Words and photos by Epic Rider Alan Grant
Frustration and Jubilation

All dressed up and nowhere to go
Frustration Imagine walking down the stairs each morning and the first thing you see is a sleek and shiny brand new bike, a NeilPryde Alize no less, and yet you’re not allowed to ride it. That’s the predicament I’ve found myself in for the past couple of months.
You see, around about the time I was named as a NeilPryde Epic Rider, my orthopaedic surgeon and I decided that it was time to remove some hardware from my left leg – a titanium plate and seven screws. They were inserted to hold together my tibia and tibial plateau after I had a wee incident with a car coming down Genting Highlands, a legendary tough mountain in Malaysia. Oh yeah, this happened on Friday the 13th of February, 2009. You won’t see me doing anything remotely dangerous on a Black Friday.

That’s dust, not dirt
Anyway, while the rehab from the leg fractures and an accompanying broken scaphoid (a tiny but crucial bone in the wrist) was difficult, I made more or less a full recovery, indeed I ended the Etape du Tour atop Mont Ventoux just five months after the accident.
However, while the metal got me back on my bike, it was causing problems when running or even playing football with my son. A stress riser was suspected and so the solution was to either minimize any running or get the metal out. But that would mean three months off the bike and I just wasn’t prepared to do. But after a year of taking part in triathlons with only two weeks run training, I decided to follow the doc’s advice to get the metal out, especially as a bone scan had confirmed that a full stress fracture was likely if I left it in place.
And so I chose the date of November 10, 2010, for the date to go under the knife as the local racing season was more or less over, although here in hot and humid Singapore we cycle year round. The op involved opening up my left shin and my surgeon assured me I’d be back on my trainer within two weeks but that I shouldn’t go out on the road for 12 weeks until the seven holes in my bones left by the screws had filled in. The reason being the leg could shatter in a fall.

No, the tyre lever wasn’t inside too
He was, unbelievably, right about the time frame for getting on the trainer and it felt great just to be gently turning the pedals for 20 minutes. The doc suggested I “ride” every second day, gradually increasing the duration and intensity. I don’t mind the turbo, it’s a regular part of my routine and so I was confident that these trainer sessions would make me strong enough to be able to hop straight back into the peloton when the 12 weeks was up. And I had even managed to talk my doc down to a nine-week of-the-road window if I promised to ride solo for the final three weeks of my official recovery period.
January 12 was now the date I’d finally get to ride my Alize and so as Christmas approached I intensified my trainer sessions, including one short but fairly vigorous set on Christmas Eve … which turned out to be a mistake as I awoke on Christmas Day to find my dodgy back had seized up. That put paid to the trainer as I could hardly walk for a few days, never mind ride, and then the lower back pain was replaced by the most debilitating bilateral sciatica I had ever experienced. A combination of rest, physiotherapy, massage and lots of stretching saw me back on the trainer within 10 days but it was back to gentle spinning. So when I arrived back in Singapore on January 6 it was with mixed feelings that I saw the Alize once again sitting there patiently as I opened the front door.
Visits to my osteopath and my surgeon both resulted in pleas to take it easy. I was still hopeful of meeting the January 12 date but it passed and I still hadn’t turned the NeilPryde pedals.
Fast forward a week and with daily improvement my body feels almost normal and I’m very optimistic. In fact, I’m hoping to take the blue, black and white beauty out for a spin within the next few days. But that first crucial, morale-boosting ride won’t be the 60-kilometre Kranji Loop I had envisioned, rather it’ll be an easy effort in the company of my 10-year-old son Jack.
Jubilation Thursday, January 20, 2011 The story was supposed to end there, however, I never got round to filing yesterday and so now there’s a happy ending.
Today, I finally took the Alize out and my back survived to tell the tale. Jack and I pulled into one of the car parks at Singapore East Coast Park, a 15-kilometre stretch of green through which a bike path hugs the coastline. At the weekend it’s not really a great place for a serious ride as it’s jam-packed with people, but at 2pm on a Thursday afternoon it was almost deserted and so we could have built up a decent speed if required. But with Jack in tow and me fearing for my lower lumbar region, we set out to do a very easy 25 kilometres. But I did let her rip a few times and it was instant love. I had feared the Large size frame I ordered might be a tad too big but it felt just right and I didn’t seem too stretched out.

Letting it rip ... at last
It was so good to be back on a bike – not just any bike – and the sadness I felt on my previous ride on November 9 was replaced with pure joy. It was a sunny day, but at 30 C not too hot, and there was a breeze coming off the sea … perfect.
The karma felt good and only deepened when about the 5-kilometre mark we rode by the National Sailing Centre and standing there fluttering in the wind were half a dozen huge NeilPryde flags. The cycling gods were certainly smiling down on us and we whipped out the camera.

Honest, this was no set up, just pure luck
The East Coast Park ends at the sailing centre but the bike path continues through a wooded area and brings you onto the Changi Straight, a 6-kilometre-long road that runs parallel to one of the runways of the world-famous Changi Airport. It’s one of the key stretches for competitive cyclists in Singapore as the road is often closed for time trials and other bike/triathlon races and there isn’t a day goes by where club riders don’t test their legs in unofficial contests on this traffic-light-free drag. However, there have also been more than a few nasty car-bike incidents on this road so Jack and I stuck to the bike path.
This was the perfect place for me to open up my own legs and I wanted to tear down the whole straight. But mindful of my back, I made do with a few short and sharp intervals. There were no turns or climbs so I can’t really give a full description of how the Alize handles but the first impression was of a bike that just wants to be ridden hard.

The Changi Straight
Just past the top of the straight we stopped for a drink then turned round and had a good laugh “racing” each other between the numerous shelters that dot the path. Jack may be young but he can handle the bike and has already won an age-group bike race and a few triathlons. He wants to be a NeilPryde Epic Rider.
Before we knew it we were back at the car and the ride was over. I reluctantly climbed off my bike but keeping it short was the right thing to do what with my recent trials. At least the wait was over and the experience only served to whet my appetite for the adventures to come on my Alize. Watch this space.

“Can I have a Neil Pryde bike dad?”
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