Top 10 tools a cyclist should own

Cycling is a multi-faceted sport and in order to be a well-rounded cyclist, not only do we have to sharpen our skills on the bike, but a decent amount of emphasis also has to be placed on our technical know-how when it comes to working on our bikes. Indexing gears, trouble-shooting a pesky squeak, replacing an old worn out chain with a new one, replacing a punctured inner tube with a new one and so on.

However, all of that knowledge and insight won't get you far if you don't have the tools to execute them. And with the ever rising cost of living and the less than decent performance of our Ringgit over the past few years, investing in a good set of tools will help you save some cash in the long run as you'll be able to handle your mechanical problems in-house rather than get a bike mechanic to do it which is going to cost you cash. So, here are my top 10 tools every self-sustaining cyclist should have in order of increasing importance.

Spoke wrench/key

Kicking off this list at number 1 is a spoke key. After a couple of thousand kilometers or so, the spokes on our rims will twist and turn unevenly from one another due to the various impacts our tyres make with the road and all it's bumps and surprises, This, after awhile, will cause the rim to go out of true. This may not seem like an issue at first, but if not treated soon, it can cause the drive-train or groupset to wear-out prematurely, especially the chain and rear cassette. After awhile, the rim may start to rub against your brake pads or worse, the chain stays. Eventually, the structural deformity may become permanent, costing you a bomb as you'll need a new rim. A spoke key is needed to adjust the spokes of your rim in order to bring it back into true again.

The main reason why a spoke key is at the bottom of my list so to speak is because it's not an emergency tool and you're probably only going to be using it once every one to two years at most. Apart form that, in the event you don't want to buy one, most bike stores offer wheel truing services as part of their basic tune-ups which will cost you some where around RM45 to RM60. So not too much of a big deal.

Torque wrench
At number 2 is a torque wrench, a highly recommended tool in the event you own a carbon bike. According to senior bike mechanics, the number one cause of damage to a carbon frame or carbon components is not crashes, but over-tightening. This is where a torque wrench comes in. It is essentially a wrench or spanar that will ensure you tighten the screw on your carbon frame and components to their recommended settings and not go beyond. You've already spent so much on your prestine carbon bike, invest a little more so it stays prestine.

A torque wrench will be significantly more useful to you than a spoke key, as you'll service your headset, groupset, seatpost and what not much more frequently than truing your wheels. Plus, in the event you have a bike bag and travel frequently with it to races, you're going to have to disassemble certain parts of your bike before storing it into the bag, that'll require a torque wrench so as to ensure everything is set appropriately.

Chain-cleaner

Next up is a chain cleaner. This takes the lead over the torque wrench as any self-respecting cyclist would clean his or her bike at fairly regular intervals or at least an appropriate amount depending on how much he or she rides. It prolongs the life of your groupset, improves your bike's performance, adds moral to your rides and it's certainly going to be done more often that disassembling parts of your bike and reassembling them with a torque wrench.

Anyone who's ever tried to get their bike's drive train absolutely spotless will know it's virtually impossible to achieve regardless of how much degreaser and detergent you throw at it. And before you say anything, I will have to admit that I was skeptical at first, but once I saw how effective and EASY it was to use a chain-cleaner, all doubts just faded away. If you're serious about how clean you want your bike to be, a chain-cleaner is going to get you a long way.

Chain tool
Perhaps the second commonest mechanical issue you'll face when out on a ride after a punctured tyre is a snapped chain. In the event you don't keep track of how worn out your chain is, it may just snap on you one fine day when you're hustling up that climb and putting all you've got into your cranks. Cleaning your bike and drive train regularly will prevent all that grime and dirt from building up but all the cleaning is the world isn't going to prevent the inevitable. Everything ages with time and so does your chain.  

'Chain stretch' comes from the bushings wearing with the chain pins. Overtime, the inner diameter of these bushings increase and the pins groove out. Not only does this result in sloppy shifts, but it increases the risk of your chain snapping.

Regardless if you're out on the road and need to temporarily mend a snapped chain with a quick link or at home and are planning on replacing a worn-out chain with a new one, you're going to require a chain tool to break the links in the new chain prior to installation or in the old prior to installing the quick links.

From this point onwards, you'll find the tools I've actually spent money on to purchase as I feel they're worth the investment in the long run and have allowed me to maintain my bike without the need to depend on a bike shop mechanic. 

Allen keys

They might not be the most useful tools in an emergency, but chances are, you'll probably be using a set of Allen keys more often to make fine adjustments when you're servicing your bike than a chain tool to replace a snapped chain by the side on the road. In fact, they're probably the only tools on this list that can be used outside of cycling. From putting together furniture to tightening a loose screw, you'll be a regular handyman with just a set of Allen keys.

However, in the event you're interested in saving some cash instead of splurging on a full drawer's worth of Allen keys, just pick up sizes 4, 5 and 6 as these are the most commonly used keys as far as bicycles are concerned. Of course, a torque wrench would be preferable over regular Allen keys especially if you own a carbon bike, but taking into account cost and overall practicality, Allen keys are far cheaper, easier to obtain, require no calibration and can be used for far more things than just bikes

Saddle bag
Probably one of the earliest upgrades to a bike a cyclist can make long before aero rims or top of the line group sets is a saddle bag. Now, granted, you're bike doesn't need a saddle bag to function, nor will having one make you go faster. If anything, it does add some amount of weight to the bike. But take a look around the next time you're on a group ride an chances are a good majority of the bikes you see, no matter how high-end they are, will have a saddle bag on them. It just makes it more convenient to carry your essential tools with you when out on a ride. Plus, they're relatively inexpensive with a decent one costing you below RM150, sub-RM100 if it's on sale. 

No more needing to constantly stuff inner tubes, a mini pump, a multi tool, patches, etc into your back pockets every time you want to go out for a ride. Keep it all in a saddle bag so you'll never have to worry about such things ever again. 

My trusty 12 year old saddle bag, still going strong

Tyre levers
A puncture is an eventuality every cyclist will have to face one day. Even if it occurs not too far from home and we're able to pedal back at a snail's pace, the inner tube will still need replacing nonetheless. Plus, the ability to replace a punctured inner tube is considered by many to be a must-have skill for any cyclist, regardless of skill level.

Even though you can, with some degree of difficulty, replace a punctured tube with a new one without the aid of tyre levers, a pair of plastic tyre levers will cost you less than RM10, are small and weigh next to nothing, making them ideal tools to carry with you on any ride so as to be prepared for a pesky puncture. Most bike shops tend to sell 'puncture kits' that include a couple of tyre levers with one or two spare inner tubes and some tyre patches too.

Some tyre levers and spare inner tubes

Mini-pump
While we're still on the subject of punctures, a pair of tyre levers will only get you half way. In the event of a road side puncture and your hours away from home, you're going to need a pump to inflate the newly installed inner tube. As conveniently quick it is to use a track pump when inflating a tyre, they're far to big and cumbersome to be carried on a long distance ride, even if your bike has panniers and a pannier rack. Here is where a mini-pump comes in.

They may take a little while longer in comparison to a track pump, but they're far more portable and light, making them ideal pocket tools on long distance rides. The mini-pump I bring along on long rides is attached to a holster of sorts which integrates well with the bottle cage mounting holes on the seat tube. However, in the event you choose to get one that has to be carried in your back pocket, then I'd recommend prioritising portability over inflation speed. The way I see it, I'd rather have something that I'm going to have to carry all the time be portable rather than save an extra minute or two on that rare occasion when I have to do a road-side fix.

Multi tool
In the event you want to be well-equiped but don't want to have too many tools cluttering your house, then perhaps you could invest in a multi tool containing most of the aforementioned tools. A decent RM100 - RM200 tool usually comes equipped with 50% of the tools on this list. The one I'm using is the Crank Brother M17 which has Allen keys sizes 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm and 8mm, a chain tool that's 8, 9 and 10 speed compatible, a spoke wrench/key, a flat head and Phillips screwdrivers, a T-25 torx wrench for disc brake rotors and 8mm and 10mm open wrenches. If you do enough digging, you can probably find one for under RM130. The one I have is from USJ Cycles.

Ever since getting it, I've not had the need to reach for other individual tools, even when I'm sat at home and need to make adjustments to my bike. It's extremely portable and fits nicely in my saddle bag along with 2 spare tubes and 2 tyre levers. It weights just 168g and while it's probably not the lightest multi tool out there, what's a couple of extra grams for something that delivers exceptional value for money. 

Track pump
And finally, the most important tool, in my opinion, that every cyclist needs to have is a trawck pump. Even though you may have a mini-pump, there's no way it can beat out a track pump when it comes to practicality. It almost goes without saying that if you own a bicycle, you have to own a track pump. Even if you didn't have all the other tools on this list, if your tyres are underinflated or plain flat, there's no way you're going to be able to ride your bike without potentially damaging your tyres or rims or worse. It's like a owning a pair of running shoes without laces or a badminton racquet without it's string. Do I even need to get into this?

A pressure gauge like the one you see here would be preferable

And that's about it. This list wasn't put together with tons of scientific data to back it up. Instead, it's a very subjective one that takes into account my own personal experience with cycling tools as well as my opinions on how useful they are to the average cyclist, especially one who's on a budget. That's it for now. As always, feel free to leave any and all comments or questions in the comment section down below and I'll try my best to answer. Thank you for reading!

Things no one tells you before you start cycling

Congratulations! You've finally got yourself a bike along with some decent kit. That's probably the biggest hurdle you'll encounter when becoming a cyclists right? Getting the bike? Well, this article might, unfortunately, crush any dreams you may have of riding down the Champs Ellise in that yellow jersey one day. Here is my list of top 5 things people don't tell you before you start cycling.

It's hard
In most sports, professionals always make everything seem way easier than they actually are. Cycling is, unfotunately, no exception. From climbing a mountain to going on the attack, 100+ kilometer Tour de France stages to the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, it always seems so effortless on the TV. That is, until you actually try it out for yourself. Chances are, if you're getting into cycling without a decent background in some other physical sport, you're thighs and back will be killing you within 5km from home. Plus, if you've never ridden a bike before, you'll most probably be unfamiliar with bicycle gears or how to use them, causing you to be shifting late and stalling up a long climb.

Not only that, once you've built up a little more stamina, figured out how your gears work and generally feel a little better about yourself, enter group rides. The challenge of balancing your composure so as to ride predictably in the group while still pedaling your heart out and cursing under your breath to keep up with the wheel in front of you is perhaps a quirk exclusively found in cycling. And depsite all that effort and suffering, it'll be all the more disheartening when you get dropped, a.k.a the group is just too fast for you and you get left behind.

It's pricey
I've met my fair share of riders who've forked out bigs sums of cash or have taken out loans to pay for their high-end road stallions so as to own the latest and greatest the bicycle market has to offer. Unfortunately, in all that haste, they didn't stop to consider the long-term financial commitments that come with cycling. Owning a bike is, in many ways, similar to owning a car; you can suffer from punctures, it gets damaged in crashes, it requires regular sevicing, wear-and-tear affects the drive-train (gears and chain) and it can get stolen. And of course, as with a car, the pricier your bike is, the higher the cost to maintain it.

In my post on how to buy your first bike, I touched briefly on the different kinds of bicycle frames and groupsets out there. A groupset consists of the parts on your bike other than the frame, wheels, seat and seat post, handle bar and the handle bar stem. In other words, the gears, shifters, brakes, deraileurs and cranks. And as with a high-performance car engine, the higher end your groupset is, the more it's going to cost you to replace those parts once they've worn out. Not only that, most pro-team mechanics recommend changing your chain more frequently if you run a higher end groupset as it's far cheaper to change a chain than it is to change sprockets or the entire cassette once it's worn out. More frequent chain changes will allow your cassette to last longer, sometimes up through 5 chains. The frequency by which you should replace your chain with a new one has been widely debated by many in the cycling community. A consensus that comes up frequently on the internet is after 2000 miles (3200 kilometers) or so, even sooner if you're a little on the heavy side or if you do a lot of climbs. 

Apart from that, those who choose to go down the carbon route had best try to avoid crashes as best as they can. I mean sure, it goes without saying that no one wants to crash. But in the event lady luck took the day off and you do end up eating asphault, chances are you'll probably fare far better than your carbon companion. Carbon bikes are infamously known for their low levels of durability in the event of a major crash. Even if your frame doesn't snap in half, any cracks that form may result in your bike being too dangerous to ride. So, assuming all your groupset components are fine (less than likely), you'll have to get a completely new frame.

There's a lot to learn

Up until this point in the article, if you're even a little bit overwhelmed by the all information, don't worry, most beginners usually are. Wait until you realise what else you don't yet know. 

As with the components that make up a bicycle, from the ball bearings in your head tube down to the rubber that grips the road, there are so many things to learn about cycling. Regardless of how deep your pockets are, not all the problems you encounter can be solved by dropping by your local bike store and handing your bike over to the mechanic who'll be all too happy to see you. A road side mechanical will creep up on you and pounce one day, maybe not today, probably not tomorrow, but one day. And when that day comes, you had best hope you how how to solve your little conundrum, especially if you forgot to bring a phone and are miles away from home. (FYI, here's a list of things I recommend every cyclist carry with him/her when on a long ride). Being able to remedy a flat tyre and fix a broken chain are 2 skills every cyclist should have in his or her repertoir. 

Apart from emergencies, knowing how to perform a basic bike service ( ie replacing a worn out chain, regreasing your head tube and bottom bracket, degreasing and relubing your chain, indexing your gears, etc) will greatly help your wallet out in the long run and is a mark of a seasoned cyclist.

It's not going to get you a 'superhero' body

Unlike most other sports, professional cyclists aren't too well known for having Henry Cavill's Superman-esque body. Instead, our bodies are more akin to that of a T-Rex, big girthy thighs with toned calves while having little going on in the upper limbs. And trust me when I say, after awhile, you'll start to find your favourite pair of jeans or shorts just not fitting you right.

There are of course, exceptions to this law of cycling nature. Track cyclists like 6 time Olympic gold medalist Sir Chris Hoy and our very own Bronze medalist Azizul Awang for instance, both have quite muscular builds, full of the fast white-twitch muscle fibers needed to put out all those watts. But such bodies weren't built on bikes alone, track cyclist spend almost as many hours in the gym as they do out on the track. And before you ask, yes, professional road cyclists do spend some time in the gym as well, but the exercises they do aren't so much to turn them into sprinters but to complement the levels of fitness they achieve on their bikes. In fact, most amateur level riders are capable of putting out the same amount of maximum power of that of a professional. What sets the pros apart is their ability to sustain a higher than normal average power for a longer than normal period of time. So, in the event you think cycling's going to get you a spot in the next Avengers movie, it'd be best to consider a different sport altogether. Plus, our tan lines aren't exactly swimsuit magazine cover material.

It's rewarding

Despite all the obstacles and challenges you'll face as a cyclist, both on and off the road, there's no denying the high that it rewards us with as well as the addiction we so lovingly suffer from. Riding an hour continuously for the first time, finishing that first century ride, conquering that once unconquerable hill, your first race, your first duathlon or triathlon even, a ride across the country or even the world! Some of the many milestones a cyclist goes through, each worthy of celebration in our own small ways as well as acting as a marker for what we've already achieved and a reminder of everything else that we've yet to do.

And then theres its effect on our bodies. Health is not something that can be stolen, created or bought, it has to be earned. Being able to shred up the side of a mountain without slowing down but instead going "I've got this, gimme another gear" or hold the line at the front of a peloton while your mates rest their worn out asses behind you. Being less than 10% body fat or having a resting heartrate under 60 beats per minute, are goals that money can't buy and are in fact status symbols that we as cyclists strive for.

Our tan lines are our badges of honor, signs that we are warriors of the road who have suffered and fought through poor road conditions, ass-hat drivers and the unforgiving heat and should not be hidden but instead displayed proudly, within the confines of our homes.

In short/TL;DR : It's harder than it looks, it's expensive, there's a lot you don't yet know, you're not gonna get buff through cycling and it'll all be worth it at the end.

Annnnnddddd that's about it for this post. Do you agree with all my points? Were there things I missed out? Please do let me know in the comment section down below and tell me what you think. As always, I appreciate any and all feedback, comments and questions and will try my best to get back to you. Until next time, thanks for reading!

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!

Top 5 Most Important Equipment to Have When Cycling

It doesn't matter if you're new to cycling or a full-time professional, accidents can happen to us at any time when we're out on the roads regardless of our respective skill levels. This is especially more apparent here in Malaysia with our relatively sub-par road conditions and driving ethics in comparison to our more developed neighbors across the pond. The risk is only amplified the further we cycle from home on our occasional solo weekend epic century rides. Whether the fault falls on us, an errant driver. a sneaky pothole or mother nature herself, the best kinds of accidents are the ones we can walk away from in one piece without too much of a hassle. Even though there's no such thing as being too safe, one can still be prepared for the worst. With that in mind, here are my top 5 essential items to always carry without when you're out for a ride (helmets go without saying, duh!).

Identification
In the event something does happen to you *touch wood* and you end up lying by the side of the road, unconscious, it would be best if you carry with a decent amount of information about yourself. Things like your IC (Identification Card), a card with your blood type and other medical ailments such as known allergies and chronic conditions like diabetes mellitus, emergency contact numbers and anything else which you may think is relevant in the unfortunate circumstance you need emergency treatment. This will alert the relevant medical personnel regarding any significant medical history as well as allow them to contact your family or friends and update them on your condition. Most cycling jerseys have 3 pockets at the back, anyone of which would be more than sufficient to hold all your necessary info cards. I'd recommend keeping them in a waterproof ziplock bag or just a plain plastic bag so as long as it's intact.

IC, Blood group card, Organ donor card

Phone
Nowadays, it's hard to imagine being able to get through a day without our phones. They've become such integral part of our day to day dealings. From doing online shopping to GPS navigation (thank you Waze and Google Maps) to mapping our rides on Strava and snapping high-res pictures of our beautiful bikes and posting them on Instagram, all while being portable enough to fit into our pockets. In fact, some would even argue that living without a phone is an entire way of life on it's own. With it's multitude of functions, is it any wonder that a phone is on this list? In the event the explorer in you takes your ride a little too far and you get lost with day light fading away or you've suffered an irreparable mechanical problem, a friend or family member is just a call away or, at the very least, a taxi or an Uber (I'd go with the Uber). As with you're relevant info documents, you can stow your phone away in a ziplock bag into one of your back pockets. Alternatively, you could carry it in a saddle bag or a top tube bag that's not to crammed and cluttered with spare tubes and tyre levers, which brings us to the next item.

Emergency repair kit

A handful of more seasoned riders would say you've not riden you're bike enough if you've never had a puncture before. Regardless if that statement holds any weight at all, being able to mend a simple puncture or replace an inner tube should be within a cyclist's repertoire. After all, wouldn't it be embarrassing to be riding that expensive S-Works but not have a clue about basic bicycle care? If you don't already know how, then fret not for there are thousands upon thousands of tutorials on the mighty interweb, just take a little time and go do some research.

Saddle bag

In the even you're already well versed in the art of the punctured tyre, knowing how to solve your problem won't do you any good if you don't have the necessary tools with you at the time of the emergency. A couple of Allen keys, 2 spare inner tubes, 3 tyre levers and a mini-pump that's mounted onto my bike are what I carry with me all the time, just enough to get me back on 2 wheels and ride home. You may also consider picking up some tyre patches although I personally favour replacing a damaged tube immediately rather than mending it, purely for peace of mind so I don't have to worry about it acting up later on down the road. A CO2 (carbon dioxide) pump with a couple of CO2 canisters are the choice of some riders I know but I'm more traditional. Plus, in the event you don't securely attach the pump to the tyre valve, you may release all that CO2 into the air, wasting an entire canister. In the long run, a mini-pump is more economical. However, if you choose to go the CO2 pump way, make sure you know how to use it first.

Mini pump

3 generic tyre levers and 2 inner tubes = RM50

Apart from tyre complications, there is also the troublesome albeit uncommon issue of chain failure. In the even that does happen, having a chain-breaker along with a couple of emergency links with you will most definitely come in handy. You might not be able to shift through all your gears with the newly shortened chain, but it should at the very least get you home safely, following which you may look into installing a new chain. As I've already mentioned, having your chain snap on you is quite a rare phenomenon and I myself have had mine snap maybe twice throughout all my 12 odd years as a cyclist and because of this as well as for the sake of saving space in your saddle bag or bag pocket, I'd recommend getting a multi-tool with an integrated chain-breaker if you happen to be in the market for one. Even though it will get the job done significantly slower than a dedicated chain breaker, the way I see it, I am more than likely to not have my chain snap on me before it comes time for me to replace it due to wear and bike maintenance. So, I would prioritise portability over saving the additional few minutes in comparison to a dedicated chain-breaker.

My trusty Crankbrothers m17 multitool with chain-breaker 

Lights
In the event you commute to work regularly or enjoy going on night rights, chances are, visibility will become an issue, even on the most well lit of streets. Regardless of how much we spend on our bikes, kit or gear, none of that matters against a 2 ton lorry coming at us at upwards of 90km/h. Now, I understand that there is no guarantee lights are going to prevent us from getting hit by other road users or vice versa, but they will certainly reduce the risk, and as the saying goes, there's no such thing as being too safe. Investing in a decent front bicycle lamp that shines standard bright white light will illuminate your path ahead, allowing you to keep an eye out for potholes and other potential obstacles, enabling you to make the necessary steering corrections in time while a back lamp with a standard red light will warn motorists behind you of your presence. A fluorescent jacket or vest wouldn't be too bad as well, styling issues aside.

Cash
That epic ride: You set out before sunrise, route already pre-planned or programmed into your Garmin or smart phone, energy bars and gels fill up your back pockets, saddle bags packed with the necessary tools, bike in tip top shape and you're wearing your best kit. Two hours in, you're out of water, starving, you've eaten your last bar, you're not even half way done but you're miles from home. It's happened to me before and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. Being a little overambitious isn't necessarily a bad thing when you're out on a ride as it is ambition that pushes us further and allows us to climb higher, so as long as you have a right resources should you need them. In this case, carrying a little cash with you while on the road will allow you to purchase extra food and drink and, in the event it's absolutely necessary, hail a cab to get you home or stay at a hotel for the night. I plan my rides a little better nowadays but I still do carry a small amount of cash with me in the event of an emergency and if I want to stop and get a small snack along the way, local homemade kuih (traditional cakes) and goreng pisang (banana fritters) can be quite appetising after a long ride, with a nice coconut to wash it all down!

A cool little trick that some cyclists do is remove the cap at the ends of your handle bars, roll up some cash tightly, then slot them into your handle bar. Replace the cap afterwards. This is a nifty little trick if you don't like carry cash on you in fear of being mugged. At least this way, once you've emptied your pockets and the douche that robs you leaves, you've still got some cash with you. If he does decide to take off with your bike though, well, that just can't be helped.

Remove the handlebar cap

Roll up some cash

Insert cash into handle bar

Replace cap

There you have it, my top 5 most essential items to have with you when you're out riding. Now, I will admit I took a little leeway with some of the points, so they're not exactly five, but I deem them all to be important nonetheless. Did I miss anything or do you think there are other things that more important than any of the 5 I've mentioned? Do let me know and leave any questions or comments you have in the comment section down below and I will try my best to reply. Thanks for reading!