The Story of YNC Cycling

Ayrton ‘A.J.’ San Joaquin

Class of 2022

YNC Cycling has been the weirdest sport offered in Yale-NUS. We didn’t have coaches nor formal training programs. Yet we probably had the most expensive equipment (which regularly broke from repeated heavy use). Also, the entire country + (Malaysia and Indonesia in special cases) was our court.

YNC Cycling is also weird because of the places we went to. If we felt like it, we would bike through our local crematorium at Mandai and pass over Bukit Brown cemetery via Lornie Highway (which coincidentally was also the most dangerous road to bike on). On normal days, we would either go (1) through the numerous chemical plants in Singapore West to reach Lamp post #1 at Tuas, (2) through East Coast Park and Changi Airport to reach Changi Village, (3) through the farms in Singapore to reach Kranji, or to (4) Mt. Faber to climb Singapore’s only “mountain”.

Finally, YNC Cycling is weird because of the people. We arguably had the greatest number of members (the group chat count was >150 after COVID-19 restrictions lifted), of which I think 80% were inactive. Regardless, we developed a family of people who regularly rush assignments to join rides, mess up their sleep cycle, join for supper, or make last-minute cancellations on all three (we’re all guilty!). I’m blessed to have enjoyed seeing the faces of Singapore most locals never get to see with the most diverse group of people I know.

An Exchange Student’s Perspective

Ken Tanaka

Exchange Student, Spring 2020

Currently, I live in a shoebox 20 sq m apartment in Tokyo. There’s barely enough space for all my belongings and the kitchen “counter” is so small that I have to put bowls of chopped vegetables on the floor when I cook, and yet I devote very valuable real estate in my room towards storing a road bike. This irrational rationale stems entirely from Yale-NUS Cycling.

My first experience with Yale-NUS Cycling was actually rather indirect. Zhicong (mahjong lover, YNC shirt collector, and friend) wanted to take me and another exchanger, Kalle, on a short bicycle trip to explore the surrounding area and grab some food. Naturally, not having a bicycle of my own, Zhicong connected me to Danny and the YNC Cycling Club to borrow a bicycle. There ends my first interaction with YNC Cycling – a foot in the door. The last time I had ridden a bicycle seriously must have been many years ago; however, I enjoyed my little cycling outing – I felt it was a cool way to see a new place while also getting exercise in.

A few days after, Danny invited me on a YNC Cycling trip to Marina Bay Sands. I was initially a bit nervous, since I didn’t know if I had the power to cycle ~30 km, and I was unfamiliar with cycling on roadways. However, curiosity got the better of me, and I ended up participating. I was amazed by the efficiency of the road bike (having grown up only riding heavier hybrid bikes), met some cool folks, was able to see Marina Bay Sands for the first time, and had a blast. We ended the ride with some amazing Indian food, which didn’t hurt in cementing this experience as one that I felt I would love to do again.

Following that trip, I would become increasingly more active in the club, joining trips to places like Sentosa, Mt. Faber, Kranji, MacRitchie Reservoir, and East Coast Park. Many of my YNC friends ended up being from that community – Abdul, AJ, Aryan, Charles, Danny, Golam, Zhicong, and more. I also got some of my exchange student friends, like Kalle and Otso, to come along on many of the rides. Kalle’s probably the only person in YNC history to be tall enough to ride the Black Polygon.

Though my time in Singapore was prematurely cut short due to the outbreak of our favorite global pandemic, joining the cycling club was huge in making my YNC experience as great as it was. Having stepped foot on campus knowing only Zhicong, the club helped launch some great friendships that have continued on beyond the period of my exchange. Notably, AJ and I did a couple great cycling rides in the Bay Area in 2022 when he visited (Berkeley -> Marin County -> SF is a great ride), and I later slept on his floor for almost a week when revisiting Singapore in 2023 (it wasn’t that uncomfortable). Abdul also took me around Uzbekistan for 10 days in 2022, which has nothing to do with YNC Cycling, except it also has everything to do with YNC Cycling, as I’m not sure I would have met him had I not participated in the club.

Joining the club also helped me discover a new hobby, and quite frankly has changed my life for the better. I came home to California from exchange absolutely obsessed with cycling, and quickly bought a road bike (the very same one still in my apartment today). I would spend a lot of time cycling around San Jose (my hometown), exploring the city in a way I had been unable to do as simply a passenger in a car. I went to Japan and cycled between Tokyo and Kyoto, seeing many cool tourist attractions and pushing myself to cycle continuously for 10 days straight. When I returned to Yale, I joined the local New Having Bicycling Club, which was a fun experience of its own that would warrant a whole separate essay. I cycled to Massachusetts and back in one day, a 250 km trip that’s probably one of the harder things I’ve done in life. More broadly, my time cycling at YNC rekindled in me a love for the outdoors and exercising that I’d sadly abandoned during my high school and early college years. Today, aside from cycling, I also enjoy hiking, running, and buying expensive Garmins. Picking up cycling really did change my life, and for the better.

So, is it really so odd then that I sleep, eat, and live a meter or two away from my road bike? Probably not, in fact – it’s a tangible symbol of something I enjoy doing, and equally as important, a reminder of the impact that YNC Cycling had, and continues to have, on my life.

Looking forward to cycling Kranji in the future again!