COMMUTE CYCLING AND LEISURE CYCLING

So, do you cycle to your work place? 

Yes, work place as if behind a desk in an office with air conditioned, 9 to 5 in urban environment five days a week? 

Do you choose to do a couple of minutes cycling journey from home to do your groceries at the nearest wet market daily if not weekly? 

Do you just cycle anywhere you go just because a bicycle is the transportation of your choice even when you have a 1.5 litre inline four-cylinder Japanese B-segment sedan motorcar parked in your garage? 

If your answer for all the above is yes, then you are a Commuter Cyclist. A Commuter Cyclist that simply cycle from point A to point B uses his or her bike as a means of transportation in getting daily chores and routines done. No cars involved.

I cycle for food hunt, in this case, fried chicken that tastes out of this world.

Then came along the second type of cyclist, the Leisure Cyclist. Unlike the Commuter Cyclist, Leisure Cyclist uses his or her bicycle for any other means than running their daily errands. You often will be seen riding your bicycles in front of your driveway on a beautiful evening after working hours or maybe doing a King or Queen of the Mountain Challenge on a chilly Sunday morning when the sun beginning to rise from beneath the mountains. You may also be fixing the wheels your flashy showroom conditioned 700cc road bike after dark to the rack on top of your car roof and travel 50 to 100 kilometres away from home to Dataran Putra, Federal Territory of Putrajaya to enjoy a complete flawless road riding experience compared to your less than perfect road conditions in your own neighbourhood. Simply put, cycling to fill in your past time just because you have the time to do it on that specific day of the week. This will effortlessly put you in the Leisure Cyclist category.

I strongly believe that when you choose to cycle to commute and not to drive, it has more impact in a today's world where one's health and environment is much bigger of a concern. Based on a study by World Health Organisation, globally, 23% of all deaths and 26% of deaths among children under age 5 are due to preventable environmental factors. Environmental factors which are diverse and far reaching which includes exposure to hazardous substances in the air, water, soil, and food, and natural and technological disasters (World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2006)*.

Another positive outcome that is worth pointing out is that the authority has their eyes set in public places to observe the safety of the public and when a recurring act taking place in public, notes will be taken into the authority’s matter. Simply said, if you cycle to commute on this one road, an observation will be taken within sometime to making sure that road is possibly safe for any cyclist to use at any time of the day. Cycling in a big number on that road will of course increase the chances to make it happen even quicker as this will have a bigger impact on other road users mainly cars. When the road is safe for cyclist, more cyclists will ride through that road and after some time, these cyclists will decide to ride to work and ditch their cars at home. Try to put this in a bigger picture like a town or a city and you will reap the benefit of this years to come.

MORE bicycles would lead to LESS cars which will lead to LESS traffic congestion and this will produce LESS exposure to hazardous substances in the air like carbon monoxides and you will have LESS time spent on the road to and from work and MORE time spent with family and most importantly, the increase of cardio health for a longer prosperous life. 

That is 2 MOREs and 4 LESSes and I do believe there's some beautiful meaning behind the poem titled Andrea del Sarto (The Faultless Painter) by Robert Browning with the phrase 'LESS is MORE’. So, do ask yourself again, are you a Commuter Cyclist or a Leisure Cyclist? I think both are fine. You tell me :)

*Sourced from https://www.healthypeople.gov