Wednesday, August 24

keep pedalling

The fat girl bypassed Saturday's long run in favour of mountain biking on a trail.

Always wanted to take a mountain bike and throw it on a trail. Coz that's what a mountain bike is for? Going off road.

I took a bus to Pasir Ris, lost my way among the carparks. Ended up walking for about 30 minutes in the park with 2 other damsels in distress. Tried to look on the bright side - my heart rate was elevated so this would count as exercise.

Just when I was about to give up, someone galloped up on a fire engine red mountain bike to show us the way to the rest of the group. He wore a pink helmet. Spoke in a slow and calming sort of way - something about the way he moved which made him appear one with the bike.

What was most remarkable was that he cared to help out the newbies. He rode behind the pack as we wobbled on the pavement and made our way to the Tampines bike park. He adjusted my helmet so that it would fit my head properly. Offered to carry my bag pack if it was too heavy.

Gallantry is well and truly alive.

The trails were just as I imagined. Gravel, dirt, potholes and twigs. I tried to charge up a slope which had lots of rocks and skid, falling sideways and bruising my legs. I dusted off the dirt, checked for blood (none) then hopped onto the saddle again. When the trails got too challenging or steep, I jumped off the bike and pushed it along. Never mind if it wasn't really trail biking. This pushing the bike along counts as exercise too?

The 1 tip that will stay with me, which was repeated several times when we were tackling the slopes and bumpy portions was this:

Keep pedalling. Keep pedalling!

No comments:

Post a Comment