THE ODD MAN OUT?

Seven members of E.T.Riders and I decided to ride the FRIM trail yesterday. It had been quite sometime since we last rode the trail together. Somehow, my status as a senior member of the biking community surfaced unexpectedly during the ride. However, it was raised more as a topic for small talk than one of genuine curiousity.

Interestingly though, there have been three mountain bike jamborees lately in which I had been declared the most senior participant among all participants. The last one that I went to saw no other participant above sixty. The closest was a fifty- niner and he was the sole fifty-nine.There was one jamboree before this where there was one participant who was sixty-eight years old, but I am uncertain whether he participates in jamborees regularly as I do..

In my biking group, I happen to be the oldest. I am the only member who is past sixty and so is the odd one out in terms of age. The rest are quadragenarians and below. The youngest among them are just tweens. I have waited for almost three years now for someone my age to join me but there has been none so far.

There have been many other jamborees before these. I have been participating in mountain bike jamborees since 2010 but have yet to meet one participant who is older than me and who participates in jamborees regularly. When I rode my first mountain bike jamboree, I was sixty-one years young.

I believe there must be some bikers out there my age or older who are keenly involved with the activity. Their number, however, may be small and their existence far apart. It isn't about me trying to crow over what I do; it's just curiousity on my part to know what the situation really is. Maybe I would feel much more comfortable if I knew and would place me in a better position to promote this exciting and healthy lifestyle among members of my generation.

The members of my biking group do not seem to treat me like the odd one out though despite my age. I believe my presence is welcomed since I have always been included in all the activities that they have so far organized. It's only age that seems to separate me from the rest of the group. As for my ability to fit in and keep up with them, that has never been an issue. Even at my age, I am still able to cope with what they do. When they decided to climb Fraser's Hill and later Cameron Highland some months back, I went along with them and managed to climb the two hills just as well as they did. So it has been with all other rides.

While I can see quite a number of quinquagenarians still actively participating in mountain bike jamborees, their number too seems to get smaller as their age gets older. Maybe it's because many of us are raised with the idea that when we hit 50, we should relax and take it easy. Since vision, hearing, bones, balance are all poorer among seniors than in a younger person, many feel that they should avoid sports where there is a risk of collision with others or with stationary objects. Or, could it be that the small number of seniors involved with the activity is due to mountain biking being a relatively new sport among Malaysians. The young are more likely to get attracted to it than the older citizens. Hence, the small number of seniors seen involved with the activity. The younger bikers who have been attracted to or are hooked on the activity are likely to continue to ride perhaps into their fifties and sixties. By then, we will probably see more sexagenarians or even septuagenarians involved with mountain biking activity. Even my own involvement has been one of coincidence. If it wasn't because of the injury and advice from the doctor, I too might not have got involved with mountain biking as I now do.

I feel that mountain biking is one activity that I can still cope with; at least with the kind that I, and many others that I know, do. Anything extreme, however, may not be suitable and should be left to the young or the pros. There's no need for you to take risks nor go for the rough kind of mountain biking just because it is called so. You can always do it your way and at your own pace. It's a pretty safe sport if you do it within your capabilities. You need not jump or hop  if you can't or don't want to. You can always push or carry your bike instead. It's all part of the mountain biking way.

But you do need to be the outdoor type a bit. If you love the physical challenge, the natural environment, the smell of fresh air and the lure of the verdant hills, then mountain biking may just be the right kind of sport or activity for you. But above all that, you must believe in and love what you do in order to enjoy doing what you do. For seniors like us who are retired from active working life, it's the inertia that may prove difficult to beat; i.e. the choice between exerting ourselves physically or remaining at home with that cup of tea playing with the cat or grandchildren or watching the telly. However, you need to familiarize yourself with the activity and develop the basic skills and the stamina required to enable you to do it. But that is not really so difficult to do. It only requires some practice and a bit of googling to acquaint yourself with this rewarding activity. Or, you can always learn the techniques and skill directly from those who have been doing it. Safety is paramount and this too can be learned easily.

I also realise that mountain biking is one activity that can help to improve your fitness and cardiovascular health most effectively. The fitter you are, the less your heart contracts thus saving heartbeats. Through regular biking, your ambient and resting heart rates can drop substantially and when extended over a lifetime, this can equate to many millions of heart beats saved. The heart that needs to work less for you is surely good for you. Mountain biking is not only one effective way for you to achieve that, but one that could prove exciting and challenging too.

I may be the odd man out in age and may not be a spring chicken anymore. But, I am no old cock either. I like to subscribe to the wisdom that sees changes brought about by aging not as deficiencies but as just differences. That way, it makes me feel younger, stronger, and healthier.

So, it's still a case of me being able to crow at my age the crow 'cock-a-doodle-doo': what they can do, I can do it too.

What more can I ask for except to say that I am really so humbly cock-a-hoop about it all and pray that I will continue to remain so for as long as He allows me to.

So 'Heli Pad' anyone? Or, shall I see you in Sungai Buaya this 23rd September?

BIKING IN RAMADAN

I mentioned in passing something about balance in life in my two previous posts. I was interested to know once whether it is advisable for us to exercise during Ramadan or to just take a break from any physical activities during the said month. I then read something about the importance of exercising during the fasting month. It states that it is important for us to exercise during Ramadan in order to maintain balance or what is referred to as 'mizan'. It explains that mizan is achieved when our spiritual, mental and physical life is maintained. During Ramadan, the spirit is kept healthy by purging the self of all negativity including the negativity that is associated with the fast while the mental self is maintained through regular reading of the Koran. As for the physical self, it  is kept strong through a light workout.

I do not intend to delve further into the subject about this balance or mizan. Suffice for me to say that I can't disagree with that statement and in respect of the physical life, believe that I do need to keep myself moving not only to keep up with life itself, but to keep myself alive as well. Didn't I read somewhere that says that life is about movement and one who doesn't move or words to that effect, is just as good as, errr...Well, you can finish that sentence for me. I therefore like to believe that the more I can move, the better it is for me, Ramadan or otherwise, unless of course, for some reasons, I can't.

Somehow, the approach of Ramadan did not cause me to review my physical activities with the aim of reducing them or their level of frequency or intensity, but instead, to find ways how I could go on maintaining my routine activities without too much disruption. I am referring, of course, to my biking activities. For me, those activities have to go on as long as they can go on and for which, I have no desire to see them being relegated to a lower frequency or intensity even during the fasting month.

I suppose the light workout is recommended while you fast and that is only sensible. But a few hours after breaking your fast, I don't see why more than just a light workout could not be done unless of course you feel that one should not be exercising at night during Ramadan. I am referring to the same kind of workout just like the kind  that I usually do during the day and with the same kind of intensity as in the non-fasting months. There's still a way to make the necessary adjustments to enable the level of my exercise routine to remain unchanged. Now that it is advisable to only do the light exercise during the day, I will do the strenuous ones at night. After all, I have been doing those workouts at night too during the non- fasting months. I am unaware of any medical or health related drawbacks that can result from such action. For me, I only need to listen to my body to know whether it is up to it or otherwise.

So, my biking activities have remained very much the same during this fasting month and I am enjoying them just as much as I do as in the non-fasting months. I still do those same workouts more or less; the light kind during the day and the heavier or more strenuous type at night. But you need to listen to your body and that is highly important. What you think about the whole idea too is also important. As for me, I love and enjoy what I do. I could do some other things other than biking but I know I will never enjoy doing them. 

So, it has remained a status quo for me with regard to my biking activities during this fasting month. The urge to cycle has not ebbed the slightest for me. I do the light workouts usually between one and a half to two hours before breaking fast and the strenuous kind at night at least four hours after the fast-breaking meal. There have been three long hard rides at night since Ramadan started ranging between 30 and 60 kms and there will be a few more coming before the blessed month ends.

That's how much biking can really bite you or is it a case of bikers simply crazed by their biking that nothing seems to be able to slow them down, not even Ramadan? But one good thing is certain about their involvement. Their level of fitness and stamina and their power of endurance seem to have become limitless that they are able to ride long and hard almost every night -- as some of my biking friends seem to do -- without showing signs of being burnt out. That's what biking can do for you, not to mention what it can also do for your cardiovascular health other than your mizan.

So biking in Ramadan, anyone? Emmm...sahur or suhoor has never tasted this good!