ORDINARY SUPERHERO

Instead of doing my routine Sunday ride up to Genting Sempah starting from Hospital Orang Asli at Batu 12 in  Gombak, I decided to park my car at the food stalls near Sekolah Teknik Gombak. That would give me an extra 6 km from the normal starting point. So I expected to ride about (12 + 32) km this morning. I was however tempted by the invitation by a group of cyclists to continue from Genting Sempah up to Goh Tong Jaya. Not knowing what to expect, I just decided to join them. On the way up, I asked one of the riders about the route. "5 km up and 2 km down" That's the only answer I got. Short and direct to the point. True enough, it was almost a vertical climb right from the guard house where the road to Genting Highland started. And I only managed to cycle for about 1 km up the hill. Crazy man; I don't think I could go any further. Made a u-turn with another rider. You know how steep the climb was when the ride downhill was at lightning speed and you ha...

I did a 50.6 km ride this morning. With some friends, we cycled from Bt. 18 in Hulu Langat to Nuang and back. Then from Bt. 18 to the junction to Kuala Kelawang/Tekala Dam. Instead of going to Tekala waterfall as we had earlier planned, we decided to climb up the hills to Genting Peras (most of us call Genting Perez) which is situated at the border of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. It has been a long while since my last long distance ride. For the last few months I have been regularly cycling up the Genting Sempah trail from Hospital Orang Asli in Gombak. The whole trip will be about 32km; about one hour of climbing and another 15 - 20 minutes going down hill. This morning's ride was a big test to my mental strength. I was contemplating of racing back down hill many many times during the climb. It was not my first time climbing up Perez; but the mental block was too much for me to push myself. Finally I just gave up with about another 50 - 80 meters to the summit. (isk...isk...