You need guts..

Today, I woke up at 5am to get ready for my 1st ever cycling event - the OCBC Cycle Singapore 2009. My hamstrings were still sore from last week but it definitely felt better after the rub down from mummy the night before. It was really shitty to climb out of bed at such an ungodly hour, but I did, knowing that Jason, Jiajie and Nicolas were going to be waiting for me at some junction for the ride down to the start point at the F1 pit stop area.

I hurriedly ate my cereals and left house. The gang met up and started the ride to the start point. When we reached, the amount of bicycles there was astonishing! It was literally 'bike porn'..Pinarello Princes were littered all over together with Trek roadbikes and the like. We waited for our start time.

The air gun was sounded and we charged down the 1st stretch. Jiajie, as usual, was right ahead followed by Nicolas and then Jason and I together. The starting speed easily reached 45km/h! It was insane. Adrenaline can really cause you to do mad things. After the 1st turn, I could hardly see Jiajie and Nicolas. Jason was also pulling away from me. I was all alone..I have never seen myself as a strong cyclist, so there was really nothing to be disappointed about. I had only one thing on my mind: to finish the race safely. On the 2nd turn, I saw a dislodged wheel in the middle of the road from afar and heard a lot of shoutings. A cyclist has fallen on the turn and his front wheel came out! Goodness!

The next few turns were filled with warnings shouted by the front riders giving the rest at the back ample time to expect what is to come. A few turns down the race route, I witnessed first hand an accident. The cyclist infront of me made a large turning angle on his way into East Coast Park from Fort Road and this caused another cyclist behind to collide into him and fall, bringing with him another 2 cyclists. It was freaking dangerous!

The cyclist infront of me still turned back to look and even muttered a half-hearted "sorry". I shouted "focus on the road!" and sped pass him. I felt bad for the cyclists who crashed out because most probably they will not continue with the race, and even if they did, it will be a bad experience overall for them. Sometimes, it just takes abit of courtesy during races to ensure that everyone participating will leave with a good experience and will continue to train harder for the next event. Singaporeans are at times too competitive.

When I competed in my 1st triathlon (olympic distance) in Bintan last year, I left with a very good experience. It spurred me on to train harder for my next event. You can make a difference, and if everyone does his/her own part, the world will definitely be a better place.

Anyways, in East Coast Park, I felt very good after the initial soreness in my legs. I was in the 2nd peloton, Jiajie in the lead pack, Nicolas in the chase pack and Jason somewhere infront of me. I had around 20-30 cyclist in my pack and we travelled like birds in a formation, utilizing energy efficiently. I had finally found a group where I can draft behind at a comfortable speed of 40km/h.

As we advanced further into the course, I saw Jason and overtook him. Then, it was whacking all the way. I saw that the speed on my speedometer was dropping to 36km/h with the front riders slowing down, not wanting to go any faster, all waiting for someone to surge forward so as to ride in their draft. I hesitated and did not make the move. The speed began to pick up again. After another 5km, the same thing happened again. This time, I dropped out of the line formation and made a sprint to the front. I was leading the pack. I hang on to 43km/h and was almost dying. The headwind was killer insane and I could hardly hold on. It was then, another rider came beside me. "Together" was all he said. He took the lead and I drafted behind. This happened a few times, and with each challenge, I felt better and stronger.

I realised that in cycling, you have to have guts. You have to give all you have got, pushing your limits until you know you can do no better and leave the place with no regrets; this is the same for life. Altogether, I made 3/4 challenges and finished the race in a time of about 1hr 4-5mins. The exact time is not out yet, I will post when it is out. =] Jiajie did his in sub 1hr, Nicolas in 1hr 01mins and Jason in 1hr 6-7mins. Jiajie believes that we have a very good chance of winning the school team challenge! Hahas..hopefully we do. Until the results, I have to catch up with work. Mug, mug, mug..