Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Cycling up to Fraser's Hill (4100 ft)

Fraser's Hill is a hill station located about 90 km from Kuala Lumpur. I have been told by Min Chee that the trail leading up to Fraser's Hill is one of the best riding trail in the world. In fact it is a hidden jewel for budding cyclist. This has been confirmed by many of his oversea friends who rides up frequently. I have to attend a wedding dinner in Kl on Saturday night so I decided to come a day earlier so that I can do the ride on Saturday morning (12 Sept 09). I took along my Dahon Cadenza 26 inch folding bike for the ride. These folding bikes are really handy...you can see that it is neatly tucked behind the last row of seats on my Nissan Serena.
My RV with Min Chee was at 0700 hrs at the Shell petrol station in Bandar Utama area. He came along with his Volvo and took us to Kuala Kubu Bahru about 50 km away. This is the normal starting point for people going up to Fraser's Hill.
Of course we must have a good breakfast before our ride. Food in Kuala Kubu Bahru was cheap and very tasty. Soon after breakfast we were on our way. we have to ensure that we reach the Gap by 1100 hrs so that we do not have to wait. As the road from the Gap to Fraser's Hill is very narrow, you can only go up during the odd hours and down during even hours. I counted not more than 20 cars along the way so the road is quiet most of the time. As we were ascending and coupled with the shades from the big trees along the road it feels quite cool. The temperature was between 24 C to about 22 C at the top. It is like riding in an air cond room so it was very pleasant. The twist and turns of the road makes it interesting too. There were a few waterfalls along the way. This picture shows one of the larger one.At the Gap we were a few minutes early so it was an opportunity to give the tired legs a chance to rest. When it was time to go we waited another 10 minutes before we continued our ride up as we did not want to inhale vehicle exhaust in such fresh air!. From the Gap to the top of the hill is 8 km . The road is narrow and we had some steep gradients to work the heart up to its max permissible heart beat!So here we are at the top of Fraser's Hill. We had some hot tea in a coffee shop and started our return leg.


This is the MCA building located just at the entrance of Fraser's hill. When we were scouts we used to stay at a community hall i this building. It looked the same as itwas 35 years ago


After the ride up, the trip downhill was most enjoyable. We coasted down for almost 30 km using the stored potential energy of our uphill climb. yes....it is indeed a jewel . I had enjoyed the ride very much and this will not be the last trip but the beginning of more trips to come. Thank you again Min Chee.