Strida Riders are often 'low-profile' cyclists. We are happy cycling alone and even happier cycling in a group. We don't even like to speed.
However when you have 20 Stridas lined up together at the beginning of a ride, it cannot help but grab eyeballs. Folded Stridas in brush silver, yellow, white, black, red with green, black, blue and orange mudguards, it can be quite a colourful sight!
So 20 Strida riders woke up on a bright and early Saturday morning, and made their way to ECP F2 Carpark. Many even cycled from their homes in Bishan and Hougang (already a work-out!) to ECP.
The rides gets bigger each time, yet it was very nice to see familar faces like Rex, Regina, Sinclair, Will5555, Hippo, Awcute, SlimJim, OldieONFoldie, Paricutin43, Tinman and Oklah. Newer riders like Blur, e_motionsfly, Kia_Bo_He, Howie, Amanda, Uncle Chai and Siew Tin were warmly welcomed again.
In fact, our latest Strida addition - Howie had bought a MK5 (MK stands for Mark Sanders who is the designer of Strida) a day before the ride, practised hard on his Strida around his estate in the evening in order to ensure his tip top cycling condition on ride day! He found the Strida very easy to ride, fun and a great opportunity to get to know other cyclists.
And our Strida Rider, Uncle Chai who bought his yellow Strida many months ago also appeared for his very first group ride! He looked like he enjoyed the Strida company!
We congregrated with the Dahon riders and rode with them for a short while to the end of ECP and then made a roundabout turn to cycle to Fort Road.
Guiding us to Old Kallang Airport Road for a heart breakfast was the tall and gangly Will555 who rode ahead to lead the way and then stopped traffic at zebra crossing for all the Strida Riders!
With his expert cycling and even better sense of direction, he led us through Fort Road, Mountbatten Road and next thing we knew, we were at Old Airport Road.
Little did we expect the mini commotion we created as we 'stormed' the hawker centre with our folded Stridas. Many customers at other tables turned their heads to take a second look at the folded Strida being rolled through the hawker centre breezily.
We parked our Stridas in a neat line at a outdoor area and sat down at the nearby tables. A few made a beeline for the famous wantan mee, loh mee and kway chap. Others drank copious amounts of soya milk and lime juice to quench their thirst.
After the makan, the Strida Riders, led by Willl555 again, rode back to the Strida shop at Lavender to enjoy a bit of cool airconditioning and more water!
Awcute and Blur even helped demo the Strida to newbie customers at the shop while SlimJim sweltered in the sun outside the shop to tinker with his Strida.
