Encore

So there you have it; you've just completed the 2007 Malaysia Powerman in Lumut, as always it was harder than you expected but fun nonetheless. The race had its highs and its lows. You beat some rivals and were beaten by others;

You've got your finishers medal, finishers shirt, you've collected and packed up your bike, had a shower, checked out of the hotel, gone to the prize giving lunch, suffered the awful band and food and now it's time to say goodbye to friends and friendly enemies and head for the long, frustrating and lonely drive back to whence you came from.

For most it means a stop-start, traffic chugging drive back to Bidor before picking up the North South Highway. It's about this time that I start reflecting on the next race, the next challenge the next public display of Lycra-clad exhibitionism the but then out of the blur ahead of me an image appeared that made me stare in wonder and incredulity - I was a few k's outside of Bidor and there appeared to be a cyclist ahead of me bombing along in aero position with a race number still intact on his bike.

SURELY NOT! Who could possibly be barmy enough to race Powerman and then cycle 200k back to KL? Well I could and I was immediately awakened by the fact that I hadn't thought of it - I was being usurped by this madman on wheels. Who could it possibly be?

An then the vision cleared and I got a big beaming smile and a wave; it was none other than my very own Padawan Learner NGAE. What an ENCORE!

The next day I asked him what had inspired him to do that? He replied that he didn't want to hang around at the lunch (he must have heard the band before) but his friends did, so he thought he'd ride to Bidor knowing that support would come up from behind.

I told him he was INSANE and he returned the compliment by calling me a LUNATIC. Clearly we are in good company. Could this be the man that as foretold brings balance to the FORCE?