The Mountain

Sunday 9/3/2008

Today is sunday. Riding day!

Well like any riding day weekend im always glad to group up and have a nice ride together, particularly today as it was to be a special ride.

RECAP!

The 3 days before today i tried to go up to Gohtong Jaya, Genting Highlands as a surveyor for this weekends ride with the guys. And boy was it a monster for me to climb

Genting Sempah , which is the old route to Bentong, Pahang and Genting Highlands is a climb itself. Starting from Gombak to the top of the Sempah R&R/McD pit stop one would be going up to roughly 560meters above sea level over an 18km road distance. The gradient is very gradual, even the most novice cyclist can pedal up there with the lowest gearing

But when one talks about going up Genting Highlands, its a totally different story. To Malaysian cyclist, Genting Highlands is like the Alp d'Huez of the Tour de France, its the mountain to climb for cyclist but not any cyclist can simply just pedal up there.

And tat Thursday morning my surveying of the climb up was brought to a standstill, literally, as i can only cycle 300meters past the guard house check point. To the top of Genting Highlands is 17km from the Sempah R&R. To Gohtong Jaya town is 8km. I just went 300 meters n stopped. The climb was so steep my bike just wont budge. I was in the lowest possible gear. And its still like i need another 5 gears to pedal up.

What else can i do but turn back and head home. Disappointed. Yet i had to tell the guys that Gohtong was almost an impossibility. And i wondered.....how did the Tour de Langkawi........and Tour de France climbers go up.

BACK TO SUNDAY

For the past 2 days Kevin Han (The BicycleBuySell site admin) was so hyped up abt going up Gohtong. The fact that the climb was hell to me seemed to get him more excited going up Gohtong. So what the heck........let him have a go at it

As usual meeting at the Hospital Orang Asli in Gombak............me dgm, crumbs, kevin, TJ, all met up. At last i get to meet Kevin whom before i only chatted with on the internet. Real nice guy in person actually. Maybe a little crazy...........

That morning PCC (Pedalphiles Cycling Club), which is one of the biggest cycling groups in the country, gathered with about 30 of its members to cycle up SEmpah also and to Janda Baik (my previous Durians n Mangosteens endeavour). We will ride together with them to Sempah but then just me n kevin will go to Gohtong............well..............at least..............TRY to make it. Dgm n crumbs chickened out last minute to Janda Baik . Initially they wanted to follow me n Kev.

So at 8am we moved off. Genting Sempah on sundays is always busy with cyclists. That morning also had other cyclist going up. So its like a pilgrimage for cyclist to be there.

Sempah climb to me was pretty stable and ive been doing this climb for abt 3 months. So the legs are well warmed up for Gohtong...............i guess.

As we reached the top...........PCC took a while to gather its members and they went off down to Janda Baik. Just me n Kevin went our seperate ways to go up the mountain.

As i led him over the flyover which directly links to the Genting road..........it goes UP from 0 km. At the very beginning u get the pounding of the steepness. And i heard Kevin shouting in awe and probably sheer surprise of how steep this climb really was. So we passed the first polis check point. And the road keeps going up n up n up n up.................the gradient is easily a 10%. And it was suffering. Honestly........i had to stop at the same place where i stopped before and catch my breath. Kevin came trailing behind me. And i asked him how was it? Still wana go up?

"Sure la! Sampai mati we go up la"

zzzzzzz

I was stunned. This guy had nerves of steel. I took some deep breaths. And i look up at the road.......still going on and on...........up n up.............

In my mind played lots of things : Am i going to make it? God plz help me........... How many breaks i have to take b4 we both die off? Whens the flat sections?

I looked at my meter as i set it to record the climb from the beginning. There is still 7km+ to go............and well.............lets see how much hell i will get

So i asked Kevin to go first...........i follow him

And the road was still at its steepest. I had to really power down the pedals. Speed was reduced to 7kmh at this place...........not even the first km. Sometimes i stood up......mashing the pedals. Let my body weight push down the pedals. I was in awe at kevin can still go. A pure climber i thought. Then he asked me am i using normal cranks (52/39 teeth)? I said yeah............why?

"Wah so good ah you? I use compact cranks (50/35 teeth) only wor. "

Zzzzzzzzzz!

No wonder he seemed effortless...............we was using a much smaller crank..........means lighter gears for him. Not good for me.

The suffering continued for about 2km...............which is by far pure hell for the legs. Yet i still took time to enjoy the scenery and the cold blowing winds.........low clouds...........and winding uphill roads. In some places it was hot. Global warming i guess.

Then the gradient got gradually shallower. And to much relief to me. Yet i was still trying to catch my breath. So i asked Kevin to stop for a while to catch wat ever air there is up here. Air is thin and i need to breathe harder to get more oxygen to the legs.

After abt 5 minits i got the breath back to go up. I saw the road stil winding up from that spot.......going going going............never stops............

Pedaled up some more. At this part the road was rather kind and not steep. Its almost as easy as Sempah. Which pleased me the most. And then what i didnt expect was..................a Downhill section! I was so happy i shouted for joy.

It was as steep as on the way up...........but now its down! And i was also worried abt another thing : my brake pads............which have been worn out really thin. Its almost gone if i keep doing hard brakes. The descent is so steep u NEED to be on the brakes all the time or else u will hit 60kmh.........and i was not familiar with the roads. So i didnt take the chance............Kevin however seems to enjoy it..........more than me. I just tagged along as a cycling buddy.

After the downhill section theres a sigh that points to Gohtong. And by this time i believe we did 6km.................just 6km...............after so long we went only that far............

And again we were greeted with a climb............gentle climb. Went on for a while............then Kev got out his HP and started to take this picture :

The road is pointing up actually.....Its not the camera that is tilted.......

And then he tried this :

If u see the signboard.......u know i am REALLY climbing up Genting

And finally came up with this:

Yeap.........tats me suffering with my mouth wide open......

And you know what? Before we knew it..........we finally reached Gohtong Jaya!!!!

"Wohoooo! Reach liao!!!"

Kevin checked his GPS to confirm, and it is!!!

OH man was i the happiest ever cyclist! After all that suffering........we finally made it

WE MADE IT

Oh God tat feeling was just so nice. Gohtong greeted us with this nice foto :

This is Gohtong Jaya!

And this is me abt to get some 100Plus at the 7eleven :

I was still catching my breath.........

We took a nice break..........took in the scenery..........enjoyed the altitude........btw......i asked Kevin what was out altitude on the GPS.........so he checked.........

903 meters above sea level

Now thats friggin high............

And then ask i muched a portion of a Sneakers bar........guess what Kevin said?

"Eh Darren, Awana just 2km up only la...........wana go or not? Come on try la......."

IN MY MIND : "Dang la this Kevin...........really wana go ah? To go or not to go? Think think think think"

"Haiya come on! Go la..........JUST 2 km oni la wei"

"You sure u wana go?"

"Hell yea......."

"Fine hell for another 2km la.........."

Leaving Gohtong :

Haiz.........more hell to come.........zzzz (Btw if u look at my rear gears......u can see my chain is at the last cog and the smallest front ring. That shows how steep it is...........)

So ok........we left Gohtong.........and after a miss direction at the round about..........we got back on track (thanks to the GPS) and started climbing AGAIN.

Well another shallow climb..........for the most part.........some parts got a tiny bit steeper. But well........ntg compared to the initial stage.

So as we slowly climbed up...........Kevin kept checking his GPS to see where is Awana going to be..........

We passed a second police check point........the one like a castle. Then we passed Gohtong Memorial Park. That place is HUGE! And the clouds got so low........its cold and visibility reduced.
"1km to go..........."

And then finally in the end......we reached Awana. And this time Kevin was more estatic than me. U want proof?

Here u go...............

Special note to Nuar_jb, my frend, i dah betul2 naik ke sini ler.......

So we reached Awana. And Kevin gave me an altitude of about 1000 meters. In just 2km we went up 100 meters.........50 meters every1km, 25 meters every 500 meters........4 meters every 100 meters.......1 meter every 25meters travelled.

So finally Kevin said : "Lets cabut. Balik" By this time it was almost 10.30am

Boy was i glad to hear that.....................

And so we said goodbye to Gohtong and Awana.

The other part now is getting down............which is a nightmare for the brakes. Its not safe at all to go down, with vehicle traffic on a mountain side and in the cold. So i kept my brakes on all the time. In some places the road drops till i feel like i can just go over the bars.........even a small road hump or bump scares me as i tot i can go flying or fall off the bike. And with the winding roads...........really tests my downhill skills.

IN just 10 minits.............we got back to Genting Sempah............just 10 minits............

At the polis checkpoint Kevin waited for me as i took my time down. Then i called crumbs to check where are they. They were on the way back to the hospital but havent reached Sempah yet. Well some riders were faster...........Crumbs the slower ones. Dgm passed us as we rested at the RnR while i munch my Sneakers for some energy.

After that we went back down to the car park at the hospital. All was smooth. By around 11.30 i was finally down and just thought back of that enormous climb of my life with Kevin. And i was really really REALLY proud i could go up Genting, well, half way at least. Its a privilege. And as i related the story to dgm..........he wanted to go next. Haha.

Well........we chatted abt our rides. While waited for crumbs to get back down. He was really far behind. At almost 12pm he reached. And everyone packed their bikes n headed home. I had some drinks with dgm n crumbs and also newly met Annie (PCC rider) who shes known famously for falling in the longkang during last years Interstate Ride. Nice lady and very friendly. By 1pm we were done. And i still had 12km to reach home..........on the bike..........

Got home in like 20 minits or so.

And really an awesome ride today.

One of the most best rides i have ever done. And i tink will be aiming Genting Highlands next.

Total Ride Time : 4hrs
Total Distance : 87km
Total Climb distance : 26km
Downhills : 26km
Max Elevation : 1000 meters above sea level

More rides to come!!!