KLMBH June 2013 – Report

After all the carbon dioxide, dust and haze that I have been inhaling through out my training on road bikes, decided to go back to my roots to have a taste of mother nature in the trails. So happens there is a bash by KLMBH on the beautiful Sunday, me and my friends decided to join. Heard this particular bash is very scenic and it is not one of those time that the hares are very naughty and will punish and torture every blood and sweat in your body. I guess it will be good time for my friend to be a first timer in bash.

Where is the bash?
In Kuang, nope, not the Johore but near Sungai Buloh in Kuala Lumpur. This place is an orang asli settlement which I witness some of the villages along the ride. Check out the pictures that I took, not so village-ish as you might think.

As we arrived the parking area, we noticed there were a lot of turn out this time. I would figure almost 300 riders. Met a few familiar faces, the usual chit chat and all.

   

Mr. HYH, gave a full briefing that this bash, everything is the same but there is an exceptional where there will be a two way traffic this time at the trail heading towards the waterfall. Most unfortunate as they could not, and no matter what, figure out a way to move around the waterfall. Actually they could make it more fun to cross the river but I guess safety is more important.

So the rush started at 9.30am, and we ride through the industry road that in my opinion kick up a lot of dust (not exactly to look for when you wanted fresh air and mother nature). We end up in a junction where we will choose to turn right to go for the long route, or straight for the short route. Eventually I choose to go short, as four of my other friends do not want to feel too adventurous and two of them are first timers in bash. Also the long route is just slightly 10km extra that consist of some zig zag uphill and nothing else (i might be wrong). So there we go…

We first arrived at the trail that heads into the waterfall (the two way traffic thing), bump into a few riders and told us  that it is just a short ride into it. Since we are not taking the long route, me and my friends went ahead and relax a little in the waterfall. The place wasn’t really well kept as I can see rubbish lying around the beside of the river. Water still look clear to me and the current wasn’t that strong. You could sort of see the water very calm and zen–ish.

We ride on to the area where everybody parked their bikes to catch a glimps of the waterfall.

Found a few riders also chilling at the waterfall and taking a dip in the water…

We took this opportunity to also chill out  and after the first 4km… which also one of the time I took a few other photos…

Few riders just taking a chill out at the waterfall

Mr. Inro practising his pre- wedding photos

Taking a group photo. Notice Adrian dress as though he is going for a futsal game? Yes he is the first timer 🙂

So enough of the waterfall, and we are ready to move on..

The ride is extremely smooth, and most of the trails are double track as seen in the photo above. We go through mostly palm oil plantations and occasionally construction sites and villages.

We reach a session that to our delight, a smooth flowly single track downhill. And this is where the unexpected happens. Our veteran Kiara rider, Stanley were too into the downhill that he did not notice a drop (2 and half feet only la). At this point, he supposed to turn right to decent, but went straight down. He crashed and the bike fell on his back . I was just behind him and I witness the entire episode. Thank God he wasn’t really hurt but from the look of it, he was a little shock. Another rider behind me (dunno who is he), came and assisted us and we were appreciative of his help. He got to know we are ‘Kiara’ riders, and said this kind of thing is so so for us.. not too bad la. But I think that sort of scratch Stanley’s ego, lol!

So we continue on the trail to reach a village… we have to make a stop as Stanley’s bike had some technical issue

I guess the crash doesn’t only hurt his ego, but his bike too. Turns out his RD is slightly bent and just a quick whack at it, we manage to get it ‘rideable‘.

From here I notice the surrounding of the village, in my opinion, it looks well developed. The houses are brick and not the ‘kayu‘ constructed as you think.

This house is like a bungalow in the village

The orang asli settlers. Must be wondering what all this dumb ass riding around their town…

Well, the rest of the ride is pretty much nothing out of the ordinary. Personally I love the final long downhill which I managed a 38km/h max speed.  I would say it is a super easy ride, nothing that makes you needing to come down from the bike to push uphill. Everything is ride-able, no stupid obstacle to make you carry your bike over, or no technical downhill that requires you get down too. We bumped into two aunties, probably in their late 40s and I was amazed with their determination to finish the ride. We had some conversation and I really respect this word coming out from one of them. “We should punish our body first, so the body doesn’t punish you”. RESPECT!

Look at the seriousness of the first timer… After a few Kiara rides, he probably thinks this ride is a little too boring, lol

Very flowy and smooth trails… very good for beginners…

We reached back to the assembly area, I think we took about 2 hours and 30 minutes for this ride. Many stops to relax, and camera whoring along the way.

We packed our bikes on top of Yishuai’s truck and just catch a quick breath (didn’t really need it).

Stanley was stoked but he is okay… Heard from him today he is feeling the aching in his body

As a Kiara Veteran rider, this is just small scratches…

Bikes packed on Yish’s truck and head out for the great lunch below…

Amazingly the lunch only cost RM128.00.

Overall, the ride is very friendly, thanks to the hares of KLMBH for marking the trails for us. Well plotted and since I have the ride data, I will maybe one day do it again with some of my friends. For my ride data, please check it out the following URL

http://connect.garmin.com/player/335096724

Check out a short video of our ride

Edited:

Found some new photos from other people. thanks to kelolo and albert chua