19th Sept Sun- Ride to National stadium, MBS and Marina barrage

Hi all, This will be the National stadium ride. Meet at Kallang mac donalds at 0730 am. We will go and say our goodbyes to the old stadium, take some pictures. Following this we will head towards to MBS see the helical bridge and then to Marina barrage.  Distance total covered will be 10km and we will adjust according depending on our feeling.  I am thinking of old airport road famous wanton noodles.. it is really good. :)

For those who like to join us, pls send me a msg at twwoon@singnet.com.sg so I will wait for u.
See u there!

Confirmed riders
Taiwoon
Adrian
Francis
Lun  Lun Tan
Sitoh with his new shiny Flamingo

Most prob
Rodney

Maybe
Thomas
Amy

Remembering an old friend

from today online - workers tearing out the planks

The conversation started innocently enough when I reached my workplace and chatting with my cycling kaki Adrian.  "So where to this week?" Adrian asked.. "Erh dun know maybe Potong pasir ride along the river toward AMK and to Thomson road to see the monkeys.. the real ones." I suggested.  Then it was off to the usual work, emails and meetings... like clock work.

Nearing lunch time, Adrian spotted a website that had a photo of the national stadium. It was the workers stripping off the wooden planks. And sparked off a discussion of how it would be gone for good. And it reminded me that when things are gone, it is gone. This time, there will be no fireworks and singing..they are stripping the place as we speak.  So there, we got a really memorable place to visit this sunday. The great national stadium.

My memories of  National stadium are most vivid when I was in poly where we would all go and see Singapore play in the Semi pro league. Once reached Kallang MRT, there will be singing and hordes of fans walking everywhere.  United we were... like ants.  One occasion, it was raining like crazy and all were running towards the stadium... visibility were low and we just ran...then a loud "thong"rang out. A very lucky guy had hit a low barrier straight on... and was lying on the ground, for awhile. Then picked himself out and started to run and yell... it was amazing to see what football does to people.

Inside the stadium, memories of the curry pok man.. It is funny thinking about it that the simple curry puff taste so good in the stadium. Of course the highlight was when some SG player was tripped and the ref did not blow the whistle.. The whole stadium would shake and curse the ref "kelong" and all his 20 generations. All in the spirit of football of course.

Now if u see the current stage of SG football... it is really sad. Funny now that they have all the snazzy logos, technology and stadiums.. it bores me to death.  I watched once but slept through the game.  The feeling really isn't the same. Somehow I can't connect Sengkang united playing off Gombak united..  Bring back the Singapore VS Selangor, anytime.  And I will miss the Kallang roar.. oh man..

So Thank you,  National stadium for the memories. I will see u on Sunday!

here is the article on today online... have a read..
http://www.todayonline.com/Sports/EDC100908-0000070/No-collectors-items-for-sale-as-National-Stadium-is-torn-down

12th Sept ride feeling and photos

We met at the Singapore botanical garden main entrance on sunday. Riding today was Francis, Sharon,Tah ching, Sitoh, Yoon  Jung, Amy, Thomas, Rodney and myself. A motley of MTB, old school bike with basket, Flamingos, JZ88 and Char par lan MTB was used.

The ride to Dempsey area was pretty straight forward and roamed around for a bit.. then headed to Margret drive for SG old style breakfast.  This was the place where I used to eat as Temasek poly was located at Stirling Road.  We explored around the area and TC told me that he grew up at Queens way as a boy. That was the "Duxton Pinnacle" then.. compared to the old kampongs.  We rolled slowly to Leng kee where all the car show room and explored Tiong baru.  Once again we stopped at the super iconic hairdresser signage to take a photo for oldtimes sake.  It is strange.. we were there not too long ago, but something just pulled us here.  To make things more challenging, Thomas bike did a murphy on him.. his tyre was losing air after all the jumps and aerobatics. We rushed to one shop after another one.. only to find them closed. When murphy likes u.. he really likes u.

Finally we reached Treknology and got the flat fixed.. I think the most siong ride for Thomas. :) We spilt with the main group at Orchard and made our way back.. on two wheels. Riding along mostly PCN.. it took us about 1.5 hrs to reach Punggol. Total mileage - 50 Km. Nice and well done Sitoh!

Live to ride, ride to eat!

from left, Amy, Rodney, Thomas, Sharon, Francis, TW, Yoon Jung, Tah ching and Sitoh(behind the camera)

Waiting at Punggol MRT control station

2 Flamingos waiting for Train

Fun. Just fun. 

Convoy to Dempsey 

yoong 

Guest star "karen Mok" Amy

Parrot colony at Dempsey

Thomas 

Eat to live, live to ride!

Really.. it was supposed to be a light breakfast..

China apple fizzy drink

you tiao.. made on the spot.. good for porridge

Queensway bowling centre.. 

handsome guys posing for a beautiful flats

checkout the perspective

one for the group 

iconic pearl centre

old house near SGH

lovely flower detail 

12th Sept sunday ride route..

ok, folks... we doing this relaxing sunday ride from Botanical gardens and riding around dempsey road and nearby areas.. and depends on the group feeling and stamina... 
We meet at 0730 at BG main entrance. Move out by 0745.  Any bikes welcome, see u!  

BG dempsey marget drive route

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Cooling ride on a wet sunday - 5th Sept 2010

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!

Lun: heng arh.. .raining, exercise cut :) 

Adrian and Rodney

drive to prawn noodle place lah

bike nice and comfy.. enjoying the aircon

ok.makaned and ready to roll..rain or not rain

Flamingo F1

This is my speedy ride which I use more regularly on my almost daily exercise. I bought it last year around June timeframe from Ben of C2C. This is the foldie that made ride regularly, because it is so comfortable and goes like wind. Included together in the bike is a Doc Air seat, which u can pump hard or soft and make it suit ur bum.

I have upgraded the shifters to Shimano XT from the original Microshift as I wanted a more smoother and faster shifting. It is hard to explain but the feeling from XT is really good.. and I would suggest this as if u want to upgrade your flamingo.

If u are looking for a fast and comfy ride, the flamingo F1 is a good choice. The down side is that it doesnt fold as compactly as say a brompton. Still it is easy to put into a taxi or car. Rolling along the MRT is fine. A simple way to make it more secure is to have a velcro strap to hold the folded bike in position. Then just pick a train stop and  go riding!

in riding mode

folded

Xt shifters 

very powerful brakes.. can do stoppies if u want

My friend Alvin test riding flamingo.. shiok rite? 

Old ways that still works - the story of Brooks company

Brooks is a seat company that have been around for a long time..1866 to be exact. It is extremely  interesting to see that in an era of hi tech bicycle technology... where bike companies continue to churn out latest Carbon Kevlar krytonite gear... to cut down say 50 grams...
Brooks says.. "sorry sir.. it is my way or the highway, drink tea and have cakes...". and  continue their age old method of doing their seats.. the low tech and long winded way. Manually selecting and cutting leather and shaping them to fit cyclist bums. To me as a product designer,  I am very impressed how the company have used their heritage to face of the competition. At the same time quite skeptical if this is all marketing talk....So it happened I bought my Brompton which came with the Brooks flyer. The first ride on the brooks seat was a very painful affair... it was like sitting on a rock! I couldn't believe that why there was so much praise for the seat.. At one time I wanted to chuck it into the dustbin and replace it with a gel/air seat.  To the seat credit.. it look really really nice on the bike. I keep on riding it for a few more longer rides...helped by my gel riding tights.  And it now fits me like a glove! The feeling is a strange thing.. if u press the seat with ur finger..it is hard and flexes very slightly. But somehow when the seat gets seasoned... it was the most comfortable compared to the air seat which I loved.. and the longer u ride, the better.
Brooks is also using milking their heritage in their design to appeal to the retro riders like my self. Recently the company released a very interesting design based on the topography patter of Alpe d'Huez.. one of the most challenging stage in the Tour de france.  Well, I am not racer but I was once shown an amazing video of lance armstrong and co... climbing up the mountain.. he looked back at the guy in pink... as if challenging him " is this all u got" then step into another gear and just pulled away.... That was pure magic and power!  I cant climb and I dont ride as fast...but I do respect Lance armstrong and all the riders in the tour de france.. so I was decided to buy it... 
Information taken from the Brooks company description: 
Alpe d'Huez is one of the main climbs and has been a stage finish in the Tour de France almost every year since 1976. The first was in 1952, won by Fausto Coppi, at a time when most cyclists were riding Brooks Saddles.
The pattern of the Alpe d'Huez impressed on this saddle has been designed by Dan Funderburgh, a wallpaper designer and artist in Brooklyn, NY. His patterns, prints and installations are varied in content but all demonstrate an unabashed love for decorative arts.
With influences ranging from Moorish mosaic to American op art, the work is a repudiation of the fabricated schism between art and decoration. Some of Dan's work can be found in the collections of the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum and the Miami Museum of Modern Art. Dan loves bicycles and has created wallpaper patterns with bicycle parts. 
But man, it still feels like a rock... I hope it softens up real soon.. here are the pictures.

Brass bell and grips from TR bikes... nice right?

New old bike outside my home

Cane brass bell polished up

Portland design works leather grips