Don’t think there’s a more fun place in the Klang Valley to mountain bike than Kiara. Especially for me. It’s practically at my doorstep. Which begs the question why I’ve not been riding it as much as I should. Perhaps, as with most things in life, we need variety. As the Law of Diminishing Returns dictates, increasing amounts of the same stuff will increasingly put you off that stuff, whatever it may be. Learnt that years back in Economics class.
Now what is it about Kiara that makes biking there so much fun? Of course it’s the trails, duh. Whoever built and maintains that network of fabulous singletracks, we got to take our hats off to. And most recently they added another 200m of a new section to the Magic Carpet. To circumvent some newly put up fencing. And I got to try it out last Sunday with the usual bunch of my ride buddies who believe, rightly or wrongly, that life is all about getting muddy and smelly on a mountain bike. Especially on a Sunday (or any off day). Anywhere, as long as it’s offroad. Never mind running into creatures of the ’other world’ (ask WC Chan). Or even king cobras, charging wild boars, heart-tearing bears (ask Simon Guinness), black panthers or wild elephants. As long as it’s off the road.
Okay, enough of my ranting.
Back to Kiara last Sunday. Despite a number of regulars not making it, we still had about 15 of us gathered at KSH Bikes. The Wrench called in to say he was having ‘exhaust’ problems and would be a bit late. By 8.30am, we decided not to wait any longer. Text him that we would meet him at the X Road.
So Choy, the fisherman-turned-mountain biker, took over the honour of leading us. First stop was the Office. Fun as always. At the end of it, Choy said to follow ride plan of Gerard (jeez, he wasn’t even there!) so up we went riding the Coronary Bypass in reverse. First time for me and I thought it was gonna be one helluva climb. But surprisingly it turned out to be quite easy to ride up. So far I’d only ridden it many times the opposite way. Meaning downhill and not up. Kudos to Choy and Gerard.
Next on the menu was this brand new section of the Magic Carpet. Great track! Most scary was that steep switchback left not too far into the track. Saw Choy attacking it only to grind to a stop, daunted by the steep drop all the way down on the right if anything went awry. But being the stubborn chap that he is, he backed up a bit and easily cleaned it second attempt. I took a look and decided to follow Sherman and Lena walking down it. Actually looks more scary than it really is. Next time maybe.
We regrouped at the X Road and caught up with the Wrench. Exhaust no more leaking. So he took over the baton from Choy and led the bunch into 2K and to do the Mission the right way. Which turned out to be the wrong way. You see, we always ride the Mission in reverse so that we get max pleasure riding DOWN those switchbacks. Now to do it the right way means riding UP those switchbacks. What kind of logic is this? Sure enough, the sudden switch of routine had Chan WC so whacked that he couldn’t continue with us for the rest of the day. But I thought I saw him chatting up a nice lady rider inside the trail just before he called in sick. Vincent Hew too, who did last slightly longer until the slopes of Twin Peaks, our next destination, when he shouted that he was calling it a day and turned around…
Up at the Twin Peaks, I was given the honour to lead the pack into Pure Quill which both the Wrench and Choy weren’t familiar with. Nice to be at the front of the pack for a change, for a residential sweeper like me. Except for a few sections where the undergrowth was a bit overgrown (I was thrown off when my bar got caught in a vine), Pure Quill remains pure fun. Even for KY Jelly who took a tumble at the broken ‘bridge’, which caught him by surprise. Guess he didn’t hear my shouts to everybody keep right…. Sherman was jabbed by some nasty thorns here.
Choy took over the lead again for Dirty Deeds, and took the pack all the way down Upper and Lower Shots for some 1st class riding. By which time both Sherman and Brenda decided they had enough. At the egging of Choy the remainder of us decided to check out 4K. The last time I rode it must be at least 5 years ago so I was kinda keen to see how it was. Still plenty of scary sections with rocks and steep drops. Here is where our Kiara virgin, Kit, a college student riding first time with PCC, demonstrated skillful control. He rode down all those damn things and made it look like a stroll in the park on his Scott Scale HT!
To hit home we rode the Coronary Bypass and Office in reverse. But my entry into the Office was delayed by Kit, who suddenly encountered ‘exhaust’ problems and couldn’t hold any longer. Lucky for him I carried trail currency or he would have been forced to use the leaves…. Seeing as this was his first time riding Kiara (and being the responsible sweeper that I always am, ahem), I took the opportunity to practice some tai chi breathing whilst waiting for him. Not a wise thing though coz I thought I caught a sniff of exhaust smoke each time I inhaled deeply. Just as well King Kenny, Queen Debbie and a couple of other riders showed up to interrupt my tai chi. The buggers had just finished riding KDCF and were now proceeding to ride Kiara. Amazing.
Seems the next hash will be in Kiara. Nice. Hope I can make it.
Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone!
Ride Report Courtesy of Yellow Manta. Happy Chinese New Year to all...!! Have a good year ahead.
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