This year for National Day, I originally want to do 61km run, 6.km swim and a round island cycling again. But somehow plans did not go as much as wished started with the run. I was thinking
The idea kicked off when I realise that the National Day coincides with our usual swim Sunday. Since its going to be a long weekend, I decided to bounce off the idea to the group and suddenly everyone was keen. We have a fair number of participants, the regulars were Jane, Thim, and surprisingly Felicia and Tang. Richard only joined us till the Tanjong Beach
Swimming the 6.1 Km
I think the last time we did something for National Day swim was 5 years ago, the 5.6km swim. I was still quite skeptical about whether to do it because it has been a long while since we did a long swim. The plan was to go to the island so that more of the folks can join for the short swim, then later to Tanjong beach and back, we might need to loop a bit at the lagoon which will be enough. As it was a self sufficient event , we all decided to just bring what ever we can also prepare our own hydration and nutrition. I brought along some 100 plus , some pandan cake. And of course the Pocky sachets.
We had some great fun swimming to the island doing some National Day fun shots with the flag and banners, we also had some pandan cake, chit chatting along. Then the rest of the group went on to Tanjong beach. Going there the current was okay, a lot not as super smooth. We reach Tanjong beach and had our second bread there chilling out while Richard leave by foot. The rest of us started to swim back, the crowd was smaller. I experienced 2 times of current , first time was at the hydrodash opening which I took almost half an hour to clear by swimming inward to the lagoon and keeping close to the coast rocks. The second one was at the Ola after jetty. This one had been my nemesis for very long and this time instead of swimming inwards, I swam out into the more open place and strangely the current was more forgiving and it took me to the opening pretty fast.
Back in the lagoon I already saw Jane and Felicia still looping around to hit 6.1km, we all finish up around 10:30 am quite tired out by the time we change up and stuff. Luckily I brought some 100 plus for hydration. Tang stopped earlier because his goggles broke and the eyes were all red but he also did a good half oceanman.
We hanged around still very high from the swim and enjoying the beach and the sunshine. After that we went for a quick breakfast before returning home. Debbie was kind enough to wait for us and capture some pictures for us. It was really quite a meaningful National Day, nice and cosy. Recapping I wondered how we used to swim so much like nothing, at least for a poor swimmer like me I think I really took too long and too cosy. Swimming is really a different game!
RIBA – Round Island Bicycle Action
Was not that keen to do the RIBA this year as I have not been very keen on cycling. But after our long swim, Jane brought up the idea to do the ride as we did it last year, making it a tradition. Then I thought, why not, and also invited Larry. Larry in turn took his son Dylan along. The original RIBA route is all the way up to Pasir Ris and Woodlands. But for this one , we only did the West side full while the East side was more short cut. We started off pretty early at 04:30 am meeting up at Casurina Prata area in Thomson again. This year Richard did not join us and in his place, Larry’s son Dylan joined us for this short Riba.
We went through the North, through the rolling Mandai road, Lim Chu Kang and stopped at Larry’s favourite breakfast place in Jurong. After a quick top up of hydration and breakfast, the sky begin to brighten, however, rain seemed to be looming around also. We got on our way towards town, Larry suggested going to Sentosa and do a quick loop. We decided to go ahead with that idea. Just as we head out, the rain poured and it was quite heavy in the industrial area. There were a lot of road works and in order to avoid getting into any accidents, we took shelter at a bus stop. There were a few other riders there too. It was just a passing shower, when it got lighter we headed on our way.
I was glad that I rode my new Gusto or I would not have been able to keep up since Colnago is quite slow. Sentosa was a slopy ride, I could feel Dylan feeling the heat because he was using a lower tier bike. We started with Tanjong, then to the golf course and Siloso beach. Before heading to the East, Larry suggested to go Maxwell Market. When we head off from Sentosa, Dylan peeled off and left, I guess he was feeling a bit challenging under the heat.
The Maxwell Market
We took a tad too long in the market drinking coconut water and resting. We even had two deserts, but it was a good break. By the time we headed to the East it was too late, therefore we skipped TMCR which I thought was a good idea and Jane introduced us this new route from Tampines. It was getting seriously hot, we took a small break at the bus stop and decided that we should go on Bartley highway to go back. It was the most convenient location for all the three of us. So there we had it, the shortened RIBA for 2026!
