All went well until after the rock garden when my rear tire blew. As I watched my rival pull away, I knew the race was effectively over for me. I worked feverishly to get the spare tube in. By the time I was done, all the Senior B and Junior A riders had passed.
Not someone to give up easily, I pushed ahead to close the gap. I went around several corners too fast and started to make mistakes. My first hard crash on the XCR Expert came as I crested Bird Ridge and started on the downhill. Somehow, I slipped over the edge and the impact threw me into a “superman” and I landed hard on my hips. Quickly, I got back onto the bike and managed to pass a couple of riders before making another mistake at the Gravedrop area. I was going too fast and pulled on the brakes too hard, and the bike washed out from beneath me. There was when I incurred another scratch on the fork =( (There were also several chipped areas and deep scratches which I only discovered when I got home.)
The rest of the lap went without incident as I pushed on and into the second (final) lap. Then history repeated itself. At the same spot, the rear tire blew and this time round, I had no spare tube. I decided to run the last few kilometers with the bike. Simply put, it was just hell.
It was kind of funny when I finally made it past the finish. The emcee was announcing my number, name and team. He said that it was a good timing of 1hr 16min for running the bike in! I was just glad to be done with.
It was not the end of my bad luck. Eric was kind enough to lend me a spare tube for the ride home. It was then I realized the front tire was also flat. Air was leaking slowly thus I pumped it up and made a dash for the jetty. Back at Changi, I got the front tube replaced for $6 and had lunch with Jeremy, Zac and Jason. Zac and Jason were super kind to give me a lift home.
Total distance: 33km (on-road); 22km (off-road)
Money spent: $21.60 (real); $6 (expected)
Participants: LSH, Pan, Eric, Jeremy and others
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