RACING STORY: A Little Bit of Forgiveness
WRITTEN BY: Kenneth TAN  
 
"Two crashes in a week, and as usual, finger-pointing and tongue-wagging are the order of the day in CWX (a.k.a. CYCLEWORX).

" All of us have, at one time or another, come across a cyclist who zigzags in the pack, and cannot for the life of him ride straight. I bet it makes whoever is behind him so angry that he/she wants to go to the front and 'jack'* the dumb cyclist!

" What we fail to see is - at one time or another, we were the same! We made stupid moves too; we swung out the wrong way in an echelon, drank water at the front of a pace line, took corners on white lines on rainy days, blah blah blah! You know the deal... right?

" The problem here lies with the new rider (newbie). The way I see it, Newbie was just trying too hard to do what we experienced riders have been doing for ages - in too short a time!!! You see, Newbie probably got excited being able to ride with you 'fast boys', and the thought of this at every ride shoots his heart rate into the anaerobic zone! Heh! Heh! 180 going 200!

" Five minutes into the ride, he is in the red zone already; and Newbie can hardly think straight, let alone ride straight! So he does what all 'newbies' do best - making mistakes - and not long after, he crashes!!! Welcome to the club... poor Newbie gets his first 'trophy' from cycling, and that's a genuine Singaporean 5-dollar-size road rash!!!

" Newbie goes home with a hurt ego, bruised limbs, and can't even sit upright in the toilet. Friends laugh at him, and he gets the blame for causing an accident. Worst of all (if you're under 21)... The Parents! I know - I, for more than once, was on the wrong side of my parents' anger!

" But we, as 'old hand' cyclists, need to be a little forgiving too... instead of cursing the daylights out of the 'newbie', we all could do with a little understanding for him. After all, he was trying his very best to keep the speed. Imagine the pain in his legs, the burning lungs and all that while trying to stay upright on a skinny two-wheeled contraption called a bicycle!

" Give the guy some time; you will never know how good he will become if he doesn't gets the chance. What I am trying to say here is that loose lips don't help and will make you no friends. Whatever happened has already happened. There is no point pouting about it. Forget it and look forward to the next training ride. Remember... we were once on the wrong side of the road too!"


* 'Jack': Singapore biking slang; the action of suddenly overtaking and swerving into someone's path with the intention of causing the victim to crash.
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