By Sagran Akbar Jihad
Every 3 June is celebrated as World Bicycle Day. The United Nations (UN) designated the date as World Bicycle Day in 2018 at the 72nd UN General Assembly in New York.
World Bicycle Day is set to promote a healthy lifestyle. Bicycles have been used for more than two centuries as simple, affordable, clean, healthy, and environmentally friendly transportation means.
Cycling, or the excellent term Gowes in “Indonesian”, has become a lifestyle for several people worldwide. Cycling is a sport and has recently become a lifestyle, especially among urban communities.
Those who just ride around where they live, in the city, and even those who cross country, explore nature, and follow various cycling communities. Many people do it, starting from children, teenagers, adults and parents. Men, and now women have started to enjoy this sport.
It is undeniable that “Gowes” requires quite expensive models such as Fixie-type bikes sold in the range of Rp. 1,500,000 to Rp. 5,000,000. Apart from Fixie bicycles, there are also other bicycles, namely Peugeot, which are much more expensive than Fixie bicycles, between Rp. 6,000,000 to Rp. 40,000,000.
(Currency MYR 300 = 290 IDR)
Then there are the BMX-type bikes, which stand for Bicycle Moto Cross, and folding bikes that are easy in terms of storage and transportation. The price of the two types of bicycles reaches millions of rupiah.
Fan Syahid, a student at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Kedah, who is currently staying at Depok West Java, has a cycling hobby. He said that cycling is fun, economical for traveling around the city, and it’s healthy.
In a matter of a week, he can cycle approximately 20km from his home. He is not alone in cycling, but he is cycling with his friends.
For Fityan, cycling is a fun sport which can make it a healthy lifestyle and increase relationships with fellow cyclists that he finds along the way.
Departing after Fajr, breathing fresh air, the body is blown by a light breeze, the sound of birds everywhere, beautiful and untouched scenery without pollution, it’s really fun.
“Usually, I leave the house at 5 a.m and walk across the area from Depok to Jakarta and back to Jakarta for about 26 km,” said Fan.
One of the benefits of cycling is that it makes our hearts happy. We are cycling with our family, friends and even our girlfriends which can raise our energy because we like cycling together.
Going down the mountain by bicycle, the fresh air, adrenaline rises, the sensation of your face being hit by strong winds, not to mention seeing the rare ones that do not exist in urban areas, is very pleasant.
It has become a weekly routine for Fityan. He exercises with his bicycle at least twice a week, cycling from home and back again.
Sedentary activities also positively impact health and increase endurance (immune), especially in fighting the Corona virus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
Fityan always posts his cycling activities on his Instagram account; the goal is for other people to be motivated by someone else’s activities instead of doing bad things.
This cycling sport can be done at any time, for example, in the morning, and in the afternoon. As in the month of Ramadan, many people do this type of sport at the time of breaking the fast, or another term is ngabuburit.
Ngabuburit is an Indonesian community’s activity carried out during the month of Ramadan and in the afternoon after Asar until it is time to break the fast.
Lovers of this sport can fill their time with cycling around the city for those who live in the city. For those who live in the village they can also do this in their village, precisely with cool air and beautiful environment that also provide abundant health.
The above activities also do not escape our habit of maintaining our own health from regular eating patterns, eating nutritious foods, getting enough rest, and keeping the environment clean and hygienic.
Of course, just exercising is not enough to keep our bodies fit without support, which is more for each of us.
Therefore, keep the environment clean with regular exercises. This would ensure you to remain fit and healthy when you are old. ****
(This assignment is written as part of individual assignment series for Feature Writing class)