24 Sep Travelling the island
Several MetaSport athletes have decided to bring adventure closer to home by traveling the island on foot and bicycle, while setting themselves up for a challenge.
Both groups were very pleased with their “tours” and were kind to share their experience with us. Keep reading below for inspiration and a good giggle.
Round the Island
Yessica: “I have been taking spinning classes in the gym for a few years and was looking for a new challenge. After my first Sprint Triathlon last year, I joined MetaSport and, earlier this year, I bought a bike. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made. It was not easy at first. I relied on Grab to go to the first few sessions. After a few rides, I started to have enough confidence to ride there alone. So, I’m really happy to see where I am now. From none early this year to 100km now. I will always remember this quote when I started the journey:
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” (Zig Ziglar)
Darhinni: “I started cycling 7 months ago. Because of the circuit breaker, I invested in an indoor bike trainer and substituted most of my training with ZWIFT training rides/races, which really paid off.
Riada: “At the insistence of my ‘Meta’-friends, I bought a bike in March. Peer pressure does work! This was just before the circuit breaker. Cycling was a great alternative for not being able to swim during this period. The roads and paths were empty, so it was a perfect start for me to explore cycling.
During the Round The Island ride we were lucky with the weather. It had poured all day the day before, so we had a relatively less hot and overcast day. We also had an excellent team captain, Sylvie, who guided us all the way.”
Yessica: “I really enjoyed the ride, but it wouldn’t be the same without my friends Dharinni and Rada. We did a 70km ride the week before in preparation and it did help a lot.”
Darhinni: “Cycling on the roads is a liberating experience, and doing a ride around the island felt like the kind of journey I wanted to undertake. Clocking that kind of distance felt like a great accomplishment. It was a great ride with good company under nice weather conditions. I couldn’t have asked for anything better and would love to do it again. It was a smooth ride from start to finish without any hiccups.”
Coast to Coast
Stuart: “At 7am we started at Jurong East, hydration packs strapped on, a few gels each and cash to get a taxi home in an emergency. Putting our competitive instincts aside we settled into a sedate jogging pace for the first 10km and made good progress. As we reached the familiar sights of Bukit Timah I accidentally accelerated to subsequently suffer horribly. I desperately needed to stop at a garage and pour cold water over my head. It made me feel great for the next 5 minutes, but this soon wore off. Deke on the other hand was running chillness personified. Easy cruise.
Deke’s memorable words were: “Please tell me if you are about to die!” “Seriously, it will be really inconvenient if you die on me.”
Onward we went, ever eastward. Through sunshine and then rain and back again multiple times. All the while, Deke “worrying” if I might die on him. A couple of hours later, arriving at Punggol waterway, we had cokes and a mars bar and readied for the final 8km section along the river. With the end in sight the heavens really opened, but by then it was time to just enjoy it. We ended our run after 38.5km and 4.5 hours of running.
I would like to credit Deke for his limited sarcasm and much motivational support in my darkest moments. “FFS, can’t you go any faster” and “You’re showing your age” meant everything to me for I knew they were words of love & friendship.”
