Pedaling Across Malaysia - Final post before departure

Alright, so this is it. The final post I'll be writing before I head off to Padang Besar. The bike has been washed, lubricated, inspected, wrapped in gleeful amounts of bubble wrap and stowed away safely in a reused bike box that has been secured with industrial-grade plastic wrapping wire. 

I had a hard time getting the seatpost to come loose, pretty sure it froze on the inside of the seat-tube. However, with a little WD40 and a lot of elbow grease, I managed to get it out after half and hour or so, cleaned it and reapplied a new layer of grease on it before wrapping that in bubble wrap. Didn't want to just shorten the stem because that would risk scratching the carbon seat post. Apart from that, I also took off the rear derailleur and repositioned it within the frame with a layer of bubble wrap around it to reduce the risk of the mech hanger or the deraileur itself getting damaged. I've also mounted the mountings for the front and rear lights. 

Snug like a bug in a rug.

My bag packing is almost complete. My brother has loaned me his water-proof 20L Hypergear bag to store my clothes, phone charger and relevant other things that don't fair so well in the wet in it. It'll be going into my trusty Karrimor ruck sack along with my helmet, my faithful bike lock and my toiletries. 

Nice little magnetic reflective fluro patch from my aunt for extra visibility 

20L of water-proofing

My trusty lock, been with me since secondary school

I'm a simple man

I'll be bringing my Bontrager Ballista with me for the ride over my old Bell mainly for 2 reasons; the old Bell has already broke and I've fallen many times wearing it so it's far from being considered safe by any safety standard and seeing as that I'll be cycling about 100km per day, I'll get more Watt and time savings with an aero helmet.

Will be taking the Bontrager Ballista with me.

And finally the miscellaneous stuff. Some of these items could've been left inside the cardboard bike box but I've got very little faith in airport baggage handlers and in the event of a tear or rip in the box, these tiny parts might fall out. So, I'll be carrying them in my bad until I land and then fit them back onto the bike there. Apart from the stuff in the picture below, I'm charging up my power bank and action camera as well as making sure I've got all my necessary cables and charging stuff.

That's about it for now. I can't give too much information away as this is still the internet and you never know who might reading your content. All I can say for now is I'll be flying soon and I've already checked-in. Everything is pretty much settled. Just going to go over a couple of things to make sure everything is prepared and I'll be off. Again, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been so supportive of me over the past few months, the sponsors Mr Edmund Lim, Mr Siew and family, Ms Elizabeth Loke and 2 more annonymous individuals, my friends and family. (here's a link to a more comprehensive post) I'm so grateful to be able to do this and I hope I don't let any of you down. Thank you all so very much!

It's going to hard for me to blog while I'm out on the road as I won't be bringins a laptop or tablet with me, just my phone. So in the event you're interested in following my progress, I am pretty active on Instagram (click here to go to my page) and will be updating my profile there with regular pictures throughout my journey. Alternatively you can follow the hashtag #pedalingacrossmalaysia .

Pedaling Across Malaysia - Progress up until now

With only a few days left in 2016, here's a brief summary of what I've prepared up until now and what I've yet to do.

Bought the following equipment:

• 2 spare tubes (was initailly 3 but I'll get to that later) RM54 (RM18 per tube)

• 2 Continental Gatorskin 23mm tyres - they're known for their high degree of puncture-resistance. RM320 for both tyres. The outgoing pair was riddled with holes, cuts and tiny pieces of metal stuck in them. Quite surprised they were in such shape. I'll be hanging on to them though, to use as potential spares on the ride should I need them.

New Gatorskin tyres, will probably do a review of them soon 

Couple of holes on the old treads

Didn't notice this sliver of steel in the old tyre

Amazed it didn't pierce the inner tube

• 1 spare 10 speed chain - the current chain on my bike is already worn out but my shifts are still crisp and the chain has yet to jump under load so I'll keep the old chain on first. In the event it snaps along the ride, I'll switch to the new one. RM100

Loaned/sponsored equipment:

• Sony HDR AS300 Action Camera - I've gotta thank Mr Timothy Gan from Sony Malaysia and Carmen Cheong for mentioning me to him. Would never have gotten such a cool camera without either or you.

• Bicycle lights - Front and rear lights sponsored by my aunt, thank you Aunty Peng!

Already owned items:

• A mini pump
• 1 spare inner tube
• Multitool with a chain tool
• Tyre levers
• Chain quick links X 2
• Saddle bag
• Ruck sack
• Bicycle lock
• Helmet

Sent bike for servicing - I normally do my own servicing but I thought that I had best let the professionals have a look at my bike at least this one time. Just in case I missed anything. So I brought it over to the Specialized Concept Store in Petaling Jaya to let the guys over there have a look. Plus, it came with a wash and wheel truing all for RM50, pretty good deal considering they normally charge RM45 per wheel, excluding other services like the wash. Although if I'm being fair, they did accidentally puncture my inner tube and replaced it with a tube I purchased as a spare....so I guess that sorta makes up for the price. 

Booked my flight ticket (Air Asia) along with check-in baggage (RM67- No sponsorship from Uncle Tony) - Good thing bikes are relatively light. And I managed to find a bicycle box that was going to be thrown away to store it in so it doesn't get too roughed up during the flight. Pedalsport Taipan (check out my shop tour of the store here) was cool enough to just give it to me. So in return, I bought an extra inner tube from them since I always planned to have 4 in total anyway. Thanks guys!

One big empty box - check!

Things yet to be done:

• I've yet to make hotel reservations.
• Check all the equipment 
• Wash my bike prior to leaving
• Pack my bag

So, up until now, I've spent approximately RM591 on gear and travel expenses. That's a big bite out of the almost RM1000 (RM985)  I received from very generous sponsors. So in no particular order, I'd like to thank the following swell human beings for their generosity and kind-heartedness in helping me out in this little endeavor of mine. You've all helped so incredibly much and I'll never forget your kindness. Thank you all so much! :

• Mr Edmund Lim
• Mr Siew and family
• Ms Elizabeth Loke - all the way from the Land Down Under
• 2 more donors who wish to remain anonymous. 
  

And that's about it for now. I think there'll be 1 more update post after this one and then the ride begins! I'd like to extend my gratitude to everyone who's given me support and encouragement up until now. As Day 1 draws closer, I must admit that I'm getting a little more nervous day by day. But maybe that's my body's way of telling me I'm ready. Only time will tell.

To all my readers, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2017!

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!