Rained On (And Almost Deflated)

I thought the rain had already stopped when I set off for my night training ride. It has been raining very heavily late in the evening and I thought the skies had already emptied during that sudden downpour. But I was wrong.

It started as a slight drizzle and as the kilometres went by it starts to get heavier and pretty soon I was soaked to my socks when I have to ride through puddles upon puddles. Have to, as I have to hold a straight line following the white line so as not to stray into the traffic lane and onto the path of drivers with impaired visibility of the road and the way ahead.

I prodded on regardless eager to complete my training distance and while it’s not exactly enjoyable; it was bearable. And then the front steering went wobbly suddenly and I stopped to check to discover a puncture in the front tyre. I had a spare tube and small hand pump with me but after changing the tube; I decided to call it a night after which the rained eased off and stopped!

The next day as I drove to work; I had another puncture – this time on the rear tyre.

And while these two consecutive punctures did not dampen nor deflate my spirit; the callous remark from an old friend who called me a “weirdo” for doing this charity nearly did! Anymore discouraging or disparaging remarks anyone? *sighs*

Punctured!

A leisurely Sunday morning ride punctuated by punctures ...

Suffering a puncture is what every cyclist dreads but at the back of their mind they know that it is not a matter of if but when! So I trust that I still have my sense of humour with me in the event that I encounter a puncture or two on my ride down from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching and hopefully not on both front and rear tyres on the same day! ;-)

A Thought to Ponder

Where the river meets the sea on a beautiful day out kayaking.

The Dalai Lama was asked,
“What thing about humanity surprises you the most?”

His answer,
“Man because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health. Then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn’t enjoy the present. As a result, he doesn’t live in the present or the future. He lives as if he’s never going to die. Then he dies having never really lived."

"Leg Power on Two Wheels to Raise Funds for Charity"

"The Borneo Post" - Thursday 18th August 2011

The Federation of Life Care Society had their first joint meeting in Sibu on the charity ride and called a press conference with regards and makes the news on "The Borneo Post" Thursday, 18th August 2011 issue.

This was also reported in the local Chinese daily newspapers, for those of you who can read Chinese.

 

My Father On A Bicycle

Mr. Ho Ho Lim, my late father a suave young man then in 1951, on his gentleman bike.

I have never seen my father on a bicycle before so I was quite delighted to chance upon an old photograph of him on a ‘gentleman bike’ which was taken in 1951, five years before I was born; otherwise I can say that cycling is in my blood!

And I think it is a really cool photograph and he looks really cool. And I also think that he would be really proud of and supportive of me on this charity ride if he was still alive today. I miss you and mum, dad.

25 accident-prone stretches in Sarawak identified

According to the 'New Straits Times' today, the Sarawak Road Safety Department has identified 25 accident-prone stretches of road in the state. I'll mark this down and will be extra careful when I'm on these stretches of roads. Safety first.

KUCHING: The Sarawak Road Safety Department has identified 25 accident-prone stretches of road in the state, director Rano Alywino Akat said today.

He said the stretches in Kuching were the Sultan Tengah Road, Km7 to Km15 of the Matang Road, the Stephen Yong Road, 7th to 15th mile of the Kuching-Serian Road, Km69 of the Lundu Road and the Tabuan Jaya-Kota Samarahan Road.

In Samarahan, the stretches were Km38 to Km59 of the Kuching-Serian Road, Km86 to Km87 of the Kuching-Serian Road and the Tondong-Bau Road.

In Sri Aman, the stretches were Km6 and Km106 to Km112 of the Sri Aman-Kuching Road, Km20 of the Sri Aman-Sarikei Road and Km16to Km19 of the Simpang Bukit Punda Road.

In Miri, the stretches were Km40 of the Miri-Bintulu Coastal Road, the Bakam-Luak Road, Km9 of the Pujut-Lutong Road, Km5 of the Miri by-pass and Km13 of the Lambir-Niah-Bintulu Road.

In Sarikei, the accident-prone stretches were Km33 to Km38 of the Saratok-Sarikei Road and Km25 of the Bukit Sebangkoi Road; in Sibu, the 6th to 13th mile of the Oya Road and the 32nd to 37th mile of the Sibu-Bintulu Road and in Bintulu, Km23 of the Bintulu-Sibu Road, Km15 of the Kidurong-Bintulu Road and Km30 of the Similajau-Niah Road.

Rano said that over the past three years, there had been a rise in the number of road accidents in Sarawak and road accident fatalities had also risen,from 323 in 2008 to 332 in 2009 and 365 in 2010.

"Sarawak recorded a loss in economic terms of RM4.13 billion between 2000 and 2010 as a result of deaths due to road accidents," he said. -- Bernama

This Is Your Life

This is a great manifesto to live by and I would like to share it. The Holstee Manifesto can be found on their about page.

Now that you’ve read it – all you need is the courage to just do it! But please don’t wait too long; or you’ll get 'old' before then. ;-)

Off to a Great Start!

Thanks to the generous support of the people in Meradong and Bintagor the fund raising for this charity ride is off to a great start!

I received the following post on my facebook wall this morning from Mr. Hung Sung Huo, the founder of Kuching Life Care Society -

The occasion is the inauguration dinner for the new committee for the Meradong Life Care Society. This is great news and very encouraging indeed.

Rear Panniers

From Wikipedia – “A pannier (pronounced /ˈpæniər/) is a basket, bag, box, or similar container, carried in pairs either slung over the back of a beast of burden, or attached to the sides of a bicycle or motorcycle. The term derives from the Old French, from Classical Latin, word for bread basket.”

I have been looking for them as I need them to carry what I need for this solo trip but the ones available in Kuching though really affordable are of poor quality in materials and fixing method (cumbersome straps that’s hard to put on and remove) to the bicycle racks.  Of even more concern is that they are not waterproof – I like to sleep in dry pyjamas ;-) The most popular brand that most cyclo tourists uses for their world wide adventures is ‘ortlieb’ which I could order from online but their prohibitive pricing meant that each time when it comes to the checkout; I think about my hard earned money and I hesistated!

Made-in-Thailand Vincita Rear Panniers on my hotel bed and soon on my bicycle rack!

So I was quite thrilled today to come across them at a Thai trade products fair in the hall next to the property expo that I was attending at Mid-Valley Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Vincita is a small Thai company specialising in making bicycle bags and accessories for the European export market and are trying to penetrate the Malaysian market after having established a dealership in Indonesia already. Anyway I bought their only pair of black (they are also available in red) waterproof rear pannier that they had on display at a very reasonable RM195/-. That’s one item I can tick off on my gear checklist for this trip! Great.

Proposed Ride Schedule

Tourist Map of Sarawak & Sabah found on the net.
I'll be using latest editions of Periplus Travel Maps that I can find from the bookshops here.

NOTE: The ride schedule has been updated - please refer to " The Route" Page for the latest information : http://kk2kuchingcharityride2011.blogspot.com/p/route.html

Tentatively this will be the ride schedule. But there may be some modifications as I get more accurate information on the distances I have to cover daily in order to complete the ride in a respectable time-frame. Ideally I want to cover around 100kms a day but it would appear that for Day 3 the distance from Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei to Miri would be around 160kms. On a cool day without any headwind I should be able to make it in around 8 hours of cycling as the route is mostly flat. With rest stops along the way, it would be at least a 10 hours day on the road!

I will update this schedule from time to time and any information on the distances between the towns/places that I have outlined would be most appreciated!

Date		Day	Daily Destination
28-Nov-11	Monday		Fly from Kuching to KK
29-Nov-11	Tuesday	1	START: KK - Sipitang
30-Nov-11	Wednesday	2	Sipitang - BSB
01-Dec-11	Thursday	3	BSB - Miri
02-Dec-11	Friday	4	Miri - Batu Niah
03-Dec-11	Saturday	5	Batu Niah - Bintulu
04-Dec-11	Sunday	6	Bintulu - Selangau
05-Dec-11	Monday	7	Selangau - Sibu
06-Dec-11	Tuesday	8	Sibu - Sarikei
07-Dec-11	Wednesday	9	Sarikei - Bukit Saban Resort
08-Dec-11	Thursday	10	Bukit Saban - Sri Aman
09-Dec-11	Friday	11	Sri Aman Rest - Serian
10-Dec-11	Saturday	12	FINISH: Serian - Kuching
11-Dec-11	Sunday	13

Announcement (I have to do it now!)

Sane young daughter, crazy old father!

I chose today to announce 'to the world' or rather on my facebook about this charity ride as it is my daughter's birthday today. I hope that she does not mind me posting her photo here which I have 'stolen' from her facebook! And if you are reading this Kim - Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

And I can't back out of this now! ;-)

Introduction - The Adventure Begins ... well sort of!

Wishful wishing for shady rides all the way ... somewhere in Kuching on an early Sunday morning.

www.kk2kuchingcharityride2011.blogspot.com 

That’s quite a mouthful as a name for a website address but it more or less describes what I am planning to doing come 29 November 2011 when I fly up to Kota Kinabalu to begin my ride down to Kuching.

More information will follow as I work out the details over the coming months. Lots to think about and things to get done (including this blog), to make this charity ride a success. It is not easy to juggle work, family and leisure; and there's only so many waking hours in a day. But so what's new. So let the adventure begin! Whatever.