09.11.2014: Ticket to Jamboree Ride 2014

Team Akmal

Perpatih Cycling announced that they are going to have a newbie/beginner offroad event at Taman Bandar Senawang not long after they presented the local Senawang & Bukit Putus trail to mountain bikers near and far (Cabaran Bukit Putus 2.0). The number of participants is limited to only 300, so I immediately grabbed two tickets for myself and Marsya. I asked Yad as well if he would like to join, as the event is nearby to his mum's house in Taman Senawang Indah.

the crowd at the starting area

Nowadays 300 is a small number for a jamboree ride compared to when mtb jamboree started many years ago.
*the usual number now is more than 1,000 - the Burung Hantu 2014 event attracted 2,500.

with Kru - the all-green rider

Marsya adjusting to the ride and bike handling, at Taman Bandar Senawang

The event is just the kind of ride that I need for Marsya as she had been asking for an offroad ride for many months already. I myself had not had many opportunity to ride in Senawang lately. The full distance is 18km designed for beginners (said them), but judging from her fitness level, I'd say a half of the distance would still be good enough after a very long hiatus.

Yad - rider otai Taman Senawang Indah

Marsya had outgrown her Polygon frame. So I prepared for her Naza's Diamondback Apex SL with lots of lightweight parts (within my wallet's limit of course) so as not to burden her much with the machine and she could focus on her riding.

The trail is a very nice mix of what Senawang can offer. Tarmac. Long and short uphill climbs. Long downhill descend. Singletracks. River crossing. Double track (palm oil plantation). The trail design is quite good for a beginner and experienced rider. Kudos to Perpatih gang.

It was raining in the morning a few hours before the event started, so I expected muddy trail to be savoured.

entering muddy offroad

We started on the tarmac for a few km. During this I refreshed Marsya on offroad riding basics - parallel feet during coasting, brake levers assignment (which ones for front and rear), gearing, body position for going downhill, etc.

Marsya crossing the river

Marsya rode quite well for 6km. She even managed to pedal through crossing a river; must be quite an accomplishment for her. There were sections that forced her to get her feet on the ground and push the bike instead, though. The long ascend really taxed her and we rested quite a long while. I took a breather too, and waited for her to recover.

While I was at the trailside, Farid, who is a follower of this blog, greeted me. We chatted for a while, and Marsya went ahead continuing her climb. Sometimes it is the small things like this which give me the motivation to write (and dusting the cobweb on this blog pages). There are people who still read.
:)

At one T-junction about 8km along, we were presented with options. We were cautioned that the left turn would present us climbing ride and the right turn would take us to the starting point very quickly. It was very easy for us to make the decision of taking the right turn and finish the ride short.

taking a fiver (or ten)

Total riding distance: 8.59km.
Total riding time: 57 minutes.

I'd say it was a very successful event and I liked it very much. For a small fee, the organiser thrown in a (pink!) cotton t-shirt and simple lunch with ice cold drinks. Plus lucky dip and lucky draw prizes too.

Marsya's not-so-lucky-number

one for the album: Marsya, pinky me & Yad

I would like to convey my thanks to Perpatih gang for coming up with this event. It has everything that I had wished for, in a small scale jamboree ride. Small crowd, no race, meeting up with friends, ample lucky draw, simple food and drinks and an awesome mixed trail. Plus, it is specially tailored for beginners which is very, very suitable for me to bring along Marsya.

Map of our short route is here.

Thanks for reading.