A fine line between bravado and foolishness...

A phone conversation.

'Ghodong, kat mana?' asks Muaiz. 'Ada kat KL, kenapa?' answered me while sipping warm lemon. Wari looks on.

'Esok nak pi ride tak? Malakoff ada buat ride pagi esok' explains Muaiz. 'Ko join ride tu sekali ke?', I asked him back. 'Aku kayuh dalam kereta je, hahaha. Aku ada kerja malam ni, still kat rumah lagi ni, lepas game baru pi KL', he said a matter of factly.

'Err, ride dari mana ke mana?', I enquired. 'Dari Selayang ke Bentong. Abang Rahim kata Aini ada sekali. Dia kata takkan ko kalah dengan Aini kot?' answers Muaiz, '...bukan laju pun, ramai orang tua yang ride sekali', he continues.

'Ye la tu, aku tak percaya langsung kalau cyclist kata tak laju, tahu-tahu belasah 35-40kmh', I retorted back. 'Takpe la, nanti aku confirm dengan kau balik, OK?' I ended our conversation.

Glanced at Wari, and told him about the invitation. And Abg Rahim's comment about Aini is also riding the route. '...Takkan kalah dengan Aini kot?...'. The distance said Muaiz, should be around 130-150km. Suddenly, something came to my mind. The fact that either route to Bentong would need a lot of climbing. Its either thru GS or KKB. And if IT IS a 130+km ride, most definitely they'll take the KKB-Gap-Bentong route. Ouch, thats one hilly route. Its brave to attempt it, but its foolish to do it if you are not well prepared.

Even if the invitation is juicy enough, but one needs to gauge their own ability. As much as I wanted to ride to Bentong, but I do not think I have the legs to do it yet. The horror story from Bang Man CIOCC on the ride to Fraser lingers still (read here). Personally, I have yet to put in a long 120km non stop ride, and I havent even done GS (or enough climbs yet) so i think I'll just keep down my head, put in the miles in religiously, and when the next opportunity presents itself, maybe I'll JUST DO IT!

There is still a very fine line between bravado and foolishness.

bola2api account of the ride to Bentong, read here.