MotoV Pagoh Challenge 2 & Durian Run

The plan was a durian run followed by Pagoh Challenge 2-a semi-treasure hunting bike topo competition in which some 6-12 teams of 3-5 bikes hunt down makan joints and waypoints. My team is of course one of the best in topo; I will explain why later.

We started the morning with Alan's briefing. We used the petrol station as the briefing point.


After about an hour's riding, we arrived at the street stalls. The durian season is on in Malaysia and we hit the first stall we saw.




As you can see, we are eating the Cat Mountain King liu lian. It appears my shifu Endlessloop is totally ecstatic with the taste







After the team had our fill, we began this year's Pagoh Challenge 2. Last year, my team hor lan and went into some single track jungle road, were late by 2 hours and single-handed caused Alan to start worrying if something happened to us. This year, I was determined our team would give a good account of ourselves. As you can see, we arrived at the first checkpoint-Pagoh's Armor Tank.

This year my team members are very smart in navigating. We decided to follow the other teams. Hence, we managed to get to this checkpoint without having to stop and consult maps. You see! I told you we were the best in topo.

After this point, we decided to continue following the other team. But they were mostly class 2 bikes, and quickly left my class 2A group behind. Our team then took a break at the petrol kiosk, asked for directions, and decided to head for checkpoint 3-Pagoh's Kway Teow Mee. This stall is located along route 23.


It starting pouring shortly after we resumed our hunt, and we had to pull over to wear our rain gear. Unfortunately, Seastorm lost her balance while she was about to dismount the bike. The stationary bike dropped broke her brake lever completely and we now had to look for a mechanic to fix the problem as she did not have spares. Riding without front brakes is very dangerous as motorcycles depend on them for almost all its stopping power. I took the lead and limited the speed to 40km/h for a short stretch and we found a mechanic. What luck!

It was fortunate that he modded a Kawasaki brake lever to fit Seastorm's Honda CBR400

The mech used to be a seasoned racer back in Signapore in the days when bike gangs used to hang their helmets in the front row of the cinemas. Most people in my generation do not know of such stories. I have only read on bike forums that when the TP arrived at the cinema, all the helmets with stickers would be pushed to the floor, and they would start arresting members who caused trouble.

The friendly shop owner even offered us some of his own home-grown durians. By now, Alan had came over to assess the situation. Since my team was held back by the incident for a rather long period, I cheekily suggested that Alan lead us to the Kway Teow mee stall.


This bowl of beef kway teow mee is the best I have eaten in Singapore and Malaysia. If you happen to pass by Tangkak along Route 23, remember to ask locals where is the stall.

As it was getting late, my team followed Alan to the last checkpoint-Yong Peng Yong Tau Fu. This is quite a famous stall in Yong Peng, a short ride from Tangkak. We concluded the year's Pagoh challenge with a proud record of finding zero checkpoints ourselves and 3 checkpoints out of 4 by following other. I told you our topo was good. If not for the unfortunate bike drop incident, I'm sure we would have found all 4 checkpoints by following others. :)


I was pleased that my team completed this trip safely and did not suffer any mishaps. A safe ride for my team without accidents is a successful and good trip to me. Riding along Pagoh's trunk roads was also a refreshing change from Singapore's daily city traffic. I enjoyed finding my cornering lines with my good old steed eveb though we were riding at moderate speeds. Till next year's Durian Run.