Ride to Mount Ophir 2 Dec 2006

Ride to Mount Ophir

2 Dec 2006 Saturday


Many of you might have heard of Mount Ophir (Gunang Ledang) from Malaysia.
It is not the highest mountain. But it is the most climbed mountain in Malaysia.

This ride is interesting because it is the LARGEST convoy I had ridden so far.
There are over 160 bikes in the convoy!

4o plus bikes from Singapore's Hornet's Nest (www.hondahornets.com).
120 bikes from this rider group called Madaco.

I have many pictures in this blog entry.
Read on to see the pictures and experienced the ride of this huge convoy.




Route

I describe the route so that you can go there yourself.
But get lost don't come and find me.

North-South highway until exit at Tangkat exit.
At the T-junction of Tangkat exit, take the right turn.
Ride straight and you will end up in Tangkat town.
From Tangkat town, take Route 23.
After a while, you will see a big big sign that says G Ledang.
Then turn left and exit Route 23. Ride straight and you will end up at the foot of Mt Ophir.

Our return trip consists of some trunk road busting action:
Back track and turn left into Route 23.
From Route 23, turn right into J34.
From J34, turn right into the familiar previously written J32 (except now opposite direction).
J32 until Pagoh entrance into NorthSouth. Then NorthSouth back to Singapore.

Meetup at Esso GP

The usual dressing up again routine after the Singapore 2nd link custom.
This is Ah Kim(R6) and Mark(GSX750).
(For the rest of the pictures in this blog entry, click on the picture to expand the picture to see more details!)

At this point in time, I had no idea how big is the convoy.
When I reached GP esso, I just know that it looks very crowded.
There were a lot of people wearing Orange long-sleeved T-shirts. This is the Madaco group T-shirts. From near, they looked very nice because got many sponsors' name.
But from far, especially when there are so many people wearing them, it looks like the attire of those bangladesh painters painting the road railings in Singapore!

The man in white is Spectrum.
He is conducting the usual pre-ride briefing.
The pre-ride briefing is very important for the riders to get coordinated.
But I admit I wasn't really paying attention as this is the nth time I have heard it.
All I heard is, suddenly, "...Sweeper is Endless!" Me again?!
This means that I am the last bike in the convoy.

After collecting the road-side-cleaner-yellow-vest to mark the sweeper, I was all set to ride.
Then we were told to go for another briefing.

Wah. But this briefing got many many bikes.

Paddock girl.
In the middle of all these bikes, there is this cool-looking lady holding an umbrella.
I understand she is Korean.

Another pre-ride briefing. This one held by Tony (the man with the black cap), the organiser of Madaco. Then finally, the briefing is over and we are finally ready to roll.

One group photo of the Hornet Nests riders before setting off.
So many bangladesh painters go Mount Ophir.

Start Ride NorthSouth Ride

We set off at about 10 am.
As the last bike, I waited for all the bikes roll onto the NorthSouth expressway.
Man, are there many bikes!

Spectrum (in yellow vest) leading the Hornet Nest convoy.
The 2nd bike is one of the markers, SV650 (in orange vest) riding his Suzuki V-twin SV650.

Part of our 160 bike convoy on the NorthSouth highway.
Our convoy stretched for as long as 10 kilometers (a quarter the length of Singapore!)

Our covoy formation looks even more impressive than those motorcade from our Traffic Police during National Day Parade!

Spectrum on his Honda Hornet 900 leading the convoy.
This nice photo is taken by Smokin. He takes very sharp and accurate photos.
How does it he do it?
A lot of hard work!
He has to ride a head of the massive convoy, park his bike, get onto high ground and stand then to take with his powerful SLR digital camera.
When all the bikes have past him, he gets back onto his bike (Hornet900) and has to ride from the tail of the convoy to the head of the convoy and somemore and start all over again!


Not everyone has the good photo taking skills of Smokin.
The above is an example.
I took a point-blank shot with my handphone camera riding side-by-side to Spectrum and end up like this!

Me and Frost (my trusty Yamaha Fazer1000).

Many people think that to go on touring rides to Malaysia, one needs to have a big bike with big cc. I have been to so many rides and I tell you this is not true. Touring does not depend on what bike you have. It depends on the bike owner's mentality.

See, kup kiah (Honda Wave or similar bike) also can go.
This Madaco rider is young at heart!
I think he is at least 50 years old!

My rear view mirror shot.
See the large convoy behind in the reflection of my mirror.

As the sweeper, I am supposed to be the last bike.
The sweeper's role is to "catch" any bikes that fall out of the convoy for various reasons (bike break-down; rider wants to stop for a rest) and not leave any bikes stranded behind.
But for this trip, I am not the last bike, strictly speaking.

The last "bike" is actually a car. A Honda Jazz.
The driver and passengers are from Madaco and they are driving along to the Mount Ophir.

Along the NorthSouth ride, I meet interesting company.

What is inside this lorry?

Big Moo-moos!

We also met a small convoy of classic Alfa-Romeo sports cars from Singapore.
They may be classic, but they sure are fast (>150kmh)!

We finally reached the Tangkat exit.

Tangkat to Mount Ophir

It was one huge orgy of bikes at the Tangkat exit!

At the Tangkat exit, we saw an unusual sight. A Malaysia police car was there.
Not to do his "usual business". But to escort our convoy to Mount Ophir!

We rode into Tangkat town.

It is not easy for 160 bikes to fill-up their tanks at the petrol kiosk.
The Malaysia police car came in handy and helped to direct traffic.

Just ride straight on from Tangkat town along Route23.
You will see this big sign board on your left. Turn left to go Gunang Ledang!

The convoy riding in an organised and steady pace towards the resort at the base of Mount Ophir.

At the G Ledang Resort

At last we reached the resort at G Ledang. It is about 1 pm.
Good thing the resort has a huge carpark to accomodate our 160 bikes.

Bike parade.
Most-bikes-at-one-spot that you can see in your lifetime.

We made our way into the large reception area of the resort.
Lunch is supposed to follow.
But cannot eat yet, even though stomach hungry liao.

First, the Madaco Riders group photo.

Then, Tony gave another speech.
On stage, he reminded me a bit of Michael Jackson.

Then, we are finally released for lunch!

The savage appetite of Mark unleashed!
I must say that for over 160 bikers, we were pretty orderly in going about getting our food even though we are very hungry after the long ride and many speeches.

After a satisfying lunch, we are given free-and-easy until 4 pm.
Most of us headed towards the foot of Mount Ophir, where there is a stream.
I don't think any of us came planning to climb Mount Ophir. Singaporeans don't climb anything one. We only know how to use elevators and escalators.
Many of us took a dip in the stream to cool ourselves.

This painting on one of the building walls depicts the trail to climb Mount Ophir.
It is over 4,000 feet (1,230m) tall.


Here it says that it is the most climbed mountain in Malaysia and 6th most difficult to climb.
It also says pay money first before climbing.

As we walked further in, we saw the stream.

Many people took a dip in the stream.
I also joined in. But I wouldn't show you my photos in the water (RA).

Even though the day is very hot, the water is all these streams in Malaysia are actually very cool. It takes a bit of courage and determination to be able to immerse yourself completely into the water.

At first, I thought I felt cold in the water because I am skinny so contained very little heat inside me. Later on, a bigger fatter Malaysian guy went into the water beside me. After a while, I saw him shivering in the water. That made me feel infinitely better.

On the way back to the resort after the dip in the stream, I saw this interesting car.
It is a guest from Thailand. See the car plate.


Be like Zoe-Tay!
At the resort, there is a blow-pipe range!
I was quite surprised that the blow-pipe is actually quite accurate at short distances.
This girl, who probably is trying the first time in her life, managed to hit the 1 metre wide target board standing some 5 metres away.
So chay, this means Zoe Tay's blow-pipe stunt during one of the past charity show is no big deal.
If only I can bring back a blow pipe. I will use it to shoot the backside of those pesky CISCO carpark warrants who go around summoning people!


Then, it is time to set off on our return trip.

It is evening time.
An idyllic scene with the setting sun cast long shadows on our bikes.


A final group photo before we take off.
I am somewhere in there. See if you can spot me .



Me at Gunang Ledang Resort.

Fun along the Trunk Road

Many people stayed overnight at the resort. About 20 of us opted not to stay overnight and we are going to have some fun along the trunk roads before we get onto the NorthSouth highway back to Singapore.


The convoy leaving the resort.

The returning convoy along the trunk road.

Once cut loose, it's play time!
The bikes hustling down the trunk roads of Route 23, J34.
I love to ride on the good quality Malaysian trunk roads!

Weee!!!

Sharp bend ahead!
The bends add fun to your riding. But one must be very careful when traversing the sometimes sandy trunk road bends.

My view when doing a sharp cornering.
This photo was taken with my one hand holding the camera phone and only one other hand steering my bike. I don't advise you to do the same thing.

Besides offering lots of fun, the ride back along the trunk roads also offer a lot of beautiful scenic photos.

The setting sun casts long shadows on the road.

Shadow of me and Frost.

A breathe-taking photo of the evening.

Our J32 route took us through Lenga village.
There, I witnessed our "Michael Jordan" effect.
I was the last bike of our convoy which was passing through a Malaysian kampung.
We passed by an open-air volley ball court, where there are some 10 teenagers standing there on the court.
Apparently, before our convoy arrived, they were playing volley ball.
But as our big possession of bikes rode past them, they all stood there motionless, as if kena frozen in motion, some of them with their mouth still left hanging opened, as they stare at the numerous big bikes passing by them.

Even though I had rode numerous time through J32, the route once again ended before I have enough of the trunk road riding.

We headed into the familiar Pagoh petrol kiosk to fill up our tanks before hitting the final stretch of NorthSouth before entering Singapore.



Sayonarah!
Bye. Going home.

Aftermath

Once again, it was a wonderful ride.
All these rides up north never fail to lift my spirits.

A couple of days after our Mount Ophir ride, the Hornet Nest riders met at Tanjong Katong LC Foodcourt. There, we exchanged our photographs with each other.

LAN Gaming? Hackers at work? Or VCD pirates busy replicating CDs?
No. It's the Hornet Nest photographers with their high-tech digital photography and laptop wizardry. There's Smoking (in black), SV650(in white) and SaintDuDu(in red).
Some of the multimedia stuff they produced on their laptops are simply amazing!
Imagined our Mount Ophir ride got turned into a modern MTV accompanied by a hip soundtrack!

PS:
My apologies for not updating this motorcycling blog for a while.
I hope to continue to keep it regulated updated.
I still have lots of motorcycling adventures to share.
Do come back again.

I will leave you with a beautiful parting shot of the setting sun taken during our trip (courtesy of Tweety).