11.04.2010 Seri Alam Offroad: MMHE > 1/3

aerial view of the lake, taken aboard Kuching-Senai flight last Thursday.

15 riders, including me. 6 from MMHE altogether – that’s more than one-third of the pack, a good sign. Perhaps MMHE could send a respectable number of contingent for this year’s Petronas MTB Jamboree. Yad, however, didn’t turn up (woi der, bila nak start kayuh offroad lepas kawen ni?). He told me that approval for ride permit could not be obtained. Err… welcome to the world, man. On the other hand, Mlake the newlywed did turn up after a very long hiatus.

Panjang decided to start the ride coming in from Flora Heights; and so I met them there, atop the hill on the tarmac. Quite an effort on my side, I must say, tackling the hills en route to FH. Luckily I went out early, so I could get a few minutes of rest before joining the rest of the riders coming from Nusa Damai. Among the riders was a newbie, Hj Mat from MMHE with his T-Bolt. Quite a delight to see more and more of MMHE folks taking up mountain biking, I’m smiling inside.

We went into the rubber estate up a mild ascent which continues for quite a distance. A mandatory rest atop the hill followed, before bombing down the rodeo. As soon as I stopped for a rest, my exposed skins (arms and calf) swarmed by a hoard of mosquitoes. Blood donation drive, there (and every stop elsewhere too). After a few minutes of rest, we continued down the rodeo. Moving on, almost everyone went down the steep and short ledge (Zaid, kau masih belum lepas lagi kan?). To tell the truth, I hesitated at first. In the end, I positioned my butt way back and tackled it nicely.

We went to the usual landmarks, but only for a brief stop at each place – Mashi Maro, Badminton.

9 of us went to the lake, while Panjang went back early, for he didn’t feel quite well. Ehm ehm, there were also 5 others who went out with him, as ‘escorts’. Quite a disheartening view at the lake, seeing it further depleted. You can see in the photo above, it’s the greyish section of the lake – left fork on the 5^th 4th finger from the right. We didn’t stop for long, as it is quite a dumb thing to loiter around under the hot sun. Anyway, that’s the only stop where mosquitoes weren’t present.

Went out at Seri Alam, near the horse ranch at about 12 noon. I cycled home early that day much to the delight of my missus. And, the bike’s not so dirty, so I parked it in the house nicely without any cleaning necessary.

:D

Oh, I got a medal on my left thigh, from a fall. I have this nagging problem of tackling the snaking rut on one of the sections. Need to improve on that. Luckily I didn’t fall on the nearby stump.

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