'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day' Mum's quote No. 10989

Went on one of my solo biking trips today. My trail trip with Aud was postponed to tmw instead, Isyraf had soccer, Muhd had duty.

But occasional solo trips are actually quite stimulating. I find that my 'breakthroughs' are achieved either through solo accidental attempts at an obstacle or under the watchful eyes of Isyraf.

But then, today was another dramatic event...

I dislike breakfasts. I have no appetite for them, so I usually skip them, save for a banana or two before a morning exam, which is said to improve your concentration by >20%, I can't recall what Siu Sing said 2 yrs back.

But I digress.

I woke up late again today, as there was no incentive to wake up early. It was noon, and yet it wasn't that bright, it was a little cloudy. Ah, perfect conditions to hit the trail.

Got my things and left for Tamp.

Aside from not touching my bike for 2 weeks since the bike rally, and not hitting the trail hard in 3 weeks, I felt good and confident that today I can work to my new personal goal: To do 100km in the Tamp trail by December, and by Feburary next year, I want to join the Bike Asia 100km or equivalent non-competetive event at the trail.

So I reached the main area, put on my helmet, and went on my way to the start point. Earlier on, I decided that I should cheong my first round, to set the standard for further rounds, as I gain more stamina from future training sessions. Or so Confidentman thought.

So I was heaving and panting like a mad dog. Being rather familiar with the trail, I LOVED the corners and the ruts. Hoho. Finally my suspension's showing its skills. Its a stock suspension some more, one of the few things on my bike I didn't change.

Covered 1.5km. I missed doing the small drop at the beginning of the Cannondale section. Made me feel so pro. Hoho. "Biking is like a million times more 'shiok' if you go fast, tethering on the point of losing control, yet maintaining it..." I thought to myself.

I reached the more uphill section of the trail. 'Doing well, so cheong again,' Confidentman thought to himself. So I was panting and panting up the slope, down and up again...

'Wah leow, the sun is so hot.. Dint do trail hard enough fo so long, spent 2 weeks at home eating and playing GTA 4, cannot tahan..," Not-so-Confidentman thought to himself. Finally, I reached a very gravelly uphill.

Riding uphill on gravel is like riding in gooey, wheel engulfing mud, but when you're tired, gravel behaves like damn glue. Finally as I couldn't take breathing like a hamster on adrenaline, I stopped. Pant, pant, pant. Wah leow eh, I felt like I was running my first 5 click run at BRTC again.

Ok, drama time..

I felt light-headed, couldn't focus and I had a sudden migraine.

'Shit la. Heatstroke ah? No one knows I'm here.'

I felt my pulse, it was slow. My breathing was fast and shallow.

'*%$@!!!! Didn't 2 people just die suddenly in the army, a few days back?'

I slumped myself on the handlebar, hoping that my light-headedness would subside. I was feeling like I was going to pass out.. So I got off my bike, threw my bike down and looked for a place to sit on the singletrack. But there was no place to sit. In the end, I couldn't take it anymore..

I keeled over, and puked. And puked some more.

Wtf? Then, I just sat in the sun, on the singletrack, drinking my water, for like 15 mins.

After puking, I felt so much better, but what was rather embarassing is: I keeled over 1.8km into the Cannondale section. Lol.

After that, a little dazed, I finished the remaining portion of the section at my normal speed, which was much much more comfortable.

But being a little dazed, I didn't see that the recent rain had caved in a small section of the concrete-reinforced section, making a rather deep, long hole. My front wheel went into that hole at full speed, as it was at the last turn, downhill towards the end of the section.

Have you seen cows fly? Lol. As the suspension rebounded, the bike bounced and went forwards, missing the turn. I think I may have caught air, I'm not sure. But I didn't fall. Managed to hop over the length of the singletack. Wah, I feel so pro.

Can go to Gangsa already ah, Isyraf?

Anyways, I left the trail after that section, and went to the Esso. Bought 1 Pocari Sweat, 2 bottles of Coke Lime. Ah, sugar, in all its glory, here to rescue me.

After about half an hour of deciding whether to go home, eat lunch or go to the trail again, I decided to hit the trail again. So after glugging down all my drinks, eating a few Sultana crackers, and resting for another half hour, I hit the trail again.

The sun wasn't as hot already, and I was feeling so fresh from the influx of sugar. I went faster than my normal speed, just a notch out of my confort zone, not near the cardiac-arrest zone like the previous time.

Finished the Cannondale section, the Big Hill section, the Log section, and the Jungle section.

I felt quite happy with myself, finshed all that, 7.5km worth of trail in 40 mins. I think Isyraf would have 'loved' the conditions in the Jungle. The mud was so soft it engulfed my entire rim+wheel height. I think its about 4 cm deep of mud. Shiok ah!

And today I was on a roll in the jungle. Stuck in the mud, I did a trackstand, and pedalled forward. For subsequent puddles, when the front got stuck, I 'Power-Pedalled' (coined by Isyraf), that is the front wheel is lifted out of the puddle . Whoo.

Plus, I did a trackstand while on the balance logs! Wah leow eh. Aren't you proud of me?

Also did the 2 uphill switchbacks I couldn't seem to do previously, along with one of the super steep berms. All that's left that I can't do is the super steep berm before the start of the Cannondale section.

And if all this wasn't enough, I did another round, trackstand and all. Woohoo.

But reader beware, don't be stupid, and do eat your breakfast.

The LONGEST Weekend

Wah... I've been sick since friday. Being sick during the weekend is the worse thing that could ever happen to anyone.

Then the weather is another story. Rain, RAIN, rain. I couldn't even meet up with Audrey yesterday to hit the trails again.

On a side note, I was super disappointed not to be able to go, cos we only meet up weekly, so if we miss one week, I'll have to wait another week. I also wanted to see how she would perform at the trail that day. Her first attempt at the trail was to put it embarassingly, 2-3 times better than my first attempt on my Aggressor. Plus I think in 3 mths, she'll be the one teaching me new stuff. Lol.

Anyways, till next Sat then.

Then today, it still was so cloudy and rainy. I couldn't stand it anymore so I went out to the trails despite my feverish aches and lethargy. But in the end, even with Isyraf's company, we were still not in the mood to hit the trail.. So we ended up doing a round at the dirt path that led to nowhere.

Wah, I feel so bored.. Its like after attempting the trails these past few weeks , sans body armour, after doing round island cycling like a roadie, cycling is starting to... lose its thrill?!?!

No la. I must really be feeling unwell.

And no Isyraf/Sing, my thirst, lethargy, sleepiness are not signs of diabetes or renal failure/impairment. Not funny... Though, I better wean myself off that damn Coke Zero.

Mmm, smooth, silky, guilt-free Coke Zero.

Bike Rally Man

After a nice nap at the end point, we regained some energy. But compare how fresh Aud looks, while I look like I should sleep for the next 1000 years.

BUT I SURVIVED!!! 128km of S'pore roads. And I made it home, sans cardiac arrest. Whee! Audrey survived too, in, fact, she wasn't as visibly tired as me. LOL.

Now let me recount the journey as best as I can possible can. Better drink your coffee first :)

The day started at 0430a.m. I got ready, both excited, yet reluctant to face the daunting hot roads that were to come in a few hours time. Audrey's father was super nice to pick me up from my house to send us over to Vishnu's house, where we had parked our bikes the day before.

And Vishnu and his parents were nice enough to allow thier house to be a temp carpark to 2 bikes. :)

Then we headed over to a petrol station on the way to east coast to pump our tyres to a roadie's pressure of 55 psi.

When we reached east coast, we registered and met up with Audrey's classmates. Super nice ppl. Very on also. That's why vishnu needs to start cycling. Lol.

Anyways, I had the lowest IQ there, cos all of her classmates, including her, are CN Yang scholars from all over SEA, if I'm not wrong. Smart, witty, enthusiastic and outdoorsy scholars. Very contradictory to my perception of international scholars. But little did I know I was about to meet another person who would correct my perception on brainy people.

Before we started off, we had to attach the number tags to our bikes, so I went to get a pair of scissors to cut the excess tags off, because our bike are pretty, and I dun want their beauty to be ruined by stupid dangling tags.

Then all of a sudden, I heard, "Zul, Zul!!". I turned around. There's no one else I know here. "Zul, zul!' and I saw this man beckoning me to come over. I looked at him, puzzled.

You know who he was? He's http://www.blogger.com/profile/15602079103603710402. He left a comment on my blog previously on one of the posts. He an NUS lecturer on Biological something. Me and my bad memory. But he saw me frmm like 20m away, and he remembered who I was! After talking to him, he remembered my blog entries, my many falls and my experiences. We met him again during the journey, and when he met Audrey, he even remembered stuff from her blog, like how she enjoyed her new bike cos her old one was super heavy.

Holy, Crap! He's like superman. I ask you readers a simple question now. Will you be able to recognise a person you've never met, from 20m away and he's not facing you? Would you be able to remember details from this stranger's blog, details from a month ago? Would you be able to remember who he was friends with? He must be like Super-super-genetically enhanced smart. LOL. Plus he's super friendly, and he organises MTB classes for novices, where they practise stuff at Ubin. They teach jumps, something which I can't do cos I don't have the guts. Haha. But, I'll definitely go, cos if everyone else is a novice MTBer, then at least it won't be so embarrassing when I go splat at the quarry. Haha.

We also met many more interesting people, like the Cannondale shop owner, the one who carried Aud's and my bike up to his shop, so that we could park it nicely while we took a look at his wares. He's the Cannondale shop owner, and he treated us so nicely that day. Not like LandT cycles. Made Muhd and I wait while the 'regulars' cut queue.

I also met this other NUS lecturer. His bike was a Santa Cruz Blur. Full suspension. Isyraf's dream bike. Haha. He's been touring all over the world, India, Europe and other places on his bike. Cool guy, also super friendly.

Met the Scott guy who showed me how to do the balancing beam at Tamp MTB park and a whole host of other people.

OKOK!!!

Now for the Bike rally itself. We got into position, and the air horn blew. Wah, I expected a sprint and scramble. But it was kind of anti climatic. So funny. Cos the group moved off so slowly. Finally, after 20m, the roadies started zipping off into the lead, never to be seen again. Haha.

The first checkpoint was Labrador Park. 20-30km+. ( I had an odometer, but I took more note of total distance and speed to pace myself, rather than point to point distance) Wah, I was still fresh. Confident that this would be a cynch. Haha.

When we arrived there, the fast roadies had already rested and formed their group again and went off. But we just arrived, so we had our share of free flow Gatorade and Gardenia Buns. So Audrey and I waited for 40 mins for the 2nd group to form. But!!! It was an 'own time, own target, move on' kinda thing. So we had lost our lead against the ppl lagging behind. Even some of Aud's classmates had gone off without us knowing. So we set off, with road marshalls to guide us at the turns and stuff.

Look how fresh I am. And look at the view. I didn't know this kind of places still existed on the mainland.
My phone couldn't capture the rainbow in the background. But the view rocks.

Other people at the Labrador 1st checkpoint.

On the way to NTU SRC, which was the 2nd checkpoint, we overtook so many people, including her classmates who left earlier. LOL. From then on, our motto was, "Slowly, but surely, we'll overtake people."

At the 2nd checkpoint, we had more food and Gatorade. Then we set off for Kranji, the 3rd checkpoint. At Kranji, we decided to swop bikes.

Then Audrey asked me, "My saddlebag with my phone and stuff is on my bike. Is it ok?"
To which I replied, "Its ok. We won't get separated as long as we cycle together."

Wah leow. BIG mistake. The drama that ensued was worthy of its own movie.

So we swopped bikes and headed to Yishun stadium. We were near the Mandai area, where there are long muscle killing gradual climbs but nice long gradual slopes also. But, it started to pour heavily. Yet, we decided there was no point stopping, cos its better to rest at the Yishun checkpoint.

Then the drama started. Rain was beating down on my face. The wind was killer. I tilted my head down to use my helmet's visor as a shield. The rain dissolved the sweat on my face, and it went into my eyes. I couldn't see. My eyes were painful from the sweat and rain water that entered, and my specs were fogging up, and I was speeding down the long downhill, with one eye closed, and the other squinting. The noise from the rain and the speeding cars beside me was too great. I had to see, so i slowed down to wipe my eyes.

THEN, I turned around, to make sure she was ok. But she was gone! I looked ahead and there was no one there. AH!!! I waited a little, still no sign of her. I started to panic.

I backtracked up one hill. Still no sign. Panic built up.

I backtracked up another hill. Still no sign. I backtracked up another hill. Still no sign of her.

Argh!! I was super scared. Then I saw a road marshall and asked him to lodge a description with the next and previous checkpoint for any sign of her.

Then, one of her friends saw me, and cycled towards me. He was constantly behind us so I was hoping he had seen her. But no, he hadn't. So he made a few calls to the other classmates. No one picked up. So since she wasn't behind us, I decided to go to the next checkpoint. I gave the road marshall my hp no. and sped off to the next checkpoint at Yishun stadium.

And there she was, nice and dry, safe. Haha. Wah, I was super relieved and as relieved as I was, I was super tired also.

So you know what happened? When the sweat stung my eyes, and I slowed down, she sped down the hill. And I didn't realise she had overtaken me. So she was waiting for me up ahead, while I waited for her BEHIND her. Lol. And both of us backtracked, looking for one another. So she thought I was missing, and vice-versa.

As much as it was a nerve-wracking experience, in retrospect, its quite funny, don't you think?

So we set off once again to Serangoon Sec school, the fifth checkpoint. And I think the heat of the day and the distance was getting to us, but more so to me. When we reached the school, I gulped down Gatorade like no tmw. I had a splitting headache to boot. In the end, we rested at some study area, and she gave me time to sleep my headache off. I slept like a log for 15 mins. But I woke up refreshed, but the headache still lingered. But it was ok, cos there was only 36km left.

Then we left Serangoon. Once we reached Sengkang, I felt a little fresher. And once we reached Pasir Ris, I was back in business. I was proabaly dehydrated, but the Gatorade i drank earlier got working, albeit a little slowly.

Then came the biggest test of all. The long straight slightly uphill road from Downtown East to the Shell station near my house. It was a test, cos I love to speed down that slightly inclined hill. I've attained 53.3kmh down that stretch of road, not because its steep, but because its a very long SLIGHT incline. But I never go home using that route. Cos i hate the lack of shade and i hate long climbs, I prefer short and steep, so I can get it over and done with.

What's worse, is that we were both going to past by our houses. Haha. The temptation was great, but the smell of victory was only 20km away!

Finally, past the shell station came the very nice long downhill raod to changi village. On the park connector, my top speed would be 48kmh cos i will have to stop at the traffic light and there'll always be another slow cyclist or pedestrian clogging up the connector. Since I was on road this time, and the traffic light was green, woohoo. Solid. From the Shell and down the hill my speed touched 61kmh. Wah. SHIOK! I felt like I was riding a white Super Four motorbike. Haha. I know you're smiling Isyraf.

Anyway, once we reached the Changi checkpoint, we decided not to rest and chiong to the end point since we knew the route so well. This time we decided that since we were on the road the whole day, we should try doing Changi Coast rd on the road itself and not on the connector. And we were faster on the road. There were no other cyclists, no branches and no turns. The road was straight all the way for 9km. Woohoo.

When we finally reached east coast, we decided to make it a photo finish. We overtook a few other riders and one safety official on his super fast foldable bike. And we went through the finishing line feeling very happy and accomplished. :)

After that, we were given a finishers' shirt. I never had a finshers' shirt before. So cool. We bought green tea that was on offer, and collected our goody bags.

After that we laid our things down and did what champions do after a race. SLEEP! lol.

We slept in the middle of the open field, near the hawker centre at the beach, along with other tired riders.

Best sleep ever la. Until I was awoken by the stupid DJ and the horrible live band.

It was already 4.40p.m so we decided to stay for the lucky draw which was to start at 7p.m. So we ate dinner at the hawker centre with one of her classmates, Mi Cheng, if I'm not wrong.

Anyways, she commented earlier in the day that I didn't eat much during the journey. But I think she now knows why. I can't eat and then cycle. I eat bread and stuff to have enough free sugar in my blood. The rest of the energy is drawn from my own 'reserves'. LOL. But when everything has ended, and dinner comes, my my. I replenish all that has been used up with a vengeance. Chicken rice, BBQ chicken wings, satay and sugar cane. LOl. Truly, I more than made up for the energy lost during the race.

Alas, we didn't win anything during the lucky draw. And we cycled back home.

But all in all, its was a fantastic day. I became a roadie for a day. And now I think roadies are quite ok. They're nice ppl. Even though, I find that doing distance cycling all the time is boring, but so is trail all the time. So its best to alternate between the two disciplines of cycling.

BUT! Since road bikes can only do road, and MTBikes can do both road and trail, I guess MTBers win. Haha.

MTBers : 500 pts
Roadies: -100 pts

LOL. Thanks for reading, if you read the whole thing, that is. Well good day, I'm ending here cos my fingers are numb.