Between two legs

I've always been interested in cycling. As a young boy, bicycle was my main mode of transport between home, school, friends' houses, and playing spots. Mind we didn't enjoy or make full use of playgrounds back then. Those are for little girls. Real boys ride, run and sometimes swim.

I recall one day, we were riding adventurously to the beach, or at least that was the plan. Somehow we chose to go down a trekkish path instead of cycling on the clear road straight to the beach. We steered into the jungle behind KUSTEM (now UMT), fatiguely paddled through the sand for at least a km I think until we met a swamp separating us from the path across. Instead of turning back and defied the adventurous nature in us, we decided to cross the swamp.

What we were too young to understand was the 'swamp' was actually a waste pool. The water was dark grey, smelled pungent, and I think was as dense as a cup of kopi kaw-kaw you can order at the mamak's. Luckily it was only knee-deep. Stepping into it, I could feel the sludgy soil as we were bare footed. When walking on soft soil, flip flops may get stuck as we step deep into earth. I lost a few pair of slippers when walking along the muddy river bank at my mother's hometown. 

We managed to get through the swamp but the smell stuck. We reached the beach, enjoyed the view, washed our legs, again and again, before we realised it was late noon and we haven't had out lunch, dispersed to ride home.

The smell stuck for a few days. I also found my legs to start itching, which was clearly the effect of the sunny dip in the pool of waste. Few weeks later I got the trophy to show myself as a true kampung boy, in the form of scars of various sizes on my legs.

Anyways back to the topic, the first proper bike I got was a purple GTH. It was clearly a knock-off of BMX. I really loved that bike, rode it every evening. Then my father replaced it with a bicycle given by the ADUN's office as a part of its community service. The GTH was given to my cousin, which irked me since it was in a good condition and the fact that I gave away something good for something of less quality. The bicycle given by the ADUN was of a brand I can't remember, yellow, and uglier. It was like a girl's bike.

My next bicycle was a grey Montana. It was the first big bicycle I had. Father bought me that out of a sudden at RM280. It was also the first bicycle that I had that was fitted with a gearing system. That was the bicycle that I used to commute between places. By that time I was already old enough to ride on my own to places more than 2km (ha ha) away from home. Indeed, the farthest place I cycled to was Padang Nanas, which was about 7 km from home.

The Montana was never given maintenance. When I started secondary school, the bike was not used often anymore since my father drove me to and from school. I also received another bicycle from the ADUN, this time as a gift for my UPSR results. It was a Montona. Although it was an imitation of Montana, it was pretty decent. It rode good. No gears so it was easier to ride. When I got into boarding school, both bicycles were abandoned. The Montana was then given, again to my cousin.

The Montona, though is less fortunate. It is completely abandoned and is already reduced to scrap metal, laid behind our house, just outside of my bedroom. It is a sad sight, I must admit. Rust all over the body, save the alloy rims. I just don't know what to do with it. My father may soon throw it away, like he always does to old things. However, I still have an emotional attachment to it. It was a gift to recognise my success. I wouldn't throw it away myself but if I come home one day and see it's gone, I won't be sad. 

Whatever it is, my fondness to cycling hasn't faded.

This afternoon, I took delivery of my Lerun Evo 20. I bought it at the warehouse sale few weeks back but they could only do the free delivery today. 

Tested it just now. Since it's been long since I last rode a bike I couldn't really say much about the handling except that it just feels alright. An apparent resentment tho is the saddle. It's too small and too hard. A replacement due soon.

Since my part time work is over, it may be good to have a hobby, especially one that can help me exercise and cut down my waist size.