ANITA YUSOF

Madam

Born

6 December 1967

Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

Occupation

Motorcyclist

Race

Malay

Nationality

Malaysian

Record

65,369km

40 countries in 4 continents

Known for

Award

Cross border motorcyclist

Bike Solo Ride Across the World

(Female)

Books

Member

Expiry November 2124

Lim Ah Tao (Chinese: 林清水; pinyin: Lin QingShui; Hokkien : Lim Chee Jui; 23 April 1933 - 26 November 2015) was a citizen of Malaysia, residing at Setapak, Kuala Lumpur. He was a Malaysian Chinese businessman and entrepreneur, running a motorcycle repairing shop in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur. He was born in Malaysia, but a descendent of Fujian, QuanZou, Anxi. China.

Early Life

Anita was born in Batu Pahat, Johor in Malaysia, but was raised in Ipoh, Perak.

Before she was touring the world as a solo rider, Anita was touring the nation as the bassist for a rock band called SHEROX! They had their fair share of performing at the hotels, funfairs and beach festivals back in the 90s.

The band also had an album entitled 'Awek Rocker'. Pretty cool, if you ask us!

While we would imagine that the rock-out sessions were a blast, Anita would later take on a more conventional role: she became a lecturer. But of course, she keeps it exciting. Sports science is her area of expertise.

Somewhere along those years of imparting knowledge to keen learners, she found a new calling.

Although she has retired from the profession, she continues to educate by sharing knowledge and lessons she gained as a globetrotter through her social media posts and the books she writes, which include 'Kembara Solo Stans Asia Tengah' and the 'Andai Ini Takdir Yang Ku Pilih Siri' series.

Early Career

Anita, was a lecturer at Sultan Idris Education University (Physical Education Department at IPG Campus Ipoh). Then she started learning riding in April 2012 and 2015 she stated her journey to travel the world and she began her journey from Putrajaya on September 11, 2015, taking her ride through Bukit Kayu Hiram on September 16, 2016 and then she returned home a year later.

She was then selected and appointed as Givi ambassador in 2016 after finishing her first trip.[5] She has visited four continents and over 40 countries in 370 days, making it to over 40,000 miles (over 64,000 kms) on a Yamaha FZ150i.

Anita had always been deeply passionate about travelling. She was a serious backpacker who had been to various places around the world.

However, in 2012, Anita found herself in serious relationship conflict.

To take her mind off the troubling situation, she figured that she must find a new passion.

“Coincidentally, I read a blog about this cyclist. His name is Zahariz Khuzaimah. He was famous for his documentary on TV Al-Hijrah at one time. The title is 'Dengan Basikal Aku Menjelajah',” she recalled.

Upon learning about Zahariz’s exciting adventure where he had cycled from China to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and seeing the beautiful pictures he shared through his blog, Anita was left in awe. She made the effort to contact him to ask about how he managed to get to all those mesmerising locations. Well, as a seasoned backpacker, there shouldn't be a reason why she can’t step foot there too.

However, she would soon learn that she could not rely on public transportation in underdeveloped countries for such quests. “In order to visit all those places which he went to, I must have my own transport,” she said. Zahariz would later suggest that she rides a motorbike because “…if I were to ride a bicycle like him, it’s going to take forever.” Anita is the living proof that it is never too late to learn something new. Around the age of 45 to 46, she learnt how to ride a motorbike.

“It has always been my dream to travel around the world. I don't have any other hobby, so travelling is my one and only hobby. When I discovered the freedom of travelling, especially on two wheels, I told myself that it's now or never. I must do it while I'm still healthy and energetic,”

-Anita Yusof

Anita gets her dose of inspiration from Zahariz along with Hadi Hussein, her sifu and Tiffany Coates, an accomplished motorbike adventure traveller whom she had met several times across three different continents.

When asked about how her family reacted to her then newfound interest, the 53-year-old replied, “My mom – like all moms in this world – she was worried. She’s worried about my safety, but especially for the first Global Dream Ride (GDR).

"Now she’s a bit relaxed knowing that I can take care of myself. As for my children, they are used to their mom going somewhere on her own, so they are okay and sometimes they are even more excited than myself!”

Beginning of the ride

Not long after acquiring the new skill, Anita had begun riding around the world! In 2015, Anita began her GDR journey. She settled for a one-year unpaid leave to realize the mission. She embarked on her first GDR with a Yamaha FZ150i. “I've got two bikes of this type,” she stated. “I chose this (model) because it is a fuel-efficient motorbike. It has a 12-litre tank that can last for about 400 kilometres. It’s also lighter than a bigger capacity motorbike, so it's easier to handle off-roads, especially for a woman and at that time, I had only three years of riding experience and very little off-road skill. "Should anything go wrong with the bike, I can send the bike to any workshop for repairs – unlike the high-end bikes that you (have to) send to its service centre. And the spare parts for this bike are also easier to find and doesn't cost too much money,” she further elaborated. Despite facing some financial constraints, she made it work with minimal fund.

The determined lass had her bike flown from Kuala Lumpur to Seattle, United States and started riding from there. She rode north to Canada and made it to Alaska for a short while. “I had to get back down to Canada because it was so, so cold and I couldn't stand the chill. You just imagine I just arrived from a tropical country,” she reminisced. Considering that she began her ride in mid-September and due to lack of funds, she had to camp out at a time when the nights reach minus 20 degree Celsius, her retreat to Canada and later back to the States, is certainly justified. She would then make her way to the Central American countries. From there, she crossed the border to South America – Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. “And in Argentina, I rode all the way south to the southernmost point of the world, Ushuaia,” she told us.

She then travelled 3000 kilometres to reach Buenos Aires. From la Reina del Plata (Buenos Aires’ nickname which means the Queen of Silver #NowYouKnowLah), her bike was flown to London. “I started to do the European leg of my ride until Istanbul. And then, I entered Asia – from Turkey to Iran, then to Turkmenistan and then, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, all the -stan, and then to Russia,” she reflected.

“I rode all the way to Vladivostok, which was the easternmost point of my right. And if you check in a map, notice the first point of my ride, which was Seattle, and then look at where Vladivostok is, you will notice that Seattle and Vladivostok, both cities lie on almost the same latitude but are separated by the Pacific Ocean. "Should there be no ocean in between, I would have met point-to-point,” she added. How cool is that?!

Anita would then ride her way to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. As she had to forego the thought of riding in China (which is located south of Mongolia) due to the high fees it would cost her, she had her bike flown to Bangkok.

From the capital city of the Land of Smiles, she rode into Malaysia. On 16 September 2016, she entered the Bukit Kayu Hitam border and ended her ride.

After spending 370 days on the road for her first GDR, Anita clocked 65,369 kilometres in distance, crossing four continents and gracing 40 countries.