The first long ride

Was lucky to check my email on Saturday evening and I see this mail from a person called Rekha and that she had planned to ride on Sarjapura road the next morning i.e. Sunday at 6.30am. First reaction: wow, so there are girls in this group – BBC www.bangalorebikersclub.com . Next – 6.30am?? on a Sunday?? I, being a person who firmly believes that it is criminal to be up before 10 on a Sunday morning and that Sundays are meant to be lazy, found it very hard to accept that I would have to be up by 6 the next day if I had wanted to go on the ride. So, I did reply her back, I always thought it would be a PYT, but added a line at the end requesting her not to wait for me because there is a very high probability that I might be late.



The next morning day gave me 3 wonderful surprises. The first was that in my excitement I did manage to get ready by 6 and not just wake up. This reminded me yet again not to sweat the small stuff. 0630hrs I was at the start point to find an elderly lady waiting there on a Gary Fischer bike with a backpack, water bottle, pump, knee guards and of course the helmet. For a moment I didn’t say anything. A minute passed and I thought she was one of the riders and was waiting for Rekha to arrive nevertheless I casually asked her if she was waiting for Rekha. To my utter surprise, she was Rekha, Ahem! Well, okay ladies to ride bikes and yes they ride well but this was something I was totally unprepared for. Grey haired, orange t shirt, shorts, knee guards, gloves, helmet, a backpack which I was sure had a lot more than met the eye and a 12yr old Gary Fischer mountain bike which had been to Ladakh just a couple of months back. The rider turned out to be the India Head for some division of Accenture. A little later we were joined by Ravi and Sanjay and we assumed no one else was coming so we started off.



Though it was early in the morning the road was a bit busy and we couldn’t ride abreast of each other till we were out to roads with fairly less traffic.

My first ride

Got my bike down from BOTS and took it for a spin! It was such an exhilarating feeling that it can never be described in words. I went and had something to eat. In my excitement to get a bike, I hadnt eaten anything since morning and it was way past midday. That awesome sense of freedom didnt last long. In a short while I realised I was on a very busy road and the motorised vehicles show no respect to cyclists. So, the high headedness turned into cautious riding in under a minute and I somehow managed to grab a bite and get back to BOTS. I told Rohan, the traffic out there was crazy and that they didnt pay any respect to cyclists. He laughed it out welcoming me to the real world of chaotic drivers. After a couple of tips on safe riding and a short discussion/argument on the importance of wearing a helmet, I was on my way. Iggy and Srikant wanted to have a look at some hydration packs and I went along. On the way we met Abhi, the moderator of BZ . Srikant checked out some models of Wildcraft and he was definitely not satisfied and so we headed to a shop which kept Camelbak hydra packs. On the way my chain slipped twice and I later learnt that chains on the kinda of bike I had were not supposed to slip but they did because I did a bit of off road riding which was beyond the scope of what the derailleur could handle. I was glad I was already discovering the limitations of the bike. St. Marks road saw me violating traffic rules by going on the opp. lane and entering one way traffic zones but that was ok. Rules are made to be broken. The guys got what they wanted and then we headed back. I went to meet Dr. Kanishka before returning to my room and showed off my new bike to him. He even had a test ride and acknowledged the smoothness of the ride. Dinner and I was on my way home. To my good luck it started raining and I thoroughly enjoyed getting wet in the rain. The mud splashed on my front and back but that was ok, a mountain bike certainly shouldnt have fenders! Besides, mud on a mountain bike looks good. Got myself a thick chain from a hardware store and a lock to secure the bike and went to my room.
All in all it was a great day and I was beginning to fall in love with biking all over again.