An interview with Joyriders

Date: Sunday, 28 February 2010

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Recently, we had an interview with one of the biggest cycling clubs in Singapore; Joyriders.

Read on to know more about the club, how they started, and their rides.

When was Joyriders started?

Up till end of 2003, Joyce was doing triathlons but due to a chronic injury, she cannot run anymore thus her activities were restricted to cycling only. After that a small group of us will ride regularly in the morning. “Regular” is a relative term, as we were riding every morning except Monday which is rest day. At that time there was only about 3-4 of us riding regularly from Joyce’s place which was then at Lakeview, some two bus stops away from our current meeting place at Longhouse. Due to the regularity of our cycling schedule - 5am, every morning except Mondays and when it rains - we started meeting other regular cyclings who also ride in the wee hours of the morning. By mid 2005, we had a regular group of decent sized riders going out.

In Jan 2006 we had our first “official” Joyride when we received our birthday present from Joyce – the first red Joyrider jersey. Our group also grew big enough that we started a forum to post various communication such as public holiday ride details, rather than emailing to the ever-growing list of people.

In that sense, 2006 was the start of Joyriders.

How many members does your club currently have?

There are about 700 members in our club presently.

Just curious, what does the snail on your jersey represent?

The Snail Queen is Joyce! Without her, Joyriders would not have come to be, but without her dedication, Joyriders would not have become what it is. To know more, you have to join our rides and find out from her.

How often are your rides and where do you guys usually meet?

We meet at 5am every weekday at Longhouse, Upper Thomson Road, except Mondays. We find that starting early allows us to get our cycling out of the way and head to work or school. Also, starting at such an early hour means we finish our cycling before the traffic starts getting heavy. A loop back to Longhouse should end by 7.15am

On weekends we have more rides, starting at various times between 5.30am till 7am. There is another group that meets in the East at Big Splash. In fact there is even a group doing night rides now from Singapore Expo.

Do you guys ride leisurely or competitively?

We started out as a group of fun riders. Yes, we do train seriously and some of us do take part in races. Due to the size of the group now, we have various rides at the different timings to cater for both the faster and the more leisurely riders. Also for safety reasons, we are making the groups smaller to make them more manageable. Do check out our website for ride details http://www.joyriders.sg/index.php/our-rides

How do cyclists join joyriders and is there a fee?

There are no fees. Just sign onto the forum… and ride with us!

With the "Lion King", Mario Cipollini.

Do you guys do anything besides cycling?

Eat. And socialize. Some of our members also do triathlon and we do go down to support them when they have races. When the opportunity arises, we do hold talks for our members. Or sometimes when a celebrity comes down to town, we may have some contacts who can organize a group outing, like Mario Cipollini who was here last year.

Do you guys do anything to promote road safety when cycling?

Yes, safety is the most important aspect of our cycling group. We will advise riders who do not practice safe riding habits. Helmets and lights are mandatory. We do not make a nuisance of ourselves on the road and we follow the traffic rules as best we can. Sometimes, it gets difficult when there are cyclists from other groups who are not aware of our safety practices joining us for the rides during the weekends. In such a big group, it can be difficult to manage. We try to look at the situations and make changes to the rides as necessary. Recently we started more rides at different times to split into smaller, manageable groups, as well as having another group start from Big Splash.

Do you have any tips for cyclists who just started cycling and looking for a group?

The car is always right. Haha *kidding*. Riding in a group allows cyclists to be more visible to vehicles in general. However, one should acquire the basic skills of riding first, to be fair to the other cyclists. As there are many newbies who join us also, some may naturally drop behind the group to ride on their own but where possible, there may be a guardian angel who will accompany the newbie. This is not always possible so we try to advise new riders to start off with the slower groups or rides that make a loop back to the start.

In fact we are proud that Joyriders are one of the very few cycling groups that actually cater to new cyclists.

We would like to thank Joyce and Bernard from Joyriders for making this interview possible.

For more information about Joyriders, please log on to www.joyriders.sg

Want to ask a question about Joyriders? Post it here: http://www.cyclorum.com/forum/topic?id=60