21 September 2009 ride report - Skid, crash, putt!

A public holiday is always nice to have. Especially when it falls on Friday or Monday and makes a nice long weekend. Today is just one of those special long weekends. This weekend was also extra special as I had several rides planned spanning over the few days. I had one on Friday night, one on Sunday early morning, and one more this morning. Is there a better way to spend a long weekend?

I woke up nice and early this morning, ready and excited for the ride. The weather was perfect. The sky was clear and blue. Even the three hour weather nowcast said the entire island would have fair weather. Now this is really something you hardly see, especially at this time of the year.

I took my time getting ready since I had hours to spare. I had installed a set of side boxes for my TW200 on Saturday and had them in the apartment with me so I could pack my camera gear properly. I packed my D2HS body with a AF35DF2 lens on the mount, plus my favourite wide angle lens (AF-S17-35GF2.8), my portrait lens (AF85DF1.8) and my trusty flash guns (SB800 & SB600). I also packed my table-top tripod which has proven handy in many past rides. I was really happy about how all the gear fit into one of the side bags (the one that would ride on my left) while my rain gear went into the other one. I was all set for my ride!

The meeting point was the Esso station at Jalan Kayu. I had planned to explore the Seletar Airport area as I haven't been back there for more than a month...followed by a jaunt to Changi and maybe Punggol too. I could already picture in my head all the photographs that I was going to end up with. EXCITING!!!

As usual, I got to the meeting place early and filled up. The riders started showing up soon after and we hit the road. There were four of us again today...and for the very first time...we had both the TA150 and TA200 Phantom bikes represented in one ride! How cool was that!? We explored the place around Seletar East Camp and rode all along Seletar West as well. After that, we took a ride down the new Seletar West Link Road. This was a new road that opened just a couple months ago and was relatively empty...except for the trucks.

We took an easy ride out along the link road. I liked how the bridge looked on the way out and thought it would make for a nice spot for photographs on the way back...and a nice water break too! The road was a long and wide one with sweeping bends the seemed to go on forever. The only problem was the huge trucks! On our way out towards the bridge, I was traveling at 60kph along on of the sweeping left bends when right in front of me as a truck trying to overtake a car...along the bend! Now we were a convoy of four bikes...the good news is that I started riding to the far left of my lane to make space...the truck driver saw me and panicked! He jammed his brakes and turned his wheel hard left. Now those of you who drive must know that this kind of maneuver in high speed will result in a skid...and skid he did! The rear of the truck slid out towards me while the front of the truck turned towards my right...he almost crashed the car that was in front of him...I could see the rubber on the tires leaving dark tracks on the road...the loud screeching sound of tires trying hard to hold the truck true to course...after what seemed to be a lifetime of slow-mo action, the truck managed to steer true and passed us safely. That was enough excitement for any ride, I thought to myself.

Soon after this incident, I saw the bridge coming up and prepared to stop the convoy in the bay just before the bridge. Signaling and slowing down, I moved my bike towards the left side of the road. I checked my blind spot and started filtering into the bay...just then, I realized that the bay was actually raised about two inches off the road! Too late...as the sidewall of my front wheel made contact with the bay and my bike pitched...and crashed onto the road!

I remember clearly someone saying in the bike forum that you are not a biker if you haven't crashed. Wonder why I thought of that! At that time, all I could do was brace for the fall. My bike went down on the left side...and I fell off the bike and slammed onto the road ahead of it...slid a short distance (thank god I had slowed down) and I felt my right calf being poked by some part of the bike...probably the handle bars. The good news here is that I was fine. I got up almost immediately and started to right the bike. I remember Ethan saying: "Good thing you had your gear on or you would be 'Bak-Gua' by now!"

When everyone had parked their bikes, we started assessing the damage to my bike. My brand new side box is now badly scratched...and I mean BADLY scratched. My camera gear (which was on the left side box which took the brunt of the fall) was completely undamaged. Kudos to Kappa boxes! You have my support for the future! My TrailwayCafe windshield which I ordered from the US cracked as the front of my bike took the brunt of the fall. My headlamp cowling is badly scratched and the signal lights were bent somehow. I did not take any pictures because I just could not bear seeing my bike (or anything that is dear to me) in a damaged condition. So no pictures for you guys out there...save to say...everything works...except I could not start the bike. Maybe the engine is flooded due to the fall...I will check it later to see.

Mike came to my rescue! I suppose that is why he called himself Bike Rescue. Hahaha! Seriously though, he came within 30 minutes. I was glad because it was one of those "FAIR" days with the sun beating down hard on us while we waited. We decided that we would have lunch since we were forced to take a break, and continue the ride after that, with me leading with another bike. I will not bore you with details of what we had for lunch...but I assure you it was one of the BEST dishes around.

So we set off again after lunch. The plan was to head towards Changi as originally intended. We were traveling along Yio Chu Kang Road in the direction of Seletar....and behold...my bike stalled at the traffic light...and my battery (my BRAND NEW battery) was FLAT! Hmmm...I wonder what it is with Yio Chu Kang Road and me....seems my batteries like to die there...

Now I remembered clearly that I blogged about Murphy last night. I bragged about how he seemed to be my best friend. What I didn't say (and didn't realize till now) was that I was best friends with his dad, uncles and grand father too! And they all wanted to visit at the same time.

I gotta hand it to my biking buddies though...they were a peach! They stuck around when I fell...and they continued to stick around when my battery was dead. In fact, they helped push my bike up a slope (that was the only safe spot to try a push start) so I could restart my bike...which I did after 3 attempts in the bleaching hot sun...and to top it off...they were STILL eager to ride...albeit on a much shortened route.

I was deeply touched...and thought a short ride was a good way for us to try and gain back some sanity (me at least) from the events of the day. So off we went back along Yio Chu Kang Road and turned into Old Upper Thomson Road, into Upper Peirce Reservoir, then back on Old Upper Thomson Road. Turning left at Upper Thomson Road, we headed towards Mandai Road, into the place where the Executive Golf Course is, then up the rest of Mandai Road and turning right into Mandai Avenue. Stopped at the traffic lights for the turning back onto Upper Thomson Road...and my bike stalled again.

I was, by then, an expert in handling a stalled and HEAVY bike on a busy traffic junction. I pushed my bike across two streets and up along Upper Thomson Road to where the others were waiting for me. At that point, I had enough riding for the day and decided I would break off there. I did manage to push start the bike and get home without further incident...maybe someone up there thought I needed the exercise?

As I sit here writing about the day, I cannot help but feel a huge sense of gratitude. Sure, my bikes may be out of action for awhile. Sure, my brand new boxes are now badly scratched and various other parts may need replacing. But the fact that I am able to sit here and write this means I am fine, protected by my gear, and supported by my riding buddies. In fact, part of me is pleased as peach because now I am a real biker!

See you on the next ride!!!

Update (21 September 2009 7pm):
I went down to down to check on the bikes just now and to bring my camera gear up so I could load them back into my camera bag. Since I was down I decided to see if I could start my TW200. So I inserted the key, turned the bike on, set it to neutral and pressed the starter...and...it STARTED!!! I rode it around the car park and it seems to be working fine. Good to know that I only have to do up the bike mechanically and that the engine (at least) is working! My side box is still badly scratched though...I guess the healing did not translate well to plastic. Hahahaha!!!