Back to the old way

Jul distance travelled: 157 km

To Choa Chu Kang Road, 60 km. The journey to the west is a pleasant, hard ride. Traffic is light and the hills, rolling. I hardly sweat as the rain falls. A falling branch misses me with less than a second to spare. I cycle like the wind to make up for the two months I've been running instead of cycling, and mull my experience of the two.
- Cost: running shoes and cycling shoes costs about the same, but what good are cycling shoes without the bicycle
- Speed: hard running at 10km/h, cycling at 35 km/h (cruising speed on slicks on flat road)
- Transmission: "automatic" for running, manual for cycling (single speed excepted)
- Terrain: off-road and on-road for both
- Danger: low for running, high for cycling, with metal monsters and flesh-bound fiends to deal with
- Injuries: high impact for running; low impact for cycling unless I crash. I hurt more running than cycling; with the latter, my pains disappear.

Back home, I fail to remove stains from my new jersey. I think about someone who says cycling clothes stay clean in the rain. My consternation is how strong conviction can be borne out of great ignorance.

Segregation

To Rifle Range Road, 46 km. The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is mostly reserved for people on foot, not on wheels. Trails criss cross the area. They would be a mountain biker's heaven, but the pearly gates are open only to those on foot, to protect them from bikers. However, mountain bike trails are often traversed by those on foot, with no protection for bikers, who have shed blood to avoid collision with those who are slow-footed and who quickly think that bikers can levitate like in the movie ET.

Personal bests

To Hua Guan Avenue, 51 km. This month, I run the furthest I've ever run in my life in a day: 8 km. I started jogging about a month ago; after leaving the army, there was no real need to run (except to catch elevators and trains), and I was told not to run after knee surgery in 1996. Today, I also cycle past the 35,000 km mark (since I started keeping count). Quite fitting that I spend some of the time in this pretty rich, pretty part of Singapore.

Happy anniversary

Jun distance travelled: 207 km

To Changi Village, 62 km. In Jun, four years ago, over 40 police cadet corp officers and some volunteers lead school kids on a Charity Cyclethon around Singapore. That was an eventful 120 km ride. There is excitement at tonight's anniversary ride too: one driver cuts across two lanes in front of me to turn left. Another driver shoots out in front of a cyclist, who falls and bleeds after emergency braking. Riding at East Coast (the start point) is scary too: cyclists who wear black and ride with no lights in the night, pedestrians who block the cycling path and roller-bladers who suddenly stop and u-turn against traffic flow. There are no other mishaps as seven of us ride to Changi Village to eat. Much has changed in the intervening years; some are completing national service or have changed jobs. One wins the women's open championship at Adventure Singapore this year; credit for tonight's ride is hers.

Morning glory

To Bukit Timah Road, 48 km. I see some offroad and follow it, not knowing where it goes. Birds flit from the road to the tree branches two storeys up high. Morning glory flowers line part of the way, which ends in a fenced-up, abandoned quarry. I linger a bit. This must have been a busy place a long time ago. There's a bridge (which now leads nowhere) over a railway track. On the way to lunch, something hits my helmet and then my shoulder. There is a stinging pain I see something on it. I reach out in trepidation to brush away what I think is a brown biting thing with many legs but it is gone. It leaves two punctures. It must have hit a nerve. It might've been a falling twig hitting me at around 28 km/h. Blood seeps through my jersey. I lunch with a friend whom I've not met since Oct - someone rebel in character but noble in spirit.

Nightmare scenarios

To Bukit Timah Road, 43 km. I dream I'm rushing around campus as I can't find my exam hall. No one can tell me where to go. The clock is ticking. After a dream like that, I leave dreamland and go cycling. I duck into a side road off Woodlands. It leads to a cemetary. The bottom has fallen off a tomb built into a slope (ground subsidence?). I don't stop to peek in. As I cycle on, I have a premonition: this is dog country. It is. Mad barking breaks out. A cyclist's nightmare: dogs behind and a slope in front. I ride up the pitted, stony road. The dogs stop 50 m away; maybe they have a cold too. The road comes to a dead end. There is an overgrown footpath (snakes?) that doesn't seem to lead anywhere. The sky rumbles. I can't stay here, I can't go forward and the only way out is past the dogs. I peer at the road, note the wind direction then rattle past at 32 km/h. I don't hear or see the dogs. I keep up the pressure in case they're ahead, but the coast is clear. To celebrate, I blast past a pair of long legs on a Conalgo.

Near-death x2

To Turf City, 54 km. For the past two weekends, I've been laying out my cycling togs in the night - and keeping them in the morning. That was all the exercise I got. This weekend is different. I get my bicycle out the door. The excitement today more than makes up for what I've missed. A bus driver and a taxi driver are so excited to see me, they want to embrace me. Near-death #1: a car pulls out from the roadside. The driver is oblivious to what she almost did, not looking at me even after I yell. Near-death #2: I push my bicycle up a 2-storey hill. A black, 1 m long snake slithers beside me, crosses my path then dives into the undergrowth. I make my way past a clump of ferns, with barely 30 cm space between the ferns and a 2-storey roll downhill. Further ahead, the ground is water-logged. Though there's sign of landslip, the ground holds firm beneath me. Which is just as well. Today is my first outing with my new digital camera.

Urban offroad

May distance travelled: 179 km

To Bukit Chandu, 46 km. I meet some friends on top of a hill for a picnic. I'm the only one on a bicycle; the rest are pedestrians. Of course, no one wants my cycling grub. On my way home, I pass a wide open space beside Alexandra Hospital (a historical hospital with lots of character and the site of a World War 2 massacre). I explore the open space (exit hospital via the mortuary, you know what I mean) which is the size of several football fields. Besides an abandoned road, there's grass and little knolls. I have the whole place to myself - almost. I stop to marvel at some people using ropes to climb five storeys up a tree. All these, beside a busy road and a hospital. It is shady and quiet. Amidst the busyness and sufferings of life, sometimes there're pockets of peace if you look aside and pause.

Could've, would've, should've

To Changi Beach Park, 67 km. I could've been cycling in Malaysia today. I would've accepted the invitation but after an internal struggle I decline. Otherwise, I would've been telling myself: "I should've listened to my body". With the coming work week the way it is, going would've been asking for trouble. So I cycle on this little island. I feel a tad tired just going up the slopes of Tampines and Loyang. I guess having a cold leads to a cold engine. Not that the dog under a lorry cared. It shoots out, locking on like a heat-seeking missle. From my peripheral vision, I see the mutt closing in. Too late to flip flop and turn back. To hesitate now may mean me flopping on the ground with my throat torn out. I keep my eyes on the track, looking out for ruts, gravel and loose sand. I break away almost languidly. Practice makes perfect getaway. Since I can't go back the same way I come in, I sink 3 cm into mud as I find another way out.

Cut throat

To Marina South, 44 km. Now, there's a remote possibility that your throat is cut, by kite string, if you visit Marina South. It is has wide open spaces and filled with green. In future, there is a distinct probability that your throat will be cut, as the place will have become a casino where the odds are against you. I enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts. It rains. Make hay while the sun shines. Wash bicycle when the sun doesn't shine, and that's what I do.