last nite, we did our first round island ride.
the evening started at 10pm at pasir ris, we travelled to jln kayu via old tampines – hougang – sk, jln kayu was packed with ppl when we reached at 11pm. finally got seats 20mins later and at the same time, garlic came by to rrss n try our bikes.
After a meal of Roti john, mee goreng n drinks, we rode over to seletar camp where garlic took a spin on our bikes at piccadily, after the test ride, garlic bid ur goodbye n we went on our way….
the dam was packed wif ppl compared to the last time we came, mabbi cos it was fri nite. alot of scrabblers n harleys. from yishun, we took mandai rd towards kranji, rolling hills along dis stretch took alot out of me (*mental note to get slicks =p), we passed by the zoo where unker snapped some pix….ended up at the LNG station in kranji where we proceeded to Kranji dam.
as this was the first time we hit dis area so i prepped a map + the SLA pda app. we managed to topo our way till kranji road, asking ppl along the way…
riding into kranji way, we passed by the rail tracks with an old skool intersection then into heavy industral area…..lots of dogs here so do take note….just before the dam, there is a JTC hawker area where we spotted a 24hr mini mart for e foreign worker hostel in the area…mabbi next time we can plan 1 water break here…from the dam, we can see the bright lights of JB on one side glowing becons of the massive BBC antennas….and crossing the dam we hit neo tew….
this part of the ride was most enjoyable….long, meandering, deserted rds with dim str lamps, it no longer felt like we were in SG…we went pass alot of agro farms n sungei buloh nat reserve…
soon the narrow path opended up into wide fields, the air was krisp with the smell of greenery…we can just spot the mist in the distance along the rolling plains…the land here is really extensive…a reminder that we are now riding along SAF training gnds…CHEY…no wonder it felt so familiar….=p we can make out the camp boundaries of tengah AB, as we reach a junction to turn into lim chu kang rd.
from here on is mainly SAF gnds, we went pass Armor camp in sungei gudong, ama keng camp, tengah AB n SCDF academy, etc….it was also along this stretch we rode along the temp runway stretch b4 the LCK cemetary gnds, around 3-5k of straight, 6 lane rd….spotted some inital D wannabes here, civics n evos….drifting within the cemetary gnds….
proceeded straight done to jurong were we spotted HDB blks again….just as we crossed the MRT tracks b4 boon lay station, it started raining and we had to take shelter at a bus stop opposite caldbury choc factory….yum yum…after waiting for 20mins, it seem that the rain was not going to stop anytime soon so we packed our non water proof stuff and prep to ride on…
straight down to jurong island causeway, we took a right to jln buroh, a couple of flyovers later we reached west coast road, came by a rodalink, at first tot it was related to the rodalink chain where we bot our bikes but later realised that this might be a stand alone shop….moving alone we passed ginza plaza (upgrading) and haw par villa….took a break at 7-11 along the fong sing stretch be moving on to vivio then fullerton…
by then the rain had stopped….but as we rode into raffles place, it started raining again, it grew larger as we rode along nicoll and we stopped large groups of students on a mass cycling event taking shelter at bus shelters n flyovers…this group was huge, easily 2-300 strong, all with matching tees and cisco outriders to boot…WTF?!?!??
we turned into fort road and moved into ECP where unker seperated at Mac to move on to still rd, ubi, hougang while i moved on east to pasir ris…the rain turned into a downpour as i rode pass the hawker centre area, with alot of the osim tri workers taking shelter everywhere…the stretch along from bedok jetty till saf sailing centre was in bad shape, alot of flooding on the whole path and u can easily ride into an open drain as it was no longer able to differenciate the 2…in short…i was aquagliding in a swimming pool…lol…
cool n shivering from the cold sea breeze, my fingers shrivelled like a prune from the wet, i pushed on….(lan lan, how else to go home?) rode along a deserted coastal route sans a few hardcore tri/marathon ppl…
reached changi v. FC and rushed in to gobble up a nasi lemak….(hungry n cold….smlj oso taste goot….rofl) be continuing back to pasir ris….dat was it….a smooth ride sans the rain….only mishap was i drifted when i reached my blk….my knobbles were so wet there was no traction at all on the ceramic tile floor…ride states below…till next ride then….=)
distance – 119.5km time peddled – 6hr 40 mins
That was quite a feat! Maybe you can consider participating in the Tour de France (if you dare).
tour de france is invitation for pros only…. sad
Eric Lim