“You really should relive your days of glory, pick up a bicycle, and cycle with us,” said my good old friend Rob time and time again when we meet up for lunch. And as always, I laughed it off and changed the topic. His determined eyes do pierce through my heart, though I am not showing it at all. Ah, the fire of passion and what remains as pride and ego on what I have humbly achieved as a cyclist, a long time ago back in UK. Maybe those eyes of determination in getting me back on a bicycle are now mixed with a tint of doubt, on what I claim I have achieved. Alas! My passion has taken me further than being a recreational cyclist. But Singapore is not a conducive environment for anything more than that.
In my humble opinion, that is.
My friend TK shared with me an accident he witnessed, at the exact location as we emerged from the Raffle City car park. It was heavy pour, on the last day of the IT Show, and I was dropping him off to another building, where he parked his car. “There were cars parked right here, not moving, aligning passengers, holding up traffic” he began the story. One car behind grew impatient, honking and prompting the cars in front to move. Still, the road was blocked. The driver from behind managed to go over the divider, slowly passing the stationary cars in front, staring fiercely at the people inside. As the car inched towards the main road, while we presume the driver was still staring at the culprits of the holdup, in anger, a bus went by from the left and smashed onto the car whose driver was too busy staring at other drivers, not looking at the main road ahead.
Bam!
As TK finished the story, he screamed, “Watch out!” I too was inching towards the main road while listening to the story attentively.
I love to cycle, back in the UK. It is the climate, the long distance, and the hills. Here in Singapore, it is humid, a city, and is mostly flat. Back then when I was in UK, the government has law and infrastructure that supports the cycling community. In the town of Oxford, there were (most likely still are) cycling lanes alongside with the main roads. Cycling on the pedestrian pavement was not allowed, neither was cycling in the dark with no light. Cyclists must observe all traffic rules. They gave hand signals when changing lanes or even to indicate going straight. The drivers took care of the cyclists and gave a much wider space when overtake. In short, my vision of a conducive environment for cyclists – recreational and enthusiast alike – should be as such. The government, the motorists, and the cyclists all play a part.
My friend Rob and I talked crazy ideas evolving about cycling all the time. From automatic tyre pressure adjustment based on terrain condition (and the how), to real time injection of glucose solution into our blood stream as our bodies take the toll of intensive cycling (and more). Then one day, he shared with me one accident that involved one of our common friends.
Three cyclists, at the East Coast Park service road, formed a line, one after another. A car tried to overtake, impatiently, as it followed the cyclists from behind. When the opportunity aroused, the car sped away, swung in front of the cyclists, and jam braked. Our common friend couldn’t stop in time, smashed onto the back of the car, thrown into the air, landed onto the ground with a dislocated shoulder and scratches. He was hospitalized, out of work for one month. It was a hit and run.
Bam!
It is always good to wrap up a writeup with a more positive picture. So picture this with me. I was in UK, with my partner, and we cycled from Oxford to Edinburgh, with our camping gear. One hill, must have been somewhere near Scotland, looked pretty majestic from a distance, but it induced fear. It was a long and steep slope. 20 kg at my back, in bright daylight, I challenged both the limitation of my physical and mental strength. Halfway through the slope, one huge farming tractor, the kind of big wheeler, trailed behind me, not overtaking me. Just trailed behind me.
My body were aching, but my will was strong. My partner he gave up halfway and had decided to push the bicycle up. I pressed on. And towards the top of the hill, the huge tractor overtook me, with a wide margin away from me. The driver gave me a huge thumb-up and drove away, disappeared into the horizon. At the top of the slope, I collapsed onto the grassy ground by the side of the road, I looked back, waiting for my partner. That, was the scene that has been with me, will be with me for the rest of my life. That thumb-up, the back of the driver, the support, that tractor, and my bicycle. That, is what I want to relive.
2 replies on “Crash! A “Retired” Cyclist Perching At A Flyover Overlooking The Streets Of Singapore”
In both incidents, impatience lead to the crash, one as a victim, another as the aggressor. Thus, not only one should have good patience, it is also important not to arose impatience in others.
Drivers who don’t cycle on roads are likely to feel cyclists riding at 40+km/h in front of his car very irritating.
Back2Nature – True. Cuz not many drivers in Singapore cycles on the roads and they wouldn’t be able to empathize.
As a driver, I don’t feel frustrated by the speed of a cyclist, because I understand how fast a cyclist can go. I am more frustrated by the fact that most cyclists wouldn’t give hand signals and all of a sudden, I saw this cyclist cut right in front of me without looking back. It is pretty scary.