Day 5: The day that almost ended my journey

Day 5
Rompin to Pekan
The day that almost ended my journey
Distance : 88 km (25km hitchhike to Pekan after my board delam)

Cumulative distance : 298 km (not including my hitchhike)

Today is the day that almost ended my journey. I will tell later.

Bad omen today, woke up with rain in morning. Then rain suddenly stopped, we quickly get to our breakfast place just in time before the skies showered again. Good time to rest longer for roti canal breakfast. Every time we wanted to leave, it poured, then we stayed again until it totally stopped. We had 90km to cover.

The rain continued but we were already on the road, so we just pressed on. I was doing good, drafting behind KC at 16-18km/h

At 25km I ran out of sugar, needed to find some food. Struggled afterwards.

Though it is flat, pushing through headwind just sap all my energy. I had to stop every 10km for a short break.

At halfway point 45km, had lunch. After lunch, my keen shoe came loose cos of the damage in Taiwan when I fell. I found a copper wire along the road side, and tied it around my leg to secure the shoe.

By 2pm, headwind strengthen. I was struggling at 12km/h. Had to take breaks every 5km.

By 65km, I felt my board kept on scrapping the ground. Checked that my rear of my board delamed. Just 25km away from pekan. Unable to continue skating, I hitchhiked. Many cars ignored me. until taufiq, a fellow longboarder spotted me. He drove me to pekan.

Well, after 5 days of skating in heavy rain, it is natural that the board will delam. I forgot to inform Martin of 1166 that I am carrying a 12kg backpack. He made the boars just for my weight. The additional 12kg plus the continuous rain factored for the delam.

At pekan, waited for my cyclists to arrive. Was contemplating of returning to Singapore to get my spare board. But Dave found a workshop willing to fix my board. They cut the delamed portion of the board and redrilled the holes. Thanks to Uncle KC with his experience working in the shipyard that helped me to fix the board.

Hopefully my chopped board will last longer. Today is a day of problem solving and testing our resourcefulness amidst the crisis.

Never start a tour in a Monsoon season.