Cycling The Globe

Distance: 94.17 km
Ridetime: 03:26:55
Average: 27.3 km/h
Total distance: 10311 km

If I had envisioned a quiet day by myself on the road, I was soon proven wrong. The amateur radio guys of Johor were about to pull off yet another surprise.

For the first 10 km I was cycling together with Sham, one of the local guys from Melaka. As we reached the state border between Melaka and Johor, a big group of people was waiting for us.

I was soon welcomed by Abdullah who introduced me to a number of people. Among them the marshals and the road police who would make sure I was safe on the road, the radio people from the next towns we were passing by, the press, and even a local politician.

After a few photo sessions the whole convoy started to move. A convoy that, if anything, was even bigger and more crazy than the one that had welcomed me to Melaka two days ago.

After just a few kilometers someone yelled “Hi Thomas” along the road. To the great surprise for both of us it was Za’im who I first met two weeks ago in Penang in Northern Malaysia. Za’im and his friend Cheng had decided to make a 700 km bicycle trip of their own down to Johor Bahru next to Singapore. An impressive trip because they are both riding so called fixie bicycles without gears. We decided to cycle together.

I was very happy to meet Zai’im and Cheng for two reasons. First of all we obviously share the passion for cycling. But, I was also very happy to have some cycling company today. Somehow it seemed to make more sense to cycle in a big convoy with police escort if we were three cyclists and not just me.

The road was flat with a nice tailwind so we were able to make some good speed.

In Batu Pahat I met even more people. I was invited to stay for the night in an office of one of the guys. A place that turned out to have a huge flat screen TV, Internet access and a very comfortable couch. Thanks a lot for yet another amazing welcome guys!