::Heartland Explorer::
Monday, March 22, 2010 @ 1:27 AM
::20th Mar 10::
Mou!!~ I just realized the horrible fact is...
THAT I'M STILL ON MARCH POSTS :\
ARGH! GODDAMMIT
This event is my first night cycling event! :D It was an opportunity that I have to reach out and grab it; because I won't know if there will be another chance to do so :( So after confirming with my inner self, I gathered all my party members for this quest :)
They were Moo, Joshua, Puikwan, Edmund and me! XueNi wasn't able to come because she didn't know how to cycle and ShunAn wasn't really interested in it :( So it was just the five of us. The five of us went down for a briefing, two days before the actual event. And also paid the $3 for the rental of bicycle, helmet, bicycle backlight and light sticks. Cool, huh? $3 for all that :P
Details:
Start Date: Saturday, 20 March 2010
Meeting Time: 9.00pm sharp
Meeting Location: Woodlands Community Club, lobby area beside office.
Flag-off location: Woodlands Ave 2
End Date: Sunday, 21 March 2010
End Time: 6.00am (Estimated)
End Location: East Coast Park Area C
Distance: 35km (Estimated)
Duration: 10 hours (Estimated) including pit stops
Average Speed: 10km-15km/hr
Rain or shine this event will not be canceled.
ROUTE
Woodlands Ave 2 > Woodlands Ave 7 > Gambas Ave > Sembawang Rd > Upper Thomson Road > Marymount Road > Thomson Road > Balestier Road > Lavender Street > Victoria Street > Bras Basah > Nicoll Highway > Stadium Road > Tajong Rhu Road > Fort Road > East Coast Park
Well, lemme speed it up to the actual day itself. 20th of March.
My house was the meeting ground. Joshua came over to repair my brother's computer. He promised my mama to be my computer repairman xD! Edmund came over to use my laptop for his school assignments and Puikwan, she came over to get some of my downloaded computer programmes. Moo was the last one to reach; he wanted to see Koko! :D Everyone loves my Koko :) Puikwan, somehow, injured her toe in my house by tripping over a chair @.@
Yay, first Cosca event!
So sad that XueNi couldn't join us! T.T
We left my house @ 7.15pm and set off to take bus963 all the way to Woodlands interchange. It was a really long ride there. By the time, we arrived our destination... it was already 8.30pm and 9pm was the meeting time D: We didn't have time to sit down and slowly enjoy our dinner at all. Quickly, we packed away our food at McDonald's and ate while walking to the Woodlands Community Centre.
Puikwan's and my McChicken.
We were too poor to afford a set meal like the others :(
Puikwan's and my McChicken.
We were too poor to afford a set meal like the others :(
My brother, Damien, actually wanted to join us but he made up his mind too slowly and there was no more vacancy left. I didn't think there would be that many people participating in this event; organized by Woodlands Youth Executive Committee. And I was wrong! There weren't even enough bicycles to go around and we have to wait for JinPeng to come back with more bicycles.
Bicycles lined up so orderly and they are all of the same size! D:
A little too tall for me :(
Took pictures while waiting~
Bicycles lined up so orderly and they are all of the same size! D:
A little too tall for me :(
Took pictures while waiting~
We went to register and report to Fann to take our attendanceeeee and realized that we have to change into the lime green shirt that was given out. However they ran out of 'S' sizes... so Puikwan, Joshua and I had to wait for the extra stock to arrive. Light sticks were given out as well. Quite lousy as most of them wouldn't work but they can last for pretty long! Such irony...
Random stuffs xD
Forming stars using our fingers and feet.
Random stuffs xD
Forming stars using our fingers and feet.
Andre was there as well. I noticed him during the briefing; he looked really familiar at first but I can't put my finger on exactly where I have seen him before. When I've heard from my friends that his name was Andre. It was then I realized where I have met him at. It was at the "Silly Putty" lab session and he was one of my team members! xD Apparently, Puikwan and Edmund were afraid of him during this event.
After waiting for more than an hour, we decided to head to the 7-11 opposite the community centre to get some ice cream :P It was really humid. I was trying decided whether to go for coffee or ice cream. And of course, ice cream won! xD
Ice cream!~
Bicycle backlights were given out :) Ooh~ Shiny.
After waiting for more than an hour, we decided to head to the 7-11 opposite the community centre to get some ice cream :P It was really humid. I was trying decided whether to go for coffee or ice cream. And of course, ice cream won! xD
Ice cream!~
Bicycle backlights were given out :) Ooh~ Shiny.
After the long waiting of two hours, the lorry finally arrived with the remaining bicycles!!! The 'S' size shirts have arrived as well :) Luckily for us, the security didn't lock the female toilet. With haste, we changed and went out to get our bicycles! :D So exciting.
Unloading of the bicycles~
Unloading of the bicycles~
We chose our mounts and equipped our headgear; safety helmet with +1defence. I don't think that the helmet could save lives at all :\ If you get knocked down by a car, I bet your neck would snapped off instead. But rules are rules... Have to wear a helmet if you are cycling on the main road :( Blehx, I didn't really tighten the straps of the helmet at all :X
Guess who? LOL!
Guess who? LOL!
Finally, it's time to set off @ 11pm!! The night cycling event has began!!
Everybody shot!
Everybody shot!
It was really exhilarating to ride at night. I was pretty unstable at first, due to the tall frame of the bicycle. I had difficulties trying to support the bicycle after stopping. My feet can't reached the ground! I have to stand on tippy toes and was tiring after awhile Dx Another reason of my instability was I was scared of all the vehicles driving past me! I gripped the handlebars really tight until I had a cut on my palm.
The up slope killed me. I didn't know it was that horrible. Driving in the car didn't seem so difficult xD And the distance was really long. Moreover, I didn't know how to use the gears of the bicycle. So I was using the wrong gear for up slope the entire time and it has shorten my stamina bar drastically. But Sam taught me later how to change the gears and when to use what gears; kinda like manual car though xD Thanks Sam! :)
Dammit! I was one of the last few cyclists.
To be precise, my position was usually the last 2nd or 3rd.
After forty five minutes of cycling, we have reached our first pitstop; Chong Pang @ Yishun! We rested at a hawker centre there and ordered drinks :) Kinda regretted that we placed our food order quite late and it was time to set off once again! So we had to cancel the food order and finish up our drinks quickly.
Woodlands ► Yishun (11.40pm)
@ Pitstop one!
The up slope killed me. I didn't know it was that horrible. Driving in the car didn't seem so difficult xD And the distance was really long. Moreover, I didn't know how to use the gears of the bicycle. So I was using the wrong gear for up slope the entire time and it has shorten my stamina bar drastically. But Sam taught me later how to change the gears and when to use what gears; kinda like manual car though xD Thanks Sam! :)
Dammit! I was one of the last few cyclists.
To be precise, my position was usually the last 2nd or 3rd.
After forty five minutes of cycling, we have reached our first pitstop; Chong Pang @ Yishun! We rested at a hawker centre there and ordered drinks :) Kinda regretted that we placed our food order quite late and it was time to set off once again! So we had to cancel the food order and finish up our drinks quickly.
Woodlands ► Yishun (11.40pm)
@ Pitstop one!
JinPeng briefed us through our next part of the route. Seems that it would be even harder than the first part of the journey, with more up slopes. Dammit. I strongly hate those up slopes. I would keep cursing while pushing the bicycle up the slopes until it becomes a down slope xD
And with the short briefing over and then, off we go again @ 12.15am. I'm slowly regaining my confidence with each pedal I took. But of course, I still couldn't cycle up the slopes T.T!! It used up tremendous amount of my energy and stamina; even though I used the correct gears and stuff. I have to get down from my bicycle each time and push it up slope. Hur~ So miserable. Was always one of the last cyclists due to this Q.Q~
I used food as my motivation this time round :P When Joshua and Sam asked me to take break, I replied "No, I want to eat my prata." Yes, the next pitstop is the Roti Prata House! I'm not going to let my food slip away from me again like the one at Chong Pang :@ So I tried my very best to cycle faster to keep up with the rest. But most of the time, I couldn't see everyone that was ahead of me... they were too far away......
After approximately an hour of nonstop cycling, I felt my legs were about to break and oh! we have too reached our second pitstop; Roti Prata House @ Upper Thomson Road. I have heard how famous is this 24hours prata shop but I have never eaten here before. I felt like I live under a rock :\
Woodlands ► Yishun ► Upper Thomson Road (1.20am)
I used food as my motivation this time round :P When Joshua and Sam asked me to take break, I replied "No, I want to eat my prata." Yes, the next pitstop is the Roti Prata House! I'm not going to let my food slip away from me again like the one at Chong Pang :@ So I tried my very best to cycle faster to keep up with the rest. But most of the time, I couldn't see everyone that was ahead of me... they were too far away......
After approximately an hour of nonstop cycling, I felt my legs were about to break and oh! we have too reached our second pitstop; Roti Prata House @ Upper Thomson Road. I have heard how famous is this 24hours prata shop but I have never eaten here before. I felt like I live under a rock :\
Woodlands ► Yishun ► Upper Thomson Road (1.20am)
Woah! The place was still overwhelmed with people, even though it was so late. It was amazing that we could even find seats almost immediately :') We quickly ordered our pratas; just in case we might have no time to eat at all like the previous pitstop. I ordered a egg + cheese prata and shared a ice milo with Puikwan. It was awesome :D
@ Pitstop two!
Off we go yet again @ 2.30am!
@ Pitstop two!
Off we go yet again @ 2.30am!
This time, Moo took my camera to help us take pictures of us cycling :) I would do it if I could but I could not :\ My cycling skills were only mediocre; though I tried to gain as much experience points as possible to level up!
So happy that this time I managed to catch up with the rest :)
So happy that this time I managed to catch up with the rest :)
This part of the journey seems to be the scariest of all because we were heading to a more busy district; and that includes more lane changing. Lane changing was really hard for me because I can't check my blindspots while cycling :( I will lose control of the bicycle's balance. So I tend to just follow the others in front of me; hoping that I won't get knock down by cars or other huge vehicles from the back Dx
There was a time we had to wait for everyone to be together - forming one extremely long straight line. The reason was so that we could change lane to the right most lane together. It's much easier to stop the oncoming traffic this way by traveling in an unbreakable line than going one by one. The lorry carrying the extra bicycles positioned itself in the middle of the road to help in the blocking of the oncoming traffic. The experience was pretty scary to me ._.
Cool right?
We all were waiting in one long line at the side of the road.
I even cycled past my papa's store when we were in the Bras Basah area :) And we reached our third pitstop; the Kopitiam @ Bras Basah, after another 1hour+ of cycling. My legs were about to give way and they were aching like hell. Sadly, so were the rest of my body parts. I had difficulties trying to lift my legs up the steps as it was too painful to do so or should I say that my legs were reluctant to do so. I slumped on the nearest seat and didn't want to move an inch at all D:
Woodlands ► Yishun ► Upper Thomson Road ► Bras Basah (3.40am)
Puikwan and I were not in the group picture T.T
We were in the toilet when they took it :(
@ Pitstop thr3e!
Cool right?
We all were waiting in one long line at the side of the road.
I even cycled past my papa's store when we were in the Bras Basah area :) And we reached our third pitstop; the Kopitiam @ Bras Basah, after another 1hour+ of cycling. My legs were about to give way and they were aching like hell. Sadly, so were the rest of my body parts. I had difficulties trying to lift my legs up the steps as it was too painful to do so or should I say that my legs were reluctant to do so. I slumped on the nearest seat and didn't want to move an inch at all D:
Woodlands ► Yishun ► Upper Thomson Road ► Bras Basah (3.40am)
Puikwan and I were not in the group picture T.T
We were in the toilet when they took it :(
@ Pitstop thr3e!
& here we go again @ 4am... Soon there was a gradually decline of vehicles traveling on the road as we left the busy districts and were soon near the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Wow... I didn't know that the area would be so beautiful at night! It was certainly an amazing sight. Candy for the eyes.
We took another short break there after Tanjong Rhu suspension footbridge - Singapore's first suspension footbridge was built in 1998. Not actually supposed to take anymore breaks before our destination but I supposed most of the cyclists were already too worn out and we were actually quite ahead of the estimated time :) *Ahem* So, here's our fourth pitstop, Tanjong Rhu.
We took another short break there after Tanjong Rhu suspension footbridge - Singapore's first suspension footbridge was built in 1998. Not actually supposed to take anymore breaks before our destination but I supposed most of the cyclists were already too worn out and we were actually quite ahead of the estimated time :) *Ahem* So, here's our fourth pitstop, Tanjong Rhu.
Woodlands ► Yishun ► Upper Thomson Road ► Bras Basah ► Tanjong Rhu (4.45am)
Beautiful scene taken by Malcolm's DSLR.
My pose stands for "Good job wee wee!!" :P
Hard to balance like this when my thighs were aching like mad D:
@ Pitstop four!
Beautiful scene taken by Malcolm's DSLR.
My pose stands for "Good job wee wee!!" :P
Hard to balance like this when my thighs were aching like mad D:
@ Pitstop four!
This was the final part of the night cycling journey - the route through East Coast Park. And it was also the most torturous one. My stamina and endurance bars both dropped to critical states. Each pedal I took felt like a knife stab into my thighs. It was like a reflux damage effect :(
To make things worst, there seems to be a triathlon event held at ECP so there were lots of people and the proper paths to cycle on were cordon off. Argh, it was pretty suffering to ride on uneven paths and also to avoid crashing into people wandering around. We had to cycle from Area B of ECP to the end of Area C. It was a really long way there...
And finally, we have reached the final pitstop of the night cycle @ ECP. The final pitstop was none other than the astronomy stargazing place. Heh.
Woodlands ► Yishun ► Upper Thomson Road ► Bras Basah ► Tanjong Rhu
► East Coast Park (6am)
From Area B to the stargazing area.
Look at all the bright bicycle backlights shining in the darkness xD
@ final Pitstop!
To make things worst, there seems to be a triathlon event held at ECP so there were lots of people and the proper paths to cycle on were cordon off. Argh, it was pretty suffering to ride on uneven paths and also to avoid crashing into people wandering around. We had to cycle from Area B of ECP to the end of Area C. It was a really long way there...
And finally, we have reached the final pitstop of the night cycle @ ECP. The final pitstop was none other than the astronomy stargazing place. Heh.
Woodlands ► Yishun ► Upper Thomson Road ► Bras Basah ► Tanjong Rhu
► East Coast Park (6am)
From Area B to the stargazing area.
Look at all the bright bicycle backlights shining in the darkness xD
@ final Pitstop!
With that, we collapsed on the ground; tired but with the huge sense of achievement :) The pain of my legs was definitely worst than the one I experienced during the Thailand shopping trip. They were aching and cramping. It was seriously unbearable. The five of us fell asleep on the walkway - some laying down, some sitting down. After the 40minutes of shut eye, I woke up with excruciating paresthesia at both of my legs!! D: Ahh~ Shouldn't have slept in the sitting position T.T Regretted it :\
But I was glad that I managed to catch the beautiful dawn sky :)
Ah~ It has that Hawaii feeling~ xD
But I was glad that I managed to catch the beautiful dawn sky :)
Ah~ It has that Hawaii feeling~ xD
We decided to leave this place and look for the main organizers to sign off. And they were at McDonald's D:!! I'm so sick of cycling and my body was very sore from all that cycling. Slowly, step by step, we wheeled our bicycles to McDonald's, found the organizers and sign off.
Our trusty companions during the journey.
& argh!!! We have to push the bicycles to the bicycle shop to return it. The worst thing was we happened to walk past it earlier, before the McDonald's. They should have told us earlier that we have to return the bicycles so that we didn't have to walk the extra mile :\ And with that, we walked back to the McDonald's to have our breakfast, using our extremely achy and heavy legs.
Hotcakes with sausage for me! :)
Our trusty companions during the journey.
& argh!!! We have to push the bicycles to the bicycle shop to return it. The worst thing was we happened to walk past it earlier, before the McDonald's. They should have told us earlier that we have to return the bicycles so that we didn't have to walk the extra mile :\ And with that, we walked back to the McDonald's to have our breakfast, using our extremely achy and heavy legs.
Hotcakes with sausage for me! :)
After our wonderful breakfast, it was time to head back home. Puikwan, Edmund and I took bus196 to Bukit Merah Central while Moo and Joshua took some other bus home. Puikwan then followed me home to collect back her laptop and she too went back home. Immediately, I took a shower and went to bed. When I woke up later in the evening, for a second I thought I have lost my legs. I had to use my arms to support myself up :\ It was horrible :(
Thanks to Counterpain for helping me get through the difficult period :)
Ahem... Anyway, this night cycling journey was both exhilarating and excruciating to me. It was my very first time cycling at night, on the main road, in the big city of Singapore. And now I know how it feels after cycling for an extremely long period of time. I have never cycled that long in my entire life before. Overall, it was a fruitful experience for me. Of course, taking away the after pain effects. Would I go for another night cycling event again? I would say, "Yes" :)
Thanks to Counterpain for helping me get through the difficult period :)
Ahem... Anyway, this night cycling journey was both exhilarating and excruciating to me. It was my very first time cycling at night, on the main road, in the big city of Singapore. And now I know how it feels after cycling for an extremely long period of time. I have never cycled that long in my entire life before. Overall, it was a fruitful experience for me. Of course, taking away the after pain effects. Would I go for another night cycling event again? I would say, "Yes" :)
♪ And said, marry me Juliet
You'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know ♫
You'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know ♫
Labels: cosca, excursion, exercise, overnight, pain
--xoxo,
Akira Star
Akira Star
nette
