OCBC Cycle Singapore 2014: My Challenging 40km Bike Ride

Update: Click here for the latest news on OCBC Cycle 2014 accident victim Chia Wee Kiak.

Click here to find out more about the OCBC Cycle Singapore 2014 accident.

This year, I took on the 40km Challenge at the OCBC Cycle Singapore, which is billed as the premiere cycling event in Singapore.

At the starting line of OCBC Cycle Singapore 2014

As I had never cycled 40km prior to the event, I was a little worried about how the race would go.

In fact, my longest training sessions leading up to this event was only about half the distance. And as it had turned out, I had valid reasons to be worried.

Problems Encountered

Bike Gear Not Working

I had rented a bike from one of the shops at East Coast Park. However, it may not have been such a good move. The bike was working perfectly when I picked it up the day before the race.

But when I was reaching the starting line, my bike gears were giving me problems. Two of the gears had become stuck when I was cycling towards the starting pen.

Time Wasted

As a result, of this, I had to quickly pull out of the starting pen and take the bike to the nearest mechanic booth at OCBC Cycle. But while the mechanic eventually managed to fix my problem with the bike, it left me feeling very flustered and certainly not in the right frame of mind to race.

There were delays at the starting line and cyclists were left confused.

Massive delays at the starting pen

To make matters worse, there was also a massive delay at the starting pen for The Challenge (40km category) – due to a major accident.

Click here to find out more about the OCBC Cycle 2014 accident and what happened.

As a result, many riders of The Challenge were flagged off together with, or even later than those doing The Community Ride (27km category), which was supposed to have started one hour after the 40km category, at 7am.

At the starting pen, riders were left wondering what was going on and I thought this was not explained clearly to us. As one of the riders caught in this jam, I was feeling rather worried.

As a result of this delay too, there were many riders from The Challenge who left the event feeling upset, because they were not able to complete the 40km ride and had to be picked up by bus, as the roads had to be re-opened.

Cyclists are being flagged off.

The Hot Sun

Throughout my 40km ride, I found that the sun was really hot this morning. It was made worse too, because I had started later, when the temperature was hotter.

So I actually found myself struggling against the blistering heat, for most of my race.

By around 8am, it was already beginning to get quite hot. But I had no choice but to brave this and continue to push myself to complete the race.

Positive Points

Drink Station

I particularly enjoyed the ice-cold isotonic drink that was offered at the race drink station, located at East Coast Park, near the Big Splash area. 500ml bottles were even being offered to the cyclists at the event.

While I had already prepared and packed my own water, this became warm very quickly.

Consequently, it didn’t feel very refreshing after a while. So I was really grateful for the isotonic drink. In fact, I could feel its effect on me, as soon as I had tasted some and I was raring to go after the energizing drink.

There is a generous supply of isotonic drinks.

Clear Signboards along the route

The signboards and arrows during the cycling race were pretty clear. These were located all all along the route, to keep participants on the right track.

So I knew exactly whether I was heading in the right direction, during my ride. The 40km and 59km riders were required to do two laps at the East Coast Park area, before heading towards the finishing line.

When we reached the junction, a voice was constantly telling participants to stay towards the left lane to finish and to keep to the right lane to continue onto the second lap.

So that also kept me well on track.

Click Here to find out what happens when Captain Kirk (Star Trek) meets vampires at OCBC Cycle.

Click Here to read more about the accident at OCBC Cycle Singapore 2014, and how you can volunteer as a witness.