Recce+epic+night ride=4 wacko on 2 wheels.

I thought when I did the 100KM offroad that was already it, it was so crazy that it should not be attempted by those with light heart and cold feet. I also thought that doing Sg.Pusu - Kemensah was another crazy heck of an adventure. Tiring me and wearing down to my bone, Hell the distance is short but the trail condition are so wacko that it will keep you wondering when will this be over. I always believe that nothing would be more challenging than those two...

Hell I am sorry to inform myself that I was dead wrong...Super wrong, BLOODY HELL wrong!!! Here comes Kemensah to Janda Baik...Here comes the PAIN.

The plan was supposed to a recce ride, to find out about route, and the trail condition. Hence the idea we thought we should keep a small party only. Less than 5 riders should be nice, easy in and out.

Comes to the ride day, 4 riders with a very wide smile and bright expression on our face were up for the task. Our task is clear, find a rideable trail to Janda Baik from Lubuk Tedung.
1.Mr.beskal
2.Gaz
3.Fauzi
4.Syam
The morning sky was blue and bright, the air was cool and refreshing as we started our journey. Everyone keep a slow pace for the tarmac, as if everyone is keeping their juice for whats to come.

Me and Gaz we have already been to Lubuk Tedung before, so we pretty much know what we are up against. Fauzi and Syam are probably new to this trail...A trail so badly damaged by motocross tire and heavily eroded by the rain. Still the strategy is same, maintain slow pace and do not rush out. Our journey to Lubuk Tedung turn out to be very fast I would say, We reach Lubuk Tedung around 10.00 am or maybe less. Gaz and Syam had a lot of time experimenting with their lense. Syam even manage to setup a quick class to photography, hehehe..Hope to see those pic guys.

No break at Lubuk Tedung, cross the river and off we go, Gaz mention to me that we are not following the trail log from the GPS, but it did not matter. There was a single trail that looks very tempting for us. We talk it out and decide to follow it and see where it might lead us. The trail basically bring us up river, till we reach one encampment site and it continue on the other side of the river.

Cross the river...Then from here the trail basically went up and up and up. The trail up was very clear and ride able. Going up and it continue going up, with no mercy at all. Slowly we are swaying away from the river and soon there we can no longer hear it. At this point we are still fresh and energetic, I can still feel my heart pumping smoothly following my cycling rhythm. There are a lot of human traces here, motocross tire mark is one of it. So we are very confident that it will lead to somewhere, hopefully that somewhere is Janda Baik. (Cross my finger)

Press on that is what we agreed on we took a quick breather from the long climb. The curiosity in our blood is still thick..Hehehe. As the day is still early and bright. It would be a waste if we go back now. ( Nape laaa aku degil xmo balik masa nie). Not a while later we stop again for another quick break, phewwww!! Long climb ehh?? To my surprises Celcom got full bar here..hehehe. (Maxis jgn bawak laaa wei masuk hutan, menyakitkan hati jerrr).

Not so long after our climbs we reach to a small river, there we decide to have our break. Nasi Lemak time, yeahaaaa!! Me and Fauzi were busy canibalizing our our nasi lemak while Gaz and Syam were busy harassing some poor dragonfly with their lenses. Finish with the break off we go.

We soon reach a place where a fallen bamboo have over taken the trail, at this point the motocross trail stop. Clearly they turn back. We hack and slash our way through, me with my RM28 steel made in Malaysia, Fauzi with custom made steel, and Gaz with a millionaire Carbon Steel Kukri made In US. After we made through that bamboo part, everything were pretty much ride able, but we have to climb up.

There were some marking on the trail made by a previous person who went in I guess. This is clearly a good sign for us, that is what I thought...Not long after that we arrived at a junction, we choose to go straight here. Not knowing where the other route might take us...I hate to say this, but the trail again seem to be taking us higher and higher. Which mean we need to climb more and moreeeeee.

It is nearly 3.00pm I guess when Gaz bike decide to do it's routine and it was the usual punctured trick. For the love of God what is wrong with your bike?? Maybe we can try and fit a Tank armor on your tire. Hahaha. At this time Gaz seem a bit tired already, he cannot seem to focus on what he is doing. The long climb has taken a toll on us I guess. Syam however still looks okay. Our food supply are already done by this time, and we are getting hungry. The funny things is we are thinking about Lontong!!LONTONG!!! I do not really get it. GPS marker shows that we are really near to a resort in Janda Baik, it is only 3KM more. Knowing that really put us in a reallyyyy food sensation mood.


Forward we march, climbing more and more. However we cannot find any route that can take us near the Resort. The trail that we follow seem to be taking us aside, pushing us far and far away from where we are trying to get to. We stumble upon 2 dried up river, and trail condition are not very smooth anymore. It is ride able but not so great.

We are getting restless now as we do cannot find anyway through, we are starting to loose daylight now. Out of option we tried to bash straight through the big hill, this however is biggest mistake we have done that day. We kill more than 1 hour and a half. Until the craziness and tiredness knock us back into our sense. It was 5.30PM by that time, we are dead rushing. Daylight is burning, and it,s burning fast....uhhhh there is a pretty damn big butterfly in my tummy, huhuhu.

TRAILBACK...that was the decision we had to resort to. There is no other better option that we can take. There were a faint line on my Maxis, there messages from Gaz neighbor. Turn out to be that everyone are so worried now that they cannot get through to us. Now we are kind of in a tight spot, most of us are depleting out, daylight will be over in an hour or less, and no food to fuel us for the journey back.

Since we did much of a climb before, now it is all the downhill time. There not much for us to do but to enjoy the long downhill in a nick of time. Rushing our way down as the forest slowly being swallow by the darkness. Judging from the speed I was thinking that we could reach the river before the night swallowed us completely. I guess it was only faint hope, huhuhu. God must be testing our patience, as one by one problem occurs. Gaz had his front wheel punctured, followed by Fauzi, and just when we thought it was over Gaz rd snap...However that are not the end of it, my bike also had the same fate with it's tire. Since the repair has slow us down repeatedly, the jungle wins...We were completely engulf by the darkness.

The night ride begin...I found myself laughing again at our fate. Our recce ride turn out to be an epic ride, and our epic now has transform itself into a night ride. What the hell mannn!!?? Luckily for us Fauzi had his biking light with him, and Syam's phone were equiped with a torch light. While me and Gaz?? Hahaha. So now Fauzi had to take the lead, and Syam at the back. We were keeping a tight formation, everyone is only one tire gap away. The formation plus the darkness has cause us to move double slow now. Still we are keeping up the positve mind and clearing our mind of doubt, me I am keeping myself well spirited by telling everyone that we are soooooo getting a BIG BIG MAC burger after this craziness. Hahaha.

We reach the riverbank around 7.40PM, I really hope that there would be someone camping out at Lubuk Tedung. As we were slowly pushing our bike through Lubuk Tedung, we heard a loud bang! I thought it was someone hunting a boar or something, then as we approach Lubuk Tedung we can see a glint of candles. Huhuhu, Alhamdulilah...There are people camping out tonight.

I say hello to the campers and introduce ourself and explain a little bit of our condition, and after our little chat with the campers. They were nice enough to share with us some food their had, some bread and biscuit. It was damn delicios if you ask me. A big Yay!!! to the Tiger biscuit and a big Wow!!! for the Gardenia roti jagung. 8.10Pm we had push onward, we still had minimum of 2 hours journey back.

The last 2 hours were totally slow for us, especially the climbing. The trail condition and the darkness are one hell of a combos. Fauzi and Gaz look like they are about to reach their limits, they keep yawning every now and then. Syam on the other hand still looks fine (dia ada jumpa tongkat ali ke dalam hutan tadi??). I had to lower my seat down for this time. I have never done that ever in any ride I have taken, but that night is one big exception for me. I can no longer use the normal setting.

Finally by 10.15 PM we all managed to get out safe and sound, Alhamdullilah... Gaz had asked his neighbor to come and picked us up at Jinbara. They were waiting for us for about 1 hour there, thanks guys. Very sorry to trouble all of you. Now that everyone is out we were laughing at our story with everyone. Even though it was dark, I am pretty sure everyone are smiling out with satisfaction on their face.

Everyone climbs into Gaz 4wd and we all were chating about our long ride we just had...The funny things is. All of them are already talking about doing it again, hahaha. I think if everyone else hear our conversation they surely send us to a hospital to have our head scan. Zaidi invites us to his house for a dinner, so all us went for it and then went home after it. Gaz send us all back to our home. Except for Fauzi who had to drove back to his house (sian ko Zi...)

I reach home around 12.30 AM...I could not help to think that so far this is the craziest thing I have ever done. This will be a new benchmark from now on, a benchmark to a whole level of madness that is. I am not worried though, cause I know this madness has already spread onto my buddies. Hehehe.

I would like to thanks all for helping us, and also thank you and congratulation to my fellow rider. We are now on the same level...

Pictures link:
JANDA BAIK