Wednesday 14 November 2012

It was my 1st time scaling Genting Sempah via Gombak...

It was my 1st time scaling Genting Sempah via Gombak be it on a 4 wheeler, whatmore on a non-machine assisted 2 wheeler - thats my trusted XTC Giant. The whether was perfect and the crowd was encouraging. The number of females to males riders were quite a balance. Age range were from about 12 - 58 with an average of 35 I think. With 35 riders in the list, I was the last to check in. For that I have to apologise to the group. Not intentional though as I was patiently waiting for my newbie friend.

With some briefing from our senior rider En Khairudin and after the recital of the doa, off we go. The advise of going single file, road safety and so in were always at the back of our mind. The going up of about 16km was quite taxing for some. But for those who had graduated from GCE rides, this task is quite, I would say, fairly easy. With the absence of direct sunlight and temperature of below 30 plus the presence of some mist, it made our ride very comforting as contrast to the grilling GCE.

Fred played skipper and En Khairudin played sweeper. Among those in the group was a first time cycling lady with an age of, I guess, maybe 40 or somewhere around. I salute her for her courage and En Khairudin really did the sweeper's role in ensuring her arrival to our midpoint control, Genting Sempah R&R. It took more than 2 hours from the starting point to reach here. After some hefty breakfast, we proceeded to a spot for group photo. Will share it once I got the tag.

Going back, there's a strecth of about a km after the R&R that the Dragon Back techniques have to be recalled. MTBs will have better advantage as compared to RBs for the earlier will have a more lighter gears combination. Nonetheless, some of the riders have to pull aside and start pushing their 'horses' because of the non-bicycle friendly steepness. After this torture, it was breezing all the way downhill, literally.

All the riders arrived safely at our start/finish control of Hospital Orang Asli Bt 12 Gombak before noon. And the sky sphew its cloud's contents just as we called it a day for the ride. Alhamdulillah, there's no untoward incidences along the expedition.

Something though that we can make it better for our coming rides are recommended below:
1) Whistle.This is important when it involves a sizeable group and we need their attention to communicate something.
2) IdentifierThe simplest form of id I can think of is a piece of ribbon tied to the arm to identify we are from the same group.
3) Attendance ListThis is important so that the secretariat can set up a databank of riders and for whatever communications and records as far as cycling is concern.

For this ride, I would like to dedicate my special thanks to Ann for her passion and patience in assembling the cycling enthusiasts, to Aunty for always positive in looking at things, to Atuk for his perserverance, to Khairudin for his experience tackling GS and guiding us to have a blessed ride and to the rest in the group who had demonstrated a sportsmanship characteristics and in developing a friendly atmosphere. STAY HEALTHY. GO CYCLING KZ

As written and shared by Kem :)

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