Sunday, November 18, 2007

Discovery Route


It's back to Changi for Nasi Lemak again but this time using a different route and having many new discoveries along the way. We set of as usual and used Mandai toward Bondary Road vai AMK ave 6. Making a left on Boundary Road, you hit Tampines Road then Old Tampines Road, in my opinion was one of the more interesting roads that night. It spans 6.17km and is mostly flat, runs behind a runway and you can see the Tampines skyline from the uphill climb at the end of Old Tampines Road. After that, as we proceeded right to Bedok Reservoir Road we saw a very bad accident where a taxi crashed into the middle of the road divider destroying the steel barricade. Wonder how was the driver? As typical Singaporeans, I overheard a man on the phone at the crash screen telling his friend about the crash and to buy 4D of the car no. plate! BTW, it 4549. Further up, where you will find a 7-11 that sells MARS ice-cream!!! Best Energy Bar in the world!!! Instead of turning right to Simei Road, we should have just continued on Tampines Ave 2 and would have hit Loyang Ave. instead of doing the extra mileage. Following Loyang Ave, we used the usual route towards Changi Village for our breakfast!

Coming back from Changi Village, we discovered a new road that leads to an Aviation Hub with a 1.6 mile runway and huge hanger. Excellent cycling road; long and straight but has strong headwind at times. Riding along the Changi-East Coast Park Connector, we saw the remnants of a lorry accident along Coastal Road. The driver was dead when we saw him. The lorry crashed into a tree on the oncoming side of the road and swerved 180 degrees, shattering the windscreen and throwing its carriage onto the middle of the road. That driver must have been going very very fast for something like that to happen. Would have posted a pic if I had a camera with me. Talk about road kill! 2 accidents, 2 rats, 1 toad, 1 bloated dog and 1 man(if the taxi driver wasok). Bad night...

Well, that only goes to remind us that road safety is just so important. Doesn't mean that at night, there are less cars it is safer. In fact, it is just as dangerous if not more as people drive faster/race and are already sleepy and don't see you as well.

We also found a way of coming back from East Coast without hitting much traffic during peak hours that we thought was well appropriate for the morning as we were tired and were late in a sense that the peak hour traffic had started. We took the usual route to Orchard and made our way along the pavements towards Botanic Gardens and entered Tyersall Avenue. It leads to Cluny Park Road where you emerge from Bukit Timah Road. Making a right at 6th Avenue, we went up Swiss Club Road, Swiss Club Link then Binjai Park where Ben tried to Sabo me by ordering a $4 plate of wanton mee for lunch just before a major climb at Hua Guan Avenue. There is a back road that leads to BT nature reserve's Senapang Trail where you come out from the main entrance of BT hill. Beware, if you are going there after a rain and you have slick tyres.

From there it was all the way back home before I started work at 5pm. I reached home at 2pm, cleaned up my bike and discovered that one of the spokes of the drive-side of the rear wheel was broken. Damn!!! I just had it repaired not long ago. Now I have to go to Peter Chew's place to get it fixed again. And since I'm riding 120km again tonight, I guess it's back to my semi-slicks again. I think I'm going to smell smoke from Ben tonight... :~(

We'll see.....



Ride Details:
Distance : 116.26km
Avg Spd : 20.1
Ride Time : 5hrs 45min

1 comment:

-ben said...

...where Ben tried to Sabo me by ordering a $4 plate of wanton mee for lunch just before a major climb at Hua Guan Avenue.

Coming up, $5 Wanton Mee, followed by Jalan Kampong Chantek.

Then, for dessert, a choice of "The 3 hills of Ngee Ann + NUS" or "The Gorgeous Curves of Old Holland Road."

After-meal-stimulant shall be Vigilante Drive, descent by Pepeys Road.

:-D