I'm a cyclist- a leisure cyclist- on and off- about eight years now?
And whilst I can't say I'm the sort who puts heart and soul into the sport and into the gear, I can say that I know what is necessary and I know what it is that I need, and want.
Cycling, to me, is one of the most liberating activities I've ever done.
It has (from time to time) woken the competitive side of me.
It has also (from time to time) shaken up the determined side of me.
Beyond all the physical and mental conditioning that cycling has given me, if there's one thing that cycling has done, it is that it has brought me to places I would otherwise have not gone.
You see, we're not a very big country.
Neither are we a very scenic one. (Hello Taiwan)
In other words, this land mass of housing estates, factories, homes, shops, skyscrapers, Green Corridor and etc is all that we have, and all that we can go to. Take into consideration what life throws you and our circle and our places of interest become smaller and smaller.
On the day to day I don't get to go many places.
But cycling has brought me there.
There are places I wouldn't have gone had I not been on my bike.
Like Old Lim Chu Kang Road and Sarimbun (which I only made it halfway).
Like Woodlands Park way up to the north of the north that overlooks the Johor Straits and which one must take a bit of winding road through Canberra to get there.
Like Jalan Bahar and its surroundings which on regular days you won't have much of a need to pass through there.
I have heard live firing whilst traversing through Kranji whilst on Rose.
I have gone to Labrador Park and seen huge monitor lizards on Daffy.
And amongst the places I have gone, you see the picture of Daffy on the stretch of PCN along the Serangoon River area that leads you to either Gerard Avenue and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, or Punggol Point and Seletar beyond.
You also see Daffy at Punggol Point itself which is where many a cyclist makes a pit stop because of there's a 7-11 there (and because by that time some of us are huffling for water and 100Plus and even banana).
There's waiting by the pillar of Stamford Court because it had suddenly started raining heavily and it seemed wiser to wait it out than chug through the rain along busy Victoria Street on a Saturday.
And then there's Daffy by some random metal railing along Upper East Coast Road because Blue (her riding companion) had taken a wrong turn somewhere behind her and she decided to wait.
Other pictures of Daffy include her at Geylang because her owner wanted to have a bowl of salted tau huey with youtiao at this shop on one of the lorongs and her riding companion brought her there.
And yes, there's Daffy and Blue outside City Square Mall because they needed new little bike bags from Decathlon upstairs.
Not every destination with Daffy is memorable.
Sometimes it is the journey that's been taken to get there.
Like the slopes I had to huff up towards Clementi Mall because we had come from (either) Pasir Panjang or West Coast or don't-know-where.
I write this now because in recent days there's been this huge- HUGE- discussion about cyclists, which talk somehow shifted from cyclists on the wrong lane of the road to cyclists hogging the road to cyclists on the road to cyclists on the pavement to cyclists on the PCN to cyclists who show off to cyclists who don't show off etc etc etc- and it all culminated in "let's license the cyclists"- or let us "consider"
Now I don't know if the licensing thing is a good idea- each to his own- but I do wonder how effective this effort will be, who really benefits from it, and how much of an impact this will have on what is in fact just a simple, enjoyable activity.
See, there are many kinds of cyclists in this world.
There are those who take the sport with a 150% competitive attitude.
There are those who take the sport with a 65% competitive attitude.
There are those who take the sport with a functional attitude.
And there are those who take the sport with a 'smell flower ride' attitude.
Those who take the sport with a 150% attitude aren't those whom society claim to be showoffs and posers.
They don't have to.
They're already winners.
They've already got the best gear, and none of them will be stupid enough to put their skills to the test on the road with lorries and cars and buses zooming past them at less than a meter's width away.
Those who take the sport with a 65% competitive attitude aren't the posers and showoffs either.
Yes, they love a good race, but 35% of their attitude is slack, so they choose carefully the place if they want to speed, and their 35% brain will also tell them not to do it on the road.
If they are on the road, it is for good reason- the road is better paved, there are fewer distractions, there is lesser bike traffic (no kids, no first-timers, no couples riding side by side holding hands).
And as much as they take zero f**ks from bully drivers, they aren't that dumb to risk their lives for the sake of growth and stamina and competition and whatnot either.
Who, then, are the posers and the showoffs?
What, the functional riders?
Of course not.
They're just getting from place to place. They don't have time.
And interestingly, these are the ones who make up the bulk of the 'cycling community'.
It is the teenager trying to earn extra pocket money (and maintain his hobby) by becoming a food delivery rider.
It is the worker cycling from his home/dorm to the worksite, or to the nearest shops because his dorm is in a place so ulu it is literally in the middle of nowhere.
It is the housewife cycling to the supermarket in the town center or her favorite wet market because the fishes there are fresher and she can do with the exercise.
It is also the father and mother who cycles his and her kids to school in the morning and picks them up after school is over.
There're so many more.
The dude who cycles down to the coffee shop or the hawker center to tapao dinner or breakfast for the family.
The senior citizen who has been cycling for 60 years without accident or summons and continues to keep on his cranky bike because he knows his legs still can.
Are they then the showoffs and posers?
No.
They're not.
They're not the ones who are found in the middle lane on flyovers and who road hog on Jalan Buroh and Kheam Hock Road towards PIE.
They're not the ones who spend $10,000 on a bike and then because they've spent that much money, have to build a lifestyle around it and go about telling everyone about their very expensive gear and its peripherals.
Would you think they are the ones who think they're top notch fitness and so can do anything and have the power to 'take down' 'take out' anyone and anything, moving vehicle included?
No, I don't think so.
True, they do go on the road, but (most of the time) they keep to the leftmost of the last lane, or sometimes weaving through a pedestrian crossing but that's usually because the bus got near and they have no intention to challenge anybody.
Should then they be subject to a solution caused by the egoistical attitudes of a few black sheep?
I don't think so either.
Whatever solution there is, I hope it will be fair and just and not be a one-size-fits-all simply because some people with a 65% competitive attitude think they're 150%.
Because at the end of the day, I just want to cycle from East Coast Road to Neo Tiew Estate and Kranji via West Coast Highway, Jalan Boon Lay and Jalan Bahar, and then come back east via Woodlands Road, Dunearn Road and Kampong Java or Mandai Road, Yishun, Lentor, Yio Chu Kang and Hougang.
That's just it.
Plain and simple.
And I'd like Daffy to enjoy the many, many interesting views that only she can go, and me only she can bring.
