We Conquered Balik Pulau

I am not going to write about politics as it is all screwed in Malaysia under Najib and his 1 Malaysia concept. So for a change I am going to write how I build the 1 Malaysia principle my way! Read on.
I got up early receiving a SMS from Zul ( a malay), one of our Bike Pusher Gang member( we are not an illegal gang but a group of bike enthusiast) saying that he is unable to join us today as his 'home minitry' rejected his application for the ride even though he was one of the schemer for today’s trail! Well I was at the meeting point first, Dinas Nasi Kandar Restaurant and saw two other riders from another group namely Pak Cik (Malay) and another guy. Slowly one by one of my team mebers came and we were ready and equally excited to explore a new path suggested by Yazid (Malay) as he experienced this trail during his birthday bash thrown by his ex-colleagues some time back. Not sure why he planned this path yet all of us were gearing to go. It was Yazid, Tee, Arthur, Sufian, Fauzi, Idris, KB, Suri , Malik and I left Dinas around 7.30am (truely Malaysians). We set with Yazid taking the lead as he brought along his brand new bike, very “changih” one and must be expensive too! I didn’t noticed his bike until Sufian pointed out to us as Yazid’s glaring jersey was overwhelming and overshadowing his bike.
Anyway we set off taking the quarry trail which was okay for a while but it started to go uphill and as usual some of us were struggling but not Yazid still leading the pack followed by the rest. Sufian as usual the slow starter but would catch up and overtake everyone after a while which indeed happened today too. It was a difficult uphill ride and to save guard the sanction of our team name ( Bike Pushers) I did the honour of getting off the bike and start pushing followed by KB. Yazid fell back to look up for us and Idris is one dude who will share his experience and provide tips on how to upgrade the bike or cycle uphill or downhill. He was with KB for a while until I decided to take over partnering KB not that I am a good coach or what but just an excuse to find a pushing partner and to release Idris from the agony of being slow because of us. Thanks Idris for taking time to join us and to share your experience with us. (Really appreciate it buddy).
Midway on top of the hill we took a lot of photos and moved on till we came down an orchard path which was great ride leading to the main road. I did not where I was yet just followed the rest until someone said "go left" and as soon as I hit the main road…boy was it an uphill trail for kilometers. It was not an easy ride for me as I was trailing back from the rest and guess who was leading the pack now…the one and only champion...Arthur Leh. The team were divided into three groups now with Team A consist of Arthur, Tee, Sufian, Malik and Idris,Suri, Fauzi and Yazid in team B and the last pack by KB and myself or something in that order. After a lot of struggle we reached the midway point of the scenic view of Balik Pulau, really breath taking! After resting for while to catch up with our breath the fun ride began as we rode downhill and this was a sheer excitement to all of us but it was short lived as the pack stopped and took a right turn from the main road to my disappointment. We stopped by a narrow mud road trail took photos again and moved down the trail. It was a very steep down ride with sharp bends yet all fun for all of us. Finally we reached Balik Pulau and sat for our breakfast at a food court and we rewarded ourselves with a hearty breakfast and I ate 2 chapatis, one vadai and one Teh O Ais. It was a sumptuous breakfast to me and we talked for a while and finally decided to move on. I remember Yazid saying it’s going to be a smooth ride back to Bayan Baru or Sungai Ara and even said that we’ll do about 35KM per hour. I was thinking yeah right 35KM an hour! We headed back without Idris as he is meeting his other half for breakfast and going on to Telok Bahang for durian feista. We said good bye to our Sifu and hit the main road. That reminded me of a chat that I had with Arthur and came to understand why he has so much of energy compared to the rest of us. It is because of his daily secret trainings alone at night to 'Karpet'! Yes, you read it right, it was to Karpet (peak in Sg.Ara hill). Would I go alone to Karpet at night alone…holly cow no way man! I also heard something to this effect that Tee and Sufian requesting Arthur to inform them of his secret night rides. Count me out on this one guys to Karpet at night! Anyway we took the Kampung way back and saw a young Malay bo by the road side looking at us passing by and I gave him an army salute and he saluted back.
Later it started to go uphill and uphill and uphill for kilometers after kilometers nonstop and along the way we met other riders with whom we exchanged greetings. It was not as difficult as Karpet but it was slow and painful long ride back home. There were a lot of road works that was going on and we need to stop from time to time to allow vehicles from the opposite direction to pass by. It took a while to reach the peak to hit downhill and all of a sudden KB disappeared from my view as he joined the rest of the group leaving me all alone to be the last member of the pack ! It was some 90 minutes ride on our return to Bayan Lepas and we stopped near the Sri Setia Project for a drink at someone’s stall that Arthur knew. Malik suggested that we go for another uphill ride by the Sri Setia project for which no one responded, and I said something to this effect 'cukup lah kawan torture untuk hari ini'. So we said our goodbyes for the day and went back to our respective homes to nurse the pains and aches! In summary the trip was fun-pain-fun-pain with pleasant memories. Looking forward for next Saturday for this same route not for the challenge but for my chapathi & vadai in Balik Pulau! There you go, Najib and BN, you do not have to spend milion of our rakyats' money on publicity stunts but just honest and truthful policies that will bring all the various races together towards nation building. Think about it Najib as I did not spend millions.