After 6 months of almost absolute inactivity, NicIz2HardKore and I decided to embark on a short ride in the greater Desaru area. The ride was almost called off a week before the trip when some klutz knocked Ivy over, rendering shifting to her smallest cog impossible; then, Peter Chew of Cycle Corner worked his magic and got her back on the road. Whee!
Red = Day 1 Blue = Day 2 Magenta = Day 3 Yellow = Highway / B-road numbers
9:40 AM. Filling waterbottles from a drinking fountain at Changi Beach. As Curious Cat looks on, Nic loads film into one of his cameras.
"You folks are crazy, I'm staying put — where it's nice and shady," kucinta purred.
After waiting the better part of an hour, the bumboat finally got going — everyone decided to fork out an extra SG$2 instead of waiting for more passengers. (Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
11:10 AM. Here's a picture of a really beat up motorbike at Tanjung Pengelih. Temperature 91° F (32.8° C)
What's that about fatty cuts of meat being bad for you again?
Pork-Power! (Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
Reception for "high-end" TRY-athletes from a certain tropical-island-city-state-with-no-mountains. You know? The w(h)inners who cry about not having enough water points, feed points, medical personnel, traffic control, finisher's medals, hugging stations, counseling couches, pow-wow tents; and bad music, uncooperative weather, too much sand, too much mud, strong headwinds, cold water, dirty water, excessive sunlight, et cetera...
Passing by some chalets in Tanjung Ramunia.
Hey! They repaved this section of the road! No more prostate-squishing! Yay!
Mr. Shutterbug.
Highway 90 is on the left.
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
Much earlier (leaving Sungai Rengit):
BEN: Let's stop at the next bus stop. NIC: I am sure you realize bus stops aren't very common here.
Bus stop. I raised my saddle height by 2 mm. Temperature 98° F (36.7° C)
I promise to do better next time. Next time, I'll say, "Let's stop at the next light."
:-P
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
Well, technically, it's still a (gravel) road.
Taking a few minutes under swaying coconut trees, gazing at the huge LPG tankers barreling off the coast, in the South China Sea.
Well, at least it's not as crowded as the Botanic Gardens of a certain city-island-state.
Batu Layar (Sail Rock).
The hills begin after this.
I like this pic.
It makes me think of this.
:-P
Sweat got into Nic's eyes.
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
Desaru, final approach.
4:04 PM. Tajung Balau. Temperature 91° F (32.8° C)
4:30 PM. Back on the road. Trying our hands at panda shotsagain.
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
Not quite.
There!
Watermelon fields.
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
No rest for the wicked. No sleep for the damned.
Nic rides his Surly fixie north, past numerous oil palm plantations, along an undulating road (J173) to the fishing village of Sedili Kecil.
We reached Jason's Bay Resort at 7:15 PM. Temperature 80° F (26.7° C)
Jason's Bay Resort Tel 607-234-8861 019-70408324 Mr. Amran bin Abdullah
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
As there were many other guests (the place was almost full), the in-house restaurant was open.
2 sup ayam (Malaysian Chicken Soup) 2 ayam goreng (Fried Chicken) 4 nasi goreng cina (Fried Rice - Chinese Style) 4 bandung (Milk flavored with rose cordial)
As we dined, the mosquitos dined on us. Later, a crowd of men arrived — smoking — and the gnats went off to get their own Marlboro.
Did I say this is a Halloween Ride? Well, here's Skeletor. (Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
(Picture credit: NicIz2HardKore)
DATA
Start 11:10 AM End 7:15 PM Total 8 hours 5 minutes
Cateye AT-100 Elevation climbed 1150 ft (350.6 m) Distance 63 miles (100.8 km) 4 hours 53 minutes 45 seconds Average speed 12.9 mph Maximum speed 30.9 mph Temperature 80° F - 98° F (26.7° C - 36.7° C) Cumulative distance 63 miles (100.8 km)
Day 2 7:30 AM. Boiling water for coffee with the JetBoil™.
10:25 AM. Temperature 91° F (32.8° C)
Having assumed all cattle by the road to be cows, Nic taunted a bull.
Pedal, Nic! Pedal Paddle! Damn it!
:-D
Peace!
(Or, is it, "You two need brains!" or "You need 2 motorcycles!"?)
At the junction of J172 and J173 is first traffic signal since arriving at Tanjung Pengelih.
5 roti canai telur (Malaysian flatbread with egg) 1 roti canai kosong (Malaysian flatbread, plain) 1 nasi lemak (Steamed rice with coconut cream) 2 iced-teh (Iced tea) 1 kopi-o (Coffee without milk) 6 bottles of mineral water (The only form of water high hind-end TRY-athletes drink)
'Dodged a soaking when a thunderstorm passed by.
The water is brown not due to mud (it's an asphalt road) but government propaganda cow manure.
!!!
On the east side of the bridge, a view of the fishing village of Sedili Besar. Apparently, accommodations are available there at a place called Le Club, but I have not been able to obtain further information about the place (apart from an expired phone number). FWIW, Tanjung Sutera Resort, accessible via a turn eastwards north of the bridge, offers accommodations.
The road will eventually run along that ridge.
Pain is only weakness leaving the body.
Detailed road directions (created by Mazon) to Sedili Besar and Tanjung Sutera Resort can be found here.
Tenggaroh.
Surging ahead, chasing a dog, I left Nic behind.
12:31 PM. After waiting for the better part of 20 minutes, I coasted back down the hill and discovered him walking his crippled bike.
What we got here?
For some reason, the 15 mm wrench was missing from Nic's bag.
My Topeak Alien DX has an emergency 15 mm wrench but it neither possess the leverage nor strength to remove the nut from a fixie axle. (The user manual states that it is to be used only for tightening — not removing — pedals in an emergency.) We attempted it anyway and the jaws of the wrench flexed alarmingly. Nic elected to preserve his knuckles and stopped.
Passing motorists (most of them have 14 mm wrenches, but none had the coveted 15 mm) suggested that we hike to the nearest village to try our luck.
Road cycling shoes are only a little easier to hike in than 8-inch heels, so Nic does his impression of a Hobbit.
1:15 PM. Tenggaroh Selatan 1.
Upon discovering the clinic closed, we wandered around for a while before another helpful motorist stopped by and offered the use of his tools.
No such luck. Lots of 14 mm. No 15 mm.
So, we trudge on.
The other Ti(e).
Hur! Hur!
As the village has no shops, we walked from house to house, inquiring after the elusive tool.
A 15mm socket is finally found, but the thin, stamped steel walls are too weak to remove the 15 mm fixie axle nuts.
Hmm... what shall we do?
The gentleman's wonderful friend went back to his home twice to search. The second time, he returned with a crescent (adjustable) wrench. Whee!
The other guy also returned with another wrench; this time, the elusive 15 mm.
So much trouble can arise when a little rubber breaks. So much depends on a little rubber. The little prick that caused so much trouble.
The puncture.
"Here, keep this in event of future punctures."
Thanks, guys!
:-)
Stress.
2:17 PM. Back on the road.
Heading in the opposite direction during my 2008 Thailand-to-Singapore Ride, I missed this junction and ended up in Tenggaroh 6.
Junction with Highway 3. There's a taxi stand and dispatch office here.
4:04 PM. Drinks and ice-cream at a rest stop opposite the taxi stand.
Distance covered today 30.4 miles (48.6 km) Elevation climbed 1700 ft (518.3 m) Temperature 95° F (35° C)
Thankful for little mercies: the wide road shoulder on Highway 3 from Mersing extend here.
5:25 PM. Nic's right pedal (non-drive side) comes loose — the first of many instances. Ah! The joys of reversing your crank orientation!
NOOO! I DO NOT SUCK!!!
Onwards.
The sun hangs low in the sky.
It's pedal-tighening time again!
5:52 PM. A moment's inattention caused me to run over a large bolt, resulting in a rear tube puncture. Here, adore my beaming visage.
The puncture was interesting. A combination of a snake bite and spoke hole cookie-cutter punctures on both sides of the tube. The Xero rim tape remained intact though.
Mini-pumps look great and look trick until you actually get to use them by the side of the road. Then, you will drop to your knees and beg for the Topeak Road Morph, the Lezyne Micro Floor Drive, or a friendly truck to run you over, sparing you from an — exhausting — impression of spastic roadside onanism.
7:13 PM. Junction of Highway 3 and J172 / Highway 99. Realizing that it can't get much darker than this, we stopped to refuel.
4 Ramlee Double Daging Lembu Special Burger with Telur (Double Beef burger with egg and cheese) 4 Cokes
Hey, where did the ice come from? Who cares?
8:12 PM. Nic misses the turn off to Highway 99, via Highway 95, a route that would have saved us about 13 km.
Taking a break on an unplanned night ride along Highway 3.
A stop at a gas station just before the junction to Kota Tinggi, Johor Bahru, and Desaru.
What the pics and videos don't show: descending long, barely-seen stretches of asphalt in the dark, our paths only illuminated by anemic headlamps best meant for city streets; the palpable darkness; the roar of the wind, the flutter of helmet straps in our ears; and the subtle interplay of inky black forests and mountain ranges against the indigo blue night sky — a vast chiaroscuro with two infinitesimal figures slowly pedaling across the landscape.
You had to be there.
No, these were not waiting for us by the roadside, nor was Issei Sagawa. (Though Nic did scare the living crap out of me later — you'd never seen me sprint up a hill so fast — but you will have to buy me a cup of coffee for that yarn.)
Truth be told, we were more worried about potholes. Thankfully, we didn't run into any of this size, or its wheel-flipping daughters.
11:07 PM. 29 km from Desaru, a truck stop after Air Tawar 5.
Distance covered today 77.2 miles (123.5 km) Elevation climbed 3480 ft (1061 m) Temperature 77° F (25° C)
The coffin nails / cancer sticks / cigarettes aren't mine. (I don't smoke, I stir.)
Day 2 slides imperceptibly into Day 3.
We left the truck stop at 12:45 AM.
1 AM. Highway 92.
The turn off to the southern terminus of Highway 99 (Lok Heng / Bandar Easter / Wa Ha), our intended route, was utterly dark and desolated. I wonder what sort of adventures we would have run into had we not miss the turn off to Highway 95.
Another time, perhaps.
500 meters after this sign is the Petronas gas station that marks the turn off to Desaru (it was closed for the night).
4.7 km later, the traffic circle at the entrance to Desaru.
Start 10:25 AM End 1:52 AM Total 15 hours 27 minutes
Cateye AT-100 Elevation climbed 3930 ft (1198.2 m) Distance 90.1 miles (144.2 km) 8 hours 38 minutes 48 seconds [includes hike to Tenggaroh Selatan 1] Average speed 12.2 mph Maximum speed 32.2 mph Temperature 75° F - 95° F (23.9° C - 35° C) Cumulative distance 153.2 miles (245.2 km)
'Left Desaru Damai Resort at 10:50 AM. We doubled back halfway to the Petronas gas station, and then cut through Bandar Penawar, circumventing a couple of hills. Temperature 91° F (32.8° C)
Playing chicken with traffic on Highway 92.
Car loses!
:-P
12:42 PM. Distance covered today 20.3 miles (32.5 km) Elevation climbed 630 ft (192 m) Temperature 91° F (32.8° C)
A bunch of unsuspecting cyclists heading into "Dog Alley" (no, I am not talking about SDN).
*grin*
Round 2.
22 km to the jetty via J52.
2:40 PM. Distance covered today 31.2 miles (49.2 km) Elevation climbed 710 ft (216.5 m) Temperature 89° F (31.7° C)
4:09 PM. Back in Singapore, a bus driver behind the wheel of SBS2833B refused to follow traffic laws whilst approaching a filter lane at Telok Paku Road — cutting us off with the vehicle's rear wheels and nearly running us over.
Wonderful. (And we have terrified / repressed lemmings on this wayang island chastising us of the dangers of cycling on Malaysia roads at night.)
Right.
[To the guy in the picture (riding a red Cannondale R900), "Hi!" ^_^]
After an easy ride along Changi Coast Road and a brief foray into East Coast Park — which we quickly ditched for East Coast Park Service Road — we concluded the ride at Cycle Craft with drinks, food, good company, drinks, drinks, and more drinks.
DATA
Cateye AT-100 Total elevation climbed 5960 ft (1817 m) Total distance 197.5 miles (316 km) 16 hours 26 minutes 59 seconds Average speed 12 mph Maximum speed 32.2 mph Temperature 75° F - 98° F (23.9° C - 36.7° C)
