My mountain bikes as a friends-gurus-philosophers - Part two

In my last post I described my journey into cycling and a bunch of memorable adventures from past years. Being a regular commuter to office on MTB having having clocked 3400+ KMs on speedo now, I must admit that cycling is one thing that happened in my life which is having a positive influence all through.

Couple of years back I was an avid Enfield Bullet rider! I was a proud owner of 1983 Enfield Bullet Std - did touring for 3-4 days with fellow bikers - went on solo rides to places around that I wanted to explore. There was a lot more speed, power and loved mile munching on such beautiful motorcycle. People around me, who didn't have the sense of what it feels to ride such a motor cycle, were poking fun at me to sell the fuel gulping Bullet and put few more grands on it to buy a cycle instead and thus I granted their wish! To be honest, I jump started my cycling life again in becoming a "monk-who-sold-his-ferrari" ;) I felt really glad that I have made them shut their mouth now.
Break-up with my beloved Enfield took its toll :( but my new love Khs Alite 500, did help me recover back from the depression very soon ;)
Thus as a close friend the first lesson my mountain bike taught me was "to move on in life"!

When I started commuting to office on my mountain bike (16km, round trip) folks around me said its not feasible/suitable in Bangalore traffic and they were too skeptical on lean me doing it even for couple of days. I confess frankly that it was hard for me too to begin with the plan of daily commute. People look at you as a dumb-idiot-attempting-the-impossible-all-in-vain. Sad but true - a lot of people wish to see others fail in their endeavor. But I had to break the ice in integrating cycling as a part of my daily lifestyle. That is when my cycle taught me second lesson to "just get on with it and don't hesitate of what people think of you". This lesson has helped me in welcoming funny comments at my cycling attire during commute - Once a passer-by called me out loud as "Hey, look at that Spiderman!" - Well, I second his thought as I wearing full sleeve red jersey with black neo-mask air filter in black-red shorts (Just to be more visible on road). Who knows he might call me a "Green goblin" when I wear a green jersey. Hehehe :D

Courage is not to be thought as "having-no-fear-at-all" but it is the power of your will to overcome your fear. It is just the 1st day that mattered when I started - the rest just happened on determination. Its been more than 1.4 years of my office commute now. It is like doing meditation (Yoga) - you keep practicing it daily and hope that you perfect it within your lifetime! I personally feel that anything you inculcate as a habit of practicing daily becomes a part of your spiritual life. I might not daily say mantras and sit and meditate at one place but I rather feel that every time I crank the pedals with my feet, it feels the same as chant! Thus the third lesson my bike taught me was "to contemplate and introspect at least once a while"

To be very honest, at first even I was skeptical about my fragile body (5'7", 60Kg) whether it could take long duration exercises. I was worried more about cycling associated pain and injury. That is when I came across an article about human body and its endurance. It read - Homo sapiens are not meant to be sprinters like other four legged mammals but we are very good at aerobic metabolism and have excellent body cooling system. Great, I thought and I did test myself in doing 100+ km rides endurance cycling to Nandi Hills and back several times now but I have never suffered any injury (touch wood :P). All you need it a proper bike-fit and good posture to sit on bones in your butt to avoid back pain and injuries. Thus the fourth lesson my bike taught me was "we have an evolutionary legacy to be athletes"

(To be continued...)

Yours amateur  biker,
Karthik

My mountain bikes as a friends-gurus-philosophers - Part one

Took a very long break from my web log. So here I am saying hello as in Terminator3 movie - "I am back!!"

I dedicate this post to my beloved friend-guru-philosopher called "KHS alite 500" mountain bike who is just about 1 year old now but wiser than me who taught me a lot of things in life.

My journey into cycling started long time back in Mysore when I was a kid learning-how-to-balance on small hero bicycle with the support wheels on them. But I never had an opportunity to ride much of bicycle during schooling days as I always had to take bus due to longer commute. Since then I had a longing to own a bicycle looking at many of friends coming on bicycles to school. Years passed by but the fascination for bikes was never gone. Well the first thing I bought myself was the Hercules bicycle saved from my internship money after finishing my under-graduation. Yes you read it right! after finishing my engineering. It doesn't take people to be crazy to ride a bike but being crazy helps. Soon after that I got bit by the bug of riding longer and longer distances to satisfy the thirst and improving my endurance. Couple of guys like "Nomad" and "roasted neurons" inspired me (Their funny names and writing style itself are enough. Need i say more!) to take the cycling to next new level. That happened five years back exactly on this same day I had been on solo biking journey to Maakalidurga. A memorable journey indeed with lot of thrilling adventures of mountain climbing, taking dip in lake, hiking with other camping members en-route! Then the phase of office commute started on same bike and I called it operation Manyatha. Indeed it was a mission and a tough one but it is good that I am able to keep it running successful till now but on a much better bike now. The thirst for riding long distances and building stamina ever increased and that is when I had registered for Bengaluru cyclothon in 2009. My views about cycling changed a lot after meeting people at cyclothon and seeing more mature biking groups. This is where I met GGI and BBCh members for first time. I saw road race bikes for the first time in my life during the event who were zipping past ahead of me with their 9+ kilo imported race bikes while I was riding a steel-framed 30+ kilo purely Indian made local bike. :) My riding distance had got better by this time of about 60+ kms a day on my Hercules cycle. Soon after this cyclothon incident in my life, I pulled my cousin (Sumukh) into cycling. He was then new to cycling but i forced him one day for a Nandi hills ride, an overkill for a beginner indeed but it was the most funny ride ever as I did tow him for about 10+ kms with our bikes pulled by a rope after he started limping on our way back! Even more funnier part was that the rear mud guard fell off!! I mean it just fell off while riding and got stuck between the road and rear tire but it was this rope we tied to our bikes which helped us to avoid the disaster of me having a face-first-fall. Hehe.. With no tools with us, all we could find was a hardware store nearby where I only found a hack-saw blade to cut the mud-guard off the bike. :P

Too vintage.. i guess! :P

Country bikes with informal bikers then...

Are you kidding me? Tow away zone!?.. we were towing ourselves all the way back to Yelahanka!

Cutting the mud guard which fell towards the front of wheel!

Then I decided that it was the time for me to go for better and more reliable and lighter frame bike. But never found a proper way to go in search for proper kind of bike which suited my budget and my way of cycling. Road bikes looked really cool lean machines with those aerodynamic drop bars with those thin 700x25c tires and elegant frame geometry. But I am a kind of guy who takes too much adventure within and loved to be one with nature than on asphalted roads speeding at 40-50kmph. Thus I opted for Mountain bike and sooner I got to know about cycling-and-more(CAM) team who were having this regular weekend cycling rides around Bangalore. Me and my cousin both opted for rented bikes and took the ride as opportunity to get ourselves exposed to some modern day imported bikes with good components. We got Merida Matts 20V rented during the whole ride. It was then I realized the beauty of handling and braking of these Mountain bikes. We did the ride starting from Horanadu-Kalasa-Mudigere-Kottigehara-Sakleshpura, the heart of western ghats i must say, in-and-around the Charmadi ghats. The climbs were thrilling, tiring, challenging which were all negated by scenic beauty, greenery and pristine routes we took Not to forget the amazing food at  Linger Balur estate! and the lovely bungalow built almost everything out of wood from 1850s. Made new cyclist friends who were riding Cannondale Trail 5, Mongoose Tyax, Rock Rider 5.2s, Schwinn hybrids etc., but just fell in love with the Cannondale bike after I took it for spins.

Lovely greens meadows between Kottigehara-Sakleshpur

I look like a charred version of me :P

Welcoming us to village life

A lovely water body with lotuses on the way (In the pic - Sumukh)

How often does one get a change to be there!?

Soon after this ride we went to BOTS, Wheelsports (specially for KHS, Merida, BMC), Pedals and Wheels, Wheel life adventures (specially for Giant bike) and other branded bike distributors. Finally I chose KHS alite 500 as it has best components for my budget range.

Then I did a lot of upgrades to my bike since it was mainly a commuter purpose bike for me but often a trail bike too. Got a Cree 950 Lumens torch which runs on 4000mAh Ultrafire 18650 battery with a custom mount made out of a reflector clamp. A simple DC-4W cyclocomp to monitor distance and speed. A custom built DIY project for phone/battery pack charger. The recent of all was to get the puncture resistant tire liners kit installed as I face lot of thorns in trail rides towards Nandi hills and Hesaraghatta. Here are some videos that I took during my rides sometime back.

Offroad cycling is just so much fun! Have been to Nandi hills thrice (Dared the 8K climb only once though, last 2 kms are killing!) and Hesaraghatta trails about 4 times now, each of these rides would be around 80+ kms from my home at Sahakarnagar.

At Hesaraghatta lake (water remains to be precise!) - with my schoolmate Nikhil

Sumukh and Jon during the Nandi climb

It was a 100+ km ride back tiring ride that day!

Then came another bike trip with the office colleagues who are more of marathon runners and share same level of enthusiasm and passion as mine in biking. It was 3 day ride to heart of Madhumalai, Ooty. The ride was memorable as it was through the famous wildlife - Bandipur, Madhumalai, Gudaloor forests. We started from Mysore all the way to Bandipur (1st day), Bandipur to Masinagudi (2nd day), Masinagudi to Ooty (3rd Day). The ride was splendid and so was our final day accommodation at Taj savoy at Ooty! Yipeee.. A refreshing star hotel pleasure after treacherous rides (but not to mention that it burnt a hole in my pocket though :P )

My colleague Manav with his Kona dew taking a break

Thats the way - Mahi way! :)

Took rest here for few mins before the start of climb when I saw deers cross the road next to me!!

I was probably in 1x1 gear ratio here - crawling the way up!

Bend it like hair pin :P

Hocus - pocus - focus!

The latest ride of mine was my second ride with the CAM team last month starting from Bandipur - Gudalur - towards Kerala, Wayanad - Sulthan batthery - Soochipara falls. The tea estates were mesmerizing at the Soochipara falls. The best moments of the ride was to sip the freshly brewed tea, taking a stroll inside the estate in which it was grown, kids cheering us and asking us for name in their pretty English, taking a full body water massage below the water falls soon after a long ride!

Horse shoe for sale in one of villages

Lovely morning sunshine

A piece of art from a tree right next to them!

Yes. It was Christmas time last month! We stayed at Hotel Issac regency.

Fellow bikers

Edakkal hills in Kerala.

Speeeeeedo...

Most lovely pic! No words for its beauty!

Tea estates

Vivek Kini - on the way to Soochipara falls

Scenic route throughout

Tea estates very close to Soochipara falls

I hope you enjoyed my photo log of my journey as a primitive biker -> to an informal biker -> to an amateur biker. :D

Having done past 3000Kms now (of which 2000+ would be in commute), even to this day I enjoy my office commutes as it keeps me energetic for the entire day in getting me exposed to the some sunlight and breeze and relives a lot of pressure at work. Special thanks to Endorphins here! Even though traveling is slow paced I reach faster than on Car and coolest part is that I know a lot about short cuts and also round about ways to reach home in-case of traffic jams ;)

I didn't say why I called my Bike as friend-guru-philosopher yet! I promise to come back with another post as sequel to this soon. Thus I would like to end this post as I started with Terminator movie quote - "I'll be back!!"


Hasta la vista,
Amatuer biker Karthik