Day 21 Nov 4 Teluk Intan - Pantai Remis Part 2

Distance: 92.33 km
Average while moving: 17.7 km/h
Max speed: 31.9 km/h

I stopped at a coffee shop with about 16 km to go to Pantai Remis. I just needed a last Teh O for the home stretch as it were. The sky ahead looked dark and I meant to get the covers over the bags in case anyway. True enough, as I sat sipping my tea, it stormed. It came down in buckets for quite some time and started to get quite dark.

At this time, I was virtually in the middle of nowhere. A short row of shops and maybe some kampung houses a little bit away from the road. All else around me were just oil palm trees. As the rain continued to beat down, I became concerned I'd have to sleep there in that fly-infested coffee shop. The roads would have been just too dangerous to negotiate in the dark.

When the rain slowed a little I immediately jumped on the bike and raced away in the gathering dusk. As I pedalled furiously, the rain and wind started up again. I began to feel a little cold. Rain drops, splattered on my glasses, made visibility very poor but I could not let up. At one point, I spied a couple of wooden shops under whose roofs a group of motorcyclists had gathered, sheltering from the now incessant rain.

I pulled over to wipe my glasses clear and to put another shirt on over my wet one. I cursed the fact Dri Fit clothes smeared my glasses, but it was still a slight improvement. I headed out again, the second shirt keeping me warm as I pedalled hard. I saw 24, 25 and more on the speedo but I felt strong, the fear of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, so near yet so far from my destination, helping pump my legs hard and fast.

With about 8 km to go, I pulled into a service station for another breather and to attempt to clear my glasses yet again. I felt elated - even after 80 km, I was going faster and for longer than I'd done in some time. By now the sky was a deep grey, most cars had their headlights on and that made things worse. Much worse.

In the rain and through my rain-splattered glasses, the glare from oncoming cars made picking out the road almost impossible. I strained to see the white line and stay just left of it. Black patches meant puddles - I didn't know if they were deep or big. I just kept pedalling, praying I wouldn't be spilt off the edge of the road or a large, sharp pothole.

Some idiots behind me drove with their lights off - I sometimes saw their silhouettes in the glare of following vehicles' headlights. Sometimes not. I couldn't risk looking in the mirror too much. It was pitch black now. My world existed in a small space directly in front of me, my whole concentration set on picking out the line, keeping to the left of it. Just.

I could hardly see by now. Oncoming lights became diffracted across the drops that stuck to my glasses. Still pedalling furiously, driving through the rain in a stream of adrenaline, I sensed rather than saw a few lights on the side, then buildings. More buildings. The road widened and I was in Pantai Remis. The last 15 km done at hardly less than 24 km/h. I was soaked through, could hardly see, but I was safe. And I didn't have to sleep in the company of flies.

In Pantai Remis, I stopped to ask directions 3 times. First from a man in shop who mentioned a hotel down the road, then further 'down the road' from a sweet lady in a Shell station who pointed a little further 'down the road' to where the BHP station was, then finally at the BHP again from a couple of ladies who pointed out the road that led to the hotel Lam Seng - the only hotel of note in town.

The hotel had no lift and I was on the second floor... I chained the bike to a staircase next to the lobby, went up and washed off. I'd never needed a hot shower so much before.
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