Insane Stints

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Over the weekend, I did a couple of really crazy stuffs. I went snowboarding which was great as I am getting better with each session. But things were a little different this time round as I rode thru beaten "out of bounds" courses. Took on steeper drops, went in and out of trees and forest paths, cruise on powder all with only 6 amateur sessions in my entire life.

These insane stunts were all ridden by my fellow snowboarders with at a minimum of 8 years in their record but for me and another amateur daredevil, Nigel, we were flying along side with the big boys. Yeah the occasional collapse of our leg muscles lead to tumbles and crashes, none were really that fatal. Swimming in deep powder and performing cartwheels were all in day's work for our snowboarding routine. We were significantly the upcoming stars of this extreme winter sport.

Snowboarding aside, I drove to Nagano city for the weekend to grab some essential Japanese JLPT 2 books and also to savour the great Tonkotsu Ramen. It was a clear Sunday morning and I was pretty frugal on my expenses so I decided to park my little car in an open private parking lot. But little did I realised that this would be my greatest escape feat till date. Yep the Great Escape occurred at approximately a quater past 1 in the afternoon where the carpark was locked up with an automated chain barrier.

There were 3 feasible options for me to leave the carpark -

1. Called the hotline and pay a hefty fine to remove my car.
2. Drive over the curb to exit.
3. Drive thru a precise 0.01% wide gap.

Option 1 is out for me as I am not paying the fine and getting myself into a whole lot of trouble after that.

Option 2 is out too as the curb was way higher than the allowed ground clearence of my car.

Option 3 was chosen but here are the governing factors. The gap was almost the exact width of my car with a mere 3cm gap allowance on each side. Crammed between 2 right angled walls I have to position the car at exactly half way thru the walls and make a turn to either a right or left as a perpendicular road connects the gap. Any errors would either scrapped the side of my car or leave me stuck in a werid position.

Accessing the situation, I shook my head in disgust as the gap looks almost impossible. I took a 5 min breather and went for the Greatest Escape of my driving career. Carefully navigating the gap with my windows down, I managed to squeeze the car into the exact exit position. Now it's just the timing of exact angle to turn out to the perpendicular road. 2 minutes and 1 reverse was all I took to free myself. No scratches, bumps or fines, I became the freeman...Haha.

Looking back, I almost died when I freed myself from the carpark to the extent I actually wanted to drive back and take pictures of it. That escape feat which seem impossible was eventually accomplished and I have to thank Mr Guts, Mr Experience and Mr Insanity for granting me such immerse power to pull off that stunt.

Now adding another new driving stunt to my record, I can only say in times of dire situations, a hero will be born.