Unpack, unfold and ride away!
If you’re looking for a compact bike, and especially a “one size” fits all for the family, to run errands and commute, this might just be the right fit for you.
All posts filed under: Cycling
Going the distance!
An account of a 400km ride covering Bangalore-Vellore-Bangalore in 26 hours and something minutes, as a part of the Bangalore Brevets. My cycling journey continues and gets more interesting as the years go by (at least for me). At times, I wish I’d started earlier in life (I wasted a lot of good years!), but I’m just glad I did finally get onto a saddle.
Biking in San Fransisco
My first time to the United States turned out to be a short trip indeed. I only had one destination in my calendar – San Fransisco. A quick trip to Seattle happened too, except that I only saw the interiors of my aunt’s home there 🙂
Saluting an invisible population
In Delhi, I met a lady called Anita, who had sold her car around 10 years ago and now cycles around instead. She told me that with her workplace and home not too far from each other, she manages on two wheels most of the time. And this too, in Delhi! She said something else that struck a chord: “Do you notice that a large population of any city is on cycles. You just don’t notice them.” And this is so true. When I wasn’t cycling (and didn’t know how to!), cyclists never registered in my vision – at least consciously. But there’s a huge lower and middle class population that relies totally on cycles. If you start looking, they’re everywhere. On the road, they’re a bunch of folks who come to your notice only if you happen to be behind them at a traffic signal and in your way. Otherwise, they’re a largely anonymous lot, who are either in front or behind the traffic, or on the side of the road. Sometimes, they’re also …
No cycles please; we’re a star hotel!
A few days ago, a cyclist was turned away from the Leela Hotel’s main gate to a side parking lot on the road. He was there to attend a conference when his “humble” cycle did not pass the “high security standards” of the hotel. He refused, of course, (even I would!) the security guard’s suggestion to park on the side of the road. You can follow the discussion here. This was communicated to the Leela, but they couldn’t say much except that they can’t take responsibility of two wheelers and cycles parked on their premises. And that they have “security” policies that do not allow two wheeler parking. (Check out their Facebook page for their very defensive response). However, “security” is something they don’t offer cars either. The question is why they haven’t accounted for at least one parking space inside for two-wheelers and cycles – surely it can’t be a space issue considering it hardly takes any space to park 15-20 bikes (or cycles). The space offered currently to two wheelers and cyclists is …
TFN and the rest of the trip
Day 3: Hassan to Madikeri A day filled with scenic routes but a lot of climbs and pretty tiring too in the end. It turned out to be a long day for me. The best part was early on when we had the Gorur dam stretch opened up for us to cycle on – around 3-4 kms on the dam itself. The ascent to Madikeri was a tough, tiring and long climb to end the day and after that we had another descent of nearly 5 kms to the homestay off Madikeri – made worse by the really really bad roads. We were glad that we had some Coorg food waiting for us!