Reviewer: squarepants (Rideable)
…woweee…plentong EPIC ride…15 Nov 2009..
…yesss…woweee…plentong EPIC ride…
…kudos to all who put time, effort and butt skin to sort out the 25km, 35km and 55km rides…
…these were the stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3….get the stage stickers pasted on your registration number plate….
…alas…most of us rideables did not have…we crew, workers and ride sweepers, medical aiders lah….okieee…
….thanks to asheng who biked up on his bmw to be with the admin people…got my well earned can of cold coke after ending the ride…
….yes…bb and pai-kah tong helped out at registration…and followed up to bring up the rear riders with charlie…
…ahgan and squarepants with punisher gainleem to ride with the rear pack and help sweep….najib got a big job bring up the rear also…
…of course all cyclemotion were at the stations…and some riding….azhar who endoed at a wooded bride with broken planks…thank goodness he has only bruises..
…yes kelvyn…also riding and noting the rear had gone round and round at the two wooden brides and water crossing….ooops who put pink paper on that route…
…but actually the rear riders didn’t want to believe us to lead them out of it…..next time we should have a tee shirt which says “believe me…let me save your sorry ass!”…
…anyways alls well…we proceed to stage 1 checkpoint….well got to meet PCC fellas riding in a group….they say they lost 2-3 riders….have you seen white helmet, white bike, black top…
…oops opened my mouth…there’s a pocket rocket looking just like that…ooops asked pocket rocket aka mini compo…and was asked why ah she looked so common….okiee better keep my squarepants mouth shut…okieee…
….stayed close to cut off time….1030H… for stage one before we move to stage 2…..got your sticker???…top up your water???…..anyways i take a spill as i slipped off a camber…tried to power up a camber before the front tyre slipped ..
…yes fell on my tushy but luckily not on the water pool just beside….it was just at neo’s brothers truck water point…..still heading into single trail country….
….ah so …we get into better to faster riding tracks…longer climbs…still in the bush….did not notice the mossies…but the fellas we are beginning to cramp up on the trail…
…okiee stopped to help hash person…gainleem says later that no word of thanks even later at the end!…so much for helping…actually it was a few times this one asked for the heat spray….
….and yes stage 2….sticker…faslun and co were there ….oh panjang was there to do his duty…here is the splitpoint….35km to complete the 55km and 15km to complete the 35km ….tick…tock…tick…tock…15 minutes more to 1130H cut off….
…okieee….time is up…panjang takes off…faslun wish us happy riding back the 15km…sorieee guys big climbs ahead….yup big long climb…..some cursing….what lah….lots of people pushing, stopping as i passed them along the way…
….more fellas on the side….some totally cramped up and just happy to take a rest on the trail….
…here the 35 meets the 55km …..new rush as the home trail is fast….
…yes….home back to starting point…..cold coke…..people washing bike….thanks asheng for the cold coke…meal packet there but just didn’t feel like eating…bee hoon and fried chichen….so many medals left…where is the 1st 100 riders back….came back too early????
….waited….waited…see ahgan….okiee…relax…meal good ahgan???…all medals gone….we decide to get back to neo’s….we walk ….and see punisher….turbo tong and bb….
….where is mike?
….got charlie…charlie stayed true to bring up the rear…he also has a crew tag on him…where is mike?….
…all bathed…some washed bike…where is mike?….
…hey…lots of food left and tim and neo ask us to help ourselves to the lots of food left….does somebody have an issue with us???….where is mike?
….satay freshly off the charcoal grill…rendang…bee hoon….rose drink…where is mike?…
…punisher begins to fall asleep….where is mike?…i had a long chat with graham douglas of the hash…close to 70 and still riding like 30…where is mike?…
…typhoon….didn’t see typhoon earlier….typhoon is back….looking for gainleem for his goodie bag…..where is mike?
…finally…mike…yes mike walks in……says he has broken rear d….also carries a seapost in his pack…i first thought he had broken that also….
….no…no….or yes…yes…in fact he has done a ron on us….won on lucky draw….yes lucky fella won a seat post…..so lucky…..so lucky all of us were waiting for him….waiting for him ….waiting for mike….mike waiting for lucky draw????…waiting for lucky draw while we were waiting for him…..like how long did we wait???…one and a half hours……lucky draw mike…
…what this lucky draw mike?….
…rain coming…we decide to go back by causeway…cut down a lotta time…thanks charlie…like you said…no jam….yee-ha…
…well done…good job…good one….to all who sacrificed time, effort and butt skin to do this Plentong EPIC….
….neo-is everyone back from the EPIC ride?….we left when you were leaving on your motor-bike to check….
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Rich Herberth (Five-0)
oday was the Plentong epic in JB, which Ching Soo, David Gan, Ping and I rode. Here’s my version of events…Sorry, its long.
I sprang out of bed at the ungodly hour of 4:45am to the sound of my phone ringing. It was the taxi driver letting me know he couldn’t get through to Ching Soo who was scheduled for a 5am pickup. Would we be late? CS was on time though and they got to my place and we made our way to Woodlands checkpoint and over the border, no problem. It was still dark when we arrived at the venue. I was instantly bitten by a few mosquitoes. Despite the early start we arrived in good time, no rush faffing with bikes and kit.
The start point was housed in a basketball court. CS and I positioned ourselves in the corner in order to jump the rope and get a head start on the riders at the actual start line. Sadly we guessed wrong and the ride started in the opposite direction, so we had actually jumped ourselves straight to the back. CS remedied this by short-cutting through some nearby shop houses and got himself right behind the landrover which was leading the ride. I got wedged in mid-pack. At the count of 3-2-1, we were off.
I knew it would be a mistake to race off, and guessed that a lot of people would sprint from the start and fade in the first couple of miles. The ride started with a little tarmac, over which I gained a few places, but my bike started making some strange new noises that did not sound good. It was definitely not the brake callipers falling off this time though. The first bottleneck led into some nice single track, but I was stuck behind some slow riders after stoppin g to try and work out what was causing the knocking noises. We headed down into a steep gully and across a wooden bridge, then back down to a foot soaking water crossing. I cleared it intact and dry, with the bonus of seeing some other people get both feet in the stream, hehe! My schadenfreude was short lived, as I ended up following a group which took a wrong turn, and led us back around the same gully, brigde and river crossing. Gutted. On round 2, there were far more people so I wasted about 20 minutes queueing up to cross the stream and this time got a wet foot!
Finally I got ahead of some slower riders, spotted the turn that I’d missed the last time and headed up onto some nice singletrack. Going at my own pace I managed to cover the ground quicker than I thought I could. After the time wasting 2 lap incident and the weird bike noises I’d lost a lot of places to slower people, so spent almost the entire ride overtaking them again. This was often hard on the sing letrack, but there were plenty of wider double track and road sections giving some overtaking opportunities.
There were some very nice trails on this ride, somewhat similar to the ones in Ulu Choh the week before, but with a larger range on nice swooping singletrack. Climbs were mostly short with enough grip to ride, and there were lots of smiles on the long downhills on a mixture of dirt roads and winding singletrack with some small jumping opportunities – my favourite. The temperature was cool and there was a slight breeze, perfect conditions, although I was still soaked in sweat for the entire thing.
Luckily there were frequent water stops, some of which also had bananas and 100+. Just like in Singapore, it had been raining here for several days, meaning huge puddles of murky stinking water all over the place. Bikes and riders ended up very dirty, and my drivetrain lost all its oil in the first 30km and ended up being lubricated solely by dirty water, whic h drowned out the noise from my bike’s rear end and allowed me to focus on riding.
On a slightly uphill bumpy clay road, about 30ish km in I started to tire. I decided to stop for a cake, an out of date powerbar and a big chug of carbo drink. This was just the motivation I needed to keep going until the end. The final 20km went by in a flash of dirtroads, muddy ditches and slippery roots. Not far from the end I spotted Ping waving at the side of the trail, another nice motivation, although I immediately took another wrong turn into a farm and had to back track.
The last km was on tarmac, and ended back at the basketball court where it all began 4 hours and 45 minutes earlier. Some smiling ladies put a medal around my neck and handed me a voucher for some noodles. Finally it was over. 55km was tough but very good fun. Ching Soo finished about an hour ahead of me. Very fast! I thought my pace was pretty good, but I couldn’t have gone faster. I can’t wait to do another event like this.
Position: Unknown, but in first 100 over 55km.
Crashes: 2x over the bars, 1x slip on a slimy corner
Injuries: cuts and scrapes
Bike damage: none
Time: 4:45
Avg heartrate: 147bpm
Cals burned: 4,240
Ride food:2x Bananas, 2x expired powerbars, 6L water, 8hydration tablets, 2x cans of 100+, 2x banana cakes.
Freebies: Plastic medal, t-shirt, snacks, noodles.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Barbarian (Singapore Bike Hash)
Is Plentong the Mecca of the mt. bike universe? – well it certainly was on Sunday when almost 500 riders from across the region descended on the small Johor kampong of Plentong for what must be one of the largest gatherings of mt. bikers ever seen in Asia! If you are going to host an event of such magnitude then you must have the trails to equal such an occasion – and we were not disappointed. Superb riding, particularly the single track down narrow wooded trails was both exhilarating and pretty. Even when we were not in the forest, which was the highlight of the cycling, the rest of the trail was of high quality. Plantation both rubber and palm, some open countryside, grasslands, flat or mildly undulating – no real big hills to speak of, this ride had it all. I say ride but that was just a generic terms as there were in fact three separate trails – 25, 32 and 55km. How our hares could find time to recce and lay over 112km of trail is beyond all belief. Most of the time it is a struggle to get hares to lay 20km of trail let along 115km…….. and not just any trail. Well marked, with plenty of paper on the ground and directional signs as well it was, or should have been, impossible to get lost.
The day started early with most people gathering between 7.00 – 7.30am at the local basketball court which had been seconded for the occasion. A very professional and organized sign up counter saw all riders registered, recorded and tagged. Five hundred race numbers, there’s a job in itself which when you consider that our organizers are a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs is amazing. No professional events coordinators present on this day just a bunch of dedicated local enthusiasts. As well as the sign in there was a host of support from local bike shops and there was a real carnival feel to the whole proceedings. The big ride was flagged off at eight o’clock by our local dignitary Y.B. Tan Cher Puk MP for Johor Jaya who had come out especially to support this ride, however he was not the only visiting royalty and we were graced with the presence of Colin Tan from Bike Haus (Singapore) who finally stopped talking about bikes long enough to ride one. There were riders from all over and far too many to individually mention here but it was good to see Paul Moir in the field back from his recent triumph at the Exterra World Championships in Hawaii.
With so much good trail it would be impossible to do justice to the quality in this short article but visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlY2zig2MKw and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp4FRJjTc_w for some excellent footage of the day’s events (TV coverage provided by Mark Roos – Hash Flash in Waiting – of the Singapore Bike Hash).
The first riders on the 55km trail were home around 1120am in an amazing 3 hours 20 mins and we then witnessed a steady procession as 500 riders spread over the Johor countryside made their way back. With medals, lunch and lucky draw prizes waiting for them as well as the bike wash facility, which as usual, seemed to be the main attraction of the day! ….and what a day it was? One of the best rides ever, certainly best trails ever we take our “hats off” to the organizers and all the field support staff of which there were many but special mention must be made of our hares Jesus ‘Whorenet’ Tosca, Tim ‘Copy Cat’ Magee, Wendy ‘Goes Both Ways’ Lee (all of whom are expecting Ride of the Year honours at this years Hash Awards), our local man on the ground Neo and the Cyclemotion team, without which none of this would have been possible, the sponsors and lastly all riders for helping to make this one hell of a day to remember.
On On
Barbarian
Grand Master
Singapore Bike Hash
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: scott_lover (Team Prisons)
It was a fantastic ride and enjoyed every minute of it even though it was tiring. I suffered cramps along the way but was helped by other helpful riders who gave me deep heat to reduce the cramps.
Some feedback:
a. It will be nice if we can have a finisher’s medal as long as we complete the ride. It will be good commemorative item.
b. The direction marking is very helpful but it will be better if the distance markers are added to inform riders how far more to the end point.
c. There was a long bottleneck at the entrance of the trail. Something could be done to minimise such issues again.
All being said, I will still continue to participate in next year’s event if it is planned.
Cheers.
Team Prisons
Singapore
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Robert Meek
From: robert meek
Sent: Monday, 16 November, 2009 11:00 AM
Subject: Epic ride
I want to say a big thank-you again for all of the effort that you put in to make our weekend so much fun. Both Caroline and myself had a fabulous time, the trip to JB was so easy with the taxis that you came up with, the hotel recommendation was spot on, we had a brilliant dinner at the Matterhorn Bistro, and the ride on Sunday was one of my favorite rides of the year!
Trips like the one we have had don’t just happen and require planning, emails, reccees and loads more, we just turned up and had fun. We really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Robert and Caroline
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Tim Magee (Singapore Bike Hash)
From: tim magee
Date: 11/16/2009 10:18 AM
Subject: thanks from all
Neo,
Can I add my thanks for an amazing effort. I hope it all worked out OK in the end and you got everyone back in one piece and you got everyone home before too long.
Everyone from the hash really enjoyed the trails and the way it was laid out. The riders were very happy with the quality of the markings and the support crew, and loved the whole day..
Please pass on Wendy and my thanks and tell them we hope to see them again in the new year.
Fantastic.
Tim
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Barbarian (Singapore Bike Hash)
Neo,
The EPIC ride (as opposed to Singapore Bike Hash Ride 386) was awesome. I take my hat off to you and your organizing committee. The planning and logistics worked perfectly. Good facilities at the start and end of the ride. Excellent facilities on trail. Please pass my thanks to all the trail marshals who stood out in the jungle for many hours watching over us. Refreshments on trail were “A1” and the ice cold 100+ a god send. I know there was a “cast of 1,000’s” please pass on our thanks to them all. This ride was superb whether you were a hasher or just a mt. bike rider and as good as you can get anywhere.
On On to EPIC 3?
Barbarian
Grand Master
Singapore Bike Hash
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Bengt Boberg (Anza)
Hi Neo,
Thanks again for a VERY nice event. The riding was fantastic!!!
Will you post the result on internet?
Cheers,
Bengt
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: dshshsg (SMBF Forum-er)
dshshsg wrote:
Thanks guys for arranging this event.
Very well done and 3 cheers to u!!!!!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: mercedes88 (SMBF Forum-er)
mercedes88 wrote:
I have to agree with dshshsg that this is a very well planned activity, simple and elegant.
Food and drink provided at the right place and time.
We missed the stage 3 due to the cut-off time but this is due to the long wait at the starting point due to fallen trees and others. Consider that a blessing in disguise as we may not survive it anyway, anyway this “Chicken home run” is also well thought off too.
Prize giving ceremony is fast and furious with so many prizes but my group got nothing Sad
You guys who organized it deserve 3 cheers from us!!!
Hope to see you all next year
Cheers
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: ipoh (SMBF Forum-er)
ipoh wrote:
this trail is very very fun ,i feel that it was combine all the singapore train together,there have a single track downhill look like kent ridge park,some up hill like bukit timah and pulau ubin.
i very enjoy the single track downhill exspecially got one trail is a “8″shape turn both side cover with the grass look like the carpet.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Ah Liang (BigBomb Cycle)
First at all, on behalf of my team I would like to thanks CycleMotion for organize such amazing event in Johor Bahru. The most surprising me that was 100plus supply at feeding point Grin, nothing can describe whereby a bottle of cold 100plus was gave with FOC when you nearly exhausted.
Overall the trail was great, not tough but also not too easy… at least there was no crazy hill to climb or steaming you under hot sun , just some dirty mugs to pull you back and try to cramp your muscle. Over 60% of singletrack was great, it is not an easy job to maintain such long singletrack especially in this raining season, trail condition may change day to day with fallen tree or missing bridge… thanks again for Cyclemotion teams to clean up the trail.
Singletrack is fun, however it also cause some problem because of many late coming riders were stuck in the jam. Jam on the trail is the only complaint I heard, maybe this is the bottleneck for Plentong trail which too much singletrack, if next year Cyclemotion still continue sponsor such big event and the riders keep growing this the issue may consider.
In lucky draw session, thanks for the sponsor of local bike shop and Singapore bike shop. But for lucky draw structure, some of lucky man/lady was able to get 2 presents which at least 2 of my members was. I think it will better if everybody only got one chance in order for other people to get more chances.
Regards
Ah Liang on behalf of BigBomb Cycle
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Ride to Death (Cyclemotion Forum-er)
Hye…being one of the participant in this great event is such a good momento for me this year. And being one of the 100 with medals is sumething that i shud proud also.
Possible for u guys to upload the listing& picture taken for that 100 persons who get the medals on that day . Many2 thanks bro.
Hope can joint u again next year……
Cheers!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: PCC Kuala Lumpur
In our hunt for longer rides to prep ourselves as Penang’s infamous
Jamboree approaches, we found ourselves heading South towards the
unknown playground of Plentong in Johor Bahru…well, it’s more or less in
between JB town and Pasir Gudang. Having checked out the contour of the
area, the little elevation change would mean a steady paced ride that did not
involve massive hill climbs. Well that was true in a sense, but little did we
know that this little gem of an area brought some of the sweetest most flowy
cross country single track I’ve ridden in a long time.
Huge Kudos to the Cyclemotion team and the Singapore Hash chapter for
putting together a great ride, and some beautiful trails. We look forward to
perhaps a joint PCC ride with you guys there in the near future.
In the mean time, we do hope that the Plentong Epic Ride will be a permanent
feature on our mountain biking calendar from now on.
And one thing for sure…we were spun out to see the famous “nuts bike” that
we have only read about. Super !!
Ed – This is 2 in a row…not bad…
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Reviewer: Mohd Rezuan Haji Masoud (Facebook)
best trail semalam… cyaioookkkk… harap2 cyclemotion anjurkan lagi pada tahun hadapan…!!!!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Result from the polling
Join the forum discussion on this post
