The Man from Bromo...

22nd and 24th November 2017 Weekday ride Kiara:-
 

Cross Roads Wefie

   The long awaited weekday ride with Antony finally came. The Penghulu from Malang came for a stopover ride with us after his Chiang Mai trip. The goats have been told of his arrival and started making plans to host our friend for Kiara and KDCF.

   Time decided and ride location planned for the first introductory ride. KIARA.
   Antony did the Malaysian thing for his first ever ride in Malaysia, he was late.
   There we were, 4 old goats standing and kicking stones at the bikewash. And our guest was nowhere to be seen. The Manta looked like he was drowning. Bulldozer wanted to go...well, bulldoze something. Hanz kept grinning for reasons known only to himself. No one wanted to ask him why he was mimicking a starving hyena. Me, i was getting worried. Being in the company of restless old people scares me plenty. Old people either faints or starts foaming at the mouth if left to their own idle mind for too long. Neither of which i am fond of watching. So i decided it was probably best that we find out where this Antony fella actually was. I hope he is actually in Malaysia. People do confuse coming to Malaysia and Singapore seeing that we are that close. Hanz called, first signs were good. He is in KL. Second sign, he is awake.
   After 3 minutes of chatter, turns out Antony is doing the exact nonsense we do. Go eat first. This fella learns very quickly i thought. Only 23 hours upon touch down and he has picked up so much.
   So with a brief consultation among the old goats, we decided to take off for our ride. Let Antony search for us in the trail.
   The usual Office trail to warm up. Then into Coronary for a wee bit of climbing. Up the tarmac towards Magic Carpet. Into Magic and up to Magic Circle before we came out at the tarmac for Manta to catch his breath. Sat down for a bit of hellos and chats.
   We heard him before we actually saw him. Antony was seen walking and shaking his head. Manta did the first thing every mountain biker does upon seeing a fellow buddy in distress. Manta took out his phone.
   "Hi Antony...! Look up. I have you on video. Try not to pant so much. Go on. Continue walking. Just two more switchbacks and you will be out. "
   We all smiled. It was a moment all of us looked forward to. This will be spoken about for the next 3 months whenever we think of Antony. Even Bulldozer stopped kicking pebbles and came over to watch.

   "Morning guys...."

   We waited a good 20 minutes before our guest could recall where he was on a Wednesday morning. Life is good indeed. None of us could speak Javanese, therefore we could not comfort our guest. All we could do was smile and offer him sticks to throw.

Plan C enterance.

   After 30 minutes of chatter, we decided to head into 2K. Short little spurt and we ended up at the cross roads. Took some time and photos for evidence. Then it was decided that the young ones head into Mission Reverse while Manta and Bulldozer went off to the retirees trail. Off we went.
   Antony came out of Mission with a huge smile on his face.
   "That was good. The downhill and switchbacks ...fantastic!"
   Tarmac up towards Barrakuda and we caught up with Manta. As usual, Manta has an apple and was halfway chewing it when we arrive. Apple break it is then. More chit chat and it was decided we head towards Plan C via Wasteland. Into Wasteland we went. Up towards reservoir and the group emerged at the tarmac. Did the usual Plan C loop and came back to the tarmac within a good 30 minutes. Antony looked like he was having fun. He couldn't figure out the climbing part though. He was looking high and low for the support lorry.
   " You mean we will have to ride back UP where we just came down from?"
   We could only smile.
   Short break and off we went back towards Wasteland before heading back to the cars.
   It was a short and sweet ride. Met old friends, hosted a buddy. Watch monkeys. Monkeys watched us. We both shook our heads. Kiara on a Wednesday. Who would have thought.

24th November KDCF.

He doesn't know yet...

   Friday. The ride was set at 1430 hours. Another odd time set by Manta. Retirees do go by their own quirky schedules. All we could do was smile.
   Arrived at 1400 hours. Saw a few early birds already at the car park. Waved and smiled at each other. Antony came out from Ben's car with a huge grin. Manta arrived. Then Guinness rolled in. Did the usual pre-ride chatter before we took off into KDCF.
   Not much said among the old goats. Nothing much can be said when you have to climb for a good 45 minutes in the humid secondary forest.

First stop.

   I only saw Unker stopped once to pee. Then the second time to burp. And the third time to get Guinness to stop so he has someone to talk to. I could only continue walking away in silence. Manta was further down talking to Tailook. I was utterly alone. Oh well... i continued walking. A good few silent moment passed before i emerge from the bush to see the group panting at the hut. Waited for the back markers to arrive for the customary photo taking session. I must have had my photos taken at the very same spot for the 48th time. Dementia can be very painful. Manta kept insisting we take the photo. Even when i reminded him that this will be the 49th time coming this year alone.

Second stop.

   Short apple break and off we went towards Serenity. The group took off and Manta had no other choice but to put his camera away. Up we went. More silence as the group tried their best not to faint and fart. Unker stopped again to pee.

   Caught up with the group at the enterance to Serenity. A brief headcount and off we went.
   Everyone emerged from Serenity with a smile. Antony was so happy he decided to snap his bike chain and walk the last 200 meters of Serenity. For camaraderie's sake, all of us stood by while we help watch Antony fix his chain. Done and dusted within minutes, into Salleh we went. Came out at the school for our next gossip stop. Antony was grinning ear to ear.

   " This is fun. I really enjoy this trail. Though the first climb very nearly killed me. I really enjoy this trail. "



   More chit chat and gossip before the group headed into Scouts to do the downhill bit towards our car. Manta looked like he was turning green. I decided to accompany him and we took the road back. Not nice to let the old fella mumble alone while cycling on the road. People will stare.

   Arrived at the car park and started preparing for the guys to return. Took another good hour before the first rider came out covered in mud. Looks like they had plenty fun washing their bikes later.
   Beer was served. All is good.





26th November Hash Ride:
   The guys decided to host Antony for his last ride here before he leaves for home. See photo collage below. It looked like he had fun too.

  It has been a memorable week for all. Having a fellow mountain biker here to ride our local trail has been a pleasure. Watching him suffer as we do on a weekly puts a smile on our face. This is why we ride.
   See you soon ... Next stop Bali!

   Un'believeable.

12th October 2017 Lazy Muck around ride.

   Another lazy Sunday...
   The entire bunch of goats went off to Semenyih for a revisit to one of our old Presidential trail. Wanted to join initially. However, the flu got the better of me. And old age. And laziness....
   It's been an awful month since returning from Bromo. For some reason, i couldn't bring myself to drive an hour in the dead of the morning for a ride on trail i rode numerous times. Hardly done any riding aside from 2 Kiara rides. It's gonna be a disaster when our buddy from Bromo drop in for his Kiara maiden ride. We are gonna be so screwed. I am hoping this Wednesday would be a good day to free load onto the Yellow Manta for a quick ride in Kiara. Otherwise, i may as well hang up the bloody bike for good.
   Woke up and sat around for a bit. Then it just got really boring after staring at the wall for a good 3 minutes. Grabbed the freshly built Stumpy and off i went. Wasn't quite sure where i was headed to. Hell, i just wanted to ride the bike somewhere before i go crazy from riding deprivations.
   Got out about 3km from the house. Came to a little bridge climb over the rail tracks. Kick the old Stumpy and it felt really weird. Cranked it a couple more times and decided it was probably best to check the bike out. Stopped at the bottom of the bridge and stared at the bike for a bit. Shook the crank and lo and behold. Bloody crank is swaying sideways. Damm. Thought i had that sorted out last week. Tried talking to it. Didn't work. Bounced it on the tarmac a few times. Didn't work. Took out the multi tool and spoke to it in a louder voice. Nope. Not working.

   Took a deep breath and hopped on to it. Hoping it will sort itself out after a few more minutes. Rode into the Malay Village to view some of the locals doing their shopping in the morning. Crank remains wonky. Took a turn into Sentosa hoping to meet some friends. Pedalled a few more clicks. Saw no one. Everyone must either still be asleep or have gone off to Semenyih.

   Decided to explore the place. Rode off in a general direction of the village pointing east. passed by a couple of freshly built houses. Followed the traffic and ended up on the other side of the village after a few minutes. Crank remains wonky.

   Oh well.... Let's head home via the railway tracks and see what we can do for the Stumpy. Took another 30 minutes before i finally got home. Sat the bike down in the garden and stared at it for a couple of minutes. This has got to be solved. Otherwise, it will be shit when i go riding up North.
   Decided to strip the Turner and Frankenstein the bike up.
   Voila.... sorted out within minutes.
   Now i know for sure. Truvativ cranks do not work with Shimanos. Bunch of monkeys. Can't these guys actually agree on a parallel size ? One fella has to get his crank spline 1mm smaller than the other so you can't cross over and share parts. Monkey's ass...

   The rest of the day went by in a blur.


   Then came across a buddy's posting on FB about a stray dog that he came across while riding. Charming little fella actually accompanied him up the hill for 8kms. Story got me smilling. That dog should be homed. Such a pity having that little fella all outside by himself. I would have taken him home.
   My thoughts went back to the strays behind my house.The strays in my place tries to nip off my ankles each time i pass them by. Those should be slapped some sense into them. Can't figure out why they are so angry all the time.

Unbelievable...