Sunday, August 4, 2013

OCBC Cycle 2013

I conquered another challenge this year - 42KM cycling from Singapore F1 Building to East Coast Park, to and fro.

It was another event sponsored by the company. I did not have any cycling training beforehand due to the busy workload. However, after knowing that it would be excruciating painful riding on bikes for hours, I decided to get myself a bike short which I did not regret at the end (it was quite expensive). 

On April 28, 2013 early in the morning, I really mean early, it was as early as 3am, I took a cab with 2 colleagues to the site. The organizer decided to push forward the check-in procedure due to Boston marathon bombing few days before the event. Excitedly after checking in, we collected our rented bikes and started to get ourselves familiar with the bike function. =.= Yea, moment before the event, we only start to figure out which button is for which function. 

It was very crowded as ten thousands of participants took part in that morning. In the beginning, we kind of enjoying ourselves, we were chatting while cycling leisurely. We didn't find ourselves having any problem cycling up Nicoll Highway. Then slowly, we all cycled at our own pace. Throughout the journey, I was challenging myself to the boredom of cycling non-stop and the physical determination. Luckily, along the way, there were many attractions which we normally can pass through by car only and do not have the chance to take picture. However, on and off, I saw some accidents, like participants collided and fell down when having some turns. 

Finally after one hour of cycling, there came the first hydration stop. I quickly went in to get myself hydrated. After resting for few minutes, I found my butt reluctant to get on the bike as it was really painful to stick on the seat for an hour. But I was determined to finish the journey, so quickly I resumed cycling. I could not imagine if I did not get myself the bike short.

Soon, after an hour, I was back to Nicoll Highway. But this time, I no longer had the energy to cycle up. Both my legs went jelly the moment I came down to push my bike. @@ Indeed many participants also like me, pushed the bike up. I spent some time there to enjoy the scenery and also took some pictures.


There, gradually I reunited with some colleagues, and so we cycled together to finish the route! 


A taste of success with colleagues after 2.5 hours at the finishing line!