To add to the excitement of today's ride, a mini-race event was planned! It was on Friday morning: I woke up out of bed and was thinking about today's ride (already?). Was recalling all the sweat and struggle that I had to go through to complete this humiliating hill. Well, suddenly it struck me, why not let's make this into a competition? Let's take it to the limit - to discover the fastest uphill rider?

The drive to Pangson, about 50km away from our meeting and gathering point, takes about 30 minutes. Being so used to the fast highway, driving along the narrow and winding road, leading to this place felt like an almost never-ending morning drive! Things were beginning to get boring if not for the nice traditional Malaysian 'kampong' huts scenery along the way. Modernization have not left this place alone as we can see a unique mixture of old wooden planks, cement and bricks, used in some of the traditional houses!

Finally arrived at the end of the road, parked the cars, unload the bikes, geared up and all ready, the start of the uphill race (ride)! I opt to park my car further up the hill with YuJin, kelvin and 'Coca-Cola' since we are not going to be competing! But despite this little extra advantage, the other riders were just too fast for they soon caught up with the four of us.

It was a tough ride, as the trail gets steeper. When I arrived at the point that I'd like to think as one of the lovely sights in Europe, there was no time for the short rest that we would normally take for this trail! The pine trees here were really tempting and soothing to the eyes. With soft gentle wind blowing in the air, we could hear the call of the pine. Despite all this luring and tempting of the wind, I just could not risk spending the extra 5 minutes of stopping, as I know the rest of the riders will be charging up this hill soon. Yes, together with 3 other riders, we were given the extra 15 minutes headstart since we have self-declared ourselves to be the slowest riders in the group! And thank goodness for this self-declaration as we soon found out how 'super' fast the others were - especially when they had to race against one another up this hill!

With plenty of loose stones and slippery hard ground, it was indeed a very tough ride. Every inch of my leg muscle was crying out in agony as I forcefully push on the pedal. Again, I had to concentrate on my effort as my rear wheels tend to spin on hard and slippery rock surface! Whatever happened to the saying that fixing high tech components which cost a 'bomb', will make you go faster or help you climb that hill, which have been humiliating you with each attempt, I asked myself. Why am I still not able to become a super fast and strong rider like the guys who are charging up from the rear?

Today is the day when we see many self appointed rear sweepers for the ride! This is where our very own selves control our ability! We are only what we are if we allow a negative statement to fix into our mind. If we do not push ourselves, our limitations, how then can we expect to improve and go ahead? Today is also the day when many of us turned professional in pushing mountain bicycles!

At long last, we arrived at the end of the trail - it is not surprising why all of us did not rush down to the nice cool stream just waiting below. We were all totally exhausted from the ride or was it the race up? It took a while before we could even think about walking down the stairs to the nice cool water below! And even as we walked down the stairs, with legs wide spread apart, we were all like 'machos' having just got off our horses after a long wild and hard ride!

Finally, the grand occasion - the top and fastest rider prize giving ceremony. Michael was declared the fastest rider up this hill and for his effort; he walked away with the one and only prize for the ride! The second and third fastest rider also went out to the two other Penang folks! Whatever happened to our local Klang valley riders?

Reluctantly, the time came for us to make our return ride down the hill. Despite the fact that we know it will be a very fast ride downhill, we still cannot help but fear that we might just slip and fall off our mountain bike - no thanks to the loose stones and hard but slippery ground! So with a fair warning and reminder to everyone, we were soon charging downhill and what a speed!

I thought last week's ride in Sungai Long was bad but today's ride was just as bad if not worse! My hands were aching just holding on to the handle grip due to the vibration of my bike from the rocks all the way down. With my rear brakes being applied most if not all the way, I think it is again time for a fresh V-brake shoe block replacement! Then again, maybe a new front shock is also due?

The total distance cycled is less than 16km but it took us more than an hour to complete the ride up to the end of the road! And only 25 minutes to ride down! Will we get another record breaker the next time we ride this hill? And because of today's 'exciting' event, we decided another race next week. This time it will be everyone's favourite - The Frasers Hill trail, a road ride right up to the clock tower in the hill! Are you brave enough and game to take up the challenge?