3rd 2011 July Iron butt ride feelings

Team turtle group 4 ready to roll!

Mary little lamb group 3, Rocking it!

Speedy Gonzales group 1

What drives "normal" people out of their comfort zone to ride 128km? Well, I guess is the challenge of pushing urself to the limit. And comradeship. We do it with people whom we are comfortable with, trust and able to laugh and cry together.   With the motto" we ride as team, eat as a team, suffer as a team, complete as a team" , 82 riders, split into 4 packs comprising of the Speedy Gonzales team(Lead-KC, Sweeper-GL), Ok OK speed(Lead-Clarence, Sweeper Vince Li), Mary little lambs team ( Lead - Zack, Sweep Mary), Turtle team(Lead George Lim, Sweeper, Andy Yap and Taiwoon).  I rode and saw, many selfless acts of help and leadership. Folks encouraging each other, smiling and cheering. Sharing food, drink, Deep heat. Sometimes, just a silent look, nod "hang on brudder... almost there!" Riding quietly along side the chap helps too!  I am very encouraged about the team spirit and to me this is what ride is all about!   To cap it off... I asked the riders to capture some feelings..so I can keep for prosperity ....  
Thank you to all who helped in anyway and it would be impossible to pull this off without the support!  Xie xie ni! 
Ironbutt man and women, I am proud to ride alongside u! Salute! 

Papa mike giving Wey a masage... 

zipping along...

Ride as a team, eat as a team, suffer as a team, compete as a team!   Photo credits Francis Chu

exclusive Ironbuttman and women   Photo credits Matt Chia

Here are some comments from the ride...including folks from KL!

• Bill of KL riders :" THANK YOU to everyone including those who have worked in one way or another behind the scene to make the Ride a "painful fun" of great enjoyment and success.All of us from KL/MY are very hounored to have this opportunity to be part of your overseas member team in the Ride. We look forward to ride with everyone again and again ... in Singapore or other places .. and we welcome all of you to KL/MY too."Cyclists are Crazy people ... they tortured themselves and after that .. they said they like and enjoy it .. and asking for more!"Once again our gratidute and appreciation to EVERYONE. Best regards / Bil
• Freiversuch : "Had a blast. We need to do this again soon.Thanks for taking me on board" 
• Dnka: "Zack, you are the man "
• Boon Yeo : " This Iron Butt 128km not only just today, but weeks and weeks before. From Road Safety Briefing (was indeed very useful...I put into practice all that Steven had told us), this forum (from prep-list to what to drink and eat during the ride), Facebook wall (all the encouragements). After today, I really ride with confident and with speed. Thank you team! Good job!"
• Darren Siow:" I totally agree with all the praises and commendations of TW and his team. Without them, we wouldn't have such a "good time" suffering. ;-)  One call out I would like to make is to TW's wife. I realized that without her support of TW's passion, again we wouldn't have had a chance to have such a good time. Thank you, Mrs Woon! (and also thank you Momo for sharing your papa with us!) Thank you for giving TW the opportunity to do all these crazy things, not just this weekend but all the other times he prepares and plan the rides. TW is extremely passionate about cycling (sometimes we force him to change topic of conversation!) and you have given him the freedom to share his unstoppable, infectious (as well as "poisonous") passion for cycling with us. Thank you! :-D"
• Crumpets: "all being said & done .. LET'S DO IT OVER,OVER,OVER .. & OVER AGAIN 
• JamesA:" excellent organisation!! excellent leaders and sweeps! good safe ride and plenty of good food and drinks.....maybe tomorrow i will be able to walk and use my legs 
• Mary:" we had demonstrated that “ We Ride as a team, Eat as a team, Suffer as a team, Finish as a team “ … Great LoveCycling spirit , Thank you mates . We should to repeat this again and again coz beri fun lai!!! wa ha ha 
• Adriane Lee:" Knee pain, feel weak in the head after the ride, was so tired that in an tortoise attempt to ride to Mountbatten MRT to take train home, was overtaken by 2 aunties on rental bikes who said "wheel so small, no wonder so slow" BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT! Thank you organizers, thank you leads and sweepers esp GEORGE for pulling support trailer and thank you everyone for making it possible. Lets look forward to the next one!
• GL :" Special thanks for my good buddy Matt! 
  We can see all the efforts that you put in to ensure this ride is a success and your attendance have made this ride feels like old times for me(maybe not that old since I am referring to bike rally, lol) 
  I am sure we will have more long distance cycling trips in the future!"
• GCW: "I felt great after cycling round our little red dot. 
  Started experiencing ligament pain after West Coast McD. It gets worst with every slope making it a pain to bend or fully straighten the knee. Was about to give up along Yishun slopes, thought of WTH I’m doing this event crossed my mind repeatedly. Glad to have Chan (guy in cube MTB) to pace me even when I have to push my bike. Special thanks to Mike for giving me some sain tan (pain killers), energy drinks and super hot deep heat, that kept me going to Punggol. Plus the chit chat with Francis and the cooling rain that take my mind away of the discomfort. Although I transformed from Lamb into a Tortoise, still glad to reach East Coast McD at 630pm. Clocked 122km including the short trip from home to mrt and to McD. So this is definitely been a great personal achievement, as max I cycled was <50km. 
  So thank you to all organizers, TaiWoon, Zack (lead), Mary (sweeper) and all cycling buddies along the route for this crazy event. Ensuring everyone completed the trip safely. You guys rock!
  My butt is fine, so I do have an iron butt. Just don’t have iron legs to go with it.  To reward myself for completing this event, will have to buy some new toys for my bike.  
  My colleague who joined us from West Coast McD to Kanji left me a nice note and badge.
• LP : "don't know what to say. Congratulation...more than that.
  Look back upon, I will never forget the 120KM trip on my 500RMB bike with Bob and such, including overcame the WuTong mountain along the way. I didn't get a badge for that. However, I will definitely treasure that experience forever.
  I guess the 128KM is the same for you. However slowly however painful, you made it happen. Someone may steal your badge but nobody can take away your memory of the g*d d**n cycling on 3rd July 2011.
  I should have thank you for bringing me to lovecycling. Thank you.
  Hope the pain of your joint leave you one day, since you keep regular cycling. May be your knee just need time to get used to it"
• Wey(from KL) :" I slapped my butt at the end of the ride "kong kong kong"...ahhh sweet sound of accomplishment....
  First of all, thanks for having us. Not for a second that I felt like an outsider. Making the decision to postpone our Singapore trip to coincide with this ride was the best decision ever. I told myself, how often do I get to cycle around the island with equally passionate and crazy ppl (got this from reading your forum)? 
  When I was cycling along Kranji Way with my painful back, I was doing 11kph. Francis and Steven (Goat) were riding with me. They were encouraging me and talking to me to distract me from my pain. You guys are beyond words. Thanks!
  At lunch and after 55km, I was not going to quit. Regardless, I will finish...with or without my back, then came Michael, my lifesaver. Without him, the rest of the way would have been a great torture and the Ironbutt event will be forever etched in my head for the wrong reasons. Michael, thanks for the deep massage and medications 
  Thanks to Teo for the lift to Tampines and Andrew for taking care of our bikes and bags at the back of the Teo's truck.
  Thanks to the organising committee, the designer/s & sponsor/s of the stickers and buttons, leaders, sweepers and the titanium butts, esp Shareen and Patrick for sticking with us. Of course, Taiwoon....the shooting sweeper. Kudos to you guys!
  Thanks to all who came that day for the great fellowship, we sure did "we ride as team, eat as a team, suffer as a team, complete as a team"
  
  Not only do you have ironbutts, you have golden hearts too!!!

More comments here  and photo journal here  

Matt's blog account here