I’ve been witnessing my fellow road cyclists in Jakarta decided to park their road bike, and turned into runners these days.

There are several reasons.

First, the road condition in Jakarta is getting less ideal for road cycling. Especially if you ride in pelotons. Weekdays’ traffic is back to normal. Or perhaps even worse than before pandemic. Hence we have less space and time on the road to do our morning loops. After 06.30 we just can’t ride in pelotons. And Pak Polisi will yell at us to ride inside bicycle lane. Which is not designed for high speed riding as what we do.

Second, a bit related with the first one, is the derogatory views from public about us, the road cyclists. The competition for road space with work commuters, and our preference to riding outside bicycle lane made us a bit unpopular. Add it to the spices of “expensive bikes” and “the haves”, you could see why people ‘hate’ us.

Third, the safety. Admittedly, cycling is prone to accident. Especially road cycling. The speed, the traffic, and the road condition exposes us to accident, which sometimes could be serious or fatal.

Lastly, the convenience. Some of us find solace from the above mentioned problems through running. Which is far more convenient than cycling to pick up. You don’t need to buy and prepare bikes and all of those gears (helmet, cleat shoe, glasses, gloves, and bibs and jersey). You just wear your shoes, and off you go. And it also takes less time. 30 mins running is more than enough for most of us. You need at least double of that time to gain similar amount of exercise in cycling.

So don’t be surprised to see your friends (including myself) spend more time running than cycling these days.

But don’t worry. We’re not giving up on our bike just yet.

See you on the road. On bike, or on foot ☺️