I took a easy ride at the nearby Punggol Waterway this morning. Riding the tokyo bike present by Wifey, it felt good.
Toyko Bike at Punggol...
Rolling slowly enjoying the cool morning. Many were doing the same too. Jogging, walking and cycling. As I rode along, I met an old gentleman cycling slowly. I nodded and said "zhao ann" (good morning in Chinese) . He turned his head alittle side ways to my direction, nodded and "zhao ann" back. We rode a little while together and I ask if I could take a photo of him and his bicycle. He stopped and as I fumbled to get my iphone to work.. we chatted abit.
Mr Lim, 70-ish with his 30year old bicycle
Mr Lim B.S.A
Add caption
Rusted but it still spins
Mr Lim
His name was Mr Lim, Stayed near Hougang and he had this bicycle for more than 30 years. He like to ride along the PCN as it is quiet and not so dangerous. "Cycling is nice, I just ride slowly for exercise. " he added. I looked at his face, it is wrinkled and creased. One side of his body is stiff and a classic sign of a stroke person, like my Dad.
We hopped back onto the bicycle and continued the slow ride, soaking in the quiet peace. It is nice, crank by crank, wheels rolling slowly, moving forward.
Mr Lim pedalling on, slowly (sorry for the crappy shots... my iphone is the old gen)
Nature even gave me a nice treat as I stopped at the Serangoon river. A fish jump out of the water and "hopped" 3 times. Just in front of me.. just like that. In a flash, the dance appeared and vanished. This is no wild outback but it just felt so peaceful and amazing at the same time. All 10 min from my home. Slow down, smile and say hello. You never know what surprises and beauty you will see.
Why am I so excited about Nparks efforts? And this is why... :) Round Island Route = RIR http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1185154/1/.html We can expect more links and most importantly, is how they are getting public engagement to help fine tune and get feedback. This is good news because it is all about the people. If people respond and are engaged... I know the solution would be much more relevant to the surroundings. With Lovecyclingsg, we can link Nparks to the common folks and real cyclists... so that their voices are heard. And if you have some thing to say and share... Please visit Nparks website and put in ur comments! Also visit Lovecyclesg website to see more photos... Talking about speedy replies... here's Bernard's -- " The project is on! The route alignment and development timeline is works in progress which means your feedback is important and will be useful. Over the next 2 mths we will conduct focus grp studies. I will need 20 pax from cycling and grps so here goes - those who want to be heard - let me know i will extend an invitation to you.... If response is overwhelming, we will have to draw lots. The sessions will be held after office hours and for a start it will be useful to have cyclists from diverse background : A. with different bikes B. Stay in different areas in spore - East South and northwest C. Different age grp If you are keen, do respond here and give me your email address......thanks!"
My girl is now 4 and if u read my blog u will know she is beginning to learn to ride a bicycle. For now, she rides a strawberry bike with the pedal taken out.It kind of works but recently I was shown a bike by Lifecycle's Simon which aims to help a child learn to ride and find their sense of balance. Enter First bike, designed in Germany, the product is simple and no frills. Light enough to be chucked into a back of a car and bring to any Park connector or just buzzing around the neighbourhood. This are some photos of my momo in action... She seems to just get into the groove very quickly. We were laughing and joking around the PCN. Judging from her laughs and smiles.. I think this is a good toy for any child learning to ride and makes for a nice family bonding.
I will update more as she progress along in a week or so....Stay tune! More photos here
u just paddle along... this helps the child get a sense of balance
Briefing the route...and Clarence is not paying attention :) Photo by Matt
At least 60 riders turned out in support of the World water way event, early morning at Alexandra Canal Park Connector to Marina barrage. Francis and I gave out the official tees ...it was crazily busy time.. And after the usual ride briefing, it was a nice slow rolling start. Best part is that we did not have to stop at junctions, with the great support from the Traffic police to stop traffic. This made us feel so safe and privileged for once! Really awesome to see so many riders coming out in support of this event. Thank you all! More photos account here by Matt and here -- Thanks mate!
New Alexandra PCN, Zul likes it! Photo by Matt
PCN -near to Zion road market Photo by Matt
We got parking! Photo by Matt
Friends with bikes, Mddan, Ahmad and Zul Photo by Matt
I saw this at NParks website which was pretty well done in my opinion. It is a route on the newly opened Northen Park connector routes. One area near to the zoo, heads into a forest which is nice and is paved with small gravel. It makes for a interesting ride and have to keep speeds low due to foldies small wheel. But definetly doable for foldies as we have shown on the last week ride. Looks like someone at NParks have been working hard... and I am looking forward to more routes to explores the Ulu parts of SG. Good on you NParks!
This ride was special because Lun Cheak our friend who hates to sweat and ride bicycles.. joined us for a ride. Yes!... after a couple months of psyching... he finally said yes. It did not start well because on that day..it rained.. but I insisted we still meet and wait it out. We skipped the Bedok reservoir park and parked at the famous prawn noodle shop. After the yummy prawn noodles, super solid nor hiang and cups of Kopi.. the rain eased up, we finally went riding from Fort road to the 3SIR bedok camp area and PCN links. Not much pics but we do have a cool video by Rodney who rode a fixie and pioneered the world first IPhone tall format video... enjoy!
Francis wanted to see how our PCN were doing and suggested we try Potong pasir to Pasir ris. I have never done this route before and was abit concerned as I was riding a single speed new old bike and Francis and Rodney were riding their fixies. Don't know if we can last the trip... but as we rode.. the worries went away. The single speed experience was surprisingly good... afew cranks to get up to speed and I was humming along at quite a rate... and I have to consciously slow down :) I guess my daily morning rides is helping me improve my riding:)
Back to the route.. The roads were very quiet in the mornings and it was pleasant to be riding and not be too worried about Cars. The air was cooling and crisp as we headed towards mac pherson, then weaved thru Ubi and rolled into Bedok reservoir. To add to the National day theme, we tied the flags behind the bike. Here are some cool shots on the ride.
Thought about the PCN around my neighbourhood and how lovely it would be to ride along the river line. So decided to pop by to see how it was... Actually it was turning out very well.. I think it will be completed very soon. Best of all they have built a bridge to connect pungol to tampines! This means cyclists, joggers alike can travel to changi from pungol direct! Here are the pics.
thats when u wish for MTB wheels
Lor halus.. this used to be a dumping site.. 12 stories high
bridge linking to Lor harlus which leads to Tampines
