Bike Rally Man 2009

I survived! 128km of fat-man torture. Again.

This year’s NTU bike rally was more punishing for me, because of the slight change in route, and the weather.

It had nothing to do with my poorer fitness relative to last year. And the Sausage Egg McMuffin I ate a minute before moving off.

But I was pleasantly surprised to meet another new dontbeaboob reader. Sorry if I spell your name wrongly, its Jegnan right? You made my day. And it was nice to meet Mr Sivasothi, another reader who recognised me last year, from 20m away, to boot.

Thank you, for making me feel like the Brad Pitt of obscure blogs. Maybe one day I’ll be as reputed as fatcyclist.com. Good site by the way, given by Siu Sing.

In retrospect, I should have slept earlier, because I think I was moody in the morning. The Macs burger right before flag off, which I was still eating outside 7-11 when the air horn sounded, made me feel bloated and nauseous for the first 16km to the Labrador Park pit stop.

I’m not going to recount every single moment of the rally, as I think you[d be bored. I’ll try to give a balanced review of this year’s event. I’ll start with the critisicm, in true Singaporean spirit, but do reserve your judgements till you read the compliments in turn.

Complaints

In my humble opinion, I think this year’s organising committee weren’t as well prepared as last year’s. I heard that a record 6oo+ participants came down this year, up from 400+ last year, which leads me to think that there’s more funding to ensure that the event runs smoothly, befitting the Sports Club’s reputation of good events planning and management.

However, compared to last year, there were so few safety cyclists, in fact there was only one who was leading the way, a few hours into the race, at Mandai. The rest were scattered and were not doing their jobs. They were being more like participants, and not looking after my safety, instead of stopping and signalling cars like last year, they were just cycling beside me. The safety cyclsit at Mandai, the only one doing his job, kudos to you. Likewise, the road marshals, were few and far between and not at every junction compared to last year’s rally. And thank you for your very late signals especially on right turn junctions. It would help if you do not stand on the junction itself.

These issues however, are not my chief complaints. When it was in the late afternoon, at about 2p.m., Siu Sing, Isyraf and I were already at Pasir Ris, our own estate. From Elias Mall all the way past Downtown East up to the Shell Station near Loyang Point, there was not a single road marshall. There were a few left turns where people who don’t live in the area can get lost in, there were no signs, and no marshals to reassure us that we were on the right track.

And when it started to rain at Changi Beach, all the marshals ran for cover. I even cycled past the Changi pit stop a little, and had to check back to make sure it was there in the first place, as there were no marshals to direct cyclists from the road to the pitstop, which was not visible from the road. What’s more, there were 4 marshals huddled under their tent talking and laughing, 2 more sitting in the rain with ponchos on, while I saw many riders on the road, cycling past the pitstop in the heavy rain, all unaware that they missed the stop.

And to top it all off, 3 Cisco riders were idly talking at the toilet cum shelter, with their bikes being washed in the rain. Shouldn’t they be looking for stragglers, and marshalling people, ensuring safety, i.e. doing their jobs?

Another major issue I had was the drinks. Come on, where was the cold Gatorade, or at least cold water? At the Yishun pitstop, the drinks weren’t cold, but they gave a huge container of ice and people had to grab plastic cups to scoop up the ice and mix it with their drinks. Couldn’t you just put the ice in the water? At Serangoon, there were cold drinks, but only a little, and I had to tilt the container to drain out the remaining water. Made me feel bad for the guy behind me, so I didn’t take my fill.

Compliments

Ok, I complain a lot. But here comes the good points of the rally.

I loved the slight change in the route. It was more challenging and hilly, and though it came after the lactic burning section at Mandai, and even though I was cursing at the more hilly route change, it does add a greater sense of accomplishment to my finish. And I have never felt more drained since ORDing.

Some marshals, though misplaced on straight routes, which was probably not their fault, but lay with the route planners’ instead, were very enthusiastic and fun. We high-fived a few along the way, which was Sing’s idea of boosting morale.

I could see those unlucky few who had fallen or whose bikes had failed on them being attended to by the crew, though I’m not very sure of their response time, but at least they were attended to.

The Labrador Park and NTU pit stops were well stocked, which was more than I could say for the rest.

They thoughtfully provided ponchos for riders, but I would rather get wet, than hot and humid in a large plastic bag. It was thoughtful, nonetheless.

I loved Soyjoy! Because it’s a very drying snack, it goes well when you’ve bloated yourself with too much water. It sort of absorbs the water in your stomach and releases it slowly like a sponge. Haha. And knowing the price of Soyjoy, it was pleasing to have such an expensive, yummy, healthy snack. Though people of my eating habits would prefer nasi lemak or curry puffs. Haha. But Soyjoy’s good.

All I have left to say is this: I am no professional cyclist, and I’ve only attended 2 bike-related events, namely the previous year’s and this year’s bike rally. So my complaints may seem harsh or misguided. Maybe I was in an unlucky group of riders, who weren’t fast enough to see the marshals on the road, or weren’t slow enough to warrant the safety cyclists’ and Cisco’s attention. But all that is just my humble opinion.

All in all, I still say the NTU Sports Club did a great job. For $20 per participant, with pit stops all over Singapore, marshals, Cisco and medical teams on the ready, along with goody bags and lucky draws, they did a spectacular job.

In comparison, OCBC Cycle Singapore priced itself at $78 and above for each participant, and it was only a 40km stretch for non-professionals. Plus they had the financial and PR backing of an international bank, so doing what the NTU Sports Club did with $20 per person, and 128km of road in between, on top of being students in uni with personal responsibilities, kudos to all of you. And I guess with the current economic woes on sponsors’ minds, it may have been difficult to get sponsors. I noticed Cannondale was missing from the sponsors’ list compared to last year.

So enough droning. Good job this year, but compared to last year, it was a bit disappointing, though there may be other unseen factors in play that affected this year’s event planning. I go with the moolah factor? Anyone care to guess?

Personal Notes

I love my Maxxis Detonator road-training tyres! I bought it after last year’s rally in a bid to be a roadie, but I don’t like roads because of the inherent danger, especially if drivers drive like I do. It made riding easier over the long haul, though I was afraid that being a heavy rider (due to muscles, ok!) I would lose traction. And in the rain, I was afraid I would aquaplane when I hit the puddles and fall at speed. However, thanks to the Bicycling Magazine in the goody bag, which I just read today, I just learned that bikes cannot aquaplane, and that slick tyres maintain traction on wet tarmac. In fact, the more slick it is, the more traction it has, but only on tarmac. It doesn’t count those ridiculous aluminium drain covers on the sidewalks. Anyway, this was the 4th time using it, and I say buy it. They’re cheaper than the Panaracer messengers, though those are coloured.

I’m sorry Isyraf, if I went first at Mandai ah. I really cannot take the 7 consecutive camel humps in that area. And the tyres may be slick, but at speeds below 18kmh, they’re sticky as hell. So using my heavy weight, I speed down the hills and use my momentum to ride up, so I don’t need to crank up slowly uphill. Plus it was fun riding past the fitter road bikers. Haha. Suddenly being heavier gave its dividends. And my top speed was achieved at that area. It was the last long downhill stretch before we reached Yishun. I topped the speed at 53.8kmh. Fastest ever, and quite a proud moment for all jiggly cyclists around the world. And yes, I know that speed’s nothing for a fit roadie.

It was nice to have my 2 best friends and cycling buddies for the trip. Now that they know the route, we can try again, because my direction sense is as bad as an old woman’s. Haha. And Siu Sing, you fit man. Knobby tyres all the way, and still chirpy and fresh at the end, compared to the cold, crabby and hungry me in the rain. Isyraf also, you are one powerful fella. I would have taxied home if I had gotten severe cramps at Kranji. I would definitely have gone home when we passed by your house at Pasir Ris. But now all of us can wear our finishers’s t-shirts proudly.

Thanks to Siu Sing’s dad who fetched us so we didn’t need to cycle back home, wet and tired.

Oh ya, Audrey, I too forgot to take pics with you ah. Its like Japan again. Wasted oppurtunity. Haha. Next time, we both won't forget..

And lastly, a KFC 2pc meal has never been so fulfilling EVER. So was the 12-hour sleep I had. The butt pain today, however, is not very fulfilling. :)

I’ll definitely be joining next year. Woohoo!