Sep 16, 2006

I Came.. I Cycled.. I Conquered.. & I Concussed!

Posted by Mr.Keropok

I have finally did it! I have finally completed the Tour De Eastern Singapore in the recent night cycling adventure! This is definitely something which will go down into my personal history books.

To most of you, going on a night cycling adventure isn't anywhere near a big accomplishment, comparatively with a triathlon or Ironman competition.. those would sound more like a major challenge. But if you know my history, I only picked up cycling at the age of 21 in my army days. Since then till the time before this night cycling, I had only cycled less than 10 times! Especially for my dear friends whom have seen me on "bicycle action" at Pulau Ubin in last December's youth camp.. I would consider myself a wobbly and dangerous road hog cyclist! Now that's how amatuer or "cannot-make-it" I am in cycling.

When this night cycling event first came about, I was excited about joining.. but back of my mind also nervous whether I could complete the whole route! But I decided to just give it a try anyway. When we flagged off the event at 11:00PM, I was on a road of no returns. The only motivation I had were many of my church youths striding along beside me and encouraging this old fogy along. Many times along the route, I just felt like giving up and hopping on to the safety vehicle tagging behind us. Plus the increasingly painful butt-ache wasn't helping me any much. My mind was only thinking "God! When is all these gonna end????? Buay tahan already ah!"

By the last 1KM of the route, I could barely make it anymore, just building on momentum to cycle the bike. And when we hit the end point, I was so so so glad that the ordeal was finally over! Lack of sleep, tiredness, butt pain, hand aches... all these doesn't matter anymore for that moment... I have finally conquered night cycling! I probably cycled 100 times more than the accumulated distance I cycled through the past 5 years! Woohoo!!! I did it!!!

One important principle I learnt through this gruelling journey. Victory and success is indeed sweet and a mountain top feeling. But without the training, journey and process behind it, victory would not have been possible! In life, we all want to enjoy the victory and champagne popping success, but the key actually lies in persevering, growing and learning valuable life lessons through the whole journey. There is no short cut to successes in life... Life is not cooking 3 minutes instant noodles!

*Pat on my back for conquering night cycling!* Now looking ahead, the next challenge: Swissotel Vertical Challenge! Scaling up 73 storeys of stairs of Swissotel!

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