useful contacts/links
Melanie is a great contact at Two Wheel Action, very helpful and amazing eyes!!!
Just thought I would pass on this information in case anyone else finds themselves with a few days in Singapore.
Recently just spent 9 days in Singapore and before I left thought I might check out if there is any riding going on, and found the above link, dont know if anybody else has ever done a hash ride or run for that matter, but it was my first experience, very interesting.
they are bike riders with a drinking problem or drinkers with a riding problem, is how the group is described.
Saturday: visit Melanie at Two Wheel Action and organised the bike, Giant Yukon, everything working, no rattles, so all was good on the ride back from the bike shop to the hotel, traffic is a little crazy, but its HOT, however, I quickly found that it is worst sitting there in traffic at the lights, when you are moving you get some breeze and it is almost bearable, but its HOT, cycled a few hunderd metres down the hill to the main road, Holland Road and the sweat is pouring off me, fend off the buses, trucks with people hanging off the back, cars, motor bikes, mopeds, pedestrians are the worst though, especially the shopping variety riding down Orchard Road, no sight of a magpie dive bombing me though, must be to warm for them!
Melanie looked at me with a strange look when I said I was going to ride back from Punggol to Singapore, "Good luck" were her parting words.
Sunday: wake up, drink water, everything packed, drink water, no breakfast, I cant stand food in the stomach on a really hot day of riding, got some gel packs and lollies for the day. Hail a Taxi, bike in the boot wont fit, even with the front wheel off
Me: "Bugger!" look at taxi driver
Me: "Any suggestions should I call a larger taxi"
Taxi driver looks at me with a funny look
Taxi Driver: "Put the bike in the back of the car"
Taxi driver mental thought: [Stupid white people]
Me looking at taxi driver funny now
Me: "Are you sure ?? Will your car be alright, Are you sure ?"
Taxi Driver: "Yes of course, its not my car, I just want the fare"
Me: "Ok then"
Me mental image of cab driving laughing at me for wanting to put a bike in the back of his Taxi in Australia.
quick 30 minute cab ride to Punggol Marina, $(SIN)15.00 including tip!! thats about $(AUS)10
Got to the starting point early so just sat in the shade, people gradually turned up and it ended up being their biggest turn out bar 1 ride, so it was good, lots of people, the ride is organised by what they call the "hares", its almost like a fox hunt, the route is marked out by toilet paper, but the "hares" kind of lead the ride, but there turned out to be lots of back tracking and grouping up, they had 3 calls,
"on on", used by leading riders to signify they have found the trail and you can ride on, it gets shouted back down the line
"back check", used to slow down and regroup or back check to fellow riders
"stop!", to indicate an immediate stop, no matter no what, just stop
lots of expat riders, a few locals, very expensive bikes, I had quite a few stacks, nothing serious, couple of offs into nice soft sand on some blind corners, the ride actually took place out near a marina, where the locals go to hit the wake boarding and jet skiing and water skiing, the terrain was pretty flat, not very technical, apart from riding along the cobblestone canal, that I had a small off on, with low hanging branches and people fishing on the side. On to a few local roads, avoided the construction trucks, quite a few bits of off and walk the bike, had great luck to watch one guy who decided he could easily tackle a "singapore" gutter, these are about 3 times the height of a gutter in Australia and they also act as a small canal because of the rain during the intense storms, apparently they need them to get water off the roads and avoid flooding, yep, the gutter won, he was alright and we both laughed because he saw me have a small off not long before in one of the sand patches.
over some nice bumpy hacked up urban wasteland, where someones back tube, exploded about 2 metres from me and scared the sh*t out of me.
we finally got to a nice bit of single track up hill, through overgrown bushes and past some bewildered local people, whose home was made up of, some branches, leaves, logs, a rock and a small portable grill, makes you think how lucky you are sometimes, after apologizing for riding through their back yard and shouting good morning, which was met with a huge beaming smile and equally friendly hello, we had a run down through a nice little single track and came out at the local tip and back to the marina, ride of about 2 hours, no distance, it was a hired bike so I had no distance, but my gut feeling was about 20 or so kilometres, in absoluetely sticking hot weather, I had a full Camelbak Mule at start of ride and I was down to about 1/2 litre, full up about 2.5 litres.
back to the marina it was find shade, 100+ brand sports drink, which I have not seen in Australia for about 10+ years!! but is huge over there, its beautiful stuff, lightly fizzy and very refreshing and Tiger beer, all provided as part of ride fee.
the barbarian, leader gathers a circle, they basically get people out in the middle of the circle for various reasons and sing the following song which is followed by the person/persons sculling a cup of Tiger beer, I must admit the first few times it was done I was standing their thinking I was part of some cult that organises nightly raids on the local authorities.
the song was as follows, rougly worded as
"xxxxxx" is a "yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"
he/she is a b**tard, so they say
he/she is a p*ss-pot, so they say
tried to go get to heaven but went the other way
going down, down, etc, repeated until beer is finished"
so very interesting experience indeed, friendly, socialable and also a pretty good ride.
Next was my ride home, after talking to a few people and then saying I had to get back, so I better head off, each person finished by saying, "Good luck"
so I started riding back, it was basically 3 roads, I had to take, started riding back when someone else rode up beside me and turned out he had seen me riding off and decided he was going to ride home as well!! even better, someone else, share the heat/pain with and at least I will get the best route back. The ride home was hard/very hard, HOT, HOT and HOTTER, cars, exhausts, buses, exhaustes, motor bikes, hot bitumen, 32C, high humidity, bright sun, no cloud cover and thanks to murphys' law, yes, a head wind, I should have known, and riding a now labouring Giant Yukon back along the roads.
a couple of times, the heat was getting really bad, especially standing still at traffic lights, but kept on chatting away, refuelled at a local shell, everyone very curious about the Camelbak, turned out to be a ~ 30km trip back home, and took a little over a hour, which I was surprised at, considering the heat and the bike with big fat tyres, forgotten what it is like riding a mountain bike a long distance on the road trying to maintan a certain speed, up hills as well. The traffic by this time of the day, now about 2pm, was mad, the merging roads were hell, and I did think a couple of times, I was going to become a number plate for a bus, but I must admit, I just stuck to the old, claim your territory, feel confident and keep it steady and I really had no problems, only 1 horn wielding manic, but I just waved hello to them, got back to Holland Road and waved to my riding buddy and a quick "thanks, have a good day" and that was it.
got back to the hotel, ice, cold water, shower, ice, cold water, shower, ice, ice and ice, managed to stave off heat stroke, just a small head ache and that was it.
one great thing, out all the time in the sun, no sunscreen and not one little bit of sunburn could i find.!
got back this morning at 5am and walked outside of the airport to get a cab, and almost ran back inside with fright, it was like walking in a freezing cold shower.
Singapore Girl, a great way to ride.
- http://www.twa.com.sg/sbh/
- http://www.twa.com.sg
Melanie is a great contact at Two Wheel Action, very helpful and amazing eyes!!!
Just thought I would pass on this information in case anyone else finds themselves with a few days in Singapore.
Recently just spent 9 days in Singapore and before I left thought I might check out if there is any riding going on, and found the above link, dont know if anybody else has ever done a hash ride or run for that matter, but it was my first experience, very interesting.
they are bike riders with a drinking problem or drinkers with a riding problem, is how the group is described.
Saturday: visit Melanie at Two Wheel Action and organised the bike, Giant Yukon, everything working, no rattles, so all was good on the ride back from the bike shop to the hotel, traffic is a little crazy, but its HOT, however, I quickly found that it is worst sitting there in traffic at the lights, when you are moving you get some breeze and it is almost bearable, but its HOT, cycled a few hunderd metres down the hill to the main road, Holland Road and the sweat is pouring off me, fend off the buses, trucks with people hanging off the back, cars, motor bikes, mopeds, pedestrians are the worst though, especially the shopping variety riding down Orchard Road, no sight of a magpie dive bombing me though, must be to warm for them!
Melanie looked at me with a strange look when I said I was going to ride back from Punggol to Singapore, "Good luck" were her parting words.
Sunday: wake up, drink water, everything packed, drink water, no breakfast, I cant stand food in the stomach on a really hot day of riding, got some gel packs and lollies for the day. Hail a Taxi, bike in the boot wont fit, even with the front wheel off
Me: "Bugger!" look at taxi driver
Me: "Any suggestions should I call a larger taxi"
Taxi driver looks at me with a funny look
Taxi Driver: "Put the bike in the back of the car"
Taxi driver mental thought: [Stupid white people]
Me looking at taxi driver funny now
Me: "Are you sure ?? Will your car be alright, Are you sure ?"
Taxi Driver: "Yes of course, its not my car, I just want the fare"
Me: "Ok then"
Me mental image of cab driving laughing at me for wanting to put a bike in the back of his Taxi in Australia.
quick 30 minute cab ride to Punggol Marina, $(SIN)15.00 including tip!! thats about $(AUS)10
Got to the starting point early so just sat in the shade, people gradually turned up and it ended up being their biggest turn out bar 1 ride, so it was good, lots of people, the ride is organised by what they call the "hares", its almost like a fox hunt, the route is marked out by toilet paper, but the "hares" kind of lead the ride, but there turned out to be lots of back tracking and grouping up, they had 3 calls,
"on on", used by leading riders to signify they have found the trail and you can ride on, it gets shouted back down the line
"back check", used to slow down and regroup or back check to fellow riders
"stop!", to indicate an immediate stop, no matter no what, just stop
lots of expat riders, a few locals, very expensive bikes, I had quite a few stacks, nothing serious, couple of offs into nice soft sand on some blind corners, the ride actually took place out near a marina, where the locals go to hit the wake boarding and jet skiing and water skiing, the terrain was pretty flat, not very technical, apart from riding along the cobblestone canal, that I had a small off on, with low hanging branches and people fishing on the side. On to a few local roads, avoided the construction trucks, quite a few bits of off and walk the bike, had great luck to watch one guy who decided he could easily tackle a "singapore" gutter, these are about 3 times the height of a gutter in Australia and they also act as a small canal because of the rain during the intense storms, apparently they need them to get water off the roads and avoid flooding, yep, the gutter won, he was alright and we both laughed because he saw me have a small off not long before in one of the sand patches.
over some nice bumpy hacked up urban wasteland, where someones back tube, exploded about 2 metres from me and scared the sh*t out of me.
we finally got to a nice bit of single track up hill, through overgrown bushes and past some bewildered local people, whose home was made up of, some branches, leaves, logs, a rock and a small portable grill, makes you think how lucky you are sometimes, after apologizing for riding through their back yard and shouting good morning, which was met with a huge beaming smile and equally friendly hello, we had a run down through a nice little single track and came out at the local tip and back to the marina, ride of about 2 hours, no distance, it was a hired bike so I had no distance, but my gut feeling was about 20 or so kilometres, in absoluetely sticking hot weather, I had a full Camelbak Mule at start of ride and I was down to about 1/2 litre, full up about 2.5 litres.
back to the marina it was find shade, 100+ brand sports drink, which I have not seen in Australia for about 10+ years!! but is huge over there, its beautiful stuff, lightly fizzy and very refreshing and Tiger beer, all provided as part of ride fee.
the barbarian, leader gathers a circle, they basically get people out in the middle of the circle for various reasons and sing the following song which is followed by the person/persons sculling a cup of Tiger beer, I must admit the first few times it was done I was standing their thinking I was part of some cult that organises nightly raids on the local authorities.
the song was as follows, rougly worded as
"xxxxxx" is a "yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"
he/she is a b**tard, so they say
he/she is a p*ss-pot, so they say
tried to go get to heaven but went the other way
going down, down, etc, repeated until beer is finished"
so very interesting experience indeed, friendly, socialable and also a pretty good ride.
Next was my ride home, after talking to a few people and then saying I had to get back, so I better head off, each person finished by saying, "Good luck"
so I started riding back, it was basically 3 roads, I had to take, started riding back when someone else rode up beside me and turned out he had seen me riding off and decided he was going to ride home as well!! even better, someone else, share the heat/pain with and at least I will get the best route back. The ride home was hard/very hard, HOT, HOT and HOTTER, cars, exhausts, buses, exhaustes, motor bikes, hot bitumen, 32C, high humidity, bright sun, no cloud cover and thanks to murphys' law, yes, a head wind, I should have known, and riding a now labouring Giant Yukon back along the roads.
a couple of times, the heat was getting really bad, especially standing still at traffic lights, but kept on chatting away, refuelled at a local shell, everyone very curious about the Camelbak, turned out to be a ~ 30km trip back home, and took a little over a hour, which I was surprised at, considering the heat and the bike with big fat tyres, forgotten what it is like riding a mountain bike a long distance on the road trying to maintan a certain speed, up hills as well. The traffic by this time of the day, now about 2pm, was mad, the merging roads were hell, and I did think a couple of times, I was going to become a number plate for a bus, but I must admit, I just stuck to the old, claim your territory, feel confident and keep it steady and I really had no problems, only 1 horn wielding manic, but I just waved hello to them, got back to Holland Road and waved to my riding buddy and a quick "thanks, have a good day" and that was it.
got back to the hotel, ice, cold water, shower, ice, cold water, shower, ice, ice and ice, managed to stave off heat stroke, just a small head ache and that was it.
one great thing, out all the time in the sun, no sunscreen and not one little bit of sunburn could i find.!
got back this morning at 5am and walked outside of the airport to get a cab, and almost ran back inside with fright, it was like walking in a freezing cold shower.
Singapore Girl, a great way to ride.
