Topeak Bikamper

'Been planning another multi-day solo ride but this time I require a real tent, not 2 ground sheets cobbled together into a basha tent like I did for emergency camping on the recent Thailand-to-Singapore Ride. After a Sunday morning ride, Viki and Louis, of Cycle Craft, dropped the Topeak Bikeamper™ off at my place. Thanks, guys  :-D

One of the main reasons why I chose the SGD$230 Bikamper™ is its reliance on the bicycle frame as integral parts of its supporting structure. This is an added security bonus for me: if someone tries to take off with my bike at night, the tent will collapse on me, alerting me to the theft in progress. (Of course, the thief could replace the frame with a well-constructed wooden structure, but if you are that heavy a sleeper, then perhaps you shouldn't be solo camping, no?)




Rolled up, the tent is small enough to chuck on a rear rack, trunk bag, or pannier.





A great plus point of this tent is its versatility in mounting. Note the handlebar straps and stem band on the stuff sack.





These features allow the 1.63 kg (3.59 lb) tent to be mounted up front.





What's inside.





The yellow cord seems relatively useless, IMHO. An elastic loop would be better.





Left to right: tent, rain fly, tent pegs.





2 guy lines (plus 1 spare), 9 pegs (plus 1 spare), and fork anchor kit.





Fork anchor kit assembled.





Fork anchor kit secured into the ground.





Bike secured onto fork anchor.





Guy lines secured.





Head end of tent is stretched over the handlebars and secured by means of velcro straps.

In windy conditions, once the tent is secured at this step, there's little danger of it being blown away.





A wider view.





Inserting front wheel into tail end of tent.





The wheel slides into a special pocket sewn on the outside of the tent.





Zippers on each side envelop the wheel.





Pegs on either side assist in anchoring the wheel.





Tent erect. Mesh panels closed.

Note:  the tent is approximately 1+ inch lower at the tail end because the front wheel is a 26" rim with 1" slicks. The tent is designed for 26" rims with off-road tires or 700c wheels. I do not know if 700c x 45 wheels will fit.





Mesh panels partially open.





Mesh panels fully unzipped.





The tent has a single door on the right side. This means that unless you are training to be a contortionist, your sleeping bag should ideally open on the right side as well.





It's cozy inside. I.e. unless you're really petite, there's no room for panniers or backpacks.





The rain fly attaches to the tail end via a plastic buckle.

Attaching the fly requires a little more care in windy conditions: a strong gust could rip the fly off the plastic buckle and send it sailing to the blue yonder.





The sides of the rain fly also attach to the tent via plastic buckles.





A black elastic band helps secure a portion of the rain fly to the handlebar. The head end of the rain fly wraps around the rear of the saddle by means of a reinforced section (in the shape of a saddle) and a drawstring.





Rain fly installed.





What it looks like inside. Excuse the shorts, it's pleasant 21° C (69.8° F) today.





Head end of the tent.





I spent a couple of nights sleeping on my cousin's yard to test out the Bikamper™.





The first night, it was 10° C (50° F); the second, 9° C (48.2° F).





While I won't call the interior of the Bikamper™ claustophobic, changing clothes in the tent does require some flexibility. There's barely enough space to sit straight up without your head hitting the roof of the tent. The lantern loop on the top is useless for all but the lightest and smallest of lanterns. Hint:  don't even try it with the Black Diamond Apollo™ 3W LED Lantern.





The Campers Corner Ultralight 600 (750 grams) proved adequate to 10° C (50° F).





However, when the temperature dipped to 9° C (48.2° F), due to my low body fat (current BMI 17.4), I required the addition of a silk sleep sack, thermal underwear, beanie, wool socks, and silk gloves to keep warm.





For lower temperatures in higher elevations (since it's too late at this stage to get the Cocoon I or Cocoon II), I acquired a Mountain Hardware Lamina 20™ sleeping bag (1346 grams) that's rated to -7° C (20° F) from a local camping outfitter.





Packed, the AUD$250 Lamina 20 (19.05 cm x 38.10 cm) is significantly larger than the SGD$70 Ultralight 600 (14 cm x 23 cm), but its colder temperature rating will give me added security in the mountains. The Lamina 20 is also 596 grams heavier and 3.56 times the price.

Both sleeping bags have no trouble fitting into the Topeak Bikamper™. The interior of the tent is 200 cm (6 ft 7.8 inch) long, so it might be unsuitable for really tall individuals.

All in all, I am rather pleased with the product. While it is not as light as the MSR Carbon Reflex Solo, it has no poles to break, and provides some vestige of security for my bike.

Additional impressions may be added at a later date after extended field use.

Thailand to Singapore, via East Coast of Malaysia, Ride

Here's a raw GPS plot of my journey (via MacGPS Pro). It will take some time to get it rendered on a map as my venerable 1st generation Apple PowerBook G4 Titanium does not possess enough VRAM (8 MB) to run Google Earth.





Almost all the stamps are on the same page  :-D

As this is a multi-day ride, the ride report is lengthy; hence, so it will be broken up into daily reports. Pictures with comments will be interspersed with the end-of-the-day journal entries; occasional disjunctions / discontinuities are unavoidable.

As I post each day's ride report (it may take a fortnight or so, to complete all of them; there are approximately 1352 pictures and 44 videos to sort, edit, and notate), this page — with links to each day — will remain as the index to the 2-week trip.

Prologue
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Epilogue







                                         The Winners

                             ("The Story of the Gadsbys")

         What the moral? Who rides may read.
         When the night is thick and the tracks are blind
         A friend at a pinch is a friend, indeed,
         But a fool to wait for the laggard behind.
         Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne,
         He travels the fastest who travels alone.

         White hands cling to the tightened rein,
         Slipping the spur from the booted heel,
         Tenderest voices cry " Turn again!"
         Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel,
         High hopes faint on a warm hearth-stone —
         He travels the fastest who travels alone.

         One may fall but he falls by himself —
         Falls by himself with himself to blame.
         One may attain and to him is pelf —
         Loot of the city in Gold or Fame.
         Plunder of earth shall be all his own
         Who travels the fastest and travels alone.

         Wherefore the more ye be helpen-.en and stayed,
         Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil,
         Sing the heretical song I have made —
         His be the labour and yours be the spoil.
         Win by his aid and the aid disown —
         He travels the fastest who travels alone!

         (Joseph Rudyard Kipling)

Thailand to Singapore, via East Coast of Malaysia, Ride: Epilogue

[T]he meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of those misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.

         (Joseph Conrad)





Just like that, the 14-day tour is over.

How time flies when you're having fun.

Aside from from confronting my fears, testing my intuition, mental, emotional, and physical limits — and regaling in the abundance of solitude — I had the time of my life observing different cultures, social and governmental systems from the ground level; experiencing the kindness and spontaneous generosity of strangers, and having my belief that most people are inherently good reaffirmed. Regular people, heartened by the (comical?) sight of a lone cyclist ladened with luggage, slowly inching his way across their country — despite the cheaper, easy availability of mechanized efficiency — actually cheering and rooting for the endeavorer, suggests, at least to me, that romance is not dead. Or, maybe they just think I'm a retard.

In this aspect, what started as a solo journey became less and less so as the days progressed; a succession of strangers gradually (and unknowingly) linked by the passage of a bicycle, and a story unfolding, hidden within the scribbled pages of a journal. What is recorded in these pages then, become less about the rider and more about the communities and people he came into contact with, however fleetingly. I have become no longer the focus of the narration, but merely the projector's motor — these people and their landscapes are the film.

Deepest gratitude to the following, who made this ride possible and/or contributed to its success:

God; Mom, Dad, Auntie Fong, Uncle Jimmy, Cheryl; Peter Chew (Cycle Corner 6285 1468); Calvin Tay, Xavier Goh, Mabe (Campers' Corner); Chris Wee; Sulaiman (The Rebound Centre 6743 9474); Hon Shin; Viki, Louis, Ahmad (Cycle Craft); Miss Chua (Jinson Industries), Castron Computer Components; Karen Kuah, Nicholas Mok, Francis Chow, Sol, Wayne & Kristina Carpenter, Jamie, Natalie & Nick, Dexter Ong, boagy, brettou, Mr Pumpy, Martin Adserballe, Bine & Uli, Janne Corax, dragonc, kso1, rinconbay, Geer37, greenmango, diuofo, Norman Fischer, and Elmo.


         Thank you.





GPS log does not include the ride north of Tak Bai.





Did this approximation while waiting for my food at Desaru on Day 12.





Not too far off, eh?










Image courtesy of Hon Shin.


DATA

Distance  1021.6 km (638.5 miles)
Elevation climbed  2195 m (7200 ft)
53 hours 46 minutes 8 seconds
Average speed  19 km/h (11.88 mph)
Maximum speed  52.7 km/h (32.94 mph)

Lowest temperature  79° F (26.1° C) (Day 14)
Highest temperature  110° F (43.3° C) (Day 10)

Shortest riding time  1 hour 56 minutes 23 seconds (Day 2)
Longest riding time  6 hours 8 minutes 35 seconds (Day 14)

Least distance  37.66 km (23.54 miles) (Day 2)
Most distance  123.93 km (77.46 miles) (Day 14)

Least climbing  50 ft (15 m) (Day 2)
Most climbing  2150 ft (655.5 m) (Day 14)

Bike:  1991 Bridgestone MB-3 Michelle ("my belle")
Size  49 cm (19.29 inch) [Center-to-top]
Lowest weight  41 kg (90.2 lb)
Highest weight  47 kg (103.4 lb)

Rider:
187 cm (6' 2")
Weight:
Start (September 15)  64 kg (140.8 lb)
End (September 28)  60 kg (132 lb)


Things I should have brought along

lightweight cup
immersion cup heater
JetBoil™ service kit
spare computer sensor cable
spare helmet buckle
spare rear deraileur
another mirror for non-drive side (useful when filtering through heavy traffic in cities)
non-whistling compass
collapsable chopsticks
clothes pegs
motorcycle





No mobile / cell phone was carried or ever used on this ride.

Ride conducted solo.

Thailand to Singapore, via East Coast of Malaysia, Ride: Day 14

Solitude is strength; to depend on the presence of the crowd is weakness. The man who needs a mob to nerve him is much more alone than he imagines.

         (Paul Brunton)










The peaceful morning masks a night of turmoil and pain: the mushroom linguine carbonara I had for dinner contained too much purines, triggering a gout attack in my left knee at 3:40 AM. 'Hobbled out of bed, swallowed 500 mg of enteric-coated aspirin and 500 mg of paracetamol. At 5:04 AM, determining it to be a gout attack and not an overuse / overexertion injury, I took 500 mg of colchicine.





At 7 AM, I took 500 mg more of paracetamol and prepared a light breakfast of 3 salted biscuits and a cup of coffee. The resort offers a breakfast buffet for RM30 but I didn't have much of an appetite.





8:35 AM.
Despite the left hamstring still clicking, I deemed my body fit enough for the ride to Singapore.





Checked out at 8:48 AM.

Temperature  86° F (30° C)





I love the sign. Beautiful joke.

(Where's the humor? Do the ride and find out!)





There's a certain pleasurable sense of foreboding upon seeing such numbers.

9.11 km (5.7 miles) from Sebana Cove, I took my 3rd GU Energy Gel of the trip, to spare some glycogen for burning fats later in the day.





Just before the junction to Highway 89, but I am not taking the ferry to Changi today.





10:15 AM.
Petronas gas station outside Desaru. Had a 2nd breakfast of a chocolate bun, an iced-coffee, and a pack of Milo here.


DATA

Distance to Desaru from Sebana Cove

Cateye AT-100
Elevation climbed  370 feet (112.8 m)
1 hour 9 minutes 28 seconds
Average speed  13.2 mph (21.1 km/h)
Maximum speed  29.8 mph (47.7 km/h)
Distance  15.3 miles (24.5 km)
Temperature   95° F (35° C)





Despite the warmth (95° F / 35° C), it was drizzling rather heavily. Here, I found the complementary shower cap to be a rather nifty transparent rain cover for the handlebar bag.





Breakfast #2 done; drizzle stopped; road's dry; time to roll.





Junction with Highway 99. Took this turn under a year ago on the Sedili Mega Loop Ride.





The slight incline hints at what lies ahead.





58.28 km (36.4 miles) from Sebana Cove, I dodged a potentially nasty accident. There was a traffic jam; a female driver, checking her make up with the vanity mirror — not paying attention — only realized it at the last moment, served into the road shoulder to avoid rear-ending the car in front of her. When she got to the road shoulder, she realized that half of it was gravel. Not wanting the pebbles to scratch her precious paint job, she slammed on the brakes.

Suddenly, instead of a clear path before me, I faced a wall of steel less than 40 feet in front of me. On my right are other vehicles coming to a stop, a wall of moving steel and glass as well; on my left is another wall of mud and rocks — at 48+ km/h (30+ mph), on a 45 kg (99 lb) bike, I had nowhere to go. It's stop or splat.

Thank goodness I disregarded conventional advice and set my medium-profile cantilever brakes just a notch below maximum leverage a month ago.





Anger at the inattentive idiotic moronic dumbass driver for almost turning me into a human pretzel is better spent fueling the climbs up the hills ahead.

Upon reaching the junction before Kota Tinggi, where I had to made the decision whether to take the shorter route (bypassing the town completely), or go through town, I chose the latter. Having a BMI that dropped to 17.2 during the first 4 days of the tour, any opportunity to top up on food should be treasured.


DATA

Distance to Kota Tinggi from Sebana Cove

Cateye AT-100
Elevation climbed  1240 feet (378 m)
3 hours 13 minutes 3 seconds
Average speed  13 mph (20.8 km/h)
Maximum speed  31.8 mph (50.9 km/h)
Distance  41.9 miles (67.4 km)
Temperature   92° F (33.3° C)

Cateye Velo 5
Distance  67.57 km (42.23 miles)
Maximum speed  51.2 km/h





1:20 PM.
Ducked into Loong Foong Restoran, a dim sum shop, just in time to escape a heavy shower.










2:15 PM.
'Was about to set off when the rain lightened, but then it increased intensity again, becoming a monsoon deluge. So, I went back into Loong Foong Restoran and ordered a cup of kopi-O (coffee with sugar, no milk). I inquired about the best way to get out of Kota Tinggi. Through the course of the exchange, they were piqued by my adventures along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. When the rain let off again and it was time to go, they insisted that the coffee is on them. Maybe I should be a minstrel or something  :-D





Well, the downpour only eased off for a few minutes before coming back full force (and then some). In the limited visibility, I took a wrong turn and went onto Jalan Jaafar instead of the road out of town. There, deciding that though I'm not made of sugar, I'm not impervious to speeding trucks — with drivers half-blind in the rain — either, I ducked into a hawker center.





And ended up chatting with the owner of a Bak Kut Teh stall.





She showed me pictures of the devastating flood that hit the town on the 20th of December 2006. I found myself eating Bak Kut Teh — the spiciest kind, with loads of peppercorns, and she uses fiery chili padi rather than the regular, anemic red chilies, for the the thick, black soy dipping sauce — under the roar of a tin roof, rattling with the fury of a tropical monsoon; and flipping through photo albums of a place — where I am now sitting and eating — that was once under 15 feet (4.5 m) of water. Sometimes, getting lost is fun.










Husband and wife putting away the table I sat at for the last hour.





Leaving Kota Tinggi. Recognize the bridge and building from the lady's photo album? Check out smaller picture. Also, check out 0:16 of this video.










Yes, yes. Purple. I got it in 1991 from the wonderful folks at Bridgestone @ Far East Shopping Center, back when I was a wee innocent JC kid and thought that cycling along Bukit Timah Road was impossible, and round island (Singapore) rides were classified as suicide attempts by the traffic police. Look what they've done to me:  17 years on, I'm dressed like a mad man, smell worse, and tell tall tales in foreign countries for food and drink. Man, what they've done to me?  :-P





Boy (and coin phone) saying, "helo," at flooded Kampung Surau Kampung Batu 25, outside Kota Tinggi.





Lemang! I know it's hard work cooking this delicacy, but I still think I got ripped off @ RM8 a stick.





I bought 2 and lugged them 55+ km (34.4 miles) back to Singapore.

Weightweenie? Who sez aye a weightweenie?
Aye kills heem! Noh! Aye kills heem two times err!

The friendly truck driver's word of caution at Jemaluang was spot on: Ulu Tiram wasn't fun. 3 chaps followed me around in their car. When I turned into a gas station, they followed, parked and waited. So, I fiddled with my bike. This went on for 3 gas stations and 45 minutes. Finally, they gave up and drove off.

Umm... hello, whatever money I've left can't even fill up your gas tank, and you spent 45 minutes following and stalking me in your car. Let me take a wild guess, you underachieving bandits are named Moe, Curly, and Larry?

Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.

         (Juvenal)


Maybe the lemang ran out and they wanted mine or something...





One.





6:13 PM Sunday, 28th September 2008.

My first 1000 km (625 miles) unsupported solo road tour  :-D





6:50 PM. As I sat outside an Esso gas station, fresh sweat reviving old; coated in road grime, drenched by drizzle, showers, storms, and #@%&! road spray; and drinking iced-coffee and 100 Plus, a Singaporean-registered car roared up. Whilst their precious, pampered, domestic-maid-fed — spoonfed hand-fed — teens stay huddled behind locked doors, the wife frantically scanned around, as the middle-aged husband pumped gas into the vehicle at a speed that would make any pit crew envious. Then, darting back into the safety of their COE-entitled, ERP-equipped, GPS-guided, cell phone-enabled, DVD-capable, car, they sped off toward the cocooned safety of Singapore ala Back to the future...





         ...while I sat and played with the gas station's resident cat.





         It must be difficult, living in such fear.





Gas station toilet art.

I was so busy feeding the cat that I left the 3 maps I bought at the counter. Luckily I was only 3 km away when I discovered that.

Johor Bahru pavement + bike fully loaded with panniers = ultimate skills park.





The reception at Singapore Woodlands Immigration Checkpoint was far from endearing: I didn't expect to be questioned about what was I doing in Southern Thailand; why I made this trip without anyone ordering me to; how is it that I am doing this without any cause; or, if I considered how dangerous it is to travel alone through a foreign country.

Thanks for wasting an hour of my life.

Stay in your coop, gentlemen.





         Thank you, Michelle  :-)





         8:44 PM Sunday, 28th September 2008.





         JOANNE, IVY, CLOE: Where have you been???

         MICHELLE: Boy, do I have stories to tell you!



DATA

Cateye AT-100
Elevation climbed  2150 feet (655.5 m)
6 hours 8 minutes 35 seconds
Average speed  12.5 mph (20 km/h)
Maximum speed  31.8 mph (50.9 km/h)
Distance  76.9 miles (123 km)
Temperature   79° - 95° F (26.1° - 35° C)

Cateye Velo 5
Distance  123.93 km (77.46 miles)
Maximum speed  51.2 km/h
Cumulative distance  1021.6 km (638.5 miles)

Whatever you do.....Don't ever do it for anyone but yourself.

         (Peter Croft)