Sydney Life

.......But I love her for it.

Last Sunday, we went on the Spring Cycle, otherwise known as a 50km bike ride...... Read on for the gruesome details.

A few weeks ago I got an invitation from Keren to go on said 50km bike ride.

“Ok.................no,” was my initial response.

“Don’t worry,” she consoled, “I’m not trained up either! We can walk up the hills together!”

Both Keren and our other friend attempted to prove their colossal levels of slothiness to convince me to do the ride, but failed pretty miserably. “Look I used to do some long rides, you know back in the day, but I’m really unfit now,” Ben says. “I did the Sydney to ‘Gong (twice) and it’s not as hard as you think.”

Ha!

And what about Keren? 100km walks? Triathlons? What was I getting myself into?!

Oh, what the hey, I thought. If nothing else, I’ll have something to say when job application forms ask for a “Most challenging thing you’ve ever done?” (I HATE those questions!!!!!)

So I signed up.

The week prior to the ride I began to train (read: stopped getting lifts to uni). I even took a trip down Centennial Park way on that stinking hot Friday a few weeks back - my main post-ride thoughts were, wow, my bum really hurts. Also, even my ankles are sweating.

Nevertheless I was prepared to go on a ride over two times what I had just ridden. I bought a little water bottle holder for my bike. I tested out the most comfortable outfit and shoes to wear. My friend even lent me a camel pack.

And don’t know if it was Keren guaranteeing me a free physio check up, or the promise of seeing Ben in lycra, or the man who overtook me in Centennial Park and turned around to flash me a 10-out-of-10 smile and thumbs up for no apparent reason, but I was pumped.

So the day finally came along.

I was startled to be awoken by my phone ringing, and a message from Ben saying “Morning Asako, here’s some nice shocking news for you. Just running a bit early, be at your place in 20 minutes!” Then I looked outside and it was raining.

Grrrrrreat.

We got to North Sydney in one piece, met Keren and after establishing a team name, began. All was going swimmingly. It had stopped raining; we went over the Harbour Bridge, did a scenic harbour run, had a short rest stop, then crossed under the Anzac Bridge. As I said, all good. We got onto Lilyfield road and towards the end encountered a hill that was ok at first, but just didn’t seem to finish... I had gone alright on the hills before so I was determined not to get off and walk, and in the end it was alright.

Above: The Lycra Lions face their first flat tire.

At our third rest stop I just collapsed off my bike. Onto bindies. I was slowing down a bit by then so when we got going Keren and Ben pedalled off while I just went at my pace, and we planned to meet at the next stop. After a while I reached a road that said “Beware: steep hill around corner”.

No way. If they didn’t think that last hill was deserving of a sign, I really didn’t want to see what was considered worthy, but I turned the corner and hoped for the best.

Holy moly, my life is over. I put my bike on the lowest gear and just pedalled... Almost... at... the... crest... I promised myself. I turned around and watched someone walking past me. I looked down and saw a snail crawl past me. It was nearly the end of me but I continued.

“Almost at the crest” was pretty much my motto for the day.

After that there was a long stretch just near Rhodes station, where I spotted Ben’s bright red shirt about 200m up. I couldn’t believe I’d caught up to them! I did the biggest mission pedalling my little heart out to get there, only to be disappointed by the fact that it was someone else. That stung real bad.

We neared the end and Keren’s tyre busted again, so she finished at the 40km mark. We rolled on (haha, too funny), and I was determined to get up the very last hill that we witnessed securing many walking victims, toddling along like little lemmings, but then about 3 km from the end, Ben’s tyre got punctured as well. It was clearly all that Herculean strength* pushing down on the bike that caused it.

Above: ‘Finish’, synonymous with ‘Heaven’.

I’m proud to say I finished the 50km without walking up a single hill! Some parts of my body I’m not sure I knew existed are hurting, but it was definitely worth it. Thank you Keren for inviting me! I’ve very tentatively pencilled 5th Nov: Sydney to ‘Gong in my diary, though several days before my first exam + 90km bike ride just don’t sound like the best concoction!

Above: Lycra Lions celebrate their finish with snazzy free Spring Cycle showbags!

*He asked me to mention this. It also must have been that manly strength that had him scared his ears would get burnt.