Small V had to make a detour and pick me up instead. We manage to squeeze 3 bikes and people into his Honda Fit and left for Changi. We met up with Andrew and Eddie at the hawker, they had already finished breakfast so I suggested that they go first. After breakfast, small V needed some gear from the bike shop and had his rear and front deraileur adjusted.
We purchased the tickets at the jetty, $2.50 per person and $2 for each bike. We took the boat with a few expats who were going cycling too. It was a short ride to Ubin and we made our way to the Bike park from the jetty in very short time.
The bike park was about 10-15mins ride from the jetty. The leading road in turned from tar to granite gravel so I was begining to grumble as I thought it was going to be like Tampines all the way. WRONG!!!!!
The start was a long climb up a grassy hill overlooking the mainland and it was quite a sight. Unfortunately we were too shacked out to enjoy the scenery. Next we were deciding which route to take and Randy suggested back to the jetty!! Hahahaha!!!! I strongly suggested the double black diamond trail and was met with some resistant. We just rolled forward and the next thing we knew was we had already entered the nightmare start of the "Xiong" trail.
At first I was delighted as it was dirt trails instead of gravel but it reminded me of Kent Ridge park so much. It was all technical climbs and hairpin turns. It took us lots of pushing and cursing to clear the knoll. Just when I thought I could enjoy some downhill it all came to an ubrupt end with an endless series of short sharp climbs followed by sharp drops. It was very agonizing as we were not familiar with the trail. We managed to stop for a breather and chatted with some fellow bikers.
At this point, my chain was starting to show signs of wear as it keeps skipping the casette. Three quarters through, it could'nt take anymore abuse and broke. Just when I took out my chain tool it started to rain!!!! Great!
I struggled through the chain connection but with Randy's third hand tool I finally managed to fix it. By then all of us were drenched and the trail was really hazardous, any miscalculation meant a painful fall on the rocks and wet mud!
Small V did'nt disappoint the rain gods and took a tumble at a steep hairpin corner going downhill. Luckily he was'nt hurt bad and we managed to make it out of the trail.
We took a short refuge at the chalet and then made our way to the town. We chose the most traditional looking coffee shop and ordered lunch. Randy had sambal fried rice, Small V had bee hoon and I ordered salted fish fried rice. We also shared sambal kang kong $8, deepfried oatmeal prawn $18 and fried calamari $10. I must say the food was pretty good and I will definitel eat there again.
After the overeating, we went for a ride along the roads of Ubin, passing some really cool kampung houses in their original state. It really reminded me of my grandmas house which I really enjoyed the best times of my childhood.
We finished the ride with a drink at the first coffee shop that was beside the jetty. It was run by an
old malay couple in their 70s or 80s. A plaque on the wall says that they have provided free electrical power to the Ubin jetty for 14years for the safety of boatman and passengers. Thats really hard to find on the mainland nowadays. Most people are preoccupied with hoarding materail gains rather than giving. I took some goofy shots of Randy and we left the island.
It was a pretty long day spent on Ubin and we were really burnt out so we headed home. I will try Ubin again but with a better bike and fitness.
