All the way to...

Pokok Sena for some Killer climbs, mosquito bite's and lots of watermelon's.

Originally we were supposed to start this ride at 3.30p.m but it was raining then.. so.. waited till later.
Started at 5.15pm or so, ended at 7p.m
We were planning for more climbs.. but 2 of our members are going for a wedding dinner at 8p.m..
Nice long climbs.. but lots of mosquito's. Horrible mosquito's
Ended with some nice.. fresh watermelons, the locals was kind enough to let us have em for free.




Looky at the weather..


Panaromic View

This is really a very beautiful valley and everytime we came here, the weather has always been kind to us.. not blazingly hot even when it was in the mid day..


AK navigating a donwhill section.. New biking jersey.


nice turn, especially when you're going down full speed.


up..


more ups..


and MORE ups..


Cant remember this is up or down.. but it sure does look good doesnt it?


Look at the FRIGGIN mosquito's!!! These guys will stick to your legs, arms even when you're going downhill.!!!


Tien..


Me.


Came down, planned to go across to the other side of the valley..


buuuttt, got a little sidetrack with something else..


fresh watermelons.. the whole area was actually a watermelon farm..


What do you do when you don't have blades to cut through watermelons. You "KARATE KNEE" em!




Locals helping us out with the breaking of the watermelons, I don't really think that they're the owners. But we did asked for those melons and they gave us permission to gorge on em.


Guan's makan tembikai look!


Mr"Are you crazy? more uphill???!!!" enjoying his.. power melons.


Me, yummy!


Tien.. "oooooooo they're sweet"


More anyone?


Thanks to these guys for helping us out on those melons..they're really good.




The locals/farmers kids on the fields of watermelons..

Pics, pics, pics & pics.

Next big event would probably be the 7th June ride. 65km All across Jerai hill. My 2nd time actually, this time, it'll be fun cause we have new riders and hopefully others from SP as well.. drop a line to Patrick Xplorer if you're in the area and is interested in riding for 4 - 5 hours in the jungle(not on the road), passing 2 to 3 nice waterfalls around jerai hill and experiencing some nice uphill/downhill section on the day of our King's birth.

In the meantime, some pics of my regular rides with the usual suspects over the last few weekends...


back of my house..




this dude always wants his picture taken but has got nowhere to store it.


hm... what do you think these guys are doing actually?


Yup, bike posing time.. hehe. Looky at the center bike, its got Glowing wheels..













the gang..until next ride then...

4th May Ride

Darulaman Lakeside --> Gas pipe trail --> First Tangki --> Darulaman Lakeside
Total distance was about 20km or so but was a nice fun trail.
Riders were Me, Guan, AK, Yen and Siau. Tien couldnt join.. cuz, he's going to --------> the next day or so... ahhhh.... bali. Wish I could go there again... Did you know that you could actually ride mountain bikes around the volcanic crater of Mount Batur in Bali? Well, mayb not.. volcanic.. but its still is a hell of a ride if you can do it. Here's more information about it. The next time i'm there in Bali, I'm gonna damn well try to make the ride.
Back to our local ride,


Post UUM ride bike.. yup, I did cleaned it. Couldn't really bear to see it muddy. Besides, this bike has just came back from Shimano center, my LX cranks middle chainring is spoilt, rear hub condition is deteriorating fast, and one new XT FD is intalled new.. by the end of the ride, its not new anymore... dust!!


AK and Guan preparing bikes.

Guan..

Oops.. someone forgot to do sumthing.


Taking a breather before we hit the pipe trail.


Group pics


more..


Must be a hard ride for this guy... LOL!!!

Started the ride at about 6.15p.m... finish at 8p.m

UUM May 1st Ride

Labour Day Recreational Ride : Shimano-UUM

Date : Labour Day (1 may 2008)
Venue : UUM Sports Center.
Distance : 40km - which actually turns out to be a little bit over 30km only
Goodies: T-Shirt, No name certs! and some 2007 visit malaysia crap! oh.. and a lot of lucky draws. But none for me la.. cuz I aint that lucky.

Hard to sleep the previous night before this event, was anticipating about it. Cuz, this might be the last mountain bike event I could go on before for the rest of the year due to a packed schedule for the rest of the year.
Anyway, started getting ready at about 5.20am or so, got to Guan's house at about 5.50a.m, packed everything inside Siau's VAN and headed to Pekan China for an early breakfast before getting to UUM.

Anyway, got to UUM sports center at about 7.10am. Quite a lot of arrival already, apparently the early checking time is really sharp. Better organized I guess. (In the previous event, late entry was allowed till almost 9a.m) Saw some Santa Cruz's, Commencal, a Giant that is like mine..

Celebrity MTB Blogger "Mat Kedah"

The ride starts at 7.45 or 8.. quite sharp. Most of my group was not even ready or didn't even realized that the race had already started. Stayed up front with the leading group cuz I was.. at the front at the time, talking to Mat Kedah.. didnt even knew that it was time to start.

Group in front was really close and tight.. collided with a cone in front of me, luckily it was head on.. so, the poor cone just fell and I continued after being laugh at a bit from the group that I was.. riding with.
**
The starting stretch was a 9km loop around UUM.. on tar. Quite exhausting because I was with the front group, and they are speeders.. really fast. couldn't manage to keep up, when we finish the loop, I've somehow exhausted myself to the point of.. collapsing.
**
After the loop, went into a rocky off road parts.. really rocky. This is where I have to make a stop. The combination of exhaustion in the loop and the rockiness in this trek combine is just too much for me.. stopped, and "kesi-kesi" take some pics of riders passing thru. Need air...
Got out of the rocky road, back to UUM compound tar trek.. heading out of UUM.
Here's where power seems to have come back. Was able to go on.. without feeling like collapsing. Came out of UUM and headed into mud country. Haha..
**
Lots of Muds and climbs before we finally descended from the off road hill's. During this off road stretch there was lots and lots of muds, a one single trek pass with both side of the pass corroded. Saw some downhill casualties.
First check point was after this trek. Took in mineral water, one banana. Guan arrived shortly after that.
Went ahead after the small rest.. another mud infested trek up ahead. But a short one only cuz, after going up a small hill and coming down.. its check point no:2 already.. after this checkpoint.. we went out to the main road for a little tar.
After that.. its down to mud country again, this time through the palm oil estate. Passed Tien/Siau/Yen(apparently, they dint went for the first UUM loop, which was why they were ahead..)
Checkpoint no:3 was at the end of this mud trek with 100+ drinks. After that, its just a 2 -3km dash back to the UUM sports center for the finish.

Overall... a short but really quite enjoyable ride. For some of us, there was complaint that, the route was too easy. But I guess it was what its said in the program. For beginners and intermediate riders only. The not fun part was that, in this ride, we were all riding for ourself. Me going it alone up front, Guan.. also dint see him.. Hao/TH/Patrick at least was riding together for awhile before they decided to split up. Tien / Siau /Yen.. had all stayed together.. I guess that thier ride must be more fun than ours. So, for our next "event"ride(I have a feeling, we'll be heading to Jerai loop again on the 7th of june), I guess we've pretty much made up our mind to ride in a group and as a group together.. after all, best memories are shared with friends rather than alone.

** = Pictures taken from Mat Kedah's Blog... hehe..
Here's the pictures :


Bike Preparation.. Yen and Siau.


owner of Xtreme-mountain bike blog meeting with owner of Xtreme mountain bike shop.


Get ready line..


Rocky roads ahead..


Too rocky that I had to stop/pretend to take some pics here...


Out of the rocky roads..


Goin up../ Pushin up..


View from top of the hill.


arrived..




more arrivals.


My poor mud infested bike.


a muddy affair.


Bike after cleaning..


Food time..


Guan and his hilarious expression.


Food Posse"


Guan, TH, AK


Food Review: OK la... can be improved with some udangs... and sotongs..


this is a shot of my foot 24hour after the ride. Got bitten by a stinking venomous ant(ya.. semut besaq giler!!) in the car park. My foot was all swollen up and itchy after that.. luckily the swollen and itchiness subsided after that..