Pengarang Weekend Cycling

Pengarang Weekend Cycling Trip, 16 - 17 July 2005
Serene Giam (12th BOATER)

Hitting the road again on a gloomy day, our first overseas trip after 12th BOAT started off at Changi Village, where we rented mountain bikes and helmet from our usual supplier "Mr BIKE". Threats of an imminent rain were a trivial issue to us as we have already gotten used to hostile weather during our adventure course. Venturing in good spirits, we headed for the jetty.

We made a painful decision to leave two of our members in a separate bumboat as each boat could only take 13 passengers. As expected, the bumboat ride was a wobbly one due to the waves caused by the drizzling rain. The whole journey took 15 minutes longer than the original schedule because we had to make a detour due to an on-going land reclamation project. We started taking pictures of one another to past time. The photo of the day was one, which featured three pairs of hairy legs standing on the deck. Till today, I believe the "models" do not know about its existence.

As a safety precaution, we have assigned buddies for those who are weaker in cycling; it was definitely a relief to me. After some warm up exercise, the group rolled off at 11:20am along the small fishing village of Pengarang. The rain had gone. Cool breeze and countryside scenery embraced us as we cycled along a flat, tarred road. This reminds me of a scene taken off from a popular Thailand movie, "My Girl" where a group of teenagers cycled care freely in a quiet country surrounding. Along the way, we "met" our support vehicle, with our backup rider in it.

In the first quarter of the journey, one of our biker’s tyre was punctured by small pebbles. Our "repairman" took out his repair kit and spare tube and he started a repair operation for the bicycle. Soon we continued our journey to Sungai Rengit town. Flashes of kampong and sea view greeted us but nothing can be compared to the friendly waves of the village folks. Perhaps that is the reason why we missed our correct turn and ended up in a dead end, which was quickly rectified.

Being inexperienced, panic finally got to me and upon reaching the busy town; I braked suddenly, nearly crashed into a stationary vehicle and fell. My angels (read: first aiders) came to my rescue. After lunch at a seafood restaurant, we continued with the next quarter of our journey but this time round, the backup rider took my place. The view out of the car window was definitely less satisfying than riding in the open with the nature. How I wished I could be out sweating with the rest when cycling up the slope!

At about 4pm, gentle winds from the sea welcomed us to Tanjong Sepang resort. Some stayed in the resort to rest while most of us continued to cycle along the relaxing and quiet country atmosphere, with tall lalang grasses brushing our legs. The serenity of the sea seemed to be inviting us to have a dip and we gladly accepted. We walked to the "rock island" which was about 50m away from the beach and sat down to feel the sea breeze blowing lightly on our face before we our volleyball competition by the beach.

Perhaps sensing our tiredness, the kind resort owner helped us to set up the BBQ fire. Soon after, we had a table of fish, prawns, hot-dogs, chicken-wings, fried rice and fried bee-hoon for dinner barbequed by our diligent guys. It was a surprise birthday celebration for 2 of our members on the trip, Ridzwan and Joyce. We had secretly bought a cake Kota Tinggi town. Group pictures were taken and memories were kept.

Unlike our usual trekking activities, we skipped the washing up parts as they were taken care by the owners. We enjoyed the luxury of bathing and chit chatting into the night.

The next day at 8 a.m., alarm clock (someone's voice) woke us up for a scrumptious breakfast of mee goreng, nasi lemak, curry puff, milo and kopi. We stayed around to chitchat after breakfast with topics ranging from sharing of cycling expertise e.g. when to change gears to sharing of traveling experience.

With heavy footsteps, we left the resort in the late morning and continued the same way back to Sungai Rengit town. Along the way, the back-up rider was activated again as one of our riders was overcome with tiredness and fatigue.

As the sun began to set, we are back at the Changi Village hawker center for a reward of ice kacang.