Sungai Pening-Pening, A personal visit to KL riders, 1 October 2000

This is just my another personal visit to KL riders. I wasn't expected riders in KL will be fervently prepared for my arrival since I told Paul that it was just another personal visit and a possibility of joining one of his routine rides. It ended up that almost every MTB groups Klang valley knew my arrival to KL! Worst of all, they prepared the best ride they could come out for me!

I left for KL on Friday night after work. It was a raining day, which took me almost four hours to reach KL. I had another agenda in KL. I went there to visit the Multimedia exhibition in PWTC, which turned out to be a disappointment! Since I took the trip as my private visit, I only informed Paul about my trip to KL. Little did I know that he told some of his riders, his riders told their friends, their friends told their gangs... It ended almost everyone knew my arrival! Fatt was with me. As usual lah, we always go together to exhibition for some time. You know, it's always good to have someone to share the expenses with you. But thing has changed. I have forgotten that the Rubber Knight has found his beloved maiden. Instead of having one car going together, we went in two cars!

I told Paul and Sany a day before that me and Fatt might not be riding if there were too much trouble for them. Do you know what was the reply? "No, no, no. You are riding! We will come out something for you!" "It's okay lah. If you think Sungai Pening-pening is too much for you, you can always skip the ride." Man, how can I say no? If I say no, KOTRT's reputation will be at stake. Also, chickening out does not exist in my dictionary...err...well, I chickened out last time because I did not feel good like doing a heroic stunt at a two story high vertical cliff. I am pretty sure if they take me to the Sungai Long trail again, I am going to do it to re gain my reputation as one of the best stunt riders in the KOTRT! So, after a midnight discussion with Fatt, ignoring his love one's protest, we decided to take up the challenge- to see what could they come out for us!

The ride started on Sunday morning. Paul couldn't join us because he would have to drive his mom to the airport in the afternoon. Kind of disappointing though. I though we would finally have our own time and share our web hosting experience together. Maybe next time! 13 riders showed up at the trails, which consisted riders from A2W, Silent Thunders and Cycleflex. Fantastic isn't it? A private trip became me and Fatt represented KOTRT in the ride! After a breakfast at Davi's corner, we all headed to the trailhead and began Fatt's and my first visit to this ever famous Sungai Pening-Pening trail!

The trail was wet! I think it was because of the rain on Friday and Saturday before. The trail was narrow also! A slight mistake ended up pushing the bike at the slope! I was in the front pack trying to catch up with Tom and Kent(was he Kent?) but they were proved to be too good for me! They climbed like they were the flat terrain! Somemore I experienced chain suck whenever I switched to the smallest chainring. A signal to change my crank soon? It seems like changing a new chain does not solve the chain suck problem! I had got no choice but to use the mid chainring and tried all my best to keep out with them! Well, even I had used all my might to pedal, there was distance between me and them. I don't want to blame on my bike. Yeah, lighter bikes like M4 and Merlin Titanium might make them going faster. I think we were really have distance in terms of strength and technique!

We finished the first five kilometer ride in an hour, the longest 5km offroad ride I have ever ridden! Partly because we had to wait for the rest to meet with us. Some of the riders in the front pack showed sign of impatience because of long wait. We had to since none of us was familiar with the trail. The delay was also because of the few wrong turns. Like the one we did after the first climb. We thought we were on the right track. After trying my butt out to conquer that god forsaken steep gradient, Thomas Fong shouted at me, telling me I was on the wrong way! Tom and Kent were already no where to be seen! Luckily they were not far away. The thick bush gave an impression they were already on their way to the other side of the hill. Actually, they were just stone throw away!

We continued the journey after a tedious climb back to the right track. The trail was full of vegetation, a clear sign that the trail was no longer used by anyone! Oh by the way, the clipless pedals really helped in climbing. Maybe it was merely a psychological feeling to justify a spending of 10% of my hard earned cash to these mechanical wonders. But I did feel like it was easier to climb with the shoes engaged to the pedals! Anyway, it was an easy ride until we met our first obstacle-barbed wire in front of us! Luckily there was a small opening. We managed to continue our journey after we all crossed over the fence.

It was downhill all the way down. Yup, it was time for me to show how a knight flies on trail! Things was not always at my favor. Tom and his buddy already in front. Azmi's brother was the next. Another rider already shouted to clear the way. By the time I recovered from my daydreaming, there were already four riders going down! I immediately turned on my second turbo unit and charged down! Too bad lah. Four riders in front of me and it was singletrack. I had no choice but to follow. The fourth rider kept on looking back if somebody were following him. Tough luck buddy, you are being chased by Turbo Snail the "Scram Maniac"! Once my SCRAM engine engaged, you have to be a downhill champion to throw me away! Did I overtake him? Hmm...Anyway, it was a smooth downhill. I tended to go faster than the front rider so I would have to be careful not to hit his rear wheel. Not nice lah. Otherwise he might think I was trying to be funny!

Of course, not all downhill sections were as uneventful as the one I mentioned in the last paragraph. We were greeted by another fence off after we continued our journey to a oil palm estate. It was a steep slope but the beginning of the slope fooled me to think it was just another gradual descent. I did not realize the gradient until I was already at the middle of the descent. I couldn't stop at that time. I would have to continue or I would roll down to the bottom with my bike! The damped ground really helped. It provided extra traction. I don't think I could do it if the ground were dry!

It was one hell of the 20km XC ride. It's too bad to hear that the trail will become inaccessible to moutainbike pretty soon. If I have a chance to come back again I would! So what are we going to do this coming Sunday? A K2 excursion again? Hmm...

Oh yeah, any makan afterwards? Yup, satay in Kajang. Nice! We sapu five big plates of "Ho Fun" and "Tai Lok Ming" and countless satay! I especially like the beef ones!

Stay tuned!