My cycling in Singapore experiences - How I started

I notice there are people reading my cycling related posts. Let me try starting a series on it. Actually, I had this idea long time ago, but was stucked in planning out how should it be organized. I think I shall just start writing down whenever I recall something to put down here. Therefore, this series will appear here on an adhoc basis and without any particular timeline or order.

Nevertheless, I shall begin with what triggered me to use bicycle as my main transportation ... here, although I've already mentioned it briefly in point 5 of a recent post.

I had been cycling from Clementi to NUS for a few weeks. One day, I needed to go to Tanjong Pagar. However, I couldn't find a place near the MRT station that I felt was good and safe (from theft) to park the bike. Also out of curiousity, I decided to ride straight down to Tanjong Pagar. That trip took me 45 minutes, which I find is not too bad since I wasn't familiar of the route, and on a 24" bike.

I don't compare this 45 minutes bicycle riding with 17 minutes by MRT from Clementi to Tanjong Pagar. I would consider the whole trip from when we step out of our door until we step into the destination. For bicycle, that would typically be an additional 5 minutes overhead. For public transport, that would include waiting time and more walking times, which could typically be as long as 10 to 25 minutes.

I was surprised that riding bicycle isn't that slow. In fact, the trip took about only 35 minutes on a 26" bike and after being more familiar with the route.