I Love Cycling. I find it hard to believe going through my university life without a bicycle, It completed my personal development in some ways I did not expect it to be. I bought it during my third semester and it has been 2 years then of full utilization of it. Well, i am still yet to be someone hardcore, who knows everything about bicycle and accessories upgrading etc, but am just a person who cycles regularly in campus and sometimes an extensive distance around the island.
I could be talking about Green or Sustainable Transport or Sports Hobby but the context of this post is about Cycling in University! Again this post is my very own opinion after cycling for almost 2 years, while it could be different with your opinion due to your campus situation etc, but as far as I know UTAR Kampar students will not be a stranger to this post.
1. It’s SAFE – I think it’s more to the reason that I’m saying it’s not safe cycling Outside of the Campus. So grab the opportunity now as you are in university compound that gives you somehow a secure location to cycle around, and furthermore, I suppose if anything happens to you within the university compound, then you are protected by insurance or whatsoever. It’s funny that in Malaysia context we find that campus life is often portrayed by someone cycling around, but we find it strange to the cyclist in the urban setting, safety stereotypes.
2. It’s FAST – One of the ways I manage my time is by cycling again. I need not wait for transportation, bus will take me 30minutes from my hostel to the school, while bicycle only took 5minutes, because I am travelling from Point A to Point B without stopping and it’s a shorter route as bicycle we can go against the flow of traffic (in fact it is safer to do so). I always had a hectic to do list then, especially during lunch break 1 hour I will travel to 3 or 4 points for activities planning approval etc.
3. MONEY Sense – Unless there’s a need, let’s just forget about having a car. Frankly speaking, I suggest people think twice before they own a car, not having it as a basic necessity of transport, you could still depend on public transport and don’t say it’s not reliable until you try it out yourself. The cost of having a car ranges from road tax, maintenance, and also the petrol, and also the jam and all the trouble of finding a car park, on the other hand, as bicycle, I only do change my tyres once in 2 months.. and simple services which won’t cost more than RM50 for the 2 months. I think the thing that I would want to avoid of having a car the most in Campus life especially, is to escape the oblige to fetch people in an outing and people will then assume you are the transporter in any future events.
4. HAPPY Lifestyle – Yes it’s a happy smiling ride. Many reasons to this, you breathe in the fresh air, you are not contained in a moving box with your own contented environment, you cycle and you observe the surrounding, you see things that you don’t do when you drive through cycling, And of course you will feel happy for doing good especially to the environment.
5. Style? Trend? Fashion? – Let’s just say it is cool. Cycling may be one of the things I do that I regard as normal or nothing special, it’s what I do every day. But for most of my friends on campus who sees this, I would say most probably it has been a “branding” of mine. There are not many active cyclists in my campus then, but I know that I could be the trend setting as I could influence people to join in the cycling hobby or passion. In short, it feels special for doing things that many others don’t.
My current bicycle is however dismantled and waiting to be brought back to KL to continue its journey here. It’s nowhere an expensive piece of bicycle.. unlike those thousand over bucks bicycle parked in the basement of my hostel too.. But it did sure served its purpose, just make sure the chain is well lubricated with black oil and good brakes, then it feels like the same as others i would say. I remember weeks back then i did a round island bicycle cycling myself.. i ask an uncle who is also a cyclist on his 10k+ Giant branded bicycle,, i asked him for directions which he pointed needed to go over a hill and express doubts over my bicycle to climb it. Well i did, my point is, bicycle doesn’t matter as much as the cyclist.
Well, this is an interesting illustration of the benefits of a bicycle.. credits to Google Image.
So there you are, 5 reasons why you should cycle during university life. of course there are so much more to be said why you should be cycling anyways. The picture above also says it all. And there are a lot of things can be talked about. for example how bicycle friendly is Kuala Lumpur city in particular.. and also urban solutions for KL bicycling interest.. we have a lot more to work on that.
