Monday, April 02, 2007

April, April's fool, and the great April Cyfora

April Chin Mun Teng was born on April Fools day. Pretty cool huh? I think she's aptly named April. :) We had a little birthday get together on the night before which resulted in lots and lots of ice cream and lots and lots of camwhoring. I don't have much to say. We'll let the images speak for themselves. Happy 21st again April!!! :)

- photos -

When they all dropped me off, Steven called me a few minutes later. He said he's got a flat and needs some help. I was so ready to sprint off to my dad's room, wake him up and go on a rescue mission. But shortly after i hung up, he called again and yelled Apppprrrrril Fooooooool! into the phone. God, i can't remember the last time i was pranked on April Fools day. haha...

***

So the great Cyfora race arrived. I was MILDLY nervous, a TAD unsettled, and feeling a TINGE of queasiness. It was an 85 km race! The furthest distance i've ever done was 60 km. And that was 5 months ago! And since then i think i've cycled an accumulated distance of 30 km. yes...it was nerve wrecking watching the other pro cyclist gear up and hop on their expensive multi-thousand dollar bikes. The rainy weather did not help.

When it started, my aim was just to stay with the pact. Little did i know, that was much much MUCH harder than i thought. I trailed behind at about 10kms into the race. and when i hit 15kms, they were out of sight. I was DEAD LAST. To emphasize how far behind i was, i had a convoy of 2 police officials and a st john's ambulance on my tail. Yup...come to think of it, being last was as glamourous as being first! except that the response you get from the people along the streets are not that of cheers and applause, but rather laughter and blank stares.

Alex and Christina were with me in case anything happens i.e. me losing my way. I had to ask them where to go at every junction. Through their window they tutored me on gear shifting and things like that. It was so pathetic it was almost humourous. I would have laughed if i wasn't feeling that much of a loser. oh well...

At km 20 i gave up. There was a traffic jam leading up to the cemetary and the cars were trying to overtake each other. I ended up cycling off the road to the muddy side pathways. I was splattered in mud up to my waist. My bike was caked in gooey mud. So i hopped into Alex's car. It was a feeling of defeat, but if i were to continue i'd be troubling a lot more people than myself. It's ok, there's always next season.

It was a pity i forgot to snap a photo of my bike. But i did snap a photo of my purple jersey.
the bike was worse. *shrugs*

7 comments:

irvinz said...

dont worry karen, there is next time! plus u took the effort to join.. imagine ppl who have not even tried..

galnexdor said...

hehe thanks guys...

yea...at least i went and gave it a shot...i just never knew how being LAST felt...seriously...i never knew...:)

Anonymous said...

The experience is what counts :)

Are you going to Langkawi end of this month? I'm dragging one of my friends to register this saturday at MV. We're gonna take it slow and steady because we're both n00bs at this kinda thing.

galnexdor said...

hey anonymous! thank u so much for letting me know that the langkawi wilderness challenge is back! when u mentioned langkawi at the end of this month i was wondering what race u were talking abt...i had to google it a few times before i found out what u meant!

but yea! now that i know, i am SO signing up! i just called my partner and he's keen! so yay!!!

Unknown said...

Impo question of the day...Did you ever go buy your Bike arm rest?(forgot what the specific term for it ;p)

galnexdor said...

hey tisha...no i didnt buy it coz it wasnt allowed in this race...ahahah

owell

Unknown said...

thats the difference between the malaysian crowd and the oversea crowd...the latter applauds, the former stares...