SINGAPORE - The last time Cheryl Cheung donned the iconic red OCBC Cycle jersey was in the 2013 edition where she cycled with her late husband, brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Nine years on, the 42-year-old will be back to take part in this year's event with her two daughters, Victoria and Holly Cheung.

"It was something that I did with my husband way back when OCBC Cycle just started, so it's nice to come full circle and do this with my kids, both for fun and remembrance," said Cheung, a proud pioneer of the OCBC Cycle series, who first participated in 2009.

Though she has 12 years of cycling experience, getting back on a road bike was not easy after she lost her husband Peter Cheung to a heart attack in 2020 while he was out cycling.

"He passed away very suddenly. He went out on a Saturday morning ride and I was basically awoken from my sleep with a phone call in the morning that said my husband was in an ambulance."

The talent acquisition manager describes her husband as someone who was "comfortable on two wheels". The loss came as a great shock to her especially as he led a very active lifestyle and was a founder of a local cycling club.

"My only comfort is that he was doing something that he loved the most," Cheung said.

"Fifteen months later, I finally had the courage to take his road bike and to ride it to his crash site. That was quite a significant milestone for me."

Since then, she started cycling more often and realised that she had missed the feeling of cycling.

Now, she rides up to three or four times a week together with either her friends or daughters.

"Every time I ride, it makes me feel like he's watching me from heaven and it just gives me comfort.'

However, her hunger for chasing quicker speeds left her with a dislocated elbow in October last year after she met with an accident on one of her rides.

"It was a bit traumatic because it reminded me of my husband. I lost him then. And I realised that I needed to be a bit more sensible, because now my kids only have me."

After three months of recovery and physiotherapy, Cheung is back on her bike and chasing the sunrise with her cycling group.

Her return to the OCBC Cycle event this year will be her fifth time participating but holds great significance as it is her first time taking part with her two daughters and it will be a way for her to "keep her husband's legacy alive and to remember and honour him".

This, along with the added bonus of "getting (her) kids to do it".

"It will be a nice family activity together".

Cheung will be riding in the 200km virtual ride segment while her daughters, Victoria, 7, and Holly, 5, will take part in the Mighty Savers Kids 5km virtual ride, which takes place from May 7 to June 6.

Registration ends on April 25 or when all slots are taken up. For more information, visit this website.