The Urban Cycling Expeditions

When I didn't find anyone who was willing to go with me, I decided to do it alone. I bicycled to the outskirts of Bangalore.

The bicycles

I was planing to buy a bicycle for quite a long time now. But I couldn't decide which one to buy and my savings were low to buy one of these bicycles. I can get bicycles on rent in my neighborhood. So I decided to try out a few bicycles.

The 1st weekend

The first weekend I got a 21 speed full suspension mountain bike and wanted to try it out on the roads. During the first hour of the journey it looked great, but as time passed by, I realized riding on a short bike for this long distance is not going to work. My legs began to ache. I crashed in a friends' place that night at J.P. Nagar. My destination for that weekend. I came back next day.

The problem with GPS navigation on a phone is that you always have to stop and check your location. And I didn't have a GPS holder on my bicycle. In Bangalore, many roads are one way, so you cannot really go back the way you came. That sometimes can be a big trouble.

It was approximately 32 kilometers in two days.

The 2nd weekend

Last Saturday, I planned to get a hybrid, which is more suited for the roads, given my experience with a full mountain bike. I got a 24 speed hybrid from BT'win for rent.

I wanted to go to Whitefield, but that was just a plain destination. Unlike J.P. Nagar I had no one to meet there, so I simply went there, looked for a nice pub, had lunch and came back, with a few problem along the way due to 'ONE WAY STREETS'.

It was around 50 kilometers in a single day.

The fun parts

The first ride to J.P. Nagar, I was just motivated by the fact that I am going to meet my old friend from college. That just kept me going on, despite muscle fatigue on my legs. I stayed there with my friend that night, had a lot of fun and came back.

The second day I really was asking myself this question twice, 'why am I doing this?'. Even hours before setting out on the bike, I was not really into it. There was nothing in Whitefield for me. I was not really getting the reason to go to Whitefield. Then I looked at the map and found this Old Airport Road which is quite a long stretch. Cycling on a long stretch is quite fun I thought and I made myself go. On the way I felt like a lone traveler, no purpose, just the journey. With that came a little Wild-West-Lone-Ranger type emotions, and I decided to go to a pub and sip my weariness away.

On these rides, there were two situations when I kept telling myself 'Don't be a pussy'. One was when I was going downhill without a brake and hitting quite a lot of speed, and the other was when I was going uphill and my legs yearned to give up. Bangalore has a lot of slopes one can really enjoy!

Well, that's mostly all. I cannot really write down the exact fun that I had bike riding. So I just jotted (typed) down the events.

In my perpetual agony of being single, these emotions are the one I want to hold on to. I want to hold on to these moments where there is me and only me, and nothing else!