West Malaysia loop ride
Friends riding motorcycles around the West Malaysia peninsular in search of the next great adventure. Join us as we discover new people, places and experiences!
2013 Day 1 – Singapore to Dunggun
The beginning of a new journey always fills me with anticipation. There is a familiar mix of apprehension and excitement. This mix of emotions is very heady and one can easily get addicted to them. I am not certain if I am addicted to them really. But one thing for sure, I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep the night before every long journey. This one is no different.
My alarm rang at 5:30am after what seemed to be a very short night. I sprang out of bed and started getting myself ready for the ride. This is when the buzz started for me. I felt energetic, awake and alert. I sent a text to every rider in the gang that it is almost time just to be sure everyone was awake as I was getting ready. To my amazement, Eric replied that he was already there at the meeting point. I glanced at the time…6am…and I thought to myself that he must be really excited. Then I saw his next message saying that I told him we would meet at 6am! My bad!!!
I hurriedly completed my preparations and rushed out to meet him at our pre-arranged meeting point. I was glad I got there a little earlier than planned as I was feeling bad that Eric went out so much earlier. The good news is that nothing was going to spoil the start of this journey for any of us. Eric was his usual cheerful and funny self and we had a good chat. The rest arrived soon after and we made our way out of Singapore into Malaysia.
The first order of business is to get the bikes fuelled up and give every bike one final inspection to make sure everything is in order. Agree on the riding formation and start gearing up!
Then it was time to head off and start the journey! Gentlemen…start your engines!
Our route today will take us east along route 3 to Mersing, then north towards Kuantan, and finally to Dunggun. This would be a long riding day of more than 460km!
The traffic as we rode out from the petrol station was heavy as expected since it was a Tuesday. Thankfully, the traffic started to thin out as we progressed further out from Johor Bahru towards Kota Tinggi and the gang got into a familiar rhythm. The roads got better and better…
…and better still!
We rode at a healthy pace and arrived at the small town of Jemaluang and stopped for some breakfast.
This corner coffee shop is very popular with bikers. Some say that they had the best Wanton Noodles in the state. This jolly gang of riders was certainly more than happy with the noodles as we were all famished! We had noodles and coffee and toast! What I really like about this place is that it reminds me of my childhood days in Kuala Lumpur. All coffee shops used to look like this!
One of the things that I always wanted to do was to be able to post pictures along the way. The problem was that data roaming was very costly. This time round I was much better prepared as I had gotten myself a pre-paid Hotlink phone card. I was able to get a good signal and started posting a few pictures on Facebook. Both Eric and Paul were also looking to do the same and requested that we stop by a shop that would allow them to do this. The plan was to find a shop in Mersing…the next “big” town.
Mersing was a short hop away from Jemaluang so we got there quickly enough and found a couple shops that sold phone cards. What happened next was a slightly chaotic hive of activity as our two friends went about sorting out their pre-paid phone card needs. Interestingly, they decided to go with DIGI pre-paid cards. We set off soon after things got sorted and crossed over Sungai Mersing. This being just a couple weeks before the Malaysian General Elections, the entire bridge was made more colourful by the flags of the parties vying for seats.
This next stretch of road heading up north towards Rompin was wide and open with sweeping bends and the occasional view of the South China Sea. It was beautiful! I also started experimenting with different ways of taking pictures.
As we rode into Rompin, I remembered a spot that I stopped at on a recent ride along Sungai Rompin and decided to have a short stop to enjoy the beautiful and scenic river.
We then headed out again and continued our ride north. The intent was to have lunch in Kuantan. However, I was feeling very hungry as we pulled into Pekan and decided to stop there instead for lunch. We ended up having lunch at a place next to Sungai Pahang.
We all had Nasi Ayam (Chicken Rice) here…just because everyone else there seems to be having the same thing. It turned out to be really yummy! In fact, I am feeling hungry now just thinking about it!
As we still had quite a lot of distance to cover, we quickly finished up our lunch, filled up at the petrol station across the road and pushed on. The roads were lined with party flags…even more than at Mersing!
There was no way to avoid looking at them swaying in the wind…so pretty! I could not resist riding close to the barrier just so I could touch them!
I also could not resist taking a picture of this lumbering truck…pun completely intended here!
We eventually rode into Kuantan and got caught up in the heavy traffic there. It was also the hottest time of the day…made hotter by the long wait at the traffic lights. I wonder why traffic light signals take so long to change here! The good news is that this gave me time to take more pictures. Here is a picture of Eric looking like RoboCop…
And one of Paul on his super-duper BMW R1200RT with radio blasting…
There were MANY traffic lights…but he is still happy!
It took us quite awhile to negotiate the roads of Kuantan. Following the road signs took us inland…not the direction I wanted to take. Following the GPS heading towards the coast also took us to the wrong place. We ended up almost riding into a Mcdonald’s drive through next to the beach! I was feeling very hot by the time we got out of Kuantan and decided that I needed a break and made a stop at Pantai Balok. We parked our bikes and immediately started relaxing because this place was so peaceful and incredibly BEAUTIFUL!
Just look at that beautiful beach!
No picture is complete without one of Chris’ poses!
We spent quite a bit of time here enjoying the breeze and surroundings. Rejuvenated, we pushed on towards our final destination: Dunggun. At this point, the road took an interesting turn. What was a beautiful coastal road became a completely industrial one just before Cherating. The road itself took on a different colour too!
I was adjusting my cruise control at this point and my bike suddenly lost power. Try as I might, I could not restart the engine and I had to pull over. This is not a place or time for a breakdown! I frantically looked over my bike…jiggled every wire to make sure nothing had come loose…jiggled every switch…and eventually it fired up after I jiggled the kill switch. I wonder if I had accidentally hit that when I was adjusting my cruise control…hmmm. Whatever the case, I was glad it was the kill switch and not something serious! So on we go!!!
We passed through a few towns along this stretch…got stuck at some traffic lights…which meant more pictures! Here is another one of Paul.
I noticed this couple in front of me at one of the traffic lights and was intrigued that she was carrying this carton of eggs…don’t ask me why I was intrigued. I just was…hahaha!!!
As usual, the flags were EVERYWHERE!!!
We rode pass an oil refinery…
And I could not resist taking a picture of these magnificent power lines…I just love the dramatic look of these lines!
Eventually, we rode into a cluster of village looking chalets and parked in front of the main porch…Dahima’s Guesthouse!
I called many different guest houses before finding Dahima’s. Everywhere else were either full, or did not have enough rooms, or had enough rooms but no air conditioning, or no water heaters…I sure was glad I found Dahima’s. Interestingly too, unlike every other person I spoke with on the phone, Dahima spoke with a strong British accent. I thought that was strange until I met her. Turned out she is British and settled here years ago and started this guest house as a small business. How cool is that!
We unpacked the bikes and went to our rooms which turned out to be basic but comfortable. Equipped with air conditioning and water heaters! Yes!!! I then decided to have a look around the property and was amazed at what I saw just outside our rooms.
This bridge crosses over the pond and leads to the beach head.
This is what I saw standing in the middle of the bridge. It was a beautifully serene sight!
And the beach…was private…and breezy…and there was NOTHING on the horizon!
I really wanted to take this boat and get onto the water!
The beach was littered with these pretty shells. I remember collecting shells like these when I was a boy and could not think when I last saw a sight like this. Funny how Singapore beaches are devoid of shells!
They look very pretty close up!
This beach just goes on and on…
All too soon it started getting dark…and we all started to get a little hungry. Dahima suggested a couple places we could try and we decided to head to C.B. Wee’s Seafood Restaurant for a Chinese dinner.
It was a small family run restaurant and they were very friendly. We parked right next to our table!
It is always nice when we are at the table.
Needless to say, the food was DELICIOUS!!!
And the star of the show…Grilled Tiger Prawns! These prawns were as long as our forks and spoons!!!
So there you have it…a day of good riding, delicious food, fantastic scenery and good friends. What more can one ask for?
Posted with BlogsyPaul’s Thoughts on the WMLR2013
West Malaysia Loop Ride 2013. It was until I penned in the FB , I always thought it is called West Malaysia Leisure ride 2013. Maybe it should be called West Malaysia Leisure Loop Ride 2013!! 🙂
This was my first time going and I was very excited about it. Last year, I missed out the great opportunity to join them, however, I still find the time to send them off.
23 April 2013 to 28 April 2013. Simon, Chris, Eric and myself set off from first link. I was a little nervous as I am considered a new bird but excited because I get to see Malaysia!! This was a period where Malaysia is going through a National Election process and I was hoping to see many many flags!
One of my favourite stop is the coffee shop and it has to be the traditional one! These coffee shop usually serve the authentic coffee and not the 3-in-1. The setup is very cosy, with marble table. I love the atmosphere where people read newspaper, chit-chat about politics, bread with butter, kampong half-boiled egg……yum yum!!
This beach front is along Kuantan. It is a very peaceful place where I don’t feel any conflict in my emotion and I could breathe easily when I was there. I admire the couple who spent the afternoon there, walking along the water and enjoying the moments together.
I love nature, I love flowers! This was what I found at the beach.
In a journey, I have learned to expect the unexpected. And the unexpected can be more gorgeous than the expected. We saw this palace like building over the other side of the river towards Dunggun while we were actually searching for traditional boat constructor (we couldn’t find them).
You don’t see Malaysia without visiting their night market. It is a cooking pot of cultures where we get to chat with the locals, buys local goodies, take colorful pictures! I love looking out for treasures to bring home. You don’t need to speak their language to enjoy the company , just put on a great smile and you will brighten up their days!
This was somewhere in Gerik. (Ed: Actually it was Kuala Krai). We were trying to charter boat to go over to the opposite side and also explore the river delta. Unfortunately the boatman was charging us RM500!! I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to exploring nature and see what are the local plants available. It is a great place for plant hunting!
Train Ride to Dabong and back to Kuala Krai! (Ed: It was Kuala Krai to Gua Musang though we did pass by Dabong along the way). The ride took us most of the afternoon. We saw mainly greens and mountains. It was a hot afternoon, a little sleepy though the scenery was beautiful!! The school kids there take free train ride to school.
Gunung Stong waterfall is pretty tall and there was a layer of clouds covering the top, creating a mystic feels. The water is cold and very clean. Along the way up there, I spotted many beautiful plants growing in their natural habitat.
I love this place best! It is called Banding Lake, Gerik. We stopped over there for lunch, overlooking from the hotel, it is the largest lake in Malaysia. You can charter boat and explore the river there. You can also go for a day trek and see Rafflesia (big smelly plant that is found only in Malaysia). I wish I got more time there. Next time I will make a special trip and stay there to explore the place extensively.
Our last night stay was in Taiping. (Ed: Our last night was in Muar). It is a quiet town similar to Ipoh. I love the slow atmosphere there and people there are very nice. I managed to start a conversation with this Indian Bookshop owner. He inherited the shop from his father and it has a history of more than 80 years. A very friendly man, agreeing to the photo shoot and standing proudly for where he is today! Thank you for sharing your story and joy!
Dear Friends!! Here serve the best coffee and boil eggs!! You can swallow the egg without the usual black sauce and pepper. Behind the shop is where the Kluang Railway is and you can just walk over, take the train pictures.
My Riding Companions!!
Chris!! He is quiet and he is funny and I can feel that he is a very caring person. I was scare out of my wit when he pillion me for dinner twice. I have to tell him to slow down please ;-). I will ride with you but I will not ride on you 🙂
Eric :-)….the funniest guy among the 4. He proof on the 2nd last day that his 600cc Yamaha is faster than the Racing Turtle. He is right. Actually I would like to say the rider (Eric) is fast otherwise the bike cannot be any faster than the Turtle :-). I had a lot of fun with him and we chatted a lot too.
The Boss!! Aka Simon Nunis!!. He is a very technical person, no-nonsense (not all the time :-)) . Thank you for planning all the routes and arranging the stays (very good accommodations). He rides and corner like a semi-pro with a camel-like bike. Speak to him about pictures and camera and he will give you his best.
Me! Me! Aka Racing Turtle!….I ride like a pro too (L-plate pro :-))….i love seeing everything about world. Next year and many years later, I hope to continue the WMLLR (West Malaysia Leisure Loop Ride :-p) with Simon and the gang gang!! Thank you very much Simon, Chris, Eric and Paul for the great journey and companionship!!
Chris’ thoughts on the WMLR2013
This is the second year that I have joined the West Malaysia Loop Ride, and i still wonder; why is it called a “west” malaysia ride when we actually travel all around Malaysia?
I was quite in awe of the first ride last year as it opened my eyes to quite a number of things. This year’s ride reinforced those thoughts.
I have to say that the WMLR (now in its 4th year), is not your typical touring ride. It is completely different from other touring trips whereby the NSHW is used to blast all the way at 200km/h to a destination.
That being said, I think its necessary to tell everyone what WMLR is, and isn’t.
WMLR is not a NSHW ride: Sure we might use the highway to link up to certain destinations on some days, but we try not to use it as much as possible unless necessary to make up for time or to shorten the distances within locations. The reason is simple: travelling in straight lines are boring, and this is not meant to be a straight line trip.
WMLR is more of a trunk road ride: That being said, the bulk of the travelling is done on obscure trunk roads cutting through countrysides, hills, mountains, lakes, and kampungs. This is the face of the real malaysia. We explore new, lesser known locations in the spirit of adventure.
Video: Shows a typical ride through a trunk road
WMLR is a dangerous ride: Danger is relative. One man’s reckless riding might be another’s skilful riding. In the trunk roads we ride on 2 laned roads most of the time and have to overtake a variety of slow moving cars and cargo trucks on a regular basis into oncoming traffic. We also have to stop along the side of the road for a variety of reasons such as changing into rain gear or taking photos.
We also face road conditions such as muddy, sandy, potholed, unfinished or a combination of all.
Sharp bends or long sweeping corners are also a mainstay of the routes we take. A certain amount of skill is needed to navigate through such bends at reasonable speeds.
WMLR does not have 5 star hotel stays and Michelin star restaurant makan: In this 4th installment of the ride, we stayed at guesthouses most of the time. Resorts and hotels are usually avoided to keep costs down and in the spirit of adventure. (Don’t worry, the organizer’s minimum requirement is hot running water and air conditioned rooms, so we are allowed a minimum standard in terms of creature comforts…. hahaha).
As far as food is concerned, we just eat whatever we find by the roadside. Be it coffeshops, roadside stalls or the occasional restaurant. Weak tummies beware! Bring more po chai and drink more water.
WMLR is not a slow ride: Again, speed is relative. We travel at speeds ranging from 50-110km/h. Average hovering about 80. It could feel rushed if one is not used to cornering at high speeds and overtaking trunk road traffic.
WMLR will push you and your bike to new limits: More so in terms of handling the bike through uneven terrain, bends, corners and in mountainous terrain. It demands certain amount of agility in handling the bike, accelerating to overtake heavy vehicles, maintaining traction through poorly maintained roads (and the occasional off road), and going through the ubiquitous corners. The weather will be perpetually be hot and humid, as we ride through the tropical climate. If its not blazingly hot, it would be very humid. Paul joked that to join the ride one must have a certain IPPT requirement.
Last but not least…
WMLR is about the spirit of adventure and riding with buddies
WMLR 2013 Completed…
Six days, four friends, eight states, 2172 kilometres…the WMLR 2013 ride is now complete. The last week was filled with many new experiences. We rode to new places and met some new friends. The longest leg was just over 500km and the shortest just under 300km, there were also a few sore butts, scary moments and unexpected gems along the way. All in all, it was a fantastic journey and everyone had a blast.
Keep a lookout for the day summaries that will be coming over the next few weeks!
A strange set of connections
Now that the ride is just three weeks away, it was time for us to have a meeting to share details with each other. One of the biggest difference in this iteration is the choice to meet remotely. I spent quite a bit of time figuring out the best way for us to meet virtually and still be able to do video and share notes with each other.
The biggest challenge, other than trying to find a time that worked for everyone, was the choice of platform for the meeting. I started by looking at LiveMinutes. Unfortunately, this required everyone to have a computer and internet connection. This requirement was not too much to ask in this day and age. However, one of the guys just moved and did not yet have a home broadband connection. So this option would not work. I also looked at Google Hangouts but that requires everyone to have a Google account. Unfortunately, one of the guys do not have a Google account. I looked at several other options (e.g. Meetings.io) but each one had a limitation given our unique requirements. So I finally settled on using WebEx which allowed everyone to get onto the call easily with a Windows machine, a Mac or a phone. Bingo!
The time was set and the invitations sent out. But as usual, my good friend Murphy decided to pay us a visit and some of the guys were not able to connect, while others were stuck in meetings. We eventually manage to get connected (though strangely we were only using voice) and covered quite a few topics including the route, the destinations, the accommodation options and what we might be doing at each destination. We also covered what we should pack and a high level budget to prepare for the ride. There were also a number of questions around details on the route, what to do if somebody is lost and what tools we should have with us on the ride.
All in all, I felt we had a good meeting and many questions were answered. One of the key things we need to do next is to arrange for a shake-down ride so everyone is familiar with the formation, structure and steps to ensure a safe and enjoyable ride. I am very much looking forward to the shake-down ride…woohoo!
Blogging on the move
One of the things that has been constant over the last few WMLR events was the blog and how it is updated as frequently as possible as during the ride. I remember lugging along my trusty HP laptop in 2010. It was nice and light (at that time) and worked admirably. I decided to bring along something a little more powerful as images took quite awhile to edit and brought a bigger HP laptop loaded with Ubuntu in 2011. That was a heavy beast and did not work too well. Last year, I brought along my very light HP DM1Z laptop and it worked a treat. Except that it, too, was not really equipped to handle Lightroom (my photo editing software) speedily enough. I really do want to continue the tradition of blogging while on the road but obviously lugging along a loptop is not exactly the best idea anymore.
An adventure blog is not a lot of fun without pictures. I have been using my trusty Nikon D2HS over the past three years and it was fantastic! I love that it is reliable, fast, sharp and weather proof (with the right lens on at least). However, I am starting to feel the weight of that camera on my neck (I ride with it slung on my neck so I do not miss a picture). While I do love that it is fast and sharp and weather proof, I am ready to make a compromise to save the neck!
Over the last year I have been looking for viable alternatives for blogging and photography. I explored quite a number of options for both and eventually settled on what I could consider the ideal travel photography and blogging setup. Here is what I will be riding with.
Blogging
One of the most important things for me when it comes to blogging is the ability to write without an internet connection. It was a lot harder to find a platform that can do this reliably than I had initially thought. I tried many different alternatives on my very light laptop and while there were options, they were not satisfactorily robust nor easy to use. All this changed when I was presented with a wonderful gift…
Yes, it is an iPad! I was really excited to explore what this little device had to offer. I immediately started thinking about blogging and how this would be a perfect platform for doing that while traveling. I found many apps for note-taking and word processing and blogging (to some degree). I tried many of them and eventually found a gem of an app called Blogsy.
This nifty little app that manages to take the complicated world of blogging and make it really simple. I did take a few hours to get used to how Blogsy handles the different aspects of writing and publishing a post but the people who built Blogsy have been extremely helpful and responsive to all of my needs. The working area was nice and big, pulling images into posts is a simple drag and drop, publishing takes no more than a few seconds. This is my very favourite blogging platform today.
Photography
Another breakthrough I had with blogging was the photography aspects to it. I wanted a simple setup that I can take with me that can handle simple photo editing tasks. I started off looking for apps that could mirror what I do with Lightroom with camera raw files with limited success. There were apps that did this but the iPad (at least my iPad) was not equipped to handle that kind of heavy lifting. However, I did find a couple to three apps that handled almost everything that I needed with JPEG files (rather than raw) and I have been really happy with the results.
The first one (and my favourite one) is Filterstorm. This is a fantastic app that makes editing photos on the iPad a dream. One of the things that makes this app really nice is a cool Curves tool with different modes and brushes. It is a wonderfully simple and intuitive way to edit photos. I like the amount of control I have for every edit and the ability to undo actions should I need to. The ability to manage the edits in layers is also very useful for certain situations.
The second one is Snapseed. I tend to use this app when I want to do very quick edits because of the unique interface. It is sufficiently different from Filterstorm to warrant a seat on my iPad home screen. This app makes edits like brightness, contrast, ambience, saturation and white balance a breeze. I also like the ability to edit selective parts of the image easily without needing to tediously select the region.
So those are the apps. I also found a fantastic camera app for my iPhone that I use very frequently called 645 Pro. This app boasts a simple interface where every function is accessible directly on the main screen without the need to navigate layers of menus. On top of that, I now have the ability to output uncompressed TIFF files which means I retain more information in the image for processing.
These apps give me a tremendous amount of mobility while traveling without sacrificing too much in terms of image capture and editing. However, using the iPhone as my sole camera while on the bike is still not ideal because I have to stop and remove my gloves before I can operate my iPhone. My ideal bike travel camera has to be one that is small and light, is operable with gloves and capable of taking good quality images. After a lot more research, I eventually found the ideal setup: a Panasonic Lumix GF1 micro-four-thirds camera with a 14mm pancake lens.
This lens is so light and small it feels almost like a compact! Yet with the micro-four-thirds sensor, I am able to use interchangeable lenses, have a respectable low light capability and the shallow depth of field look that is comparable to what I get with my Nikon D2HS. I just love having this slung on my neck so I can take pictures like this one below without fuss.
I think I have found the ideal setup for blogging on the WMLR. My Panasonic Lumix GF1 is the ideal bike travel camera, coupled with a nice flat but sharp lens like the 14mm keeps it compact, files get transfered to the iPad for editing with Filterstorm and Snapseed, and they get added to the words in my articles as I blog with Blogsy.
Perfect!
Preparing Big V…
The big ride is now exactly six weeks away and it is time to start thinking about what I would want to do to prepare Big V for the adventure. This would be the very first time I will take Big V on a ride that will cover so much distance. I am very excited with this because Big V is a very versatile bike and should be able to handle the job with minimum fuss. There are many ways to go about preparing Big V. The most important thing is to be thorough so that nothing major is missed out. After going through this several times in the last few years, I decided that the best check list for the job is the T-CLOCS inspection check list from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation in the United States.
T-CLOCS is a clever acronym for:
- T – Tires & Wheels
- C – Controls
- L – Lights & Electrics
- O – Oil & Other Fluids
- C – Chassis
- S – Stands
I think it is a good check list to use for inspecting Big V and deciding if anything needed replacing, repair or upgrading. This simple check list would cover many different aspects of the bike.
It would make very little sense for me to go through every single detail of what I will be doing based on the T-CLOCS check list because those are going to be very straightforward things. What I would do here is to run through some of the things that may be a little out of the ordinary.
T – Tires & Wheels
This is obviously one of the most important area of the bike for safety. The tires provide the only contact point with the road and they need to be in tip top condition in order to function properly. I have elected to use a system called PunctureSafe to protect myself from incidental punctures. This system will automatically seal any holes left by nails and screws so that tire pressures are maintained without causing any instability issues. On top of this, I carry a tire repair kit just in case!
C – Controls
Other than the usual checks to ensure every switch, lever and pedal works, I will be installing a new switch box to house the switches to some additional accessories. This would make it easier for me to switch them on and off without cluttering up the space. While this may not seem like much, a messy and cluttered space around the handlebars can be distracting, thereby presenting a possible hazard. Hahaha!
Another addition I will be putting on is a cruise control. I have never used something like this before but I know that I sometimes need to stretch my right fingers and arm. With a simple cruise control, I can do that without needing to use my left hand to control the throttle. I will be using the Omni-Cruise Universal Throttle Lock system for this purpose. It is a simple device that works with any bike and looks to be a well thought out and sturdy device. The other nice thing about this is that it is easily removable so I do not have to worry about someone stealing it!
L – Lights & Electrics
One thing I try not to do is to ride as a group when it is dark. However, Murphy is a frequent guess on the WMLR and sometimes riding in the dark cannot be avoided. When this happens, it is always good to ensure good visibility. Big V has a good set of bright headlights already and he has spots too. So I will not have to do much there. However, it is important to have some way to let others know that I am on the road. This is best achieved with blinking lights.
I have installed a set of white blinking LEDs. These are the extra accessories that the switch box was meant to control. So I will be wiring them up and I will be visible to others on the road. This is especially helpful too when it is raining!
One last thing I would look at here is to ensure my headlight cover is secured well. It is currently secured with Velcro tabs that are not sticking well so probably a simple replacement will be good enough.
O – Oil & Other Fluids
I am not going to do anything special here except to have the engine oil changed and the coolant system flushed. So nothing extra to share here.
C – Chassis
Big V is currently equipped with a Scottoiler system that is not working. So that will need to be looked at.
S – Stands
Big V does have both a side and a centre stand and both are functioning perfectly fine so there is really nothing to do here except a quick check to make sure all the springs are in place and there is no major structural problems.
So, now that I have gone through the entire T-CLOCS check list, there are just a few other things I would want to look at.
- Luggage. My Trax boxes need a little looking into because I fell on my right pannier previously and the water-proofing seal is not in the best shape now. This will definitely need to be fixed to ensure water does not get into the box!
- Tools. I have a good set of tools that are stored with Big V now. I will probably need to go through the bag of tools to ensure nothing major is missing and everything is still in usable shape.
- Stickers. I have a few stickers that would look nice on Big V. Hahaha!
One last thing is just to get Big V a good clean wash. I have neglected this for the longest time and I suppose it is good to start a long journey on a clean bike.
Well, that is the list of things. Be sure to download a copy of the T-CLOCS check list from the MSF website and do your own checks!
Time to start thinking about preparations…
The best thing about a long ride is the ability to spend time away from the business of the every day. Riding major distances on a motorcycle can be challenging for some but it is certainly rewarding. For me, being on the smaller roads that are littered with tight bends, long straights and beautiful scenery is the perfect way to unwind. I get to spend some time just being with my self and the only decision I need to make is where should the next meal stop be. Heaven!
Having said that, a long ride is physically and mentally demanding. It is all too easy to drift into a dream-like state and forget about the dangers that can lurk in every corner. All it takes is some loose sand, a stray stone, a careless driver or a faulty brake and everything good comes to a very quick end. So it is absolutely important that riders take steps to prepare themselves and their bikes well.
I wrote a little about what I did to prepare my bike (Anker) and about how I prepared myself for last year's ride.
Stay tuned to find out what I will do to prepare Big V for this year's trip!
Interactive “Tactilize” route map…
Saw this app a few weeks ago but did not do anything with it till now. I was looking to put something together to show the route and destinations in a more interactive way and this looked the easiest way to do that. Not the most elegant but it seems to work just fine. Try it out and see the possibilities for the WMLR2013 gang!
Click for Tactilize route map.
This covers up till the third leg at the moment. Come back to see the last two legs!
Things are moving along…
Now that the gang has been confirmed for the ride and the route is almost complete, I have begun putting down some notes on each of the destinations. At the moment, I have include a short write up on three of the destinations with the fourth (and final) destination coming very soon. I hope you will be as excited about these destinations as I am. Enjoy!
The route
Destination 1: Dunggun
Destination 2: Kuala Terengganu & Kuala Krai
Destination 3: Taiping
