I had to drop my brother at the airport recently and I reasoned that I could combine the drop off with ride along the Changi PCN. Why, you ask?

1. Because I can.
2. The folding bikes enable me.
3. I have not checked out the PCN and have missed riding by the runway.
4. Let a friend of mine gain experience riding on the roads.

So I decided I will carry the Flyby and my friend’s Tikit (didnt I say I have nice friends) along with the luggage on a cab. There were risks involved, what if the bikes did not fit. What if the cabbie was not happy. Oh well, I figured I will deal with it.

So the first hurdle was to fit 2 bikes on the boot of a standard cab and squeeze in a carry on bag. Iniotially, the tikit was behaving oddly but with a bit of coaxing, managed to fit it in. Topped it with the flyby and then showed the luggage on top.  Observed that the space occupied by the flyby is smaller than the tikit though tikit uses 16″ wheels.

We got to the airport and promptly plonked the bikes on a trolley and after a bit of fiddling, the stuck to the trolley and did not budge. Getting out of Changi on a bike is a challenge as the airport boulevard leads on to ECP and it is illegal to ride there. I am sure there is some unknown shortcut through the back alleys of the airport service lanes that one could actually cycle out of the airport. But I chose not to spend time investigating and headed down to the basement for a bus ride to the EC park. 36, it was and we hopped on without any hassle (The driver gave a curious look) parked teh biked in the luggage / handicapped spot and got to the park in 10 minutes.

Just as we got off the bus, a heavy thunderstorm swept the coast and we had to wait a while till the rain eased. Lucky break because the Flyby’s Dahon V-Clamp hinge decided to malfunction and it took a while before I got it all settled. I will have to write about the V-Clamp after investigating the issue. The rain did ease, we saw off a few roller blading babes and rode into the evening. The Weather was wet throughout the ride but with very light traffic. I’d take wet over crowd anyday.

We stuck to the PCN and I was impressed with the nice roads and the route it took along the coast. Reminded me of someone mentioning that road planners in Germany plan for a cycle path that runs along highways and connects villages / cities. I wish they had more roads like this in this part of the world. I kind of enjoyed the slow pace of the ride, as I usually am time-trialing mode at the Changi coastal Rd. The weather was brilliant and in no time reached changi village. Decided to break for dinner and had some decent food at one of the shops selling Thai food. Post dinner, the weather remained still wet and we decided to take a cab home and that’s what we did.

I am pretty impressed by the ability to make sudden changes in plans simply because I am on a foldie. I believe it cuts both ways, it can make one lazy and can kill adventure but can also salvage one in tricky conditions. Still the advantages are there and I enjoyed the ride, which is what matters.

Related posts:

1. NWT test ride – Kota Tinggi Loop
2. Fun on foldie
3. Alternate route 1

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 6:41 pm and is filed under bicycle commuting in singapore, bike, Singapore. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.