Rockface Thriller

780mm handlebar diehards, watch your steps. photo by jason koh

We reach the much awaited Rockface, only after  7 months since the idea popped-up. Yeah, happy, clappy, puppy!

(syed anaz and ron jeremy were the trail-gosippin' topic of the day.. *sigh*)

Deep and closer contour lines from topomap proves how steep this section was in reality.

First switchback apparently nasty,  dark curve edges at some of the section got to be reinforced, with tambak 

johor kind of thing.

4 hours of free labor (with love), only 15 meters of trail built. But deep inside, huge relief to hear the sound of Twin Gorge. 

Kong He Fat Choy!

Days without riding: 21

".. we couldn't care less what kind of suspension design your full-carbon bomber utilizes;

Grow a beard and go ride!"

Bila di Trail Kicauan..

Edisi Dwi Bahasa

".. landing time" sambil mendengar kicauan burung selepas mencangkul adalah kenikmatan. photo by jason koh

We heard Pcc gang visit Lefty Ridge for their weekly Mud N Dirt session, hopefully they know the real riding flow of this loop, and we still at Kicauan trail, making progress, meet the Pakis, and getting closer to Rockface. Oh Rockface, you are simply "dekat tapi jauh".

Ah Mio 2 kiri, 2 kanan at Pakis.

"meet uncle pakis". photo by jack the snake robert

upper side of Jonirotan. photo by #airsirapkosedap

"down down, you bring me down... and I heard you knockin' at my trail and I can't ride at nite..I am the resurrection and I am the life..I couldn't ever bring myself to hate you as I'd like to ride..!" 

-by StoneRoses and thanks Joy Mango for intro.

-days without riding: 14

Back To Cangkul

Rotans before .. 

(early morning breeze)

photo by Jason Koh

After 3 months of long holidays and excuses, on the very 1st of February, finally, we managed to overcome our "tepuness" and continue mencangkul to linking up the pieces.

The stubborn piece of JoniRotan (named after Pistols' Johnny Rotten,resemblance to this piece, which is wild and raw, i.e berselirat dengan rotan dan akar).

It was the slowest part, it tooks 3 months holiday to solve the puzzles, which eventually resurface to the last terrace before proceed to Rockface, maybe on the next session.

Rotans after.. 

(its highnoon, sun beams bursting through the jungle canopy)

photo by Jason Koh

RIDE REPORT 2: Shriners Convention Trail Revisited

#savekiara #ridetheothertrailstoo 

2 weeks ago, we pay a visit to Pure Quill Trail, and last nite, the hash tribe also seems to have a good bash there, cool.

"How To Roll Lower Carnival's Triple Terrace On Cobblestone for Dummies" ebook by jak the snake on sale at Kinikunaya Book Store. photo by Tengku Faisal

And today, after 14 days, we were back to Kiara, with the usual suspects, riding the full loop again, but with a slight twist.

**what we rode today, just another day in the office => doing overtime => upper carnival => magic carpet => twin peak => pure quill => janie's addiction => clenched schpinter => lightning ridge => kampung tanah jawa => penchala baru => mont kiara concrete jungle => plan C => wasteland => lowershort => snake n ladder => lower twin peak => shriners convention => lowercarnival => big smile throughout the day..

Instead of closing the session to roll at Flinstone Playground, we detour the bunch to rock the "Shriners Convention". Another forgotten trail connected with Upper and Lower Carnival trail.

Little bit of history, if we were not mistaken, the idea of this link, was to be used for climbing to Twin Peak from Chunder Junction without ever riding on tarmac. 

But due to the nature of our laziness, we ride the other way around. Down, and down all the way to the Lower Carnival. 

cobbles covered with green slimey lumut, but still the Gary Fisher 29er tackles the "switchback batu" smoothly.

The trail, if you really got the speed, its heaven..complete with quiet a few lovely switchbacks, berms, roots and rocks, ironically still the Shriners Convention not a popular choice amongs regulars. 

Most regulars avoid this trail maybe because of one scary, but legendary switchback, called, "cobblestone switchback" or simply "switchback batu". (well it is not part of the Convention, but its interconnected in order to complete the flow).

Its one of Penghulu Pat's masterpiece, even some "Kiara's B Full License" riders, still may not succesfully tackle it. 

During its heyday, this switchback heavily used for the Kiara Mountainbike Carnival race. Paramedics, photographers and fans will line up here to see who got the balls made of steel. 

On our ride re-visit today, we found out, the trail still in good shape although some of them now criss crossing with the so-called new DH track.

Rock N Roll pie..

Last but not least, since this maybe the last series on our Kiara trail review, so long, obladi oblada.. life goes on, we will back to our Lefty Ridge, to pick up the pieces, continue the last cangkul of Jahanams loop.

All photos by Joy Mango and Jak The Snake. 

Except "Triple Terrace" photo courtesy of Tengku Faisal

Leave no trace, sampah masuk, sampah keluar!

"..buffalo soldiers in concrete jungle cafe" says the rastas during subhuman mid-ride refreshments at Sri Hartamas near Segambut Dalam.

RIDE REPORT: Pure Quill Trail Revisited

In the middle of forgotten Pure Quill trail, Kiara, with the NamJahanams. photo by Jason Koh

Its been a while since our hiatus from Kiara. As usual, we start the new year by choosing to ride with different flavor.

On new year day, for example, we test the Unity and Harmony (Kdcf new jewel), cranking from home for the extra mileage, but due to the nature of kdcf, which is short but still sweet singletracks, the legs still itchy on the next day, not a good sign, we reckoned. Kiara still got the remedy for that.

New Year day-off, cranking up to kdcf. photo by jak lefty

Pitstop at Harmony Hut.

At the Unity, the switchbacks remind us to the legendary Clenched Schpinter in Kiara. blurred photo by jason koh

So, back to Kiara story, today on the 11th day in 2015, we decided to revisit Pure Quill and Lightning Ridge (to ease the itchy legs, and to check on the damage done by the so-called soil tester, who bulldozed Penchala Lama trail. Damn you!)

Before that, salute to the other Jahanams, whom they rode Lefty Ridge today, did some maintenance on S1, and having fun. Kudos!

Note the s1 Moots signage, if you know what we meant. Selfie is not a crime.

Parang first...

 

.. and ride after. All photos at Lefty Ridge trail by Abg Gary and Abg Fisher.

Back to Kiara story again, we had a good warm up at the Office to Magic Carpet, off to 2k and reversing Mission (oh poor switchback, whoever always skidding their tires on Mission, please avoid 'em) exit the Horse Stable, climb-up to the Twin Peak via Lower Short and Snake N Ladder. 

..and, at Twin Peak, here we went into the forgotten Pure Quill, (a sharp right hand turn on the way down to Around the Mountain).

Just for the record, Pure Quill was abondoned during the "coldwar" i.e. "Perang Pagar yang dibina oleh Jabatan Landskap untuk diskriminasi minda".

It was abondoned because, the pagar criss-crossing the trail network twice, and thus, ruining ride flow. 

During its heyday, Kiara Regulars (you know who you are) often use the trail as alternative to TnT, to enjoy Dirty Deeds.

But as for today, the Pagars is "open" and we ride Pure Quill with smile and feel blessed. Thank god, its Sunday.

Joy Mango chit-chatting with his Van Nicholas Redwood while ripping Pure Quill. Yeah, the bike can talk. Photo by jason koh

From there, we directly went up to Jane Addiction on our way to Clenched Schpinter entrance, blast a few switcbacks and ... arrived at the ground zero, we were devastated, to see the destruction at Penchala Lama junction, the truth was really hard to digest, the trail is gone, and about 50meter lenght of Lightning Ridge climb is not ridable, and bulldozed. 

Image above is Lefty Ridge's penghulu, had a big grin whenever he rode Clenched Schpinter, he even nicknamed one of the finest switchback in the photo above as "corner rothmans", in his memory of Selekoh Rothmans at Batu 3 Racing Circuit in Shah Alam. Really, look how he swing the corner, a la Eddie Lawson seyy. photo by Joy Mango.

sap sap soi he chewed happily. 

Then, we continue to Lightning Ridge, passing by Kampung Tanah Jawa, had a few words with the villagers, and according to them, its been very quiet now in term of mountainbikers passing by their kampung compare to a few years back, maybe because of the pagar, landslide at the Roller Coaster, or just simply most newbies in Kiara now just know how to ride 2k, 2k, emm, and again 2k, emm, little bit of Flinstone on the way back maybe, and yet with super fancy full suspension bike. Ouch.

We were eager too, to ride Roller Coaster, because, since the landslide a few years ago, we just cut short our loop to exit Concrete Hill at KiaraMas.

To our surprise, the trail is still fine with little diversion and we drop by the river for refreshments.

"Down by the river, I shot my baby..." said mr Neil Young and his Crazy Horses. Pristine!

And the rest is history...

Leave No Trace, Ride with Ethics, not mathematics.

NOTE: the story merely from our own perspective only, maybe different from others.

do u know what is the meaning of clenched schpinter? "jubor terkemut" indeed..

ride the Lightning ridge

good waste managment at wasteland

"we'll be back for this.." comment the Tennesse bred Litespeed Cohutta's singletracker

Its New Year, Get Your Gear and ...

too much of magazines skimming on new years eve is bad. photo taken just from one of 'em.

Long December:Let Legs Do The Talkin'

Coming up..

 Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Rode on the Steel Breeze!

NOT RIDABLE OR REFUSED TO LEARN

This is the problem of our ego. Just leave 'em at home on Sunday. We believe mountainbikers not a jackass with lame excuses. Have fun on the trails (with open mind).

Discover, Ride, Learn, Repeat. 

LEFTY TRAIL BLUES 2009-2014 

And if you in denial and obliterate your understanding on this trails history, you are a leaf, that doesn't know it is part of a tree..

Weekday Trailwork Maintenance

EveningNews 

MoU in Direstraits, During Stormy Monday.

Before...

Weekday trail maintenance during the monsoon season can be very enjoyable. The penghulu and gang, sharpened their Stihl tooth around the MoU. Fallen trees and debris were cleared, for enjoyment on weekend. Happy riding!

after...

before...

after..

We have to bushwhackers. TheBikeQuest. Salute.

Deadfalls and rainforest.

Ride don't slide

Special thanks to Weekdays Crew

- you know who you are, may Allah bless ya'

Suggested ride flow during Monsoon:

Colorado -> the Wall -> LeftyRidge -> uppershort -> battery -> S2 -> basuh muka -> S1 -> titi serong -> rockgarden --> battery -> uppershort -> loose rock -> kurma -> flores -> bandung -> Mou -> Colorado

Note: The above recommended trail flow is for the encouragement to regular mountainbikers or hikers to use S1 and S2. 

If you Ride More on S1 and S2, Less Work (maintenance) for the crews.

If you curious about the trail names, get to know 'em or check out here,  Trail History :
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

S1 and S2 : "discover the flow, learn the technicalities, repeat".

If you hesitate about riding a switchback, throw your alter-ego here, and if you still have no idea what is trail riding or mountain biking, jump in the fire!

One of the S1 classic..

Refer to Map for ride flow understanding.

The ancient handrawing singletrackmind mapping.

Singletrackminded Aren't Ya'??

Singletrack Mapping in Our Brain. photo by Jak the Snake

One says, "you can hop on any old bike, bump along a cattle track (read: estate) and call it off-roading, but if you really want to know what mountain biking should feel like, you need to ride singletrack".

What is singletrack and why we were obsessed?

Singletrack trails basically have obstacles, narrows and super tight turns, and, thats why we lovin' it.

Peace of mind product line. photo by Jason Koh

When we have a good understanding on it, learn the skill riding 'em week in week out in Kiara a few years back, we just cant imagine how passionate the trailbuilder, and how his brain works.

It complexity, imagination how to ride it while building it, creativity, and flow.

When you have the drive to build it yourself, you've got the symptoms. photo by Headshox

That is maybe the sindrome, Singletrack Deficit Disorder or STDD. Nevermind the virus, but not riding for a couple months, just because to cangkul for personal riding satisfaction and the thought of, if we don't dig, there will be no ride, we rather sleep on Sunday, than riding on an estate route, ouch!

Headshox on Lefty pumping up the Wasteland cobblestone.photo by Jason Koh

Earn your turns, every climb leads to an exhilarating descent. 

(exhilarate if only it was a singletrack..)

SWITCHBACKS FEVER!

Simple but inspiring photo by Headshox

During wet season, carving new trails is the best possible hobby beside riding. 

Especially on designing a tight switchbacks can be very tricky, the roots, gradient, sexiest curve and the worst part, to dig. 

Thus, when the soil is soft, made it super easy to cangkul, evening downpours, made it naturally washed  and clean, until the next weekend, compacting the trail is fast especially when you only got the usual suspects.

One of Lefty Ridge "no dig no ride" propaganda. photo by Headshox

That pain in the arse cut above is for future convenience climbathon and switchback or hairpin is the best solution to flatten the hills atleast.

Hairpins kind of turn add some technical challenge during our ride. It tests your balance especially on steep terrains, whether to increase speed or otherwise, you fell, not to given-up, but repeat with the right techniques.

Some switchbacks for dummies tips:-

-watch your line, roll..but not to rock...(LedZepp ya) and and use your front brake for your speed control. Rear brake draggy is bad for the trail.

-stay in balance, at some point if the switchback is super-tight, you may encounter trial style to readjust. 

Speed and sound cornering at Lower Mission, Kiara. Photo by Jason Koh

-Proper speed and momentum are the key to freedom. Do not hesitate.

-weight distribution is vital whether you are riding it up or down.

-look where you are going...not where you are at!

-roots and rocks? enjoy rolling on them, not to cut them. (still remember our lost lovely roots at Bloodyroot switchback, the police still unable to put the root-cutter behind bars)

Lovely! photo by Jake the Snake

.. and indeed! Switchback is the Fuel for the Trails.