Bentong - Hutan Lipur Lentang Ride 080711

Mr Uncle chugging uphill on his Dahon Dash P18

The Bentong riders at Hutan Lipur Lintang

Giving chase to Mrs Samo

Ah Pan, my farmhand friend told me that he and a group of cyclists would take on the road from Bentong to Hutan Lipur Lentang every weekend.
I jumped on this offer and wasted no time in heading towards this small town in Pahang, which is about an hour's drive from our home in Subang Jaya.
Michelle had warned me about being late and well, we were 10 minutes off the mark. 
The plan was to meet at Kedai Basikal Bentong at 07:30am and ride towards the Bentong-Genting Sempah road.
This is a familiar route to me as we rode here two weeks earlier.
By the time we got to the bicycle shop, about a dozen people were already waiting. 
They took off to the hotsprings while Michelle and I went on to set up.
Coincidentally, another group were riding from Bentong to Genting Sempah.
We caught a glimpse of them on the way to town.
By the time we reached the hotsprings, which is about 35-minutes later (about 16km from town) the cyclists were waiting.
We didn't stop and proceeded towards Lentang.
Since the Bentong riders knew the way, they led us to a left turn. 
This happens to be the Forestry Department's quarters and nursery.
And during our trip to the East Coast with our Huskies, this was their pee and poo break area.
I am familiar with Lentang and having been there on a macro photography excursion, the landscape was familiar.
The only thing that caught me by surprise is the last 50 meters to the grouping area.
It was a short and steep climb.
So, with the gears crunching, I managed to get all the way to the crowd.
Later, we set up a group photo and adjourned shortly.
The ride to Bentong was a smooth one.
At the time, I was riding with a 70-year-old dude. He was obviously not the strongest of the lot, but he showed some true grit.
I took the position of sweeper as this dude was left very far behind.
We rode slowly at 15km/h and as we reached Bentong town after crawling for 12km, I broke away.
Michelle's voice cracked over the radio, trying to get my position. I was at a Hainanese coffeeshop and made my way back to the bicycle shop where everyone was waiting. They wanted to say goodbye before leaving. 
We had an early lunch with Ah Pan, Farmer Wong and Ah Loy, the workshop dude before driving back to KL.
The journey home was agonizing and I felt some pain on my left knee. Felt like the joints were really sore.
Back at home, my fix was a glass of Hammer Recoverite and tomorrow, well, its back to work..