Tour de Pendas 79km

Somehow, it turned out not to be so easy to recall what had happened during my ride to Pendas last Saturday morning after being busy with work for three days. Bringing my camera during that ride at least has helped me a little in the effort to share with you all how my ride went on.

OK. Normally I would be doing long ride only once every weekend, either on Saturday or Sunday. NEVER on both days! Somehow, there were a few bunch of people who gave the idea of riding out from JB to Pendas and back, which would cover the distance of around 80km.

“Pendas eh?” Hmm, it’s a new place for me. For sure I won’t miss the chance to cycle to another place which I’ve never been before, not even by car. Knowing that few of them wanted to ride with their MTB, I would guess that this time I could ride slightly slower.

We started off our ride as late early as 7.35am. This time, there were 4 MTB riders and 5 road riders. Weather was fine. Realizing that I will also be doing another long ride the next day, I took this ride easily. A very santai ride.

I rode very santai-ly by just following the MTB riders. Though for them, cycling with average speed of 25~28km/hr were already tough, but with road bike you can pretty easily cruise along with them. The other 4 roadies were already far in front. Speed demons, normal lah.

At one point, we were regrouped with the roadies as one fellow rider had a puncture. Everybody stopped and gave him a helping hand drank water. One guy helped him out with his puncture. I helped a bit to continue pumping air into his replaced tire.

Anybody wants to buy this brand new design of road bike stand? Belom ada dijual kat mana-mana lagi tau, not even at bicyclebuysell.

There were a few rolling hills, one after another. But they were not as tough as the climbs we had to do when going to Tanjung Sedili. Not long after that, we reached Gelang Patah.

Kalau ada gelang yang patah, jangan di buang ke tong sampah,
Kalau nak cari gelang yang patah, pegilah cari kat Gelang Patah… keh keh keh

The journey onwards from Gelang Patah to Pendas brought us to a very peaceful village area. The scenery was wonderful, with fresh morning air serving our lungs.

We then came across an area where we saw lots of cars and motorcycles besides the road. I thought they were going for morning market, but in actual fact there was a school there and they were having kind of sports day. But, somehow I found the name of the school to be kind of weird.

Sekolah Kebangsaan MORNIPOK

Un-invited spectators.

Not so long after passing that school, we at last reached the u-turn point, Pendas. There is a jetty at Pendas, where fishermen would park their boats. We could see Singapore from there too. Before we headed for our breakfast, time for more snappy-snappy.

“Alamak, budak-budak basikal ni dah datang. Kejap lagi mesti diorang nak melantak macam orang tak makan seminggu nih… confirm.”

“Lihatlah gigiku kulit wajahku yang semakin hitam legam berkilat”

”Haa, kan betul. Macam seminggu tak makan roti canai”

I had one roti canai kosong + one roti canai telur SAHAJA.

The journey back was as pleasant as before, except for the heat which started to give us some challenge. I’m not sure whether it was because of them eating too much of roti canai or was it because of the heat, but most of them were cycling slightly slower. Good for me as I need so save up some of my energy for the longer ride the next day.

Riding on the rolling hills in the heat with their MTB proved not to be so easy for some of the guys. One guy got dropped very far, so we all had to stop for a while at a bus stop while waiting for him to arrive. That have always be our practice, to wait for the slow ones to arrive at certain check points, so that we could make sure everybody is safe.

The MTB champion is playing-playing on the off-road while waiting for the rest to arrive.

When the last guy arrived, he said he had a cramp at his right thigh. We let him rest a bit before proceeded our ride home. Not so far, perhaps another 25km to go I would guess. As soon as we arrived at the gathering point (Petronas station), pssstttttt my back tire got punctured.

Aduhai, dah penat-penat kayuh ni la pulak nak kena tukar tayar pancit. (nampak macam real tak gaya lakonan orang tengah pulun pam tayar ni?)

After settling my punctured tire, I headed to a friend’s house where I parked my car. Weather was already scorching hot, and the two guys decided to stop by to refresh ourselves with some fresh cut cold fruits.

“Eh, apesal buah ni makcik tu tak potong lagi? Aku gigit karangggg….”

I then ended my 79km long ride at a friend’s house, followed with a nice cold shower and a wonderful and free lunch. Thanks a lot Kamal!

The route taken.

P/s: Eish, for a 79km ride pun report dah panjang berjela. Lepas ni nak kena karang report untuk ride 131km la pulaaaakkk…. Ya ampuuunnn. …