Places to Ride: Taiping

Taiping Bike Park and Taiping Town

I think I speak for most of the local MTB community; the excitement was high when preview photos of Taiping Bike Park were released.

We recently managed to make the drive north to Taiping; on the weekend of TBP’s first race, the TBP Time Attack Enduro. In testament to how excited the Malaysian mountain biking community were about this track, race entries were sold out before you could say T-B-P

We were happy enough to try out the track the day before the race. TBP is a friendly place for the out of town rider; easy access to the trails, friendly Taiping riders and on this particular weekend, many familiar faces from all over Malaysia.

How would I describe the trail? FUN. FUN. FUN.

Oh and fun.

It’s a bit of a climb all the way to the highest point of the trail via a mix of single track and paved roads. It’s shaded most of the way, meaning you can ride all day and not suffer from the heat. The trails are well built, smooth wide singletrack with a number of features like rock gardens, blind roll downs and berms. It’s not like any other public access MTB track in the country.

If you haven’t been to TBP yet, get there say ASAP. Bring the family, make a weekend out of it. We sure did!

Thank you very much Taiping Bike Park builders and the Taiping’s MTB community. See you again soon!

Trip Notes

• Official Taiping Bike Park Facebook page – trailhead location, events etc
• Travel – Approximately 3 hours from KL take the Changkat Jering exit or 2 hours from Alor Setar in the north.
• We also had friends from Kedah taking the Komuter from Alor Setar train with bikes in tow. No bike box needed, just a small fee for the bike under KTMB’s Ride n Ride promotion. Closest stations are Taiping and Kamunting. Check the KTMB website regularly for updated information and confirmation
• We stayed in Tune Hotel, located just across the road from the trail head. We called ahead to check if they would let us keep our bikes in our room. They did! So add them to your bike friendly accommodation database.
• There are also a number of bike friendly accommodation in Taiping Town itself, a mere ten minute drive from the trailhead.
• The trailhead is located right behind the Tesco shopping centre, meaning you can ride all morning, stop for lunch and then keep on riding the rest of the day.
• Make sure you have time to spare to explore Taiping. It’s lovely town with good food, colonial architecture, a beautiful park around the town centre alone.