We were starting out from Ipoh at 6am as the Thaipusam festival was drawing to a close. The Fajr (pre-dawn) call to prayer could be heard across the road from the State Mosque.

For a brief moment it looked as if we'd be caught up in the chaos of people, cars and traffic officers; following the Thaipusam human-drawn chariot back to it's home, marking the end of the festival. The huge, and needless to say, colourful (an light bedecked) chariot had been pulled through the night for the last ten hours, and was entering the last few hundred yards. Despite the bright lights and loud drums ['the drums, those damn drums!'] most people looked very drawn - but managed to cheer encouragement as Becky and I emerged out the other side of the chariot entourage with our bikes.

And so on, out of town. It was easy, until I saw the first ominous sign, 'lTdL KOM start' [lTdL: le Tour de Langkawi; KOM: King Of the Mountain], spay-painted on the hard-shoulder. In the spirit-crushing spirit of the famous l'Alpe d'Huez, the one of the hardest bits is right at the beginning. Those granny gears that Becky and I were saving for an emergency, or, at least, until we got tired, were put into operation right from the start.

At this stage we were passed by three other cyclists - two on road bikes and another bloke on a mountain bike. But they had better gearing, and they weren't carrying all their luggage, so we've got the moral high ground, we told each other between puffs. And they were puffing too.

Until the descent at Kampung Raja, there's really no let up in this winding climb to the Cameron Highlands, it's 1400m vertical meters up and up. A veritable door-stop of a profile (see pic) The highlands being a very high vegetable and tea growing region of Malaysia, originally 'opened' up for wealthy colonials to escape the heat and humidity down below. The temperature at the top is generally about 10 degrees cooler than Ipoh.

The Tour de Langkawi profile

We were expecting it to be a grind (it was!) so we stopped for a brief rest every five to eight kilometres to save our Stamina. However, the whole exercise was already looking a bit unlikely about a third of the way up, at a break by a blessedly level bridge. I voiced my idea of a contingency plan involving hitching a lift with one of the many hooting lorries passing us on the way up.

Not long after that, but who should come hooting around the corner? Our man David! As in the man we'd previously spent a few nights with. I'd been in email contact with him and told him about our plans, and he'd loaded up his kids in his car and driven up to see how we were doing. Throwing all pretensions of cycle touring purity to the wind, we untied all our luggage, and dumped it in David's car boot.

While we were doing this, another group of six cyclists passed us on the way up. We met them again, sitting by the side of the road a few kilometres further. They were waiting for a few more of their number that we still behind us. This gave us a great excuse for a stop - and they graciously shared bananas with us.

Later on, when we'd stopped at David's car the tail group caught up to us. David was doing a sterling job as support car all the way up, stopping every hour or so. We then set off up the mountain with this tail group. Becky managed to attach herself onto their back wheels and found a new lease on life. As a group we manage to steam ahead.

Though not everybody was finding it that easy. One man dropped off, and couldn't keep up with us. The others, we possibly hanging back for for him, or, alternatively, didn't want to be shown up by a foreign girl, then left us and shot off (sort of) up the mountain. Again, Bex and I were alone, pedalling up this massive hill.

Eventually we descended into Kampung Raja, where we met David and his family for lunch at a local Chinese roadside eatery. David assured us it's all downhill from here. "See", I told Becky, "no need to stress about this ride any longer. It'll be an easy descent from now on."

Turns out, this was a special case of "downhill" where the gradient went uphill for about 10km - easy, if you're in a car, and in first gear. With a combination of cycling and walking, we made it to the top, having just enough energy to wave at the other cyclists, who were coming down in a mini-van, having had a driver to take them the rest of the way.

After the top at Brinchang, it was a another 5km finally into Tanah Rata. Five kilometers further than the Pros would have to cycle the next day in their stage of le Tour de Langkawi. Okay, we didn't do the initial flat section that day that they had to, but we still managed to ride over 90km, with over 90% of it uphill.

rgds
//richard
(Kuala Lumpur)

Responses[1]

Posted by Richard Barnes-Webb on 08 February 2007 19:26:00 MYT #