Going to be a lengthy post, be warned. Pictures will come later if i get them haha. Had bike rally yesterday, sunday 1st of june 2008. I'll go by chronological order.
Woke up at 4am, managed to get my dad to wake up too and send me to east coast park by 5am. Ok i was 10-15 minutes late :P. Sorry ahha. At 5+am we were the only few people there. 1st group to register, gh got the number 001. I got 007 aka cristiano ronaldo aka james bond, not bad haha. Got our bikes, before moving to east coast macs to buy breakfast. It is a sort of warm up i guess, but in no way did it prepare us for what laid ahead. Reported back to the starting point near the food centre for the start of the rally.
1st leg was from east coast to labrador park. cycled through the city area, past the singapore flyer, esplanade, fullerton, one raffles quay, vivocity before hitting the park. The 1st stage was quite a breeze, considering that the terrain was flat, the sun wasnt out and we had our energy still.
2nd leg was from labrador to NTU, this route mainly followed west coast road all the way up, got to seen some part of singapore which i never been to before, mostly the area after west coast park and the pandan reservior area. The slopes there were agonizing. Took most of the juice out of my legs, and it is there that i fell behind the pack lol. Notable landmarks include west coast park, pandan reservior, city harvest church and NTU.
3rd leg was the worst in my opinion. Stretching from NTU to kranji reservior. There is a whole long stretch of flat road that looked like it never end. Its actually a emergency runway used by the RSAF that feeds into tengah airbase. The sun was blazing down and you can see mirages on the road, those shimmering images. The slopes there was mad too, had to get off my bike to push for one of them, no way my legs could have taken it. Passed through lots of farms and cemetries and jungle on both sides.
4th leg, from kranji to yishun was the best of the worst. NTU put up signs on the lamppost labeling each peak in front of us, i think there were a total of 4. Pushed my bike up one of them as well. The rest mainly used the momentum from going downhill before the crests to get me up the next hill. Forced myself not to touch the brakes haha. Reached yishun stadium, and civilisation in the early afternoon, at least for most parts the sky was overcast. Cycled past mandai zoo, tons of forest and factories and thats about it.
5th lg started at yishun stadium and ended at serangoon secondary school. The path was mainly scenic country side, ( as compared to wild country side at the kranji area ). The area around seletar counrty club was nice, if only we werent so tired. Took a break just before cutting back into the fernvale estates and just dropped dead at the bus stop with hh, gab and jh whom which i was cyclign with. The later part of this leg consist of cycling through the sengkang area. Thank god for traffic lights. everytime the lights turned red = water break time, and we hit 4 to 5 consecutive red lights lol. My thighs really start to cramp during this point. Really on the brink already. Luckily hit serangoon sec in one piece. Places of interest: Seletar country club, seletar airport, MRT/LRT underground at sengkang.
6th and 2nd last leg, ended at changi beach. Took old tampines road up till pasir ris, then from then onwards it is all home stretch for me, having cycled the route before. Rested twice, just after IKEA and just before downtown east. Also the changi beach checkpoint is situated much further down than the usual expected place. Passed by paya lebar airbase, giant, IKEA, downtown east, changi village and changi beach.
Last leg! ( 7th ) cycled from changi beach all the way down to the east coast food centre that area. Took the newly completed park connector, ahh relief. Followed the length of the airport runway before cutting into east coast. Saw 4 planes taking off along the way, 747s and 777, 2 silkairs, 1 JAL, 1 SIA. Cycled like a mad chiongster because there was no gradient, and my leg found its strength. Finally arrived at the end point around 6.15. Landmarks: Changi airport, east coast park.
Finally, clocked 128km. My butt hurts like mad after completing the rally. Actually it started hurting after the NTU leg haha, and it still hurts now. My arms hurt from grabbing the handlebars, and i look slightly oven toasted, although yang said i looked no different lol. Glad its done. Super tiring but looking back, it wasnt a bad experience. The lucky draw prizes isnt bad too, with crumplers and bikes. Too bad i did not win any. I ate 14 gardenia rasin buns throughout the whole trip and drank 5 litres of water. Consumed 2 buns at every checkpoint, think i'll die without them. Btw, in case you all didnt notice, we cycled past all of singapore's airbases ( tengah, sembawang, paya lebar, changi ) and airports ( seletar, changi ) along the way. Hope to be back next year, with proper training. Three cheers for the guys of 0713 ( gh, jh, amos, wh, gab, hh ) who gave their very best and 'ren' until the end. Oh and i hope to take part in the sundown marathon next year, it was held the day before, i was not old enough this year to take part ( like there is any difference between 17 and 18 ).
Ok nights, got econs tomorrow at 830 for 3 HOURS wth. Save the pictures and the blasting of singapore for their 7-3 lost some other time, too tired.
What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within out into the world, miracles happen. - Henry David Thoreau
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