Long rides and Learnings

It has been quite a while since Ben and I took a long ride non-stop. Well, last night I had such a ride.

We rode non-stop all the way from Dairy Farm to East Coast Mac where I had a huge breakfast before riding back from Orchard to Old Holland Road then back to The Rail Mall for a drink.

Sounds very boring, but that was how it was. It was just plain riding. The interesting part of the day was not the ride but the conversation I had with a friend whom I met afterwards.

After listening to my friend's story, I discovered a few things.

1.) People need a purpose in life.

2.) They seek what they wish to seek only to find out that it was the process they enjoyed and not the end result. (So what if the ends justify the means? Even if it did not, one could still enjoy the learning process!)

3.) Contentment is so lacking in people today as they want more and more things. There is never a perfect something/anything for them.

4.) Pain is something that is only a small part of life but people make it seem as though it is a huge part of their lives and get driven/affected by it.

5.) Most of the things we concern ourselves with usually has minimal effect over our lives but we tend to spend so much time and energy focused on them, not doing anything about it and neglecting the things that really matter to us.

6.) There is a time and place for everything. To concern oneself before it is time, is a waste of time and there is nothing you can do in reality.

7.) The greatest lesson I felt after listening to my friend was that one needs to learn how to be happy. Happiness is something that people associate with things or people in their lives today and in my opinion, that is not truly being happy.

To be happy, BE happy. You need nothing else.
Just BE...

While coming to realization of all the above, I am sad to say that I too am guilty of the charges presented above from time to time. However, it is the constant conscious effort to work around them that make us better and happier people as we grow and learn. I had a wonderful lesson this morning.

Thank you my friend!


Ride Details
Distance : 115.97km
Avg Spd : 22.3km/h
Ride time : 4hr 58min

There is an answer, some day we will know,
And you will ask her, why she had to go,
We live and die, we laugh and we cry,
And you must take away the pain,
Before you can begin to live again;

So let it start, my friend, let it start,
Let the tears come rolling from your heart,
And when you need a light in the lonely night,
Carry me like a fire in your heart,
Carry me like a fire in your heart;

There is a river, rolling to the sea,
And you'll be with her for all eternity,
But we that remain need you here again,
So hold you in her memory,
And begin to make the shadows disappear;

Yes let it start, my friend, let it start,
Let the love come rolling from your heart,
And when you need a light in the lonely night,
Carry me like a fire in your heart,
Carry me like a fire in your heart;

And when you need a light in the lonely night,
Carry me like a fire in your heart,
Carry me like a fire in your heart;

And when you need a light in the lonely night,
Carry me like a fire in your heart,
Carry me like a fire in your heart;

To cry is to feel JOY flowing,
Allow that...

Back again...

As a major happening for the year ended, I breath a sigh of relief and can finally start blogging again. Ha...

Had 2 rides since the Sedili ride but don't think I would document them here as they were both midnight rides to our usual eating places. However, the thing is that I am now clocking rides that are usually 100km or longer. That's a good sign. Hope to keep that up to build base for longer rides. Planning to do Cameron Highlands this coming Jan 08. Hope the hotel rates and weather turn favourable.

Anyway, I'm slowly building a pack list of items that I would needing for touring and the latest items collected were

1.) Zebra brand stainless steel pot cum lunch box $18.50/-.
2.) maple fire stove that has an interesting adapter for steamboat stove gas canisters.

Canister gas that adapts to the standard threaded Lindel screw head of camping butane canisters by means of a custom made adapter(bottom left grey object)

Bottom end attaches to canister butane gas common used in steamboat stoves. These canisters are readily available all over the world and are cheap.

Original threaded Lindel screw top for standard screw top gas canisters.

Adapter attached to the hose.

Anyway, given the adapter, you have a choice of using either standard threaded Lindel Screw top canisters or the more commonly available canister butane fuels. As a side note, you will not be able to find the Lindel headed canisters in Singapore. Travellers from abroad, please note!

Wanted to test it out straight away so I did what anybody could do. I tested both items out on a simple meal of Cream of Chicken Penne.

Recipe:
150g of 14min cook penne.
1 packet of instant cream of chicken from campbell
water

Once setup, the stove looks like the MSR Whisper Lite!

A very even flame roars away as the water in the pot heats up.

Aha, the deed is done and my supper ready... The best part, total cooking time, was exactly 3min for boiling the water and 14min for cooking the pasta!

Nothing fantastic seated at home in the comfort of my armchair and hi-fi, but on a tour, this is something to die for, especially when you are cold and hungry! Well, that just about sums up about the stove and Pot.

A good thing about the lunch box is that the pot has a handle built in and the whole thing is self locking!!!

ps - the stove fits into the pot!!!

Next item on the list, bike overhaul!!!

Man you should have seen the crap on my bike after riding in the rain and using Finish Lines Ceremic Lube. My bike does not like it. The lube is great for rainy days as it stays on the chain, but after a wet ride, you find that it not only has stayed on your chian, it has also flicked off onto your chainstay, downtube and also your bike shorts. Damn!!! Your derailler turns from silver to black. My jockey cage turned black and even my shiny cassette turned the most deathly of colours, not to mention my drive side crank arm also turned black from the lube. I must say, the price of lube lasting in the rain is really really a pain in the ass...

I took it as a chance to get my hands really dirty. I did a complete overhaul of my bike. I took out everything from my bike and gave it a complete cleaning. All that was left were my cranks and headset short of me having the tools to remove them. It took me 7hours to finally clean and tune up the bike. Now my baby looks as bright as before and rides like the wind and I will stick to White Lightning for most part of the riding.

Save the ceramic lube for epics I guess.

The hills that never stop rolling...

Finally I've managed to sort out all the notes of the Sedili Ride. For a detailed distance and waypoint account, please click here. My account is slightly different due to the distance I took for both days and where we bunked in. I started riding from The Rail Mall at 4.30am on the Nov 2007 where I met Ben. We had a light breakfast of noodles and a 100 plus before setting off. It was drizzling slightly. We took our usual route of Bt Timah to East Coast and the park connector to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

2 things to note at the ferry terminal. You can buy return tickets from Sebana Cove from Singapore itself saving you some money. A 2-way ticket cost SGD31.20/- from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal; almost the same price as a 1-way ticket(SGD25). On top of that, you will need to pay SGD$10 for your bicycle.

Indo Falcon Shipping
Tel: 6275-7393
6377-5638
6270-6778
Fax: 6276-1753
travel@indofalcon.com.sg

As we were late, we had to board the ferry immediately. Ben made sure that the porters handled our bikes properly after what happened to his bike the last time. Something funny happened during the loading of the bikes. Ben's Stumpjumper weighs about 10kg with all his gear and stuff, so when the staff lifted it up to the second deck of the ferry, they felt it easy. You should have seen the look on the poor chaps face when he tried to lift my bike above his head to pass to his colleague on the top deck. BTW, my bike weighed 18kg that day. Hee..... sorry dude... The ferry started up and we began our journey.

Overview of the route I took. Check out the red crosses; energy gel consumed.

Singapore Leg

Hitting the Malaysia leg of the ride at 9.30am after clearing customs, Ben and I rode part of the journey to the first Petronas station where I made final checks of waypoints and waterpoints that I thought I would need...(proven otherwise later). We rode off from the station at 11am and I took the inland route with lots of hill climbs. Ben took the leisurely coastal route. We planned to rendezvous at either Sedili Besar or Sedili Kechil depending how fast I rode. Following the route, there is little chance that we would miss each other as we would be coming from opposite directions. Just to let you guys know how hot it was that day, it was a burning 41 degree Celsius. I was really hot and overheated that day. On top of that, there were hills to climb.


This was taken just before the bridge at the junction of Lok Heng. This is the view of the coastal side from where I was standing. Ben must be on that side and sniggering away at what was on the left side of the sky around me.





This is what it looks like on my left. I really felt like that solitary tree. Bare, alone and dark clouds looming overhead. Well, after the second Petronas station at the junction of Bandar Easter, it rained buckets and bucket and more buckets. It was so heavy I could not see my outstretched hands save for a faint image of my gloves. The thing was, I had just loaded up on water at the petrol station and all this water had to come down on me. I rode on anyway as I wanted to reached Desaru that day. It was 12.15pm when I left the station. I carried on riding non-stop till I reached Sedili Besar where I took a 5min milo break. Along the way, I had consumed 5 energy gels. The rain was a good and a bad thing in my opinion for the heat was really unbearable. I wouldn't have made it that far if it did not rain as I would have been badly dehydrated and burned by the time I reached Sedili Besar. I rode on and passed Sedili Kechil when I heard someone shout very loudly at me. It was Ben. He was shoeless and resting at a bus stop waiting for the rain to subside. He said I looked terrible riding in the rain. I agree. I had muck, oil, dirt leaves and trash all over me due to the wet riding. We rested till 3.45pm before setting off for Desaru. By that time, the muscle behind my left knee was aching badly because I think my saddle was too high for hill climbing and my left leg is slightly shorter than my right. I ended up losing 50% of my pedaling power for the trip to Desaru. Riding towards Tg. Balau, I achieved my first century along the way. I never felt more satisfied riding along the huge lalang fields and fighting headwind towards Tg. Balau. We had the option of staying at either Tg. Balau or Desaru depending on the rates and quality of the accommodation. We reached Tg. Balau at 6.00pm and checked out the resort there. It cost 2 pax per night

RM160/- Standard Room - no hot water
RM235/- Deluxe Room - hot water

We decided otherwise. We headed out of the resort and made our way to the food centre just outside the resort and had in my opinion the most expensive Nasi Lemak. It cost RM3/- for rice, fried chicken with bones that was half the size of a chicken nugget, a slice of cucumber, a few peanuts, some ikan bilis and a teaspoon of belachan. But anyway, I was so tired that I didn't know what I was eating. I ate and slept on the table while Ben, still full of energy had a second helping of Mee Siam. We rode off at 6.45pm and made our way to Desaru. The first resort we checked out was the Pulai. Price conscious travellers, it cost RM450/- for a standard room. Go check out the resort next to it. It is called the Damai. It only cost RM130/- for a room for 2 that comes with a tub, hot water, air-con, TV and no mozzies. It even has a pool that you can use from 10am to 7pm. Further down is the beach if you wish to take an evening walk with that special someone.

View of Damai resort seaview.

View of the room. 2 Single beds, TV and attached bathroom!

Drying our gloves on the lampshade

Notice that bottle of 100 plus strapped to the rack of my bike, that came from East Coast 7-11 in Singapore. It travelled 176km to end up in the room. We got up the next morning and had breakfast of nasi lemak, fried mee hoon, fried mee and curry puffs before going back to sleep till 11.30am when we started to pack and make our way towards Sebana Cove for our return to Singapore. Along the way, we made a detour to Batu Layar where according to Ben, was an area with petrified wood and a nice beach. True to his word, there was a beautiful beach and petrified rock formations. In the states this would have been considered a national conservation area, but for Malaysia, you know the drill...

Guess what made this print?

And what made this?


Hermit crabs the size of huge garden snails made this hole.


Unique looking drift wood. Looks like a reindeer.


This is something for touring . Get a bike stand. It helps a lot and the weight is seriously negligible. Rather than rest your bike all over the place. It helps if your bike can stand.


Ben looks happy. I wonder why??? Maybe the thought of doing Mersing next made him woozy..

Batu Layar rock face.

Behind the rock face. Kena bluffed...

There is also the local mafia who you should be "afraid" of....
Peaking rock that reaches for the sky.


Fishermen fishing on the rocks.


Washed up trash and clothes on the shore.

Love declarations on a could be national conservation.


Final Stretch before Sebana Cove


The Gunung I passed yesterday.


Downhill ahead.... yeah!!


Pitcher plant the size of 500ml pet bottles.


They come in pairs too... :)


The blazing sun above my head.


The climb behind us.


All lined up.



My steed and gear. Total weight; bike 18kg. Bag 7kg.


Friendly mudskipper along the shores of Sebana Cove.


Our transport back to sunny island; Singapore.


The divider from the ferry terminal and the marina.


View of the marina in the overcast sky.


Marina house.


Caucasian couple and their yatch.


Nice Blue..


Another view of the marina.


Power turbines for boats.


This security guard is like Hudini. He was the one who led us to customs, opened the gate at the entrance of Sebana Cove, check boats, leads us back to customs, and also collects the boarding passes from us as we leave. He's a ghost!!!


View of the ramp to the marina.


Clubhouse view.


RM8/- Ice Kachang that looks so nice but does not taste good at all. It's mostly ice. Nothing much for the filling and taste. Lack of syrup and ingredients make it less than satisfying after a long hard ride. What a disappointment.

My Ice-Kachang monster about to eat Ben's Ice-Kachang.
Muah hahah......


The trophy bike on a podium! What better way to honour the bike that made its way through those hills and weather... :p

Upon reaching Singapore, we headed to Vicky's place as Ben needed to pick up something. We headed for beef noodles and then to Ambrosia for supper before heading back home. What a ride. Up next, Mersing!!!!


Ride Details

Cyclocomputer:
Distance : 254.41
Time : 12hrs 29min
Avg Spd : 20.7
Max : 50.6

GPS(includes ferry calculations):
Distance : 322km
Moving Time: 14hrs 44min
Moving Avg: 21.9km/h
Max : 50.8