KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 8 — Local solo biker, Anita Yusof is no stranger to challenges as her adventures across the world have taught her the meaning of endurance.
Fuelled by passion and her love for adventure, the 54-year-old biker earned her name in the Asia Book of Records for the Longest Bike Solo Ride Across The World (women) in 2017 after completing her 370-day ride across 40 countries in four continents.
Coining her solo ride as the Global Dream Ride (GDR), Anita is now amid her second GDR which began in South Africa in December 2019.
For her second GDR, Anita aims to cover 70 countries in seven continents.
However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she has to put the ride on hold as she is currently stranded in Kenya.
“I covered 14 countries within those four months and in March, I had already reached Ethiopia when Covid-19 happened.”
“At first I thought this Covid-19 would last for five to six months tops, however that’s not the case,” Anita said, adding that she left her bike in Ethiopia while she managed to cross to Kenya as the international borders closed.
Speaking to Malay Mail in conjunction with International Women’s Day, Anita who’s counting the days to be reunited with her FZ150i bike said among the biggest challenges during her first GDR ride were the lack of funds and misinformation on border crossing fees.
“I started my journey from Seattle, United States.”
“From the US, I went to Canada then to Alaska and went down again to Canada and back to the US.”
“By the time I reached Mexico, my allocation of RM1,000 for border crossing fees was only RM300.
“Imagine that, Mexico was only the third country and I had another 37 countries left, so because of that, I had to save every penny,” Anita said.
Due to her unexpected predicament, Anita spent most of her journey eating nothing but plain porridge with some salt.
Although she lost weight drastically during her first GDR ride, Anita is proud that she was able to complete the trip that landed her name in Malaysia’s history.
Anita also recalled the harsh weather conditions while she was in the Patagonia region heading towards Argentina.
“There was this one time where I was left stranded for three days because the wind speed reached up to 103 kilometres per hour”
“The wind was my biggest enemy, because the bike I was riding was not light enough to be handled off-road and it’s not heavy enough to fight the winds.”
“Plus, the lack of shelter on the terrain made it more difficult as the landscape was just shrubs and bushes and there were no trees in sight, so I had to ride slowly,” she said.
According to Anita, before starting her second GDR, she thought the most challenging continent to ride in was South America.
That opinion has since changed since she started touring Africa.
Apart from the difficult off-road terrains, Anita also said that she had to keep an eye for wildlife too as not all their national parks have fences to keep the animals out.
This is after an encounter with three wild elephants during her ride in Botswana.
Besides that, being a solo traveller, Anita has to be cautious and alert even during stays at guesthouses and hostels.
“There are times when I would get teased or picked on when I stayed in guesthouses. People would knock on my door and they would make loud noises from outside.”
She recalled a stay in Namibia where she was the only person staying at a guesthouse.
While there was a female receptionist during the day, a man had come to cover the next shift.
“He then brought another friend and they were drinking and then they came to my doorstep and started calling me out and knocking on my door.”
“I ignored them and I had to sleep with one eye open,” Anita said adding that although her door was locked, she slept with a knife and a pepper spray in her hands that night as a precaution.
Despite all the hardships and challenges during her ride, Anita said the good moments outweighed the bad ones as it gave her the chance to meet people of all races and cultures.
Amongst her most cherished moments included getting to all the important landmarks she had targeted, and her experience of getting a warm welcome from the family of prominent bike accessories manufacturer, Givi at their headquarters in Italy during her first GDR.
Givi had also sponsored RM25,000 worth of accessories and after their meetup in Italy appointed her their global brand ambassador.
Anita has received many awards, locally and internationally, but admits that being chosen for the Tokoh Alumni Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris was the best.
“It’s not easy for a university to give you recognition especially for something that’s not related to academics.”
“It’s definitely the biggest achievement for me.”
Anita has been stranded in the Africa continent for nearly a year now due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although with the news of vaccines coming in around the world, Anita is hopeful that the borders would open back soon.
“If I were to go back to Malaysia and the borders suddenly open back, that would be a huge problem for me.”
“Because by right, if the border opens, I can continue my journey but how am I supposed to continue my journey if I’m in Malaysia?”
“That’s what is holding me back from returning to Malaysia just yet,” Anita said.
Anita used to be a lecturer at the Institut Pendidikan Guru Malaysia in Ipoh. The single mother of two retired from being a lecturer before going on her second GDR.
