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.

Participating in TFN has been my new cycling goal. But TFN requires tremendous amount of stamina. I am not sure whether I would be able to complete TFN, but I surely want to give it a try.

TFN starts in second week of December 2009. I have roughly 5 months to prepare. My plan is to increase the distance organically. I ride around 30km everyday. In next five months I want to increase the distance by 3km every week and reach 66km/day close to TFN. Once in a month I want to take up some serious riding. So here is my plan

• Jul -6 – 13 – 33km/day
• Jul – 13 – 20 – 36km/day
• July – 20 – 27 – 39km/day
• July – 27 – Aug 10 – 42km/day
• Aug – 10 – 24 – 45km/day
• Aug – 24 – Sep 7 – 48km/day
• Sep – 7 – 28 – 51km/day
• Sep – 28 – Oct – 12 – 54km/day
• Oct 12 – Nov – 2 – 57km/day
• Nov 2 – 16 – 60km/day
• Nov – 16 – 30 – 63km/day
• Dec – 1 Till TFN – 66km/day

Major rides planned

• July – 25th – Shivagange
• August – 8th – Kanakapura Rd – 75km total
• August – 22nd – Nandi Hills
• September 12th and 13th – Mysore
• October 2nd, 3rd, 4th – Chennai
• November  – 14th and 15th- Tumkur

There are some concerns though. (more…)

My cycling goals for 2009 are

1. Make cycle my primary mode of transport
2. Cover 7000km in commuting

It has been six months now. I cannot imagine any means other than cycle for commuting. Reason? My commute time is now almost fixed – 1.5hrs. Earlier it was entirely dependent on traffic. I have tried Hero Thunder, Merida SUB-10V, Trek 4300 and BTwin Rockrider 5.3.

I have stopped using my motorcycle. I don’t remember spending any money either on petrol or on maintenance. In last 6 months I have saved more than Rs.6000 just on fuel (other than maintenance and insurance).  I listen to audio books while cycling since I don’t have to focus much on traffic – one book in a week – that alone accounts closely to 25 books in last six months.

I have cut down my weight by 3.5kilos. I don’t worry about parking. My life has become less stressful and more beautiful. In past six month I have converted 6 of my friends to cycling. I have also reached 50% mark of my annual goal of 7000km. Currently I am using Mycyclinglog. My friend Thej is working on a new WordPress plugin. I will shift to it soon.

Here is my log:

I am a fan of Merida and Trek cycles. As recently as last month I never thought about buying any other bicycle. But when my colleague Deepak Menon wanted to buy a bicycle, he somehow got to know about Decathlon and the wholesale prices. I did not believe him in the beginning. But a visit to the website shocked me – almost everything at a minimum discount of 10%. Some of them carried as much as 30% discount.

I paid Rs.350 for BTwin Coil lock. It costed only Rs.250 at Decathlon, pant clips at Rs.100 (instead of Rs.130). The list goes on. But the best part was Rockrider 5.3 – Rs.23000 cycle for Rs.20,000. When I went through the features, I jumped with joy – dual disc brakes, 100mm fork with lockout, SRAM 27 gear combination, double walled rims – all for Rs.20,000.

To purchase items from Decathlon at wholesale prices, you need to have a valid sales license. We got our memberships done. Pulkit and Sejal wanted to buy a bicycle. So we decided to visit Decathlon on Saturday. I and Diwakar (my brother) reached the shop by 12:00pm. Pulkit and Sejal were already there. They were little confused between Rockrider Hybrid and 5.1 After some deliberation, they decided to go with 5.1. I and Diwakar drooled at 5.3 and other accessories. We decided to pick up a 5.3 for our youngest brother – Kaushik. We got mirrors, mudguards, locks, pant clips and saddle covers.

Deepak joined us at 4:00pm. In all, we shopped for two 5.3s and one 5.1. We got real good goodies as free gifts. Each Rockrider 5.3 purchase got us Rs.3000 discount + a hydration bag worth Rs.1800 + Puncture Kit worth Rs.1000 and an insulated bottle worth Rs.1200. Virtually, a 23k bike costed us Rs.16k. I don’t know whether 5.3 can be compared to any of the Meridas or Treks. But I am very happy with the bike. I will post the review after using this bike for few months.

Decathlon has other sports items too. You must visit it at least once.

Since yesterday, all my siblings (we are three brothers) have been commuting to office by bicycle. I hope this trend continues. Here are some snaps of our new family member Rockrider 5.3.

Rockrider 5.3

Two weeks ago my colleague Deepak said he wants to cycle Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh at a stretch. I have seen the terrain and believe me, doing it on a motorcycle itself is a huge thing – cycling would be very very tough. The conversation somehow turned towards cycling Europe in three or four months duration. Both of us got excited. The next day I pitched this to my friend Vishy. Even he jumped at the idea. So, sometime in next two years, we are going to hit Europe on our bicycles.

I now need to work on the cost, duration, route, cause (it would be water for sure) etc.

Before that, we need to prepare for Tour of Nilgiris in December. 900km in 9 days – test of body, mind and everything else that is there with you…!!!

Of late I have become a fan of disc brakes for bicycles. Not that they look cool but that they are much more convenient and easier to maintain.

V Brakes need regular adjustment. As the shoes start to wear off, the gap between the rim and the shoe needs to be adjusted regularly. If the wheel loses its truing, even a bit, it starts rubbing the shoes. Of course, adjusting V-Brakes is a not very time consuming task, but it can sometimes get annoying. Disc brakes on the other end do not need this level of regular tweaking.

The main reason why I would recommend disc brakes for bicycles is, the grit that gets stuck between the shoe and the rim. Yes, this has become a serious problem for me since the onset of monsoon. The clean brake shoe picks up grit and rubs it against the rim. This abrasive effect, over a long period, can push you to change the rim. You might always clean the shoe and rim before you start the ride, but the road has got enough grit to fail you. Worst of all would be, riding through a small mud patch. If that happens, mud just sticks to your rims and brake shoe happily smears it all along the rim and uses the mud to sand the rim off. Disc brake not only helps you avoid this mess but also gives you better control in rains.

Merida SUB 20 MD

Bicycles with disk brakes might seem like a costly affair. But if bicycle is your primary means of transport (just as mine), you will start appreciating disc brakes very soon. BTW, mechanical disk brakes are sufficient. You don’t need to have hydraulic disc brakes (and these cost you a fortune). I would recommend Merida SUB 20 MD or Cannondale F8 which costs you around 23k and 22k respectively.

Cannondale F8

I has been more than 6 months since I adopted bicycle as my primary means of transport. I have not spent any money on petrol. So if I convert the mileage of my bike into savings, it is a straight savings of Rs.5000 + Insurance + Maintenance. So I think in all I have saved at least Rs.6,000 in six months. Added bonus is, good health

But now I want to document some basic maintenance a cycle owners needs to perform – some daily, some weekly and few monthly. This is as per my experience. I use bicycle to commute a distance of 30km everyday (around 700km a month). 95% of the route I take to office is asphalted. Only the roads near my house are muddy and have some potholes.

So here is my checklist: (more…)

Cycling has not lost its charm. It is as glamorous as it was when I was a 12 year old kid trying to borrow somebody’s cycle to ride it for a short distance.

Whenever I speak of cycling, people speak to me of the childhood memories, the freedom cycling gave them. I believe that it is time to reclaim those memories, that freedom.

This month three of my friends expressed willingness to buy bicycle. Nadish and his wife together bought my all time favourite – Hero Thunder MTB. My friend Subhash got a Merida SUB-10V while my colleague Arun Patre bought Merida SUB-20V.

Over last two weeks, the attitude of these people has changed tremendously. They now have a clear understanding of what it feels like to cycle in Bangalore. And all of them are happy that they made this choice.

People, just come out and start cycling… you can rediscover the beauty you forewent long ago.