Round Island, again

The cockerel crowed at a time where most people would be sleeping, enjoying the cool air. Unless the airconditioning is on, then they are not so lucky to feel the breeze. At 5am, a cockerel crowed? So early? It was the alarm from my mobile that woke me up. I was really looking forward to this trip again. Despite having a nagging pain on my right meniscus, I would still take the challenge to fight the phobia of falling from my bicycle.

Three months ago, I was riding the Round Island chapter of the Ride With CM campaign. Sub 5hrs should not be a problem. Sunday Oct 25, 2009 was an uneventful day for me as I skidded and slided about 10metres on the tarmac. I was about 1.6km away from the fruit farm when I had to negotiate a big right corner. My rear tyre gave way as it could not find any grip. I suffered lacerations on my left palm, the size of a 50sen coin and abrassions on my right palm, right and left knees. Three of them the size of 20sen coin. A check up later with the Orthopaedic Surgeon showed that I must have torned my right knee's meniscus during the fall and had to attend physiotherapy.

Having read the upcoming events posted by Stingray, I took the opportunity to ride again. The morning air was the breakfast for my brain and body. The cooling fresh air caressed my warm skin and cooled down my lungs as I started my journey to Union High School where Susumu San, Raymond aka Stingray, Matthew and Daniel were waiting for me. The blinking of their Cateyes and the rear lights from their MTBs marked their waiting point. We started our journey at 6:20am, 5 minutes late from the agreed time. All because of me! No excuse but it was a last minute thingy when my dad, who has stroke, asked me to clean him up before I leave the house. I definitely, without hesitation, obliged.

Journey was smooth as I quickly got to know our Tokyo friend, Susumu San, who is a MM2H retiree. And so I did also for the rest. We were riding an average speed of  24km/h. We arrived at 7:20am and stopped a jiffy. It was a good ride to Tk Bahang coffee shop to meet Tony and his wife but they had not arrived. We decided to move on. Perhaps we could meet them halfway, suggested Ray.

Arghh...! The arduous climb to the dam was the one thing I hated most. For Daniel it seemed like his cup of tea as he zipped passed me on his white "Mustang" with ease and no sign of gasping, panting and choking! Susumu San told me minutes earlier that he loved the hills and was also seeing him passing by me. The 63 year old retiree had no problem with hills from now until later. Seemed like his passion after all. Matt and Ray were talking out loud while climbing. Minutes later, we were all at the top and rested longer for the next climb. Chatting, obviously, began for the next 15 minutes while taking in liquids.

Arghh...! For the second time. This time I was speechless while I could hear Matt, Ray, Daniel and Susumu San chatting while climbing towards Balik Pulau. Huffing and puffing I went on while my silence spoke for itself about my fitness. I felt the strain on my knee and decided to go easy. I was very determined to complete the trip without injuries this time. Ray was very encouraging as he guided me how far more to go to the top. 800m after Fruit Farm was the peak and it would be all the way downhill. I was mostly looking at my front wheel and was on 3rd gear out of 27. There was a sigh of relief from a worned out me when I finally made it through. The thought of Tony bringing us to eat Hokkien Mee in Pantai Acheh spurred me on and forgot all the pain and fatigue. It was very motivating... Hokkien Mee with Kopi "O" kau! Ray gave me a tip to ride safely on the road, not too near to the left of the road. The centre of the road was okay provided there was no oncoming car from a distance.

Ray called Tony at Titi Kerawang but he didn't answer. "Maybe he overslept. Good time to sleep ma?" he joked!

I was asked to lead the "peloton" to Pantai Acheh for Hokkien Mee. Seconds later, I saw a forlorn figure from far, struggling to climb the hill. It was him. Long lived Tony, just talking about him and he appeared. He was sure glad to see us. Making a U-y, he took the lead. That time if there were any ladies around, the 6 men would not be interested as the tummies were calling for "Hokkien Mee, Hokkien Mee...! I want my Hokkien Mee!"

There was a loud snap from Ray's two-wheeler. A metal piece connected the deraileur to the chassis broke. Next thought running in Ray's mind, "There goes... the food and the fun" We were quick to joke that Ray had too much torque in his legs until the metal broke. Tony suggested we have breakfast nearby, equally as good as Acheh. We rested our butts down and started our orders. Susumu San enjoyed the dish very much till he dried up the bowl. Everyone enjoyed the Hokkien Mee, including me. It went perfectly well for me when I downed it with kopi "O" kau.

"We shall return to Acheh to have our Hokkien Mee there." We bid farewell to Ray and Tony and will be meeting up again for another round island adventure. Tony stayed behind and helped Ray to go back by calling his wife for assistance. The rest of us continued our adventure and roamed around Pantai Acheh. The fishing village was a great change, probably after the 2004 tsunami. It was so different 25 years ago when I visited a friend to eat Hokkien Mee there. We rode up to the jetty and had a view of the estuary and made plans to go to Pulau Betong.

I led the three of them to the wrong route and ended at Kuala Sungai Pinang where Susumu San told me he loved the smell of the sea when he was in Japan. So he had the aroma of the sea filling up his lungs and loved the place.

Not wasting too much time, we asked for directions on how to go to Pulau Betong. As we went along a stretch of road, Daniel decided to confirm with a coffee shop Pakcik and told him the junction was not far away. Imagine 3 Penangites got lost in their own state? A great help arrived. It was Tony again, our saviour. We followed him and reached a junction. We continued our journey and Tony decided to go home. It was a great ride even though my meniscus started giving me nagging pains along the way. A stop by at the Kem Bina Negara was a consolation for my two feet. We refilled our water bottles and eased ourselves before going home.

Daniel gave us two options to go back. Take a route across a hill towards Gertak Sanggul or use the usual road to Bayan Lepas. We decided the latter and rode slowly back. Susumu San was so gracious to give me a menthol rub for my knee to soothe the pain. True enough, it lasted but for a short 20min. I started to push my bike when I could not stand the pain when tackling the uphill towards Tk Kumbar. But I was still very determined to continue to escape from the noon heat. The clouds were kind to us as they gave us a blanket of cover from the searing sun rays.

Finally it was downhill to Tk Kumbar. But I had another stop a kilometre away from the Batu Maung traffic lights. We regrouped near the junction and shook hands to bid each other farewell. Daniel and Matthew were game for tomorrow's itinerary, the 1,200 steps climb (Cheng Jee Chan). 2km later, I had a 15 minute break to make some calls while sipping teh ais at a warung. It was 12:15pm and the heat was building up. I told myself I had to finish it not matter how hot it was going to be.

I reached home at 1:05pm, feeling very beat, smelly and hot but very well achieved. I finally broke the phobia of riding and falling off from my bike. It was my first long ride of 6 hours and 50 minutes, roughly 80km. I patted my own shoulder and told myself, well done!

Ouch...! Cramps... and a nice tan!