Trip to Desaru

Just had one of the best Sundays of my life yesterday. Got chased by a thunderstorm, enjoyed the Desaru Golden Beach breeze and watched the Malaysian Bike Race Series.

I started off the day by meeting the rest of the convoy, Eric, Edwin, Rafie and Yi Yang at Rafie’s place. Edwin was the first to arrive even though he stayed the furthest away, such is Singaporean punctuality. By 8:45am, everyone has arrived. We took a photo and left for the Tuas Second Link. Nothing spectacular during this point of the trip, except during our usual ‘blast’ down the Second Link bridge, Edwin’s CB400 was coughing out carbon. Eric’s A1 was right behind him and he commented, “When I saw the cloud of black smoke, I let go of my accelerator”.

Because bikes and cars go through different toll gates and customs gates, our 4 bikes had to reunite with Eric’s car somehow. We decided beforehand to have breakfast before going about our journey. Lady luck was smiling on us. There was a rest-stop with food stalls and Petronas just after the tollgate. We had our breakfast, can’t remember who had what but there was Lontong and Nasi Lemak. Edwin and Yi Yang were so starved, they decided to take a few bites out of their plastic forks as well.

Having satisfied our growling tummies, we went to the Petronas station and pumped our machines with the best fuel they had. RON 97… Not the best you can find but oh well, we didn’t want to search for another petrol kiosk.

And off we go! First stop was to go to the Johor Circuit at Pasir Gudang to enquire about the Bike Race Series (BRS) which was taking place from 9am to 5pm. Led by Eric’s A1 with GPS turned on, we blasted down the Malaysian highway with great haste. But our joy was short-lived. Soon, we were stuck in traffic at 80km/h once we got on the Pasir Gudang highway. Combine the slow speed and the ridiculous amount of potholes, it was fast becoming an uncomfortable ride. Even Eric and Edwin complained on their A1 and CB400. Kidding right? At least they were not hunched over in a missionary position.

After about 40 minutes of “Ugh”, “Ouch” and “Ack my back hurts”, we finally arrived at the Johor Circuit entrance. It was 15rm per person to watch the full day race event. Pretty damn worth the money. It was 11.30am and we told the gate keepers we would be back after we came back from Desaru haha.

Off we went, led by the A1 again to the newly built Senai-Desaru expressway.  Boy, I was giggling inside my helmet when I saw the expressway. Long never-ending straights with wide lanes. Eric took the cue and floored the pedal. The bikers followed suit, full throttle in full tuck postures. The sight must have been pretty amazing for bystanders, if there were any. An Audi A1, followed by a Honda CB400, a Yamaha R6, a Suzuki GSXR600 and a Honda CBR600RR blasting down the expressway at speeds exceeding 200km/h. What a rush!

Once I saw the Senai-Desaru bridge, I knew we had to stop for a photo moment. I did the incorrect way of getting Eric's attention though, high-beaming and horning him from behind haha. Boys and girls, the correct way is to accelerate to the front of the pack and signal the convoy leader to stop.

Right after that photo, the thunderstorm which  I forgot to mention until now, caught up to us. It was following us ever since we left Johor Circuit. We grabbed our gear and blasted down the bridge. The view was...

One word. Breathtaking. 

Wasn’t long until we reached our destination, I’m guessing we spent about 30 minutes figuring out where to park. Fearing that our bikes would be stolen, we abandoned Eric’s A1 and rode into the beach. Well, almost.

We sat around to catch a breath and some smokes. 40 minutes later, the thunderstorm caught up with us again. It was about 1pm and I made the worst decision that I could have made in the entire trip, which was to head back to Pasir Gudang with the storm bearing down on us. 10 minutes on the way back, and the rain was so heavy I could barely see 10 metres ahead of me. But still, we persevered, shivering in our wet underwears.

The rain became lighter as we got onto Pasir Gudang highway but the pothole to tarmac ratio increased, not to mention their sizes also increased.  I was riding behind Edwin and I officially declare him the Pothole Master. He rode through at least 4 potholes, one of which caused his GIVI rack’s baseplate to fly off. I saw something fly off after he engaged that pothole, so I quickly sped up, rode beside him and checked his bike. I swear it looked perfectly fine and I didn’t notice anything amiss. Only until we stopped at Mcdonald’s then he realized his baseplate was missing haha.

The rain made us really cold and very hungry. The big “M” sign post was the most comforting sight, kudos to Edwin for spotting that. Maybe that was why he never saw those potholes, because he was busy looking for food haha. The Mcdonald's was just 1 minute away from Johor Circuit, perfect stop for our lunch. Eric, who was all comfortable and dry, took orders for us. Thanks Eric.

Oh and did I mention that the Mcdonald’s was conveniently located beside a Petronas and a Shell station. We promptly filled up after lunch and headed to Johor Circuit. It was 3.30pm and we had 1.5 hours of races left! No words can describe the sights and sounds that we experienced.

The 1000cc Superbikes were the finale race event and we were there to watch it!  We left Johor Circuit feeling very satisfied heh. After that, it was a quick stop at Second Link KFC for dinner before we headed back to Singapore. Despite the race and brutally bumpy roads, that Sunday became one of the best days of my life. Next trip should be to Johor Circuit in our leather suits for some fun. 

More updates soon. Ride safe!