No-Pain-No-Gain at Kemensah.
Suddenly I was not only reminded that I had a dog. But also that I hadn’t taken it out for a walk in a long long time too. A mixed breed aka mongrel that most locals would call a pariah dog. One of 3 surviving offspring's of a stray mongrel bitch that chose to give birth at my neighbour’s porch back in 2006. As all puppies go, it looked kinda cute when small and my daughter wanted so much to ‘adopt’ one of them. White in colour with black patches here and there, and especially around both eyes, it looked kinda like Sylvester Stallone and so we named him Rocky. And as it outgrew its cuteness and started to look every inch the mongrel that it is, it became my dog. Nowadays my daughter hardly venture 2 feet near it.
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| Rocky the Mongrel |
It all began with the 1st ‘killer’ climb of the day. From a distance, I could already see the long line of riders slowly walking their bikes up this incredibly steep laterite path next to a new housing development. This was the trail head after a warm up riding through the Melawati housing estate. Unker Danny was standing at the bottom chatting with KY ‘Jelly’ Chan when he saw me joining the crowd slogging up the hill. Except for maybe 2 handfuls of ‘ang mohs’ at the front of the pack who actually rode this thing, I believed everyone disembarked and walked.
I actually lost count of how many steepies we had to get off and walk the bike, but when the 1st of the rewards came, I thought it kinda made walking the dog, I mean, the bike worthwhile. First downhill was a very rutted descent. Initially I followed the line chosen by Sherman but when he stalled at a rut, I shot pass him and fixed my eyes on KY ‘Jelly’ Chan’s bottom next, all the way to the bottom where we decided to stop and wait for the rest, especially Dorothy, who was still recovering from a major tumble down a steep slope at the Office last Sat. Somehow the lady must have been enjoying the downhill so much that she didn’t even see the whole bunch of us waiting there by the trail!
The ride reconnected to the usual entry point of our rides in Kemensah. Again another climb (but this one rideable) before we turned right towards Kuala Silih. Not been here in a long time but the trail looks great. The paper led to a left turn across some fishing ponds before we found ourselves at an orchard and another massive climb in the open! Time for another break. Gerard ‘Cha Lat’ Tan took the opportunity to adjust his shock under a tree. Was riding his Blur XC and not LT for a change. Thought the lighter bike would make the suffering less but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference for him. Just as painful.
The long push up the orchard eventually brought us back to the ‘roundabout’ up in the hills before taking us up yet 2 more short hills into the bamboo-shrouded trail. This was where the ‘longies’ merged with us ‘shorties’ for a great blast downhill back to the cars. But before that, another short but steep and rocky climb. That was when I witnessed some incredible riding by the ‘ang mohs’ who had just finished riding the extra loop for the long. They made it look like it was so easy to ride up the hill. Somehow I think God designed the ‘ang mohs’ for riding bicycles.
At the pre-ride briefing the hares refused to provide ride distances for some reason. As it turned out, the short that we rode was barely 15km but it felt like 50km with all those darn hills. At the top of one, the hares even had the humour to tie a squawky rubber chicken next to the sign pointing in the direction of the short ride. I had a good time here squeezing the chick….
Choi!! was the only daring one amongst us PCC crowd who signed up to ride the long. In fact he rode slightly longer than the long, no thanks to 2 chaps who pointed him (intentionally or otherwise) down the wrong slope!
Another one of those no-pain-no-gain ride. Not riding this weekend as it’s time to head back to the hometown for Ching Ming again. But if you guys are keen to still sneak in a ride, do join me at Kiara on Sat morning!
Ride Report courtesy of Yellow Manta.
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