Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide.
Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to increase awareness and funds for men’s health issues, raising USD710 million to fund over 1,200 men’s health projects focusing on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.
Annie Lim came up with a brilliant idea for the R@SKLs to plan a Movember charity fun ride in conjunction with Pegasus Cycles. She developed the concept and a number of R@SKLs joined her to make the event a reality.
Annie worked on marketing materials and sponsors. CK Lim persuaded some of his suppliers to provide discounted products for sale on the day of the event. Mark Lim got this event onto the Peatix platform so that participants could register online. Daniel Lim helped develop the route for the ride.
You would be excused for thinking that this was a Lim clan event. Not so. There were non-Lims involved too.
Simon Soo Hu lined up the organisations we would donate all proceeds to. Leonard Yee and Kelin Chan picked up various bits and pieces that needed doing. And more than a dozen other R@SKLs volunteered to man junctions along the route to ensure that no participants got lost during the ride.
Within a few weeks of Annie first mooting the idea, we were ready to run the charity fun ride.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
Annie and Daniel completed the final task of putting up directional signs along the route on the eve of the event.
Photograph courtesy of Daniel Lim
We had just over 100 participants registered on Peatix. About 70 turned up despite the wet roads on Saturday morning.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
Befitting a Movember event, we had some moustaches and beards.
Leonard welcomed the participants and wished the Mo.Bros and Mo.Sistas a safe and enjoyable Movember charity fun ride.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
The route was a moderately challenging 20km /12.5mi loop through the leafy residential neighbourhoods of Sri Hartamas and Bukit Damansara.
Map courtesy of Ride With GPS
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
“Moderately challenging” because there were about 400 metres / 1.300 feet of climbing to do.
Despite the climbs, everyone enjoyed the ride.
A number of stops were included within the route to ensure that the group didn’t get too stretched out on the road.
The R@SKLs were in their pink jerseys so that everyone could spot them as they manned each junction on the course.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
We also had roving support in the form of Annie on her motorbike.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
Mark and Marco on Mark’s scooter.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
And Kelin and Sulaiman in Kelin’s SUV.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
Fortunately, we had no major mishaps during the event. There were one minor fall and a couple of mechanical problems. As far as I can tell, there were only two flat tires. As luck would have it, it was ride leader Daniel who had the first puncture. Here being ably attended to by his Pegasus Cycles colleague Sulaiman.
Photograph courtesy of CK Lim
Making it up the last climb on Jalan Beringin warranted a wave!
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
Everyone rolled safely back to Pegasus Cycles.
Where there was finger food waiting.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
Also on hand to dispense nitro coffee and pineapple ginger tea from his combi van was Simon Chua of Tiffi Tap. Simon generously donated 20% of his takings to the Movember cause.
Participants browsed a number of stands set up by businesses who came out to support Pegasus Cycles during this event.
My Revv Energy donated energy gels to all participants. The R@SKLs very own Jake Sow runs Lotos Marketing Sdn Bhd. Jake donated 70 bottles of Liang Liang Cool Shirt spray for sale, with all proceeds going to the Movember cause.
Along with displaying products from Oakley, Pedla, Ride 100% and Silca, Cyclist Wardrobe also donated Kask Protone helmets for auction. Ngee Cycle Sdn Bhd, Gin Huat Sdn Bhd and Aeco Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd also made products available to participants at discounted prices.
While the participants were snacking on curry puffs, chicken wings and sandwiches, and downing cups of Tiffi Tap nitro coffee and tea, Leonard conducted the charity auction, which included a set of Cane Creek ee brakes and a limited edition Kask Paul Smith Protone helmet.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
The happy winning bidder for the second Kask Protone helmet!
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
The main reason for the Movember charity fun ride was of course to raise funds for men’s health. I am delighted to say that the R@SKLs will donate RM12,000 / USD2,865 to The Prostate Cancer Society of Malaysia and RM5,880 / USD1,404 to The Malaysian Clearinghouse for Men’s Health.
Representing these organisations were Encik Zakaria Hamid of The Prostate Cancer Society of Malaysia and Professor Dr Ng Chirk Jenn of The Malaysian Clearinghouse for Men’s Health.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
Professor Dr Ng kindly gave us a short talk to answer the question “Does cycling cause prostate cancer and infertility in men?”
And the answer is “Men, you can keep on cycling!” 
Dr Ng highlighted that men in Malaysia need to be much more concerned about colorectal cancer. Malaysian men are more likely to develop colorectal cancer than Malaysian women. The good news about colorectal cancer is that it is preventable as you can be detected and treated early if you go for regular screenings.
Also gracing our event were, from the left, Dr Teo Chin Hai of the Department of Primary Care Medicine, University of Malaya (in the red shirt), Madam and Mr KL Kong and Mr Peter Wong of The Prostate Cancer Society of Malaysia.
The Malaysian Clearinghouse for Men’s Health is hosted by The Department of Primary Care Medicine, University of Malaya.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
The Movember charity fun ride was a roaring success. Everyone had a good time, and more importantly, everyone stayed safe. We raised a hefty chunk of change for two very deserving NGOs which work hard to combat men’s health issues.
Congratulations R@SKLs, Pegasus Cycles, participants, sponsors and donors.
Photograph courtesy of Johan Sopiee
We will have to do this again.
Notes:
A very grateful and appreciative “Thank You” goes to Johan Sopiee. He took more than 1,000 photographs of this event. You can view the Facebook gallery of his photos by clicking here.
You can relive the event through a video created by Marco Lai. Click here.
Old Roots, New Routes 