First,let me thank Dr Idlan Zakaria for her permission to allow me to blog using her nice photo taken in Amsterdam. This shot reminds me of my family trip to Holland in 1997.It was a trip to remember for me and my entire family.We had great time in Amsterdam and the only thing that I regret was not making an effort to ride a bicycle in the Land of Bicycles-The Netherlands.
Just look at the photo on the right.The road has a bicycle lane!I have been living in Kuala Lumpur for more than 30 years now and I have yet to see a bicycle lane in my neighbourhood Kampung Pandan,located about 3km away from the city centre.I am not wrong to say that KL is not friendly to cyclists.When I ride my mountain bike for my exercise/leisure,I am taking a great risk to use the main roads.Most of the time,I ride using side roads and only on weekends.Some time ago,I blogged about bicycle lanes but not in KL.It was along a main road from Alor Setar to Kangar! If my memory is still in tact,I observed that more bicycles were used in Oxford and Cambridge,England.With increasing fuel price,I think more people will be willing to ride bicycles if there are enough bicycle lanes provided.
Every time I see a kid riding a bike,it reminds me of my childhood days-way back in the 60's.During that period,there were not many small bicycles like BMX nowadays.I learnt how to ride using my late uncle bicycle and when I ziarah his grave two months ago, the memory flashed back.I remember he took me around in our kampung...(gendong at the back)
My parents could not afford to buy me a bicycle then.I always dream of having one of my own.When I got by first salary from being a temporary teacher in 1973,I bought myself a bicycle.I used it to travel from my house and the school to teach maths while waiting to get a place to go to UK to study engineering.(September 1973)
My kids were luckier than me.My second son is a fan of BMX bike.He loved to do all those dare-devil tricks.During one of my trips to England,I took him to White Chapel and ended up buying a morales bike for him.It cost me almost RM1000!Lucky boy...
In mid-90,I joined my schoolmate Nadim to enjoy riding mountain bike.My first bike is a Haro.It is still working until today after a few repairs.A few months ago, I bought another mountain bike-The Trek to replace my old shaky Haro.Now, I ride it about twice weekly.I know some of my peers who are sick and they can't walk properly.Here,I am riding a bike around the neighbourhood.My great thanks to Allah swt for His rahmah on me.Alhamdulilah.
Here are the link to my bike set and LTDL set of photos at my Flickr.
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