Hellish Ride to Pekan Nanas

It was already raining when I left home at 4.30am in the morning. Thankfully, it was not pouring and my long-sleeve jersey coupled with a pair of long pants kept me comfortably warm. I elected to use my full-finger gloves on this ride and it warmed things up a little. I was optimistic though, that the weather would clear when we hit Johor. How wrong my judgment turned out to be.

Kah Kiong was already at our meeting point and unfortunately for us, his rear tire went flat right at the Malaysian customs. After clearing the custom booth, we had to change the ruptured inner tube before continuing. A stop at Petronas to pump up his tire pressure proved a waste of time as the pump kiosk was dead – my hand pump was called into action.

The roads were pretty wet but all went well until we hit the area near the roadside cendol stall (Sri Pulai). The skies literally poured upon us and we sought shelter at the stall. The rain would not subside however and we pushed on to Pekan Nanas. In my mind, I was cursing the damn weather – we were cold and the flooded areas proved to be nuisance by jamming up my gears (I had sorted the problem out before the ride but now it was back!). Visibility was definitely very poor and the “wave” of water created by a passing bus smashed into my face, threatening to throw me off my bike. I wonder how much water I drank!

Finally, we pulled into Pekan Nanas and as we stepped into the coffee-shop, all soaked and dripping water, I could feel the many pairs of eyes on us. No doubt, people were wondering where these two cyclists came from and why in hell would people actually cycle in a Category 1 storm. I ignored all the attention. It was a relief to be under shelter. I left the bike partially exposed in the pouring rain. Abuse. =P

We had a good meal consisting chicken rice (RM2.50) and tea (RM1). I went to the nearby “kedai ubat” to get a couple of boxes of Ho Yan Hor, then returned to the relative warmth of the coffee-shop. I was shivering and my teeth were clattering non-stop. It proved difficult to move our butts after awhile but we finally got moving to the bike shop where the uncle said his son’s shop would only open at 10am. We decided to wait.

The weather was finally warming up when the shop opened. We ogled at the bikes, mostly Giant models though there were a few other brands like Wheeler and Raleigh. The prices were just mind boggling on the star bikes (the Trance and Anthem models). Kah Kiong got his inner tubes and after a friendly chat with the owner, we went our way. I am in love with the road from Pekan Nanas to Kulai as it takes us past the foot of Gunung Pulai and a scenic number of pineapple plantations. Traffic was sparse and Kah Kiong was starting to enjoy the ride as well.

I treated myself to the usual nasi lemak and fried chicken (RM2) at Tesco before we made good speed back to Pusat Bandaraya. KFC was in store for us. =) Then came the all too familiar process of clearing the customs. And hearing the agitated honks of Singapore drivers.

Total distance: 120km
Money spent: RM40.50
Participants: LSH, Kah Kiong