Ride Around Borneo Preparation - Heather's Thoughts

When I was invited to join Ride Around Borneo, I was hesitant to accept because it is a different style of touring than I was accustomed to. At the time the distances appeared daunting. In the four months preceding the start of RAB I toured Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and East Malaysia. That tour allowed me to train on the road to get comfortable with longer distances and camping. I still enjoyed the freedom of making fun first priority. This meant I could explore cities for a few days, get off the bike and trek into the mountains for a few days, and change and adapt my route as I went. No one knew where I was or if I was alive or reaching my planned destinations or not. I enjoy that anonymity. Having only been on solo tours I wasn’t sure how I would handle the interpersonal elements. A lucky chance meeting also gave me a taste of sharing the road and touring experience with another rider for a few weeks.

After four months on a solo tour I took a few days off on Pulau Pangkor to shift gears. It was clear that I was at my limit for touring and if it weren’t for the charities benefiting from the ride, I would have dropped out of RAB. I took the time on the beach to consider why I was doing the ride and to read a bit about the land and the people we’d be encountering. My interest and curiosity were renewed. With the number of supporters turning up to donate and buy t-shirts growing and the thought of people benefitting, I felt inspired to accept the challenges ahead.

In Kuala Lumpur the day before my flight I indulged in a few things that I might not have access to for a few months and did some last minute shopping. I picked up a box to pack my bike, then decided to meet a friend for coffee. When I returned to my hotel I set about packing. When it was time to take off the bike pedals I was stuck. They wouldn’t budge. Failed attempts to solicit help left me stranded and mildly stressed. Good conversation over dinner distracted me for a while, but when I returned to pack the problem was still there. I imagined the possibility of calling Rahim to tell him I’d missed my flight because I couldn’t pack my bike. Finally at 12am a maintenance worker from another hotel agreed to help me. He tried using a special tool and a lot of sweating and pushing, eventually he resorted to a lubricant spray and it spun right out. Packing was complete at 2am leaving me 2 hours to nap before setting off to the airport.

Reassembly was much easier. Actually it was done for me by Rahim and Alex Voo while I was being interviewed for an article in the Sabah Daily Express.

Heather being interviewed at Borneo Beach House