The Mountain is the King

After a gruelling hunt for the blue calves in Avatar Land a day before, I click the FB button to accept the invitation for pre-KOM (King of the Mountain) ride. Legs still with a bit of soreness here and there from the bumpy and roller coaster ride in FRIM but still I need the endorphines to get me exhausted through the weekend in a satisfactory manner - no more fatigues from long hours driving through hari raya frenzy for me.

The recipe was to meet up with 11 other usual suspects at Batu 14, Dewan Serbaguna Hulu Langat, ride up 9km Genting Peres, zoom down 13km to the other side towards Titi, refuel and back up again and finish the assignment with the legendary 3km up Bukit Hantu. Ambitious? You tell me.

I cycled from home with my kampung mates Det & Doc Taufiq still with slightly less confidence whether I can nail this one or not. Whatever happen, I should give it a shot. Met the rest of the members and steadily we climbed Genting Peres at our own pace. Legs felt a bit sluggish though and but still I wanted to chase the clouds - at least reaching the peak is already one task. However, the sluggishness were also shared with most others and perhaps they were not on their top form today. By the time we reached the peak, there were almost three groups counting up to 20 people. It's getting crowded by the time as more cyclists arriving.

Det & Doc Taufiq stuck to their earlier plan - Peres and back. Laif and friend had a major discount card thrown in. And a few others didn't look quite convincing to play along with the mountain music. Only six zoomed down.

The ride down was pretty much like chasing each other since less of us left in the bunch. I tried hard not to think about every incline that I will defy on my way back up later. It's gruelling enough to even think about it. My few attempts were ages ago and it was not quite something that I can satisfy with. In fact every one of it was disturbing. Some cyclists even chose to complete the Broga loop rather than climbing back up this peak. OK, not that I wanted to discourage anyone of you from attempting it, but it's adviseable to come prepared. You don't want to be pushing bike or sitting on road shoulders with no phone coverage in the middle of nowhere between Selangor and Negeri Sembilan do you?

The road was pretty much getting more and more test drivers nowadays, and that's a risk for us cyclists. Yesterday was the heaviest. Perhaps raya mode still on with travellers between Langat and Jelebu - it's a shortcut through the mountain road. But I despised the pedal pusher. I meant the weekend-sportcar-driver wannabe. And some superbikes riders as well. They simply careless of us the tiny, slow granny pedal pusher, puffing cyclists. They swerved at corners with loud  revving engine and noisy exhaust. Lots of them in fact. They come in five, seven and some even ten...and you can imagine how disturbing it was for us to simply want to enjoy a peaceful healthy weekend. Can the local authorities mark this route as cycling friendly? And please get these guys to go and whack themselves at the Sepang.

We arrived at a stall in Titi and the lady welcomed us the familiar faces. She asked where's the rest? We waited for Saiful and Zakuan but minutes gone and still no sign of them. A message came in and they had to bail out as well. Now I was left with these super duper climbers and I will be the spice and gravy of todays main course. Ammah!

I dug a nasi lemak and a bowl of noodle soup with a can of soya bean, only to discover later that I didn't bring any cash! Aiyo malunya! In an easy and still-macho voice, I asked Alwin for the favor. Thanks buddy. It was somewhere between 10.00 and 11.00 and the ride back would be achieveable with still some cool morning weather left. Our anticipated 2.00 p.m. finisher can be shelved.

The climb back was nothing more than pure gritting one. Similar to Bukit Hantu but this one have about four or five of it. The view of the majestic asphalt snake was discouraging. It comes one after another. The slightest recovery was still a small incline. I almost wanted to stop and stood on my aching legs but the sight of Alwin still spinning those grannies seemed accommodating. The first half of it was clambering and clambering. We get dummy peak sometimes. It was frustrating just to find out around the corner as we peek, another mountain awaits. Aiyo!

Alwin and me shared some encouragements but it was unresponsive at times when we were almost half conscious of our reality. I stayed low within my shoulder, not wanting to even peek at the view in front. Shivering. I kept on pushing the pedal with whats left of the juice in me legs. The cranky rotations were no more synchronized but it was push and push and push. Even the wildlife music felt like teasing. Lol!

I can never ever forget the sight of the last corner. It gave me strength for the final push up that crazy peak back up to Peres. Yippy-ki-yay! We survived with outstanding satisfaction and the best part was, no cursing. Hahaha. Bacin and Abang Halim were nowhere to be seen at the peak. We rolled down back towards Langat only to find Bacin, but no Abang Halim. We decided to just ditch Bukit Hantu which seemed to be impractical. Was that an absolute reason?

The three of us cycled back to Bacin's place with whatever juice left within. Alwin offered me for a lift back home which I pleasantly obeyed. Fortunately weather was quite comforting or else we'll be baked like hash browns. Well at least I have the chutzpah now to get to the starting line on 10.10.10 in Simpang Pulai for that 54km up to Blue Valley, Cameron Highlands. Better still, after a back-to-back run-ride weekend, I'm full of anxiety to start running tomorrow!

Date : 3-October 2010

Route : Home - Batu 14 - Batu 18 - Genting Peres - Titi and back

Distance covered : 116.89km

Max alt : 510  meters

Riding time : 4:50:34

Avg spd : 24 kph

Max spd : 58.4 kph