Skaters:
15 competent speed skaters from Singapore.
My detail - Jenn, Ethel and Carmen

Skills:
With fitter bodies, better techniques, skaters covered the 450km distances at much faster pace, stronger strides and more powerful cadence.

Terrain:
Our detail happened to cover some of the roughest terrain on the final day and it was truly a killer! Killed our brains, killed our bodies and of course killed our legs with the constant vibrations. Vibrations went all the way up to the teeth and clattering down those crazy hills was really a torture! At the bottom of the hill, we could hardly stand and had to stabilize before giving the next push as a little off balance could well mean road tax of the skin!

Food:
It's almost like a chant when I hear the skaters say it, the cyclists say it and even the drivers say it - "Ramlee Burger"!!! Most amusing is when the two leaders of the cycling and skating clans (Sidney and James) fight over who should reach the jetty terminal first and who should be getting all the burgers :

Skating is always a joy, and being able to put our skill to a good cause is a true comfort.

We have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and are proud to be a part of this event.

Thank you God for watching over the cyclists, skaters and volunteers during the entire performance.

Have you seen so many plantations in Singapore? Most probably in the few near extinct forests only, but in Malaysia it's everywhere! They even resemble Jurassic Park - The Lost World!

While we were waiting for our turn to skate, sometimes my imagination got a little better of me and my mind began to wonder… Images of my whole body being covered by the tall plantations with only my head sticking out were quite real and scary. Dinosaurs!! Reptiles!! Argh…!!!

From my crazy sister Jenn, I finally discovered that watermelons grow on the ground instead of a tree? Best part is, I'm not alone, and there were several other Singaporeans who didn't know that too!! Hahahaa…

There were wide spreads of palm and maize plantations and not forgetting the scare-crows. They really looked like human beings from afar. It's amazing how big and neat the plantations are. It's really an eye opener for city goers like us.

I'm glad that I'm able to do my bit for SAMH and have enjoyed this trip very much.

On the road skating, one could see the volunteers standing by the roads, risking their lives to direct us so that we would not be lost. The sacrifices made by them included waiting in the hot sun for us to arrive and encouraging us when we passed, be it with a smile or a few motivating words.

In the hotel at night, voices of skaters and cyclists could be heard, "Wah the road was a killer, I think I cannot walk anymore" "I need a massage now" and this was when the volunteers found themselves in great demand. The queue for massages by the physiotherapists was so long that they could only close the "clinic" in wee hours of the night.

But without them, this trip would not have been so successful. So, thank you volunteers!

The skating was largely "uneventful". There was ONLY the wonderful scenery along the way, the VERY rough roads (now who said Singapore roads were every rough?) and the numerous "assorted" dead animals on the rough roads. Maybe the roads were so rough that they found it hard to cross the roads quickly and ended up as road kill. Not to mention those animals that give us milk crossing the roads at an inappropriate time, the few times the skaters had to chase and draft the cyclists, or even the times we encountered the Media Vehicle (the wonderful Honda CR-V).

Haha.. I must be kidding myself. How can these combinations even be considered remotely uneventful?

It was a wonderful journey of bonding and camaraderie among the Viruses as we learnt to give and take at the various times. Thanks to all the volunteers, who provided
us with food, drinks, shelter, road marshalling (enduring the scorching sun, only protected by orange Avanade umbrellas), first aid, massage and even pizzas, the "bad" events were kept to a minimum, with only one slightly minor spill among the skaters.

I just hope that next year will be a bigger and better event, as it provides opportunities for athletes from two sports that are very similar to come together and understand each other better.

This year there were more cyclists compared to last year. The youngest cyclist was 8 years old and the youngest skater was 15 years old. Some of the participants were involved in last year's event and now back for more.

Everyone was very enthusiastic throughout the whole event especially the first timers. Some of the cyclists were very fast and quite a distance ahead of the main group. As for the skaters, this year we had 15 participants which formed 5 groups of 3. Our pace was much faster as we had 3 vans, plus we are one year more fine tuned in our skating techniques. We managed to skate with various cyclists along the way, chasing them up slope and passing them down slope. Everyone was helping and cheering each other on as we passed.

The support crews were fantastic as always attending to everyone's needs along the trip and ensuring that we were able to cycle and skate the next day.
Thank you everyone for the care extended.

It's another year of up and down hills, the same as what we had faced in the previous year. A long stretch of never ending rough road is what one will expect to be facing in a group.

Extremely rough roads aside, there were also animals rear by farmers, and some are even wild, like monkeys. Many would be shocked by how many carcasses there are on the roads up to Mersing or even down to Desaru. The decomposed and rotten carcasses of the animals will only make one puke. As some of us had already been through this journey last year, such scenes no longer have that shocking effect; but for the one or two new skaters who didn't know about the carcasses or the kind of steep hills they're going to face in the 3 days of skating, it was quite a dreadful experience.

While my pack was skating, we saw many carcasses laying on the ground, sometimes on the straight roads, and some even while going down hills. Trying to avoid them was quite tricky especially when we were hitting top speed coming down the hills only to find a wild cat on the right side and on the left was a small puddle of water which we must avoid. We passed by a lot of carcasses this year, more than the previous.

I remember vividly that while on our way to dinner last year, we saw dead cows lying on the pitch dark road after being hit by cars. These are scenes that we won't witness in Singapore. Sad as it may be, that's the cycle of life and these are precious lessons learnt during the trip to Malaysia.