First and foremost,my thanks and gratitude to Allah swt for His mercy on me to take part in this event.Second,my thanks to those people who helped me during the hill climbing.Let's begin with the end..
When I arrived at the finishing point(Dewan Orang Ramai,Sg Buloh),I was met with smiling fellow riders who had arrived earlier and were enjoying their fried meehun and bananas.The 16km ride made me hungry even though it was only 11:30am.One participant told me about the leading rider who missed the number one prize because his tyre went flat just one kilometre away form the finishing line.In any race,the result is always unpredictable as in our own lives.
C'est la vie...
To me, my intention was to take part;winning was not even in my dream.If I could complete the course,it is a success.In this case, the journey is the destination.
After a short briefing by the event director,we started riding our bikes at about 9am.The able and younger men left 5 minutes earlier than us.I belong to a veteran category and we oldies rode with the ladies later.After a kilometer ride,I saw a young lady and me only.Looking back,I saw no one.If I were in the golf tournament,the prize of wooden spoon will be mine!{golfers prize for someone who came last}.From the main road in front of New Sg Buloh Hospital,we were diverted into a Malay kampong area for a ride about 5kilometres.It was an easy ride until we came to an area where people grow vegetables.The place looks like Cameron Highland at lower altitude.It was a beautiful sight but the road was very bad with potholes all over the place and very slippery due to heavy rainfall the day before.I had to ride very carefully to avoid falling down.
On one stretch the road is almost full of potholes filled with muddy water.When my front tyre hit the hose garden laid hidden under the muddy water,I slipped and had a slow fall on my right.My right knee hit the earth road and I did not feel any pain at all because I had my knee guard on.Thanks to Dr Azmi for taking the trouble to buy me a pair and I will remember,no matter where I ride I must wear my knee and elbow guard.I was very alert all the time even though I was riding on the flat road.One small mistake,one may fall.
The earth trail took me to a bridge,located perpendicular to our direction.The lady who was riding with me took the left turn because there is a track that way and there was no sign to tell us which way to go.But I think we had to go under the bridge.I called her to follow me.If she was alone,she surely will get lost.After a few metres in front, I saw a confirmation sign that we were on the right track.It appears that road signages are always inadequate and a few are misleading even on our first class highways.
When I arrived at the Kampung Orang Asli,I saw this trail as shown on the top right corner.It reminded me of the kampung roads in the 50's and the 60's.There I met the sweeper Fazli.He told me that we are the last and he cycled behind me.How glad I was to have him around before I climb the dreaded hill.On the way, he told me that we have to cross two streams and the climbing is tough.At that time,I was very confident that I can climb the hill because I thought and assumed it is more or less like the ride to the foot of Steroid Hill in FRIM.My assumption was absolutely wrong.What I unpleasantly discovered to my horrors that the trail was a single track muddy and slippery steep climb.No one could ride his bicycles along the gruelling 700m uphill climb.Even when I push the bike, my feet kept on slipping downwards.I have to stop a few times to drink water and take a breather.On one occasion, the teeth of my crank got stuck in the tree trunk blocking our way.I can't get it off because I was very tired.Luckily Fazli the sweeper came to my help to disengage my bike from the tree trunk and he even helped to push my bike a few metres uphill when he saw that I was puffing and looked drained.He asked me to drink more water and I took a rest a few times on the way up.While resting,a feel of regret came all over me.I should not take up this challenge at all.This is too much for the veterans like me in my mid 50's and 60's.Looking the other way round, the organiser had made an error of judgement in selecting appropriate trail for older folks.From the graph shown,it was a 300ft climb!
When we were half way up the hill,I saw two gentlemen,Mr Teo and Melvin climbing behind me.I told them to overtake me but they refused and preferred to stay with us.When we were about reaching the top,I had to do another steep climb with my 14kg Trek 3700!By this time,I have no more energy left to push my bike.Melvin came to my assistance and took the bike up-left hand for my bike and right hand for his bike.Teo also helped to fix my chain when it got disengaged.Thank Melvin and Teo!Otherwise I had to leave my bike there for Orang Asli to do downhill;-)
I thought my reward had come where I could do downhill like what I did at FRIM.No,no way I could ride downhill.The track was so narrow,slippery and full of dangerous obstacles along the way.Coming out from the jungle,I saw a nice view of the Hospital Sg Buloh and later arrived at the first check point.There,we were given as many bananas I could eat.After taking three bananas, my anger and hunger faded away.
After our stop for about 10 minutes,we continued cycling.The sweeper asked me whether I wish to continue the trail and I replied NO.I had enough exercise for one whole month!By the time time,I reached the finishing point,I have covered 16km in 1 hour and 29minutes.
Last, but not least,may I record my thanks to Fazli,Teo and Melvin for the company and the helps.And may I record my thanks to my partners in crime i.e Syed Din,MKA and Elda from PERs.
Note: More photos at my
flickr
The vertical graph and the map were taken from Selangor MTB Challenge website.
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