The taiwan 7-11 coffee and what it means to me

I first experienced this drink at our cycling trips to Taiwan and I will attempt to explain to you the craze that is hitting Singapore shores from my perspective.   

The Taiwan 7-11 coffee/milk tea drink that is blazing its way to Singapore

It has a special place in our hearts because we really had a great time cycling in Taiwan. One of the "attractions" cycling in Taiwan was their amazing 7-11 and Family mart culture. 

This is how it looks outside 7-11 when we "raid" the shop

Esther and her "loot" 

Singapore cycling continent reviewing the product lineup at the 7-11 

for the kids.. it was a ball of fun sticking the coupons!

So much so integral to Taiwanese culture, the Taiwan convenience store have been actually written about at the Wall Street Journal! 
It's not like the your usual Singapore version but imagine a POWER packed one that u can find many choices of snacks, hot food, Onden(like our yong tau foo on sticks), pay ur bills, free wifi and just hang around. Yes, its nice to chill around the place. Sounds crazy but it's true.
If you are big on buying online stuff, u can also get it delivered to, or send from the 7-11 store. Its the ultimate "Swiss army knife"- everything can be done, found there!
Specifically for the aspiring Taiwan Round island cyclists.This relative nugget of information is really helpful. Imagine you are cycling for 5 days and you are too tired to carry your panniers. Don't worry, you can send stuff u don't need, like your laptop, dirty underwear, clothes forward to your preferred/nearest spots. BTW,  Read how fun it is to ride in Taiwan from Chris Wee.

unforgettable route 9

rolling with good company and views... 

So imagine when you had a great time cycling, looking at the lovely views and then popping into the 7-11 to grab a drink (usually for me, the blue cofffee bottle). The combination of the pleasant cycling memories, chats with friends and coffee fragrances became merged as one and becomes "MAGICAL!" It's something really to be experienced to understand. 
And I still can't get my Taiwan coffee fix at the local 7-11.....  haha. 

Getting Serious about cycling in Singapore

This made me very happy as it is the first time that Straits Time have covered normal folks who made cycling as their way of life in Singapore! Woohoo! 

Taken from Strait Times, thanks Duane! 

Cycling have indeed been going through a lot of changes in Singapore and its getting really popular, not just as a form of recreation or sport. To dispel the conventional notion of cycling(for lycra clad only or just those crazy pple), I have been doing my part to document the riders I meet at Lovecyclingsg so that I can share their stories to more people and even to our governmental agencies.  You can read their stories here   Do message me if you like to contribute to adding to the Singapore context.  
Thank you Byrna for writing this. Its a good step forward!  In the mean time, keep on cycling! 

Bamboo Kar at Car Free Sunday 31st July 2016

As part of the effort to bring in more smiles and laughter to the Car Free Sunday event, the Bamboo Kar came and was a rolling success! Many who saw it smiled and gave us a thumbs up! 
Here are some of the photos taken by uncle KC while I was riding the rig. More cool funny photos here.  and by Christine 

Rolling at CarFreeSunday

Sharing with fellow cyclists why we did this

can u see how many bicycle can use a car space? 

It was a blast to see joggers, skaters, cyclists all sharing the road and having a really nice time at Car Free Sunday event. Behind the fun, there is also a meaningful reflection. Imagine if we can use this space more efficiently for living. Not just simply used as a road. That's a real paradigm shift in space planning! 

Skater cannot believe his eyes... 

Pas with his Wong Fei Hong suit! 

Cheern lin with his customed built kid front rack bike 

every one rode. What ever wheels size and brands

Another reason to be cycling!

Now, Singapore is undergoing a big transformation to be more liveable, more cycle-able. I have seen big improvements with the continuous effort of agencies and community effort. Its looking really good!

Doing Da Lovecyclingsg pose!

No, it will not change overnight. But if we continue to support and give our ideas and suggestions to our agencies folks. I am sure more good will happen. Lets keep on spinning and smiling!

Love cycling SG Bamboo Kar

We support the CarfreeSunday initiative because its a paradigm shift in usage of the environment.  With the past CarfreeSunday events, we have seen many folks coming to run, skate and cycle. Some just to walk, stroll around the area. Its nice and I love it.
So to support the event, I came up with the idea of the Bamboo Car which is a visual demonstration of how much space a car takes up in comparison with a bicycle and person.  The name is called Kar Chia with direct inspiration from hokkien. "Kar"- meaning Leg and "Chia" meaning Car.
Here's some photos of on this Sat where my friends and I did the first test ride. It worked fabulously!!!  So relieved and we are ready for the 31st July 2016 #CarFreeSunday!

Come ride and see the BambooKarChia at CarFreeSunday!

LCSG angels Andy and Christine running along me, just in case I get into trouble. Thank you folks!

More really nice photos and videos here. 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1115512355172778&type=1

Bicycles allowed all time for MRT

This is big news for Singapore in the direction for a car lite society.  I am delighted and encouraged that our government have changed their attitudes to bicycles. This shows that the folding bicycle can be a real alternative mode of transport. Awesome Singapore!
During this pilot, I hope our cyclists will be on the best behavior, be considerate and nice. Bag up the bicycle if need to, so that it does not dirty other commuters. 

We MUST make this work! 

Rider Profile Shaun Chua

1. Tell me about yourself
My name is Shaun. Still a relatively new roadie as I just started cycling properly around Feb of 2015. Most of my rides are planned because I want to go to a certain spot to snap some pictures!

2. How did you start cycling?
My earliest memory of getting on a bike was about when I was still in primary school. My parents thought it would be a good idea for me to learn to abandon the 2 training wheels and ride a proper 2 wheeled bike when we were at a family gathering at pasir ris park. It was probably the earliest proud achievemnt of my childhood when I was able to cycle with my mother chasing me behind.

ET phones home... the most iconic BMX  

I had a BMX bike when I was slightly older. Me and my sisters would often cycle in the void decks playing "catching" when we're not doing a few laps around bishan park. Mind you, this was before the internet so we spent quite some time on our bike saddles instead of a chair. The bike was eventually stolen when I left it unlocked outside our HDB flat and I did not cycle much after that.
Fast forward to my army days, I used my first SAF pay to get a cheap hercules mountain bike that costs <$200. I still have it to this day. 
After my ORD, I was starting to pay more attention to my fitness. I've only been running in terms of exercise. My Dad helped me pick out a Cannondale quick 4 hybrid bike. The first ride I had with it was at punggol PCN. That ride was the first time I felt the wind blow past at speeds which I never rode at before. Adding on the beautiful night sky with some music, it was amazing. 

2 months later, my dad decided that I should upgrade to a road bike while he will ride the cannondale. We looked around and I eventually got a Trek Emonda ALR 6. I stepped on the pedals and here I am :)
I've since tackled various challenges like triathlons, duathlons and my proudest achievement is finishing the 168km bike rally where I rode with Mike, Stanley and a few others. I'm now currently one of a group of riders who assist Stanley and Peggy in conducting the friday round island rides.

LCSG RI Leads and angels! 

Cycle and watching the sun go down

3. Why do you like cycling?
What I like most about cycling is the different world that you experience whilst pedalling. Its different. You get to see so much more as compared to walking and you get to soak in the surroundings better than driving. Cycling allows me to cover so much more ground that I ever thought was possible. Cycling has allowed me to travel to marina bay sands, sentosa, woodlands and jurong for free! Most of the time spent on my hybrid was exploring new places and snapping some pictures to share with the facebook group.

Cycling has solved 99% of my problems and its the best medicine in my opinion.
However, the best part about cycling is that I get to eat anything I want! XD

4. When you met LCSG ñ How was it like and how you meet us?
I first chanced upon the LCSG via its FB group . Funny thing was I wasn't accepted within the day and I pm-ed all the admins which got me a response and I was accepted into the group the following day. So much nice pictures were shared by other members and it gave me ideas and motivation for my next ride. Sharing my picture after my rides was my favourite thing to do and everyone is so kind and positive that it made me look forward to my next photoshoot/ride :P

My first ride with LCSG was the first round island ride on friday evenings. Me and my buddy took on the challenge even thou we weren't sure if we could complete and we haven't rode that distance before. The atmosphere is friendly and I loved my first experience riding with a pelaton. The 105 kilometers was suprisingly fun and not actually that scary. We than joined some of the riders for supper at the nearby coffee shop as we were sure we needed some ba chor mee! The organisers were very nice and controlled the pace very well which led to my future participation in future ri rides.

After the ride, my eyes were opened and I remember telling my buddy that I have a new perspective on fitness. The riders were all so strong and some of them don't even appear to be tired at all. This motivated me to keep coming back to improve on my cycling and the ride has gotten easier and easier as time passes.

5. Your steel horses ñ names and more details
The bikes that I currently still own is my old and worn hercules mtb, a cannondale quick 4 hybrid and my trek road bike.

6. My favourite cycling kakis
The regulars who make it for the friday round island ride! You guys make every ride fun fUN FUN!

7. Where is your favorite stretch to ride?
I honestly like punggol PCN when there is little human traffic. I've since taken to the roads after I deemed the pcn to be too crowded. I do enjoy mount faber and I would say its my favourite place to ride.

8. Other things to share. Life motto etc
Cycling is the closest to FLYING! Other than plane rides of course :P

Sharing with PM Lee abit about Lovecyclingsg

We ride alot on the Nparks Park connector (PCN) network and last sat we went to give our friends at PCN team the support they need.  I have been working with them over 6 years and I know how much it took to make things happen. This is why I push and rallied hard to help them. I was really glad to see a nice happy turn out. About 60 folks turned up and was waved off by our Prime Minister Lee himself.

Folks at bishan end point 

 For myself, as part of the Friends of Nparks committee, we also did tree planting to remember this day for being the start of the Round island Route (RIR). You can see more details from Straits Time.
While planting the tree, I got to chat with the PM and share abit about what we do as LCSG.  To share about how we ride, find places of memory, where we grew up and then grab a simple meal, chat.  E.R.P (Eat. Ride. Photo)...

PM Lee waves us off !  Photo From PM Lee Face book 

And my goodness, PM Lee shared his experience to all on Facebook! I hope one day we can have him riding with us.  That would be so cool. Yes, I told him face to face... I will show him my fav wanton noodle store! 

Thank you PM Lee for leading the way to help make SG a more bike friendly place to be!

Learning cycling from a story book - Bike for Tykes

This is a cartoon book on learning to cycle which we found at the Singapore National Library some years back. The title of the book is Bikes for Tykes by Azhar Yusof, illustrated by Eliz Ong. It's a local book! 
What I like about this story book is how attractive and friendly it is, for kids and big kids(Me). 
Momo was flipping about the pages and looking at the words/images. I think it also encouraged her to try out cycling.  If you like to know how I teach Momo to ride, here's my way. 
Also included in the book are simple, usefultips for parents as well. Do check it out at the local library if you are looking for a nice story book on bicycle for ur kids!  Happy cycling!