Cycling: Singapore to Desaru and back

A friend of mine and I went cycling to Desaru where we stayed overnight, and backtracked the next morning. Over a period of two days, we cycled around 120 kms at a slow pace. 

The plan and the partner
My original motive behind this trip was to give my legs a muscle shock by cycling a long distance at a fast pace without much practice. It's a fast and effective way of building durability and strength. I (unintentionally) did this when I did my impromptu first half marathon, with having run no more than six kilometers before, and clocked a decent timing of 2:05:35. I invited my friend who also shares my sense of adventure and fitness to come along, and he readily nodded. He is big and powerful, and has above average stamina.
             But his slothful patootie took over him when he put his foot down and said that he would take the whole damn thing easy and enjoy the nature, the sea breeze, the beach and the mountains. We weren't speaking the same language, but he had a point - the route is scenic and worth taking a few breaks. And it's fun to have a funny guy like him along, so with a gasp and a few swear words I agreed to take it slow. Well, my muscles never got the shock but my butt definitely did!

Highway J52: A couple of kilometers from Pengerang. The beach was inundated as it was high tide.

The Route

Singapore (Changi ferry terminal) -> Pengerang (Malaysia) in a small ferry:
Typical waiting time is two hours and the journey takes another hour. There's no queue at Pengerang ferry terminal when coming back to Singapore.

Pengerang -> Desaru on a bicycle:
Highway J52 to Sungei Rengit (~ 16 kms), highway J92 to Desaru (~ 35 kms). J52 runs along the beach and is more or less level. J92 has moderate traffic with vehicles buzzing past at high speed. Another route (highway J90) from Sungei Rengit to Desaru runs along the beach and, from what we heard, has less traffic and slightly bad road.

Getting the bikes

We didn't have bikes. We rented bikes for two days from a rental shop in Pasir Risk Park on the same day and cycled to the ferry terminal. They didn't look like racing bikes from any angle but were far better than hefty MTBs. We cycled from Pasir Risk Park to Changi Ferry Terminal using the PCN for most of the part. Distance - 7 kms

Level of toughness

Pengerang to Sungei Rengit is a cakewalk since the road is level. The highway connecting Sg Rengit to Desaru is a continuous string of uphills and downhills which makes the ride challenging. When we cycled, there was constant wind blowing against us but that's a conditional thing. Coming back was much easier since the wind favored us.

Taking a break

We had our first stop at Sungei Rengit - a small coastal town with many restaurants and hotels, where we had lunch. Most people living here are Chinese. The road from Sg Rengit to Desaru passes through green mountains, palm forests and nothing else. Make sure you are hydrated and have enough resources before you leave Sg Rengit. We only found a small restaurant about 5 kms before Desaru  and it was the first sign of human civilization after Sg Rengit.

Public beach

This bit is unverified, but there is a public beach about 1.5 kms after Desaru Damai resort - a run down badly maintained resort we stayed in. You are allowed to camp at the public beach overnight.

Highway J92 - Sg Rengit to Desaru

The ride back...
... was awesome! It was raining hard when we began, and we had to take shelter under a bus stand for about twenty minutes. We then cycled in drizzle and cool wind which was an experience. Contrary to our expectations, we were much faster. We hardly had any Malaysian Ringgits. We took a stopover in Sg Rengit again, exchanged currency and had lunch in the same place as the previous day.

How tiring is it

If you cycle at a slow pace (~15 - 20 kmph), it's not very tiring. We had hardly done any cycling before, but both of us were reasonably fit guys. We cycled all the way on non-racing bikes without getting tired but ended up with really sore butts!

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