This morning I woke up early, finished a session on BodyPump via LesMills on Demand, and decided to take the bike out for a quick ride. Obviously, this is the first weekend after the state borders were opened. As such, I do expect the traffic to be extra heavy.
True enough, the road coming up to the North was extra heavy. I had to be very careful as there will be a lot of cars who have not been on the highway for awhile, as such they will be zooming thru.
I rode my bike from PJ to Sg Tengi (via Bukit Tagar Toll) and exit thru Soeharto before taking a rest at Behrang Stesen. After that – I head straight back.
It has been a long while since the last time I wrote anything on this blog. I guess I have been pre-occupied with a lot of things. I should write more, but it is just difficult to find the discipline to do so!
I thought a good way to start the blog posting is to post a photo that I shot a few weeks ago when I went to Taiping for a road trip. It was a quick ride, eat and go home.
The thing to note is that now we are in the middle of a pandemic, as such I should travel around so much. In fact, now we are in wave 3, and I believe this impacts a lot of people. Sigh.
Queue for Food
The photo above shows a long queue for food. I did not manage to get into the food court because I was trying to stay away. In fact, I was sweating like nobody’s business because I was wearing a jacket! Stupid me, I should have taken out my jacket and put in my saddlebag.
This morning, I did a solo to Port Dickson. All the guys were busy with Father’s Day, and some did not want to wake up because the weather forecast was not great.
When I woke up this morning, I checked the forecast again and saw that the rain will only come at about 11am. I then quickly changed and rode out. What I did wrong was to not check my destination!
This morning I decided to head to Tanjung Malim for a quick breakfast. The weather was awesome, hovering around 25-27 degrees Celsius. Uncommon for Malaysia. But the ride home was just mad. Rain was way too heavy.
Finally, after the MCO – I managed to pick up my bike. It was a long and painful wait but I must say it was worth it. Now it is about me riding as much as humanly possible, while staying safe both from Covid and riding!
I have been riding a motorbike since 2012. Starting from BMW F800GS which I must say the most exciting bike. It allows me to go to places that I never imagined I would go. Perhaps one of these days, I probably will get it again. It is light but super tall!
After a long thought, I finally decided to get back into the saddle. It is something that allows me to destress – especially during the weekend. Got something that is not fast, but more relaxing. So now, I can be considered a SissyRider! Ha ha
It has been quiet a while since I last posted on this blog. I have been doing a lot of riding every week. Clocking mileage for my bike. A lot of them. In fact in the past couple of weeks since I picked up my bike I have clocked almost 3500km. Its great.
The photo below shows me on my bike along a dirt road parallel to the paddy field somewhere in between Teluk Intan and Kampar.
The photo below shows my bike along the same road.
Trended: Diamondback hook.Honestly – there are a couple of reasons why I bought this bike. I could have stayed with my RT but the problem with the RT is that I won’t be able to go places where usually I don’t go. I.e. going for dirt road like this. Not that with the GS I have the balls of riding thru it!
But I guess as I ride more I will be better at it. The problem with riding the GS Adventure is that it is extremely heavy. Heavier than shit. With fully loaded fuel – it is hard to lift! But I guess as I get better at it, I will be more confident to do complex steering! Like U turn and shits.
Anyway – yesterday was a 400km ride. When I woke up in the morning I know that I wanted to ride but I did not have any destination. Just wanted to ride far because I had some things in my mind that I wanted to clear off. It has been quite a challenging couple of days – so some alone time is definitely good.
So – I woke up, shower and rode off in the morning! Here is somewhat my itinerary:
KL – Sungkai via E1 – boring ride to Sungkai. Straight boring highway ride, but I wanted to get out of the city the fastest possible without encountering any traffic. My bad, the highway was so damn heavy. At Sungkai – I had some breakfast near Pasar Sehari. I must say the nasi lemak there was really good.
Sungkai to Teluk Intan From Sungkai I rode thru the B roads to Teluk Intan. I’ve used these roads a lot of times. Its all familiar. I was trying hard to avoid Road number 1 because that central spine road is really busy.
Teluk Intan to Kampung Gajah Before reaching Teluk Intan I made a turning off to Kampung Gajah. I was wondering if I will be passing over Pasir Salak. I never been to the museum there and if I do see Pasir Salak, I do want to do a stop over. Maybe another day.
Kampung Gajah to Kampar After reaching Kampung Gajah – I head over to Kampar. Thru old roads passing over old mining villages. Also I was wondering if I would be seeing the tin dredges at Chenderoh. Honestly I don’t know if those dredges still exist, but if they do – it will great on the drone. Unfortunately no. Didn’t see any!
Kampar Once I reached Kampar – I stopped over for a quick drink and ABC. Foong Mun ABC la.. I’ve been here before. It was way too sweet to my liking though. Maybe next time need to ask reduced sugar. Then again, its ABC – it’s fully laden with sweet!
Kampar – Home From Kampar – I rode all the way back. Feel very long because it was extremely heavy. Super heavy indeed. There were a few cars that were very fast. Pretty annoying indeed.
Few days ago, I took my bike out to checkout Klawang and Jelebu area. I heard the roads were good. I ended up getting lost because I set the curvy road option on my GPS. Combine with my “smartness” – I just got myself lost most of the time.
In the past two weeks, I have been riding my bike. Not so much focusing on other things but just riding my bikes. The bike is super awesome. I somewhat rediscover what I enjoy about riding. The first few rides were about getting used to the bike. The photo below shows the ride on that day.
I am still learning on how to edit good video, and what makes great video – great. One thing that I know, is of course the synchronization of the music and the video. In which the video above has.
One of my friend did make a comment, I put in too much of my bike. Which I have to agree. Despite the fact that the video is about me and my bike, I think people will be more interested with the scenery and the views that I get to enjoy. Hence – I need to reduce the bike videos and add more travel things.
back in 2014 I wanted to change my motorcycle. I initially ordered an adventure bike which is the GS Adventure. It was my dream bike. The bike was used in the show Long Way Round. At that time, I was doing a lot of adventure motorcycling around Malaysia. I love exploring small villages all around. Going through very small roads with no plans at all.
Every Friday night, I will open Google Maps and look for new roads to explore. I will try to find the most remote roads that is accessible by my motorcycle. Occasionally I will also check the condition of the roads. Next morning, I will get my bike and ride all over the place. Sometimes I will clock almost 500 km in the day. I will start early in the morning and finish my adventure late in the evening. It is very fun.
I remember, when they launched a new motorcycle they were two models that will launch at the same day. The initial plan of the GS adventure was shelved when I saw the new RT. the RT was a dream bike when I first started riding. I was so engrossed with the BMW video that shows a couple riding across Norway. The video below:
and I’d end up buying the RT versus buying the GS. I did enjoy using the bike for a long period of time. But what I noticed is that I’m not able to do a lot of exploration anymore. Which was one of the reasons why I wanted to get a bike. The RT is a great bike. Along the highway, I can go and really high speed and still sit down comfortably. But when I get into the B and C roads, I get into trouble. It is just so difficult to ride the bike on non-highways. Whenever that potholes, I will scream for my life. And I felt restricted with this bike. I slowed down my riding and didn’t clock the mileage that I could have clocked.
Anyway, I went to BMW showroom. I saw the GS adventure again. I fell in love. I met my sales advisor and asked him whether he takes trade in for my current bike. And to my surprise he said yes. The best part I got a very good value for it. The reason being is that my RT is not locally made in Thailand. When I calculated the amount of money that I need to fork out to buy the new GS adventure, I realised that I can afford it. I call the supervisor again and told him that I wanted to make an order. And I did.
Last Saturday, I picked up my new bike. It is such a beauty.
So far since Saturday, I rode almost 500 km. It is such an awesome experience to ride the bike. Last Sunday I went to write with my ex colleague. It was awesome. The video below shows the ride:
I do hope that I will get more mileage with this bike. the RT only had 15,000 km when I sold it. I do hope with a new bike, I will get 15,000 km in the first year!
Being on the road gives me the sense of calmness. It’s just me and my bike against the world. It’s probably one of the things that I do to escape the stress of the world. Though sometimes riding also create a sense of stress, but that’s part and parcel of riding. And it brings the fun.
Riding a bike it’s not easy. In fact it’s extremely dangerous. Of all the hobbies that I have, motorbike is definitely the most dangerous. Every time I ride my bike, I am in the mindset that all other vehicles on the road is trying to knock me down, and it is extremely important for me to ride safe. Even at the slowest speed, or the slightest impact can kill me. No amount of protection can save me. Seriously – sometimes I feel stupid, but the feeling of freedom and calmness, just totally out of this world.
Apart from equipping myself with the right mindset, I also make sure that I am well informed and trained. 2 years ago I went to a training conducted by Eric Yong, who is a safety instructor. That training changes my riding. Not about being faster, but being safer. In addition to that, I also read the following books:gn
Both books definitely recommended. I bought it on kindle. Maybe I should read it again. Can never get enough reminders to be safe on the road.
My dream is to be able to ride the world, going all around the world on my bike. I’ve seen some of my friends who has done that. One of them who about the same age as me, has travelled the whole world except Africa, which he is doing next year. Perhaps I should plan one trip myself. It’s more than just being financially ready, but also need to make sure health is tip top. As my good friend told me, do the things that you want when you are able. When you reach an age where you can’t, that’ll be shit. Sigh.
