travel

Quoting Ernest Hemingway “ It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best” Moving amidst nature, with the cool breeze hitting my legs, as I pedal through the roads unseen… nothing provides me more eternal pleasure. The landscape, terrain and the alluring altitude, in addition to the lush green forage, provides a perfect heavenly experience.  Apart from the joy derived from cycling its the ticks and techniques of riding various types of bikes is what has attracted me over times and and subsequently expanded into my passion of collection of 8 bikes which includes road bike, fat bike, tandem, folding bike, penny farthing, unicycle, chopper and a recumbent trike, all of which are unique in their own kind. The first on the list is a FANTOM FAT BIKE with a huge 4" tyre which literally can conquer any rugged terrain. Due to the weight of the bike, uphill requires a lot of effort but that compensates with the high speed rolling during downhills. This is the b...

Penny Farthing is actually the fore father of the modern day bicycle with a bigger front wheel and a smaller rear wheel.  Penny farthings date from the early days of bicycling and reached their peak of popularity in the 1880s. They were called penny-farthing because they reminded people of two British coins, the penny and the farthing.   The initial days penny farthing had a much larger front wheel which required the rider to board on the seat via the rear step, but subsequently it got modified with relatively smaller wheels.   Someday, I stumbled over a photo of this rare bike on internet, which was displayed on a shop in Kerela and instantly it was added to my next bucket list. Finally  I caught a glimpse of the Penny Farthing at 22bikes.in, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, my home town. Apparently, Mr. Ajay Nanda (the owner) had kept it as his personal collection but I managed to convince him and get it delivered to Bangalore in September 2017. Pennies require special s...

Cycling has become an emerging sports activity in India, both as a form of exercise involving shorter rides as well as longer endurance century plus rides. Bike riding provides the same cardiovascular benefits which is derived from any other form of aerobic exercise be it walking, jogging or dancing. It strengthens your body muscle but helps preserve the cartilage as biking prevents stress on the knee and ankle joints. Having said that, its specially advantageous for women, elderly people, obese who suffer from muscle strain, foot problems, knee troubles, back pain or impact related injuries caused by running, jogging or walking. Biking frequently can also help fight the incremental weight gain and waistline expansion that many women experience at midlife. Being a runner and trekker first and then coming into cycling, I can guarantee this for sure that cycling is the best form of exercise today for female and it has always been my aim to promote cycling and motivate the young female ...

Quoting Ernest Hemingway “ It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best” Moving amidst nature, with the cool breeze hitting my legs, as I pedal through the roads unseen… nothing provides me more eternal pleasure. The landscape, terrain and the alluring altitude, in addition to the lush green forage, provides a perfect heavenly experience. I have been passionate about cycling since my schooldays. It has been 20 years from then, the hunger for cycling in me has increased manifold. The memory of my first love, Hercules MTB single speed bike, gifted by my father, is still fresh. Initially, it was just a mere hobby but with passing days, perhaps I became addicted to cycling. Travelling from one city to other, covering a distance of 50 kms, is my fond memories of high school days. Cycling not only keeps me healthy and fit, the greatest advantage being my constant weight since 18 years, but also rejuvenates my mind and body. Lately, in 2016, I was introduc...

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 interes...

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, when I stumbled across Sanat's facebook wall with his profile pic on a terrific fat bike and cover pic with a sexy tandem. 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. After our marriage, the fun ride which started with 50 km weekend rides materialised into a 200 kms brevet on a Tandem on Nov 5th 2018, and here we were the randounneur on Tandem. Its always a thrilling and fun experience riding on the Tandem, specially when it comes to riding with life partners. Thus begins 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 ot...

Finally,   Randounneur it is — 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. Doing a brevet on a tandem, as pleasing as it sounds, is quite a daunting task and demands a lot of dedication and focus. Tandem riding, we learnt, has unique challenges. The huge weight of the FANTOM tandem being around 30 kgs , steel frame , plus the cumulative weight of the riders (100 kg) amounting to a total of 130 kgs , 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 is responsive to choices the captain makes.  Having said that, it was a journey full of roller coaster, where we tried to le...