Wednesday 16 March 2016

Malaysia Skate with Just a Couple of Spins Day 3-4

Day 3
Batu pahat to pontian
Distance: 75km
Time on board: 4 hours 38 mins
We are so close to the finish line. Merlion in Singapore. Flo skated 3400km from Saigon to Singapore crossing 5 countries. Now i will be finishing the last leg with him.
We keep pace of 16 km/h. Until my board get too flexy, COS the delam got too serious. Once at pontian, i went back home in Singapore to get my old gbomb deck and go back to pontian to finish tomorrow final skate

Day 4
Pontian to Singapore
Distance: 110km
Time on board: 7 hours 52 mins
It is the Final Countdown.. Flo Just A Couple Of Spins had skated 3400 km from Saigon to Singapore.. today he finished his 70 day of adventure in Singapore. I had the honour of joining him in his final leg.. Finally, get to skate with a long distance skater in long treks. we get to share interesting pointers on long treks. I tried his trailer. My god, once pushed to speed, the trailer will push u further with its momentum.
Today, we navigated the busy roads of johor bahru. In fact, we skated on Malaysia Expressway 1.. it is so scary and stressful. We are trying not to get ourselves killed. Finally we skated into malaysian checkpoint, using the motorcycle lane. The malaysian officer took a glance at us and let us go. We cross the causeway bridge and into singapore custom. Being Singapore Anal on rules, the officers summoned us to the office and questioned us.. i can hear the officers discussing about us.. Confirm we are first skateboarders to cross the causeway checkpoint on longboards. Usually, the motorcycle lane is for motorcycles and bicycles, never skateboard.. but after today, they will put a sign for skateboarders haha.. i guess we are the talk of the day in immigration office. 2 crazy skaters trying to skate into singapore on causeway checkpoint. this is indefinably the craziest thing i do..
after a hour or so, they let us off and we are on the road again.. another technical issue.. no rules written about skateboarders on singapore roads..
if you wondering if you can skate across causeway checkpoint, yes you can.. just expect lots of questioning
finally, flo arrived at his destination, Singapore Merlion in esplande to officially end his journey. i am getting tired of writing this after skating 100km in tough environment. tomorrow i shall update more

Sunday 13 March 2016

Day 2 Malacca to Batu Pahat

Day 2
Malacca to Batu Pahat
Distance: 95km
Time on board : 5 hours 49 mins

Before we started the day, i lost my camelbak mouthpiece, dropped somewhere in guesthouse. That means no sipping water on the go. I have to stop to drink water. Nevertheless, we managed to skate with great momentum. After initial slow start out of malacca, we push each other, skating at 18 to 20km/h for a long stretch without breaks. That is the good thing of skating with long distance skate traveller. We push ourselves to our
Limits. I maintain a rhythm. 5 pushs, then 5 Strokes of paddle, then 5 push then pump for 10 secs.

Without my water bag, i have to skate fast in the heat and stop for water breaks every 15km. Our average speed was 17 km/h for 80km until it started to rain. As always, the final 20km is hardest in every journey. Alway so close yet so far. We just have to push in the rain to get to our guesthouse.

Saturday 12 March 2016

Malaysia Skate 2016 Day 1

Day 1
Port Dickson to Malacca
Distance: 78km
Time on board : 5 hours 9 mins

Arrived last night 1am at Hotel suria at port Dickson from Singapore. Met up with Flo of Just a couple of Spins. Then few hours later, we started skating at 8am. Keeping good pace together at 16km/h until i got my first accident of the trip. Some friendly locals waved at me so i waved back .at that Moment of distraction, i skated into a curb. Thankfully,i am well used to getting injured in my trips. Is just a small scratch but my phone screen cracked so no photos for this trip. Too bad.

After Route 5, we took a small shortcut into a rural road but it cuts right into a military camp. Obviously,the guards are not going to let US in and it is a 15 km detour back. So we walk across the beach next to the camp and unwittingly smuggled into the military zone. That is so crazy. Smuggling and skating inside the military zone is craziest skating thing ever. When we exited the checkpoint,the guards checked US out. We assured them we are just lost stupid tourists who got lost. They recorder our data then let US go. We hurried to malacca before they changed their minds.