Sharada Prasad

Today Bangalore Mirror came up with the article – Techie ReSolution where it wrote about six techies cycling to work on a daily basis. I just wanted to summarize few things here.

For me the year 2009 is ending with great satisfaction since I could cycle to work throughout the year. I am leaving for my own version of ‘Tour of Nilgiris’ on 25th. The year started with the absolute beauty of cycling and will culminate in cycling.

Please remember:

1. Adopting cycling as your primary means of transport is not easy but not impossible either.
2. Start with short distances – cycle for about 3km a day. In the beginning, 3km can take as long as 20 min. But it soon comes down to 10min.
3. Start cycling to grocery store and nearby places. Cycle during weekends and gradually increase the distance.
4. 5km is a very comfortable distance and it gets a bit difficult after 15km (one way). I have seen many people doing 20km oneway, after sufficient practice.
5. First few days your body will pain. You also need to adjust your saddle properly and emphasize on good cycling postures.
6. Traffic in Bangalore is not very cycle friendly. But if you keep a low profile on the roads, maintain a reasonable speed and stick to extreme left, you will do good.
7. Traffic police and other vehicles in Bangalore have been very understanding, so far.
8. Pollution could be a great negative. Choose interior roads. It could be a bit longer, but you will love the fresh air You can use masks, if needed.
9. Street dogs are a menace at night. So ride slow, don’t get into a race with them. If needed, get down the bicycle and walk.
10. Always use lights – Note that light is not important to see the road but to be seen by fellow motorists. Majority of the cycle accidents involve bad lighting systems.
11. I encourage people to use a good helmet.
12. In a period of 1-1.5 months, cycling will soak into your blood

Wish you all a Happy New Year and a year filled with new discoveries such as cycling.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.