34kmh, 35kmh, 33kmh….keep my head low…..hold for 20 seconds.

The hour that elapsed when I rode the team time trial seemed line an eternity to me.

My team mates were excellent. Beykha, Wanker and Oldman were there to co-ordinate, push and pull. We suffered together.

10 days back, there were calls to form teams for the SACA Race 4 Team Time Trial.  I was very tempted to ride, as I have always wanted to try a cycling race.  My motivation came when Wanker decided to register. Not that he was slow but the fact that if he was there, the suffering would be less. We would always count on Wanker to make us laugh and that often took the pain away.

Beykha also wanted to race.  But in the email she said she hasn’t ridden for a long time. In my mind I thought, this brave girl may not know what she was in for.

Oldman, of course, is the one that I always benchmark myself against.  Not only in terms of cycling prowess but in terms of age and racing wisdom.  He was the man that could captain us to finish the race in one piece.

On the fateful day, our number tag was 18. 18 was auspicious.  At least if was for gambling but we were not sure whether it was good for cycling or not.  Anyway, if we were gamblers and we made  podium we may have punt 418 (1,2, or 3-our podium position) Yes, I have seen the jack neo movie. (OK, I’ll admit  I haven’t seen the movie and I have no idea what the reference is to – webmaster)

Oldman was pushing us during the warm up phase and my heart was already racing at 180 just to keep up with him.  Wanker coolly rode along without complaints.  As for me, I had to grit my teeth and bear it so that I didn’t look so “malu” next to Beykha.

Our team tactics were simple.

The 3 guys would take turns and pull the train for 20 seconds at a stretch. Beykha would watch the back and let the rider in after he has pulled for 20 seconds. ( I think she got the toughest job, as someone could have clipped wheels if special attention was not paid there.)  One other tactical nuance, we knew had to wait for Wanker on the turns, he was very careful on this aspect as not to scratch his precious Klein. This added to the fact that Wanker could not turn right made the race a little more interesting. 

Our first lap was to be an average speed of 33-34kmh.  We managed the first lap very well and we were able to wave and cheer Beef’s train when they passed us by on the opposite side of the road.

I guess the most horrible thing was to pull the train when we hit the speed regulating strips.  Somehow, it was never Wanker’s turn to pull when it came to this part of the road.  He was a real master tactician at figuring this out.

Speaking for myself, the second lap was interesting.  Although we picked up speed averaging 35-36kmh, we were still overtaken by two teams. “Die, lah! Sure come in last”, I thought.

On the start of the third lap, I was shocked to see Beef walking with two bikes.  Shucks, someone crashed. Before long, I saw Alicia on the pavement with the ambulance nearby.

Was she smiling or grimacing in pain?   We passed her and were a little disappointed that Team Absolut A was down.

The third lap began to take its toil on my legs. I was beginning to feel the strain on my calves as well. The pulling time was getting shorter as my count to 20 seemed forever.

I believe we were riding about 38-40kmh. (Fatigue often makes objects appear to be moving faster then they actually are – webmaster)

When we saw team 17, an anza team, in front of us, we decided to chase them and bridge the gap. After a couple of minutes, we had a change in plans, slowed down and rode toward the finish line 20 metres behind them.

We were quite happy that we finished the race in one piece with no punctures, clipping of wheels and injuries.  We rode the entire distance in about 1 hour 2 minutes and averaged 35kmh.