LOVE STORY on WHEELS!!

May be God writes a love story in everyone's chapter of LIFE. It arrives early for some while its late for some other. But its definitely written. So now, a true heart says - "I too had a love story". Why not travel in love for sometime with the story...

The story begins when an ambitious girl full of life had just arrived in States to pursue her post doctoral research in Physics at Cornell University, Ithaca. Adapting to the deadly cold weather conditions, exploring the new place while simultaneously managing the academic stuff, a month quickly went by.. March 15, 2017, a warning of snow storm, thus she preferred to enjoy the heavy snowfall staying indoors. Out of no where, she thought of giving a glance to her registered shaadi.com profile after a gap of 6 months. She stumbled upon the profile of a guy on a terrific fat bike, a M.Tech graduate, and after few years into academic teaching, has joined software and is an Engineer at HP. A lot unique and interesting !! Full tempted to search the profile in FB.. She was bewildered by the glance of two unique bikes, profile pic on a fat bike and cover pic on a tandem. It was love at first sight with those amazing bikes and she wanted to know the person further and just pinged him on FB. The next day morning, to her utter surprise she gets the reply, for she did not expect it so soon..

The conversation between the two started with stuffs related to endurance cycling, unique bikes, travel, treks and their common interests. From his side it was all about bikes... Be it cycle to work, cycle on weekends, post stuff on facebook about cycling, being a part of a cycling group, discussion about cycling gears non stop.. he was clearly obsessed. Thats the only way to describe him. It had gone beyond a pastime or even a passion. His idiosyncrasy was just bang on to captivate her. By now she had totally decided that this guy is going to be her friend for life. Being a traveller, trekker and a runner, cycling as a form of sport fascinated her and the conversation just went on and on. Sometimes, it just takes years to be comfortable with a person and in some cases you feel as if you know the other person since ages. The friendly chat between both of them, took very short span of time, to be converted into attraction. Perhaps it was the uniqueness and craziness to do things differently in life attracted both of them towards each other. All of these happened just on a text conversation without having met each other, an unconventional love story which does not fit the present age. When they decided to take their friendship to the next stage they talked to their parents. Sounds very filmsy, kinda love at first sight (without actually meeting each other) all of these happened just in a week’s time. Everything went on smoothly and finally it was 23^rd Aug 2017, she came to India to meet him and his parents. Bike had always been an integral part of their love story, proof being that she gifted a unicycle from US. All is well that ends well and they got hitched after an year. This was just the beginning of a beautiful start...

This is the incredible love story about me (Pramita) and Sanat. How often does it happen that you start loving a person due to his possession of awesome and unique bikes. For the rare case, it happened to me. Well well, my crush on Tandem turned into a love affair with the incredible Tandem owner. Hardly did I imagine that almost an year later I shall be the proud co-owner of this beauty. My madness towards cycle had reached such heights that the below pic of the love letter with a pic of bike and a tandem bike proves that. Our small family with 3 bikes (roadie, fat bike and tandem) grew into a large family of 8 unique bikes (roadie, fat bike, tandem, penny farthing, unicycle, foldie, chopper and a recumbent trike), ours priceless possession.

After marriage it was but obvious for us to start our leisure rides of 15-20 kms sometimes on solo bikes but mostly on tandem. To have a feel of the brevet, as I was new into the cycling world, we used to go to the Kanteerava stadium Bangalore to witness the enthusiasm and spirit of the riders before the flag off ceremony. The most exciting incident happened on 9th June 2018, when we covered the entire 200 kms Anchetty BRM on activa. The first long drive after our marriage was infact a brevet route, meeting all the vivacious riders, capturing their moments and observing them keenly as they cycled through the rugged terrain and deadly uphills. In fact most of the riders felt that we were a part of the organising team, and everyone was amazed by the thought of riding the entire route on an activa. The journey was awesome for this was the first stance I could feel the excitement and madness of these endurance cyclist, though I had indirectly heard about it all from Sanat. Now I was totally convinced to take up long distance cycling.

So the goal all set, practice session started with half century ride being converted into century rides every weekend and we went to places lake Hosur, Hennur Bamboo forest and Devanahalli Fort. Its always a thrilling and fun experience riding on the Tandem, specially when it comes to riding with life partners. Tandem riding, we learnt, has unique challenges. The huge weight of the bicycle (weight of bicycle, 30 kg in addition to the cumulative weight of both the riders)as well as the cumulative weight of the riders, in addition to its length, requires perfect coordination to balance and ride it smoothly. Stops, turns, acceleration, deceleration, everything needs to be done together. the stoker (person at the rear) has to trust the person captaining the bike, and the captain has to rely on a stoker who maintains a steady position and responsive to choices the captain makes. Having said that, it was a journey full of roller coaster, where we tried to learn from the mistakes made in each ride and improvising on the next one. With the aim of attempting the Chintamani brevet, a test ride of the entire route was done. Doing a brevet on a tandem, as pleasing as it sounds, is quite a daunting task and demands a lot of dedication and focus, but both of us were quite happy to take up the challenge.

Finally the day arrived, 5^th Nov 2018, our first 200 kms brevet on Tandem. The event flagged off at 6:00 am from Kanteerava stadium, Bangalore. It was not a good start as the chain fell off just a few kms after the start of the ride giving a halt to our momentum. If that was not enough, the severe headwinds on the first 100 kms of the ride hindered our pace, but the beautiful and serene view of the lake and hills during the ride soothed our nerves and gave us the motivation to KEEP GOING !! We could comfortably reach the unmanned CPs before 20-30 mins of the cut off time. But the worse was still to happen. The mild muscle pull in Sanat’s leg which started as early as 60 kms, got more and more severe after 100 kms. Just when the ride was seeming endless, it was a sigh of relief to see our organisers at the manned CP. The super yumm Bisibele Bhath seemed way beyond tasty than the food from the most expensive restaurant and it refuelled us with energy for the next part of the ride. Kudos to our organisers Mohan Subramanyam and Jins Paul for their relentless support and encouragement. Their help and suggestions to counteract with the leg cramp accelerated our pace in the next stretch yayyy we reached the last CP 30 mins before cut off. Although the grandeur of Nandi hills posed a treat to our eyes, but the legs kept pedalling to enhance the average speed. The pain again worsened as we rode up and up over the flyovers to avoid the stagnant city traffic. Thanks to Sanat for being an expert navigator juggling the tandem throughout the busy roads. The whistle carried by Sanat proved to be a blessing in the city traffic to warn the people with the whistling sounds. Keeping in mind the Bangalore traffic, we increased our pace.

It was almost heart in the mouth kinda situation in the last 5 kms of the ride. The stagnant traffic at every signal forced us to walk on the footpath and ride at a killing slow speed of covering only 5 kms in the last 30 mins of the ride. The sight of Kanteerava stadium gate was a great relief and yess we made it on time despite several odds. Our joy and happiness knew no bounds seeing the ecstasy of the riders and organisers wishing us success on our splendid achievement. Probably then I realised that I had done something out-of-the-box. Finally, Randounneur it was — My first ever and ours first on a TANDEM. Mixed feeling of anxiety, wonder and joy. Time of celebration after the two months of sweat and perseverance with utmost planning. Words fall short to thank my partner in crime Sanat, for it was for him that I entered into the world of cycling and could discover my potential. It was his constant encouragement and motivation which helped me emerge as a super woman and complete the endurance ride of 200 kms. Riding with the grinning pain for 140 kms showed his utmost endurance and never quit attitude, specially when related to cycling #smiley#. Cheers to our partnership and many more miles to go ......

Thus began our TANDEM LOVE STORY with love for wheels turning into love on wheels. Learning the skills of riding this bike which demands a lot of synchronization and communication between both the riders, in a way also helped in knowing each other better. Riding a tandem is like marriage, communication being the key to success. Ask for help when needed, and pedal extra hard for your spouse when they feel like they just cant go any further.