Saturday, January 16, 2010

The Rocky Teletubby Land

If you have a penchant for consistently bumpy terrain that chews your butt up, the Tampines MTB Trail is for you. Even with a full suspension system featuring Fox Racing Shox’s latest Fox F100 fork, I couldn’t help but feel the vibrations get into my nerves as the kilometres rolled by.

I was glad to hit the jungle trail which was in an awful state. Most of the obstacles were damaged and the trail blocked by fallen trees. Fortunately, the dismal state of the trail was compensated somewhat by patched up areas on “Teletubby Land” as well as the functional dirt jumps and BMX track.

My suspension totally bottomed out when I rode off a ramp roughly 2.5 to 3 feet in elevation. I didn’t have enough momentum on the approach and the incline onto the ramp took up most of my speed. It was only when I was airborne did I realize the front end was dipping alarmingly and on both attempts, I landed front wheel first, the force threatening to throw me over the bars.

Later, as I rolled through the dirt jumps, I felt that my rear lifted way too easy when I crested the jumps. The front always dipped too much while the rear lifted too easily, and without proper compensation, I was always thrown off-course.

Alrasvee was unfortunate enough to suffer a fall when he landed and somehow his bike skidded under him. He took a blow to his head and his Limar helmet shielded the impact, cracking in the process. He is one lucky man. I hope the kids who were with us (riding without helmets) take precaution and protect their personal well-being during future rides.

Total distance: 52.8km (on-road); 7km (off-road)
Money spent: $3.80
Participants: LSH, Alrasvee, Eugene

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