1 Comment// Posted in Life by Nielfa Hanifa on 10.13.09.

Not only that, he’s also the hottest, handsomest and once again, MOST hard core husband ever! (Can you tell I’ve run out of adjectives that start with an h?)

Zeen got himself a mountain bike around the time we took our trip down to the Garden Route in April earlier this year. He’s mostly been cycling on tar and dirt roads to up his fitness levels before actually taking on the real mountain terrain. Then on Sunday, he did his first mountain biking race in Grabouw at Oak Valley Estate.

He entered the 26km route, since it would be his first time experiencing mountain biking, as it should be, and off he went (after getting to the event 10 minutes late, I’d like to add,) in a light drizzle.

There I was “Mrs Moral Support” getting myself comfortable while watching this drizzle turn into a proper downpour. About an hour later, the 12km fun run riders starting coming in with their white number boards. Shortly thereafter the first 26k riders, with the blue number boards, could be seen across the way and they too started coming over the finish line quickly. So, I eagerly watched out for Zeen’s riding kit to show up in the distance for me to recognise.

I was pleasantly distracted by my friend’s 8 year old who triumphed over the finish line after doing his first 12km race, all by himself. Then not more than 5 minutes later, I hear Zeen’s name and I see him going over the finish line. So I run up to take a quick snapshot of him (that I’ll upload sometime later,) and congratulate him on finishing. Zeen, soaking wet, smiles and thanks me, then lifts his arm to show me his forearm that seemed to have no skin left on it and was bleeding. My face immediately turned into one of horror and I ask him what happened.

6kms into the race, Zeen had to manoeuvre his way down a very steep hill and he made a technical error by adjusting his weight on the bike while going downhill at about 40-50km/h and ended up falling, using his arm as a buffer and dragging all the way down. He ended up with lacerations all along his right side, on his leg, his chest and all the skin on his forearm worked the way a break pad would on a car.

But my husband is hard core, wait… he’s HARD CORE in capital and bold letters! Because after he fell, he took a break, got back on his bike and carried on to finish the race… and when I say finish the race, I don’t mean he willed himself to come over that line, bike by his side, because you never give up; I mean, he finished the race in the top 100 at 59th place in a time of 1 hour, 26 minutes and 57 seconds.

After Zeen got himself bandaged up at a first aid tent and we waited for a friend, a veteran MTB-er who did the 46km, to finish. While sitting there, I could see that Zeen wasn’t himself. He had a blank stare on his face looking at who knows what, shivering cold and clearly in lots of pain. By the time we got home, the adrenalin wore off and he was completely out of it.

After a shower, some clean bandaging, a whole lot of painkillers and a nap, he woke up to be a bit more cheerier with his speech regained. We had a quick snack before heading to sleep for the night. Now let me say this again, my husband is HARD CORE! He fell down a hill, got back on his bike to finish a race in the top 100 and the next morning… he gets up and drives himself to work.

I don’t know how Zeen managed it, but by the time he fetched me the afternoon, he was in so much pain and his hand was completely swollen, we were both convinced his arm was broken. So we went to the doctor at about 6PM, who tells us he needs get X-rays done and last night we sat in an ER waiting for about 3 hours to find out, just how hard core he really is. Zeen and I were joking around, because if his arm was broken and he still finished a race in the top 100, he deserves a trophy or medal or something!

To end this off, his arm is not broken, thankfully… but there is no denying it, My husband is still most HARD CORE!. For a first time out on mountain biking trail and finishing in the top 100 after injuring himself so badly, he did totally awesome and I’m so proud of him!

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