My Cycling Experience

By:

Marini

                Yesterday (12^th October 2014) , I was entered a Fun Ride Cycling event organized by students of Sultan Idris Shah Polytechnic. I am not going to write about the chronology of the event but I want to focus on how I feel towards this precious experience. The distance supposed to be 76km but the police traffic changed the route in last minute so the distance became 90km. The entire cyclists didn’t aware of this change because nobody told us. We knew about the total distance when we arrived at the starting point. Yes… it was 90km.

                Let me tell you something… 90km is a very long distance. The standard distance for cycling event is only 50km. It was crazy. It supposed to call as an Endurance Ride rather than the Fun Ride. Hahahaha. Now, I will tell you what I felt about my journey. For your information, I never attempt this kind of thing. I hate marathon so much. This is my first attempt. I feel so confident to join this event because I have been practiced cycling 20km every day in 4 months. So 76km is ok for me, at least that what was I thought before.

                For the first 15km I already felt hurt on my leg but I don’t feel tired. We stop at the first check point. I gained strength and I was eager to start the journey. After a few minutes we arrived at Sungai Haji Dorani Homestay(distance from the starting point is about 35km). I was so happy because I did it with only one stop and that was my longest distance after all. We took rest about half an hour. It was 10.30 am when we started heading back to poly. I expected that we used the same route to get back but we were ushered by the “marshal” (the leader of the route lead by a police car) using the different road. At first, I felt ok with that.

                The sun was started to shine so brightly. I can feel the heat. I felt so hot until I had a headache but I still have strength to continue cycle. After a few kilometers we stop at the bus stop because we saw our friends took a rest there. It was so hot after all, so we need a shade place to cool down our body temperature. Then, we started cycle again. I was still felt steady although my legs were sore.

                However, at the distance of 74km, I started to feel hurt at my waist, butt and legs. I felt like I didn’t want to continue this ride. We were cycled against the wind. The wind was so strong. No matter how hard I cycled, I couldn’t feel my bicycle moving. That was the big challenge for us as a cyclist to cycle against the wind. I can see a lot of cyclists were heading back to the starting point with lorries. My husband was asking me if I wanted to join them. I refused to do that. I wanted to take this as a challenge. I wanted it to be my personal achievement. If I can do this, I can do anything. I felt the victory when I saw people gave themselves up. It meant that I can beat them.

                There was a moment I felt want to stop cycled so badly. I cannot feel my legs anymore but I didn’t feel like to faint so I believe that I still can do it. My husband was there…supported me. Although he was not mentioning any motivational words but I knew he was supporting me with his own way. I wanted to prove to myself that I am a fat person but I still can do a great thing like this.

                We arrived at the last check point. I refilled my tumblers. There were a few cyclists. We had a brief chit chat. There were two old men…Chinese and Malay men(their age is about 60++) . What amazed me was that they were so much older than me and they were still tough. So , I told to myself “if they can do it, I can do it too”. So, we continued our journey. It was another 12 km to go. I felt a little bit refresh after took a rest at the last check point but suddenly the same exhausted feeling came back. I felt I couldn’t move on anymore. I was telling to myself “you can do it Mar, oh yes, you can do it” and with that mantra I push myself over my own limitation. When we arrived at Parit Baru I was so excited because I realized the finish line is just around the corner. I built my inner strength and I continued until the end of our journey.

                I cannot describe my feelings when we arrived at the finish line. We were greeted by the secretariats. They gave me a medal. At that time, I can feel all the exhaustion was gone, I felt happy instead. This is my own victory. After all, I was not the last person arrived at the finish line. Hehe.

                In conclusion, I learnt a lot of things during this ride:

1)    Don’t ever feel give up every time you feel disappointed. Push yourselves towards your dreams.         You can do everything you want to do.

2)  Everything is in your mind. Your body is telling you that you cannot do it anymore but mentally         you still can do it. You have to set your mind up. Mind is so powerful.

3)   We need someone to encourage us to do the great things. Find somebody who will be by your side      whenever you need them. 

4)   Have fun…because life is too short to live in pathetic way. Do something great in your life, do      something new in your life. Then, you will feel your life is so meaningful.

5) Determination is important. without it, we will not obtain the victory.

That’s all for now. Get your butt away from your seat. Do something physically challenging to stay healthy.

These are some of the pictures. Enjoy!