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After a couple of day’s rest in the cool of the Highlands, we thought it would be fairly plain sailing down the mountains towards the East Coast of Malaysia. We wanted to cycle south to Singapore by the 22nd of March latest – to stay with friends Dean and Jessica who have a house down there. So it would be a tough week’s non-stop cycling with some large distances every day – but one consolation was that it was ‘flat’ coastline and nice quiet roads. Quite doable?! It was really – if only it wasn’t for a few minor mishaps we suffered along the way… though Sedef bore the brunt of them!
First of all the expected nice 60km downhill from the top of the mountain to the nearest town on the east side (Gua Musang – 120km away) was rather short lived. The road went down at a very steep 15 degree gradient for about 15km. Soon after the descent turned into large up and down sweeps of about 250m each – we were slowly losing altitude but that was no consolation! We kept preparing ourselves for the final long descent down to the valley… which never came!! And though a nice shiny new road, there were no towns or villages along the way, no shade, nowhere to buy drinks, and hardly any cars to beg for drinks either! Thankfully our early start helped – 12 hours later we drifted into Gua Musang and checked into the first hotel we saw… and collapsed!
The road to the east coast from here was fairly flat with some rolling hills ‘to keep you honest’. It was hard cycling still since we never quite recovered from the arduous ‘descent’ from the mountain – probably the first time you will hear this from a cyclist!!! Sedef had pulled a muscle on her right thigh which continued to give her discomfort. Couple of days later we finally hit the South China Sea, just outside of Kuantan. Hurrah – nice gentle cycling on flat roads for the next few days!
Then disaster struck – cycling out of Kuantan in the morning, Sedef’s gears jammed going over a bridge. She had just enough momentum to make it over the hump of the bridge, and then started rolling down to the bottom of the bridge, intending to check what was wrong once she got to the safety of the lay-by. However a few seconds down the bike lurched to a sudden stop, with what seemed like the rear brakes locking – she was thrown forward but not off the bike (one advantage of being on a recumbent!). She managed to get off safely, and then realised the derailleur (the mechanism that controls the rear gears) was bent obscenely around and stuck in the wheel between the spokes!!! She dragged the bike to the lay-by, and set about radioing Nic for assistance. Alas both our batteries being low she couldn’t contact him. She knew he would soon realise that she wasn’t following and turn back to see if she was OK.
30 minutes later there was still no sign of Nic!! Then a knight in a silver car arrived… in the form of Pang, a road cyclist who had seen Nic earlier and wanted to take a photo. When Sedef informed him that she had her gears messed up, he quickly examined the bike, took stock of the damage, and then called his friend Danny who was another keen cyclist, and owned a bicycle shop in town. Then he drove off to fetch Nic (who was by now 18km ahead, enjoying the flat cycling!). 20 mins later Danny turned up with a shiny new Shimano derailleur, and Nic arrived minutes after. In half an hour the new derailleur was fitted and gears tuned, and we were ready to get back on the road!! Big thank you to Pang and Danny for saving the day!!! If any cyclist passing through Kuantan needs parts or servicing, Danny’s shop is called Kheng Ho Motors (A-81, Jalan Air Putih, Kuantan). Tel: 09-567 9689. Email: dannywjw@yahoo.com. It seems that Kuantan has a very keen cyclist community of about 100+ cyclists!
The coastal road was lovely and scenic, and as promised, flat!! We were cycling hard, covering distances of 90-120km a day, with few breaks and allowing ourselves no distractions other than food and drink and a good night’s sleep in the evening. Alas Sedef continued to suffer more mishaps along the way, relatively minor but irritating nevertheless! Once the road swung away from the coast towards Singapore, there were a few forested hills, and quite a lot of rain for two days. We waited out the rain a few times, to avoid getting soaked. But Sedef got drenched on two occasions when the heavens opened and within seconds the torrential rain came down with the force of a power shower. On both occasions Nic (being faster) had managed to make it to a shelter just in time! Cycling in wet gear was really no fun for her, and combined with the sweating and opened pores she developed a rather embarassing nappy rash! :p Then the next day she was cycling along happily, watching the scenery, and minding her own business, when she collided with a swarm of bees (also probably minding their own business!). Having been fully engulfed for a second or two, she emerged luckily with just the one sting! Phew that was close… Good job she didn’t have her mouth open! :p
Two other things that broke up our cycling this week were bumping into German cyclist Robert, who had cycled down to Singapore from Bangkok with a couple of other German cyclists (on a tandem recumbent, one of whom was blind), and was now on his way back to Bangkok on his own. We had heard about them from various people over the months . It was nice to finally meet one of them in person! We spoke briefly by the roadside and exchanged tips and advice! The other highlight was visiting the Shimano factory briefly just outside of Mersing. Alas all we managed to do was grab a photo outside, as the plant was closed for visitors.
