Ulu Yam - Batang Kali - Gotong Jaya Ride

I am late!! As I stared at the clock. It was 4:30am. Thank God I stayed over at Taman Melawati. Rushed to eat my Meat Ball Pasta and was out of the house at 5:15am. Reached the meeting point - Petronas @ Batu Caves - at 5:30am. Adam, Yong, Apple, Kah Lyn, Aaron, Patrick and Fren were already there. The only one missing was Ari and Jo-Ann. If she wasn't coming, I wasn't riding as I was still a bit sick and needed the assurance of a support car. Allan had food poisoning and Helmi's daughter was sick so they couldn't make it.

At last, Ari & Jo-Ann reached and we parked our car at a nearby mamak stall and we were off! It was just 6am. It was totally pitch black dark as we made out way to Sungai Tua / Batu Dam. Just as we turned into the road to Batu Dam, what greeted us was a huge climb!! Super Steep!! And in the darkness we pushed and pushed all the way. It was damn tiring. Already on the lightest gear setting, I tried to free wheel a bit but just as I stopped pedaling, the wheel stopped too!! HOLY SHIT!! It was push all the way!!

For what seemed like forever, finally reached the peak and it was downhill for now. Adam stopped by the side of the road giving directions to go on ahead. Apple and Ari were still climbing. The rest had already sped far away so I was (as always) alone - in the darkness - again! The downhill was fun and scary at the same time cos there were no more cars and the only sounds that can be heard were of birds and animals and just then *WHOA!!* *SWERVE!!* there was this crazy homeless dude by the side of the road and I nearly banged into him.. BASTARD!!



We finally came to our 1st stop just as the sun light started peeking thru the clouds. It was a small rest area with a small waterfall. We took a breather, drank up, ate Powerbar and went to the loo. My knee started to hurt a little at this point and rubbed some deep heat onto it. Took a few pictures and we were off once again.

The climb was quite ok. We passed by some people parked by the side of the road collecting water from pipes that were coming out of the side of the hill... Then it was downhill again... The road was quite big and didn't have many cars... It was nice being able to go downhill without having to brake for dear life... but i still did once I hit 60kmh... the rest went up to 70++.

Ulu Yam town. Finally we were here and everyone went to the 7-11 to stock up. The town people having breakfast there looked at us funny. After stocking up, we headed to for "The Warong" which was the last stop before the major "CLIMB TO HELL"...




The climb towards the warong was HELL!! We stopped so many times after 200m riding. We were begining to think that the warong didn't exsit and that it was just a dangled carrot to keep our mind of the major climb... after what seemed like forever, my knee gave way and sadly had to load up my bike into the support car.. 100m away, was the warong.. LOL..

We had our fill and after a 15min rest, it was time to continue on. I unloaded my bike and Jo-Ann went on ahead 1st. Just as I kicked start, a sharp pain jolted my right knee and I nearly fell over... I knew this was it... I wasn't going to be able to continue.. FUCK!! Jo-Ann came back to get me and I road in the car the rest of the way.

The next 8km or so was really a CLIMB TO HELL... I have not seen Kah Lyn nor Aaron walk and push their bike so much... Ari and Apple practically stopped every 100m... Looking from inside the car, I felt relieved but at the same time dissappointed that I was not able to endure the HELL with my fellow comrades!! It was then, these tiny little riders, a few guys and a few girls in Selangor Jerseys, smoked each and everyone of them going up. They made it look easy and there were even some on MTB with offroad tires... HOLY SHIT!!










After what seemed like ages.. we finally reached the police checkpoint. Adam, Yong, Patrick and Fren had reached already. It was then that the quote of the day came "I DON'T NEED DOWNHILL... JUST GIVE ME A FLAT ROAD!!" ... Adam & Yong reached 45mins earlier and didn't even stop at all!! AMAZING!! After taking photos and resting abit, they continued on towards Gotong Jaya. We passed by the Genting Cable car and went to a nearby Mamak for lunch. The air was cool and nice and after lunch... it was downhill mayhem all the way to Gombak.

I tried to ride again but the pain was just too much to bear... so once again I hopped into the car and Apple hopped in later as well and we followed the rest of the guys downhill... they were super fast!! Adam as always was leading the way...

We finally reached back to the mamak at Gombak around 2 to 3pm... WOOHOOO!! They had survived and I will return to settle some unfinished business... but for now it was off to the Sports Clinic to have a look at the knee!!