Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Keledang Experience - Part 2

Parting is such sweet sorrow.. 
From the foothills of Keledang hill, we had to find our way back to Ipoh town.
This is roughly about 10km away and there is a shorter route via Taman Rasi to Taman Mas.
The goal is to locate Spooner Road.
I punched in the coordinates on my Garmin EDGE800 cycling GPS and took the role of sweeper while Siang relied on his paper map.
The journey was smooth as we found our way to the point of exit and cycled into the mining pond path.
This part of the journey was interesting. 
The bike's capabilities were put in paces and I am proud to report that my 2009 Dahon Speed P8 had done very well...


Cycling through the rough trail

The team with Keledang in the background
The ride home...
My plan was to get a train ticket back to KL.
The rest of the guys, well, they bought their ride home earlier.
As a result of a last-minute decision, I had to board a train that was an hour later than the rest of the gang.
We had an early lunch at Taman Rasi. 
Chris Wong was so happy to have completed the ride while the rest of us reminisced the good times we had all the way.
From Taman Mas, we found the 'missing' link to Jalan Spooner.
Siang said the geographic information he had obtained from Google Map's satellite imagery was dated 2004. 
Many things had changed and the landscape that we rode across was barely recognizable.
We stopped at the mid-way point and took plenty of pictures before heading back to hotel for a shower and later had a tea session in Ipoh town.


Colonial legacy: The raintrees in the background are destined to be gone really soon
Waiting for the rain to stop at the hotel
One for the road: the Batu Gajah - Ipoh exploration team
Conclusion
This was one of the best rides I've ever had since the Betong trip in February.
It would be better if I can bikepack with my Dahon Jetstream EX.
The teamwork was amazing and I get to see some parts of Ipoh that is not 'touristy'.
That said, plans are in the pipeline for a ride that will take us from Teluk Intan to Tg Tualang.. 
So, stay tuned.. 

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