It would be hard to convince me to go recreational over the weekends in east coast park. The journey would be long, i would have to drive and you would subject yourself to the 50-50 chance of ISOLATED SHOWERS( that's what the meteorological officers in the aviation industry would say )
However, i responded to a calling to recre skate on a sunday morning of 21st October. No worries on weather( because it is a tunnel skate ), and its once-in-a-life-time-chance opportunity. Together i got my fiancee , edmund ( one of the woodlands skater doing speed skating )and my brother down. We had the luxury of traveling dry through the heavy showers along the journey, all thanks to dad's car, which saw us through from woodlands-> boonlay-> kampongjava rd(LTA HQ).
Most of the people in the inlinekaki forum were there. They had every reason to be there. They were speed skaters and they were avid fans of such events that allow them to parade speed skating to the public.
Those were just the early birds' pile of skates. We congregated to board the shutter bus which brought us to the entrance of the tunnel expressway. By the time we 'debus', there was already some crowd and a fun fair area before the tunnel.
To enter the tunnel, you have to walk / run / skate down a ramp that's about 15 degrees in gradient i think. The number seem small but on wheels it could kill. Quite a few of the newbie speed skaters suffered deep long gashing abrasions on their shins.
My dearie, though gutsy enough to take on the ramp, did not run away from the fate of falling. Thank goodness she had her helmets on( usually we dont wear helmets, but this one's a public skate event. ). She was smart enough to steer herself to the side of the ramp when her legs turned wobbly. During the whole mishap i was behind her, witnessing the fall, filled with helplessness. In the end she broke the impact against the side with her right wrist, in the midst her helmet rammed against the wall. The outcome : A slightly bruised right cheek, a slightly bruised wrist,a graze on her left shin and a bit of shock running into her. When i managed to get hold of her, her eyes welled up in tears. BUT she claimed she wasnt gonna cry; SHE SIMPLY FELT STUNNED.
That's where we skated from.
Some pictures that i took with her minutes after she fell
Dearie decided to take a rest at the first leg of the entrance , trauma still consuming her mind. Staying with her was my brother who wasnt really keen to explore the depths of the tunnel. I joined the caden of speed skate fellas to do the next 4 km. Folks on bigger wheels were a faster lot, and i soon found myself skating alone again( yeah, because on most occasions on any other days i did not have much friends who want to skate with me. Dunno why.)
When the runners and brisk walkers began infiltrating the tunnel, we were back at the starting point where Dearie was. After reassuring her that the skate was a DO-ABLE one, we both held hands and ventured into the tunnel, where booths selling snacks and game carts lined up along as we skate through. There were also posters explaining the construction of the tunnel from day one till today
Civil Engineers, guess which part of the tunnel this lady is facing.
Titanic, the KPE TUNNEL version ( I LOVE YOU HUNNY! )
Eyes feeling sore, with tummy growling from NO breakfast, we parted the tunnel goodbye at 1130am. Our hunger finally brought us to al azhar opposite beauty world, where my dearie , bro and i settled our acidic juices with a few plates of prata and mutton murtabak, complimented with cups of ice teh and fruit juice.
Driving home,i asked myself if i should try out speed skating on top of my cone trick discipline.
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