"Hello, hello ... Wai ... wai-wai ..."

Been out of the MTB action for so many weeks, enjoying the nice holiday in the States and then again in Canada does have a very high price to pay. It took half a month to get a nice fair skin tone but only 3 hours to get tanned and dark again! From a nice –7 degrees C cold, cold kind of temperature to a hot, hot 36 degrees C is no laughing matter. And with a pair of ‘unwilling’ leg muscle … not forgetting weak knees …

Thanks to Linda who initiated this ride (somewhere in Bangi!), a small group of us met up and went for it. At least everyone managed to take today’s ride as bad as it comes – since we were already forewarned and all ready to accept the fact of even getting lost and whatever that may arise from today’s ride. With Thomas GPS and my new toy, a pair of Motorola Walkie-talkie, we were soon riding straight into the unknown trail ahead. This will be another ride to be remembered and thankfully everyone was all ready for it!

Coke was given the privilege of holding one of the walkie-talkies since she is after all, still our rear sweeper by choice! From the start, she was already trying it out with her ‘wai-wai,wai’ which actually sounded more Honkish' than Malaysian! Actually she spoke so loudly into it that we did not even need the two-way radio to know she was coming! New toy indeed not just for me but for her too!

Today’s trail had already been partially charted by Thomas during one of his much earlier ride here with another group. But he did not managed to finish charting the complete trail into his GPS as the battery went dead at the last 4km balance ride. And so we were supposed to try locating the incomplete course to complete the GPS chart.

We were actually trying to follow the earlier way-ward map (direction) that was laid out on the GPS. But I guess there is still plenty to learn on how to use it properly! At one point, we were led to a dead end hill climb – which happened to be after Linda, Craig, Jesse and myself have so painfully tackled! This was where Coke must have been so glad that she was carrying the walkie-talkie as I quickly radio-ed her not to come up this hill! The one action that I must have missed here must have been Jesse’s infamous crash downhill! Heard that it was quite a roll down the hill for her. And from Craig’s own words, “Oh no .. now her mum will scold me for not taking care of her daughter!’ And to think that I had earlier asked her how she managed to keep her white socks and her rear end so clean when everyone of us were already having mud splashes!

At 11:20am, we were still trying to figure out the direction to head for. This time round, everyone was almost drained of all the energy, not with riding but with too much stop and ride! A smart idea ‘poped’ up in my mind – that is taking the walkie-talkie from Coke and handing it over to Thomas since he was still so much ‘alive’ and is the only one who knows how to handle his GPS. While everyone waited in the shade, waiting for him to radio back, he was hard at work, seeking out the correct trail. Another instance where it proves that it pays to have a set of walkie-talkie in hand.

Finally, with not much of a choice, we had to complete our ride with a road ride back to the car! And what a ride this turned out to be as we braved the hot sun riding the extra 8km on the highway! All this while we were actually not too sure if we were heading for the right direction as the GPS was showing us that we were actually taking a very big loop back to the car! What a great relief it was when we finally and actually reach our cars!

About the only two great things on today’s ride:

(1)   There was this very short (maybe just to short!) downhill ride that was probably about half a km long. It was very technical and very challenging trying not to land a foot down on the ground while going downhill! It was a very good ride as everyone agreed.

(2)   The greatest joy and the most important thing must be the chance to meet up with old and good friends. Yes, it was great being able to meet everyone again, sharing in today’s thrills, frustration and to be able to ride together again, not just as any other ordinary MTB group but as a unique ‘family’!

Before we left the place, Thomas asked, “Anyone wants to ride Genting Sempah tomorrow morning at 07:30am?’ This guy must be really super charged or what?