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The Bike  Cycling Stats and Facts  Cycling Log  Internet Links

I’ve always been into cycling, going further than I should for as long as I can remember. My previous two bikes were well worn, a $170 AUD “mountain” bike which I rode all through the hills around Melbourne, and a $600 road bike which also got pretty worn out riding further distances around Melbourne and it’s environs. I sold the former and it has since been stolen from the new owner, and the latter is still ‘alive’, in the hands of a friend in Wollongong, near Sydney.

After several years of neglecting my cycling, through my university and the first few years in Asia, I decided, almost needed, to get back on the roads again, only this time to ride more seriously than ever before (my thirtieth birthday is coming up, can anybody say denial?). And where better a place to go riding than Singapore, so well located for local excursions and weekend trips to unspoilt tropical islands… read on to hear about my latest bike and my rides.

The Bike

My bike is a Trek 7700 hybrid, the 2001 model of their highest-end hybrid (click here for the 2004 model). A hybrid is a fast and reasonably lightweight bike that is built to handle highways as well as rough roads and dirt. In a sense it’s an all-round useful bike, from short trips around town, to long-distance touring. I bought it on 13th July, 2002 for $2100 SGD, and it has been worth every cent. It’s amazingly maintenance-free and rides like a dream.

The main components are:

Trek Alpha ZX aluminium frame, Rolf Vector comp wheelsets, Shimano Nexave C900 drive-train and Rockshox Metro front suspension.

I’ve added the following additional accessories:

Two water bottles and cages, front and rear Smart flashing LED lights, a rack to hold panniers, Trek Pannier
II panniers, Cateye Mity 3 speedo, Wrench Force pump and under-the-seat bag, a medium security Kryptonite cable lock, and a Cratoni helmet. — It’s well kitted out.

My cycling attire consists of:

Normal shorts, normal t-shirts and normal sandals. I really should get some cycling shorts but do without. I have Shimano cycling shoes but I’ve found it’s better to have cool feet than to get that little extra performance. I also don’t wear a rain jacket because it’s less unpleasant to get wet than to sweat away under the plastic in the extreme humidity.

The bike has held up very well. So far I’ve convered 25535 kilometres, during which it has only had one quite-needed service. The only parts that have needed changing are a single set of brake pads, but other parts have been changed to keep it in good running order, that being the bike chain and gear cables. Even though the wheels are really just heavy road wheels they are still perfectly true, despite a lot of pot-holes and travel along unsealed and rough roads. I do take care not to abuse the bike by slamming it down gutters, etc. The tyres are still original, and in fact before the service I had not needed to make a single adjustment to the gears for over 5000 kilometres. The bike’s only weakness is the cassette, which easily gets water in it and runs roughly, especially when cleaning the bike. So overall I consider it money well spent. It’s my Mercedez, or my Kingswood, I’m undecided.

Cycling Stats and Facts

Here’s are some statistics and facts, erm, opinions about cycling around here.

Cycling Log

October 10th, 2007.

Just got my bike back from it’s first full service, at 21,481 kilometres. It was a pretty major overhaul, with quite a few parts needing replacement: the freewheeel, chain, cassette, bottom-bracket and hand-grips. The damage.. hmm. Well I can say that it feels exactly like the day I bought it. I never realized just how rough the bike was running after these five years. Here’s to the next 18,594 kilometres!

August 6th, 2007.

Reached 20,000km!

March 29th, 2005.

Clocked over 1,000 kilometres for the month! That’s the first thousand K month for over a year, and the third ever. Tonight’s ride was a fast ride through Bedok, Tampines, Pasir Ris, around Changi Airport and back along East Coast. Average speed at the 36 kilomentre mark was 27.7km/h and the average distance to home was 27.0km/h, completing 53 kilometres in under two hours.

March 19th, 2005.

Changed the rear tyre today, the first change after 14,137 kilometres. Treknology didn’t have the same tyre with kevlar insides.. but I wanted a new tyre pronto (the old one was almost worn through, with a scary lump/hole on the side). I’ll look out for a pair of kevlar-lined tyres for when the original front tyre wears out, hopefully at the same time as this new rear tyre wears out.

October 24th, 2004.

I chased the rain today, on a ride to Sengkang, Seletar, Yishun, Admiralty Road, Kranji, Jurong, Tuas and West Coast. It rained slightly while I was riding, but the roads were very wet for most of the ride. That means I got pretty wet from the spray coming off my wheels. This is the furthest ride I’ve done in a while, being 113 kilometres, and boy did my legs feel it. I had my usual Snickers/100 Plus stop at the petrol station near Jurong Island to give me a boost for the last 28 or so kilometres back. I was amazed at the effect today, since not only did I have more energy, but my legs completely stopped aching. I clocked an average of 26.5 km/h at the four hour mark, making exactly 106 kilometres in that time. The average usually drops a lot in the final few kilometres, since I slow down and pedal quickly in a low gear to warm-down. It helps with reducing aches the day after.

April 27th, 2004.

Woo hoo! I finally made ten thousand kilometres on the bike (10,003 to be exact)! I cycled around Changi Airport, via East Coast Road and back via East Coast Park, then made a loop around the river past the Esplanade.

April 10th, 2004.

Peter and I cycled the “Desaru Loop” in Malaysia. We took the bum-boat from Changi Point to Tanjong Pengelih, cycled around the coast to Desaru via Punggai, then cycled directly to Tanjong Belungkor and took the ferry back to Changi Ferry Terminal. We had planned to cycle a little further north but were concerned we’d miss the last ferry back.

The ride was mostly very pleasant, especially in the southern sections where we travelled along very quiet roads through attractive kampongs. Desaru was different to my expectations; I had imagined something akin to Surfers’ Paradise, but it instead consisted of quiet, almost run-down resorts. By-and-large there was very little traffic, besides a couple of sections, and in particular the main road going south towards Sungei Rengit, but we experienced nothing like the traffic out towards Pontian. Overall I found the place a great location to cycle, a far sight better than the other side of Johor. The terrain was pretty flat, with a fair amount of gentle hills.

The trip was really a journey of endurance of sorts, because the heat was stifling and it was so humid that sweat just poured off even when cycling into the headwind that we faced for much of the outward journey. We drank a heck of a lot, including water, 100 plus, coffee (bad for dehydration but good for energy), coke, ice tea, everything really. When the guy at Desura asked me what drink I wanted from the menu I replied ‘all of them’. Thanks to copious refuelling the heat was only ‘trying’ rather than defeating.

Stats — distance for the day: 153.78 km; distance cycled in Malaysia: 99 km; average speed from home to home: 24.2 km/h

April 9th, 2004.

I made my fastest time on the ‘fast’ part of the Changi loop – up East Coast Road, along Changi Road, around the back of the airport and ending at the one-way section of East Coast Service Road. I stop timing there because the bike path is slow. The breeze was a South-westerly, so most of my speed was gained on the outward leg. My previous best average speed for the run was 28.2 km/h, and I still had more speed left in me this time, but was feeling a nausea (really feeling close to being sick) that refused to pass after the Changi Road hills.

Stats — distance: 34.89 km; time taken: 1 hour 12 minutes 37 seconds; average speed: 28.82 km/h. I also made a total time of 1 hour 35 minutes to complete the 45 kilometres home, which I think is about five minutes faster than I had ever done.

March 21st, 2004.

Today’s ride was fairly eventful. I went on an extended ‘dog route’, the core of which is going over the top of Kranji and down Lim Chu Kang Road. Instead of going up Thompson Road I rode through Sengkang, across the top of Seleter Reservoir, and along Admiralty Road, and instead of Bukit Timah Road (which I find a stress at the end of a ride) I came back via Jalan Buroh and Pasir Panjang Road.

The first event of note was that I almost got collected by a motorbike. It’s the closest call I’ve ever had and I was furious. The shit of a rider turned barely six inches in front of me. I’m not sure if we would have connected if I hadn’t jammed on the brakes, but it gave me a hell of a fright. I should have given chase and taken down his license plate number to shame him on the forums, but didn’t think of that till after. At least I swore profusely at him which got his attention. I’m not sure if he cared or not. A truck pulled up beside me at the next intersection and the driver told me he’d seen what had happened and would have been happy to be a witness had we connected. I was touched by the gesture, and that immediately lifted my mood

The second event of note is that Sengkang East/West Ave is now completed, which is a pretty pleasant alternative to Yio Chu Kang Road. Traffic around Sengkang can be pretty heavy but it’s improving as more roads are completed.

Thirdly, after successfully avoiding evil #333333 storm clouds for a while my turn came, and the skies opened at Yishun. I found a coffee shop and waited for the roads to dry, and then again, a loud thunder storm came through, with a lot more rain. Again I waited, and read the newspaper, until I finally got on the road after more than two hours. I enjoy stops like that, at obscure coffee shops deep in the HDB heartlands. I had originally planned to cycle 100+ kilomteres today, with a loop to Tuas checkpoint, but I cut it short due to the rain stop and ended up completing 90 kilometres and getting home just after 10 pm.

March 16th, 2004.

I finally cracked an average speed of 30 km/h from the bottom of our HDB block to the end of East Coast Park. It’s tricky because the first kilometre consists of winding through the housing estate followed by three sets of traffic lights, so the everage speed gets a bad start, and then there’s usually a hold-up of cars parking along the service road. Anyway, it’s been a long time since I was so puffed!. Stats — One-way distance: 10.6 km; time taken: 20 minutes 57 seconds; average speed: 30.4 km/h.

Internet Links

These are the best local cycling resources I’ve found. Follow the links and follow the trails, you can’t go wrong:

Some other local pages of interest: