Semanggar Hills - Half Loaded! (9 April 2016)

40 degree C smiles

"6 more months before I return to these hills!"

Cervelo and Storck

Black Panther and Tigger photo bombed by Michael
 

Boys' Brigade, old boys!

The Lady and her men!

Leaving BHP petrol station

Wrong finger!

The gerai is closed but the toilet is opened 24 hours a day!

Last pitstop

It's a hot hot day, it's time to bare some chests

We were not spared the dirt!

Khan, on a Jackie Chan diet!

Lunch

Lunch

Lunch

Lunch

The interest on hills started recently. Having played Kukup, Tg Piai and Pontian for the longest time, Claudine's curiosity peaked when friends started talking about Semanggar Hills. One by one her old time friends came back with horror stories on the climbs.

So, when opportunity knocks on Claudine's door, she quickly jumped on the bandwagon! JEC had decided to slow down the ride to train Sara and herself!

On the morning of the ride, we rode out from Restaurant E&Y Sahul in Adda Heights. We passed the beautiful mosque and construction site of the new Aeon shopping mall. Then, we hit the back roads, passing by blocks of vast vacant land, all cut up, with ready infrastructures for future development.

Very soon, we came upon Jalan Kempas Lama. Here, Agnes bid us farewell as much to her chagrin, she had to go to office on a Saturday morning.

It was still manageable on Jalan Kempas Lama. These were merely soft slopes. We passed by many recycling dump sites along this way.

Then, we hit category 6 when we turned into Jalan Seelong. The hills were a continuous climb...up and down, up and down. Along this route, there were a lot of heavy vehicles but they respectfully kept a good distance from the riders.

Leo, taught Claudine the tricks to a sling shot! Roll down the hill fast while mashing the pedals to propel oneself up the next hill. He also taught her how and when to change gears. At some point, he kept calling out, "Minus! Minus!" She could very well be in a driving school getting her score chart read out to her.....FAIL!!!!

If Jalan Seelong is child's play, we hit category 9 when we turned into the "Kulai Hills"! This was an open assault to the mind, body and spirit! The mind sees a hill and scream out in fear. The body pummeled the pedals while the spirit .... thankfully strong fought all obstacles!

Slingshots does not work anymore here. Claudine went down a steep hill hitting top speed only to come back up at a turtle pace! Even turtle pace was fine as long as she kept moving and don't fall sideways!

The whole experience was surreal. We made a stop to pick up Michael at the entrance of some factory. We made another stop at some junction with giant boulders. We heard a goose honking which turned out to be Khan calling out to Jolin who had missed a turn. We rode on more gentle hills to a BHP petrol station!!!!

We had a long rest here before pushing off again. This time, Leo handed over sweeper duties to Andy. Instead he rode forward to coach Sara.

We rode back the same way we came from, stopping by at a gerai that was not opened for business. While Sara was a vision from afar on the "Kulai Hills" segment, she and the rest were no where in sight on the return route. Claudine was the weakest link and poor Andy patiently swept her, giving encouragements and rock support.

Everyone waited patiently for Claudine to catch her breath before moving out again for the final run. We escorted Michael to his turn off, bid him goodbye and rolled all the way back with Leo and Andy sweeping behind Claudine! Boy, did she feel like a Princess today!!!!

Now, back at Adda Heights, the team had a homecoming of sorts. Sue and Amri who had just finished their swimming practice came to join us for lunch.

Meanwhile, Agnes had turned up for work only to find out that someone had screwed up the roster! She brought a change of clothes for Claudine!

We all trooped to lunch at a chicken rice shop minus Andy who had to rush off for work. Everyone bumped on Sara's generosity for she bought us a good hearty meal!

POST MORTEM : 

Did we actually do Semanggar? Well actually, YES and NO! Leo led us on part of the toughest Semanggar route. He tweaked it just a little to add more hills on his training route.

HILLS BY STANDARDS :

Pre-school standards - Sedenak to Renggam

Elementary school standards - Tg Leman to Tg Sedili

High school standards - Part Semanggar