View from the Ground - Interstate2007

Successful event is like baking a cake, it takes many ingredient to make it a success. This posting discusses among others my observation of what has transpired to make Interstate this year to be one of the greatest PCC event ever.

The crowd
Lets face it, without the crowd, no event can be a success. You will not have a good time if there are only a handful of participant. This year, PCC had 265 wonderful participant who brought with themselves good humour and excellent team spirit. For someone who is new to biking, i find that the crowd are so friendly and came from all walks of life (we even had a pastor from Singapore). Everyone was very accommodative and patient. To sum it up, wonderful crowd. There may be friendly rivalry but there are also sincere camaraderie.

The passion
The passion of the organizing committee in undertaking its task to complete their work is complemented with the participant seriousness to complete the journey. You can see the effort of all in order to meet dateline only perhaps to be let down by machinery such as lift etc. But I do need to make a mention to the route Marshall who, after riding the day ride for the day, had to continue working in putting up signages and marking for the next day ride (another 5 hours of job for the day) , and they did this tirelessly. Some of them volunteered tirelessly to ensure all critical junctions are covered.

Endless Energy
The pace and seriousness in cycling was tremendous. Though Interstate is not a race, people were just pushing to see how far they can go. The perseverance is tremendous. You can see the never say die attitude of the KOTRT people in ensuring that we can cross the bridge and making sure that we had police escort. If that is not a demonstration of endless energy, I don't know what else to say.

The cooperation
Sometimes we forget that this is actually a cooperative ride and requires everyone to chip in their bit. This time round, everyone did their bit and the prep before the event itself is tiring if not exhausting. Even in safety, the riders were kind enough and not taking that great a risk and had made the ride across the bridge manageable. I am proud that I can assist the committee in one way or another. Looking forward to offer any assistance in the future.

The processes and preparations
The arrangement this year is excellent and many people said it was very "meriah". There were set backs like blown hotel fuses and late delivery of rooms in Penang, but nothing that is a show stopper. The patient crowd were reasonably forgiving as they were out to have a good time. The tulip was helpful, the marshall were there at junctions and the prep was better then years before.

Ultimately, I would like to thank everyone from the organizers, the volunteers and also the participant who had made this IS2007 a success.