2003 Review Part II Sting did almost fifteen days of road racing this year. For a techie-geek dude, he was amazed he actually did so many. Through it, he made many more friends and also the occasional oddball. He documents the memorable experiences collected in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand here.

This is the second part of a 2 part review. The first part is here. This year, Team Absolut definitely was more fun. T@ grew in numbers, with new riders like Big Carl Cahuna, Gingerman and Yong Siew joining us. TA also took part in more races; LCK, Changi, Sentosa, the time-trials. We had a memorable first half of the year when we saw how people's emotions can carry over from the sport into ugly behavior. Remember the character at LCK who confronted the Absoluts because he was annoyed at his own performance? Then, we had the scary Changi Crit when Lippy crashed out with a fracture of the arm. That took place at the height of the SARS crisis when even visiting a friend in hospital was frowned upon. It was fun to see Team Absolut racing, and yes, getting some results. Starting with Lippy's continuous top placings in the Open Category races to the presence of Bruce and Porky to throw a wrench in the works at the Sports Category races. Kudos to Beef and Holyman for finally pinning on numbers and lining up at the start line. The following Absoluts raced:

• Beef
• Diesel
• Fangio
• Holyman
• Lippy
• Machoman
• Oldman
• Porky
• Sandman
• Stick
• Sting (Me!!)
• Wanker
• Yong Siew

The major highlight of the year was the Team Time Trial, when we fielded two teams with both teams placing. Not to be forgotten, kudos go to Coach for taking a lot of good photos. This year was also an interesting year for SACA. It was a SEA Games Year and also a year for the General Meeting. The General Meeting was when new officials were elected to the cycling National Sports Association. Sandman was already working for SACA as the General Manager. As the elections wore on, it became obvious that nobody was interested in the post of MTB V-P, and guess who took it up? Our very own Fangio. Never thought an Absolut would venture into public service. Fangio has done very good work for mountain biking (such good work, that it makes this roadie jealous). Within a few months of his election, he had found sponsors for his riders, organized a schools category (that was a resounding success at the Sentosa Int'l) and managed to convince the Singapore Sports Council to send TWO riders to the Hanoi Games. This was amazing because Road Cycling only managed to send one rider and road cycling was traditionally a team event. Fangio's performance was so impressive a local elite roadie told me "If Fangio was the Road V-P, it'd be great." And this guy hadn't even met Fangio before! I took part in almost every local race and every race in Malaysia that I could get to. And I took part in the Open Category with out waiting to "qualify" from the Sports Category. There is one person to thank for this: Sarah Lim, the ex-Road VP. She convinced me that the Open Category was worth a shot, and you know what? She was right. Taking the plunge to the Open Cat made me review my entire approach to cycling from the training to the lifestyle. Previously, it was try-try. When I found myself signing up for the Open Cat, it was no longer try-try...it was Train-Your-Arse-Off. Needless to say, it was a good thing. It started with last year's wet and dirty race at Hanoi, followed by the Pesta Penang races. Then the whole string of local races and Thailand and Malaysia. Apart from the racing, the real highlight was getting to know the local elite riders, Samuel, Wee Liak, Arab, Pak, Eddie, Melvin, Evan, Nick. Previously I only knew these guys by reputation. But after a few training rides and a couple of long-distance trips, an understanding is built. I also made a brief foray into SACA; I was recruited by Sandman into SACA's road committee. Sad to say, I didn't like the working atmosphere so I left faster than I came. It was an important stint though, because it taught me to think about what people mean instead of taking their words at face-value. I come from an academic background where we do not beat around the bush; it seems that in some places, beating around the bush seems to be the done thing. All in all, 2003 was a good year. I just don't see how it can get any better!!!