The 2011 route
Failing to plan is planning to fail. We have all heard this line before. I am not a big proponent of planning everything to the last minutiae. However, having a plan is essential to a successful bike trip involving multiple riders across unfamiliar terrain with a fixed and limited amount of time! So plan I did!
Planning the route for the first loop ride (WMLR2010) was quite a straightforward affair. After all, how difficult would it be to draw a loop around the peninsular? The sequel is usually the place to look to gauge the staying power for any movie or novel, and is always that much more anticipated, and that much more demanding on the planning.
There are only so many ways you can go around the peninsular of West Malaysia. In the spirit of exploration, the loop this year will cover many places that most people would not have been to.
The central theme for the route will be the mountains of West Malaysia. The ride will take us through some of the most beautiful hill stations that West Malaysia has to offer, the tallest waterfall in South East Asia, the southern-most tip of mainland Asia, as well as some of the best riding roads anywhere! With the breath-taking landscape and the fantastic roads, this is a dream route for riding photographers!
As usual, the ride will be broken into several legs. The shortest will be slightly less than 300km, the longest slightly less than 500km, taking us through the mountains and the coast. A number of stops are also planned for each leg for refueling the bikes and the riders. The legs were divided to maximize daylight riding for safety, and to give some time to explore the main destinations.
Stay tuned for more information on the destinations and stops!
A slight change of plans…just a few hours after the route above was published…
I was certain I had the route picked out nicely until a little more research led me to the discovery of another destination with greater promise. This small change triggered a rather massive re-route, which in turn triggered a change of sleeping arrangements. The good news is that the integrity of the route remains intact, and the change can be seen as shifting a stop point from Tasik Chini to Tasik Bera. Just as a challenge…see if you can spot the difference!!!
Stay tuned for more information on this (new) stop!
Yet another change to the route…
So after being so sure that the above route was the one I would take for this ride, I had to rethink the route again due to accommodations. Also, I decided to reroute the first leg due to the bad condition of some of the roads leading to Tasik Bera from Kluang. So…here is the new route…yet again…
Now that the accommodations are more or less confirmed, I suppose the route is also more confirmed than before. As you can see, the main reroute here is to head east from Kluang towards Mersing, followed by a north west heading towards Temerloh. This avoids the stretch of road between Kluang and Tasik Bera…namely Route J16 which is in bad condition, Route 1 which is congested, and a major part of Route 12 which is also in bad condition. Hopefully, the reroute will be equally enjoyable…especially on Route 50!
