Sunday morning, Padang...a whole adventure route was waiting for us!!
couldnt' sleep the nite before, woke up at 5 am..but force my eyes shut to catch that last few remnants of rest...so many barangs to bring, snowman so nice to lend her 2l camelbak (thank JT too for her camelbak, but cannot use lah, no straps), stuff our gloves, ziploc bags, goggles. Have to bring the bike helmets, a dry set of clothes, slippers..aiyoh..look like auntie, not the glam, tanned & 'saat-looking' racer....
ZXL msg to say Ms Ou Xiang forgot our stuff and going home to take it & my taxi driver dunno where is temasek tower nor prince edward?!? good start to the race? manage to place our bikes and took a ride to Padang from Ms Ou Xiang..already VERY GRATEFUL to her for 'sponsoring' us bikes, helmets, bike tranportation, gloves, toolkits, etc, extra cycling lessons to me, bike maintenance, being the only supporter to take photos for us at several checkpoints!!!!...how can we EVER repay you?!?! You are still my OU XIANG!!
Got plenty of encouragements & hugs from SSC pple...so touched!!! instructor, zxl & me basically have fun teasing, poking fun & promising to look out for each other...Saw Lynn & her 7mths tummy at the race, she gave me a good luck hug too..so happy to see her...!
Flag off happens 20 mins late, and we took off at a comfortable pace meaning at the tail end. It's 2-3km away from our bike deposit but it seems so FArrrrrrr (funny it doesnt feel like that for marathon...) before we have a chance to see our bikes, we have to do a test..which is to do a balloon sculpture...twist it into a sword! Our balloons kept bursting ..ARGH...%^$%&&^%* finally our sword was formed...and bike our way down to mt faber. Or rather bike our way up the bloody hill!!!! oh, and my chain fell out,....even more grateful for Ou Xiang for teaching me how to place back the chain duing my cycling lesson...
Mt Faber was uphill all the way (of cos lah, its a hill wat) but we have to push our bikes up as well....wahlau, was totally shagged out when i reached the checkpoint..but there' s still an uphill test for us, near the cable car station, we have to shade out the word "Adventure Race 2006" using the murals & bronze paintings lined along a corridor. QED!!
Next checkpoint was at Sentosa, saw several friends along the way! Jack & Stephanie formly SAFRA was there...at the checkpoint, we had to do Sudoku puzzle!! luckily done several bef but stil tough...manage to hook up with another men's open (yah, i sorta flirted-which is Very SEldom!! & during an ADV RAce, wat am i thinkg?!for the sake of the team, heck!) ..team no. 10(guys v cute according to instructor) & SSC' s 2 teams (merey & nic's) to solve them. 3 teams all diff categories, u think we'll help those in the same cat...hmph...oh, our bibs are pink cos it's ladies novice, imagine zxl in pink netball bibs...!
Rope elements were next at the ferry terminal! we had to wait for an hr for our harness...yawn...then it's all armpower from instructor & ZXL, cos only 2 needs to do the ascend) and abseil is a breeze for us....next up, traversing over water when we reach a part of the traverse, our body is skimming (if heavier, then dragging) over water..cool....ZXL was first, instructor..then me...(our sequence is always like that, except for swimming portion)..the last part to haul urself against gravity was tiring.
Done with CP5, off we whizzed off on our bikes, manage to maneourve over potholes & gravel without falling off my bike tho i was gripping the handlebars v tightly & keeping v silent on the journey...YAY....v proud of myself liao..We ran off to Merlion Park for the water element, jumping off (2m drop) at Merlion Park & IT is a test for ME cos i have to 'look after' 2 non-swimmers....i was the first in water & tried to teach them swimming within that 3-5mins, but they still frantically flayying their arms & legs...SHAGGED but at least instructor tried her own style of swimming...so proud of ZXL too cos at least she showed little fear jumping into the water :)YAY, but we conquered the water together...!!!!
Finally, the final checkpoint was Rockclimbing at the Padang, and they decide to relief me of this station as well..i kena cramps at my left quad..ZXL lost to instructor (paper to scissors) so she climbed & FINALLY at 5 hrs plus...our race was completed.................
the race was tough for novice racers like us! and i realise in times of frustration & anger, bad words just flowed out from like nobody's business..... and we were swearing at the person who came up with the ingenous idea of the balloon scultpure and twisting into a F***!!! sword, and i come to know it's Jeffrey from Ace!!!! and he's the one who came up with all the tests too.thanks hor!!!!
posted by Ling @ 10:04 pm
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