Alright people, I’ll try my best to keep everything short & sweet about this event which took place on the 6th Feb 2010 Saturday at East Coast Park (start point) as there was just plentiful details during this event, one of the incidents was quite funny or “disturbing” to those conservative ones… We were placed under the Leisure category since we can’t find the 4th rider to join us in the Competitive category. Our team’s name was: Team SLT (surname initials -- Seah, Lim & Toh , well… that was for convenience sake, next year we’ll use SgNiteCycle.com!)

I reached the place at about 7pm and the registrations were still on-going  so it was kinda bored sitting around… we waited till about 8.40pm and finally the NUS students started to gather all the participants around for the events briefing which we think its a bit late, if time management was better to gather all around, we could have started at 8pm, an hour earlier would be better but of course it can be more dangerous for those who are riding on the road as there will be more vehicles too!

It was almost 9pm when we start to get on the clues through the score sheet and I can tell you some of the clues really made us clueless!!! Some of them are quite lame too! Especially the Bedok one, with picture of a bed then another pic with an “OK” sign, well credits has to be given the students for brainstorming to this really lame clue… haha!

The initial part was the organizing and planning that truly matters, Perly and Jayme were reading the clues and I was spying for other’s clues, I actually came up with a few & gave the clues to others… Lol… it doesn’t matter since we are in the Leisure category, hopefully the other team can make full use of our clues to win with extra advantages (which they didn’t win cuz they went “holland” in Changi Village for one of the houses… i know… wtf right…)

Eventually, being not familiar with the game rules, we “sacrificed” the first few houses but headed to the first hotel at Bedok Reservoir Road 745, which is right in front of NTUC Fairprice. The game played was fun and Perly’s drawings were extremely funny, I think we’ve gotten 6 or 7 out of 10 correct… the only house we gotten was the one with the big football near Bedok ’s Swimming Complex, did I forgot to mention we were the first team to reach this first hotel point? Unbelievable!!!

One of the rules was we must include the team captain in the pictures needed to be taken, so all the images are Perly in all the images… LOL! Watch out for his ultra funny poses!!! :p The next location we set off to were Temasek Polytechnic then IKEA Tampines since we missed out the houses for the ones situated near Changi Village other wise we could have gathered more points!!!

Pretty obvious, this is IKEA! ^^

Immediately after IKEA, we headed to our 2nd hotel point which was in Pasir Ris Park’s “spiderman web” which we were the 1st team to reach as well… We played the game required then a quick toilet break near the area, then set off towards the next 4 houses which are Win Tai Industrial Building, Hougang Sports Hall -- Yellow Stationary Cab with 2 wheels, Woodbridge Hospital’s apple tree, Bowen Secondary School’s main entrance with their star logo and finally the hotel point located at the famous hawker center -- CHOMP CHOMP!!! Situated in Serangoon Garden Way.

Ok, here’s one of the funniest incident that took place when we reached Hougang Sports Hall. While searching for the Yellow stationary cab with 2 wheels, I scrambled through a dark passage way from the sports retail shop below the GYM towards the other entrance of the sports hall. At a very secluded dark corner, I saw a middle aged chinese man shaking his white butts banging his girlfriend right before my eyes! Omg!!! I wish you could see his ultra self owned facial expressions when I simply stormed past the couple having public sex!!!!

Hmmm… I wonder if the guy finished his “job” or not, as we finally found the yellow cab & took the picture before continuing our journey… LOL!

Entire route from Wing Tai, Hougang Sports Hall, Woodbridge and Bowen Sec towards Chomp Chomp were carefully and strategically planned by me, so we didn’t waste any precious time at all throughout my route, we maintained a good average cycling speed of 25km/hour. :D

Below are the four house pics needed before the Chomp Chomp hotel….

Wing Tai Industrial Building 01!

Wing Tai Industrial Building 02!

The Yellow Stationary Cab with 2 Wheels!

The Apple Tree at Woodbridge Hospital

Bowen Secondary School

The hotel we headed for was at CHOMP CHOMP, and again we were the first team to reach, which evidently shows that most of the teams had chosen to head for the hotels in the city area before the ones located in the east and north-east areas. We swiftly played the game required in CHOMP CHOMP, scored Full Points, used the Community Chest car then received 1.5x Multiplier for this hotel. Luckily we didn’t get jailed! All thanks to Jayme’s lady’s luck for drawing the 1.5x multiplier!!! Yay!

Bartley MRT station which was the first station we achieved, then off to the 2nd nearest MRT — Potong Pasir, went along Upper Paya Lebar then cut through Upper Aljunied, straight down towards city to the train station, this didn’t take us too much time except while searching for stations’ exit A.

Answer to the house question

I missed taking the picture of Potong Pasir MRT station, well it was not required by the game anyway… So, immediately after Potong Pasir, our planned direction was to head down to city and complete the rest of the houses, hotels and MRT stations, we decided to head towards Clarke Quay’s Merchant Court Hotel which is the next targeted house to claim, while heading towards The Sail at Marina, we claimed the Raffles Place MRT which denied entrance to the answers because the exit was closed, a picture was taken just in case… Next, we head down towards Chinatown for Lim Chee Guan, took a quick picture at their entrance follow by Outram MRT station before climbing up towards SGH to take another picture in front of the 3 flag poles of the Duke-NUS School.Right before the entrance, Perly was showing signs of mild cramps in his leg, he applied some tiger balm heat run I think, he complimented for its effectiveness! Good job tiger balm!!!

By this time, we finished all the 4 required MRT stations worth 160 points if I’m not wrong and the required 4 houses for the next hotel we are claiming for situated Maxwell Food Center. Again, we achieved FULL Points for the game played at Maxwell looking for shop unit numbers, so we made use of the Community Chest card again which gave us 2x of the points we collected. Hail to Jayme’s lady luck!!! Thanks to Jayme ! :D

Clarke Quay behind Merchant Court Hotel

The Sail @ Marina Bay, the orange bridge


The Sail @ Marina Bay

Chinatown’s Lim Chee Guan!!!

We couldn’t find any clues at Outram MRT, did someone sabotage by taking down the clues???

DUKE-NUS Medical with 3 flag poles….

Finally, the 5th hotel towards Kallang before we head back to East Coast, due to time constrain, we can only claim 2 houses which are the ones are Haji Lane and Golden Mile Food Center. By the time we were traveling on Nicoll Highway towards Kallang, I remembered clearly that it was already 4.51am. We reached Kallang’s hotel checkpoint exactly at 4.57am, played the words game and rest for about 5 minutes then we took a slow ride back to East Coast Park’s finishing point with an average speed of 15km/hour.

Haji Lane Shop Number 35

The stall 133 located on the 2nd storey of Golden Mile Food Center

The required answer for the Stall 133, green digits are 786

COMPLETING THE NUS BIKE QUEST: Cycledelic 2010

We completed the quest with a total accumulated points of 705, Perly mentioned that it should be more points as the NUS guy miscalculated our points for the 1st time was 655, I think our total score might even be 800+… Well, a question arose was why did a Leisure team tried so hard for the quest? Simple, it was because we were short of 1 cyclist to join the Competitive category otherwise we would have won the Cash Prizes and the true glory named Champions! The fact is we are still the unnamed Champions as we scored even more points than the Competitive winning team, and yes we are very proud of this great achievement because we are also first timers taking part in the NUS bike quest.

Below is the short video I’ve taken after the quest where most participants were resting while waiting for the prize giving presentation before taking the group photos, video didn’t include us as we were receiving a special commentary by Andre and accepting the extra shirts, courtesy of the NUS Bike Quest 2010 organizers. Thanks people and the end! :D

NUS Bike Quest 2011? Yes!!! We will join next year’s bike quest again! It was really an enjoyable experience to go through the games & challenges! :D

More event pictures can be found on Facebook, click on the following image to view more now!

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Howdy everyone, we took a long break before we start to join rides and started riding again! Haha! Mostly because of me actually, I’ve been tied up mostly with family & work commitments. Anyway, we just joined the Togoparts/OCBC Cycle Singapore Charity Mass Ride which took place on the 31/01/2010! It was a 34Km ride, 25kmph causal riding and no chionging kinda ride. The entire ride was supervised and very properly done by Togoparts, the ride leaders are adequately polite and friendly to us, when certain riders are stuck at the red lights, the ride leaders immediately inform those at the front that there’s riders being stopped by red lights. Overall experience: Cool!!! These are the few images taken at Marina Barrage:

As well as one little video taken when we were taking a really quick short break at Marina Barrage (only 17km away from ECP)…. LOL!!!

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Being Visible and Predictable

Proper bicycle lighting is important for two reasons:

1. It makes you visible and predictable to other road users

2. It can help you see well enough to avoid hazards and navigate your way

Many cyclists ride in urban environments where they feel that they can see well enough to navigate, so they don’t bother with headlamps. This is terribly dangerous, because without a headlamp, motorists often do not see them, even under street lamps. Reflectors provide good visibility for overtaking traffic, but most dangers of car-bike collisions come from the front or side of the cyclist.

Tail Lamps

Inexpensive tail lamps, typically employing red, energy-efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs), don’t rely on a motorist’s headlamps to be visible, and can be seen clearly from the side as well. These lamps will last many hours on a pair of disposable batteries. However, they often glow dimly long before they fail; it’s important to inspect them before each ride and change the batteries regularly especially before you set out for a cycling trip.

I bought this reasonably cheap and useful LED tail lights from Carrefour today, only at SG$15.50. The LED tail lights set has not much of difference from those you can find from most cycling shops except that it has a an extra switching device where you can secure it to the rear brakes wire. This little gadget runs on 2 x AAA battery and has a rubber lining around the cover hence made it weatherproof. For its price, it has served its purposes well and you can watch the following video to see the braking LEDs in action…

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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

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the ride started out from my place to East coast rd, where i met eric at rodalink to get our bikes tuned as the chains have stretched since we got our bikes.

this trip, we had 2 more riders going us, space n his friend.

after getting our bikes tuned n browsing at roda’s display of accessories (eric got a bento box, but i refrained from geting anything….yet…kekeke).

we proceeded to ECP to burn some time as we were only scheduled to meet space at 9pm. crossed over at the underpass below mandarin gardens and headed to ECP hawker for some food.

after some food n catching the sea breeze, we proceeded to 85 mkt to wait for space n co. topped up our bottles with 100+ in NTUC.

space n co reached at around 930 and we first proceeded to the nearby petrol kisok to pump up the inner tubes and visit the loo.

we crossed over to ECP via bayshore and traveled along ECP till fort rd, then went along cosy bay route b4 taking a rest stop at indoor stadium. along the way both eric n me had the chance to try out the space’s SPECIALISED hopper n a kona fire, the 2 bikes allowed us better understand the differences in the grade of drivetrain, acera vs decore vs SLX.

from indoor stadium, we proceeded along nicoll up to shenton n keppel to vivo. then it was up the west coast highway till west coast mac where we took a 2nd stop. by now i had clocked up to 55k on my speedo for the day. we duly got some chow n contemplated if to take the clementi loop down east or head further west to jurong b4 looping.

after the general direction was decided, we moved off again and took a short detour to view the coastline. mabbi i was too tired or my mind was off, but i took a tumble at the coast while doing a sharp turn n scratched my knee, lucky my bar ends n watch took most of the impact n spared me from more repair costs to the bike n my body =p

shaken but not broken, we applied some spray bandage on the wound and off we went again.

*side note: earlier on, space came my n ask me about my knee, saying eric told him i got an old knee injury which i myself din know i have?!?!?

WTF… then with 1 hr i tio injury…. was i jinxed or is eric or space an oracle?

we loop back to clementi by the NUS/SP route. and took a stop shortly b4 sunset way as space’s friend tio a bad case of thigh soreness…

eric went to hunt for drinks n marlboro while we administered some massage/trigger pt release/SMFR on the casualty (with space’s permission of course, else later tio hoot =p)

but mabi the ride was too overwhelming and she decided to call it a day n we had our first taxi casavac…=p

after the casavac left for the comfort of bedok, the remaining folks pushed on…

we went via maju to beauty world, then down bukit timah all the way to selegie for some tau hwe. dunno the auntie tot i badly need insulin spike or wat, but we got double sweet curds n drinks….after some diverse conversation abt gear/future rides/getting HDB flats, etc we sent off for the last stretch back east.

instead of the usual geylang or the hilly sergangoon route, we rode the macpherson/tannery rd route, its a no brainer tat we will stick to this route in future, no hills, low traffic, straight down all the way. hehehe….

we broke off at kaki bukit, with eric heading to hougang, while space n me headed to bedok, my speedo was reflecting nearing 90k now…

rode via jln tenaga, to bedok res. shengsong b4 going under PIE and turning at 85 mkt to tanah merah. broke off with space at tanah merah n i proceeded solo up sempang bedok, to CGH up simei to tampines via TPJC. as i rode up loyang to turn into PR drive 1, i took a glance at my speedo n noted that it was reading 95k, WTF?!?!?

5k more to my first century n i was not going to let this go, i decided to take a loop around elias to clk the additional 5km, finally reached my void deck with a trip reading of 100.43 in 5h 50mins, most of the time wasted was at tampines when i tried to cut thru from TPJC to simei thru the HDB blks but got holland instead =p

Here is an image of the route we took.

Next up:
northern loop via yishun dam – woodlands – mandai – lentor, if weather good, may stretch to lim chu kang then west coast highway back east.

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1st, our meeting point was set at Kaki Bukit traffic junction towards Ubi, heading towards East Coast direction. That is the best meeting point for the both of us due to the location that both of us stay.

Upon meeting up, we ride a few streets down to the absolutely famous “Gold Rolex King” Hokkien Mee food stall along Jalan Eunos.

Following on, we headed to city riding through Joo Chiat Road, we made our way through Kallang and our next destination was MUSTAFA… So what were we doing at Mustafa? Oh, we went there to buy the Motorola ear piece for the walkie talkies I brought along for this city ride… it looked something exactly like this:

As the rain was getting heavier, we decided to go for Swee Choon Dim Sum, not really taking a break but more of trying to find a hiding place to prevent ourselves from getting drench in the rain if it gets heavier. We ordered some dim sum at Swee Choon, it will be quite embarrassing for not ordering any food and occupying their seats, here’s what we got! Their famous signature dishes -- Fried Mee Suah Cake and Steam Egg Chicken… nice!

After we cleared the delicious dim sim, the next destination went further down towards Keppel PSA… yeah, you are very smart indeed! Yes, thats correct… we were going to Sentosa Island.

Admission charges for cycling is $3… And we caused a minor traffic jam at the gantry, the cashier at the gantry lacked of a dollar change so she had to run to the next one to get me my change…

Sentosa Island’s biggest challenges are its steep uphills and downhills and they are always up and down… We couldn’t make it on some uphills so we did the “push push” technique… lol…

We went straight for the beaches and nearly got lost as Alex and I went different directions, luckily we still have our newly bought walkie talkie sets with ear pieces to communicate.

We finally met each other again just outside Cafe Del Mar, and after taking a short break, we went roaming along the beach pubs and headed towards Palawan Beach and that’s where we witnessed a very happening beach side event they held, superb lightings and sound system!

Ok, done with Sentosa… should we be going home??? Nope… next place >>> Chinatown… which is pretty nearby. So whats good at Chinatown at about 2 -- 3am? Ah… Here’s the good deal… Tiong Shian Porridge Center… Here’s the stall image…

Alex ordered a fish porridge which was a big mistake, take note >>> ANY porridge is good there except for fish porridges… Approximately, we rested an hour, the porridges sold there are super hot when served, so we took our time and have a good break before going back east…

Next stop, we made it all the way back to Geylang and I had Teo Chew porridge there but the food wasn’t exceptionally nice, never going back there again…

That is all for this city ride of ours… We’ll be back next week… :D

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