NYAA Entry - Adventurous Journey - Preliminary Training - Entry 6 - Cycling

Focus for Adventurous Journey - Preliminary Training entry 2

• Navigation & Route Planning (how we made our way form one place in ubin to another)
• Proficiency in chosen form of travel (how we were able to go around on bicycles and in actual fact, talk about how proficient you are in biking)
  

Overview

• Journey to Chek Jawa
• NPCC campsite (edmund's injury)
• Noordin Beach
• OBS Campsite (Coney Island, German Girl Shrine along the way)
• Back to jetty (Raining)

Cycling @ Ubin

Date: 27/11/06 Hours Completed: 8 hours (0800-1600)

We all met at the Changi Jetty at 8:00a.m. Everyone was excited in anticipation as this was the first time we went cycling at Pulau Ubin as a group. As soon as everyone arrived, we proceeded to the departure area and managed to get onto a bum-boat almost immediately. Upon reaching there, we went to look for bicycles for rent.

We launched out on our cycling journey, excited and enthusiastic. Our first destination was Chek Jawa. We were supposed to navigate our way through without the use of a map, however one of us actually copied out the map of Pulau Ubin and the way to Chek Jawa from the internet before the cycling expedition. On our way through, many of us encountered technical problems with the bicycles as some of the bicycle chains of some bicycles frequently shifted out of place. We had to manually shift It back into place using our hands.

The journey through was not smooth at all, with frequent uphill downhill slopes, tarred roads gravel roads and even jungle trials. There were also vehicles moving through the narrow tracks frequently and we had to take precaution to avoid them. Still, we managed to brave through them. With the knowledge of Pulau Ubin and the way to Chek Jawa, we managed to reach the entrance of Chek Jawa pretty fast, only to find out that it has been sealed due to some ongoing construction works.

Disappointed, we made our way back and stopped to rest at a hut. It was only about 1000 then, and we were already soaking wet with sweat. As it was still rather early, we decided to mount on another journey, this time to the NPCC campsite.

Edmund was the last cyclist of the group. We were cycling through a downhill slope, rather uneven gravel road, and he was traveling at a rather high speed. Already pressing on the brakes, the bicycle did not managed to slow down, thus, he applied stronger force on the brakes. However, the force applied on the brakes was to strong and the back wheel of the bicycle skidded on the ground. Subsequently, he lost control of the bicycle and was thrown off it, hitting his upper right thigh onto the handle of the bicycle. Seth heard my crash from behind and called the rest of the group in front to stop. One of them had to cycle forward and catch of with the rest of the group to call them to stop and call for the medic . It took quite a long time for the medic to come as the rest of the group which he was with was quite far in front. The medic then tended to my biggest and deepest wound on my left knee, dripping iodine, as an anti-septic over, and placing a cotton wool over, fastened to the wound with a bandage tied around the knee. With the assistance of those remaining behind, one helped to carry the bag and another to move the bicycle along. He walked forward to meet up with the rest who were resting and waiting at a hut in front. He rested for a long while there as some people made their way to the beach nearby to view some boars and get some drinks.

After much hesitation to continue on the cycling expedition with my injuries, and much persuasion from the rest of the group, Edmund continued cycling. We continued our journey towards the NPCC campsite. The journey there was dirty and muddy as there were many areas of grounds water-logged, with pools of muddy water. We took a group photo at the entrance of the NPCC campsite, something that we have never done before, though we have went there umpteen times. We then made our way to the nearby Noordin beach and had a rest there, washing our dirty, muddy footwear at the toilet nearby.

We then cycled back towards the jetty where there are hawker centers nearby to have our lunch. We parked our bicycles at a shelter nearby a hawker center and ate our lunch there.

After lunch, though it has started to drizzle, we continued to set off once again, now towards the Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) campsite. This journey unlike the previous ones, is smooth, with tarred roads and though there are still presence of uphill and downhill slopes, they did not pose much of a hindrance. However, we lost our way on the way, and hit gravel roads. The surrounding vegetation at these roads, tall grasses and bushes were different from those of which we were traveling through previously, tall trees. As such, there were spectacular views which we got especially at high grounds dead-end and at rocky coasts.

We were cycling around to explore the area, cycling till we reach dead-ends, and turning back, continue cycling through alternative routes. We came across the OBS campsite (our destination) on the way, but continued cycling to explore. We also saw Coney Island , the island that we kayaked to for our kayaking expedition as part of our assesment for our 2-star kayaking course. The best thing of all has to be the German Girl Shrine, which is a small hut with the remains of a girl who died in World War 2 and subsequently found in Ubin. The heavy dark clouds started moving in and soon after, it started to rain. We put on our ponchos and decided to cycle to the nearest available shelter.

As we were far away from the tarred roads where there are available buildings as shelters along the roads, we cycled for a long time before being able to reach the nearest shelter. Visibility was rather low and roads were wet and slippery due to rain. It is dangerous to cycle in the rain with these conditions but for most of us, this was a kind of new experience, and it would definitely benefit us in the cycling expedition in Vietnam.

Finally, the rain lightened up and we continued to cycle back to the jetty. We returned our bicycles and took a bum-boat back to mainland Singapore. Although all of us were exhausted from all the cycling, and there were some injuries sustained, this cycling expedition was still an enjoyable and enriching experience. The experience of cycling through rough uneven terrains would surely prepare us for the cycling expedition in Vietnam and allow us to better adapt to the even rougher and uneven terrain there.