My cycling debut started in 2017 , when at one of our church's Senior Citizens gathering, the organizer invited a cycling enthusiast, a pilot, to share about his cycling adventures. The talk stirred my latent desire to cycle. I wished I could ride around KK and enjoy the freedom and exhilaration of the experience. I had often looked with envy the cyclists whizzing along the road in and around KK. They looked like they were having a great time.
The speaker brought along some of his cycling friends, all in their senior years. Some of them have had open heart surgery before, some had had cancer and are in remission. All of them shared their joy of cycling. One of them, Mr. George Ng, was particularly helpful. He loaned us his bicycles and coached us on the basics of cycling.
Many senior citizens turned up for the 1st lesson, but as the lessons proceeded, all but four of us were left.
The speaker brought along some of his cycling friends, all in their senior years. Some of them have had open heart surgery before, some had had cancer and are in remission. All of them shared their joy of cycling. One of them, Mr. George Ng, was particularly helpful. He loaned us his bicycles and coached us on the basics of cycling.
Many senior citizens turned up for the 1st lesson, but as the lessons proceeded, all but four of us were left.
We started off by cycling in Likas, along Tanjung Lipat cycling track. The view was lovely and we enjoyed looking towards the sea as we cycled in the early morning. We saw people fishing in the shallow water ...
Eventually, Donald and James left and there were just the 2 of us. We bought our first bicycles. How exciting!
We signed up for the Christmas "Fun Ride and Run" event organized by KK City Hall and Sabah Council of Churches (in conjunction with KK Christmas Carnival). What fun riding at night with hundreds of other cyclists.
Both Alfred and I have grown more confident in handling our bicycles and we ventured to more challenging trails.The next cycling destination was in University Sabah campus. It was a challenge to ride on the undulating terrain. How I puffed and struggled as I tried to go uphill. Sometimes, I had to get down and push my bike. There were 5 little hills to scale. But as the weeks passed, my legs became stronger and I was able to tackle those terrains with confidence. UMS is a beautiful campus, in fact it is one of the most beautiful campus in Malaysia as the campus overlooks the Likas Bay.
We then became braver and started cycling along the main roads. I was jittery each time a car or lorry whizzed passed. But the experience of riding along the roads was exhilarating. We side-tracked from the main roads and rode to small villages, and got to know the little kampongs in Sepangar, Karambunai and Penampang. These were places we would normally not venture had we not been cycling.
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| R-L : George, our coach, Alfred, Me, Donald and James |
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| Sunrise at Tanjong Lipat |
We signed up for the Christmas "Fun Ride and Run" event organized by KK City Hall and Sabah Council of Churches (in conjunction with KK Christmas Carnival). What fun riding at night with hundreds of other cyclists.
It was thrilling to ride all the way to Tuaran. We went to the Tambalang Racecourse and to the Cowboy town in Tuaran. We went up close to the horses at the beach. We stumbled across a fish farm.
The cycling fraternity is a very friendly group. Once they found out we were into cycling, they immediately invited us to join in their cycling outing, which we did for a while. It was fun to ride with different groups. the dynamics of group cycling is encouraging and exhilarating. However, we also found we enjoyed cycling, just the two of us, at our own pace and our choice of destinations.
I feel that before long, we would dare to venture a ride in another district, maybe to Kota Belud, or Tenom, and from then, perhaps to Amsterdam, which is a cyclist friendly place. Alfred, however is more cautious. He's just happy to cycle in and around KK (sigh)
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