Tour de Mersing

I saw Spiffy Sharon's post on the Joyriders website a few weeks ago about an upcoming Mersing ride that she was organising. Checked my calendar, and saw that the date was just after my exams. Perfect.

And so last week, I rode 180km up to Mersing with 6 other equally mentally deranged people: Erickong, Bernard, Spiffy Sharon, Big Mouth Francis, Vinokourov Vinod and Winston.

van all loaded and ready to roll!

Mersinging in the Rain

Met up at 6am at Bernard's place and loaded up our bikes onto Colin's van (Colin was our support driver). Colin first drove us up to JB for breakfast (the most yummylicious dimsum I have ever eaten; much better than Crystal Jade!), then we headed to The Pulai Desaru, where our ride was to begin from.

Got to Desaru, prepped ourselves and our bikes, then we headed out in somewhat gloomy weather. The first 35km to the first resupp point was pretty frisky, with Bernard, Francis and me taking turns to warm up our legs. The day was still young, and all of us were raring to go.

group photo at the start

warming up at the beginning

At the resupp point, the weather took a turn for the worse and it started raining. I learnt from my previous mistake at Desaru two weeks ago and put on my arm warmers. In spite of the weather, the pace was much faster, with me and Bernard pulling the peloton along alternatively. Other than a near-miss collision with a cow which ran onto the road because it got scared by incoming traffic, this stage of the ride was pretty uneventful and we reached our lunch stop within the hour.

ninja van!

Lunch was Eric's favorite nasi ayam. Silly me decided to limit myself to half a bowl of rice, and I eventually had to pay for this lack of nutrition later in the ride.

lunch pic - ayam eaten and nasi devoured

Merciless Mersing Mountainous Madness

Bernard, the veteran Merman, had warned earlier that the roads would get alot more rolling after our lunch point. And boy he wasn't joking! We departed from the kedai nasi ayam, only to be confronted by this:

killer Sedili Kechil bridge

And so began the real Mersing ride. Up-down-up-down-up-up-down-up-down or so multiplied by about a hundred times! We even took a detour into the even more hilly Tanjong Leman, as Eric said that no one could consider themselves a Merman or a Mermaid unless they had completed the Tour de Leman! Damnit.. So I hauled my ass into Leman when I should have gone straight up North towards Mersing.

Up till now the ride was going smashingly well for me. My legs felt great, rolling hills is my kind of terrain, and the weather was air-con perfect; and so I decided to push the pace a little faster. Which was a big mistake.

I was leading all the way until we came out of Leman. Somewhere along Highway 3 to Mersing Bernard passed me, and naturally I tried to follow. Somehow I think I didn't get enough food into my system at lunch and totally forgot that I had not done any century long rides for a long time; plus I forgot how strong/deranged Bernard is and I pushed a little too hard too soon. Not surprisingly, I started to feel the all-so-familiar sensation of bonking. Tried to rectify things by taking my one and only sachet of powergel, but I guess it was too late: I only made it to the next resupp point before dying. Not to mention the nigging cramp in my left lower back which prevented me from going aero. Really, the 30 or so kilometres to Mersing town from that point on was pure determination and hard-headedness.

Finally reached our team hotel, the Timotel Mersing at about 1700 hrs. It had been raining the whole day and we arrived all soaking wet and shivering. Not to mention hungry.. =D

So after we checked in and washed up, we went for a huge dinner at one of the seafood restaurants. But I was still famished after dinner, so for good measure, I had another Ramly burger (with specially buttered buns courtesy of Eric) and some more beer. Coincidentally the AFC semi-finals between Japan and Korea was on that night so I stayed up to watch tv while the rest died soon after dinner.

one of the numerous hills at Leman

photowhoring

sumptuous dinner - my glee is evident

Endau-Rompin

Next day we proceeded up to Rompin. The plan was to do a 120km out-and-back loop from Mersing to Rompin, instead of riding all the way back to Desaru, which I am sure, would have made for an utterly boring ride as we had just did the same route the day before. However it was much more sunny, and it did somewhat lift our spirits. Due to fatigue from the previous day's exertion, we started out more cautiously. At the same time, nobody wanted to be blamed for "stirring shit" by upping the pace. Haha. =D

But unfortunately, the breakaway DID happen. I profess to be one of the instigators, but only because I was terrified of Francis' rendition of Britney Spear's Hit Me Baby One More Time! =D

Unfortunately, I only lasted till the lunch point, which was more or less the same as the day before. Somehow along the way Francis (ex-almost-filipino national team rider) caught up with me, and we worked together to get to KFC Rompin (lunch stop). It was a nice ride consisting 30km of rolling hills from Mersing to Endau, and 30km of totally flat and boring land from Endau to Rompin. Nevertheless, I was dying once again when we got to the lunch point. When the rest finally regrouped, I wasted no time in getting us lunch: Which for me was a KFC 2 piece chicken meal and a plate of fried rice. =)

trying to set the pace again on the 2nd day

francis and me looking mightily pleased with ourselves at Rompin

while francis and me were away buying KFC..

yes, i was that ravenous

After lunch, it was a technical ride back. Firstly because of my slight indigestion, secondly due to my oh-so-aching back, and lastly due to the weather, which had once again turned bad. Headwind was particularly bad at the flat stretch from Rompin to Endau this time, and we were reduced to crawling at about 28kph.

Nevertheless, we managed to reach back Mersing town on time. =) All in all, I must say that it was a most enjoyable and incident-free ride, except for some "monkey business" thanks to Colin. Washed up, loaded our bikes up, and began our drive back to Singapore.

6 Mermen and a Mermaid

Hmm.. 2D1N with 6 of the most fun and crazy triathletes/cyclists, riding all the way 180km up North in inclement weather and super-rolling terrain. Difficult? Yeah. Mad? Yeah. Would I do it again? HELL YEAH!!! =D In fact I will be headed to Bintan this coming National Day holiday for yet another bike tour cum training for my upcoming Desaru Half Ironman.

Anyway, would just like to say a word of thanks to the 5 other mermen and the only mermaid in the group for making it all possible. I really enjoyed myself immensely! Already looking forward to the next trip. =)

Conclusion: Cost of safety van and hotel per person - S$100. Cost of food and drinks - S$30. Price of one specially buttered Ramly burger - RM2.50. Experience and friendship forged during the trip? Priceless! =P

goofing off on the way back..

smashing.