Day 1: Jan 20 – 21` or is it night 1st overnight, Wed - Thursday
Singapore East Coast Park to Mersing, Malaysia. 196 kms
Family and friends, volunteers and sponsors gathered at 6PM for a ship like send off. The staff and volunteers donned their souvenir T shirts while Firefly Night Race riders all had fresh lively faces in their brand new cycling jerseys and shorts by Victorio Sports designed by Fara.
Final checks for the bike, food and drink to bring and I fiddled with the “bikeiPod” one last time. I think everyone was simply happy to be there, to be together and to finally start what Lyndon mentioned to me in September initially as a simple night bike ride.
After a few last trips to the toilets, spot interviews, a hip hip hurrah, three cheers and a thousand shutter clicks and we were finally off …oh and more last toilet trips by some of our 9 member team made up of; Lyndon, Bernard, Casey, Rushdi, and Wei from Singapore, Joyce from Malaysia, Basti from Germany, and Fara and myself from the Philippines. A 10th rider, Marc from the US didn’t make it to the start or DNS (Did Not Start) in cycling terms.
A brisk spin of about 30kph to the Changi Ferry terminal, passport control, loading of bikes and we were on a boat to Malaysia just 25 minutes away. The trip was faster that the breaks we had for pictures.
Upon arrival in Malaysia, we were delayed for an hour as the kitchen in the port took a while to prepare 20 or more plates of the same spicy & hot fried boodles - cooked separately, yup, separately. I couldn’t finish it nor did my fellow Filipino rider – Fara Manuel of Baguio as it was just too hot and not advisable for our digestive system which was about to explore a familiar and close, yet alien country at night on a bike, over 1000 kms, four nights in succession.
The first overnight push will take us to what I felt may be the dark side of the moon…Our organizers led by Lyndon told us that there won’t be any internet access in our destination – a resort in Mersing in the state of Johor (a state so huge that Singapore used to be part of it). It was indeed expansive as we would be moving over a near endless stream of rolling terrain through the Malaysian East inland before we reach our coastal resort destination.
Our team Fireflynightrace has never ridden together before save for a 1:30 round trip test ride between the East Coast Park and the Changi Ferry Terminal 3 days before…all 9 of us have different cycling abilities and personalities brought together by a shared purpose. I thought that as with probably many other things, our chemistry would be our source of strength and/or weakness. For several days before the start I was a mixed bag full of excitement, concern, worry and anxiety…but a happy mix as I felt deep within that it will all up to us how we embrace this experience of a lifetime. We started 3 days before the 20th send-off with a safety briefing, had a round of ideas and comments solicited from each on how to approach the ride and set off with a simple plan…ride together as close as possible, have the stronger riders in the back and let the newer riders up front, we practiced drafting, taking turns up front by twos via ‘fountain formation’, calling out obstacles and dangers along the road, passing back and forth messages, etc …how did our first actual ride go?
The ride across the ‘dark side’ was indeed dark but bright enough with a crescent moon and the stars above. Together with the attention by the Malaysian Police (spelled Polis) , lead and support/safety vehicles, we were the only bright lights on the road save for the occasional passing or oncoming vehicle. The constant barrage of short up slopes and downhill rushes broke the group so many times. We all climb and descend differently in the day and moreover at night. We tried to call out several times to regroup, slow down, pick up speed, prod each other, cheer each other, plainly talk and keep each other company and literally push each other but the team kept on breaking up across the endless terrain over and over till there were two groups on the road that couldn’t come together till the morning sun catching us nearly 2 hours off the schedule – no the sun was on time…we were behind. Lets say we knew at the end of the 1st overnight what each one is capable of and the great thing about the group and the support team we had made up of safety officers (Anton & Omar), a paramedic (Zeim), a photog/paparazzi/mechanic/ & male sculpture model(Shaf), drivers & co-drivers (Omar, Anton, Idwan, Colin and Edward) and coordinator/ liaison/cool chic under pressure (Super Lim Su Pei) PR person (Beng), a sports therapist (Jonathan) and polis (police from the 4 states of Malaysia; Johor, Kuantan, Terangganu, Kelantan) was the ability to keep the friendly spirit and atmosphere and pick up the lessons.
Over the first breakfast we basically came to a consensus that we can make the trek better by riding together, compromising and adjusting the pace, take a conscious effort to support each other to make the journey a trip in itself. Yes grasshopper… “the journey is as important as the destination” just as the effort of this 1000km bike ride to raise funds for art scholarships are just as important the final output of the fund drive.
Personally, we went thru the dark side of the ride like a bunch of green horns but it was beautiful…for the first time I saw a white rainbow from light reflected by the mist surrounding us thru the hills and part illusion from failing vision at night due to sleep deprivation, and exhaustion over the first 190 kms. Invaluable.
Bike/biker incidents: exhaustion and red line limits by 3 members (which Casey requested me not to post the names...yet...)after 135 kms (that felt like 180 km), 1 flat tire by Bernard who was following me – I hit a hole, had no time to call it out, he then hit it and pffffft – our first jackpot.
Firefly sighting = 9 riders on the road, 2 polis cars, 4 moto polis bikes, 4 support vehicles and 1 firefly that buzzed across me or I thought was a firefly. I tried to welcome it to land on my right hand but I was moving along and just prodded it to stay away from the middle of the road lest it be splat on incoming windshields.
The first push humbled us as a group. It was hard, hard, hard and we were shaken.
Singapore East Coast Park to Mersing, Malaysia. 196 kms
Family and friends, volunteers and sponsors gathered at 6PM for a ship like send off. The staff and volunteers donned their souvenir T shirts while Firefly Night Race riders all had fresh lively faces in their brand new cycling jerseys and shorts by Victorio Sports designed by Fara.
Final checks for the bike, food and drink to bring and I fiddled with the “bikeiPod” one last time. I think everyone was simply happy to be there, to be together and to finally start what Lyndon mentioned to me in September initially as a simple night bike ride.
After a few last trips to the toilets, spot interviews, a hip hip hurrah, three cheers and a thousand shutter clicks and we were finally off …oh and more last toilet trips by some of our 9 member team made up of; Lyndon, Bernard, Casey, Rushdi, and Wei from Singapore, Joyce from Malaysia, Basti from Germany, and Fara and myself from the Philippines. A 10th rider, Marc from the US didn’t make it to the start or DNS (Did Not Start) in cycling terms.
A brisk spin of about 30kph to the Changi Ferry terminal, passport control, loading of bikes and we were on a boat to Malaysia just 25 minutes away. The trip was faster that the breaks we had for pictures.
Upon arrival in Malaysia, we were delayed for an hour as the kitchen in the port took a while to prepare 20 or more plates of the same spicy & hot fried boodles - cooked separately, yup, separately. I couldn’t finish it nor did my fellow Filipino rider – Fara Manuel of Baguio as it was just too hot and not advisable for our digestive system which was about to explore a familiar and close, yet alien country at night on a bike, over 1000 kms, four nights in succession.
The first overnight push will take us to what I felt may be the dark side of the moon…Our organizers led by Lyndon told us that there won’t be any internet access in our destination – a resort in Mersing in the state of Johor (a state so huge that Singapore used to be part of it). It was indeed expansive as we would be moving over a near endless stream of rolling terrain through the Malaysian East inland before we reach our coastal resort destination.
Our team Fireflynightrace has never ridden together before save for a 1:30 round trip test ride between the East Coast Park and the Changi Ferry Terminal 3 days before…all 9 of us have different cycling abilities and personalities brought together by a shared purpose. I thought that as with probably many other things, our chemistry would be our source of strength and/or weakness. For several days before the start I was a mixed bag full of excitement, concern, worry and anxiety…but a happy mix as I felt deep within that it will all up to us how we embrace this experience of a lifetime. We started 3 days before the 20th send-off with a safety briefing, had a round of ideas and comments solicited from each on how to approach the ride and set off with a simple plan…ride together as close as possible, have the stronger riders in the back and let the newer riders up front, we practiced drafting, taking turns up front by twos via ‘fountain formation’, calling out obstacles and dangers along the road, passing back and forth messages, etc …how did our first actual ride go?
The ride across the ‘dark side’ was indeed dark but bright enough with a crescent moon and the stars above. Together with the attention by the Malaysian Police (spelled Polis) , lead and support/safety vehicles, we were the only bright lights on the road save for the occasional passing or oncoming vehicle. The constant barrage of short up slopes and downhill rushes broke the group so many times. We all climb and descend differently in the day and moreover at night. We tried to call out several times to regroup, slow down, pick up speed, prod each other, cheer each other, plainly talk and keep each other company and literally push each other but the team kept on breaking up across the endless terrain over and over till there were two groups on the road that couldn’t come together till the morning sun catching us nearly 2 hours off the schedule – no the sun was on time…we were behind. Lets say we knew at the end of the 1st overnight what each one is capable of and the great thing about the group and the support team we had made up of safety officers (Anton & Omar), a paramedic (Zeim), a photog/paparazzi/mechanic/ & male sculpture model(Shaf), drivers & co-drivers (Omar, Anton, Idwan, Colin and Edward) and coordinator/ liaison/cool chic under pressure (Super Lim Su Pei) PR person (Beng), a sports therapist (Jonathan) and polis (police from the 4 states of Malaysia; Johor, Kuantan, Terangganu, Kelantan) was the ability to keep the friendly spirit and atmosphere and pick up the lessons.
Over the first breakfast we basically came to a consensus that we can make the trek better by riding together, compromising and adjusting the pace, take a conscious effort to support each other to make the journey a trip in itself. Yes grasshopper… “the journey is as important as the destination” just as the effort of this 1000km bike ride to raise funds for art scholarships are just as important the final output of the fund drive.
Personally, we went thru the dark side of the ride like a bunch of green horns but it was beautiful…for the first time I saw a white rainbow from light reflected by the mist surrounding us thru the hills and part illusion from failing vision at night due to sleep deprivation, and exhaustion over the first 190 kms. Invaluable.
Bike/biker incidents: exhaustion and red line limits by 3 members (which Casey requested me not to post the names...yet...)after 135 kms (that felt like 180 km), 1 flat tire by Bernard who was following me – I hit a hole, had no time to call it out, he then hit it and pffffft – our first jackpot.
Firefly sighting = 9 riders on the road, 2 polis cars, 4 moto polis bikes, 4 support vehicles and 1 firefly that buzzed across me or I thought was a firefly. I tried to welcome it to land on my right hand but I was moving along and just prodded it to stay away from the middle of the road lest it be splat on incoming windshields.
The first push humbled us as a group. It was hard, hard, hard and we were shaken.
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