Just 3 Time Trials ago, I would have gone to bed sooner than usual the night before, woken up early, taken breakfast and arrived ahead of time for it. Now that I have gained some confidence and become rather familiar with its organisation, I have skipped all the above and taken my time to arrive for the monthly affair.

Smugly, I think that I can easily skate 5km (it is only a matter of at what rate) and though slightly late, I would still make it in time. But I was conscience-stricken about having my teammates do all the preparatory work.

As I approach my destination, I instantly noticed that something was amiss. I squint my eyes and can only see the familiar figures of the team members in sight, all engaged in different activities of getting ready. But where are the machines! All the TSV cars are nowhere in sight! Scanning the area a little further, I found them - parked in a new and shadier spot.

Suddenly, a funny picture crossed my mind as I looked at Lin San who greeted me aloud. I seemed to have walked right into a movie set. We are the crew members involved in the making of a motion picture and everyone's role is so distinct I can just visualise the credits at the end of the film to roll like this, in reverse order:

Set Assistant
Stacey (Grabbed the job so that she can get up close and personal with all her idols - while recovering from an illness. Wears skates on the job to serve everyone in the quickest time)

Floor Managers
Daryl (He puts things on the floor)
Randy (He studies the floor)
Sean (He measures the floor)
Ethel (She sweeps the floor)
Cedric (He looks for creatures that hang from the trees and sends them to the floor)
Ken (He just sits on the floor)

Stuntsmen
All those who are not present because they have been taken out by the bug.

Art Director and Cameraman
TT (Everyone who stumbled into his video recorder's sacred view would get a chiding from him. However, he is entitled to break his own rules because creative people are just ... non-conformists)

Child Actress
Apple (Accompanied by real-life mother, Sylvia, was being cajoled into giving her best performance yet)

Lead Actress
Corinne (By default for arriving latest - and horrors, that is the mark and making of a Diva!)

Assistant Director/Producer
Jenn (Looking the part holding a clip-board and pen and to whom everyone goes to for instructions)

Director
Lin San (By default for sitting in the right chair at the right place and looking his part sipping coffee at the right time)

But of course we all know who calls the shots in reality and that what was about to take place could not be staged. As the real Director of the Time Trial blows her whistle, I turned jittery again as usual.

Go... go! As cheers abound and we zipped through our rounds, I vaguely heard a dear teammate shouting "Good timing, Corinne!" to me which really turned me from losing steam to charging ahead at full throttle instantly. Such is the power of encouraging words. However, I sank into despair when I later heard that I still have x number of laps more to go - how come still so many left after I had turned so many rounds?

Fast forward to the results of the morning; I am pleased with my timing. In order to see a similar improvement the next time, I probably have to follow suit and change my equipment to achieve another big slash! To all the viruses who have also made it within your target times, Congratulations! And to those who had slackened this round... Go!Go!Go!