My First Riding Session (20/03/2008)

It was a lovely morning. There were only a few of us. Seven riders to be precise. We had our breakfast at the mamak restaurant at about 8.00 am. The usual menu (roti kosong and 2 telur separuh masak). After that got to have a puff first before cycling. I said to myself, how hard could it be. Sure I can do it. We were paddling around to warm up. Abang Man was the photographer for the day. Before that, let me introduce the riders. It was myself, Saiful, Din aka Sodeq, Abang Man aka Man Virus, Yusri, Denial and Angah.

We started rolling at about 8.30 am. The first stage was a simple tarmac with a distance of about 1.5 km to the trail entrance. It was a breeze as we were going down hill all the way. In no time we had reached the starting point where the off road cycling will begin. Din (the most experienced mountain biker among us) suggested to me that I may need to engage the lowest gear as it was my first off road session. O.k. no problemo. Start paddling everyone!!!!!!! From the starting point, it was a slow ascend un til we reached the first switch back. I can safely said that it was a 30 degree ascending switch back. Being my first time cycling off road, I just can only do the next best technique to deal with the situation. The push the bike up the hill technique.

After the pushing session, the terrain started to level with a few ups and downs and also small terraces which I can tackled. It was a piece of cake until we reached the hill top. There was no more trail other than down through a narrow steep single track. A 40 to 45 degree straight descent towards a pond down there near the foothill. But did I chickened out? Of cause I did. A slow and gentle push down the hill should do the trick. Then the trail continued going up the hill again through a narrow single track until we reached a wide gravelled road used by lorries entering the quarry site.

With all of this pushing up and down the hill, I was beginning to wonder. What the hack am I doing here? I could be lying in bed, curling snugly on this beautiful morning. Is mountain biking the right sport for me? I'm tired, out of breath and my back was screaming for forgiveness. Luckily we stopped a while at the end of the first trail to regroup.

Then we continued on down the wide gravelled road until we reached the quarry entrance. From there we had to push or carry our bike to a near by single track which leed to the next trail. Man... This is hard work. The second trail started with a paddle up the hill clearing the bushes. Then I saw it. It was a clear sight of straight up the hill paddle. The distance was about 200 meters but that was already to much for me. I've just started mountain biking what... I decided to stop at the nearest exit as the rest of the group continued on. Told them need to take a long call. Stomach hurt....?