Singapore is a small island of around 710 square kilometers according to the Statistics Department of the Government. You would think that there would not be many places to ride in a small place like this. I thought so too. However, there are more than 3000 kilometers of paved roads in Singapore excluding expressways. That is A LOT of road for riding!
Thanks to Google Maps, it is very easy to see where the fun roads are. I spent some time scouting out some stretches which might be fun to try for this exploration.
To a road junkie, straight roads are no fun. Not only that, they are deceptively dangerous! Do you remember the last time you drove on a long, straight stretch of road? Did you get distracted more easily? Did you get lulled into a false sense of security? Did you drive or ride faster just to get it over with? Did you nod off because it was so boring?
So, the best roads are often not straight. On top of that, the ones that are most fun to drive or ride on should be relatively deserted. With Google Maps, it is easy to spot these fun roads at least half the time. I can quite easily see where the nice, curvy, small roads are. So I mapped out this 90 kilometer route for the exploration ride, taking us through some tried and true riding gems, and hopefully, some new ones to discover.
We set off at 8pm from the usual Esso station and quickly hit the bends along Old Upper Thomson Road. I always enjoyed riding along this stretch of road. It is a good place to warm up for the long ride ahead, with bends that teased out the nimbler moves that the bikes can offer. It was also a good place to evaluate how everyone in the convoy handled the road. There were four of us riding tonight, each on a different style of bike: a scooter cub, a sports bike, a street bike and a trail bike. If the other two riders who dropped out were with us, there would have been a cruiser and tourer as well!
The initial ride was easy and along familiar roads towards the Kranji Dam. I planned to take a different route to the dam taking Sungei Kadut Avenue. Unfortunately, a wrong U-turn along Woodlands road led me back to the usual route of Kranji Road! I suppose making a wrong turn is part of the spirit of exploration...it helped that we were all wearing helmets so I could not tell if any of the others were annoyed. Hahaha!
If you have not been to Kranji Dam, its time you made a trip. It has one of the best views of the city of Johor Bahru. And on the other side, there is a beautiful lake with serene and beautiful reflections of the night lights. A word of advice - make a stop at a Caltex station before heading into the area because there really isn't a good place to take a leak!
I was eager to get moving as the first stretch of possible new discoveries were just around the corner. The ride along Neo Tiew went by in a flash, fun as the roads were, I couldn't help but to think what Ama Keng would offer! On the map, it was a short stretch leading to what looked like trails...MANY trails that looked very promising. Six kilometers melted away very quickly and I found myself riding into Ama Keng Road. The first few bends were sweet...but alas...the road ended abruptly! There was a gate with a huge sign that said "Restricted Area". What a disappointment! I think its about time I wrote to Google about the usability of their maps!
Still, in the spirit of exploration, the route is a fluid plan that morphs as the journey progresses. So the ride continued along Old Lim Chu Kang and Old Choa Chu Kang, towards the next area for discovery: Lekar! Before I get there, did you ever wonder why there are so many places in Singapore named Chu Kang? There is Lim Chu Kang, Choa Chu Kang and Yio Chu Kang...yes...I know you are all thinking about Phua Chu Kang...but that is not a place! It seems the word Chu in Chinese (厝) actually means "dwelling place", and the word Kang in Chinese (港) means "river bank" or "river branch". So the names Lim Chu Kang, Choa Chu Kang and Yio Chu Kang were given according to the clans that controlled those areas! History lesson complete!
Back to Lekar. Now this was a place that I had wanted to explore for quite awhile now. I was really happy to have the opportunity to ride there tonight. I had a huge shock when I turned into Jalan Lekar because there was a dog that barked really loudly right next to me as I passed. I almost jumped up on my seat! The good thing was that the rest of the area was fantastic (lots of dogs but no barking) and completely made up for the initial shock. This area lived up to all my expectations - quiet roads, nice curves, brightly lit...and I spied a nice trail for my next ride too!
You can probably tell by now that I didn't take any pictures so far on this ride. In fact, I didn't take ANY picture at all! Sorry about that folks. I did lug my camera gear with me (dSLR, 3 lenses and a flash) but didn't actually use them. Its just that the ride was so involving I had forgotten I was carrying all this photography gear in the first place! So read along and imagine the ride...I'll do my best to tell story...you do your best to picture it...OK?
So I took the convoy from Sungei Tengah towards the next area: Lam Sam. This was a road that would lead into a trail that ends at Old Jurong Road. It looked very promising turning into Jalan Lam Sam. A neat row of trucks were parked along the road on my left. There was a huge pool of water near the end of the road and I spotted an opening on the left where the trail would start. It was a trail alright...complete with uneven surfaces and was very dark. It looked inviting and I really wanted to head in. Common sense persuaded me to leave it for another day (remember the collection of bikes?) so I made a U-turn instead. Still, I was happy I found this trail!
Without realizing it, I realized (huh??) that two hours have passed! Wow! More importantly, I realized I was getting hungry. Good thing my riding mates were getting hungry as well so we made a bee line for a spot of supper. It was during supper that we had a nice long chat about bikes, cars, work, bikes, bikes and bikes. Did I mention we talked about bikes? It was a good break...just four chaps having a good time bonding...I loved it! Oh, in case you want to know, we had supper at Fong Seng (the shop just outside NUS). The food quality has gone down the drain...but hey...the company more than made up for it!
It was getting late and it was time to head back as we all had to work in the morning. So we spent a little more time talking about each others' bikes and then headed off. The ride back was exhilarating! Going up South Buona Vista Road, through Leedon, Farrer, Lornie, Upper Thomson and back to the Esso station where we started off almost five hours earlier.
I gotta thank Eddy for suggesting a group picture...because I would hate to have an entry about a ride and have zero pictures to show for it. So here's a picture of our bikes tonight.
There's the street bike (Honda CB400), the scooter cub (Suzuki Hayate), the sports bike (Honda NSR SP), and the trail bike (Yamaha TW200).
My favourite picture tonight has to be this one though. For the very first time, I have a picture of all the folks who went on the ride together: Andrew, Ethan, Eddy and yours truly.
So that was the exploration ride! Four guys and four bikes...having a great time riding. Reminds me a little of the move "Wild Hogs". No, I don't think this motley crew is anything similar to those four in the movie. But it sure proved one very important point: that anyone and everyone can be united with a passion! Its bikes for tonight...who knows what bigger things can come of this?
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