A Wet & Slippery workout!

It is not always that we get to ride with the folks from the Shimano Service Center of Klang. This is one invitation to ride, which I have for the past three (3) years never ever once turned down from Ang, the chief technician of the Shimano Service Center.

Today is no different – at 06:00am in the early morning, the rain was already pouring down mercilessly outside. Phone calls from our weekly regular riders were already coming in; “Rain-lah ..”, “How to ride-ahh?”, “Are we still riding?” … etc. This is a very hard decision to be made when you have the rain pouring outside. Will it ever stop or should I just tell everyone who calls up that the ride is cancelled?  The idea of reclining to my warm bed and resuming sleep was very tempting indeed.

BUT, not going to let the rain dampen the spirit of True Mountain biking, I decided to go ahead – the ride is on! And the show must go on!

A very cold morning indeed as the rain continued its relentless pouring even in Klang. I was the first to arrive at the meeting place and as I waited in my car, once again thoughts were flashing past my mind. Maybe I should have gone back to sleep?  After all, it was only yesterday that I had rode on the wet, wet ground in Meru! After going through 2 long hours of tedious bike washing, here I am again!

By the time everyone got here, we were still enjoying our nice cup of warm drink in the hawker stalls. The rain did not seem to want to stop at all! At 08:30am, we just could not wait anymore as the rain was beginning to show signs of dying off or at least that was what we thought! Led by Ang, we decided to start the ride even in this slight drizzle.

The show must go on! As seventeen (17) of us cycled along Jalan Meru, everyone must be thinking we were mad – in this rain? Less than 3km and we were soon turning off into the Meru estate land. The ground was very wet and there were many areas filled with pools of murky brown water! There was no telling how deep the water is as we bravely rode into each of them. Sure enough, the first casualty – one of the younger riders was trying to overtake me when at the wrong time, he was stopped dead inside the pool of water next to me! It was a good thing that when he fell off his bike, he missed me by only about an inch! It was a very deep pool of murky water as even my bicycle wheels were half drowned in the pool of water! Talk of an early morning murky bath for him!

On the whole, the trail was made very technical no thanks to the rain. Everyone’s wheels were turning into huge sticky mud-wheels. And each time we hit a straight trail, it would be terribly slippery and our wheels would be swaying out of control! On the whole, it was a very wonderful and fantastic ride. When we looked straight ahead of us, the view was very breathtaking as expected and as promised by Ang. With the undying rain, it felt more like we were cycling up in the cool hills of the Cameron Highlands.

There was a mixture of up and down hills. Generally, the ride would be casual enough if not for the rain.  During one of the quick downhill rides, could feel a metallic knock coming from my front shocks! Sadly and as guessed, my front shocks have lost all the air in it! The technician to whom I had sent my bike for the fork to be serviced must have apparently forgotten to tighten and lock the air-nut! All the air was lost and this made my ride one of the most uncomfortable ones. Even a slight stone was enough to make the front shocks to knock! Well, maybe this is an excuse for me to get a new replacement for it after more then two (2) long years of usage?

Having lost all my interest and mood in riding no thanks to my now real hard front and rear tail mountain bike, I was beginning to fall back from all the rest of the riders! It was here that I began to notice so many comical happenings in front of me! Even Ang himself lost the sole of his Shimano shoe! Peddling hard in this rain must have caused the sole of his cycling shoes to come off! Despite this disadvantage, he still managed to ride fast and with full power!

Today’s ride gave me a chance to meet all the young friends from Klang again. The best part must be the chance of meeting their eldest Senior citizen rider again – he is already 53 years of age! It is not always that we get such strong senior riders!

To end the day’s ‘wet’ and ‘slippery’ ride, a good and delicious ‘bak-kut-teh’ with some of the Klang folks. This is something very different from what I have always been eating. The way they cook this stewed pork meat is something that one must try to believe! Well, if you happen to be in Klang and in the Shimano Service Center, ask Ang!

Next week, it probably is Pertak in Kuala Khubu again. A good chance for me to test out my soon-to-be new front fork?