Paya Indah Wetlands were always in my place-to-visit list. I know there are something different to the place, every place is. However, the not-so-adventure of me nowadays, the plan was always shelved. Perhaps due to lack of publicity, and only when some years ago the place took centre stage when some NGOs lodge complains about the abandoning of some wildlife there.
The attraction here is the Crocodile Pond and Hippo Pond. Two large ponds with these special species. Ms. Gloria was a gift from Botswana. Now perhaps with some babies. The crocs were massive and lots of them. Some pelicans and other wetland creatures come and go throughout the 3100 hectares of land. This jamboree took me through some rough trails into the wetland, a new geographical scene on knobbies.
We were early on event day. Surprise! Weather was great though it rained late last night. We RVed at a few designated points and marched our way to PIW without hassle. A drive through Dengkil town on Sunday morning suddenly went busy especially with tens of vehicles transporting bikes.
The crowd was huge. All 1400 of us, that will squeeze out of PIW through narrow winding road on to the main Dengkil-Banting road for 6 km. I started off slow for some warm-ups, while laughing away at people overtaking all over the place trying to create a race climate. What's wrong with these guys? A podium lucky-draw prizes awaits everybody, not the fastest.
I made my way up the to the front (assuming) when we were already onto bigger & wider road while making good of the steady cadence and bigger wheel size. All effort went down the drain when the first off-road obstacle was a very huge climb in the palm oil plantation where everybody that I overtook came together again at the massive traffic haul. Argh! The rest of the ride to finish the plantation section was basically overtaking and been overtook again. It was kind of de-motivational but a jamboree is to have fun. Right? ....silence.
Connecting us back to the wetlands was via a 5 km stretch of slippery fire road along the ELITE Highway. I was going fast avoiding mud holes and stubborn-trail-hogging cyclists who would not give way for me to overtake on the right. They think they can go fast when they heard my "ehem!" notification while not giving me way, but they were scared when mud holes appear and went to abrupt slowdown. There goes my momentum.
The next stretch through THE wetland trail was a new adventure. The first thing that welcome us was a 2 km straight stretch of pit trail. It was pain-in-the-ass. And when I said PITA, I mean the real thing. The trail may look plush with the soft & soggy appearance, but it was MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE. Lies underneath the thin layer of dark brown soil are thousands or maybe millions of rotten roots and woods and stumps. It gave us the thuds! The knockings! The scraping off tyres! The side slips! The boredom! The every-mountain-bikers-most-irritating-things on a ride. It was also a single track trail, and there goes my overtaking opportunity...again.
Please don't get me wrong about people taking it as a race against my ability to overtake and complain about
trail-hogger. Cycling off-road is about the ability to choose the right line. And some of these people don't have it. They either bulldoze themselves through everything, or wait till the last moment to think & chose their line. And that would be all too late and probably not a good style if we are riding with 1399 other people. The 2 km stretch will perhaps create a bee line of 20 km. And when fatigues crept in after humping oneself unnecessarily earlier on, my "ehem!" noting will again appear to be soundless.
I stood patiently behind some fellow cyclist and took a deep breath thundering through them when chances appear. That almost took half a gallon of my remaining strength attempting two to three stunts like that.
Geographically, I find the trail awesome and interesting. I noticed vast flat land on both sides, with thick bushes and lots of fallen dead trees. These creates the soggy pit soil when drainage was poor due to the flat topography. Among others, it also creates new species of moss and other green life taking refuge on the dead woods. Too bad I was not in the mood of taking pictures, it sure would turn out to be a nice one.
We arrived back to the PIW approaching from the North noticeably from the scenery of huge lakes and water lilies. The trail brought me back to Batu Dam trails. Nostalgic kejap bleh? I went straight on, fast while they have wider path and hammering the pedal when I knew that the end would be near. Didn't take the chance to slow down and enjoy the geography but perhaps a revisit would be nice.
Without any alert, I was caught by surprise when suddenly fellow front cyclist slowed down in abrupt when the trail disappear. There was only a huge water body with grass and red tapes as our path. What the heaven?! Do you mean we have to ride through or in that? Like an amphibian? I tailed the front riders cautiously, pedalling and splish-sploshing ourselves through for a few hundred meters at waist high water depth. It was fun and at the same time scary. Kot-kot la suddenly the Jaws of Death appear from beneath ka! Naya weiii...
It was a big relief when finally the submarine adventure was over. Phew! It also took away all the muds clogging the dérailleurs and drive trains. That was also cool. I push the pedal harder maintaining the momentum, drafting some guys and went pass them when they went out of gas. Jahat.
Alhamdulillah the ride ended after almost 2 hours covering 36 km of the Wetlands. Awesomeness.
We were early on event day. Surprise! Weather was great though it rained late last night. We RVed at a few designated points and marched our way to PIW without hassle. A drive through Dengkil town on Sunday morning suddenly went busy especially with tens of vehicles transporting bikes.
The crowd was huge. All 1400 of us, that will squeeze out of PIW through narrow winding road on to the main Dengkil-Banting road for 6 km. I started off slow for some warm-ups, while laughing away at people overtaking all over the place trying to create a race climate. What's wrong with these guys? A podium lucky-draw prizes awaits everybody, not the fastest.
I made my way up the to the front (assuming) when we were already onto bigger & wider road while making good of the steady cadence and bigger wheel size. All effort went down the drain when the first off-road obstacle was a very huge climb in the palm oil plantation where everybody that I overtook came together again at the massive traffic haul. Argh! The rest of the ride to finish the plantation section was basically overtaking and been overtook again. It was kind of de-motivational but a jamboree is to have fun. Right? ....silence.
Connecting us back to the wetlands was via a 5 km stretch of slippery fire road along the ELITE Highway. I was going fast avoiding mud holes and stubborn-trail-hogging cyclists who would not give way for me to overtake on the right. They think they can go fast when they heard my "ehem!" notification while not giving me way, but they were scared when mud holes appear and went to abrupt slowdown. There goes my momentum.
The next stretch through THE wetland trail was a new adventure. The first thing that welcome us was a 2 km straight stretch of pit trail. It was pain-in-the-ass. And when I said PITA, I mean the real thing. The trail may look plush with the soft & soggy appearance, but it was MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE. Lies underneath the thin layer of dark brown soil are thousands or maybe millions of rotten roots and woods and stumps. It gave us the thuds! The knockings! The scraping off tyres! The side slips! The boredom! The every-mountain-bikers-most-irritating-things on a ride. It was also a single track trail, and there goes my overtaking opportunity...again.
Please don't get me wrong about people taking it as a race against my ability to overtake and complain about
 |
| One of the best |
I stood patiently behind some fellow cyclist and took a deep breath thundering through them when chances appear. That almost took half a gallon of my remaining strength attempting two to three stunts like that.
Geographically, I find the trail awesome and interesting. I noticed vast flat land on both sides, with thick bushes and lots of fallen dead trees. These creates the soggy pit soil when drainage was poor due to the flat topography. Among others, it also creates new species of moss and other green life taking refuge on the dead woods. Too bad I was not in the mood of taking pictures, it sure would turn out to be a nice one.
We arrived back to the PIW approaching from the North noticeably from the scenery of huge lakes and water lilies. The trail brought me back to Batu Dam trails. Nostalgic kejap bleh? I went straight on, fast while they have wider path and hammering the pedal when I knew that the end would be near. Didn't take the chance to slow down and enjoy the geography but perhaps a revisit would be nice.
Without any alert, I was caught by surprise when suddenly fellow front cyclist slowed down in abrupt when the trail disappear. There was only a huge water body with grass and red tapes as our path. What the heaven?! Do you mean we have to ride through or in that? Like an amphibian? I tailed the front riders cautiously, pedalling and splish-sploshing ourselves through for a few hundred meters at waist high water depth. It was fun and at the same time scary. Kot-kot la suddenly the Jaws of Death appear from beneath ka! Naya weiii...
It was a big relief when finally the submarine adventure was over. Phew! It also took away all the muds clogging the dérailleurs and drive trains. That was also cool. I push the pedal harder maintaining the momentum, drafting some guys and went pass them when they went out of gas. Jahat.
Alhamdulillah the ride ended after almost 2 hours covering 36 km of the Wetlands. Awesomeness.
 |
| Interesting jamboree |
 |
| Flat out |
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