Biking around Changi

The Holiday
The Deeparaya hols last week gave me the chance to catch some sun and fun in the outdoors. After giving it a little thought, Wee Loong and I decided to go for the bikes. It has been more than a year since we had gone biking together. Then it was a night cycling trip from East Coast Park to Orchard (with supper at Geylang and many other pit-stops along the way for some night photo-taking) and back. This time though, we decided to take the Changi Airport Loop - a 23km route which passes Changi Airport, loops around Changi Village and ends at S’pore Expo.

On Deepavali morning, we struggled to wake up (for goodness sake, it’s a holiday after all!) after having late night ‘Mamak’ supper the night before. But Ching Poh drove us down to ECP and that saved us lots of traveling time. At ECP, finding a parking lot proved difficult as it looked like the rest of the Singaporeans who were not on a week-long vacation overseas or at home celebrating the festival of light had decided to spend the day at this popular stretch of beach. Fortunately (and surprisingly), we found lots of vacant parking lots at the Marine Parade HDB multi-storey car park located just a stone throws away. And it also came free.

The Ride to Changi
After settling our breakfast, we got our bikes from one of the bike rental shops at ECP and headed off to our starting point. The route to S’pore Expo was scenic with landed residential homes and apartments lining both sides of the road. The lack of high-rise HDB blocks and offices was a welcome sight.

Cycling along the long stretch of Changi Coast Road, which runs adjacent to one of the Changi Airport Runways, we caught a few planes taking off. It was also a good spot to stop and take a few shots.

Malaysian Airlines taking to the friendly skies

The long and lonely Changi Coast Road

Keep Clear. Planes flying overhead.

Once past the runway, it was a short ride before we reached Changi Beach where many campers and families had decided to spend the day. Lunch was just across the bridge at Changi Village – famous for its Nasi Lemak, a tad over-rated, but that was what we had for lunch.

Nasi Lemak for hungry souls

Changi Village in sepia

The Long Road Home
As it turned out, the road leading home wasn’t exactly flat and even all the way. A full stomach and aching thighs didn’t helped either. We found out that Loyang Way and Upper Changi Rd North was not particularly kind to wanna-be cyclists, on the contrary it was probably built as an obstacle training course for real road bikers. The uphill climbs were real torture, and the downhill slope only acts as temporary rest stops for sore limbs as gravity leads you down, often too fast and too soon, as the next uphill slope looms ahead and peddle power is called on again.

So it was a great relieve when we hit the flat plains of Upper Changi Rd East and then made a pit stop at Bedok Food Court for thirst-quenching coconut drinks. Another short ride and we finally arrived back at ECP.

In a nutshell
All in all, it was a good ride (thanks to the great weather) and hopefully I had burnt off some calories on the way. Just hope the next biking trip is not too far off in the future. While Lance Armstrong’s vacated biking throne is still up for grabs, this ride has put me in my place and made it clear that ‘King of the Mountain’ should stay out of my biking vocabulary.