Rawang - Batu Arang Ride: Part 2

In the big country...

The journey from Kundang to Kuang was breath taking.
Lots of greenery and clean country air.
We rode past a few fishing pay ponds and Kuang town was in the horizon.
Cikgu Chin led the cyclists past the town area and into the outskirts of Batu Arang.
We rode past some housing area and rolled into the town square.
I've never been to Batu Arang and found this town to be rather fascinating.
There is a monument in the town square which was still under construction.
We gathered around and took some snapshots before moving into a fruit stall where Cikgu Chin had arranged for a durian tasting session.

Moving towards Kuang

At the monument in Batu Arang

Hui Min and Michelle

At a local bicycle shop

Learning from an old-timer

A makan place in Batu Arang

The newbie's blues..

We stopped at a local bicycle shop.
One of the guys said he had some issues cycling and that the gear was not shifting well.
The bike shop owner told the new guy that there was nothing wrong with his bicycle.
"You need to change your gear in order to ride on flats and climb hills, there is nothing wrong with your bicycle...," said the old-timer.
Well, I guess if you have very little knowledge in bicycles, you tend to jump into the wrong conclusion.
So, that was the case.
The new fella was happy to pedal his bike around and learned that he actually has gears on his bike to make the journey even smoother.
But, seriously, a long ride like this would be tough for a beginner.
We rode around town and to my surprise, the layout in Batu Arang looked rather similar to Sungai Lembing in Pahang.

Our Jets

Durian time!

The local fare at a coffee shop

Down time!

After the durian session, we went to the other side of town to see the remnants of a brick factory.
The long chimney from the brick kiln can be seen from a distance.
Michelle and I took some shots at the area before moving on.
While waiting for the others to re-group, we learned that one of the cyclists had a flat tire.
All of us rode towards the downed cyclist and a the time, a few guys were attending to the cyclists.
I noticed from a distance that they were fumbling all over.
Then, I offered help by fitting the inner tube into the tire and got it inflated. The bike was up and running in no time.
My take on this: too many cooks spoils the broth.
To make matters worse, some of the guys actually don't know how to patch and change an inner tube. A lot of time is wasted by fumbling around and hoping to get it right.
We fixed the problem and moved on from Batu Arang to Rawang.

At the old brick factory

A boy and his bicycle

Cikgu Chin capturing the scene

Michelle and Ann

The hilly ride to Rawang

We circled around Batu Arang and found a half-demolished house with creepers growing all over it.
It felt as if we were in an old Khmer ruin.
No time was wasted in capturing the scene and all of us were excited with the find.
As we moved on, the terrain became undulating. This was spoken of by some old-timer who cycled around the area.
The average gradient was around 5 - 9%.
We finally made it to the junction linking Batu Arang to Rawang.
There, we waited for the rest to re-group and rode to the AEON shopping mall near Country Homes.

The famous wall in Batu Arang

Rolling hills

The journey to Rawang

A job well-done!

From the AEON mall, we rode towards Emerald West housing estate.
What Cikgu Chin didn't tell us, was the steep climb towards Emeral East.
We got past this and rolled down towards the Lafarge Cement factory and back to the SMK Seri Garing.
Once everyone was accounted for, we parted ways.
Some of us decided to have a late lunch in Kg Lee Kim Sai with Cikgu Chin and Cikgu Lee.
On the whole, the teachers had done an excellent job leading the ride.
Cikgu Chin told me that he will retire in February 2014 and focus on doing some adventure rides. I wished him all the best on this and told him that his rides are worth joining.