2016 Day two – Kuala Terengganu to Georgetown
Day two – Kuala Terengganu to Georgetown
We woke up early today as we had another long ride ahead of us. So we got ready and pushed off at 6:45am looking for a petrol station. Strangely, while we passed several, they were all either closed or on the wrong side of the road! I remember thinking to myself that I have not seen a petrol station close for a long time! I would love to say that we found an open station on the correct side of the road…but the reality is that we did not. We had to turn back to one that was on the other side of the road. Anyway…time to look for BREAKFAST!!!
Unfortunately…we travelled a long way and still could not find any food stalls open for business. This was quite unusual…so we kept going. One row of shops after another…one small town after another…all the shops were closed…until this one row that we chanced upon. I rode in to take a look…and realised…that of the entire row of five shops…ONE was open. So we stopped for breakfast!
I was looking forward to having some Nasi Dagang for awhile now…unfortunately…they did not have any! They did have Nasi Kerabu though…so that was what I settled for! We had a fantastic time with the food and conversations with the other customers there…and found out one of them was originally from Singapore!
Soon it was time to leave…but alas…I have a bit of a problem!
It seems one of my LED flashers was dislodged by the hard riding…oh well…there was little to do except to cable tie it back in place and move on! So move on we did. There were very few cars and lorries along this part of the route and I was really enjoying the ride. The sun was also slowly coming up and it started to get progressively warmer…and I was hit by a bit of a stomach ache! I debated in my mind how long I could hold it in before needing to go…all the while looking at my GPS map to see where the next few petrol stations would be. We rode past one…then another…and another…until about 25 minutes later I could no longer wait! I rode into a petrol station at Setiu…then out to a row of shops next to it…parked…walked straight into a coffee shop…put down my stuff…and proceeded DIRECTLY into the toilet.
For those of you who read our previous WMLR entries would know that going to the toilet during a loop ride is not exactly a fun thing. You only need to imagine the amount of things I had to remove just to be able to squat down…boots…riding pants…socks…inner pants…and do all of this in a tight, confining, usually wet and not too clean toilet stall out in the countryside…you get the picture!
When I was done I met the others at the table…they were all a little confused earlier why I had chosen to stop by a coffee shop less than half an hour after breakfast! Thankfully, my coffee was waiting for me back at the table and the guys have wised up to the reason why we have stopped. Chris recognised the place as one that we had been to previously late in the afternoon when we needed respite from the heat…Eric did not. This was the start of many “remember this place?” conversations with his reply being “no”!
We pushed off towards route 4 soon after in order to try and arrive in Georgetown before the evening peak hour traffic crunch. I remember how incredibly tight it can get during rush hour! The roads were still relatively quiet at this time of the day and we made good progress. This part of the route is not the most scenic with a mix of villages, small towns, plantations and a few landfills, so making up time makes sense. The good news is that the road condition was great making for a nice smooth ride at a good speed!
We got to the Shell station at Jeli just before noon. This is a good place to fill up before heading across the mountain range. This, unfortunately, is also a station that does not take credit cards at the pump so filling up required the usual prepayment at the cashier.
The plan here was for a free and easy ride up the pass to the very top. Ariff would he’d out first on his YBR as he would have the slowest speed given the engine capacity, the inclines and the altitude. Carburetors will struggle at higher altitudes which will starve the engine of air and fuel making steeper inclines a real struggle. Chris and Eric will follow about 15mins after and I will head out about 5–10mins after that. I pulled the guys over to a corner for a short briefing so they were clear about the plan, what to do while on the pass, what to expect with the corners sometimes having reducing radii and double apexes and where to meet at the top. Ariff started off soon after!
Before long, it was time for Chris and Eric to head off…and soon it was my turn. The road here is really beautiful…long sweeping bends with fantastic vistas to one side of the valley below. Simply beautiful! As usual, we met up at the rest stop on the top of the mountain.
Of course, no ride along route 4 is complete until we stop at the Banding Lakeside Inn! So we stop for a very relaxing lunch at a super scenic restaurant!
We rode off after that down the mountain towards Gerik…then on towards Georgetown. We encountered some rain along the way and it got a bit heavier so we decided to take a break at a petrol station.
We were feeling very cheerful as we started to ride off after the rain…it was still bright…we were feeling cool and dry…and we did not have far to go! This means we had the opportunity to arrive in Georgetown way before it got dark! This stretch of road was quite straightforward as it led directly to Butterworth. The only annoying bits were when we had to go pass an exit. While cars could just drive straight on the expressway, we had to ride in the bike lane…which meant that we had to turn OUT at every exit…then make a turn and get back IN! We eventually got used to this though and kept going.
At some point I noticed that there was only one bike in my rear view mirror…so I slowed down and eventually stopped. This is the time when I pull out my phone and make a phone call to see what had happened. It seems Ariff could not get his bike to move! So since both Chris and Ariff were stuck somewhere behind, Eric and I made a U-turn to look for them. We found them stopped at the side of the expressway…thankfully safe at the ramp. It seems Ariff’s clutch won’t bite! Eric spotted another problem with Chris’ bike as well…his rear tire was shot and needed an urgent replacement!
At this time the only person I knew to call was my trusty mechanic, Ah Chun, who advised me that we could replace the clutch with one from the RXZ or the 125Z. The good news is that after allowing the bike to cool down, Ariff could get it to move. I guess he must have really stressed out his bike! We looked all around the small town there and eventually found a motorcycle repair shop. However, the people at the shop were completely unhelpful. They seemed to be more interested to close up shop than to earn some extra business! It really turned me off. Eventually I decided that we would just ride slowly for Georgetown and solve the bike problems the next day. So we rode slowly and eventually got on board the ferry.
We got to the hotel eventually and quickly showered so we could go for dinner. We settled for the Japanese place across the road as it was nearby.
We had other dishes which I did not take pictures of…as eating was deemed way more important that night! After dinner we had ice cream at the 7-eleven. Later that night, a few of us went to the coffeeshop next door for some late night supper!
There is only one thing on the menu after this…SLEEP!
Discover more from West Malaysia loop ride
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
