Nurturing Cycling Culture

Since i joined the new business unit, (in my office) i felt more freedom to express myself.  i hardly share things about myself with my previous colleague for reasons that i am not sure of, but whatever the reason was one thing for sure was i decided to keep things about myself to myself.

one of the thing that the whole business unit (including the VP) is on my hobby – cycling. i pasted the 2 pics of myself riding and posing with bike on my cubicle. believe at least 80% of traffic passed by would stop and ask – including the kakitangans of pos malaysia, staffs from other units, and some of our guests too!

1- how do you find time?

2- whats the cost?

3- i am old, can i ride?

4- must i go long distance? tak larat la, nanti kena tinggal..

5- i have bicycle but an old one, can use tak?

Looking at all above questions – i can conclude one thing – MORE and MORE of Malaysians are aware on the need to keep their health well, and they do see cycling as one of their top choice, for many reasons. To be truth, i have never ever get even 1 single rejection to the idea of cycling, as to compare to other options; i.e. jogging- boring, no proper place to jog, no friend. soccer/futsal – kaki bangku, badminton- tangan kerusi,etc..[LOL]

so dear fellows out there,  please find my answers to your queries:

1- how do you find time? – All of us were given the same hours of life per day by god, all also receive exactly 7 days too. doctor’s advice is at least to have 3 times a week , half hour each session of excercise. so, start planning your life cycle – 3×30mins is just 1.5hour/week. say you reach home after work at 6, you still have approx of 1 hour prior to the sunset.15 mins to prepare yourself, 30 mins to cycle, 15 mins to rest – you’ll have ample time to go shower on time and can use the rest of the night for resting/your personal activities/quality time with family.

2- whats the cost? – Up to you. you have more money and willing to spend, be my guest. but if you are a beginner; and beginners are normally more reluctant to spend on equipments, look into your pocket, be mindful and only spend to the amount you can afford (or willing) to. get yourself a decent, but good enough bike – to stir your interest towards the sport. i agree that not everybody will want to do cycling for the rest of their life so by doing this you will mitigate the pressure towards yourself should you decide to discontinue, or should you found something else that fits yourself better. remember – when you plan your money please DO count in costs of cycling gears i.e. helmets, proper shoes (not necessarily clip- just a normal light, comfortable sport shoes would do), gloves, and shades. at least have those 3 gears at all time. to add, water supplies (bottle, bag), hazard lights,  and speedometer (highly recommended) are among items you can have on your wish list and start fulfilling one by one as you build more love towards the sport. what ever equipment/gear you seek for – please do not choose the CHEAPEST found in store. I would suggest you to pick those in the middle between cheap and expensive. by doing this i hope you’ll get a fair experience of cycling – make it easier for you to judge the sport unbiasedly.

3- i am old, can i ride? – i have met a 65-years old riding road bike on average 40km/h, and know another guy in about the same age riding average 25km/h on MTB cross-country. age doesn’t matter! if you have the heart for it, you will make it.

4- must i go long distance? tak larat la, nanti kena tinggal.. - NO! as one of the most flexible sport in the world, it is really up to you. you may decide to go 200km a day or just going around your neighborhood. its your call.

5- i have bicycle but an old one, can use tak? - Not a problem at all. Some of my friends started with their old zaman tok kaduk punya Le-Run MTB as old as 10 years back (Kudos to you Anas), just a bit upgrade here and there; mainly on gear set and brakes. just to get a decent cycling experience.

so, whats the next step? make it real.

Malek, a senior-rank officer in my office purchased his MTB last week, a Raleigh Diablo S-Size worth RM 850. Good enough deal. 27-speed, disc brake, better than Mayol and Alan’s deal on their 27-speed, V-brake Exiway. Because they bought 2 bikes at a go, it costs them RM 750 each. imagine if they bought the bike saperately?   ok, back to Malek’s story. He brought them to office for me to take a look. gave him some tutorial on maintenance, tested-ride- nice bike.

coming monday we planned to ride after office hours – planned route will be office – tasik perdana – office. i hope i we can start with 10-km, disregarding average speed. slowly we hope we can have more and more people to join us, and perhaps to build our own MISC’s cycling club. The objective remains the same – promoting healthy lifestyle thru cycling, appreciate god’s creations, and to mingle and build relationship with the society.

that’s all i have for now, see you later – wonderful people of the world.

chow!