Wednesday, 22nd February 2023 We made the quick decision to go Fraser's Hill on Friday, 24th February 2023 just 2 days prior. Benjamin and Johnny had expressed their ability to travel with me with the latter offering us his car as our means of transportation. I proceeded to craft an event banner and posted up the event on Ascenders Team Facebook Group, hoping the Malaysian members can join us.
Event Banner
I got in touch with Siew from Kuala Lumpur who was interested to link up with us and ride up Fraser's Hill together. This was going to be exciting as I am going to meet someone who had ridden Zwift together but we have never met in real life till this day.
A quick booking was arranged for AirBnB accomodation right inside Kuala Kubu Bahru (KKB) town which is at the foot of the mountain using the AirBnB app.
I got in touch with the apartment owner and confirmed the stay at his apartment and tied down the small details for a smooth check-in and check-out.
Friday, 24th February 2023 So the stage was set to travel about 400km north into Selangor region of Malaysia from Singapore via drive over land. Johnny arranged to meet us on Friday noon at his residence car park in order to load up the bikes and luggages.
We took less than half an hour to complete the load up and set off towards Tuas Checkpoint for the departure. We did encounter a slight delay owing to a traffic jam while awaiting for customs clearance to depart from Singapore into Malaysia.
ONce we had cleared the Johor Customs, we took a quick fuel up break and switched drivers which led me to drive the car for most of the day. After nearly 200km being travelled, we decided to take a dinner break at Ayer Keroh Hentian (Rest Stop). In fact, we were looking forward to having the A&W Root Beer Float meal and were not disappointed when we got there.
A&W is the popular choice at this rest stop.
After consuming our quick dinner (fast food right?), we resumed on the journey towards KKB town which also required us to traverse through busy Kuala Lumpur on a Friday evening. Adding to the excitement, we drove through a severe rainstorm which hampered our travelling time due to poor visibility on the road.
Crazy rainstorm that took out most of our visibility
Fortunately our patience paid off and we safely got past Kuala Lumpur and arrived at KKB town shortly after 9:30pm.
Welcome to Kuala Kubu Bahru
Upon checking into our apartment, we quickly settled down and went to bed shortly after midnight. I could not wait for the fun ride up Fraser's Hill the next morning to come quicker. Good night everybody!
Saturday, 25th February 2023
I was awaken by my mobile phone alarm at 5am and swiftly rose up from my bed. We started the day by having our breakfast before changing into our cycling kits for the ride. Subsequently, we went down to the car and set up our respective bikes for the journey ahead. While all that was taking place, the local feline resident decided to pay us a visit and befriended us.
Scenes from the morning before the ride
We have arranged with our Malaysian friend, Siew to meet us at the apartment by 7am to have an early rollout in avoiding traffic and ride in cooler condition. Siew turned up slightly earlier and we had a brief exchange of pleasantries. After that, our group of 4 began the ride towards Fraser's Hill in a relaxed pace.
The Riding Party- Benjamin, Siew, Johnny, PatBot
The journey towards KKB Dam was rather peaceful as traffic volume was rather sparse. The weather was cool and a beautiful sunrise greeted us. Johnny was actually having a sore throat since our journey began from SIngapore, but he was determined to complete the ride with Benjamin in company. Siew and myself chatted as we rolled ahead. Midway up the mountain, Benjamin and I swapped roles as he went ahead with Siew while I stayed with Johnny to "The GAP" rest house.
Johnny appeared relaxed on his bike
We eventually reached the first checkpoint of the day at "The GAP" which featured a fine stone Tudor style resthouse which has since fallen into dilapidation. After taking a quick photo op at the milestone rock, we began the final ascent to the top of Fraser's Hill which featured steeper climbs as steep as 11% at some sections.
The key checkpoint at "The Gap"
Finally, after a 12 years hiatus I back at the top of Fraser's Hill. To commemorate this day, we took pictures with the famous clock tower as a keepsake of our effort. After that, we continued on to explore the roads around the peak of the mountain before making the final descent back to KKB Town.
Making memories at the top of Fraser's Hill
The downhill roll first took us back to "The GAP" before we continued on back to KKB Town which was really exciting yet daunting. Some sections of the roads were in really poor condition which added a level of challenge to staying rubber side down while descending. In addition, there was traffic coming up from the opposite side with did not exhibit the best of lane discipline. However, I managed to cope with all that while enjoying the descent down Fraser's Hill.
Descending into the clouds
The numerous encounters with poor road surfaces did give my wrists a bad sore for the rest of the ride. Despite that, we made it down safely to KKB Dam before commencing the final segment back to KKB town.
The opposite traffic can be rather testy at times
We finally arrived back at KKB town after half past noon. I felt that the time taken for the entire adventure was pretty fast and was a bit sad that it had came to an end. The guys did discussed prior to the ride that they wanted to be home by Saturday night. That meant we had little time to spare in KKB town for us to reach home by end of the day.
Back at our apartment car park
Relive! the adventure we did
So we quickly cleaned up and had our lunch at the Secret Recipe Restoran which is located next to our apartment. We treated ourselves to a fine meal in celebration for the success of our meet up.
Making it back safely for lunch
After tthe end of our celebratory lunch, we proceed to check out of the apartment and travelled back to Singapore immediately. We drove through the evening and night with great care and were able to reach home with our respective families around midnight.
The Movie Recap
Johnny has worked really hard to quickly put together a condensed video recap of the entire trip. Please enjoy watching it as you view what we went through together for a super quick trip put together for our cycling passion.
Thank you all for reading my adventure and please give a like if you enjoyed reading it.
* Video and photography credits: Johnny and Benjamin