Cycle With Mush

I gave a photography and storytelling workshop to a batch of volunteers for MYCORPS. They are heading off to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Thankfully it is the first time that I am being paid RM500 per hour - and it was a 3 hour fun session! Before this I gave a workshop for the Ministry of Home Affairs and they were mostly middle-aged and older people. I understand that the workshop might have been too technical. But for these youths (aged 18-30) they were all ears. They definitely learnt how to operate a DSLR and take better compositions in their photographs. The last hour was dedicated to them practicing taking good pictures, and all coming back in the room where I went through all the photos and gave them my 'critique'. It was fun. So the workshop ended around 8pm and I reached home at 10pm (the workshop was held at Kuala Pilah). I then prepared my bike and everything else, and slept at 2 am. And woke up at 11am the next day. What a bummer. Fast forward to 4am t...

I own a USD1000 hard tail mountain bike, the Twitter Blackhawk. I bought it after I left my first mountain bike back in Sudan, after cycling around there. This is an upgraded bicycle - it has Shimano XT 11 speed gears, hydraulic disc brakes, 29 inch wheels and fat 2.1 width tires. It comes with 100mm of travel air fork suspension, and is size 17 and it has the latest technology when it comes to hubs, as it uses thru-axles. In short, its a big bike meant for heavy duty riding outdoors. Even the handlebar grips are screw on, and the only problem I had with it was the chains snapped on one ride when I was using the high gear with the lower gear at the back wheel. I have now a few 11 speed replacement links in case it happens again. The bike also weighs in at 12.5kg - pretty light for a big bicycle. But the thing is the bike's tire make it hard to go fast or for long distance, because its very fat. There is a lot of rolling resistance. Sure, I don't give a second thought ...

So I have been bikepacking from Penang to Taiping and Ipoh. But I had 1 large backpack on my back. I then decided to transform by mountain bike into a full touring bike after getting a rack, and Ortlieb panners. I hope that my bicycle will be able to handle the journey around Malaysia. I would also like to thank a special someone who once came into my life, Yvonne. When I was bikepacking from Penang to Ipoh, I had this sense in my heart to check up on her life, and what she has been up to. I have been thinking about her for the past few months already. Turns out the same time I was bikepacking minimally, she was cycling around the UK, on a mountain bike modified to be a touring bike. I respect her courage and her passion into cycling - I wish we had more time together so that I was the one who could have taught her about cycling and camping etc, as she is facing quite a lot of difficulties on her own. I hope to one day bikepack with her around the world. Anyways, back to my Cycli...