Something is better than nothing

Oct distance: 254 km

Mandai, 41 km. I don't feel like cycling today. Instead, I pay off the sleep deficit that built up over the work week. Morning turns to noon turns to dusk. The tension between slacking and cycling reaches tipping point; I push my bicycle out. It's only when I'm on the road that I realise, in the fuss to light up like a Christmas tree, I've left my water bottle behind.

There's a water cooler in a park, so I head there. A mom is scolding her kid. "No dinner for you!" she barks. The kid whines, says she'll never do it (whatever that was) again and mom, her voice melting, says "I forgive you".

Traffic is heavy, it's dinner time. A few other cyclists are out too, their lights blinking like twinkling stars. A roadie is behind me. I pedal hard. I hear creaking. "He's behind me," so I pedal harder. When I look back, no one's there. It's just my saddle creaking and my imagination. Time for some attitude adjustment.

At the start of the ride, all I had in mind was perhaps 25 km instead of the usual 50. Unless I'm leaping across a gorge and fall short, something is better than nothing and a short ride is better than no ride. And once the wheels get rolling, it's easier to keep going. It starts by getting the bicycle out the door :p