The humble bicycle

The other day I was at the Physiotherapy section of Batu Gajah General Hospital doing some cycling on the machine to exercise my injured right knee. I made an effort to walk 15 minutes to and from the GH each week, though I have just been advised by a friend that the walking part (different from cycling or swimming) may not be good because it might further injure the knee. But the exercise of walking made me continue doing it.

While doing the cycling machine, I chatted with this Malay man who had an injured ankle. I told him of how we seem to go through a process of 'learning how to walk as a baby' and now as we get old, we are back to learning how to walk properly again! I told him of the classic story of how someone was upset with his poor quality shoes until he saw someone without a leg! He agreed and said that it is better to have a moderate lifestyle with good health than a fabulous wealth with poor health. A rich person will feel the irony of being able to afford any kind of expensive food but unable to eat them for health reasons. This is more like a 'suffering' (in Buddhist parlance) if you ask me, - 'can see but cannot touch'!

When my son was able to ride a kid's bike, his grandfather sent GBP50 for his birthday and we bought a kid's Raleigh bike. We kept it and even brought it back in the early 80s. My wife's niece who was on holiday wanted to take it back to Canada because her son enjoyed it so much, but she refused because of sentimental reasons! Problem with junk collectors!

We would not have expected that almost 30 years later, my son took to cycling seriously and even took part in a 'follow the participants of Le Tour de France' quite recently! He actually cycles to work in London which takes him only 20 minutes instead of over an hour by bus. He managed to help pay for his sister's lodging too. I bet he is going to miss cycling when he starts work in Malaysia soon.

His favourite related song is Queen's:

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like...

Bayi's email on 'Interesting bicycle facts' started me on this topic:

There are about a billion bicycles in the world.
Every year some 50 million bicycles - and 20 million cars - are produced.
The first bicycles were made without pedals.
Cycling burns 600 calories an hour.
Twenty bicycles can be parked in the same space taken up by one car.
There are over a half billion bicycles in China. Bikes were first brought to China in the late 1800s.
The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.
The furthest anyone has ever cycled in 24 hours is just under 1,217 miles, achieved by American Michael Secrest in 1990.

Cheng in her comment has provided the following links:

http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/

http://www.fietsberaad.nl/index.cfm?lang=en&section=nieuws&mode=newsArticle&newsYear=2009&repository=Amsterdam:+for+the+first+time+more+transfers+by+bike+than+by+car

Link