Gunung Pulai at 654m

My mobile phone alarm jolted me awake at 3.50am and I grabbed a light breakfast before setting off at around 4.20am. By 5am, I had already crossed over to JB (the female officers at the Singapore Customs were rather amused at a solo cyclist exiting the country at such an earthly hour) and started the 45km ride to Pekan Nanas.

I reached Pekan Nanas exactly 1.5hrs later, an average speed of 30km/h over the rolling terrain. Don't ask me how I went that fast when I encountered almost complete darkness after Pulai! My S-Sun illuminated the ground a couple of metres ahead but I couldn't even differentiate a hole from puddles of water. I could barely see the white line marking the side of the road and each time a vehicle passed, its lights illuminated the road ahead like a thunderflash and I took the opportunity to "re-orientate" myself. I ended up "imagining" where the white line lay and just blasted forward. I knew I teetered on the edge of the road a couple of times but pushed the thoughts away from my mind!

Taken in "bright" Singapore (left) and a moment before I fell (right)

It was depressing enough riding alone in the dark and the spray from my tyres irritated me further. I was glad when I spotted a fellow cyclist ahead. As I pulled up right behind him, I saw that he was wearing a Team Discovery jersey and riding a MTB. I overtook the rider and greeted him. He was an elderly Malay man and he returned my greetings before bombarding me with a whole string of sentences which I could barely understand. I told him my destination but he continued to blabber. I think he was complaining about the unforgiving terrain. As I sped into the darkness, I think he made a turn into a side road.

Again, I must add that Malaysian drivers are often more courteous than their Singaporean counterparts. A motorist passing in the opposite direction switched to low beam, afraid that he might blind us. What consideration for other users of the road.

Upon reaching Pekan Nanas, I proceeded to look for the "Nanas Besar". I couldn't find it and had to ask a kind woman who directed me to the Public Bank. I remembered passing it earlier and headed back. There it was, the "Nanas Besar", right in front of the bank and the junction to Jalan Sawat. I saw the bank but missed the icon. I had to be blind.

I had my second breakfast at a Chinese coffeshop. The wanton mee (RM3) was delicious, though the serving of noodles was a little small. Perfect for breakfast =) I had milk tea (RM1) to go with the noodles. Around 7.15am, I cycled to "Nanas Besar" and smileride spotted me from across the road.

There was a faint drizzle and threatening clouds were looming ahead but we decided to carry on. The distance to the foot of Gunung Pulai was about 15km. I had my first ever fall on the road when I failed to unclip in time. Anyway, we continued to the gate which was locked and entered via a hole at the side.

As we cycled up, we met 2 groups of hikers who had probably completed their morning routine and were on the way down. They were quite surprised to see us. The gradient increased rather rapidly. To make our climb more challenging, the road was still wet and covered with moss. There were also metal grilles with large spacings at several intervals. As my tyres rolled over them, I could feel a sudden loss of traction.

Towards the last couple of km to the peak (total 6km from the foot), the gradient became incredibly steep. In fact, it was mostly steeper than what we faced on Genting, except that Genting was much longer in distance and way higher in elevation. On Gunung Pulai, my knobblies were already slipping at the steepest sections and the bumpy, narrow roads did not make the task any simpler. I was on the lightest gear for most of the time towards the end and had to stand up and power through several tight turns/sections. My front wheel threatened to lift while the rear wheel lost traction. I had a hell of a time trying to strike a balance!

The peak of the mountain housed huge transmitting/receiving stations of major television and radio networks. There was also an army camp at the top and we were fortunate to witness the power of a Land Rover Defender, as well as the Malaysian Army's truck (similar to our 5-tonner). The soldiers were friendly and acknowledged our presence =)

On the way down, smileride was unfortunate enough to lose control on a steep section. He fell down and rolled. His shirt was torn at the back but fortunately, his injuries were light. Thank God. The impact probably broke a spoke of his rear wheel, which explained why the wheel became untrue, and which I noticed on the way back to Pekan Nanas.

What is a trip to a waterfall if it does not involve some bashing? I discovered the way down to the rocks and although steep, there was a rope! Haha =) In the end, I went down to capture some pictures. Full gear and all. I must have looked weird "abseiling" with my helmet on. But at least it made bashing easier. The civilians playing at the waterfall turned in my direction when I emerged from the trees, probably surprised at both my presence and my attire. I grinned, waved and started taking pictures. I decided to bash up the slope, following in the footsteps of two Malaysian Army lance-corporals whom I had seen earlier. I have to give it to them man... They are the masters =)

I yearned for lunch, so for the 15km back to Pekan Nanas, I was literally drafting smileride. We dropped by at a bike shop for a check on his rear wheel and I took a look at the bikes on sale. Surprisingly, they carried several good bikes ranging from Raleigh models to a Look MTB with full Deore groupset (RM2800). The uncle changed a spoke for smileride and it cost only RM1.50! What a vast difference from Singapore prices.

We had lunch at a hawker centre (sort-of). The iced coconut drinks cost RM1 per mug and smileride ordered two for me! I was bloated man. I ate mixed vegetable rice (RM3.20) and it was a good form of carbo-load. A funny incident happened when I visited the loo. There were two arrows ("lelaki" and "perempuan") and at that instant, I didn't know which one to go to. I hung around a bit before a Malay girl from a nearby stall realised my dilemma and pointed the correct way. She was very amused at my ignorance!

We started our journey home at slightly past 2pm, with me taking the lead. I enjoyed the ride back as the weather was somewhat cool and the pace was leisure. Traffic was a lot heavier when we hit Lebuhraya Skudai but we managed to get along fine. And as always, I felt comforted when we got closer to the customs. It was a huge relief to pass ICA at Woodlands. We rode on to Sembawang where smileride had to contend with the rolling terrain of Sembawang Road and Upper Thomson Road (nothing compared to Malaysia of course!) while I cranked home =)

Total distance: 152km (LSH)
Money spent: RM9
Participants: LSH, smileride