Hey Gerrit, awesome, can see you are an adventure racer by heart. Now please stop training, I will never be able to keep up with you on the Sani. Our Cradle Mountain Trophy got rained out today, with the rivers in flood, hope to do the ride tomorrow - you will not believe how much rain we had in the past 24 hours ! From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gerrit van Niekerk Sent: 20 April 2013 11:56 AM To: darkanddirty Cc: Van Niekerk Clan; [email protected] Subject: [D&D-chat] Ride report: Pulau Ubin There I was in Singapore with Sani2C a month away. I had to do something to get a long ride in. At least I had packed my cycling shoes and helmet; all I needed was a bike and somewhere to ride. Google showed me that the best ride in Singapore could be had on Pulau (island) Ubin just off the East coast of Singapore. A bicycle could also be rented right on the island. Being 137 km from the equator Pulau Ubin is a relatively undeveloped tropical island. Now, whatever you imagine a tropical island to be, one salient attribute is that it is hot; steamy hot to be precise. I was already sweating (you do that constantly anyway when outside in Singapore) when I got onto the ferry or bumboat as it is called at about 10h30. On the island you are greeted by the sight of rows of bicycles for rental and I was quickly approached by an oriental woman offering me one. The MTB was quite basic, but it had a front shock and gears and only Sing$ 10 for the day. The saddle was as broad as Africa, but that was all that was to be had. When I asked if they could offer me cleat peddles, I was shown another one with flat pedals. Okay, that would have to do then. I started off on a tar road to get used to the bike, but soon landed up on a dirt road. This was quite nice; riding in the jungle with the sounds of cicadas and birds all around. The road was not flat at all; it had nice up and downs forcing constant gear changes. I saw a number of signs cautioning me to get off the bike and push down the steep descent, but they must have been joking; the downhills were neither steep nor technical. After an hour's riding I headed off to the main attraction: the Ketam mountain bike trail with a Blue trail section and then two Black trails marked Diamond and Double-Diamond. To be on the safe side I started off with the Blue trail which was fun, but not overly technical. At one point I had to wait for a long black snake to cross the path. I did not deem it necessary to go close enough to try and identify it; I don't know a lot about snakes for that matter. One section of the Blue trail followed after Black trails so I decided to attempt them and discovered that I would have to push a lot. It was now mid day after two hour's of riding. Did I mention that a tropical island is hot? Somehow I strayed off the trail and landed on a dirt road which took me back to the Blue trail - just as well. I studied the map and saw that I could get to the rest of the Blue trail via a tar road, but halfway there the road was blocked with a no-entry boom and I had to turn back. By now my water bottle was empty and I was in dire need of hydration. Heading back in the direction of civilization I came across a dilapidated stall claiming to offer cold drinks and indeed, the old Chinese man opened a rusty cooler containing isotonic drinks and bottled water. After selecting one of each and paying for it, he switched on a rusty fan and offered me a chair - bliss! Rehydrated, cooled down and rested I decided to search for another road to the elusive start of the remaining section of the Blue trail. I soon found myself alone in the jungle on a dirt road with attacking mosquitoes if you dare stop for a moment. I scared a number of wild pigs that made high speed escapes. Eventually I landed up at the shoreline and thought that I would proceed along the narrow beach with gravelly sand until I reach a path again. At this stage I was reduced to pushing the bike as riding was not possible on the sand. And then I got to a river that blocked the way. Bundu bashing was out of the question; did I mention that I was on a tropical island? So it was back to dragging the bike over sand the way I had come. On the way back I found a dirt road that seemed to go in the direction I thought I wanted to go and I even spotted a trail that could have been what I was looking for, but by now I was so hot and tired that I gave it a skip. Did I mention... oh, yes I did. My suspicion was confirmed when I arrived at the road block that stopped me before from the other side. By now the heat and the broad saddle had only one effect on me: getting to the Chinese stall as fast (and it was not very fast) as I could. After another isotonic drink and another bottle of DaSani water (how did they know I was trying to train for da Sani?) and another relishing the stream of air from the rusty fan, I made my way back to the bike rental shop. I had been at it for nearly four and a half hours and it was time to get back on the bumboat, followed by a bus ride, a train ride and a kilometer walk back home where I clocked in at 17h30. I guess I will not soon forget my Pulau Ubin ride. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/darkanddirty?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. 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