Awang Tinggal poses after safely arriving in Tawau on Oct 23.
BINTULU (Oct 26): A 77-year-old solo cyclist, Tinggal Lamudin, also known as Awang Tinggal, from Bintulu has set his own personal record by covering a distance of over 900 kilometres cycling from Bintulu to Tawau, Sabah.
The grandfather of 21 grandchildren and one great-grandchild began his mission cycling from Bintulu at 10am on Oct 10 and completed his tremendous solo bike ride to Tawau on Oct 23 at around 8am.
For the record, this was his third solo cycling mission after two successful feats from Bintulu to Miri on Dec 25, 2020 and Bintulu to Kuching on Oct 5 to Oct 10, 2021 even without main sponsorships from any parties.
He only received some contributions from close friends and those whom he met during his journey.
Awang Tinggal is very passionate about his feats, cycling long distances to challenge himself.
He fell in love with cycling activities two years ago and slowly tested his endurance cycling around Bintulu before deciding to go the extra mile by solo cycling to Miri.
After a successful feat to Miri, the veteran cyclist believed he could do more and started his five-day journey to Kuching.
According to Awang Tinggal, the challenge for this third mission was more to do with the unpredictable weather, which often rained along the way.
He added for any cyclist, one has to be fit especially when cycling on hilly terrain like in Sabah and even for an experienced cyclist it was still a challenge, and on his way to Tawau, he had his bike chain broken twice and the tyre went flat.
According to him, the journey from Miri to Brunei required him to keep his speed and pace consistently as he had to reach the Brunei border before it closed as he could not stay the night in Brunei, and luckily he was able to arrive on time.
One of his daughters, Nur Hayati, 35, when asked about her father’s extreme outdoor activities, said initially she was not really worried as her father only cycled around Bintulu and it was his passion.
“But when we were told about his solo mission to go outside Bintulu, as his daughter at first I was against it due to his age and long distance.
“But we respect his decision to continue with his mission. There are no children who will not get worried about their father’s safety and health when he is doing a solo ride without an escort, with unpredictable weather conditions and far from families,” said Nur Hayati.
She said for this third mission, Bintulu-Tawau, her father had planned it since last year after coming back from his second mission.
Nur Hayati was grateful to the kindness of Malaysians who had voluntarily supported and assisted him and he was even escorted half way while in Sabah and some assisted when his bicycle chain broke twice.
“We thank everyone for their help, luckily my father met good people along the way on his journey to Tawau, Sabah,” she said.