Genting Conquered

Ride profile, from McD's up to Genting via Gohtong.

Part 2 of my hilly weekend was a ride from Genting Sempah R&R to Genting Highlands. Arif, Adeline & I rode a couple of km's up the hill (that took 13 mins!) and waited for another 6 riders, including Sofian, who'd started at HOA.

My main concern was that my HR would exceed my self-imposed max of 90%, or that my elderly bottom bracket would fail under the strain of me pushing a 39x23 gear up 1:10 slopes for 2 hours. As it turned out, my HR stayed under 90% and my BB was OK. (lots of abbreviations there!)

Pitstopped at Gohtong and then the final push - about 8-9km. I was looking forward (?) to the infamous 4.4km to go - a wall-like left-hand switchback corner, followed by unrelenting 10-12% gradients to the top.

I got past 4.4 ok but my front tyre was suspiciously flat and I stopped shortly therafter. My tyre had lost a lot of pressure, but after 3 attempts at remounting I was on my way again and managed to get to 2.2km to go before having to change it.

The wall-like corner at 4.4km to go (4.4 = Die.Die in Chinese - how appropriate!)

After 2hours (at less than 10kph!) we made it to the top and had a short rest before Arif & I began the descent. The first 5 minutes was in thick cloud and I was so freezing that my whole arms were trembling. Halfway down my tyre deflated again so we stopped to top it up with CO2. This was 10th (slight exaggeration) suspected internal puncture in the last few months - definitely something wrong with my tyres, rims or rim tape. My rims were almost too hot to touch from braking continuously!

Luckily for me Arif had another CO2 canister so I made it all the way to the top of the "McD's hill". Then my tire began to come off the rim, so my ride promptly turned into a brick session - I ran the last 1km downhill with bike in one hand - shoes in the other. Running over stones on the road is damn painful!

The end result was a very satisfying ride. I finally made it right to the top, 11 years after falling 3km short due to time constraints, and only 2 weeks before I leave the country (I've been targetting that ride for the last 3 years!).

My proof! - the tastefully painted First World Hotel, shrouded in cotton wool clouds.

This ride got me so excited about cycling up mountains that I've entered it on www.climbbybike.com - a must view site for cycling fans. Hopefully the climb will be on the site in 2 weeks once the webmasters have okay'd the details (profile, photos, description and Google Earth links).