Day 2 - Mallaca to Klang (235.77km)

Day 2 - 3rd July 2008

235.77km

An epic day... started the ride with a slight drizzle in the early morning. Riding alone, you have to keep yourself mentally strong and keep your focus. A little bit of rain should not deter you from reaching your goals.

Melaka Raya lies along Highway 5. This Highway will lead me all the way to the next destination which is Klang. One reason why I chose to ride Highway 5 was because I wanted to visit the beaches on Port Dickson.

As the ride towards Klang progressed, the clouds opened up and it started to pour. It was one of the worst rain storms I had ever ridden. It was not only cold by being battered by the winds but the cross winds were making it very difficult for me to handle my bicycle. As my rear is loaded and front is light, there were several times when a cross wind would throw my front wheel out of track forcing me to compensate my steering. The rain lasted from the late morning to afternoon.

The weather was not the only problem in this leg. There was a certain section of road in Highway 5 which was under construction. The road was not clearly marked and I simply followed the lead of the motor vehicles in front of me. Along this stretch, I hit a bad stretch of road which was yet to be tarred. For about 5 minutes, I was riding on an uncompleted road and there was tar or some other material being sprayed on my bike, shoes and legs. I did not attempt to wash off the accumulated dirt from my bike immediately and it would cost me later in the evening.

As I arrived at Port Dickson, I felt a sense of relief. Although it was not the view I was looking for. The rain masking the view in front of me and roads streaming with rainwater, the route brought back memories of a charity bicycle ride for AFA (Action For Aids) I did 10 years ago in the opposite direction. I passed the hotel I stayed in 10 years ago. Guoman Port Dickson.

In Port Dickson, I had to get my bearings right. Fortunately, in Malaysia, road signs are in roman characters and they can easily guide you to your destination. In this instance, there are no signs pointing to Klang. Instead there are signs pointing to Seremban or Sepang. I checked my map and decided to go to Sepang which would bring me closer to my destination.

Riding towards Klang was not easy, lots of vehicular traffic and lots of dogs. Had a minor encounter with a dog but fortunately, I was still able to ride fast enough to get away.

I finally reached Klang at approximately 7pm. Prior to this trip, I had researched about Klang via the internet and the local library. One issue I was facing was the availability of hotels or a place to stay. I was very afraid of getting stranded without shelter or sleep.

As the main town seemed to be "under construction" with lots of road works going around, I decided to try my luck further up highway 5 to see if there was any accomodation. "Luck was on my side" when I spotted Comfort Hotel up the road. I headed towards the hotel and I was pleased to know that there would be a room available for me. But I was not allowed to keep my bicycle in the room. I checked if I could put the bicycle in the area behind the counter but was also turned away. I was extremely dissapointed. I had ridden over 200km and was just looking for a decent place to sleep and recover and I was not getting any assurance for the safety of myself or my belongings. I left the premises and had no choice but to backtrack back to Klang and look for accomodation there.

I checked the locals if there was any hotels in the area. Finally at a petrol station, the pump attendent pointed me to the rear of the station where I could find accomodation. The "hotel" was more of a "motel" for short term guests (an hour). I had no choice but to seek shelter there. The owner was kind enough to allow me to bring the bike to the room. It was RM$40 for a night and the place had shared bathrooms and toilets.

I did not have a comfortable sleep at night. But I had the opportunity to get my bike cleaned of most of the tar which had gathered and stuck to my frame and components like glue.

The next day, I promptly checked out at around 5am to get to Teluk Intan.