Discoveries Along the Way While Bike-Packing with Brian

Last weekend Brian and I made an overnight trip to Sekinchan. I had a new Expedition Saddle Pack, courtesy of a generous discount coupon from Apidura. This time, I had a Rapha Explore Bar Bag rather than the Route Werks Handlebar Bag I used on my last multi-day ride with Brian. This unused piece of kit was gifted to me a long time ago. I can fit it on my bar without moving my Garmin mount. The Explore Bar Bag worked well on this ride.

Brian rode to meet me at Syed Bistro, across from where I live, for breakfast. We clipped in and were on our way at 7:25 am.

We rode about 8 km to the Federal Highway and then 22 km to Klang along the motorcycle lane beside the highway. I had plotted a route from the end of the Federal Highway motorcycle lane to Kapar that avoided going through Klang. What I hadn’t realised is Klang is circled by highways.

We turned off the Federal Highway onto the Selat Klang Highway. That road was busy but manageable on our bicycles. 3 km later the route map on my Garmin Edge pointed us toward a toll plaza (Photo A below). The Selat Klang Highway changes into the Shapadu Highway, also known as the New North Klang Straits Bypass at that toll plaza. Bicycles are not allowed on toll roads so we stuck to the left. Which was the direction we needed to go anyway.

500 metres later we came to an overpass that we were supposed to be on. I realised we had to get onto the Shapadu Highway to head left as planned. So we turned around (Photo B below).

We were able to cross the road and hop over the guardrail onto the Shapadu Highway without going through the toll plaza (Photo C below). 300 metres later we exited the highway and were back on course.

That is a confusing web of highways. The road we took by mistake is also part of the Shapadu Highway that bypasses the toll plaza. It looks like the toll plaza is meant to ‘catch’ motorists who want to continue on the Selat Klang Highway as it heads west.

I know not to route that way next time.

That highway mess was 35 km into our ride. By 50 km I was feeling a mess. My triceps and neck ached. I couldn’t get comfortable on my saddle. I thought “I must really be unfit.”

That was the start of frequent stops for me to rest and stretch to try and alleviate the aches. Eight minutes at 57 km. Forty minutes in the Burger King in Jeram at 67 km. Our discovery there was not to stop at that Burger King again.

The manager told us curtly that we could not lean our bikes against our table. “What is the difference between having the bikes against our table and two feet away on the walkway?” I asked.

“Nothing” she replied before turning on her heels and disappearing into the empty restaurant. We got the feeling that we were not welcome there. We won’t be going back.

A Mushroom Swiss burger and some iced lemon tea got me 18 km further down the road before I had to stop again. I rested once more at 93 km because my right knee had started hurting too. I sat down for thirty minutes 3 km later at the Petronas station at Tanjung Karang.

I took a couple of paracetamol tablets during that stop at the petrol station. As I waited for the painkillers to kick in I remembered that I took my prescription blood pressure medication before starting the ride. I check my blood pressure every morning. It is usually in the Normal to High-Normal range. When either my systolic or diastolic pressure creeps into the Grade 1 blood pressure (mild) range I take a telmisartan tablet. That happens about once every ten days.

I have never had a bad reaction to telmisartan. Sitting in the Petronas station I looked up the commonly occurring side effects, which are:

• Fatigue
• Flu-like symptoms like body aches
• Muscle pains
• Back pain

I think I discovered why I felt so awful. The extended physical activity must have triggered the side effects.

The paracetamol helped get me to the 109 km point. That was only 3 km from the hotel but I had to stop for a while.

I chose the Harbour View Hotel because it has a café. Good ratings on booking.com and a reasonable room rate also helped. The hotel is excellent. There is a room behind the 24-hour reception desk where we parked our bicycles. Our room was clean and had comfortable beds. The air-conditioning and television worked. There was hot water and good water pressure in the shower. The windows are double-glazed. There is a hot and cold water dispenser in the hallway.

The café is excellent too. We were in the café right after dropping our stuff off in our room. The menu is extensive. I had two ice-blended mango drinks and seafood fried rice. Brian had black pepper fried rice.

We walked around the block after a shower and a long nap. We didn’t see any interesting restaurants so we returned to the Harbour Café for dinner. I had another ice-blended mango drink and spaghetti carbonara. Brian had a fried chicken chop. That is a bit of his chicken chop on my plate of spaghetti. We had complimentary bowls of mushroom soup and a couple of hot chocolates each to finish our meal.

The double-glazing in our room meant we had a quiet night, despite the proximity to Federal Route 5. We planned to head out at 5:30 am. It was pouring at 5:00 am so we went back to bed. The next thing we knew it was 7:50 am and drizzling.

The hotel café opens at 10:30 am so we wandered outside for breakfast. We both had masala thosai at Restoran Salsabeel.

We pedalled away from the hotel clad in waterproof gear. I had planned to ride through the padi fields that Sekinchan is famous for. The fields are divided into rectangles by narrow roads. As you can see from the photograph at the top of this post and the one below, some are gravel.

We skipped the wet muddy roads through the padi fields and stuck to Federal Route 5 out of Sekinchan. The drizzle lightened and we were getting hot. We were out of our rain gear after fifteen minutes.

I felt much better than the day before. We made our first stop at the FIVE petrol station in Tanjung Karang. I was drinking more than usual, thanks to Brian reminding me to stay hydrated. I had finished one 750 ml bottle in less than 50 minutes. I needed a refill and a restroom.

Our next stop was at a sundry shop in a converted house in Taman Permai. We were 50 km into the ride and had stopped to stretch our legs. There were no mini-markets or small restaurants that we could see. We asked a woman who was walking past and she pointed across the road. We didn’t see the shop until a young girl directed us down a side street.

The shop was like Aladdin’s cave. Hidden away and full of all sorts. We bought water, chocolate milk and three types of nuts.

We left Taman Permai and turned right onto Jalan Bukit Kerayong. There was very little traffic and the road surface was smooth, albeit wet in places. That changed 4 km later after we passed the Worldwide Landfills Jeram site. Worldwide Landfills is a waste management company. The road ahead was a steady stream of dump trucks heading towards and leaving the site.

We turned a corner and the road changed abruptly from tarmac to mud. The road was being upgraded from two to four lanes. A 3 km stretch had been dug up and was being relaid. We were lucky there was a 1 km length of fresh tarmac that had not been opened to traffic yet. Although that just meant 2 km of muddy road instead of 3 km of muddy road. This photo is of the less sloppy last 500 metres we traversed. The worst was around the corner ahead of the trucks in the distance.

There was a lot of sand and mud on our bikes, legs and saddle packs.

We stopped for lunch at Nasi Kukus Sotong Besar on the north side of Klang because there were a lot of people there. We could have done better. The food was so-so. Brian fed most of his fried chicken to a stray dog. I didn’t finish my nasi lemak.

Our ride from our lunch stop to the Federal Highway was much less fraught than the ride in the opposite direction the day before. I plotted a slightly different return route through Klang. There was no toll plaza to avoid this time. We were on the Selat Klang Highway for about 2 km but that section was benign compared to what we rode the day before.

Our lunch was at 75 km. We had to stop at 87.5 km to hop over the guardrail back onto the motorcycle lane after riding 1.5 km on the Federal Highway. The motorcycle lane is closed where the UiTM Shah Alam LRT 3 station is being built. We stopped for a selfie after 97.5 km.

Brian exited the motorcycle lane 1 km later to head home. I had 14 km to go. I had to walk my bicycle at Dataran Merdeka. The 300-metre stretch in front of the Sultan Abdul Samad building was closed for the Malaysia Auto Fest 2024.

3 km later I was home and feeling good. I had to make six rest stops in the last 50 km to Sekinchan. I needed just one stop for lunch and to rest my feet in 63 km on the return ride. There were no hints of, let alone actual cramps in my upper thigh adductor muscles. Unlike during and after long rides in the past. No doubt better hydration helped. Thank you Brian for reminding me to drink regularly.

The big discoveries of the trip for me are:

1. Not to take telmisartan before a long ride, and
2. The Harbour View Hotel

A long late afternoon nap and a rainy morning meant we didn’t ride to Sekinchan beach or through the padi fields. If we do return to Sekinchan we will probably stay at the Harbour View Hotel again. There are things on the café menu I want to try!

P.S. If you want to stay at the Harbour View Hotel, call and book directly with the hotel. You will get a better room rate than is offered online.