Further into the trail, Azril and I arrived at a beautiful bamboo grove. The others had gone way ahead. We had to stop to take some photos and to record the GPS location. Check out the location on Google Earth and photo here.
Finally, we got on our way and caught up with the others. The trail after the bamboo grove was a long steep uphill and at certain parts not ridable at all. As we continued, Azril's bike's rear wheel came off alignment and we needed to stop to fix the alignment.
We continued uphill and was rewarded with a nice downhill. Then we came upon some make-shift log bridge and decided to stop. But someone was missing... we were quite concern... not about the person... but more concern about the expensive bike... LOL...
After John and the rest caught up, we continued along the trail. The next incident was caused by a loose gear shifter on George's bike.
After fixing George's gear shifter problem, we continued downhill. The downhill was fast and furious... hard on the brakes and we had to really work the bike to make sure we made it through in one piece. But it was difficult as the path was full of crevices and rocks.
It was exhilarating! The trail opened up to a sandy road. But there was a VERY steep turn to reach the road. And that was where George lost control and plunged into the bushes... LOL. I am sorry... but it was hilarious! I think George deserve the name, "Iron Man" from here on... he is a "made" man... LOL... Luckily, George wore a helmet... in fact he was the only one that wore a helmet...
In any case, it served to remind us to get a helmet before our next hashing trip... LOL... After George recovered from the fall, he found himself bleeding... not because of the fall but because of leeches... :-)
After getting our bearings, we continued towards the northern tip of the dam. Just before reaching the main road, we came across a resort called Riverstone Eco Resort. Check out the location on Google Earth and photo here.
We chatted with some of the workers at the resort and decided to take a break.
After about 30 minutes break, we got onto the main road and rode along the highway circumventing the dam lake. We were now at three quarter way around the lake.
Riding on the road was no fun and rather dangerous with all the traffics! The gate to the dam, our final destination! The last guy have to close the gate... LOL... and it wasn't me... LOL...
Our goal! Finally, we rode on top of the dam! What a sight to behold! Finally, we made a circle around Batu Dam!!!! It was a great feeling... until... John was attacked by an Octopus!!!! Everyone getting ready to pack up and go home... but not me... I had to check out some kampung chickens... LOL..
The final thing left to be done was to pack up and to make sure that nothing was left behind... not even a scrap of paper... :-) As you can see, packing three bikes in the back of George's pickup was no easy task... :-)
I believe all of us felt that the Batu Dam hash we just did, was extremely fun and enormously satisfying. We were and are still very new to Mountain Biking, and we have a lot of lessons to learn, especially about safety and first aids. We must give thanks that no one was injured or harmed in this trip.
Since this Batu Dam hash, a few of us have bought helmets and the club will be arranging for first aid kits. If nothing else, our next trip will be more prepared in terms of safety.
NOTE: A lot of our videos have been deleted when Google Video died!!! So some of the text may not make sense.
After riding through the Cempedak and Rambutan orchard, Azril and I caught up with the rest of the geeks.
We caught them frolicking in the sun along the "river".... LOL. Ok... ok... it was not exactly a river but one of the many mountain streams feeding the dam. In any case, we shall refer to it as the "river" for effect sake... :-) Check out the location on Google Earth and photo here.
The river was our second obstacle which would require any half ass mountain bikers worth their grain in salt to at least attempt to ride across. We were worth... less... hahahaha. It was kind of pathetic but this "river" crossing was a first for almost all of us newbies... LOL. And of course, that spelt FUN!!!
What we did next was quite remarkable. We had to plan and decide how we were going to shoot videos of the crossing instead of planning on how we wanted to overcome the crossing... LOL. In the end, we just did it!!!!
And what a sight to behold!!! You have to check out the next video to appreciate our ingenuity... LOL.
After everyone had crossed over, Azril, in the true spirit of mountain biking, decided to tackle the "river" again... Did he make it this time around? LOL...
While everyone was checking on their bike, there was something about the bamboo trees surrounding us that reminded us of someone... :-)
When we finally went on our way again, it was a grueling uphill ride through some house and orchards.
I had to stop to catch my breath, as well as to shoot some videos and take some GPS photos to document this part if the journey. What better place to stop than in an orchard surrounded by "cempedak" and durian trees.
As George arrived and while waiting for him to catch his breath, I showed him the "fruits" of my labour... LOL...
Our next stop was at a trail fork. We had to decide whether to take the left or the right trails. After referring to the GPS, we decided to take the right trails. (Later we found out that if we had taken the left trail, our journey would have been much more difficult and longer.)
This next segment of the trail was hilly, muddy and narrow. The surface of the trail was "groovy", as in lined with "longkang"... LOL. If you were to take a cross-section of the trail you will get multiple letters of "W". Looked like someone went through the trail with a dirt bike digging deep into the surface.
In the end we were rewarded with a beautiful icy cold stream to wash our bike and chill out!
It was very tempting to stay on by the stream, but we had to move on. In this next video, we can see how strong man George carried his bike across and up the other side of the stream.. show off... hahaha.
The third obstacle we came across was a tree that had fallen over and across the trail. It was no biggie, as we all made it through without any incident. That is if your mind don;t get carry away... :-)
By now we had climbed up quite a bit into the hilly part of the trail. We started to see leeches and giant ants.
To be continued in:
Leeches, Bikers and a Cold Hard Trail - Part 4
