century sprint

just yesterday, i completed the Round Island Challenge 2006, which took place over the entire night before. it was no joke, having to travel over 120km in 11 hours. yes, you got that. 120km, or 120,000m. apparently the route covers the entire singapore, making an almost complete round. we started off at east coast, heading down toward harbourfront and then up again. being in group 3, we were the last to leave the starting point as well.

whoo! blurry! it was fast.

everything was alright until we hit the fast-moving highway at harbourfront area (telok blangah road), and we were going at probably 30km/h when suddenly i heard a horrible hissing sound. the next instant, my front wheel went out and i jammed on the brakes while swerving to the left pavement, almost causing a pile up for the people behind. lucky the support vehicle wasn't far behind and we loaded up in no time. but i lost about 2/3km of distance, which ain't too bad (i made up for it today anyway).

there goes the front tyre. rats.

i have to give credits to the leaders there ; they fixed my wheel and got it up and running in no time. it was the rim tape problem this time, not some nail or sharp object. i have no idea why i'm always so lucky, or maybe i'm just on the receiving end on someone's curse. but as usual, i can't really be bothered about the embarrassment factor/the trouble i would have to take to drag the bike home from harbourfront/leave it at xy's place but instead the amount of hinderance i would give to my team and those around me. on the bike leaders' and support crew's part, they seriously pampered, and didn't make much of a fuss. they just did what they had to do, and i was really impressed with their service (i remember suet ling, CJ and the guy who helped me fix my tyre[sorry i didn't get your name]. kudos to you guys!).

the stopover at lim chu kang cemetery bus-stop.

overall from then on it was perfectly fine (the tyre ran well with no sign of problems), until we hit the 10km-long stretch of STRAIGHT road behind the airport runway. trust me, it was draggy, boring and tiring. i spent half an hour alone on that road, high gear, and watching the planes take off. i can say it was like a treadmill, where you just keep going and you never see yourself moving at all. but finally i saw the last turn up ahead, and the sun started to rise. it was about 5am in the morning, i guess.

a small road and a cut in between two potted plants later, i was in east coast parkway. there was no one around other than a couple with dedicated road racers ahead of me, and a few morning joggers. the sky i could only describe as pale blue, which kinda brightened up quickly as sunrises are usually rapid. this last 7km-or-so stretch was covered in terrain (including mud, soil, grass, a bit of slopes,etc.) so there wasn't really much of a path that was laid out by the leaders. since there was no one around i decided to use what my bike was built for--the bumpy shortcuts. it was a real pain in the ass (literally), but i pressed on and used my music as a form of distraction from the irritation in my butt. speaking of music, some interesting music i heard on the radio during this trip quite did their job in either 1.screwing up my mind or 2.giving adrenaline fixes. i won't go into details.




just when i thought of giving up, damn, i saw the finish-line. i held on for a while more, just that few more seconds, the longest seconds of my life, and before i knew it i pulled up to the end point, let the bike slip from my fingers and dropped it, and instantly i was on the ground. i lay there for about 5 minutes, then the bright morning sun drifted between my eyelids and the sound of the surf sliding up and down the sand became more apparent. i got up, left my stuff on the ground and walked in circles. suddenly, at that point, everything that occurred over the past few hours seemed like a dream. i looked around and realised that indeed it happened--i came in fourth. i didn't believe it at first, but a few questions to the three people around confirmed that we had overtook both the front groups and came in first. it was 7am, and RIC 2006 was over. i did it.

the sunrise (where's that M1 song? "i'm walking on sunshine")

I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND MY THANKS TO GOD FOR HELPING ME PUSH MYSELF OVER THE LIMIT AND REMOVING MY NAUSEA AT ONE OF THE FINAL CHECKPOINTS. I PRAYED AND IT WAS OVER. BUT, I WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COMPLETE THIS WITHOUT THE HELP OF GOD. GOD, I KNOW YOU'RE ALWAYS THERE, NO MATTER WHAT TIME IT IS. THANK YOU! AMEN.











*to mum & dad as well--thank you for your permission and support. i hope i have done you proud in something i love to do.











*to jackie--thanks for the valuable information bro! you got your good news. haha. did it for ya.











*to sean--great ride man, a bad thing your christmas lights went out. i'll never succeed in overtaking you downslope although my warp was built for it. lol.



































i'm dancing inside!