Hi Guys,

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I was a part of this epic event, hosted by the Lifetime fitness club.
This was an attempt to have the highest number of cycles in a class, being taught and pedalling for 2 straight hours.
Weather was cold, but very sunny as the sun was out. There were industrial heaters placed all over the event center (The Hotel Sorella City Centre in Houston, Texas) and participants started arriving, as early as 10am.

I got there with my older sister and her family and we both got registered.
She had invited me earlier and truth be told, the last I rode a pedal bike for over 10mins, was over 30years ago.
2hrs? Hmmmmm !!
I just knew I could do it! I bi man and I bi proper Naija man (We no dey ever gree, until body prove otherwise).

The event had lifetime clubs from across Houston, coming together for this event and some cyclist had practiced for this, for over a year!
At 1.00pm or was it 12noon (Cant remember again, as bodi still dey pain me), we all mounted and the Life Time Fitness CEO, Bahram Akardi and his assistants, all mounted their bikes on the stage, with other trainers, moving across the venue, assisting in any way they could and the DJ pumping fast paced songs, drumming up the tempo.

President makes a speech and informs us of the ride itinerary and style.
I then knew that I was in trouble.
Local and world press around!
Guinness book of records people around!
Then the warning that if you were caught cheating or lagging behind, you would be removed from your bike and brought to the stage to ride with the team leads, made me start debating whether i made the right decision.

We kicked off by starting in the race style, with the information that we all set the resistance level to 3 (Cant explain that in small words)
This was done for 2mins, then a rest ( As in slow down and not stop pedaling) for 20 secs and then another 2 mins burst etc.
We increased to various riding styles:
Hill climbing
Trail riding
Downhill riding
Track riding
Fast pace / race riding
Standing and riding uphill with the highest resistance set
All kinds, as I can remember all styles (Brain still in remission).

In my mind, I just thought that this was different from riding a sports bike.
Here, I'm doing all the work!
I felt very sorry for myself, as I was surrounded by people, who took lifetime fitness, as fanatical as those we see praying in Mountain of Fire Church or Deeper Life!
I kept asking myself what I had gotten myself into.

After the announcement that we had done 30mins of pedaling, my inner mind, started calculating how I would survive the remaining 90mins, in front of all the cameras and participants, who made you look foolish and very unfit, if you dont follow instructions of slow down to rest.
Adjacent to me, was this couple, who made it look like they were having great fun! (It was great fun and fanfare, but .......)
Ol Boy', They were having fun and the wife was racing the husband all through each cycle.
In my mind, I was blaming myself for the Okazi and Eba, I ate 8 hours before and the Double Cheese and Beef McDonald's burger + Fries + Extra Large Coke, I had an hour before.

My sister sat on the cycle next to me (she is also a health fanatic), kept saying that, "You are in a world record making event and you are representing Nigeria, so do it!"
I just kept asking myself, "Na who send me"?
"Se' Naija Government know say I dey do this kin thing"?
"If anything happen now, Naija government go say, dem no know me and dem no send me message"!
Dem go say, "There are no records of such a person in our data base and he must have obtained his passport illegally"
"Some go even talk say, na too much money dey do me, see as he don get heart attack on top bicycle"!

Similarly, i thought of what guys at the biking clubs would say!
D2M2 "??????"
Fotodadi "?????"
Justice "?????"
WHY "?????"
BSK "????"
Blink "?????"
Orags "??????"
Diseye "??????"
IB "?????"
Papel "?????"
And of course Inyang "???????"

With this, determination set in, I cycled and pedaled and cycled and pedaled and.....................
90 minutes gone and with only 30 left to go, I started my self re-evaluation again!
Should I, or should I not quit?
Questions, running through my mind.
They say that the fear of Yabis from Mugumailers, is the beginning of wisdom, so I continued to follow directions from the CEO of Lifetime Fitness (Though halfheartedly).
Then Femi Kuti's song set it; Him just dey go, go go, just dey go!

I also asked myself, if the organizers had known that I was actually a Nigerian, would they have allowed me to participate?
Would they have allowed me and then call the bomb or anti-terrorist squad, to watch me from all angles and shoot me, if I make any sudden movements?
I also feared that, if something had gone wrong there and they were looking for the "USUAL" suspects, would I have been fingered and arrested?
The pains of carrying a Naija passport and the stigma being carried on all of us! Na wa!

10 minutes to go, power failing like NEPA (Abi PHCN), then they started passing all kinds of power enhancing drinks, (Cold, Hot, Different colors of funning looking and tasting jello-like substance), I then knew that I would complete this and call all my detractors to shame (D2M2)!

Summarizing, I would say, I'm proud to be one of the 1000+ cycle rs that took part in the event.
I completed the full course!
Been There, Done that and have the T-Shirt to show for it! (I do have the T-Shirt given. Remember I said we all wore the same outfits)
I also represented Naija! (Though Un-Officially - Afamako stylee)
My Sis and I were the ONLY NIGERIAN's that took part, but not the only blacks!
I now realise how unfit I am and would need to add that (Fitness & Gym) to my 2010 resolution and "To Do" List.

This was in all the local news in Houston and we are waiting the pictures and videos to come out.
The URL attached, is the picture taken by NASA and shows what it looked like from space.
This is sent, towards getting all your minds away from the maddening issue of what is presently going on in Naija, even if its for the time it took you to read this write-up.

Being a Nigerian isn't a bad thing after all.

Badvibes

http://lifetimefitness.mylt.com/community/cycling/

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...............We have obtained the first exclusive arial photo of the World's Largest Cycling Event hosted by Life Time Fitness City Centre in Houston on Saturday. Look for a full recap of the event to be posted soon. Rumor is this event was so large it was actually visible from outer space. We'll confirm with NASA.








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