Ace Adventure [Dusk to Dawn] 2008

heroes in the race - Jon & Grace

12th Oct 2008. finally. after many months of waiting - my thirst for adventure racing has been quenched. maybe a little bloated, considering the physical condition i am in now. sigh. its been a good 5 months since my last adv race [Eco X]. but sadly, because of work, school projects & presentations, CF etc..i have not been very prepared for this race. i trained not in the slightest bit (which i regret deeply now) and even the packing of equipment was done quite last minute too. by normal standards it was quite early, but because i had to attend laine's mum's birthday dinner...so everything was quite rush). anyway, had a minor hiccup with ruth..i did some minor adjustments and then i must have screwed up pretty badly, because i couldn't shift my granny gear...so i had to zoom down to tiong hin and ask uncle to help me adjust. thank god for him man. i bought a new tool bag, but that screwed up too, because i realized my seat's rails are not wide enough to accommodate the screws for the tool kit holder. SO..in a brilliant moment of ingenuity, i (i think it was laine's suggestion, either that or something she said that made me think of the solution..its a blur now, but she's the GIRL man) used 2 cable ties to hook up the tool kit holder to the seat. but in the course of it, i adjusted my seat...which i'm not sure if it affected by pedaling, coz it did feel weird later on during the race...but anyhow, i was good to race!

after dinner at ritz carlton, for more updates pls look to laine's blog, laine and i headed down to ngee ann poly where the race start was. it was nice to see so many familiar faces, but race start is not a good place to catch up when my equipment is not settled. sigh. anyway, race map was given out, briefing was done and shortly after, the men's category flagged off. the mixed category would only flag off 30min later.

while looking around, i quickly sized up the competition. it seems, from experience, that a podium finish would be possible, but not easy. esther was teaming up with kenneth and aloysiaus [all 3 are veteran adventure racers and very very strong runners], representing The North Face. lynda, greg and x [i didn't catch his name] were sponsored by paul to represent Hammer Nutrition. I'm not too sure abt greg and x, but i knew lynda was a very strong triathlete. came in tops in her division several times. and knowing paul, he would shortlist only good athletes. anyway, due to my off season in the past 1/2 years, i wasn't very sure about the other teams..but there could possibly be some other strong teams that i had not seen in action yet. but what i knew was to look out for the TNF and Hammer Teams.

competitors getting ready

i love that in AR, we all have our different roles and varying responsibility, it really gives you a feeling of worth...but its a paradox really. because i was slightly fazed. its wasn't my first time as navigator, but the weight of such a huge responsibility was all on me. what if i led the team to the wrong place again...what if we were in the lead but ended up lost because of a minor error? i looked at the map and saw familiar training ground. that eased my worries a little. and knowing that grace was beside me eased my fears a little. grace was to be the first aider, jon the lead runner/biker and me as navigator/bike mechanic.

10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1!!! it was 1230 am on the clock

off to an easy pace...ahead of me was the team from ngee ann poly: normal, jia hui and said. i told jon and grace not to worry, they were going way too fast to sustain the pace. but i looked behind and saw that the next team, huntu huntu puteh (white ghost in malay) aka the Hammer Nutrition mixed team, was about 50m behind..were we going too fast too? but i check with jon and grace; the pace was good, we were all cruising along. slowly, we gained onto the NP team who were slowly but surely tiring out. after a good 2km, we hit the opening to the trails leading to durian loop. i was quite worried. we had just overtook the NP team at the opening, so they shouldn't be that far behind. and i knew that the Hammer team was just slightly behind us..but why we were in the dark jungle alone. it was silent and dark all around, which meant no teams were behind us for quite a distance. anyway, it was a familiar route, so we just whacked the trails..and finally we hit Check Point 1 (jalan kampong chantek - via rifle range road) and another short run later was CP2 (dairy farm road bridge). it was a rope ladder up to the bke exit towards dairy farm road. jon flew up the ladder and while grace was 1/2 way up, we saw the hammer team come in. where was the np team or the north face team.

after climbing the rope we run down diary farm road and headed towards the MOE Diary Farm Adventure Center. at long last, actually only about 10km, we hit CP3 (jalan asas - rail mall) which was the bike section. so we zoomed past a couple of men's teams, much to their amazement [is that the mixed team?]. it was at this point of time that we hit our first minor problem. somehow or another, we missed a turning and ended up on a trail that was going on the opposite direction. and we collided, thankfully not physically, into the hammer team and we followed them up the trail. so it was jon, hammer team, me then grace. as we spinned our pedals up the hill, i lost track of grace, who was out of sight. jon hit CP3A (dairy farm quarry) first, got out race passport but was denied up the abseil track because the hammer team objected violently that our team was incomplete. so greg from the hammer team left for the abseil first and as joanne asked us where our 3rd member was, i turned back and saw that bike light approaching. i calmly told her, grace is here..and zoomed went off jon to tackle the steep up-slope. to my surprise, jon came down the abseil first - damn, he is fast, and we grabbed our bikes and continued our bike section. we were really confident about this section since we had only met up to do some off-road night biking the night before, and it was the exact same trail. so after a super duper fun night bike, we hit CP4 (zhenghua/mandai) which was team biathlon. 1 person to bike while the other 2 were to run. we had discussed this earlier and decided to use the leapfrog method. person with bike to continue biking for a minute, then drop off the bike. 1st runner to run pass the bike, 2nd runner to pick it up and cycle for a minute before dropping it for the runner. CP4A was zhenghua park, the 3 of us had to scramble down a short rock valley and climb back up...i had the 'honour' of carrying ruth down and up since i was with her..but it was great fun.

at this point of time, i felt like my legs were going to cramp. shit. i have no idea why - but i realised i always cramp when i transit from run to kayak or from bike to run. anyway, jon realised that i was suffering and so, in a spirit of great teamwork, he sacrificed a number of turns on the bike so i can recover while riding. and i did a SUPER horrible thing. i left the bike for him at a super steep up-slope. ooops. anyway, we reached the end of the biathlon, which was about 7km. and i saw Hammer HEED! i happily drink a few cups and filled up my water bottle with it. i needed the electrolytes. fed some to jon and then i realized something! my saddle was loose; and we had another bout of trail biking left. so i adjusted my seat post while jon signed us out. damn. was quite gan cheong because on our loop back to the CP, we saw the hammer team just a couple of minutes behind us. and chee meng was happily making fun of me - "wah, you see, adjusting of seat post during race leh, not many teams can do...only the top mixed team can!". and i know the photographer did snap alot of pictures of me doing it. anyway, it was finally done and we headed to cp 5, mandai track 15.

nothing beats the speed of going downhill on the trails. the feeling of control, the delicate balance between braking and going fast, the positioning of the weight as you get thrown off course by the sudden pothole or the jutting stone or worse - rock, and the constant fear of that loud 'pop' which would signify a "10min pit stop"; without the luxury of a pit crew. voices loom all around - warning others about the upcoming branch, steep downhill, pothole etc. the exhilaration. the mental alertness. the eye focusing on nothing else but the beam of light just 7m ahead, straining to give the brain enough time to react accordingly. the reaction of the body almost instantaneous. . a state of calmness in a world of chaos.

ruth waiting patiently for us to sign out of CP9A

we hit the next CP 5A, which was a mini activity. we deposited our bikes before we were told to drag a tire for a 1km loop. by this time of the race, i was gone. my cramps were on and off. my muscles were tensing up in different places - places that i never knew existed. i kid you not. i attempted to drag the tire, but clever jon just picked it up and ran ahead with it. i struggled behind...we completed the loop and set off for a short 8km run before we would see our bikes again. throwing all ego aside, i asked jon if he could tow me. he agreed and i happily hooked on. after awhile, jon passed the tow over to grace. so between the 2 of them, i made it to the canel; amidst a couple of stops to stretch. we ran along the train tracks. sorry. we ran on the train tracks, which was quite fun. but the uneven ground proved to be a challenge to my recovering legs. i was using the different muscles to compensate for the uneven ground. and so i had to slow my speed. jon and grace were ahead about 50m. i studied the map again. and i realized that following the train track would not be the best course of route since it would make a right bend away from CP6 (kranji loop). i recalled joanne saying something about canal. but where was it? then it dawned on me that the canal was on our left, behind the tall mountain of grass and soil. i shouted to jon and grace and we bashed up the mini-mount. ta daa..there was the canal, and slightly more even trail. all this while, i was looking behind to see if there were any other teams. nil. phew.

finally civilization was in sight. we got onto our bikes and flew to CP8 (seremban scouts camp), not before hitting CP7 (lim chu kang lane 3) of course. and did i mention that jon was FAST on the bike. so we happily drafted him. i think we were going about 40km/hr. towards the end, i very nearly died. but it was a refreshing (for lack of better words) change to a short run to command center. we received our next instructions - proceed to CP9 (No.19 LCK lane 9A), catch 3 fishes (yellow, white and orange tail) and return back. at CP9, i was quite surprised to see Team Hammer Nutrition (men's category). wah. we made up that much time against them, although they had a 30min headstart. anyway, we left the checkpoint at the same time and proceeded on to the next and final course of the race. orienteering - CP 10, 11, 12 & 13 (in no particular order). apparently we had some miscommunication with the officials. jon asked if we could use our bikes, then this lady said there's no need. and when we went to CP13 (Jalan Bahere) first which was 100m away from the camp entrance, the marshal asked us where our bikes were. we were like..WHAT?! anyway, we cleared cp 13 finally, amidst some uncertainty (my compass went ku ku..maybe there were lots of magnetic interference) and the many different tracks seemingly leading to the CP. anyway, when we finally came into the camp, we saw Adventure in Motion (Kim Hong, Alvin and Hairul) leaving. my guess is that they came in tops and were leaving for another race. they said jia you and that we were the 3rd mixed team in. i was slightly worried. but what else could we do, just do our best lor. so we did CP 10, which was a series of obstacle course which ended up in a slide down the infamous milo pond aka mud pool. raced back to command center, went for CP 11 which was a 20m double rope ascend. NOT an easy feat. i knew in my condition i was not in the condition to do, although i had probably the most experience and may have been the quickest up (in prime condition). i felt that grace could do it. what she lacked in strength (compared to jon), she made up in experience. her start was frantic. maybe it was the rustiness of not doing ropes for some time, but after that, she went up beautifully. and may i add very quickly indeed. 1 cp down, another to go behind the end of the race. cp12, a simple scale up a 2m wall. easy peas. after which the 3 of us, hand in hand, finished the race. my goodness. what a race it was.

we saw no other mixed teams. a confirmation from ivy told us that we won! hooray to SART. i was so damn proud of SART, considering that we were out of the field for quite some time, and now we've proven ourselves better and faster than other more experienced and stronger team. Team SART/Golite definitely came up tops not because we were faster or stronger, but because we had hell of teamwork going on. thank you jon. thank you grace. it was fantastic racing with you guys. anytime. anywhere. i'll race with you. my promise to you is that i'll train! maybe it'll be my turn to tow you guys the next time round...

SART reigns once again - 1st in Mixed Category

catching up with other racers and race volunteers - one of the best part of AR
all part of the AR family

special thanks to laine who drove around making sure we were all fueled by HEED. and also for staying out, waiting for us at the campsite (although she finally succumbed to the sleepmonster), and driving me back home. i love you dear. thank you for being there.