Day 4- The Tyre Puncture day....

When we arrive at Teluk intan at around 8am, we actually covered more than half of morning’s journey. For the first time in the trip we are actually ahead of schedule. We are very delighted about it and decided to take a half hour breakfast break. As we were leaving with excitement, I got my first puncture of the day. Same as yesterday, Prem helped me change the inner tube. It was good to go within 20 min. Seems like Prem is getting use to tyre changing process. 

However, we failed to realize that the puncture was actually caused by metal piercing. This leads to second tyre puncture while I was halfway cycling up the bridge near to breakfast area. Once again we have to stop by and fixed the tyre. The excitement went from peak to bottom. What to do? We still have schedule to follow. Everything went well all the way after this. 

Tyre puncture halfway again when climbing the bridge, have to push all the way up....

The bridge is very narrow have to be cautious with the vehicle passing by

Cause of 2nd puncture.....

Have to carry the tyre all the way all the way in case the tyre gone flat again....

We rode pass by Sungai Besar, Sikinchan…… At around 7pm, we are about 10km away from Kuala Selangor. I was a bit hungry but happy as we are near to destination. The spirit was high. 

       Just as I was relieve, tyre puncture for the third time. Come on man! Not again?? How could tyre puncture happen 3 times in a day?? Once again, my heart is like falling from heaven to hell. I have to push to the nearest BHP petrol station to fix the tyre (Special thanks to the BHP staff for giving me a spot to change the tyre). To add complications to the problem, the inner tube I get from a bike shop in Sg. Besar was not suitable. Now I do not have any spare inner tube. I was hungry, tired, disappointed and very demotivated.

I was actually being suggested to consider ending the trip here and take cab home as the next 10km ahead will be extremely dark and dangerous. We are also so close to the destinations and the trip can be considered as done. This rural area bike shop might not have suitable inner tube for my bike. I rejected the idea immediately. First of all I am running on a campaign, I cannot disappoint the donors who have their faith on us. Eventhough people might not find out, even though they might understand, it is still considered as cheating. Worst case I rather stay in the nearby hotel and wait for bike shop to open tomorrow. I might arrived late and miss the lunch organized by NASAM, but I will never quit. I try my luck by calling friend for help. To my surprise, a friend came to help……. 

[Please check back 4th August for "Day 4- Friend Discovery "]  

Day 4 - The longest day.....

I was actually thinking about what should the title for day 4 be like? Should it be the longest day? The puncturing day? The friend discovering day? Or a blessing day? or........? I think i will split the day into 3 parts. As it is indeed very long day. 

 

The longest ride

Due to some changes on itinerary we decided to be back by Saturday, so we decided to ride 150+km today. This is the longest distance that we have ride since we begin the journey. It covers from Setiawan till Kuala Selangor. We decided to still start on 5am even though we failed to start on time ever since the journey begins. After taking the photo, we actually left on 5:15am. I was happy for a while until I realized that there were barely street light along the stretch from Setiawan until Teluk Intan. 

For the past few days, we have been starting kind of late, and the street lamp was functioning well. Because of this I didn’t really check my bike light battery. It was still working but very dim. Road in front is kind of unclear. I was kind of scare, but due to time constrain, we decided to continue the journey. 

Arrive Teluk Intan earlier than planned before the bridge, nice morning view

Playing with different phone camera setting and the view is breath taking...

At Sg. Besar

Sabak Bernam

I really thought that with the early start, we can really finish early as planned. But little did I expect that we would arrived Kuala Selangor after 11pm. The journey actually took around 19 hours. This is all due to tyre punctures…. 

After 19+ hours finally arriving at Kuala Selangor.....

[Please check back tomorrow for "Day 4- The Tyre Puncture Day"] 

 

Day 3- Discovering of my cycling mate- Prem

Since the cycling under hot sun was unbearable, we decided to start at 5am so that we can finish early. I checked out at lobby at 5am. While waiting for Prem I decided to take some photos of the clock tower. 

The clock tower

After the photo session, Prem still did not show up. I decided to take this opportunity to explore Taiping town as I was unable to do so yesterday. It was a simple 4 km+ loop around the town. But I was surprise to find out that the hospital and all the facilities were so close to each other. You can reach these places even by walking. It is quite convenient. Nice town. I was tempted to take photo of a monument in front of market but decided to do it after I finish the loop. This was a wrong choice because later I never manage to do it and time no longer permits. 

Lessons: Whatever you want to do, do it now. Enjoy the moment and don’t wait because when opportunity slipped it might not return anymore.

When I saw Prem back at the hotel I finally realized the cause of delay. His bike tyre punctures. This was our first tyre puncture. We found a petrol station few blocks away and fixed it. After changing the tyre, we decided take a quick breakfast before depart. 

According to the wife, they have been doing business for the past 45 years, the business was pass down by the grandfather from the husband

We end up starting at around 6:30am. After KFC Taiping we actually lost our way for the first time. We went extra ~ 10km. Today’s route is totally different from the past 2 days. It is very hilly and narrow. There were a lot of big lorries that pass by along the way. It is surrounded by mainly palm oil plantations. Residents were staying far away from each other. Petrol stations were like 30-40km apart (thank god, the bike was not powered by petrol. But still, we need petrol stations to replenish the supply). I would recommend cyclist to avoid cycle this stretch during morning or night. It is very dangerous. We overcome the hilly route easily chatting with each other. We basically talk about all things, personal life, house, work…… I guess today the interesting person that I discover is Prem. 

Just buy a rm 3 pear, but auntie help peel the skin and cut into pieces for me. 

Interesting village name....

Somewhere before Setiawan, I had my first puncture too……. We took a lunch break in Setiawan KFC and arrive at Setiawan around 4:30pm .

3 more km

Thought

I heard Sam mentioned before that along the way you will start to appreciate every piece of rice. You will be thankful even though it is just a tiny piece because it is your source of energy. Personally speaking, I don’t really feel that. However, I learn to appreciate fruit stall on road side today. I never really understand why people would like to support this people. It seems very unhygienic. The fruit seem to be overpriced. You can get it from hypermarket at a far cheaper price. But when cycling under hot sun for a few hours, it would be great to have nice cold fruits to kill the thirst and fill the stomach. There is no word to describe the joy at that moment. Personally speaking, if I haven’t go on this trip I would never realized this. Thank god for the blessing.