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Saw this in the Togoparts.com classifieds. Nothing like a little humour and truth in your classified ads. It's a nice bike too:
For Sale: ORBEA Vento with Campy parts
"Hi All,
I'm selling the above road bike for a friend as it's collecting dust in his kitchen.
It was bought by him a year ago on the delusion of training for the 2007 Tour de France. Unfortunately, 2007 came and went, but he was never quite there, probably due to his high training schedule of riding the bike once every 2 months. So he's gone back to more extreme sports, like fishing..."
Interesting bit about a 6-month folding bicycle trial in March 2008, from the Transport Minister's speech today. It's a good start but they need to think beyond just recreation and getting around the neighbourhood. People can and do cycle to work too, you know:
Facilitating Cyclists
"Cyclists are another group that we will facilitate. There is a growing interest in cycling, with more people cycling for recreation, or to get around the neighbourhood.
We invited some of them to our land transport review focus group discussions to see how we could better cater to their needs. Some cyclists asked for more bicycle stands around our bus and MRT stations. Others made the point that some foldable bicycles were not much bigger than prams, so why not allow them onboard our trains and buses?
Responding to this, LTA together with the public transport operators will launch a six-month trial from March 2008 to allow cyclists to carry their foldable bicycles on board trains and buses. LTA will also work with NParks and other agencies to leverage on the park connectors to enable cyclists to get to public transport interchanges more easily. Bicycle parking facilities at the MRT stations and bus interchanges in housing estates will be improved.
The cyclists also shared their ‘war stories’ and asked us to help improve safety on our roads. Following a pilot in Changi, LTA will put up signs to alert motorists to the presence of cyclists along frequently used cycling routes such as those in West Coast and Thomson from March 08. LTA and the Traffic Police have also started a trial to allow cycling on pedestrian footways in Tampines.
But at the end of the day, it is also an issue of mutual accommodation – for the motorists to look out for cyclists on the road; and for cyclists to have a care for pedestrians."
zm the studious bloke did a study of SMRT's annual report and spotted this little nugget:
"from the annual report, passenger trips have increased 11% from 2002 - 389.7m to 434.9m. However, car kilometres operated dropped from 81.4m to 77.1m. SMRTC has been aggressively cutting costs by cramming as much as people into each train and reducing frequencies since 2004, to maximise shareholder value."
One Less Car has screenshots of the relevant tables with that data.
If the analysis is correct, then the formula seems to be:
More passengers + less frequency = more money to be made = pissed off passengers (who will be ignored).
The photo above shows passengers unable to squeeze into the packed train, on a SUNDAY afternoon, supposedly Off-peak. I only managed to get into the third train, after waiting 6 minutes between trains. All because I wanted to get to City Hall from Dhoby Ghaut. One miserable station.
Mercy overtakes
even when you push fifty
pedaling His paths
— by poet and friend, Marc Daniel Nair, scribbled inside my autographed copy of his new book of poetry, "Along the Yellow Line"
And we are at his concert now. The set looks great, dancing is fancy, lighting excellent, and the music great. Except for one thing.
The sound is atrocious. From where we're sitting, it sounds like only his monitor speakers are on.
"The sound system does seem adequate. I can't hear what he's singing," said the wife.
"You can't hear what he's singing most of the time anyway," I said.
"That's true."
The audience just cheered and sang along in recognition as he starts a song about his mom. I cheer too.
"Dear, what song is this ah?" I ask the wife after cheering like I know the song liddat.
We're more familiar with his older hits lah. We're old school Jay fans.
The wife and I and a few friends had a fun morning last Saturday, riding with a bunch of Dahon foldie owners (see Flickr set). Our group rode from East Coast Park to Changi Point and back, 34km in all.
Inspired, I wanted to explore the rest of the Eastern park connector network. So a few nights after that Saturday ride, I decided to trace the route solo.
I started at 9.30pm and rode till 12.30am. 1 hour of riding from my Katong office to East Coast Park near Parkway, to Changi Point via the Coastal Park Connector, 22km.
Then 30 minutes to grab a drink and a little bite from Changi Village hawker centre.
Then another 90 minutes riding from Changi Village to Pasir Ris to Tampines to Bedok Reservoir Park then home, 23km.
A good chunk of that 90 minutes was spent getting lost and doubling back to look for the right way and to hunt down disconnected bits of the park connector path.
I was determined to try doing the whole loop via the park connectors as far as I could. The only bit I did not complete was the Bedok Reservoir to East Coast Park stretch, about 8km, but then my final road-based ride home from Bedok Reservoir was almost that far.
Conclusion? The East Coast Park to Changi Point bit was sublime. Just don't do it alone at night, like I did. It can get a little creepy being the only person for long dark stretches. Also the strong headwinds can be challenging.
The rest of the network was patchy. Loyang was ok, I could even speed on that bit, but the Tampines and Bedok Reservoir stretches sucked.
The bits I hated in the latter part of my ride? There were roads to cross, poor and fading signage, freaking speed bumps that jolted my rear blinky off a few times (and almost made me a eunuch), and an odd gravel path next to Bedok Reservoir that you should avoid.
At the Tampines Park Connector, there were stairs where you had to get off your bike and carry your bike or push it up a steep slope thoughtfully provided next to the stairs.
At another point, within the Bedok Park Connector, there was a short downhill slope so steep, I had to brake all the way down it.
The bridge across the Tampines expressway, found along the Tampines Park Connector, looks impressive, but you have to push your bike all the way across. They could have made it a little wider, and made the turns gentler for bikes. Noooo, it had to be 90-degree turns up the slope path of the bridge.
It is also easy to get lost in parks like Bedok Town Park and Pasir Ris Town Park.
It is not an easy loop for novices to try. Not because of the distance, but because it is easy to get lost, especially if you wish to do it all via the bike path.
When I got back on the road for my final leg home, I felt so relieved. The convoluted park connectors in the latter part of my night ride frustrated me and I hated doing only 15kmh and reaching dead ends.
Will I do it again? Sure. I liked the East Coast to Changi to Loyang bits. And it's a fairly safe way to see all the Eastern parks with the wife at a leisurely pace. But for commuting, I'd stick to the roads, thank you very much.
A good effort, this Eastern Park Connector Network, but hardly the cartoony seamless line you see on the National Parks website.
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