The 12-member team from Cycleworx Singapore arrived at The Lakehouse on Saturday the 9 th of Dec. However, unlike our regular guests, their intention was not to just relax and soak in the atmosphere. On the contrary, these guests were in the highlands to face its challenging roads on their bicycle. Yes that’s right. Having already been up Fraser’s Hill and Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlands was next on their list as that would be a culmination of the 3 famous Malaysian mountains.

The team left on their warm up session after lunch on their day of arrival itself. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 = going downhill and 10 = pushing your bike up on foot, the trip from The Lakehouse to Brinchang was rated a 7 as it was a little too short. This took about 45mins to an hour to climb and served as a warm up to the next days ride.

The trip from The Lakehouse to Tapah on the 10 th of Dec on the other hand was rated an 8.5. They descended the 40km in about 1 hour and took from 1hr 45min for the first cyclist to 2hr 30min for the last of the group to return. 8.5 is supposed to be about the best challenge a road cyclist could get and closest to some of the profiles of the European mountains.

When asked to name the best part of the ride, the cyclists good naturedly replied “Reaching the finish!” On a more serious note they added that they would recommend cycling in Cameron Highlands very much to other cycling enthusiasts. It’s a very challenging climb and as there are no mountains in Singapore, this is said to be the next best thing. The climb profile takes you up 950m over a 40km route and the entire climb is picturesque with the tea plantations as a great backdrop.

The greatest worry shared by the team was the traffic in Cameron Highlands, but they were pleasantly surprised with the respect for the cyclist given by the cars and trucks. On the other 2 Malaysian mountains, it was commented that Genting is very brutal and too steep at times for amateurs, while Fraser’s Hill a little too gentle.

One of the special arrangements made for the group were the 3 masseurs who were brought up from the town of Brinchang, to cater to the advance request made by Cycleworx. Although intended for the ladies who went on the trip, the cyclist also succumbed to the temptation on their first night at The Lakehouse. This very much helped the cyclists relax from their exertions. One of the suggestions made was that this could have been better if the massage had been specifically tailored to sports massages.

On their stay at The Lakehouse, one of the team members commented, “We were very happy with the service and relaxed family attitude which the larger hotels would not have been able to offer. We asked for a buffet at 6am in the morning in order for us to digest before the climb and were happily accommodated with, although this wasn’t the current practice.”