I couldn’t think of a much cooler post title, but I want to admit that cycling is fun. I remembered the Japanese alt-rock band Shonen Knife singing about it back when I was in high school too.
This may sound like a random blog post because I can’t think of anything else to write about, 1 cycling is quite personal. It became a part of my life growing up as a child, back in the old country, all the way to the new country. My dad, bro, and I used to ride our bikes all around the neighborhood and even went further to nature, such as the hills overlooking the bay to the trail next to a bridge crossing to the other side. 2
However, we all grew up and got older. You know how it is once you reach adulthood. As time passes, you lose your youth. The motivation and enthusiasm to go cycling with the family faded. My father was losing his physical strength, my brother got busy with work that he lost the motivation to play basketball with his friends or going to the gym. I simply just lost motivation altogether, with the diabetes and lost my energy because of my weight. Lastly, when dad passed on, we just got stuck with our own responsibilities and never really have the time to think about cycling again.
Five years later, with my A1C level going out of control again and my motivation to eat healthier foods going down again, my brother brought up the idea of going out cycling again. He has a little trailer seat for my nephew (his son) that can be attached to his mountain bike, and he lent me his wife’s foldable bike. He simply said, “Let’s go cycling again, so we can finally get out of the house for once!”
It’s September, and the autumn season will arrive a week before we fly out of the country. We need to start the family tradition again. Let’s go out cycling!
For now, we started biking around the park and around the block, just to get used to biking again. For me, I feel that cycling is one of those childhood skills that you can never forget as you get older. My mom used to ride a two-wheeler before when she was younger, but somehow, the fear of her not being able to ride a two-wheeler again prevented her from trying again. Even my brother was a bit worried that I could no longer balance on a two-wheeler because I haven’t ridden a bike for so long. Sure, I was slower now than I was back then, but it wasn’t as if I was racing with other bikers… bike riders? Cyclers?
We plan on cycling in much wider places nearby, such as the Quarry Lakes, Lake Elizabeth… the coast… with lots of trails, water, and the hills. I just hope we’d be able to bike through these places before our two-week out of the country vacation at the end of September. If not, we can still continue them after we return.
Photos will be taken and shared, of course. I just happen to love promoting my hometown through photos and I just love being surrounded by nature altogether.
Here’s to becoming active again and for the love of cycling!