Pedalling Across Malaysia - Preparations

Hello! My name is Benjamin Choo, I'm 24 years old this year. I'm a medical graduate currently awaiting placement in government service. In January of 2017, I plan to embark on a solo ride across the country, from the northern tip of Perlis in Padang Besar, right down to Johor Bahru in Johor. At the moment, I'm expecting to complete the journey within 10 to 14 days. I can't give out too many details yet for precautionary safety reasons but I will continue to update this blog with my progress up until the day of, what I think will likely be, the most epic ride I'll ever embark on in my life. Yay?

This ride has been a dream of mine for quite awhile now. Medical school took up the bulk of the past 6 years of my life, so many missed family trips, gatherings, adventures and experiences. I've always had an enthusiasm towards bikes, leading a healthy life as well as a bit of adventure. It's not so hard to imagine then that I would want to go on such a trip with what limited amount of free time I have on my hands at the moment. 

In the mean time, I will continue my preparations up until the day of my departure, which mainly consist of regular amounts of daily cycling (I'm doing about 10 - 15 hours a week now) with regular doses of jogging and swimming, route planning, lodging details, equipment gathering and other bits and pieces. However, all this planning isn't going to get me far if I don't have the necessary funds and equipment for it. Which is why I'm writing this post, rather shamelessly if I might add, to request for any form of sponsorship possible. Whether in the form of donations (not necessarily RM2.6b) or actual physical equipment down to biscuits I can munch on during the ride, anything and

everything will be greatly appreciated and will go far in helping me achieve this little dream of mine.

At the moment, this is what I have so far:

• 1 bicycle that's in pretty good shape
• 1 helmet
• 1 pair of cycling shorts
• 1 pair of cycling shoes
• 1 rucksack to carry everything in
• 1 saddle bag
• 1 multitool + chain breaker (to fix a potential broken chain) - Thank you Desmond, Edward and Carmen.
• 1 set of tyre levers (to change a flat tyre)
• 1 mini-pump
• 2 500ml water bottles
• 1 bicycle lock
• Front light (plus additional equipment) - Thank you Aunty Peng!
• Some chain links (to mend a broken chain)
• Financial aid - Thank you Mr Edmund Lim and other anonymous donors!

Equipment still needed:

• A few spare tyre tubes
• A spare chain
• 2 tyres

Additional useful but non-essential equipment:

• An extra pair of cycling shorts 
• A rain jacket 
• A back light
• Energy bars/gels/electrolyte drinks
• A pair of cycling gloves
• A bell
• Anything else which you may think is useful

And that's about it. Feel free to contact me via this email (benchoo92@gmail.com) or leave a comment down below and I'll get back to you. Again, any form of sponsorship would to mean a great deal to me and will definitely be helping me out next year. Thank you for reading!