Biking in Plentong, Johor Bahru

I rose when the entire house was asleep, and played 'creeping kid' through the halls at the break of dawn - Woke up at 5am this morning for our bike trip to Malaysia, and by the time I got round to Andrew's, I was entirely awake. So we drove to Admiralty to pick up Suandi (the On-One sponsored rider, so we had the same bike), before heading for some brekkie at a kopitiam.

We then met Lynten and about 16 others past the causeway before heading down to the trail head together. I totally surprised myself today, riding through most of the trail with speed, and generally keeping up with the front of the pack. Obviously, baby, Suandi and Lynten were the leaders of the pack, being as swift as they are. But this time, it was a really nice feeling to be one of the middle men, and not be the one who spends most of the time biting dust, and whom everyone waits for.

I think today was one of the most fun rides I had, not only because I didn't feel like I was suffering, but I didn't feel afraid in the least. Was fairly confident the whole time, and perhaps a little too confident. On one of the downhills, I decided to pick a line that went over a bit of a hill when my wheel slipped off it. I didn't fall that badly really, but I think it was a combination of speed and surface... My knee is pretty scrapped up. The first layer of skin completely taken off and left raw. I didn't think anything of it at first. Someone even sprayed some elastic band aid on it to stop the bleeding. Erm, didn't really work (see above).

At another point, I was riding through the single track quite swiftly and my right arm got caught on a vine. So I twang back in a very cartoon-like manner, leaving my arm with a huge red line down it. It doesn't hurt at all, just looks kinda funny. I also got jabbed by thorns, and they hurt like crazy when they were being cleaned coz they might have had a bit of poison in them. Hmmm, so I'm pretty bashed up.

And then there was more pain.

After getting back to Andrew's, we washed the wound with Dettol and sprayed more band aid on it. But we'd realised that the initial layer had trapped all the grit inside the wound, and that it was getting filled with pus and grime. So... we did a painful thing. We dribbled alcohol onto it and rubbed off the elastic band aid. Except this didn't work, and I'd already been crying out in pain. So, I bit my lip, hugged a pillow, and plucked up some courage to peel the horrible thing off with my fingers. I'm not talking about some plaster that you peel off from a wound. I'm talking about a plastic layer of film that got sprayed out a can and has already melded to your wound. It was sooo painful that I don't wanna think about it no more. *turns pale with horror*

It was really funny though - Suandi was dubbed Swamp Thing coz he kept falling into yucky stuff. Early in the ride, he rode in some fresh cow dung and it splattered all over his legs. Later, he slipped and fell hand-first into thick mud. Then later, he fell again. No prizes for guessing who got the mick taken out of him the entire ride through. Speaking of cows, we got chased by a herd early on in the ride - Scary!

I was really amazed. Out of the 19 riders, only the three of us were in our 20s (Swamp Thing, baby and I). Everyone else was either in their late 30s, 40s or even 50s! But their stamina, and their energy! AMAZING. *kowtows*

Bike: 52km