Day 2: Mersing to Rompin (62km)

Today, we slept in till almost 10am before we finally dragged ourselves off the bed. I guess all of us haven't really been training much for this trip, so the sudden increase in riding distance took its toll on our bodies.

The first order of the day was for us to find a bike shop that could replace my rear hub. The first shop we went to was a rather small old-fashioned bicycle shop. The owner was really friendly and tried to help, but he didn't carry any suitable hubs that could be used on my rear wheel.

Nevertheless, he was kind enough to point us in the direction of another shop which he said probably could help me in replacing my hub.

On our way there, we passed by a breakfast stall, so we stopped for some delicious kaya toast, eggs and teh bing~

Deming and the dark soy sauce that he insisted on putting on his eggs

About 100m away from the breakfast stall, we found the shop that the previous shop owner told us about. It was called J.R. Rider and seemed very promising as we saw it stocked quite a few famous international brands.

Going in, I was lucky enough that the shopowner just happened to have 1 last piece for a Shimano Deore rear hub that I could use. Furthermore, inclusive of labour to change the hub, it only cost RM50! Back here in Singapore, a similar part with the labour would probably cost me S$75.

I was more than happy to let him change it for me and we sat around for an hour or so while he expertly unthreaded my wheel, put in the new hub and re-built the entire wheel.

J.R. Riders - My lifesaver~

My rear wheel in the process of being re-built

My brand new RM50 Shimano Deore rear hub

By the time we got the hub changed and were ready to set off for our short ride to Rompin, it was already 3pm and the sky was starting to get cloudy. Still, we had to make it to Rompin one way or another so we set off at a brisk pace of around 25km/h. Taking advantage of the cool weather, we rode at a constant speed and managed to cover half the distance to Rompin before we stopped to take a break.

Ominous grey rain clouds ahead

Getting on our rain gear

We put on our rain jackets and pretty soon, it was pouring! Well, according to Deming, it was at least much better than cycling in the scorching afternoon sun. Anyway, after about 30 mins or so of riding in the rain, the rain stopped abruptly and the sky cleared.

Just 30 minutes later

The rest of the way into the sleepy town of Rompin was an easy flat and uneventful ride. We made it to Rompin by about 5pm and promptly checked into our favourite Hotel Sri Rompin.

Easy ride to Rompin

No kick!

Pre-dinner snack of Ramlee Burger

As per Mr. Chung's Request

Happy with the short and painless ride

Yeah~

Entering Rompin town

Hotel Sri Rompin

What's up, Shohei??

As usual, we had a sumptuous dinner with quite a few dishes and fried rice. Sometimes, I wonder whether we will gain weight on these trips as we seem to be consuming much more calories than what we burn!

Bo Chun! (Wiped out!)

After a hearty dinner, we went back to our hotel room and spent some time studying our route for the next few days. Previously in 2007, we had taken a wrong turn somewhere along our way to Kuala Besut, so this time, we wanted to make very sure that such a mistake would not happen again!

Studying our map of Malaysia

Our laundry area