Completed: JW MTB Carnival 2012

08th July 2012

25km of trails, Gombak surrounding areas.

After the last Jamboree at Alam Budiman, i have this feeling that MTB Jamborees around the Klang Valley area would never be a simple one. That feeling of mine was confirmed after i've managed to finished the JW MTB Jamboree which was held at Gombak, starting from Sekolah Menengah Teknik Gombak itself.




The route only covers around 25km of about 90% offroad and 10% on road, but it was one evil trail to start with. The heavy downpour in the early morning makes the trail to be challenging and combined with some not really good event management, makes it even worst. However, by all means, it was really an adventurous trail (at least for me) and it has tested my mental and phsysical ability just to complete the trail, and have fun doing it.

Heavy downpour in KL which stopped just at about 7am in the morning makes it a very wonderful morning to start with. With some haze of clouds above the hills, and shiny sunrise, really makes the morning seems to be beautiful.

See the mud? it gets even worst in the jungle.

Our bicycles tend to be mud-dirty even before the jamboree starts, just to cycle from the parking area at the field to the starting line. From there we knew that this won't be an easy ride.

There were about 800 participants this time around. This includes of about 60 contestants from the "Elite" category, which goes about 10km further than us from the "Funride Category". They were the one to be flagged of first. About 15 minutes later, the "Funride" category were flagged of. "Funride" category consists of Men, Women, and Veteran riders.

Starting line.

The starting of the event were also a little bit messed up. They had to move the starting line forward a few times, and those who came late, can start even before the front starting line! I pity those who came up early just to be in front of the line, ended up being behind the latecomers.

And so it has begun.

Off to the front gate of Sek Men Teknik Gombak

The first 12km was really exhausting. Consists of hefty uphills, with slick slippery mud! Most of us cannot even get the grips of pushing our bikes up the hill, let alone to cycle up. As for myself, i'm loosing most of my energy trying to get my shoes to have only a little bit of grip in the super slippery mud. My shoes are not designed for this, as they were only normal Adidas training shoes which was meant for training on the road. MTB shoes without spikes also having problem gripping the slippery mud, and i did saw some of them fall down trying to hurry themself up the hill. For me, i had to go slow, depending only on the grip of my bicycle's tyres, to pull myself out of the slick slippery uphill misery.

And btw, my tyres are also not meant for these kind of condition. Those on my bike were only Small Block Maxxis Larsen TT tyres, at the size of 1.9x26. These are meant for dry and high rolling trails. So, because of this, my downhill over the mud was even worst. No grips from my tyres, both front and back, and no grip from my shoes as well. I had to literally struggle (and slide!) my way going down the steep downhill. 

Forest, uphill.

Uphill again.

Forest technical downhill

One of my colleague, nicknamed Wiwit, inside the "Ghost House".

Most of the time, we are pushing our bikes more than we ride em. But i admit it was quite fun to see those daring brave riders trying to slide themselves all the way downhill, and ended up splashing into the deep mud. Most of the riders will then help those who fall into the deep mud, and having some great laugh over it, altough we didn't even know each other. That was pure mountain biking spirit. (And i think a good way to cheat for some resting time too! :P).

Downhill

Climbs

Danger! downhill!

Note that the pictures from Cycling Malaysia photographers are mostly on forest areas? Well i guess the more challenging areas are not accessible by them, hence no pictures from the muddy uphill and downhill, but i tell you guys, only the riders know what is the actual trail feels like.

Above that, I think there were some flaw with the event management itself too. It was a tiring ride, so i'd expect to have some juicy fruits at the water stations, but only to find some simple mineral drinking waters, and it's not even cold. They told me there are fruits at the 2nd checkpoint, and guess what, i missed the fruits (which is only bananas btw). How did i missed it? Because the first checkpoint were only stickers, and the water stations is a few meters later, but the 2nd checkpoint is combined for stickers and water station plus fruits. I'd expect the fruits would be a couple of meters later because i didn't see any at that particular checkpoint. Later that i know, the fruits were limited, and was passed from one of the guy there (wasn't clearly shown). Then come the even worst news, when i eventually completed the race, i heard from some guys that the drinking waters at the 3rd water station is not enough. Some of the later riders didn't get water supply from the 3rd water station.

Corner up ahead, didn't managed to look at the camera.

Slow and steady

Before crashing his rear derailleurs

Preparing for downhill

Apart from all this, it is by overall an "OK" event. We did have fun, and by completing the meticuluous challenge with those kinds of limitations, makes it an even wonderful experience. Riding, sliding, falling in the mud, the green sceneries, refreshing fresh air, and healthy exercise, makes it all worth it. For me, i managed to test the capabilities of my bike. The XT mechs are extremely wonderful on such muddy situation. It never failed me, eventhough it was fully covered in mud, and forest debris. The brakes, are also great. Altough it was only a Tektro Hydro disc brakes, the grips were there, even when the disc are muddy, and the calipers are fully covered in mud (but i still want the XT brakes, because i believe it would do wonders to my braking experience :D).  The only thing that doesn't fit very well is the tyres. Next time i must bring a mud-spec tyres, or to use a trail specific tyres for jamborees, just to avoid dissapointment, and for the sake of my safety. I've seen some guys flipped over and break their collar bones during downhill early in the race (i hope you are okay bro) as he was just behind of me. A lot of mechanical failures, i've seen jammed pedals, broken shifters, a lot of punctures, and even my teammate suffered a broken derailleur hanger!

Wrath of the evil trail, a broken derailleur hanger.

I managed to complete the ride at about 3hrs 6minutes (yeah, it was a looong time for me), with a couple of stops along the way. My time was ranked at number #260 of the total 700+ riders. The "Elite" 1st winner rider manages to complete the trail at only 1hr 25minutes. Are they humans? One of my colleague whom registered under CRCT cycling team finishes at ranking #47 on his 29er. My other 3 teammates finished at ranking #460+ i think, and the last one arrives at ranking #540.

Notice myself missing in the pic? That's because i arrive much much more earlier than them! Lol.

My bike, in mud make-up.

Notice the mud and debris on the derailleurs and still functions like a charm.

Finisher's medal, or should i say "Finisher's souvenir"?

So i guess there will be a long break for MTB jamborees after this, making way for Ramadhan and Syawal.

Most of the pictures above are courtesy of Cycling Malaysia. Check out their FB page here rest of the JW MTB Carnival pictures here. My comment to the Cycling Malaysia photographers team, please have your photographers ready at the most technical part of the trail and show the world what's the real Malaysian MTB jamboree is all about. ;) .

edit: Interestingly, after some post-ride discussion, it was determined that the location we are riding were actually once famous 80s theme park in Malaysia, Mimaland. Notice the abandoned building in one of the pictures above, were actually one of the mimaland building. More info on Mimaland (Malaysia In Miniature Land) can be obtained from here.