KLMBH

by virgule » Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:43 pm

Despite what the subject might lead you to think, there is no connection betwee the two parts of this post’s title   

Since I can find only one complaint about this bash, despite searching hard, let’s start with the negative part: astute observers may have noticed that 99% of technical sections in Malaysia occur in rubber plantations. Never in palm plantations, open terrain, etc. 

Rubber plantations are well-known for two things: rubber pots (where rubber is collected), and mosquitoes. Sometimes, the density of mosquitoes is such that no reasonable amount of repellent will do. There is only one thing to avoid the darn things: keep rolling   The relentless buzzers are very good at stinging through MTB gear, but incapable of following a rider at normal speed. 

Which brings us to the “technical sections” of rubber plantations, which by definition are usually slow to pass through. If you don’t keep rolling, you might loose balance and perhaps hit one of those ruber pots hanging off the trees you are precisely trying to avoid. An interesting feature of Malaysian flora, is that the water in these pots has a pungent smell that makes durian seem like eau-de-toilette, and liquid rubber is, well, rubbery. I’m still peeling off goo from my arm hair 4 hours later, as I type this post. If anyone know of a rubber-solvent that is not a controlled item, I’m interested   

As you can tell by now, I failed to “keep rolling” a few times this morning!

Other than these tidbits, this was a well-organized, pleasant and fast-rolling bash in easy to moderate terrain. Not much to say, appart from a very nice look-out point over the north-south highway at the top of the first hill. You know you are really close when your GPS says ” Make a u-turn whenever possible”, despite you being offroad… The ride offered a mixture of single and mostly double-track, intertwined with some nice off-trail technical sections to keep everyone happy. No particular difficulty other than the normal endurance effort of riding in our humid climate. Fortunately, the skies were covered for most of the morning, making the ride much easier than under the usual roasting sun.

Leading into the first part of this post’s title, is an observation that many newcomers to bashing may miss: what makes a bash pleasant, fast-rolling, with nice technical sections….is not the terrain! Riders only go where The Hares have laid paper. I hope aspiring young hares take note, when riding a bash, of the choices made by hares in deciding whether to go up, down, right or left and each and every junction, obstacle, hill, river, etc. A ride is only pleasant because skilled hares have consistently chosen a good path over 20+ km of forest and jungle. Next time you are riding a trail, ask yourself in which direction you’d lay the trail if it was your turn. You can’t consider yourself to be experienced if you have never tried to lay a fresh trail at least once!

Finally, a bash is almost always fun if you are a reasonably trained/experienced person…but it can be a bit traumatic if it’s your first ride in the jungle, in hot & humid weather, if you lack experience and friends to keep you company   

Sweeping is the second job of The Hares on a bash, to make sure no one gets left out and everyone makes it home safely. A good sweeper bites his tongue and waits for the last person, with a smile on his face. It was nice to find myself in front of Pat for once today   

You may have noticed this morning one special Hare with an inimitable smile, waiting for you in several sections of track : Paul Moir, a very long time celebrity of the KLMBH, returning soon to his home country after a lifetime overseas.

The KLMBH will sorely miss you. Farewell…

by slowcow

Date: 28 August 2011
Venue: Rawang, Selangor.
Time: Pre-Briefing at 9:15 am/ Ride Starts at 9:30 am
Hares: Paul Moir, Pat Brunsdon, Darcy Steinhardt, Phil Manfield and Denise Moir.

The Directions:

1. Join the North-South Highway and head north towards Ipoh

2. Take Exit 116 to Rawang (at Km445)

3. Zero your tripmeter at the Toll (Exit 116)

4. Go 0.3km after Toll and turn right at the lights

5. Turn right at 1.9km (traffic lights)

6. Turn left at 3.5km. Continue to the end of road where you will see KLMBH people and vehicles

7. Park your vehicle

See you there. ON ON.

by HYH » Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:41 am

Hares: Winston Loo, Mike Branston, Mike Phoon, Bernard Tan, Chee YT, Morris Heng, Scott Roberts (TDF), Chin Guan

The lay of the land and diversity of land-use gives mountain biking in Bentong its unique flavour. For mountain bikers bored of easy and undulating palm terrain, ubiquitous to the many mtb events today, the Epic brings something new to the table. That is, if being hit by climbing sections that never end, followed by single track down hill descents and repeating this twenty times over 45km is your bag, baby, then the Epic 2011 must be the stuff of wet dreams for you. 

The pre-briefing ride was done by two dogs and in his usual entertaining style. “Shredded paper, seven checks, no falsies, no sweeper for loop 2”, what? No sweeper for loop 2? “If you run out of water, we will take your bike and leave you out there to dry! Let’s ride, On On.”

The initial bit along the road to Chamang Falls was very nice. Everyone smiling and spinning merrily. It was a nice warm up section on a gradual gradient of road and an opportunity to chat along the way. The weather was cloudy and cool, spirits were high. Soon, we turned right onto the business end of the day, the 500m climb up the first hill. I tried to spin lightly to go as far up as possible, with the hope of making it all the way up, but eventually, the lungs gave way and I had to stop. The initial effort took a bit too much out of me and I decided to sit on a nice log to recover and watch people go by, pushing their bikes. I am not sure if anyone managed to ride all the way up, and the trail was certainly in a good enough condition, for anyone with super-human lungs to make an attempt. The way down did not disappoint as the single track descent was an unbroken ride complete with water bars and tight switchbacks. (I think someone should bring Pat for a ride here. He would have been stoked to see how the orang asli maintained the single track trail.) This is the longest single track descent that I have been on. Before long, my arms and fingers were feeling the strain and the grin never left my face. The ride down in a single word, “Wow!”. We soon had to ride through a few kebuns and at a pond, we crossed a small gully and entered more single track. Eventually, we came back onto an open laterite climb. I overshot slightly but luckily, the rider behind me noticed the left turn into a section where the hares must have cleared. A bit more climbing before another long single track back down onto road and back to the start point. Phew! What a ride. Wow!

Back at the car, I swapped the 2L bladder with a full 3L one, one bottle of Perpetuem went onto the bottle cage and another spare bottle in the camelback. On reflection, I carried far too much water as the day remained cool and shaded during the ride but I suppose one can never over-prepare. The second loop was a variation of last year’s hash but I thought, done even better. I loved the fact that we rode all the way down to the main road and regret not stopping to have durians. I met YT Chee at the junction where we re-entered the trails. Not unexpectedly, we were greeted by more ascents and I decided to take a proper break and took out a gel to suck on. While resting, Chee, Lawrence Chu, Chuah and two others came by chatted with me and left. By the time Lee Nya and Debbie appeared, it was time to continue or being in danger of being the last one out. I followed the girls to the top of the second hill but on the way down decided to go my own way and enjoyed the single track ride to the weir dam. I really like that the hares found a new way to the dam. It was a more interesting route compared to last year. At the dam, I hooked up with Chee who was going to short cut out onto road and asked him to hang back for a bit just in case the two girls needed to bail. However, I found out later that the Rambo chicks decided to complete the ride. These girls have true grit. The route back via Hill 3 was identical to last years except the extended section on road and a longer but nicer initial climb to the house. Unlike last year though, where the sun was full on, the shaded and cool day really made the final ascent much easier and more enjoyable. The tree line followed the trail closely and I found riding and holding onto a tree to recover the perfect way to ride up the last bit. The connection from the top of Hill 3 to rubber was found last year by Liz Roberts. After that section, it was the final downhill for the day. At the bottom of the descent, there was someone who had ridden in with a trail bike and was taking pictures of riders descending the last section of the downhill. On the way back on road, I had time to reflect on what a fantastic Epic this had been. For me, it stands out as one of my all-time favourite rides.

I would like to first thank Winston Loo for finding this bash site and pushing to make it happen. It is always harder to start from scratch but more satisfying, eh! And Scott who is the perfect partner to set bashes with, especially in new and difficult terrain. Also many thanks and congratulations to Mike Branston, Mike Phoon and YT Chee for discovering Hill 1. The 500m hill is perhaps the best hill climb on the bash now as it is challenging and totally rideable, and rewarding at the same time. Our thanks also to Bernard Tan, Morris Heng and Chin Guan for co-haring in what I consider one of the truly memorable bashes in recent history.