Karak > Lanchang Ride - Part 4

A critical decision
The final push to Sin Poh farm in Karak is about 17km.
Rather than backtracking, the fastest way to get there is by riding along the KL - Kuantan road.
This course is paved with danger.
Passing trucks and trailers posed a real problem.
To the uninitiated, its a ride through hell.
One of the guys were actually grumbling about the danger of riding this route. 
But that the way it is. 
I've cycled on many Federal roads and there's nothing lacking in the dangers that lurks ahead.
From Lanchang, we rode past a few villages.
I can see on my EDGE800 that there are three bridges to cross along the way.

Riding out of Lanchang

The endurance factor
With the Sun directly above our heads, timing became a crucial thing in completing the ride.
If we had taken the same way we rode in, I don't think we would be able to get back to Sim Poh Farm before dark.
So, like it or not, the KL - Kuantan road is the only choice we had.
This course is paved with an undulating terrain.
The gradient is between 3 - 5% and on certain sections, there were enough hills to actually roll.
By allowing inertia to do the job, energy is conserved.
After crossing the second bridge, we managed to cycle some 15km on the road.
Right ahead, there was a BHP petrol station where we took a rest.
Ah Pan was very concerned about his teenage friend and I can clearly see that his downhill bike had really slowed him down..

Taking a break at the BHP petrol station

Riding the offroad section behind the Bentong Community College

The landmark to lookout for is the Bentong Community college.
We have cycled for more than 67km and the new bridge linking Karak to Sungai Semantan was a welcoming sight.
The team was elated when we rode towards the farm area.
From this section, there is a 2km offroad course to complete..

Riding towards Sin Poh Farm

Patric, taking snapshots of the farm area...

All in a day's work
We reached the farm at 3:45pm.
The entire day was spent on the road.
The first thing we did, was to clean up the bikes.
Farmer Wong has a water jet compressor and this made it a breeze to clean the bikes before we packed them back into the car.
We spent some time at the farm and were given a tour of the growing plots.
Wong is accepting an award later this month for his effort from the state Department of Agriculture.
As for me, paying a visit to my farmer friend is a norm.
To the rest, it was an eye-opening experience.
With some good riding prospects in Karak, we will check out some new tracks in the future..

Team Jetstream 

A farmer's hospitality: enjoying the day's harvest

Summary
Much of what that lies ahead was mainly unknown.
I for one, am glad to have tried out the kampung roads in Sertik that leads to Felda Lakum and Bukit Damar.
The Elephant sanctuary itself, was an experience to behold. 
I don't think there are many folding bike cyclists who have tried this route, let alone, climb and roll down the steep gradient to get from Karak to Kuala Gandah.
On the whole, the ride was incident-free.
The timing alone, was perfect.
Angela Tan had suggested a longer lunch break to compensate for the heat during mid-day. 
Other than that, no else complained as the ride was meant for more experienced cyclists.
There's no way for a beginner to ride on such a tough course, but in the months to come, I will design an easier route for newbies to ride the Sin Poh farm.

Stats

Distance:	70.58 km
Time:	8:37:30
Avg Speed:	8.2 km/h
Elevation Gain:	897 m
Calories:	2,840 C
Avg Temperature:	29.7 °C

Time:	8:37:30
Moving Time:	4:39:09
Elapsed Time:	8:37:30

Avg Speed:	8.2 km/h
Avg Moving Speed:	15.2 km/h
Max Speed:	57.3 km/h

Karak > Lanchang Ride - Part 3

Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary
We took a short break at the Lanchang - Kg Bolok junction.
A decision was reached to ride to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary -- which is the highlight of this trip.
We have to cycle through a 10km course where the gradient averages from 3 - 20%. 
Now, the top-speed recorded here was 57.3km/h downhill.
I've been to the Wildlife Department's training centre in Lanchang on assignment when I was a feature writer in the NST.
This place is hilly and the only place I can compare it with is the Na Mueang waterfalls and elephant sanctuary in Ko Samui, Thailand.
For hill-climbing on a folding bike, this landmark is a benchmark.
Anyways, we made it km7 on the route and took a break at a grocery shop.
I took the liberty to round up some isotonic beverage and distributed it to the cyclists.
From here, there's another 3km to go.

Climbing towards Kuala Gandah

At the entrance of the Elephant sanctuary

 

Viewing the baby jumbo at its enclosure

Langsat, a four-year-old infant pachyderm at the centre

 It took us about 45-minutes to ride to the Elephant sanctuary's visitor's centre.
There, I registered the cyclists and we donate RM30 to the conservation and maintenance of the facility. A small token, and we hope it'll make a small difference.
The show actually starts at 1pm, but we were way too early to catch the programme.
A staff told us that a bunch of school kids were being briefed about the sanctuary's activities.
But, we were late. We only managed to catch the tail-end of the show.
The only saving grace here is an enclosure where two baby elephants were being fed with cow grass.
One of them were 'Langsat', a four-year-old baby. It was so cute, I went on capturing the little jumbo on my camera.
Later, we went to a cafeteria at the centre for a drink and decided that its best to move on to have lunch in Lanchang.

One of the ninja cats at the Elephant sanctuary

Leaving the scene

 The plan is to ride out towards Lanchang town and get some lunch there.
I suggested that we ride the last 17km on the old KL - Kuantan road to save some time so that we can freshen up and rest at Sin Poh Farm.
That's another 10km out and climbing all the way...

Veterans
I must say that I was truly amazed by the prowess of Master Siang and his wife Angela.
They climbed with ease on a hill where the recorded gradient is 20%.
Most of us had struggled up the hill and since Michelle and I are riding in Penang this weekend, we don't want to run the risk or hurting ourselves.
And before we knew it, we reached Lanchang, a small town with only two rows of shoplots.
I found a nice makan stall here and suggested to the team that this is where we eat.
The bill came up to RM76 for the entire group and I must say that the fresh lime juice is the best I've had in a long time!

Mrs Samo and her lunch

Gulai Tempoyak, telur itik!

Preparing to ride back to Sin Poh Farm

We had a well-deserved break in Lanchang and just before we took off, the stall owner asked for a picture to be taken.
This cosy little place serves a decent fare and I cannot dispute the pricing.
From Lanchang, we have another 17km to clear.

Karak > Lanchang Ride - Part 2

Sertik > Felda Lakum
Felda Sertik which is situated some 9km from Sin Poh Farm is a nice place to ride.
The road was quiet with the occasional traffic from vehicles plying this route from Lanchang to Karak.
We re-group at the entrance to this Felda scheme and took some photos.
As we slowly rode towards the kampung, Ah Pan and the kid had sped off.
There was a BHP Petrol station here where one of the team members had made a toilet call.
We waited for a short while before moving along.
Sertik, as it seems, is a small self-sustained township linked by route C138 to the outside world..

At the BHP Petrol station in Sertik

Serene: the quiet kampung road

  Life on the slow lane
We had the opportunity to witness the slower pace in life as we rode past Kg Sertik.
Traffic was low here as we soaked in the beautiful rural scene with rubber plantations around us.
As we slowly moved to rejoin the Federal Road towards Felda Lakum, the terrain began to show its shapely contour.
This was no easy ride and definitely not for beginners.
From my Garmin EDGE800 GPS, I can see the constant 3 -5% gradient along the way.
Some parts of the route is long and steep while a short stretch was a downhill roll.
We made our way to a rest stop af Felda Lakum and had nasi lemak for breakfast.
At this point of the ride, we had progressed some 3 hours on the road and had ridden some 23km.
The nasi lemak was something we had looked forward to and lucky for me, the stall I picked turned out to be really good.
While we were parking our bikes, a shopkeeper had scolded Patric for taking pictures of her petrol kiosk. I don't know why the woman had gone ballistic, but her neighbour, a lady who served us the nasi lemak was really nice.
Breakfast came up to RM32 for the entire group with drinks. 

At the junction to Felda Lakum

My Jetstream EX

Working on the climb

A shot showing the road contour

Continuing with the climb
After a good fill, we worked our way to Bukit Damar.
The contour of the road here can be clearly seen from a distance.
We worked on our cadence and slowly climbed the hills with gradients of 5% 

Ah Pan scooping his breakfast

This nasi lemak is pretty decent

Bukit Damar was in the horizon as we slowly rode into the Felda scheme.
It was a straight-forward ride as we cleared this satellite township and made our way out towards another slope.
So far, we have endured a lot of hills and the junction towards Kg Bolok, where the Kuala Gandah Elephant sanctuary is located.

The team, at the Kg Bolok - Lanchang junction

 A decision
I discussed with the team on the prospect of doing another 10km of climbing and descent towards the Kuala Gandah Elephant sanctuary.
Most had agreed as we proceeded to crank and crunch our gear on this hilly nature and wildlife sanctuary.

Karak > Lanchang Ride - Part 1

A follow-up
Last month's ride from Karak - Bentong via Kg Cinta Manis, Sertik and Mempaga had inspired me to conduct another ride towards Lanchang.
The plan was to ride from Sin Poh farm towards Kg Sertik using an offroad track nearby.
I had no idea of the terrain and ground conditions as much of my plan was based on past experiences using the route with a 4x4 vehicle.
To get things going, I rounded up some experienced riders through the Malaysian Foldie Forums and its Facebook page.
After listing the requirements for participation, I had a handful of people who signed up for the ride.
This was strictly for experienced riders as the trail is expected to be tough.

Michelle at Farmer Wong's house in Karak

 I planned it in such a way, the team would spend a night at Farmer Wong's house in Sin Poh Farm.
So, to make it happen, I gave Ah Pan, my old buddy a call to get clearance to camp at the farmhouse.
Sin Poh farm is an award-winning vegetable producer in Pahang and is also the first farm of its kind to be awarded with a Good Agricultural Practise certification from the state agriculture department.
As for the ride, we had Andrew Ng with his wife Hui Min, Patric Yee, an old kaki including Master TT Siang and his wife Angela.
All in, we had seven riders including Ah Pan and a 14-year-old kid.

Stage one: Karak > Sertik
The alarm clock blared at 05:00am. 
I woke up and immediately packed my thermarest sleeping pad.
After a breakfast meeting with the rest of the exploration team, we set up our bikes.
This was also my first ride with the Ay-Up headlights which worked very well.
Our bikes were perfect for the road conditions.
At 06:30am sharp, we rode out towards a rubber plantation and made our way towards a fruit orchard some 1.5km away.
The coarse and loose gravel road had proven to be really tough as the tires couldn't get a good grip.
At certain sections, we had to push the bikes as it was next to impossible riding up the loose gravel.
Puncture was also a main concern, but most of the bikes were using a 20" Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires.
The only small bike in the ride was Angela with her Curve SL. 

Lights on: At the early stage of the ride

Re-grouping at a hilltop

Daybreak: A scene from the trail

 We cleared some 2km in to the trial and everything had looked fine.
I had no idea that the terrain was so rough and undulating, it seemed like we were riding a mountain bike hash.
The suspension on my Dahon Jetstream EX had taken the knocks and bumps very well and with a 27-speed drivetrain, climbing the unpaved trail was not an issue.
Michelle too had done the track with ease on her Dahon Jetstream P8.
We reached the end of the trail at the rubber plantation and rode through a tunnel across the East Coast Highway.
At the end of it, the trail continued until it joined-up with route C138 towards Sertik

A group photo at the entrance of Felda Sertik in Pahang