Building cycling town ride 13th Feb 2011

 Beautiful look out point at Bedok Reservoir

Amazing turn out of 46 riders came for the Building town rides at Aranda Country club at Pasir Ris town this morning!!! Roadies, foldies, MTB, char par lan and bikes of all makes congregated.... like a pasar malam. It was great to see all chatting away, trying each other bikes. Great buzz of activities and many happy faces.  

All for the love of riding! photo credit KC 

We started off the ride with Maria sharing her role in town planning and how cycling lanes was not really considered into town planning initially and the challenges in changing mindsets. Abit too lengthy introduction but considering the amount of information...I don't know any better way. 

Maria, sharing the route and her story of Tampines/Pasir Ris 

Then we started the ride... It was chaotic initially as the route was not really suited for so many riders but we managed, barely...with the support of the regulars like GL, Andy, Clarence, brandon, Zack, Eddie and many others whom helped in guiding the newer riders and block off traffic. Thanks friends! 

minor bicycle jam...

Roadie, Foldie and MTBs...riding together

One of the cool place we visited was an organic garden hidden right in the sleepy HBD heartlands. It was an amazing place which had lots of plants like Basil and many flowers. After awhile, many were bored with the numerous array of plants and we went to have a coffee break at the nearby shops. Chatting and swapping bike stories, riding techniques and laughters. With stomaches filled, we rode around Bedok reservoir and had another group photo after a challenging hill over looking the water. This was the highest point of the area saw some riders red with effort riding up. Later on, we also saw the Berlin wall at a part of the Bedok park....many could't believe it that it was the real wall. 

organic gardening right in centre of a sleepy HDB area... cool!

Showing the various plants like basil and others..

Candice must be thinking...."what the hell I got myself into..." 

Audrey with her Speed pro... she rides fast, dun pray pray!

Challenging route overall. It acutely pointed out the the need to synergise the connection points of park connectors and pathways. Maria mentioned that it was an real issue as there were many parties which owns different land area and many times, it was not really coordinated in the planning. The result is seemly ill considered pathways for cyclists. Last takeaway from this ride, I hope in the future town planning, cycling paths can be better designed. In my humble opinion, perhaps it is about time for the town planners  to actually ride the route (based on the proposed design). This way, they will be able to better appreciate all the issues can be better approached and resolved. "Ride the route" meaning riding on an actual bicycle... not drive.... Also, for future rides, I will split up the group to more manageable packs. For example "speedy gonzales pack" -- for the faster riders and "relax pack" who just want to cruise and smell the roses...  Comments and suggestions to make a better ride experience anyone? 
Till the next sunday ride!  

More photos here. 

nice easy stretch of PCN....Rini smiling and  Zack is literally flying!