The bikescapade started like this:
I was checking out the OCBC Cycle Singapore website, looked through last year’s results and thought that the fastest riders were actually pretty slow. The top five in my age group in the 40k distance I believe clocked about 1:10-1:20 and I mused to Shaun that it was very doable. Of course, I didn’t have a bike nor could i ride well. I’ve never rode more than 10km on a bike in my life and even that was 8 years ago but that’s just logistics. It was totally doable. Shaun didn’t share my beliefs 
There was a few other reasons to race the OCBC event too -
- Proving that I’m a competent cyclist would mean more credibility when launching into unicycling vs cycling debates (will do this in a later post)
- Getting a good position can lead to seeding.
- I do want to be good enough to raise the profile of unicycling eventually.
- Being good means prize money, no?
The initial plan was to borrow a Cervelo tri bike (read: carbon frame, light, expensive) and convert it into a road bike. After thinking about my knack for clumsiness though, I went with an old beginner Giant bike instead and swapped out the clipless pedals for a metal pair with broken bearings that I can’t use anymore on my unicycle.
As all good ideas are wont to start, I learnt to ride the bike 2 weeks before the event and clocked a grand total of 3 rides.
The First Ride
Total Distance: 10km
The friend who rode with me asked more than once if I’d like to swap with her hybrid bike which didn’t have scary dropbars; that was about how competent I looked. I walked up and down curbs because I’ve never gone down a curb on a bike in my life, stopped to turn corners on my feet and caught back on jumping off my bike on more than one occasion. It took about 20 minutes to get used to riding. I must have averaged about 15kph because going faster than 20kph actually felt scary and wobbly. My butt hurt so I didn’t want to ride the next day.
The Second Ride
Total Distance: 30+km
I tried to adjust the seat to be more of my height but broke 2 allen keys in the attempt. The derailleur made noises mid-ride and fell off about 10km into the ride. I did an impromptu temporary fix (how would I know that bicycles have this many parts???) and couldn’t change gears thereafter. It took 3 hours to get home. It takes me 4 hours to ride 45km on a unicycle with breaks in between and I feel less worn out at the end of it all.
The Third Ride
Total Distance: 55km
This was meant to be a 45km ride but I got lost repeatedly. I read a bit on bicycle mechanics and fixed the derailleur and tightened the brake. I also did a bit of fitting with the seat with a makeshift plumb line and level. Mid-ride, I bought new tires too because the old ones were cracked and I didn’t want another face accident. This was a good ride. I didn’t feel as tired, I was getting the hang of changing gears and starting off smoothly and I felt faster too. Still, it took about 3 hours because of the multiple pedestrian crossings, the crowd walking on the cycling paths, the overhead bridges and whatnots.
Ride 3.5
Total Distance: 1km
The new tires felt pretty decent so I wanted a last training ride. Stupidity happened (see previous post) and my wheel got busted.Took me twice as long to walk it back home.
Ride 4 and That OCBC Ride
I got my wheel back the day before and woke up early to fix it. I actually rode the whole 5km or so to Bedok MRT for the shuttle bus which counts as the first time I’ve rode on the road. I didn’t bring any water with me either because I don’t know how to consume water while riding. The idea was to hold on to the drop bars for dear life and ride it like I would a unicycle – ie. pedal fast, pedal non-stop. It’s a little ridiculous. I’d have to slow down to about 20kph to round corners, slow down on speed stripes to save my ass and I’d be the first to accelerate out of corners, up hills and over bumps because that’s what you’d do on a unicycle anyway.
I finished in 1:14, about 16 minutes off the pace of the top person and am in 19th / 231 in my age group.I went a lot faster over the second half after getting used to the speeds, cycling with a crowd and getting past the bottlenecked roads. I think I’d actually do a lot better over a half-Ironman distance because I can probably keep at that cadence for another hour or two at least.
Anyone needs a team member for the half-Ironman?