After getting my license on the 3 July 2015 (Friday), I took my company bike for the first ride out on the 9 July 2015 (Thursday). It was a short distant ride out where I traveled from Orchard towards the end of Tanglin road and back again. Below is a snapshot of myself riding out for the first time.
First weekend of riding (24 - 26 July)
I have been planning to sign out a bike to ride around parts of Singapore over one of the weekend. The weekend of the 24-26 July 2015 has been chosen to be the weekend of ride as I need to get around several places rapidly. A combination of buses and taxi over the 3 days would have cost me S$40. But the total I spent on the motorcycle is S$12 (S$6 fuel and S$6 parking). The places I visited over the 3 days is shown in the picture below.
One of my main strength is map-reading. Thus I'm able to look at the map and easily decipher the routes to take. But if it's the first time I'm visiting a locality, I will need to revisit the map again once I'm closer to the destination (to identify the smaller roads).
Day 1 - 24 Jul 2015
I have an appointment at Bukit Panjang Plaza on Friday. It will be my first time riding such a long distance (20km) to another location, I decided to go via the non-expressway route along Holland Road, Clementi Road and Bukit Timah Road. The journey took me 45mins. There's lots of construction going along the hillview area as they are building the downtown line. I overshot Bukit Panjang and headed towards Choa Chu Kang. But I managed to find a u-turn and head back to Bukit Panjang. I did a more accurate map identification in bukit panjang HDB estate and parked at the multi-storey carpark next to Bukit Panjang Plaza carpark. The parking rates are much lower.
After my appointment, I decided to take the BKE and PIE combination back home at Marine Parade. The route is even longer at 25km. It will be my first time traveling that long-distance on an expressway. I timed it at 9pm where the traffic along the expressways will not be that heavy. The traffic was smooth and I arrived at East Coast park at 9.30pm. But the East Coast Park carpark opposite my house has been closed for upgrading. I have no choice but to park at the multi-storey carpark next to my block.
Day 2 - 25 Jul 2015
I left my house at 8.30am and head towards the expressway. This morning I will be taking the ECP-MCE-AYE combination towards lower delta road. My destination is the old NIE building (Institute of Adult Learning) along Tanglin Road. It came as a surprise that parking is free there.
After my class, I head back towards the AYE-MCE-ECP and exited at Fort road towards Kallang Theatre for a talk. There's heavy traffic along Mountbatten road towards Nicoll Highway. It is here where I applied the planking techniques of travelling past stationary vehicles towards the stadium. Going back at night, there were road blocks around Kallang stadium and all traffic were routed to Tanjong Rhu area where I travelled along Mountbatten road towards Katong area. My destination is the Esso petrol station at Still Road. From there, I made my way back home to the multi-storey carpark.
Day 3 - 26 Jul 2015
I departed home at 7.30am back to somerset where I will be getting all my additional riding gear. I am picking up AJ in the morning. I travelled along the ECP-Rocher-Cavenagh route. After getting the gears, I went along Orchard-Scotts-Novena-Balestier route to fetch AJ. From there is the Lavender-Balestier route to Middle road where there is a public carpark. As the weather report show it's going to rain in many parts of Singapore, I decided to return the bike and take a bus home.
Review
Motorcycle riding is quite a convenient way to get around as long as it's not raining. It is congestion proof where the bike can travel in between cars to get to the front. But the rider will need lots of focus and attention throughout the journey. The 3 days of riding around has been quite tiring for my side as I have traditionally spent the time travelling to rest on buses/trains. I also responded less on phone messages as I have less free time in between my day to respond to them.
The parking rates of motorcycle is cheap (65 cents a day) or free in many places. It does get really hot in covered highways such as MCE or in the afternoon. Motorcycle riding can be considered to be a form of exercise or sauna.
I have also gained experience in having to pillion someone. The balance feels different but after a while, it's quite alright.
In total over the 3 days, I have rode for 4 hours over 120km. The distance breakdown are:
Somerset to Bukit Panjang Plaza: 20km / 45mins
Bukit Panjang Plaza to Marine Parade: 30km / 40mins
Marine Parade to Tanglin Road: 20km / 20mins
Tanglin Road to Stadium to Marine Parade: 20km / 40mins
Marine Parade to Somerset to Balestier: 15km / 30mins
Balestier to Bugis to Somerset: 15km / 30mins
SOP for motorcycle riding
There are many things to prepare before and after riding. I have written down an SOP here so I will not forget:
Pre-Riding:
1. Put on riding jacket
2. Put on helmet
3. Keep the bags in the containers
4. Zip up my phone and card holders in the jacket
5. Turn on the bike engine
6. Insert cashcard, check on the value
7. If it's at night, turn on high beam
8. Put on gloves and good to go
Post-Riding:
1. Off engine and park properly
2. Lock the bike and remove keys
3. Remove cashcard
4. Remove gloves
5. Put phone and card holders back
6. Remove riding jacket
7. Remove helmet
8. Put everything at the containers
Second weekend of riding (14 - 15 August)
As I need to travel to Clementi on the 14 August evening for class till 10pm and back to the west side at Redhill on the 15 August from 9am, I decided to grab the bike and ride to these two places. There are some changes to my riding techniques this time round and I have updated the SOP.
After riding, I will keep my jacket and gloves in the side box and place my helmet on the motorcycle handlebar. In this way, I am able to finish my post-riding check in a minute. The rest of the things like keys, cashcard, phone and card holders will just go into my pocket.
First weekend of riding (24 - 26 July)
I have been planning to sign out a bike to ride around parts of Singapore over one of the weekend. The weekend of the 24-26 July 2015 has been chosen to be the weekend of ride as I need to get around several places rapidly. A combination of buses and taxi over the 3 days would have cost me S$40. But the total I spent on the motorcycle is S$12 (S$6 fuel and S$6 parking). The places I visited over the 3 days is shown in the picture below.
One of my main strength is map-reading. Thus I'm able to look at the map and easily decipher the routes to take. But if it's the first time I'm visiting a locality, I will need to revisit the map again once I'm closer to the destination (to identify the smaller roads).
Day 1 - 24 Jul 2015
I have an appointment at Bukit Panjang Plaza on Friday. It will be my first time riding such a long distance (20km) to another location, I decided to go via the non-expressway route along Holland Road, Clementi Road and Bukit Timah Road. The journey took me 45mins. There's lots of construction going along the hillview area as they are building the downtown line. I overshot Bukit Panjang and headed towards Choa Chu Kang. But I managed to find a u-turn and head back to Bukit Panjang. I did a more accurate map identification in bukit panjang HDB estate and parked at the multi-storey carpark next to Bukit Panjang Plaza carpark. The parking rates are much lower.
After my appointment, I decided to take the BKE and PIE combination back home at Marine Parade. The route is even longer at 25km. It will be my first time traveling that long-distance on an expressway. I timed it at 9pm where the traffic along the expressways will not be that heavy. The traffic was smooth and I arrived at East Coast park at 9.30pm. But the East Coast Park carpark opposite my house has been closed for upgrading. I have no choice but to park at the multi-storey carpark next to my block.
Day 2 - 25 Jul 2015
I left my house at 8.30am and head towards the expressway. This morning I will be taking the ECP-MCE-AYE combination towards lower delta road. My destination is the old NIE building (Institute of Adult Learning) along Tanglin Road. It came as a surprise that parking is free there.
After my class, I head back towards the AYE-MCE-ECP and exited at Fort road towards Kallang Theatre for a talk. There's heavy traffic along Mountbatten road towards Nicoll Highway. It is here where I applied the planking techniques of travelling past stationary vehicles towards the stadium. Going back at night, there were road blocks around Kallang stadium and all traffic were routed to Tanjong Rhu area where I travelled along Mountbatten road towards Katong area. My destination is the Esso petrol station at Still Road. From there, I made my way back home to the multi-storey carpark.
Day 3 - 26 Jul 2015
I departed home at 7.30am back to somerset where I will be getting all my additional riding gear. I am picking up AJ in the morning. I travelled along the ECP-Rocher-Cavenagh route. After getting the gears, I went along Orchard-Scotts-Novena-Balestier route to fetch AJ. From there is the Lavender-Balestier route to Middle road where there is a public carpark. As the weather report show it's going to rain in many parts of Singapore, I decided to return the bike and take a bus home.
Review
Motorcycle riding is quite a convenient way to get around as long as it's not raining. It is congestion proof where the bike can travel in between cars to get to the front. But the rider will need lots of focus and attention throughout the journey. The 3 days of riding around has been quite tiring for my side as I have traditionally spent the time travelling to rest on buses/trains. I also responded less on phone messages as I have less free time in between my day to respond to them.
The parking rates of motorcycle is cheap (65 cents a day) or free in many places. It does get really hot in covered highways such as MCE or in the afternoon. Motorcycle riding can be considered to be a form of exercise or sauna.
I have also gained experience in having to pillion someone. The balance feels different but after a while, it's quite alright.
In total over the 3 days, I have rode for 4 hours over 120km. The distance breakdown are:
Somerset to Bukit Panjang Plaza: 20km / 45mins
Bukit Panjang Plaza to Marine Parade: 30km / 40mins
Marine Parade to Tanglin Road: 20km / 20mins
Tanglin Road to Stadium to Marine Parade: 20km / 40mins
Marine Parade to Somerset to Balestier: 15km / 30mins
Balestier to Bugis to Somerset: 15km / 30mins
SOP for motorcycle riding
There are many things to prepare before and after riding. I have written down an SOP here so I will not forget:
Pre-Riding:
1. Put on riding jacket
2. Put on helmet
3. Keep the bags in the containers
4. Zip up my phone and card holders in the jacket
5. Turn on the bike engine
6. Insert cashcard, check on the value
7. If it's at night, turn on high beam
8. Put on gloves and good to go
Post-Riding:
1. Off engine and park properly
2. Lock the bike and remove keys
3. Remove cashcard
4. Remove gloves
5. Put phone and card holders back
6. Remove riding jacket
7. Remove helmet
8. Put everything at the containers
Second weekend of riding (14 - 15 August)
As I need to travel to Clementi on the 14 August evening for class till 10pm and back to the west side at Redhill on the 15 August from 9am, I decided to grab the bike and ride to these two places. There are some changes to my riding techniques this time round and I have updated the SOP.
After riding, I will keep my jacket and gloves in the side box and place my helmet on the motorcycle handlebar. In this way, I am able to finish my post-riding check in a minute. The rest of the things like keys, cashcard, phone and card holders will just go into my pocket.
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