Genting Sempah to Bentong

I always want to do the Genting Sempah-Bentong....curious as to what lie beyond the McDonalds hill! Today I got the chance, I must say it was a great ride.

I didn't start from restaurant AWE...PCC's official starting point as I didn't read the directions properly! Waited for a few minute at HOA for them. Did Genting Sempah to workshop in 53 minutes. Then it's all the way down to Bentong. Actually the downhill is short compare to the flats you have to do to reach Bentong. That's where you energy get sucked if you ride alone. Tip; fuel up after Genting Sempah.



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As usual the GPS act up. Found it to be switched off at McD hill. Then I snapped a picture in Bentong...the GPS shut itself. NEED MORE MEMORY!!!


Regroup at Shell Bentong for fuel. Then the ride back was slow as the seasoned riders know it's going to be tough riding in the hot sun. On one of the climb 4 riders began to break away. Then slowly everybody started to ride at their own pace. I was keeping Mr. Chin company. He was on his new Scott Addict R4. :)

At Janda Baik I can feel my legs going to cramp up. I finished all my water and decided to hang on until I reach the place where people collect spring water. The water doesn't taste like mineral water. Tasted like your normal tap water but it's free and it took care of the cramp!

Next is the McDonalds hill. Everybody regroup at the R&R before attempting the climb. I did OK, climbing all the way and bombing down Genting Sempah with Mr. Chin. Half way down it started to drizzle and the descend feels like it will never end.

Reach the bottom, and we were greeted by clear sunny skies. Overall a great training ride for Interstate 09.

Max speed: 56.9, Time: 4h 8min, Distance: 99Km, Average speed: 24Km/h

Genting Sempah track

This is where I spend most of my Saturday mornings.

21 October 2007

Saturday ride was to Genting Sempah only as we had a guy joining us after 2 years of not riding. At around kilometer 10, Wilson called me and said he and the new friend is not continuing! I forgot I'm on clipless and forgot to unclip when stopping to attend to Wilson's call. Thanks God I set the pedal tension to the lowest and managed to bail out on time. But the bike fell! Ouch!

My ride didn't feel good. It feels like a longer ride. A bit disappointed that I cannot catch or follow closely with Dennis and Hon Wai after my 'fast' night ride. I timed 56 min to reach Genting Sempah from Orang Asli hospital. So this will be my benchmark for my next ride to Genting Sempah.

29 September 2007

Today I went to Genting Sempah with Wilson Bak, Hon Wai, Dennis and Ronald. I can see improvement in my performance this week. On Tuesday I arrived early at the regroup point for the Tuesday night ride and able to keep the fast riders within visual range. The climbs still hurts like mad but I'm shaving some time.

Back to todays ride...the climb feels a bit short but I feel giddy after stopping to wait for other riders. At the McDonald's climb I have to use granny ring on the first part of the climb so I will target this as an area to improve. Another thing I have to monitor is my cadence. Sometimes I turn around less than 80 RPM which tax my legs.

Max Speed:53.5Km/H, Distance:49.22KM, Actual riding time :2h 26m, Average speed:20KM/H

15 September 2007

Today I followed Wilson Bak who I got to know from the Interstate ride to Genting Sempah. Later we meet up with Danny who I meet in Interstate with two of his friend. So the 5 of us climbed the legendary Genting Sempah. It's about 16 to 20 KM of continuous climb to the top. Pure torture because there's no opportunity to recover.

After reaching the top Danny suggested we got to Bukit Tinggi for Wan Tan noodles. No big deal, it's all pleasant downhill. What goes down must come up in cycling so the ride back was all uphill. Again the torture continues. I brought water for 20KM only so I was thirsty halfway. My throat feels sore since yesterday and today after the ride I feel like I'm having cold. I did stop about 3 times while climbing back because I feel there's no more power in my legs.

After the climb it's all downhill. Can be dangerous because the road is used by lorries that uses both lanes. We reach our cars around 12:30. No ride data because my bike computer is dead!.