Bike Race in Angkor Wat

The twilight lay over everything like a blanket, and the morning was just cold enough to cause goose bumps. We crammed into a tuk-tuk, all four of our bikes wedged against each other. I was both nervous, and excited. Not the best thing to feel immediately after waking up, but I was pumped, regardless of my half-consciousness. The previous night we had gone into Siem Reap, and I rented an amazing bike for only eight dollars.

As we got close, Angkor Wat came into view, breathtaking in the pre-dawn light. We arrived, as close to the starting line as we could get, mounted our bikes, and slowly pedaled to a place where we could rest. We got there in perfect time to watch almost 200 riders embark on a 100k journey that would last them the greater part of the morning. We waited for the last dregs of the 100k bikers to pass the starting line; then we watched over 300 more riders line up, and then the pistol, and they were off. 30 kilometers in their future, their own personal glories waited for them. Finally, it was our time to gather at that fateful line on the ground. I pulled my bike up, in front of the rest of the 17k riders, and readied myself to leave 100 people in my dust. Everyone became quiet, so quiet it seemed that even the early morning birds and insects seemed to silence. The pistol cracked, and the people in the front, including myself, raced away in a charge of adrenaline.

The cold morning air burned my eyeballs as we raced forward, the thrill of the start of the race still burning through our veins. I slowly advanced past everyone in front of me, until I was in the midst of the 30k riders. I had found a reasonably fast, comfortable pace that I knew I could keep up for hours. I raced forward until I ran into someone I knew: we stayed at the same guesthouse, and we both volunteered with the same organization. I said “hello” as I passed him. He responded with “I thought you were doing the 17k route.” I told him I was, and he responded with words that made me want to kick myself, even today: “you missed a turn about one and a half kilometers back.” No longer was I in front of everyone in the 17k race, but I was over half a mile behind them! I immediately turned around, kicked my bike into its top gear, and sprinted back a long ways. I looked for maybe five minutes, but I couldn’t find the turn I had missed, so I turned around and decided I was going to bike a 30k. I got back into my previous rhythm, right foot down, left foot up, left foot down, right foot up. Over and over and over and over and over….

The race was through the Angkor Wat temple complex, and everywhere you looked, there were beautiful things to see. The race went on, and the entire time I was by myself, an independent individual, moving at my own pace, relying on no one but myself; I reveled in my independence. After about 20k or so I ran into my mom, and our friend Jessika, who was biking with my family. They had taken the correct route, and so I decided to ride with them for a ways. Their pace was much more relaxed than mine, and we probably covered in 45 minutes what I could have covered in 15. It was nice, but eventually I decided that I wanted to get back in the race, so I shot ahead, back to my usual pace. It was a few more kilometers to the finish line, and as I came around a bend, and saw the huge crowd of people, I went into my top gear, and sprinted as fast as I possibly could to the end. My final time was one hour and 31 minutes to bike about 26 kilometers.

The Family & Todd

 The bike race was organized by a longtime friend of my parents Todd Sigaty and co-founder of Village Focus International, an organization focused on helping the disenfranchised and impoverished people of Southeast Asia, as well as victims of human trafficking, The bike race was a fundraiser for VFI that raised over $100,000. At the awards ceremony later that day, Avi and I got medals for coming all the way from Seattle, and for being some of the youngest people in the race. It was an amazing experience and I want to come back next year, and hopefully make the right turn.