Sabak Bernam - Part 4

Completing the journey...

Our alarm clocks were set for 06:00am.
From the previous night, it was roughly about five hour's snooze.
Over the months of inactivity, overeating and boozing, I've put on a lot of weight.
This is apparent when my legs hurt like hell after six hours of cycling on the trail..
When we woke up, the first thing that came into mind, was to pack up and fill up our water bottles so that we can hydrate along the way.
Lucky for us, we don't need to purchase bottled water as the guest house offers drinking water at no cost.
The plan was to meet at the entrance at 07:00am and head out for breakfast at a coffeeshop near the guest house.
We did just that and also packed our lunch for the journey.

The early morning breakfast...

Raman helping out Walter with the flat tire

Our packs were left behind at the guest house so that we could pick them up and leave.
Just as we were about to do that, Walter had a flat tire.
To make things worse, he punctured a new spare tube with a screwdriver he had used to pry open the tire.
So, that said, the ride back to Sabak Bernam experienced a slight delay.
After the tire was fixed, we were well on our way.
Traditionally-speaking, the journey back is always faster in many sense.
With the early morning advantage, we made our way to Kg Banja and towards the Mah Estate to connect with Sabak Bernam.

Oh, the heat! Walter and Patric riding on the trail

No pain, no glory!

Greeting us ahead, was the long and dreadful gravel road.
This is roughly about 15 - 20km in distance.
Our bikes were equipped to whack through the rough and rugged terrain.
The front and rear suspension did took away the hard knocks and bumps.
By the time we cleared the first log bridge, we were doing really good time. And on the average, our moving speed was 15km/h.
This meant that most of us were cycling like bats out of hell! 

Taking a break along the trail..

Crossing a sandbag dam over a peat water canal

Our target destination was a small village at the end of the vast oil palm estate.
On Sundays, the plantation is literally deserted.
Not a single soul on sight.
We covered as much ground as we could and found the last stretch that came in sight: a boom gate at the end of the miniature locomotive rail.
Beyond this was a paved road and the last few kilometres to Sabak Bernam.
After clearing the estate and village, we found a small stall by the roadside and feasted on a bottle of chilled air nira (palm nectar).
I never had these before and it tasted rather interesting.
The nira is said to have cooling qualities for the body.

Moving closer to Sabak Bernam

Riding along Federal Road 5 - Teluk Intan - Klang

Palm nectar

A welcoming sight...

We rode closer to Sabak Bernam and reached the carpark in front of Hotel Sri Bernam at 12:30pm.
Compared to the day earlier, we did good time.
Michelle wasted no time in packing the bikes and I went on to the hotel to get a room for day use.
We cleaned up nicely and went to Sabak Bernam town for lunch.
Wey, Ming, Roger and Jacky joined us while the rest headed back to the Klang Valley.
After a good lunch, Michelle and I headed home.

Packing the bikes for transport..

Summary

We had a great time and the company was excellent! 
Siang, as usual, did a good job with the route planning.
With the ride, we've joined the dots between Rawang and Teluk Intan.