Serenity of the morning breeze set in the NTU Campus. What a lovely Sunday to start with, yet in another corner, NTU Innovative Centre is buzzing with life of those excited cyclists, who are looking forward to cycle around the island.

Though I can't see the cyclists (one bus stop away), I can feel the adrenalin rousing up from my body. Where are my teammates? It's 7:58am and the setoff time is 8am! Talking about the devil, here comes Virus LadySpeedster, Evocative (with her standard sleepy look), SpyDirector and Bear. Minutes later, Virus CK and CoolZone are here too! "This campus is a great skating place, look at the slope! Wish I'm still in my campus days," said LadySpeedster.

Suddenly, the 1st batch of cyclists passed us. "Quick gear up, gear up!!!" This is supposed to be a surprise gate crash, but our flustered gearing up left us exposed to the 2nd batch of cyclists. In minutes, the 3rd batch passed us too! In no time it was all quiet again. "Go Go Go!" Riding on the smooth slope, we frantically tried to chase up to the last batch that was not in sight. Within minutes, we met them at the exit of Jalan Bahar to Lim Chu Kang Road.

The promise of 20km/hr from LadySpeedster never turned out to be reality. We were hitting 27-30km/hr from the start of Lim Chu Kang Road. Packed like a human bullet train (in a 7 person cadence), we zoomed pass the leisure cyclists one after another. Halfway off Lim Chu Kang Road, we met up with a bunch of jovial cyclists, astonished by our cadence, speed & our team spirit. They cheered, they drafted & 'escorted' us. Just after we turned in to Neo Tiew Road, Virus Bear's skate developed some problems and we were forced to break away from the pack. His frame bolt had come loose and the nut went into the insole! After minutes of frantic mending of his skate, we finally managed to mount it back. What a relief! Thoughts of ending this route did enter our minds. Instead, we picked up and started to dash to meet up with the rest of the group. To our surprise, the nice scenery of our 1st checkpoint, Kranji Dam, greeted us. Guess what, this 18km seems short and easy.........:p

Having no idea where our next checkpoint will be, we decided to follow the 2nd batch of cyclists. So we 'cruised' our way from Kranji Dam, Kranji Road, Woodlands Road, Mandai Road, Mandai Ave............ Wait, we lost sight of Virus SpyDirector! Seems like the killer slope of Mandai Ave got him. Without hesitation, we all stopped at the next road junction for him. Upon his arrival, we snug him into the pack and moved on. At the blink of the eyes, we reached Yishun Stadium, our 2nd checkpoint. This is one of the loveliest checkpoints. We rested, aired our feet, eat, drink and chatted with some cyclists. Oh, we also met our friend Daniel & his amazing 6kg Cannondale Racer Bike.

Like a bat flying in the bright daylight, we started again blindly. Lentor Ave, Yio Chu Kang Road, Jalan Kayu, SengKang West Ave and finally Anchorvale Link (if I don't remember wrongly), our 3rd checkpoint. This uneventful round is such bliss, and we were rewarded with TimSum & Slurpee bought by Virus CK. Yeah, GO CK GO!!!

Unfortunately we had to part with Virus CoolZone, as he had another appointment. The sun will never go down on Team SpeedVirus. Daniel, the thunder thighs, joined us.

Off we went with the Slurpee smile, never realized that we have already completed 60km! After CompassVale Drive, we tried our 1st tandem with Daniel at SengKang East Drive. Unbelievably, we were hitting more than 35-38km/hr, but it couldn't last the whole leg of course. The limits of our physical endurance have caught up with Virus SpyDirector and I, so we broke off from the pack. Both of us went cruising at Sungei Serangoon Canal's Park Connector, but Virus SpyDirector's cramp relapsed again. After much discussion, we concluded to spilt up. So, with my 'guilty and not to disappoint the rest of the front team' heart, I blasted off down Tampines Road. Like a lost child in search of his mother, nothing was in my mind then but just skate & skate. Up, up and up the gruesome slopes of Tampines Road. Although it is only about 2-3km, it seemed like forever to overcome just one of them. Then I saw the safety lorry with a big pack of cyclists resting near it.

First thought that came to me was, "I'm not going to stop & rest, I still have a team waiting for me further up". Just when I was about to push on, voices of my name echoed. Yes, it's them! They are resting there too, waiting for me. My heart dropped (not tears :p ) as I advanced towards them. Being speechless then, I didn't talk much, but just moved on.

We moved on to Tampines Ave, followed by a familiar sight of Paya Lebar Airbase alongside of it. Once again, we formed a tandem with Daniel and in no time we passed Pasir Ris Drive and reached Pasir Ris Park's carpark, our 4th checkpoint.

LUNCH! Here we come! So we moved off from the checkpoint and reach WhiteSands MacDonald's. Halfway munching through our food, LadySpeedster received a call from...SpyDirector! Yes! He had not dropped out, but skated all the way to Pasir Ris! Within minutes, our silent & deadly SpyDirector just appeared out of nowhere, but the weary face tells it all.

Without further delay, we decided to move on without the NTU cyclists. Anymore cooling down, we'd be quite dead. SpyDirector decided to take a break from here, so he took a final snapshot of us before we moved off. CHEER SpyDirector CHEER!

Now is the final 20+km for us to complete 100km. We moved on from Pasir Ris Drive, Loyang Ave, Telok Paku Road, Nicoll Drive. We did 2 tandems with Daniel but were forced to break off during Loyang Ave & Nicoll Drive due to safety. One close shave was during Nicoll Drive, all of us almost hit the back of a bus when the driver did a sudden brake at the bus stop. We also did a short tandem during Changi Coast Road, but fatigue simply set in and we chose to skate in our normal cadence. When we entered East Coast Park Service Road, the feeling of homecoming was evident on everyone's face. We started our cruising pace, appreciating every part of ECP as we passed by. We went all the way down to C1 car park and U-turned back to ECP Coffee Bean to enjoy a plate of hot puffing pasta!

Yaaahhooooo!!!!! There we are, our 1st 100+km trip. Big thanks to the great organizers, NTU Sports Club, and their excellent logistics and planning! Not forgetting our God sent, morale booster and his infamous quote "mai liao wa eh si gan", Daniel & his Cannondale.

All these will never be possible, without our attitude to try. You cross a mile to gain an inch of experience.

I'm blessed to be in TSV to learn the every inch of life. And yes, we did it! We did it!!!!!!!!!!

GO VIRUSES GO!!!!

NTU (Nanyang Drive) > Nanyang Ave > Jalan Bahar > Lim Chu Kang Road > Neo Tiew Road > Kranji Way [Rest Point] > Kranji Road > Woodlands Road > Mandai Road > Mandai Ave > Yishun Ave 1 > Yishun Stadium [Rest Point] > Lentor Ave > Yio Chu Kang Road > Jalan Kayu > SengKang West Ave > Anchorvale Link [Rest Point] > CompassVale Drive > SengKang East Drive > Sungei Serangoon Canal's Park Connector > Tampines Road > Tampines Ave > Pasir Ris Drive > Pasir Ris Drive's Carpark [Rest Point] > Pasir Ris Drive > Loyang Ave > Telok Paku Road > Nicoll Drive > Changi Coast Road > East Coast Park Service Road > East Coast Park's cycle track > C1 carpark > Back to ECP Coffee Bean [Final Stop]