"Why I Love To Ride My Bicycle" - Walter Lim on Coolest Insights

Walter Lim writes on Coolest Insights (07 Apr 2012),

Photo from Coolest Insights

"Beyond the green and health related reasons cited by numerous cycling fans - and that number is growing significantly by the day - my personal reason for embracing those frames, spokes and wheels is one that is more nostalgic in nature. As a kid and a teen, I used to ride my bicycle with my brother as well as friends in the lovely Serangoon Gardens neighbourhood where we lived. We ventured to places far and near, from the playgrounds in the estate to Ang Mo Kio to the Upper Serangoon and even Punggol area (back when it still had pig farms).

There were many adventures on two-wheels for a young boy back then. They range from those catastrophic falls with bloodied knees, hands and bodies as our bicycles freewheeled down steep and sharp corners, to "spy missions" where we "visited" certain interesting houses in the estate that had fierce dogs, fascinating aviaries full of parrots, macaws and other exotic "birds"."

Hop over to read Walter's post.

Loving Circle Line MRT on his foldie - Kenneth Pinto

Kenneth Pinto writes on Zendogs 2.0 about his enjoyment of taking his foldable bike on board the MRT during offpeak hours. With the opening of the Circle Line, he has been able to meetup with his cycling kakis at Holland Village MRT and launch into 70-80km rides.

See what he says on Zendogs 2.0

Geylang Boys talk about the ECPCN

ky at Geylang Boys has been blogging abut the Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network since January 2008. He put up a series of posts examining the "potholes" in the connectors and provided NParks feedback, like several cyclists have been doing.

He just commented that "NParks have taken some remedial action. Good for them."


Here are the links to the first of a series of posts for each of the first four months of 2008:

• 
  Bike Ride-1 - PCN (east) - 10 Jan 2008 (7 posts)
• Bike Ride-2 - ECP to Changi Village (27 Feb 2008; 1 post)
• Bike Ride 3 - Start point at ECP Area C (29 Mar 2008; 10 posts)
• Bike Ride-4 - ECP to Bedok (29 Apr 2008; 7 posts)

Articles about the pavement-sharing trial in Tampines

The blog, "Irresponsible motorists in Singapore" is discussing the issue of pavement sharing between cyclists and pedestrians as a result of the Tampines trial.

Under the title "Keep Cyclists Out Of The Pedestrian Footpath," the author, Stomponli, discusses the law in Part 1 and lists the articles in Part 2. A part 3 is promised. Update: Part 3, his reasons.

You can keep tabs on the blog's cycling posts through the "cyclists" label.

Yawning Bread's take on pavement cycling

"The green man began to flash as I walked up to the traffic crossing. Being quite late at night, the road was empty, but it was also wide. I decided to wait for the next gree...

Squeeeek. Crash. F*#^$&@k.

Both he and his bicycle were sprawled on the ground. I staggered onto the asphalt but managed to recover my balance. He had come down the same footpath and run into me from behind."

"Do Singaporeans care enough about public safety? Why have we not provided paths for bicycles, separate from pedestrians?" See "Safety on trial," by Alex Au. Yawning Bread. 18 February 2008. See comments here.

"Bicycle stopping at traffic junctions"

It was nice to read about his strategy. I do the same, for the same reasons. the thing to note is the thought process. Have reasons for your actions on the road.



"Bicycle stopping at traffic junctions," by arsonandarsenic. Arson and Arsenic, 26 Oct 2007.

Via One Less Car via Leafmonkey.

Tampines pavement riding trial - "a half-baked idea?"

Popular Singapore blogger Lee Kin Mun better known as Mr Brown writes about his new ride and goes on to write about riding in Tampines, and ends up with some choice words about the pavement riding trial that began there in May 2007.

"...who came up with the dumb idea of those bike lanes alongside pedestrian walkways?

Bikes belong to the road, not the pavement.

There were so many Dismount and Push signs along the new Bicycle cum Pedestrian footpaths in Tampines, you may as well cycle on the road. If you ever tried to cycle at East Coast Park, you will understand how hard it is to avoid humans on pavements.

In fact, I felt more vulnerable at the crossings while riding on the path. You are better off teaching drivers to share the road with cyclists, and teaching cyclists to ride defensively and safely, than to give riders a false sense of safety on those pedestrian pavements. And if you want to give cyclists their space, do it on the road, with bike lanes, instead of footpaths."

Eventually, he says:

"I just want safer roads to ride on. Not half-baked ideas like the Tampines pavement cycling trial."

See "My new ride II: Specialized Hardrock Comp Disc 2006," by Lee Kin Mun. mrbrown.com, 01 Oct 2007.

Cycling home - faster than public transport

"Break Even." By Warhammer. Le Tour, 11 Feb 2006.

"At the end of the day got back at 0925. Surprise, surprise, cycling home is 15mins faster then if I had taken public transport!"

"I'm thinking that it'll be quite a good experiment to compare the time taken for cycling, public transport and car from point to point. It should make a good case for cycling as a mode of transportation. I noticed that on roads with a lot of traffic lights keeping pace with a bus is actually not a problem."

Link.