After attending church and accompanying Mum to do some shopping, I decided to take a leisure ride around Sembawang to catch a breather as well as take in the usual Sunday crowd at the beach and park connectors.
When I returned to Wellington Circle / Montreal Drive, the urge to hit the steep grassy slopes behind my block was overwhelming. I decided to use the opportunity to test my full range of gears and as expected, it was tough to scale the incline. In fact, after quite a few attempts, I only managed to go about three-quarter the full distance before I start to lose traction. Hence, I took the chance to push the bike up and had a exhilarating but incredibly quick time rolling / sliding off the hill. The foot of the hill was nothing but the width of a small pavement and grass patch before the road, thus I had to stop the bike before I hit the road.
I realised that as much as I tried to apply braking pressure (to the point before I start tipping over), the bike locked up and continued to slide due to the incredibly steep gradient. Apparently, the public have not really seen such stuff and quite a number of people stopped and directed their attention to me. They must be thinking along the lines of: What in the world is that crazy idiot up to? Does he know that he can end up with a broken bone or two?
Then again, practice makes perfect. It is precisely because we live such protected lives that we do not take the necessary risks in life that allow us to attain a higher level of competency. In the bible of mountain biking: if you have not attempted to jump off a height even once in your "career" and experience the landing, what will you do if you encounter a sudden drop-off? Most people will brake instinctively. They will crash and injuries are probable.
I am no expert. I just hope I have the guts and the determination to carry on trying.
Total Distance: 16km
Money spent: $0
Participants: LSH
When I returned to Wellington Circle / Montreal Drive, the urge to hit the steep grassy slopes behind my block was overwhelming. I decided to use the opportunity to test my full range of gears and as expected, it was tough to scale the incline. In fact, after quite a few attempts, I only managed to go about three-quarter the full distance before I start to lose traction. Hence, I took the chance to push the bike up and had a exhilarating but incredibly quick time rolling / sliding off the hill. The foot of the hill was nothing but the width of a small pavement and grass patch before the road, thus I had to stop the bike before I hit the road.
I realised that as much as I tried to apply braking pressure (to the point before I start tipping over), the bike locked up and continued to slide due to the incredibly steep gradient. Apparently, the public have not really seen such stuff and quite a number of people stopped and directed their attention to me. They must be thinking along the lines of: What in the world is that crazy idiot up to? Does he know that he can end up with a broken bone or two?
Then again, practice makes perfect. It is precisely because we live such protected lives that we do not take the necessary risks in life that allow us to attain a higher level of competency. In the bible of mountain biking: if you have not attempted to jump off a height even once in your "career" and experience the landing, what will you do if you encounter a sudden drop-off? Most people will brake instinctively. They will crash and injuries are probable.
I am no expert. I just hope I have the guts and the determination to carry on trying.
Total Distance: 16km
Money spent: $0
Participants: LSH
No comments:
Post a Comment