Saying goodbye to the Tampines Bike Park
A piece of Singapore bicycling history will disappear on Monday (Sept 15) when the gates of Tampines Bike Park are permanently shut.
The 60ha park will make way for the development of a new housing estate in Tampines, which is my neighbourhood.
The venue for the BMX event during the 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), the park is sees 2,600 riders every month, reported The Straits Times.
The numerous YouTube videos uploaded by riders show that the park is well loved.
Perhaps one of the biggest draws for those living in the east was its accessibility - it is only about 1km away from Tampines MRT station.
I remember riding through trails in the park with my friends, many afternoons after secondary school about 10 years ago.
In my head, I was a champion mountain bike racer, pedalling fast and furious, defying gravity around the corners and soaring over the jumps.
In reality, I wiped out occasionally on some of the easier trails.
But a boy can dream and this was a field of dreams.
While I did not attend any of the BMX races during the YOG, I was proud of the fact that there was an Olympic event held in my 'hood.
Growing old (and, um growing horizontally) means that I no longer had time or stamina to visit the park on my now idle bicycle.
Though, I did recently complete a running event there but running (slowly) through that park is just not the same as zipping through it on my trusty two wheels.
The news of its closing means that perhaps, I may round up some old cycling kakis and pay my old playground another visit this weekend to resurrect those boyhood racing dreams.
Hopefully I don't crash too many times.
Source: The Straits Times, YouTube.
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