Unrelenting Genting

(Phots courtesy of Ivie, more from Carmen and Dave a bit later with luck)

My poetic title (it rhymes, sort of) was conjured up at some point during the climb and really seemed to sum it up perfectly at the time. Genting is tough, really tough but that I already knew. What I didn't realise is that doing it without a hangover made it a little more manageable but also removed the "misery" aspect out of it. It was actually FUN.

Although I did tell myself that I knew why I'd vowed never to do this climb again and I perfectly understood why it had been 5 years since the last time but surprisingly, I never once had a negative thought, nor did I vow not to repeat it again. In fact I'm rather looking forward to the next time with a couple of new time goals thrown in.

So how did the day unfold: we met at Batu Caves at 6:45, faffed around for a while and then Sam gave his briefing. In true Malaysian fashion, certain people were talking and not listening (you should see Chinese weddings here - no one listens to the speeches, the hall is usually a cacophony of chit chat - but that's the way it seems to be, no one gets upset or offended), at which point I piped up and reiterated a few points as much for my own clarity than anything - sorry if I stole your thunder Sam. Then we were off with the first stop planned at about 31k but with two fairly steep hill climbs first, one short and sharp and one long but not quite so sharp.

There was talk of people leaving their egos at home since it was going to be a tough day, I knew that I should have, but clearly I didn't. I squeezed over the first two hills in first place with Lim right on my back wheel - we'd see who was the real hill climber later in the day (it wasn't me). Sam was third up on his trusty old cast iron ORANGE P3.

I shot off down the hill (guess I was the heaviest) and was starting to wonder where the support vehicle was and where the designated stop was supposed to be, when suddenly Carmen pulled up in the Nissan X-Trail just 20metres in front of me and with about 4 seconds to spare - Sam was non-too happy, but hey, she was on time - it was just a little fine that's all - the important thing was that there was plenty of water, energy drink, bananas, gels and bars to go around. Everyone arrived within a few minutes of each other and then we were off to the Gohtong Jaya (Awana) roundabout.




After a few minutes I'd dropped the pack and was hammering nicely towards the steeper sections when I saw Ivie and Carmen in the two support vehicles - they'd pulled over for a photo opportunity, I put on my best "Lance, hill climbing smile/grimace", I even gave a little wave, got two metres past the car and my front valve blew out - if it had to happen then was that perfect timing or what?!







The pack passed me and Lim kindly hung around to help out. I was well supported by Ivie and Carmen so I told him to go ahead - I think I said something about catching him up - wishful thinking!

Sam, Jason Robinson (long since left Malaysia but still in touch) and I used to timetrial up this climb - (I had memories of trying to open a melted kit-kat going up here, desperate for the calories but barely being able to move the pedals while struggling to unwrap the dratted thing).


With the tube changed I was off again. I'd got it in my head that we used to do this climb in less than an hour, I was moving along nicely and started picking the group up one by one, eventually catching Sam (and precariously wobbling next to him - sorry Sam - it was steep though in my defense). I briefly saw Lim in the distance but he just cruised away from me. At the roundabout my ride time was 1:00:18 so I was pretty disappointed as I felt it had been a good climb - It was only when I checked my log that I found that I'd beaten my previous best by 8 minutes and Jason's by 2. So that was a result and something that I feel can be improved upon still further.










Carmen was waiting at the roundabout, we were quite high up at this point and the wind was starting to blow - it was really quite cold (probably as low as 22 degrees Celsius - I know exactly what you guys in the UK are saying but you have to remember that we're not used to it, the windchill factor and we were soaking wet with sweat). Lim was sitting down shivering, Sam arrived soon after but I decided not to hang around, I filled my bottles, grabbed a couple of gels, had a pee and I was off.

This is where things get really tough, I remember Sam once dropping a chain near the Chinese Temple/Pagoda (about half way up this section of the climb and at the steepest point) it was so steep it was almost impossible for him to get going again - I think in the end he had to clip on downhill and then do a precarious u-turn without getting run over. I'd been going for quite sometime and then caught sight of something almost vertically above me - it was the Pagoda but way way up in the sky, it looked like a little matchstick hundred's a metres above me - oh my goodness - this is going to be hard.

Not disheartened, just a little more wary, I continued to grind it out - some of the guys had converted to a 27 back cassette (much lower gears than normal) but I stuck with my 23 - not a very efficient decision I concluded with the benefit of hindsight. After oh so many switch backs, with the climb getting progressively steeper and the pedals going around progressively slower I looked behind and had a clear sight of the road below - no one there - wow I thought, I may even get to the top first - no more than 1 minute later Lim tootled past me with a friendly word of encouragement and off he went - he went on to get to the top 2 minutes ahead of me and a worthy winner. I was second and very happy with my efforts and totally stoked about the whole ride - I really, genuinely enjoyed every minute of it.

Sam was next with the rest of the group arriving over the next twenty minutes. A great shout out to Chris who was first woman to the top, closely followed by Bee. Emma found the steepest part of the whole climb and tried to cut the corner - her bike handling skills going backwards were not what they might be and I leave you to imagine the outcome - she then ran the last 3.5k barefoot, shoes in one hand and bike in the other.

Ngae got to the top with his usual inimitable smile - KK had seen the pros hanging on to the medical car in the TdF so when a buddy came along he did the same - there is a stewards enquiry but he may escape suspension as he was bringing up the rear (to make sure everyone was OK no doubt). The others riders were Randy, Terry, Meng and Dave. Great job, everyone that started made it and without exception with a smile on their faces. Great job guys - when are we doing it again?

In the meantime, Shilpa, Seb and Sid were making their way up to meet us for lunch, we all drove down to Gohtong Jaya and had a truly wonderful feast and a few well earned beers, followed by the inevitable ice-cream.

Huge fun, fabulous company and a great day out, thanks to Sam for organising everything, Carmen and Ivie for manning the support vehicles and Shilpa and the boys for their support. Selamat Hari Raya.






EPILOGUE: Even before Lim caught me, the very idea of "racing" up this climb was a complete aberration that tugged at my mind - rather than thinking "how quickly" I could go, I was reduced to thinking "how less slowly" I could move - trust me, it WAS NOT negative thinking, nor was it defeatism, quite the contrary, it just seemed the most accurate and appropriate way of dealing with the reality of the climb - maybe this was a result of having the wrong gear ratios from the off but simply keeping the pedals turning, however slowly, was satisfaction enough at times.

The guys that race up here on the Tour de Langkawi - my hat of you you guys, AMAZING - but they must be machines - that's the only way I can explain it.