just a gradual climb to 84 on tarmac. Most of my energy spent on hiking, so there was only fraction of resources left for me to continue the journey. Sky was getting darker. I could sense that the time was running out. It was quite tempting to go down to the Botanical Garden and forget about 84. But with those admiring stares from the hikers, I decided to continue...:) The ride to 84 became more and more tiring as I was close to the destination. By the time I reached 69, I could not continue pedaling with 34-28 anymore. It was no time for me to be a hero. Remember, this was my recovery ride. So I down shifted to 22-28 and continued!
It took almost two hours to finish the whole loop. I started at 5.10pm and finished at 6.50pm. The last stretch of tarmac ride from the Botanical Garden back to the trailhead at Mt. Erskine road was fast. I did it in full speed! How fast did I go? Well, I wished I had a cyclocomputer to tell me. But it was fast, that's for sure.
It was a relaxing ride at the beginning, and becoming tough when decided to do the whole loop to 84, come down via the jeep track and fast road ride from Botanical Garden to Mt. Erskine. Did I really recover after the "recovery" ride? Well, one thing for sure, I was dead tired. I had to call my fiancee that I would have to call it a day earlier than before.
A good ride? Of course! But the eerie feeling that I always have whenever I ride in the Mt. Erskine quite bothering me. Why do I always have that kind of feeling when I do the ride over there? Hmm...can anyone answer that?
Stay tuned!