Cycling Trip-

Week Without Walls is an OSC annual off-campus program, where the students of OSC from grades 10 & 11 are put into 5 groups that have different activities or tasks to do.

The 5 groups are;

• Cycling Trip (Dehigaha Ela)
• Housing and Habitat: Janoda Foundation (Hambantota)
• Photography Trip (
• Anuradhapura Trip
• Jaffna Trip

In grade 10 I was in the Housing and Habitat trip where we had to interact with the Hambantota children in their pre-school and help to build a new fence. This year was the cycling trip, the grade 11s with me were; Harin, Harry, Emily, Giulia and Muneera, and from grade 10; Kaalep, Aman, Max, Chloe, and Anna. Before the trip we were put into small groups that would cook, clean and create entertainment together for certain nights, I was in Group 1 with Harry and Anna. We had to cook the first day, so we cooked pasta with tomato sauce, sausages, garlic bread, and green beans.

Cycled amount:

1st day- 34km

2nd day- 43km

3rd day- 37km (Climbed Pidurangala)

4th day- 25km

5th day- 37km

 

Venture North Reflection-

Retrospective Reflection:

The aspects I learned through the trip was the importance of communication and teamwork the most. I have done team sports but the communication and teamwork that is done through those experiences were different than on this trip because through the use of communication and teamwork I was keeping myself and others safe on the trip. On-road and off-road did not change the fact that I still need to be communicative and working with each other when on the bicycle. We cycle in a single file to take less space on the road or path and to be safe without being all bundled up, so there are instances where you would be going at a faster speed than the person in front of you so when passing by you would have to call ‘on your left’ or ‘on your right’ when passing by so that they wouldn’t be startled or they themselves try to pass the person that is in front of them. One of the most important times where we have to have good communication and teamwork is when there is a blind turn on a road where vehicles go by, we would have to yell the vehicle that may turn the same corner to make sure no one goes to close to the inside lane and to slow down. Another is when there are junctions and you may be turning those corners, the people in the front of the pack have to stick whichever arm they are turning on and each person behind the front has to do it every time to make sure the person in the back doesn’t get left behind. These experiences can help me improve any communication or teamwork incidents that may have either in school or in everyday life, it is a good trait to be good at because you never know when it can be very helpful.

Intentional Reflection:

The things I could develop further is remembering the different parts of the bike to make it easier for me to be able to understand what parts of the bike go where when reconstructing the bike and know how each part is supposed to work to understand if the bike is in good condition.

Evaluation Reflection:

Worked Well:

• Learned how to use a bicycle with gear, was less complicated than I thought it would be.
• I got a lot of experience with the bicycle, making it easy for me to use at the end of the week.
• Cooking was successful, found ingredients to make an easy but good dinner.
• Got to learn how to spot a punctured tire and how to fix it.
• Reconstructing parts of the bike, did the rear end and peddle of the bike.

Challenges:

• Knowing when to switch the gears
• Guess wrong that I can cycle up the hill with one gear but had to change it mid-hill ride
• Breaking slowly without skidding.
• Removing and attaching the tire on and off the wheel frame.

 

I solved my problems with the gears and the breaking after the first two days of the cycling experience, like for the gears a couple meters before the hill I would switch quickly to the easier gear that I know would make me peddle easier and for the break, I would slowly break couple meters also before. For the tire, I was given the chance to try and remove and attach the tire with the help of Peter so after that I understood how to. These challenges taught me that getting experienced with handling a bike from riding it to building it takes a lot of time, for example, for me to get used to using the entire bike and controlling it properly took a while.

Action Points:

• Try to lessen the amount of plastic that you use
• Use items that are reusable more often (i.e. shopping bag)
• Bring snacks that give energy when going on trips (if your metabolism is high)