Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Batu Dam picnic ride


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Last week, Fino was "bugging" me to take him to Batu Dam during recent CNY long break. It had been a while since the last time I rode there; Christmas 2007 to be precise. My guesstimate, sub 10 headcounts will join the ride after a little "ads" on Facebook and forums.

I serviced my Scott, tied the machete to the fork, downloaded Batu Dam tracklog to my GPSr, packed nutrition and fluid, first aid kit (both for human and their mean machine), 2 spare tubes and 3 set of spare batteries (just to be on the safe side, btw my flashlight, GPSr and camera are running on AA battery).

I reached the entrance slightly after 8:00am and taken by surprised seeing a number of unfamiliar faces preparing their bikes. What a coincident to have a number of group to ride the same trail on the same day. Soon, I learnt that it was a member get member situation and all we know, 20 headcounts!

Revisiting a trail that was last ridden a year ago, 1 clear objective was in my head; I must do better that before! Lets see what I had between these 2 rides..
1. 6 epic rides
2. 8 hash rides
3. v-brake to disc brake
4. migrated from platform to clipless
5. countless parts replaced due to wear and tear
6. countless cuts and bruises

The newbie
Azlan was in his 2nd trail trip after FRIM the previous week. While some improvement needed on his pedaling technique especially on climbing; tackling rocky, terrace and fast flowing decent wasn't much of an issue for him.

From Batu Dam

The conclusion
Trail kinna short (less than 15km). The rideable climbing, fast rolling decent, picnic area and cool soothing river stream; awesome! Just the right place for weekend getaway for those looking for the above combo. And obviously, I did better than last time :)

Photos by Fino

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Melodie,
I'm sorry. Most of the time I used alkaline battery for flashlight & GPSr. For camera, I use rechargeable however I am not in a position to recommend you any brand.