Selamat Hari Raya! 27 December 2000
It has been a talk, initiated by me, that one day we should recce Pedu or the place surrounding it. Of course, there always someone comes out and says not worth visiting the place lah, my friend has been there before lah, MTB is not the best means to recce lah and shit like that. You never try, you never know. I am the kind of guy that likes going new places, not going to the farmer trails torturing myself to death and feels good. To boldly go where no one has gone before is the reason why I ditch roadie for this alternative cycling sport. No, 168 is for city slickers only. A real mountain biker should go out and seek new frontier! I am not very keen to climb Penang hill and other rides in Penang. In fact, I don't like them. I don't like them because of cement trail. It feels so un-natural. I would rather go beyond my limit on road bike. I feel awesome when I go faster than 80kph.
Ok enough of bullshit, lets talk about this Raya ride. I got excited when I heard about the plan of Kedahan Forestry department to make a 50km undulating MTB trail in Pedu, when I was taking part in the Sedim MTB race. Just imagine, 50km off road and undulating MTB single track! Since then, I keep on talking about wanting to go recce the trail though I have no idea if the trail really exists. My plan of riding in Pedu finally got attention of Kar Hong, our lone knight in Kedah. He suggested to do it during the Raya break. Of course, I immediately hopped in the wagon. ST and Derek followed suit! It ended up that ST would have to call off his plan since his wife is expecting a baby any time soon. That left only me, Kar Hong and Derek's couple. I think if I don't insist, Kar Hong would cancel the trip as well. So we both agreed to meet at the Alor Setar South exit of NS highway at 9.00am morning.
We arrived at the meeting point 15 minutes earlier. Kar Hong showed up at exactly 9.00am. He suggested to go with two cars and left my car in his house. We proceeded to his house, left my car there and we went to our first agenda of the trip, breakfast at one of the coffee shops nearby! I ordered Koay Teow Tar, which means Ride Noodle with no soup if I translate it literally. The rest went for Koay Teow soup. We quickly had our breakfast and then proceeded to our second agenda, Muda lake!
It took us almost two hours to reach the destination. It was a narrow B road leading to Pedu lake and beyond. I had a feeling that we were heading to the Gunung Bintang mountain range since we were always heading east. We stopped our cars at the Muda resort to find out more info about the place. Unfortunately, there were no one in the office. Apparently, they all decided to take a day off during this festive season. We had no choice but to drive around to see if we could find the trail head by ourselves.
We did not have any luck to locate the trail head of this "50km MTB single track". Either it never existed, or it was hiding in some location that we couldn't see it from the road. We finally gave up after driving for twenty kilometers on the road and went back to Muda resort again to see if we could find someone again to ask around.
It proves to be no luck either. The gate guard of the resort had no idea about this 50km trail. Instead, he told us about a logging trail before the Muda Dam. Since we had come all the way from Penang, I think if I suggested to go home just like that, Derek and Kar Hong would be going to kill me! We decided to check the trail out on bike. Logging trail only what...:)
It was already noon time. The sun was hanging high up in the middle. The ride from the resort to the trailhead was not bad. There was very low traffic on the road. We could afford to cycle abreast even at this narrow tarmac. It was an idea place for road ride also. I think probably in the near future, when I've finally got myself a good road bike, I would come back to this place again! Without any difficulty, we managed to locate the trail head of the logging track.
It seems to me that the logging activity is still active in this jungle. Since it was a public holiday, there was no one working. One thing that really puzzled me is it is a forest reserve. I wonder why logging is allowed in that place? Some changes to Forest Preservation Law? Anyway, right after the trailhead, there was a hut that was apparently a resting place for the loggers. We were greeted by a man, who was the one that looked after the place. He graciously showed us the map so that we would have some idea what would we expect from the trail.
I never expected there were so many climbs that I had to tackle! Remember I said I hate climb? It was hell for me! I cursed all the way from the beginning to the end! It was a never ending climb! Once you thought you had reached the peak, there was another one again. This is a truly undulating trail, with lots of breath taking climbs! We had to make several pit stops to catch our breath. I could see that some of us really suffered from the countless climbs. But they never realized that my largest cog is 28 teeth. Theirs 32. Who would suffer the most? You tell me!
Although there were torturous climbs, I found myself enjoyed the ride! It was a double track, and the surrounding reminded me of Pos Mensun in the Cameron Highlands. What make Pos Mensun from this logging trail are the cool weather and easier climbs! The last two climbs would definitely kill the weak riders if they were not strong enough. Two 47 like climbs, not one really made me threw all the food I had in my stomach afterward! I thought someone was going to say lets go home when we met the first one. No one opened their mouths! Later Derek told me that it was an ego challenge. No one wanted to surrender! Man, did he realize that I nearly couldn't breath after the climb?
The trail ended at the big logging site. We took a brief rest and decided to return to the trail head. Everybody ensured everybody that we would go easy and take our time to return. But the more DH incline ride back was too tempting for me to go slow. I decided to leave the rest and charge at full speed. Still, the sun wore me down. I had to do two stops to catch my breath!
It was a fantastic 5 hour ride. Total distance: 25km. The last two climbs are definitely a killer! I think we could do it at the shorter time if we started the ride early. The hot scotching sun really wore us down! We stopped not because of the climb, but because of the unbearable heat!
So what are we going to do this Sunday?
Stay tuned!