Sg Sedim 10th Sept 14km Ride 2...???
First and foremost...a word of apology to all who waited so patiently at the Petronas Station for the late comers.
We have a mixed group for todays outing at Sg Sedim. There were those who were there for the river activities ie. water rafting, swimming etc & the 22 riders who turned up 4 today's ride...inspite of the morning shower! A lone lady rider graced us with her presence today! Aah...it's always a welcome sight 2 have the fairer sex in the midst of mtbkers & mtbking alike! No pun intended here Eileen...it's just that your presence is a positive sign that women participating in mtbking is slowly but surely growing on the island!
We were soon on our way after the usual breakfast stop. It was quite a sight as we have a long convoy of vehicles congregating to the campsite/car park at Sg Sedim. After unloading our bikes, gearing up, piss-stop & photo shoot...the group rode 2wards the trail head across the wooden bridge at the bottom of the snaking single-track climb. ST & co. lead the front pack whilst Alan @ Turbo Snail, self, Sup, Gary, William & Malik were the < Grin > ( self )appointed sweepers of the days ride.
The front pack were gone in a nano second with the 2nd group trailing quite a distance behind. Inspite of the morning shower, the trail condition wasn't as bad as we expected but certain single-track sections were a bit tricky, specially on the climbs.
Thumbs up for Sup who inspite of his recent bout with stomach infection finished this 14 km gruelling ride on his 30 over pounder Mountain Cycle free-ride bike! Kudos also to Derek, Eileen, Matthew, Anuar, Zel & KT for sticking it out with us to finish our ride inspite of everyone feeling so dead tired! Not forgetting to mention William who caught the nite coach from K.L. just to join the merry band!
Halfway up the trail, Gary the Bike Doc had to make do with a single speed...no thanks to a badly mangled XTR rear derailleur! While we waited for Gary to fix his chain we heard over the walkie that the front group was turning back as they felt that the trail was leading nowhere & the emergence of jungle leeches weren't much of an encouragement either! As we were adamant NOT to be deterred by the leeches & further fuelled on by our curiosity as to where the trail would end, we( sweepers/2nd group ) continued on! It was at this point Derek & Eileen who were returning with the front group also joined the merry( & foolish perhaps? ) band to continue the ride. Matthew & Kok Thai, decided to join us after replenishing their empty water bottles.
We were informed by the friendly locals that the 14 km trail would eventually lead to a Orang Asli Settlement...however the further we rode, the settlement was nowhere in sight! This particular singletrack was shaded most of the way. We could see different types of beautifully coloured ferns & big leafed Diffenbacias adorning the moist landscape along the trail. We rested 'n snacked by a quaint waterfall with crystal clear flowing stream...erasing our doubts if it was safe for consuming! We were careful not to linger too long at any of our rest-stop as the attention of the leeches were something we didn't welcome! After checking out a few single-tracks which seemed to go on forever we decided to turn back as it was getting a bit late...also we didn't want to keep the rest of the folks who were waiting for our return at campsite!
The ride back was nice BUT not incident free! The group scattered up on the way back...as much as half an hour apart! In a bid to catch up with the ones in front( u would too when you're isolated from others & riding alone accompanied only by the sound of the jungle! )...some of the riders fell & hurt themselves. Luckily there weren't any serious injury apart from some bad bruises. Gary broke his chain for the 2nd time & he would've entered the Guiness Book Of Records for fastest chain repair had there been any witnesses/time keepers! < Grin >
We were all very hungry by the time we left Sg Sedim & food was the only thing on everyones mind! We had late lunch at Al Bab's, just off the BM roundabout. The food here is of the Nasi Padang kind, tasty, spicy BUT reasonably priced. Everyone bade farewell to each other & there were even some who swore they wouldn't return to Sg Sedim for a long time to come! <Grin> Well... we'll see!