2 wheels and a dork

Cycling for me, like for everybody in my age group, started back in the 90s, when I was 5-6 years' kid. The interest only grew later, cycling to school and back in the morning, and then cycling for fun, while others were busy in Cricket, in the evening. Some long lasting memories were made, racing on the streets, falling down, bruising knees and applying band-aids. But by the time I was 15 or 16, I soon graduated to moped scooter for taking me around.

The second inning for cycling started more out of necessity than by choice, because that was the only mode of transport allowed for students in NIT Tiruchirappalli campus. I chose to invest in a half decent bike, but it soon fell into disrepair, as I was too lazy to get it fixed, and walking for 2kms daily felt like a better plan to me, than taking the cycle same distance to get fixed.

The "real" bicycle was purchased in 2018, after my stint at the remote oilwell sites was finally over and I moved to an office role. I still had 12 hour shifts to do, but I wanted to join the fitness bandwagon. One fine day, I naively decided that I was capable of doing my total 30 kms of commute, through Mumbai traffic and pollution, while doing the 12 hour shift in the office. Oh how stupid that feels now. But that kicked off a snob like obsession with the two wheel mechanical marvel and countless hours of watching GCN videos. This was followed by countless purchase of accessories. All hail Kirkpatrick McMillan !!