Refreshing Change

Pictures by Emma
Since September was shaping up to be a month barren of races we thought what better time to take a break and partake in some light social training and R&R for a change? Fraser’s Hill was the destination with accommodation courtesy of Bee and RHB bank.
Saturday morning: Simon and Dave joined S.Sam, myself, Randy, Olly, Meng (Welcome back!), Chris and Bee up to Ulu Yam. They then turned back whilst we continued onto Fraser’s. Carmen put in a banker long ride with KK and Daniel in the morning and came up later in a support car while Wei Kong decided his weekend was going to be NO training, only R&R, and so kindly went ahead with our kit bags in Bee’s car.
Always a challenging route we took it oh so slowly. At the “gap” the road only allows for passage of one way traffic and since the other road up is impassable due to another landslide if you time it wrong you have to wait for the traffic flow to change to cover the last 8k to the peak. (Yes of course we had to wait!). I was having a lovely day, still feeling a bit low from the week’s illness but the pace was gentle and I thought it was in the bag until for some reason 2k into the last climb I had an urge to vomit get off my bike and sulk. I didn’t but obviously I wasn’t as “back to normal” as I thought and so my brick run promptly went out the window.
The House: Gorgeous, Blissful, tranquil, picture perfect, are you getting the idea? An old colonial property (God those British had good taste!), set in lush green manicured gardens, surrounded by sights and sounds of the jungle. It was awesome, amazing, astounding. Coffee and tea on the Veranda, sorry there were no scones – but I have been ILL. It was shaping up to be a great weekend.

The BBQ: Come 5.30pm everyone was starting to get peckish so the 3 disposable BBQ’s were fired up. Well perhaps that is a slight exaggeration. Lighters, satay swatting from Carmen and Randy (they really should think about opening up a stall), and some good old huff and puff from Meng and Sam. It all worked out, food cooked, wine corks popped (Bee partook in a tipple or too), just damn good company and good food what more could you ask for? As the sun went down the cooler weather came in and the 3 Brits (sorry 2 Brits and1 Welshy) were the first to buckle! I had to put 3 layers on. YES, despite my roly poly tum (it will GO) I was freezing! We took the party into the lounge or should I say drawing room and continued on supping beers and munching all the junk food we could lay our hands on – yes even S.Sam had a crisp! By the time bed beckoned around midnight, Bee had turned a lovely shade of crimson and I believe she was suitably and quietly drunk thanks to Sexy lady’s prompting. A Sunday morning run was planned but the rule was no alarm clocks, we go when we wake up. Sunday Run: I woke up at 5.30am...with cramp. Damn those hills. Back to sleep and properly awake at 7am. Shuffled to the “drawing room” to see Randy already soaking up what was looking to be another beautiful clear cool day in paradise. S.Sam, Carmen, Meng, Bee, Randy and I finally got out the door for our run at just before 8am I guess. Hilly, very, but just amazing; cool and crisp, I opted for long sleeves as did Carmen. Off we set with Bee initially running circles around us trying to pick up her GPS signal. I on the other hand just pressed the switch on my foot pod and was ready to go! Somewhere along the route the 6 of us got spilt and Randy and I ad lib’d our way back to the house finally meeting up with the others who had taken a mighty SHORT CUT!

Breakfast: Back in the house the lightweights had risen and breakfast was on the minds of everyone. With no oven or hob and only a microwave, kettle and toaster to speak of we put our Girl Guide and Boy Scout skills to good use and whipped up a feed of 24 scrambled eggs with sausage, baked beans, two loaves of toast, noodles and papaya and umpteen cups of coffee and tea. Perfect.

The Ride Back: We left the house just before noon to catch the one way traffic time frame, myself, S.Sam, Olly, Randy and Meng planning on riding all the way home. Once in Ulu Yam I was clearly not having a good day. Over hot milo the weather took a change and rain came in torrents with thunder and lightening. I was wisely coerced to pack my bike and go back in the car with Carmen and Randy who needed to make a flight. We left the others to wait it out.
The weather rapidly got worse with many trees down blocking parts of the road. Once dropping Randy off we went back for my car and then both Carmen and I went back out for S.Sam, Olly and Meng. So we didn’t quite make it there and back but the weather did little to dampen the spirits. All in all the weekend was a beautifully refreshing change to the chaos of KL.
Thanks to R H Bee for booking the house, Wei Kong for driving the support car, Carmen for holding back the mad cars on the Fraser decent and thanks too to Randy and Meng for looking out for me and Sam for talking sense into me at Ulu Yam although once that rain started I really didn’t need much prompting!