Genting Sempah - Bentong Ride 230711 Part 1

A passenger car overtaking a lorry on a double-line along the route

The long and winding roll

The route recorded by my Garmin EDGE800

My day started as early as 4:30am. 
Woke up, took my shower, dried up and applied some Hammer seat saver cream on the groin area before I put on my Zoic black market cycling shorts and my Lime Green race ready long sleeve Tee-shirt before I hit the road.
The day I have been waiting for had arrived. 
It was my 2011 Dahon Jetstream EX's maiden flight.
I've arranged to meet D.C. Ong at the Genting Sempah rest and relax area which is roughly about 45-minutes drive from my home in USJ, Subang Jaya.
I got there early and waited for Ong and McDonald's to open.
We had breakfast there and got around setting up our bikes.
Ong was riding a 27-speed Rallyart F-1 folding bike which he got from Taiwan during a family trip there three months ago.
He's a new rider and this was his fist long-distance training ride.
I punched the 'start' button on my Garmin EDGE800 gps and we were on our way.
The first leg of the ride was a smooth 25-km roll towards the Bentong Hot Springs, which is located about 26km away.
Our first stop was the Bukit Tinggi junction which is roughly about 5km away.
There, we took some pictures and proceeded to the Janda Baik junction.
All was good as we rolled the distance.
I told Ong that the journey back would be really fun.
At least 25km of steady climb.
We met Ah Pan, my buddy from Karak, Pahang at the Bentong Hot Springs.
This is a pretty rundown place that is not even on the map.
My farmer friend was all alone with his trusty Dahon Dash P18, which is by far, the fastest foldie in Bentong.
From the Hot Springs we rode to town and along the way, we met a bunch of cyclists who were escorted by the traffic cops. 
When cyclists cross paths, we greet each other.
After two hours of cycling, we clocked 37km to reach Bentong from Genting Sempah and there, we caught up with Farmer Wong, my contact and took a lunch break..

Putra Heights Training Ride series 2

Training for our tour in April

We took our bikes for a spin this morning. 
It was already late and we managed to squeeze about 11km climbing Bukit Lanchong and rounding Putra Heights.
Michelle found it odd to ride her Dahon Curve D3 as there are only three speeds for her to play with.
I had no issues with my Dahon Curve SL which performed flawlessly.

Tanjung Karang - Sungai Besar Endurance ride

At stage one of the ride in Tanjung Karang

Siang riding on the dirt road in Sekinchan

Our Speed P8 and TR - some eight kilometres away from Sungai Besar

I floated the idea of engaging in a 108-km endurance ride from Tanjung Karang to Sungai Besar in Selangor.

This is moderate ride in the state's rice growing hub and since the terrain is mostly flat, I managed to get at least half-a dozen people to participate.

During the ride, I was fortunate enough to have the company of veteran rider TT Siang whose knowledge of Sekinchan and Tanjung Karang was indispensable.

Earlier, I planned to begin the riding route from Jalan Kilang Padi to Sg Besar. That'll yield 54.2km in a single journey. 

Roughly, the journey would take about two hours or slightly longer.

Since Siang and Catherine, his friend was rather late, we adjusted the route a bit and staged our ride to Sekinchan A village. 

The real ride began at Parit 2 in Sekinchan when we joined the Sungai Tengi road. 

This is roughly about 18km towards Sungai Besar. 

By the time we hit the road, the sun was already out. We had an overcast earlier which made riding a breeze earlier.

I guess that most of the less-experienced riders were worn out when they cycled on the gravel road in Sekinchan.

Lucky for us, our Dahon Speed P8 and TR were equipped with Schwalbe's Big Apple tires. These proved to be useful on uneven terrain although they were much slower on the road.

Michelle was getting used to her new Dahon Speed TR which is equipped with a SRAM dual-drive system that gave a wide range of gear.

My Dahon Speed P8 held up pretty well on the road. Its now rigged for some light touring and our pannier systems are also ready for a trip to Southern Thailand next week.

Back on the endurance ride, one of the cyclists had to drop out as he suffered cramps on his leg. He had a support vehicle and this proved to be a blessing in disguise.

We made it from Tanjung Karang to Sungai Besar by 12:45 in the afternoon.

Lunch was at a restaurant in the town centre and as soon as we were done, we took a quick ride  to a fishing village and started to head back to Tanjung Karang.

By 2:30pm, the weather was starting to turn on us. 

Heavy rain forced two more riders to drop out. 

The remaining riders: Siang, Catherine, Michelle and me remained committed to our objective - complete the ride. 

When it rained too heavily, we took shelter at a farmer's house who gladly offered us his vehicle shed.

About half an hour later, we rode in the rain towards Sekinchan.

The rain, wet road conditions and a section of off-road area in the paddy fields had slowed us down. 

At this stage, the true test of mental and physical endurance was in full swing.

We managed to ride to Sekinchan by 5pm and reached Tanjung Karang at 5:45pm.

On the cyclometer, we did 86.5km - about 13.5km short of 100km. 

Total time spent cycling was 5hours 35minutes.

We have pushed our Dahons as far as we could and 86km is a decent mark.

I have TT Siang to thank for his knowledge of the area and some useful advice about long haul trips. 

Soon, we'll be planning some extended rides to parts of the country and at the mean time, its back to more training rides for strength and stamina.