desaru desaster

On the jio-ing of our dear l'escargot Caroline, decided to venture up again to the land of Truly Asia for a jaunt around its traffic light-less roads. Other that knowing that we were headed towards Sedili Besar, neither Caroline nor me knew anything about the ride.

First shocker of the morning was that we were going up to Desaru by ferry instead of bumboat. Luckily I had decided to bring $30, just enough for ferry fare!

Secondly I found out that there were only 4 of us heading up: l'escargot Caroline, Spiffy Sharon, NTU Bernard, and me. Erickong and friend were sick, so they had to back out at the last minute. Nice, I thought, should be just another Saturday social ride, with hopefully more conversation than cadence.

However as soon as we had checked ourselves into customs, we rounded a bend and then we saw it: The black overcast sky. My morale fell a few notches lower at this sight. Damnit.. I wasn't really prepared to for a wet ride!

Oh well, as predicted, it started pouring real heavily en route to Desaru.

Reached Desaru in a little more than half an hour but we had to postpone our bike out till about 9. Moped around at the ferry terminal and chatted with a fellow biker whom we met on the ferry. He had actually came here alone and had brought along a change of clothes in case he could not make it back in time for the evening bumboat! Really salute that chap.

Rolled out when the rain seemed to be a little lighter. However it was quite chilly and in my skimpy triathlon attire, I was freezing! The others seemed to be alot more prepared, all togged out in their jerseys and arm warmers. =(

Ride was nothing spectacular. We departed from Belungkor instead of the usual bumboat Penggerang, so roads were much quieter and nicer to ride on, save for a short stretch. The road leading to Sedili after Desaru was quite memorable, with burnt grass (?) on both sides of the road and just nature all around. Nice.

Caroline and me decided to truncate the ride, as the dreary weather had dampened our spirits somewhat. Sharon and Bernard decided to stick to their original game plan so they pedaled on into the unknown.

Ride back was as uneventful as our ride there. Save for a little excitement in the form of a new signboard:Caroline, with her longer-than-mine legs and shorter-than-mine shorts, was obviously the ideal criminal for the moral policemen. No wonder she kept getting weird stares all the way from ferry terminal to turnabout point! Anyway, I think that the cops there will flip during the Desaru Half-Ironman later this year! =D Who would possibly do a half Ironman in that "culturally sensitive" garb?

Reached back the ferry terminal in good time, ate some food (non-synthetic), and snoozed all the way back Singapore where Caroline was ever so gracious to offer me a ride home so I did not have to battle with the motorists all the way back. =)

Went home, cleaned, and prepped up the cervélo for the Joyriders' ride the next day, then swung out immediately to collect my new jersey. Grabbed dinner on the way back. Reached home and just hit the internal snooze button. The day had been long enough.

Now you know why I sounded so gutted when you called. That, and more.