khai's cycling blog: M6L

Showing posts with label M6L. Show all posts

Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Return to Cycling

I do believe that the main reasons I did not consider cycling or owning a bike for the longest time, either consciously or subconsciously, are these two things:

1. I had grown accustomed to cycling as a purely leisure activity (in Singapore, as I had been cycle-commuting in Melbourne).

2. There is no space to properly store a bike at home.

I find it amusing now, that up till last year, I had been blind to the existence of the foldable bicycle. I guess this is also something that happens when you drive all the time. You are (and rightly so) occupied with the demands of driving, that aside from the necessary attention you are giving to the road / traffic / pedestrians, you are cut off from the world.

By chance, whilst sitting in my office, being frustrated at how dormant my lifestyle had become, I chanced upon an article in a magazine about cycle-commuting. It featured an interview with mrbrown and also some bikes like the Brompton, Dahon Curve and Strida.

After much scouting and deliberation, I got myself the Brompton. The first ride was a pain-in-the-butt, but oh-so-magical at the same time. The feeling of human-powered motion, liberation, independence, the wind against my face... It had been a long time since I experienced a feeling so child-like. I knew that cycling is here to stay.

I have plenty to say about cycling at this point, but I will save that for another post. For now, the foldable bike has negated the two points that I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

1. Cycling is now a very practical choice for me, and I believe it can be for most people. Here is my set-up for errands. The Touring bag easily holds a 1.8kg tin of milk for my boy, take-away lunch for me and my wife and other miscellaneous items.

2. Foldable bikes are the perfect choice for apartment-dwellers. As you can see below, two Bromptons take up less space than a double-stroller. We are making use of the dead-space under our bookshelf.

If you are thinking about cycling and are having the same concerns, why not consider a foldable bike?

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Farewell Ride

Last Saturday, just before midnight, I went out for a ride with my neighbour who also happens to be a friend from secondary school. We now live two blocks apart in the same estate.

Aside from the above, we also share another thing in common: we are both fathers of two young children. What this means is that, rides are always somewhat pre-arranged, but always tentative. There is always the likelihood of it being cancelled, though so far I think I've managed to proceed 99% of the time. The main condition: kids must be asleep - this means that rides are always arranged to start past 11 pm.

In any case, my friend rides a Brompton as well. This one was brought back from the UK as he was working there for a few months. There was some hassle at the airport, but worth it I would say. Oh, did I mention that it is a six-speed titanium model that he got for roughly 2K SGD? Unheard of!! Someone else ordered the bike and changed his mind, that's how he got the deal - lucky him!

This was our first ride together by the way - I have many cycling buddies who are also married / young fathers so it is all about availability. We had no specific plans but eventually decided that it would be fitting to have a relaxed ride to say goodbye to McD at ECP. I really wanted to go there one last time, without the crowd on closing day.

Getting to ECP from Tampines is really easy - 99.99% Park Connector Network. You go from Tampines towards Simei PCN, and then Bedok PCN. If you're cycling in the day it might get a bit crowded around Tampines and Simei MRT but that's about it. Entry from Bedok PCN brings you into East Coast Park somewhere near the Sailing Centre. 2 - 8- 7 and you're there!

Once we got to East Coast Park it was straight to McD. On our way to and fro I saw many foldies but couldn't really pick out anyone, nor did I hear anyone call out for me. Apparently our friend Tomorrow was there as well with some buddies.

I'm not really a big fan of McD, but this particular outlet holds a lot of memories especially of secondary school days, barbecues, cycling with my wife in our late teens, rollerblading end-to-end... For our last meal there I went with the McSpicy and my friend went with the trusty Fillet o Fish.

In any case, this is a cycling blog and I'm not going to get too sentimental or wax lyrical about fast-food, but I mainly want to highlight this particular route.

If you have three hours-or-so, this route is excellent for a really relaxed ride (pace + can hold conversation) with a nice break (your choice of activity) in between (we were at McD for almost an hour by the way). And since we were riding at night, there were many stretches of uninterrupted cycling. The loop from Tampines Central to McD and back is around 30 km - mostly flat and a nice distance in my opinion. Suitable and doable for most people.