Sungai Sedim, 7 May 2000
Strange, I didn't excited about this ride this morning. Maybe because I had been there before, and the highlight of the ride was not ride related - a nice cold dip in the rapid of Sungai Sedim. A pretty short ride compared to others. We managed to finish it under two hours. Some of the riders screamed for more after they realized that the ride had already done.
We had 28 riders showed up this time. The largest group turnout for the ride done by K.O.T.R.T so far this year. We had three gathering place to meet all riders, which made the timing miserable, especially some of the riders were late due to whatever thing they did a day before. Why couldn't we be on time? Hmm... Anyway, while waiting for the remaining to arrive, me and ST's group decided to fill our stomach first at Qan Nam. I had to lie to Viper Ong that we were on our way when he called at 7.55am. I was sorry for him, when he first arrived at our last meeting point at BKE and no one was there.
The ride did not start until 9.00 am, the time when the sun was high up in the sky. Luckily the trail was shaded. Otherwise I was pretty sure the only lady rider we had today was going to curse like hell! Yes, we had a lady rider today. Amy is Dr. Francis' good friend. Speaking of which, did I tell you that Dr. Francis came back last week for his vacation? No? Well, here he is. Still in one piece. Apparently, he was not well fed in the Kiwiland. Hmm... wonder what would his mom say when she picked him up at the airport? "Aiyo yum kong, so thin?!!! Mama is going to cook your favorite dish tonite. Told you already, that kuai loh place is not for us and you don't listen? See what happen lar?" It reminded me of what happened to me when I first came back from US when I decided not to continue my research study at Polytech. Long hair, 200 lb Godzilla walked from arrival hall and my mom didn't even recognize me! You know what she did when she realized that the Red Indian looking guy in front of her was her eldest son? She took me to a hair saloon! That's the reason why I had a G.I haircut right now. No eye see, "Mo Gan Tai"! Keeping my hair for so long and in just 10 minutes disappeared from the hair dresser's hair mower! My heart was crushed to pieces and never be able to recover since then! Anyway, so much of bs about how I felt when I first arrived. Isn't it nice that I can write whatever I want in my own homepage? The world is my oyster, yeah!! Hmm...where's my Frankies goes to Hollywood album?
This was an easy offroad trail. No hard climb, no technical downhill. It was very suitable to bring newbies and intermediate riders to enjoy a nice Sunday ride and a cold dip in the stream after that. The trail was much better than the last time I visited. It was used to be a rocky singer track that required riders' certain riding skill to ride on certain sections but not anymore. Like it or not, the recent logging activities before Sungai Sedim was announced as a state park had helped smoothen the terrain. It was a double lane offroad XC track now. Still, there were still fallen trees here and there due to heavy rain a day or two before. Well, this is part of the funs right?
We finished the ride rather early. By the time I reached the starting point, The time was only 10.30am. ST and others decided to explore the site further by going to another trail in this forest reserve, which I assure you that your legs will be full of leeches by the time you come out! It was a trail by the side of Sungai Sedim river. Very wet and slippery. My first visit to this trail was my first real XC mountain biking ride. Only way to get rid on the leeches other than spraying insecticide to your shoes is keep on paddling. Don't let your led touch the damp soil. Once your feet are on the ground, that's it. You will come back with leeches on your foot pads!
I did not follow ST to explore the trail that branched off from the tarmac single track that we were riding back to the trail head. I was chasing after Kenny and trying to see if my daily training at Batu Kawan worked or not. Yes my stamina improved but still not good enough. I punctured halfway before cOOl Papa, Eng and Viper Ong zoomed pass me! It seemed like I needed more training to bring myself back to my original stage when I was in road riding long time ago!
This was one of the smoothest rides. We discovered trails that branched off along the way. We had decided to come back again in the end of this month. We are going to have an overnight camp at the river bank of Sungai Sedim, and explore all the trails that we have been thinking to explore but never make it. Game? Watch out for updates!
Stay Tuned!