SINGAPORE - While others celebrated National Day with parties, cyclist Afiq Syazani, 30 marked it his own way - by cycling a 75km route that traced an image of a lion's head using GPS navigation.
The musician took over seven hours to complete his route, which he documented using a GPS tracking app, finishing it well into the early hours of Aug 9.
"Maybe if I had a better bike, I could have been a lot faster," said Mr Syazani, who rode on a foldable bike.
His friend and fellow cyclist, Mr Lucas Liew, 23, had suggested they attempt it after seeing cyclists overseas complete journeys based on artworks.
"I tried tracing many different shapes, like words, but it was all a bit too difficult. Then I thought why not do something for Singapore that people would appreciate?" said Mr Syazani.
The two then settled on the image of a lion's head for the route.
Mr Syazani did some 15 reconnoitring rides over three months to plot and work out the route.
The pair embarked on their journey together on the night of Aug 8, and cycled around the northern and central regions of Singapore, passing by places such as Toa Payoh Town Park and Nanyang Polytechnic.
However, Mr Liew was forced to drop out halfway, and Mr Syazani ended up finishing the route on his own.
"I hope that people will know from this that Singapore is not that hard to cycle around... it is really pretty achievable," he said.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...ape-of-a-lions-head-to-celebrate-national-day
