Cycling with dog at Punggol Settlement

 Come cycling with Donna at Punggol Settlement!

Actually, the rental shops here offer more than bicycles. Some of the machines let you work out and enjoy the scenery along the Punggol Waterway at the same time. ;)

When it comes to outdoor activities with dogs – swimming, cycling – sometimes the camera is not the most convenient equipment to lug around. That’s when I hear the word GoPro occur in conversations.

Me? I’m usually more interested in the end results, so I guess I was more thinking along the lines of what pictures can I take?

Mr P’s cyclist friend tends to take photos of their bicycles along the route they took. And that’s sort of what we were doing already, except that instead of bicycles, we had dogs. :P

Then I saw this photo of the Biker Gang @thefurrytales and I thought that was the perfect theme for the photos coming out of this event!

Except that silly me, I forgot to charge the battery so I left the camera in the car when we arrived at Punggol Settlement for the Walk/Run/Cycle event with the Dogs of Instagram Facebook Group. I’m not a runner, so Donna largely gets long quick walks rather than runs. So this will definitely be a challenge of sorts for her.

But that’s not gonna stop us from attempting the 6km route with our friends. It’s times like this when the camera in your mobile phone comes in handy to take shots of our vehicles of choice:

Tricycle

Our group comprised dogs who are not used to running. The plan was to rent the tricycles so that when they got tired, the dogs can ride in the big basket at the back of the tricycle. It was a good plan since a number of the dogs did have to take turns sitting in the basket.

Tricycle rental – $12/hr; rent two hours and get the third hour free. 

Some points to note

• Owner needs to be near the dog. If owner rides too far ahead on a different vehicle, dog may jump out of the basket to try to reach the owner.
• Be careful not to overload the basket. In our case, it tipped over and spilled the dogs and items that were in the basket at one point.

Otherwise, the tricycle is probably the easiest and safest item to rent for a safe, fun time with your dog. Sadly, there were only two of these available for rent when we were there, which was why we had to make do with two and the dogs had to take turns in it.

Bicycle

Personally, I wobble a little on the bicycle. I am not the safest rider to be around. And once I tested out this bicycle, I knew I wouldn’t ride and have Donna running alongside me at the same time. I wouldn’t be able to focus on both and there is definitely a high chance I would run over her!

Bicycle rental – $10/hr; rent two hours and get the third hour free. Unfortunately, no testing of the bicycle allowed. After we rented and rode some way, the chain came off and Mr P had to walk it back to the rental shop to change for a new one. That made both of us unhappy customers. 

But if you are good on a bicycle, this is probably a good option, especially with the basket in front to carry your small dog.

Scooter

Truth: the first time I saw a little boy on the Fliker Carver scooter, I laughed. He was just so funny wriggling his behind and trying to get the scooter to go faster.

But you know what, if you’re looking for a workout, then this scooter will definitely give you one. That is, unless you have border collies that pull you along like sled dogs.

And for Donna dog who trots along or strolls more than run, this scooter should be gentler to her than a bicycle.

Because although the commercial shows you this:

Reality is this:

Haha! The scooter takes some getting use to.

So it’s perfect for moving at a slower pace while dog slowly learns to run alongside it without pulling. And the human doesn’t get bored with the slow pace because you’re trying to figure out how to accelerate or at least sustain a continuous cruise along the path. Not always possible, be prepared to push when going upslope. Haha!

Fliker scooter rental – 1 hour-$12, 2 hours-$18, 3 hours-$20.  
Poor tired dogs sit for camera :P

That said, we all got the hang of it after a while and started going faster so the dog did get to run along, rather than just trot along. ;)

 

Roller blades

Bring your own – skates, roller blades, kick scooter, etc A convenient option for those humans who can balance real well. Not me. :P

The handsome Reyner modeling his human’s roller blades.

Group photo

Taking a photo of Donna before a vehicle was easy. Taking a photo of a group of dogs, difficult. We didn’t even try to get all the vehicles in. :P Just the token few.

 Donna and her new friends – Jack JRT, Beanie Corgi, Shelties – Kooky, Nugget, Echo, Mango, Japanese Spitz – Cookie, Kanon, Reyner Sheltie and Ritchie the Japanese Spitz. We’re missing Border Collies – Lycan and Lexie and Mongrels – Abbey and Witty because they raced ahead of us. 

See video from that day 

What worked for us

Taking dog our for a bicycle or scooter ride on a weekend is not easy. Punggol settlement is crowded by runners, cyclist, etc, sometimes in a crowded blocking the path, sometimes singly. So it will be hard for someone not used to cycling, etc to watch the road, watch the dog and watch the traffic at the same time.

That said, it is not something we’ll never do again. But we’ll probably both take the scooter next time, so Mr P and I can keep pace with each other better. And if you’re new to it like us, it would be a better idea to spend at most two hours for the first try, despite the shops renting out on a 2 hours and get the 3rd hour free.

 

How did Donna fare?

Donna is good at loose leash walking, but I don’t regularly practise her heel with her when out for walks. This means, when we just started scootering along she did try to yo-yo to the left or right when she gets distracted by scents in the grass.

I found that having her on my left directly next to the grass works as I have been working with her heeling on the left side. And also, she is less likely to try to move to my right than my left because the grass is on the left.

Eventually she realised that if she goes too near to the scooter, she is likely to collide into it, so she learnt to keep a healthy distance from it while on the lead.

Once the I figured out how to make the scooter move more consistently, Donna found that she had to trot along at a faster pace in order to still be on a loose lead. That helped her focus and she was less distracted by the grass.

The only time she refused to walk was when I left her with Mr P and went ahead without them. The bicycle just goes faster. :P It was assumed she was too tired to move so she was moved to the basket on the tricycle. By the time, I cycled back to reach her I found she had jumped off the basket while it was moving.

So no more separating poor Donna from her human. :P Once I was back, Donna was happy to be on her feet again.

In general, we kept the speed at a slow cruise so Donna never had a need to gallop. We also had frequent water breaks and rest stops, so that by the end of the day Donna still had energy left over to explore the grass while the humans rested and chatted.

 

How did the humans fare?

Both Mr P and I were ready to turn back about 1.5 hours into the scootering and biking. So 2 hours will probably still see us in a good shape to hang out for a drink. But after 3 hours, all I wanted to do was to head home. :P

Night falls, strolling back with tired Donna to return the vehicles. 

About Punggol Settlement

The Punggol Settlement is a two storey building housing mostly food and beverage outlets in a bid to become a dining destination of its own. More about the dining experience by the sea here. This is also the starting point for weekenders out for a day of sport, since the two sport equipment rental shops are housed at a corner of the building.

Where to rent

• Bicycle and Tricycle rental
  • Jomando Adventure & Recreation
  • 3 Punggol Point Road, The Punggol Settlement [map]
• Fliker Carver Scooters
  • Look.Good.Naked
  • 3 Punggol Point Road, The Punggol Settlement [map]