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Last updated 06 Aug 2003

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The New Paper - 29 Apr 2003

SINGAPOREAN TRAIL BIKERS:
Roughing it out in Malaysian jungle

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way

By Zaihan Mohamed Yusof

UH oh, Steppen wolf got it wrong in Born To Be Wild.

If you're looking for adventure, you've to get off the road.

Like these trail riders who vroomed through the bush and jungle of wild Malaysia.

You've to be tough to do it.

Said Mr Ahmad Desuki, 41, one of the organisers from Cycfari Hummingbird Trail Finders (CHTF): 'There are no five-star hotels, good restaurants or hot showers in the jungle. All you have is mud, rain, dust and the heat.'

Trail-riding involves riding a motorcycle in rugged terrain.

Starting on Apr 17, CHTF's four-day trail ride covered a distance of 1,500km.

The 17 trail riders, all men, travelled as far as Lake Chini in Pahang before heading back to Singapore.

Mr Ahmad said mapping the trail around Lake Chini took 10 months of hard work.

'Sometimes we'd get lost during our recce of the trail. It's easy to lose your way in the jungle because everything looks the same,' said Mr Ahmad, a mechanic and former motocross racer.

'In some places, there were no locals to help us with directions. It was a painful lesson of trial and error.'

Before reaching Pahang, the riders stayed at a ranch in Kluang and a hotel in Segamat.

Most participants agreed it didn't matter where they slept at night.

'Any place will do for us,' said Mr Surinder Singh, 25, a life guard.

'In Singapore, you can't ride in the forests. You don't have the opportunity and it's against the law. But once across the border in Malaysia, you can feel the freedom. I'm satisfied as long as I get to ride.'

Half the group were men over 40.

The oldest rider was Mr Alfred Armstrong, a retired teacher with a pony-tail.

He had been racing motorcycles and cars so long that a fellow rider joked: 'If you cut a normal person with a knife, blood will come out. But if you cut Armstrong, he will bleed engine oil.'

ROCK-STEADY

In fact, Mr Armstrong was Mr Ahmad's mentor when the latter started racing in 1978.

'Riding has kept me going. It's the only thing I'm passionate about,' said Mr Armstrong, who wouldn't reveal his age.

While younger riders were falling off their bikes on the slippery trails, he was rock-steady.

Said Mr Armstrong, who rode a 250cc Honda dirt bike: 'It doesn't matter how powerful your bike is. You need to be steady and ready to expect the unexpected.

Some trails were 10m wide - barely enough for two logging trucks to pass each other. Some places were so thickly forested you couldn't walk two abreast without being slapped by branches.

One of the most memorable moments came when the riders heard what sounded like thunder.

The younger riders were oblivious, but the 'old hands' told them to hasten on.

For it was actually the growl of a 'Maybank' - what locals call a tiger.

Similarly an elephant is called a 'big brother', a snake, 'belt', and a crocodile, 'Gucci bag'.

One veteran rider said they follow the local custom of not naming the animal.

'We believe that if you don't mention them (the animals), then we won't cross each other's path,' said a rider who did not want to be named.

You need official permission to trail-ride in Malaysia.

For this journey, CHTF collaborated with Johor's Department of Agriculture.

Eco-tourism guides led the group from Keluang to Segamat.

Now if you want to join CHTF, you can't. Membership is by invitation or recommendation only.

Not here, please

STOP before you decide to rev your motorcycle engines and explore trails in Singapore's nature reserves.

Said a National Parks Board spokesman: 'Motorised vehicles are not allowed within parks, park connectors and nature reserves.'

Not only do such vehicles pose a danger to pedestrians, they also damage the vegetation and disturb wild life, the spokesman said.

Since 1990, park rangers have been carrying out enforcement measures which may include apprehending park users with motorised vehicles, the spokesman added.