Wet Cold Fun Singapore river ride 30th Jan 2011

Wise bald man says: ride with us, smile alot... 

Yeah..  better!

  It rained the day before for the whole day and chances are today ride will be the same.  Half expecting that most of the folks will drop out.. I decided to carry on the ride. And I was blown away! About 30 turned up!

Full house of clouds on Singapore...but we are going to ride!

Some even rode to the meet point....and as if heavens wanted us to ride... the rain stopped. So happy. Even happier,  Brother Alvin of Love the fold  and "Nuclear powered" Paul joined us for the ride as well!

Bro Al, Eddie and Marcus 

The ride started pretty smoothly and the pathway was quiet and peaceful. We stopped by the Chingay mobile float park and took some shots of the mobile display with riders. Reaching the Singapore Flyer, it started drizzling again and by group decision, we decided to ride on. We snaked along the slippery paths, crossing treacherous metal gratings and went pass many historical monuments...not really the best conditions to see them...but all who rode now know where is the old Satay club...and also the original Raffles statue. :)

Paul, Legend has it he rides like the wind, some say faster then the wind

Mary with her brompton, color coordinated of course

Rolling along the Singapore river, we chattered and laughed, at the total craziness of the whole ride. We rode through puddles, splashing along and the "gentle" pelting of rain... cold as it is. The strange thing was...it was fun! Yes, it will be a royal pain to clean the bikes later... but it was fun!
We reached Vanguard which was closed and many peeked thru the glass windows to see the old new bikes.. I think some will be back - like Lee who loves pashley and all things old..  Zion market was the next stop and the hot coffee/tea/prawn noodles soup was great... man, it was cold!  Following we headed toward Lifecycle to see the latest range of Dahon. It must be a real surprise for Simon too as he didnt expect us to ride in the pouring rain. Resembling a pasar malam... we crowded into the shop and oggled at all the cool stuff.

Demo in progress

KC admiring the finer details of Dahon Vector

Bidding goodbye to Simon and Co of lifecycle, the group went towards the direction of Jalan besar with the promise of very very good wanton noodle. Rain was getting heavier but no problem, we pressed on. Our motley crew of foldies, oldies, MTB, hybrids drew quite lot of looks from the passerbys.   I think because all were laughing and smiling-- in the rain --Crazy pple. :)

Laughing, chatting in the rain

 Clarence's Wanton noodle shop recommendation proved to be really good. It was the same standard as a hongkong Wanton mee... This means the wanton is a fistful rather then a 20ct size... and noodles are just rite with a little oil and soya sauce. Best of all it was manned by only one guy who had to serve up about 15 servings all at once.

You win already lor...all come at the same time

David with his Wanton noodles, Check out the size of Wantons!

Clarence chipping in to help uncle

 After that, we headed toward lavender MRT and ended our ride there.  A special ride with a special group of friends. Bounded by the love of riding and friendship. Salute you people for being crazy enough to ride in the rain with me....shivering and laughing... Till the next ride!
More photos here 
And Matt's photo

City ride on 30th Jan 2011

Satay!

The route

When was the last time you went to the city area, Esplanade ... yes where Satay club used to be? I remember when I was a kid, my family would go to satay club, al fresco style. They would just put the satay and you eat. After which the hawker would come back after you are done, count the sticks and you pay. All by honor...yah rite.. when the rain comes... everyone runs, without paying...poor satay men! Well this are all just memories as the satay club is gone. But I can show u where it was... Come, join me and play tourist and go do a City ride.... and eat!! very suitable for new riders!

Carryme looking at Merlion

Mr Raffles

Date: 30th Jan, 0730 am

Meeting point: Lavender MRT entrance

Register your interest here http://lovecyclingsg.niceboard.com/t85-city-ride-30th-jan-sunday-2010

Pace- Nice and easy 

Distance - about 15km(in all) -- Lavender MRT - head towards Kallang river- PCN to F1 pitstop- SG flyer- Esplande- Cenotaph-Tan Kim Seng Fountain-  Fullerton/ACM -- Merlion- SG river- Vanguard bike shop- Zion road food

Singapore City route overview

Nice view of the City scape, MBS, SG flyer, Esplanade. We will also passing by historical sites like the Civilian war memorial, Cenotaph, Padang, Asian Civilization museum. Next take a touristy photo with our Great ole Merlion. Then it is a nice leisurely ride along Singapore river, stopping by Raffles, and Vanguard bicycle shop and end at Zion food market for some nice Kwek chap or char kway tweo. Added bonus - we will go visit Life Cycle 

The route

Last day ride of 2010

Last day of 2010...and Lun texted me to ride the night before as he got his new Dahon Foldie. How to disappoint a friend... so we arranged to meet Matt at Fort road to do a leisurely ride to Singapore river area. I also wanted to show Lun the old stadium and a shortcut. However, the Stadium has been torn down and the area is in a whole mess. So sad and glad I got to see the stadium one last time...  u can see the blog entry here http://smallwheelsbigsmile.blogspot.com/2010/09/national-stadium-mbs-and-marina-barrage.html

bye bye National Stadium!

As we reached F1 garages, we were pleasantly surprised to see some nice giant mobile sculptures.. I think they are for the Chingay procession. The workers were busy preparing them and we got up close and personal to see how they made them. Great stuff!  Lun was very surprised at the rate of the changes happening in the city and remarked only with a bike that he can cover so much ground and see all the stuff in detail...yes, thats why I love bikes! For those who havent tried this route... pls go and see the beautiful marina bay area and ride along the SG river.. it is a must go route. On the return leg, we found this old warehouse near Martin road where according to Lun, it used to be a very popular tea dance place...and we explored the inside. It was empty and nice place for photography. Later, we even visited TR bikes at lor batu... and found Sitoh good friend fixing his bike..He also showed us the true way to stop a fixie... using his shoes! Personally, I still prefer my brakes.. but thats no street cred :)....  So there....a nice relax ride with 2 friends on foldies. Thank you 2010 for a wonderful year! Hello 2011!

More photos here

 

Matt and Lun with mobile sculptures

Carved from Foam

3bikes and the new garden park

Lun and his Dahon

Zipping in the warehouse

Matt

Tinkering away at TR bikes

Chris Yee showing his special braking method

Really... I saw him do that... 

SG river ride 13th June 2010

This time we went by the Singapore river route. It is to be an early morning ride with Francis, Sharon, Tahching, Rodney, myself and guest appearance... Ivy from hong kong..

Challenge 1 for me was how do i make my way from Punggol to Kallang mac Donald's?  Took the MRT from Pungol to Serangoon, change to the circle line and stop at Mountbatten MRT. Travelling time, less than half an hour... amazing! With the folding bike, it makes travelling around so much more zippy... helps if u have a good foldie that can fold quick and neat.. here is my brompton sitting posing for the camera inside Mountbatten MRT station.

It wasn't long when the group came. Francis in his in-imitable style rode in... with another bike piggy back! A quick and clear 30 second instruction got Ivy test riding the Jz88...  then we are off.

 Press here if u want to stop..  pedal and keep pedalling.

Riding along the stadium road, the motley group of MTB, foldies headed towards the river... nice and quite with little and no traffic.









Some shots of the Kallang river

Following the river, we soon found ourselves at the F1 pit lane... I have never been here and we had fun riding and pretending to do donuts..

Then a short ride away, we saw the esplanade and the triple helix bridge.  I find that the super complicated design was totally not sympathetic with the environment. Have a look and tell me..

We also saw a group of children having a drawing session. ... some seems to be more busy with SMS, maybe waiting for the inspiration... Art takes time..






Then a shot of Raffles and group shot... at Singapore river..

Rodney sacrificing for "art"... and nearly getting away with a nice metal clog..

This is where we met the super grouchy trishaw guy... he shouted at Francis in some cantonese... I dun think it was good morning greeting. I guess he was still sleeping and maybe lost the football bet the nite before..

Posing at Robertson quay...

Old junk now pile the river and carry tourists.....

This boat is styled as an old style clog...

 

                                                   Parking at  Central Yakun... the waiter was abit taken back by our bikes.

In the cool air conditioned coffee place.. having coffee and kaya toast to end the day...