There’s a ride we haven’t done in the longest time. A ride that shouts SCENIC. A route that is surely MEMORABLE. A tingling sense of DISCOVERY & ADVENTURE. ~~ These were the words from the ride leader.
He was referring to the ride from Bentong to Frasers Gap via tranum. The starting point was the Kopitiam @ Jln Ketari Bentong. Where the hell is this place ? A quick check with Google map, GAWD ! it is in Pahang !! Drive 70+km, 1 hour 9 min according to Google map, to Pahang just for a ride ?? !! CRAZEE !!! I was quite suspicion how many go for the ride.
However, I have not have long ride for several weeks since Prez MTB event. Something within told me, GO! A quick check around, there are a couple of familiar faces confirmed going. Sweet ! It is a GO then. At the last minutes, Bern asked if he can carpool. Cool. The more the merrier. 6.15am, loaded up the bikes and the journey begin. 1st stop @ Sri D’sara toll to convoy w Kuota Drama King ;). Next, Caltex for the steely Thomas. Then Gombak toll only to be ffk’ed by Mr FFK,Vincent Chan. We were uncertain of the way really. Good thing we saw vongvongvong on the way & tag on. 
At the car, there was only Angus & Philip. Ride leaders were no where to be found. Just before 8am, Jeff, Ashley, Patrick, AC, Addict, PK & family, Joe, Teik, Yu Kit,…..wow, not bad, especially when the road was still wet from last night heavy rain.B4 we can roll out, AC’s tyre punctured. While all the bees helping her to fix it, the ride leader gave a quick briefing. 8am, action !! The peloton sets a good pace for the first 30km. We regroup at the T-junction just before the Frasers climb. It’s puasa month, no mamak. Quick thinking leader brought us a short distance away into Raub and found 2 local kopitiams for some good home made paus & drinks. With water & refill, here come the 21km climb @ about 4%. The 1st 8km rolled by pretty quickly, chatting here & there with Malcom, Angus, Yu Kit and OJ. Later we picked up Chin Hoe who got dropped by the fast & furious in front. As the km rolled by, I begin to get bored. The same power level, the same pedal after pedal..Very dry & uneventful. At the last few km, Patrick caught up. He was chasing, I suspect. He was breathing rather heavy. Finally, Gap in sight. Drama king got to do what drama king got to do. Tyre puncture. While he was fixing the puncture, the group was ready to make the return leg. I waited & Bernard came back to help fix it quickly. As a result, we ended up at the back. Bernard sets out to chase the group. 8 minutes later, we reached the steel bridge. Kuota Drama King disembarked from the bike to walk & push over the road work as he suspected the stone chip from here was the culprit for his puncture. So, i rode ahead. I thought he will surely come blasting by becuase he is heavier thus momentum. After two turns something told me to stop & wait. Minutes later, he appeared at the turn annoucing, “another puncture !!” Alamak 
Memang drama king !! I sent off a text to both Bern & Don to inform them about the puncture & we will be late and helped him to fix the puncture. Downhill was never my strength. In fact, I am pretty chicken about it. But I felt good this time. I didnt blast with fast & furious downhill speed of the season cyclists but I was better confident. It is all about the bike !!. We reached TRAS and was told of the bad news that Bern crashed at one of the corner. Dayem. Kissing the tarmac is never nice. Quietly, I said a prayer, hopefully he & his bike sustained very minor injury / damage. We were left with 30+km back to Bentong Kopitiam. Following behind the train by Don, Teik, Seng Kiat, Joe, it was nice to draft & have others block off the headwind. I guess good thing doesn’t last. By the 3rd km, Joe dropped off. By the 8 km, we hit a long stretch of incline gradient and these guys just kept hammering away. In my mind, I have two choices. 1) - Follow and probably bonk before I reach, or 2) - I can drop back to work with Joe behind, avoid the bonk. The choice seems to be obvious to me coz I remember this was not the last incline gradient. For the next 15+km, we fought mad headwinds and played the games of me moving ahead on the incline gradient then Joe came blasting by on the decline gradient. At the T-Junction to Bentong, we were seperated by the traffic and I had to ride alone trying to chase him down in the next few kms. Shops & schools were a welcoming sight. It means we are reaching back to base !! 1.40pm. The ride was done. Quickly loaded up the bike, changed & looked for Bern. He didn’t seem to think a big deal of his crash. A few strawberry patches, he said some betadine & plasters will do it. Season cyclist I guess. ** Shrug **
It was a good ride. Good climb I should say. I am still missing the x factor I used to have in rides though. Got to find the fix. Not quite sure how yet. Although map & ride circular said it’s 118km, my cyclometer register 105.67km. No cal record coz HRM failed to detect. Till next time, Cycling God, thanks for the ride but no copy & paste…
