NDP Punggol PCN Ride

9th August 2011 was a special day as we commemorated 46 years of our Country's independance. There was a morning introductory ride through the newly constructed Punggol PCN organised by Park Connector (on facebook).

Our day started early. The start point was at Punggol Park, 7am.

Gwyn and I had planned to take the train from Marymount to Buangkok station and ride to Punggol Park which was about 1km away. However, when we reached Serangoon, to our horror, we saw on the first world standard LCD screen that the next train towards Punggol will be arriving in 21 mins. Yes, 21 freaking minutes. For a second, we thought if it was some kind of mathematical display error. Then, we thought, maybe it meant 21 mins to get to Punggol. It sure didn't take long to realize it was neither...

The first train departing Serangoon towards Punggol was due at 640am. Seriously, this didn't and still does not make sense to us. If you have trains coming towards Serangoon from elsewhere, shouldn't the trains departing from Serangoon to elsewhere be functioning as well?!?!

We didn't have time to wait for the train. We found ourselves with two options. Flag a cab or Ride. Not sure where the courage and adrenaline came from, we opted to ride. It was completely impromptu. We practically unfolded and rode.....down Upper Serangoon Road towards Hougang Ave 10 and Punggol Park.

Said hello to a couple of slopes along the way, we got there, slow but steady and 10 minutes early! In the spirit of National Day, most of the riders turned up in shades of red and white.

The spirit of National Day was truly in sight.

The ride took us on a loop around Punggol PCN. It certainly is one of the more scenic PCNs in Singapore. Definitely a good reason to move to/live in Punggol!

I thought the bridge at Lor Halus was stunning. If not for the ride, we wouldn't even know of the existance of such a beautiful spot in Singapore. Not to mention that it's a brilliant shortcut to get from Punggol to Pasir Ris.

Some parts of the PCN was still incomplete though. Just as in life, when you hit obstacles, you work around it. We literally did that.

At some angles, it sure looked like the NDP contingent arrived 8 hours early.

Here is KC on his Recumbent bicycle with the national flag and all. We still have no idea how he managed to manoeuvre the slopes encountered along the way. RESPECT.

The final distance travelled was 31km, from Punggol to Changi Village. The same adrenaline that possessed us in the morning got to us again as we decided to ride home from Changi Village to Marymount. That (60km) battered our longest distance traveled previously set during our trip to Pengerang.

And as if God knew and wanted to give us a pat on our backs or stomachs, we were greeted with the pleasant surprise of home cooked curry courtesy of our fantastic neighbour, Helen. It was our best ever National Day yet. Many thanks to Park Connector (Facebook) and lovecyclingsg for the ride. Love is what makes the world go round. Whatever you do in life, all you need is love! Group photo credits to Francis