Mountain biking for Nepal

It was 7 November 2020. Rain storms forecasts for the whole day…

4:45am: Why am I getting up so early? Definitely not heading to the airport to catch a flight. Ah yes, riding my full suspension mountain bike across Singapore, covering as many of the off-road trails here as possible.

6:15am: Quick ferry to Pulau Ubin and straight out onto the trail (except Stu and his puncture repair…). Nobody else there at this time – private island! Heavy rain started half-way round, which made things interesting for sure, but also kept the temperature down (mercifully).

7:30am: Back to the mainland and onto the Singapore Park Connector Network (PCN) all the way across to Mandai, (with a few navigational mishaps along the way, plus a GPS glitch that makes it look like I teleported around 500 m at one point!). Had to push through a few big rainstorms, but thankfully no lightning so no major safety concerns. And still not too hot!

10:30am: Who’s this parked by the side of the road waiting for me? My wife Charlie with a cool box full of Bootstrap Cold Brew Coffee, electrolytes donated by Simply Active, water and bananas. The perfect refuelling stop.

11:00am: Into the trails all the way from Mandai to Chestnut, covering almost every inch of rideable terrain (or so it felt). Some fairly amateur navigation, but we got there in the end. Then on to the hardest trail of the day at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, starting to feel the pain in the legs. Then back onto PCN down to Kent Ridge. The end is in sight.

2:45pm: Finally at the top of Kent Ridge. Not far to go now. But the trail is not easy and concentration is key, especially at this level of fatigue. Made it, then one more hill to climb before heading to the finish. Who arranged the comedy cyclist with the Rocky theme music blaring out all the way up the hill – hilarious and inspirational at the same time! 

3:30pm: Hot dog and beer. Heavenly.

Thank you to all those who took part in the ride and for respecting the max group size of 5; it certainly made coordination more complicated, but we managed!

Thank you also to all our generous donors – we’re on track to raise over S$25,000 in support of Shree Golmeshwori Secondary School.