My Bio-Cycle Story [EF#12]

Bismillaah…

This is the 12^th topic of English Blogging Club weekly challenge which has been announced by admins few days ago. The topic itself is quite simple. It is all about transportation of our daily life. We know that every one of us must be familiar with the means of transportation. Go to the office, vacations, homecoming events, and even when we accompanying our children to the school, mostly we need any means of transportation mode.

According to the title, I guess you have already know that I will write about bicycle as one of my favorite daily vehicles. I am also quite sure that you have already familiar with the tagline “bike to work”. Yes, bicycle is the most long-lasting personal transportation mode we’ve known since long ago. There are so many reasons why the bicycle is not obsolete by the age. Sometimes, we need something fast enough but environmentally safe. Sometimes, we need simple things to do like biking. Or, sometimes, we need to take care our health and endurance. Or maybe the silly reason, we just do not have enough money to buy a motorcycle. Whatever it is, I believe there must be a long story behind it. Story which has passed through generations. Not much changes, but it may remind us why do we have so complex problems while we can make it simple, as simple as pedaling a pair of wheels.

	The Most Inspiring Person I am going to start with the most inspiring person in my life. He is my father. Ever since he was a child, my father had been accustomed to riding a bike. He has traveled as about 30km each day to get to the school. Do not imagine that the path is already a fine asphalt road as it is now. It was too muddy, too many slippy rocks, and it was just a footpath, after all. If the rain had come, the most of the students might not make it to the school. They preferred to just stay and study at home. Yeah, I think it would be hard to keep our mood to study with those kinds of circumstances. For your information, my father lived in a small village called Pare which is managed by Kediri regency. One of quite large regions in East Java province. After moving to Surabaya, my father started to work on manufactory. Unfortunately, it has been closed due to financial problems. In the end, my father had to be satisfied enough with another common occupation as a construction freelance worker a.k.a “kuli bangunan” in bahasa Indonesia. And then he decided to buy a bicycle for daily transport because of its flexibility to brought and, of course, the price was affordable. Now, it has been 30 years since that time. My father still using the same bicycle called “sepeda kumbang jengki” for daily use. The distance from home to his working site is not less than 7km. So, every day my father still come up with 14km of biking across Surabaya street. Actually, I feel a little compassion for him. The real condition of our street is no longer safe for everyone. It’s just like a jungle. Especially for a low priority user like pedestrian and cyclist. I do remember how my father was hit by a car severely when I was still 5 years old. And it happened again in 2005 and 2011. 😥
	My First Ride The very first bicycle that I have is when I was 7 years old. The brand was so popular, we used to call it as BMX. I think everybody knows BMX which is commonly well-known for extreme biking usage. I was very happy when my father bought it for me as a present. A special present because finally I made up my mind of going to school, eagerly. I really loved my BMX. I used it as my daily vehicle when going to my school. Nearly elementary school in central Surabaya, SDN Banyu Urip IV. Not too far from home. It’s just 2km and I can reach it in 5 to 10 minutes. Sometimes, I did some experiments on my BMX. Paint it with different color, attaching a sticker, even so doing some modifications. Replacing the handlebar, adding a rack, and putting some accessories on it, such as artificial antenna made from a fishing pole, unique footsteps, and hand made fenders. A very nice memory to have right. Unfortunately, that thing has been sold when I was turned 12.
	Mini Trials Turning 12 meant I need a new long range vehicle. Motorcycle never became my option. Public transportation like angkot was very easy for me to ride. But, the flexibility was becoming an issue. So I decided to get a bigger bicycle. Not too big but comfortable enough for a first stage teenager boy like me to ride. Sepeda mini was the first option. But the capability was not enough for a long range distance. It can only used for one month only. What was the other option?
	MTB Strikes Yes, the answer is MTB a.k.a mountain bike. The gear set functional of MTB was very helpful. With the 7 speed standard options, I could manage a middle distance from my home to my school, SMPN 3 Surabaya primary high school. Talking about brand, there were two most widely known MTB brands at that time, Federal and Mustang. Mine was Federal. Honestly, even until now I still do not know what is the difference between them. Ah… that is not necessary, after all. I used my MTB for about six years until I graduated from senior high school.
	No Bike At All My college life was really far away from the bike thingy. It was just because I lived near the campus area. I just need to walk to get to the class. The one and only bike thingy I’ve ever knew was this. Source: Nikmatnya Pacaran Setelah Pernikahan Please focus on the bike sillhouette only. 😛
	Bike To Work Now, I realize that our body fitness is the most important thing related to our quality of life. To keep that in line, I need something to do so. And I choose to biking in order to get my life balanced. Mind refreshment, muscle movement routinely, and a cardio maintenance. I remember someone said something to me, “not smoking but never do sport is more dangerous than smoking but do some sports”. A well-said statement I believe. So, let’s bike to work.
	Inherit Something It seems the apple does not fall far from the tree. The bike thingy blood somehow inherited to my son. He likes biking very much. Just look how happy he is with his blue bicycle. My son with his bike.
	Becoming a Lifestyle Nowadays, bike to work has been very generally known. More and more people are turning to biking because there are too many problems with motor vehicle usage. Gasoline prices are increasingly rising. Traffic jam everywhere. Air pollution is getting worse. The point is we are getting tired with all of this. So, bike to work is one of the fine solutions I think. Source: Humaniora Project I feel a little happy when I saw some of the leaders began to move to popularize bike to work. The mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil, has campaigned bike to work every Friday in order to get a healthy society becomes the main participant for the best city of Bandung. I hope so. Bravo Mr. Mayor!!

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This post is a submission for BEC’s English Friday, 12^th topic: Your Means of Transport. If you want to know more, please join us! 😀

My other posts in English:
[EF#11] Eager to Wear Eiger
[EF#10] Indonesian Traditional Pastry and Cakes
[EF#9] Photography 101 Solitude Meet-up
[EF#8] Please Check Your Whensapp
[EF#7] The Story of Romance
[EF#6] ALTERnativE GOd given
[EF#5] Connecting the Dots
[EF#4] What if Nobita was a Genius
[EF#3] Gadget in a Pervasive World
[EF#2] The Wildest Dream: Becoming a President
[EF#1] Moving-On

Reference:
https://humanioraproject.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/rk-for-bandung-juara-indonesia-1/
http://hernerzecke.deviantart.com/art/Bicycles-96902566
http://www.dakwatuna.com/2013/03/22/29745/nikmatnya-pacaran-setelah-pernikahan/