The end of year ride, Sungai Ular, 31 December 2000
Time flies! Just a blink of eyes, and Y2K is approaching to an end. New Millenium is coming! Anyway, to "celebrate" the end of Y2K, we decided to make something memorable on Sunday, which accidentally falls on the 31st of December 2000!
Twelve riders showed up to the ride. We had decided to do Sungai Ular. Sungai Ular is the mother of all XC that KOTRT have encountered. A 25km of torturous journey that rides across oil palm estate, Gunung Bongsu forest reserve and 12km of tarmac back to trail head. Usually we don't take newbies to the trail because of the treacherous climbs that will definitely discourage them from coming back again. Well, this time we had one newbie. Frankly speaking, I think the trip to Sungai Ular is going to kill his enthusiasm in mountain biking! Oh yeah, I finally managed to meet another biker from up north, Alex Ooi. I have heard a lot about him but never manage to meet each other until this time. I am glad he makes an effort to join us. After a quick breakfast at the mamak store next to the trail head, we all proceeded to the trail and began our fun!
The weather was cooling this morning. It was drizzling. But it did not stop us from having our fun. The trail at the beginning was the same as a year ago when we visited it. Since most of use more or less were at the same level, in less than 20 minutes, we were already at our first regroup point. But it was not the case for the newbie that joined us. He started showed sign of trouble at the first climb we tackled. I decided to baby-sit him with his brother in law, Annuar. I could see where the problem, he apparently out paced himself. I think it is normal for anyone who just starts riding tends to out pace themselves. I understood his desperation to keep up with others. At one point he even commented that how come the rest had unending energy to deal with the torture he was going through. Well, we went through the same stage as what he is facing now. I still remember the first time I rode in Sungai Ular. I had exactly the same feeling. I even blamed my bike for screwing me up. You know lah. When you are in frustration, you always find an excuse to justify why you screw up...:)
Everything went smoothly although we had to wait for the newbie to catch up with us. The trail was rideable all the way until we reached the border to the Gunung Bongsu Forest Reserve. We even took a picture as a proof to show that we had been there before. After taking the picture, we decided to cross the border. The fun began! It was the part that most riders would shiver whoever mentions the Sungai Ular trail. Immediately we entered the trail, we were greeted by a long and steep slope. What made the trail to ride was the roots and ruts all over place. We had to push our bikes up though there were some of us tried without any success. Once we finished the climb, thing did not get better. It was apparent that the trail had not been used for some time. He trail was covered by overgrown vegetation. We had to battle with the thick bushes to go through!
We thought the trail would be cleared afterwards. We were wrong! We had to clear the trail all the way from the trailhead at Gunung Bongsu to the trail end! Bushes at some part of the trail was so thick that if you were never being to the trail before, you would not know actually there was trail underneath. A mountain biking trip became a mountain walking trip! My shoulder is still hurt after carrying my bike all the way! What made the matter worst was some part of the trail had been collapsed. The heavy rain from the previous months had really a toll on the trail. The whole section of the trail was washed away. We had to find other way to cross to the remaining part of the trail. We could not turn back because we had reached to the point of no return. It sux you know???
By the time we came out from the bush covered trail, it was already 4.00pm. The longest "ride" we had ever had! To make the thing worst, we were lost on our way. The landscape of the connecting trail was so different that none of us could find our way out. Just imagine time was running late, and we were still in the oil palm estate trying to figure out how to go back to the civilization! There was supposed to be a junction that we were supposed to turn. But the change of landscape made it very difficult to locate. Maybe because of the tiredness, we started to disagree each other. I clearly remembered that we were supposed to turn right at the rubber estate but the rest disagreed. They insisted to go back to the oil palm estate and find the way out. It ended up that we had to ride longer distance than the original trail!
I started to lose patient when the time getting late. I felt sorry for my fiancée since she was waiting for me to have a dinner with her. Because of her time constraint(she runs a pub at the 8 Rows), if I couldn't make it before 5pm, we would have to wait until next week to meet again. We had so little time for each of us, and we really valued it! I did not stop at the last pit stop, which was at the road site. I just proceeded to Sungai Ular without any delay! 5 minutes later, the rest showed up at Sungai Ular. I did not know what happen to that newbie until Annuar showed up. He was too tired to continue! Boy, this is discouraging!
It is quite disappointing to see that the trail is not rideable any more. But one thing for sure, it was a memorable ride! So what am I going to do to compensate for my absence from my fiancée's dinner date? I don't know. I really don't know!
Stay tuned!