Rider Couple profiles - Alan Teo and Chelsea story

Super sunshine couple Alan and Chelsea 

Rolling along with their Stridas

Alan on a BF Tikit

With their Bianchis

Rider Profile- Q&A

·       Tell me about yourself, How did you started cycling

Chelsea: I work in an animation company. I can't remember when I started cycling but then the cycling experience was very different from now. My 1^st bike was a vintage roady which I hid from my parents under my friend's void deck. After its' wheels got stolen, I stopped riding for awhile.

Alan: I am a regular with the SAF. I started cycling when I was like 5-6 years old. I remembered that I had a red BMX bicycle and learnt cycling along the corridor outside my house. During my secondary school days, I had a mountain bike but I don't remember cycling much. Then in my early 20s, I bought an electric bicycle to commute to my office in Pasir Ris.

·       Why do you like cycling

Chelsea: Cycling is like having sea salt and caramel ice-cream to me! Special and sweet kind of passion. Especially true when you have a group of passionate and fun loving cycling friends!

Alan: When cycling, you really do feel the freedom and joy with the wind blowing at you. It's the same as why some people ride a motorcycle.

·       When u met LCSG - how was it like and how u meet usWe attended the Geylang Serai CC's cycling official launch ride on 11^th Dec 2011, together with Christine Gan. I remember we had just attended an overnight cycling event organised by People's Association (Ride to Sunrise). Even though we were tired, we decided that we cannot give the Geylang Serai event a miss as Christine was telling us so much about LCSG. (She joined slightly earlier than us) :) There we met many friendly people. I've to admit that as it was our first event, I'm not sure who we met there but I do remember chit-chatting with Steven Lim.

·      Your steel horses- names and more details.

We bought our 1^st bikes together from Monotine Bikes. It was with us for 4 years before we decided to sell it off to buy the Stridas.

Chelsea bought her cream-coloured Strida somewhere in mid 2011 while I got my silver Strida in Oct after being convinced by her that it's easy to cycle. People who got to know us in LCSG after that started calling us the “Strida couple” as we were one of the few riding Strida bicycles then.

In Jan 2012, Chelsea decided that she wants to get a road bike to fulfil her dream of owning one again. After doing research on the Internet, she decided on getting a vintage steel Bianchi. So on 1^st Jan, we visited the seller (Leonardo) to test out the bike. He happened to have an identical Bianchi and even though it's not exactly my size, we bought the bikes. We now have two sets of identical bikes. Chelsea's Bianchi has since conquered both Ipoh and Terengganu Century Rides and the Annual Charity Bike & Blade. 

Soon, we realised that Strida, being single speed, is no longer fast enough for us. We had a few long distance rides with our kakis and they had to wait for us many a time. So in Apr, we went to Lifecycle and got ourselves a Bike Friday each. Chelsea got a ‘Just-a-Tikit’ while I bought the ‘Express Tikit’, which we are currently riding. We recently brought the Bike Fridays to Penang for a round island ride.

·      Your favorite cycling kakis

We have many cycling kakis.. It started off with Christine Gan, who was Chelsea's schoolmate back in Junior College days. Then the group just got larger and larger as we started to be very active in LCSG, joining almost every Sunday ride. Majority of our kakis are from the Eastie Bunnies group (as we are called for staying in the east). Now, we also have many kakis from the Westie Warriors as well. Nowadays we don't just meet up for cycling. We meet up for makan sessions at Old Airport Road Hawker Centre, to gossip, drinks etc. The guys have our own guys’ nights out and the ladies have their own gathering sometimes too.

·      Your favorite cycling route and LCSG ride

Chelsea: Coastal road and Mandai are my playgrounds. I enjoy most of the LCSG rides!

Alan: I don't have a favourite cycling route but for us, the Eastie Bunnies, we do the Coastal route quite often. There's a time when we'll meet up once a week at ECP carpark F2, clear Coastal Road, do a loop at Selarang Area and back to ECP. We’ll finish up with supper at Lagoon Hawker centre. Some of the Westie Warriors join us as well.

Favourite LCSG ride? For me, every ride organised by LCSG is fun and different. The day 128km round island ride left a deep impression with me though.

·      Your role at LCSG

Chelsea: No official role. So just help one another look out for traffic.

Alan: I do not have a role in LCSG. However I do try once in a while to help    out the Pandas by marking out the turning or spilt points. I guess that's the least I can help. 

·       Tips to share with fellow riders

Alan: After a year of serious riding, I think it's really important to have spare tubes and pump when we are out riding. One of our first rides on our Bianchi road bikes ended up taking the cab when Chelsea's bike punctured near Loyang. Then luckily we have Vince and Boo who came to our rescue. Sweepers play a very important role as well.

Chelsea: To have a fun ride, ride SAFE!