The whole story
Bong asked me how I started cycling. The answer to that is I didn’t suddenly start cycling. It was always there. In Lucknow I used to cycle a lot. Everybody did. It was better than being dependent on parents or the non-existent public transport. And when it was a good cool-dusty day I would just go further than usual. On one side of the campus that I lived in lay the centre of the town. On the other side was the tree-canopied highway. With my friends there were many many awesome routes to explore in the mornings through woods, fields, orchards, villages finding rough tracks and snake skins and ponds. Enid Blyton books with Mr.Twiggs and Mistletoe farm and the Find-outers on random rock islands did their bit. Mom was also the kind who pushed us out in the evenings for sport. My sister and I were practically No TV kids.
In Delhi for college, I hated autorickshaw-bickering. One day, I took my friend's old cobwebby cycle. Wasn’t sure if I’d use it. But dude.. it got overused totally! So much easier to just get out and go! And cars didn’t charm me since they were always stuck in jams.
In Toronto I was suddenly not the odd one out. Everyone was cycling in crisp corporate wear to work. I cycled over ice in winter and used the gears all wrong on the undulating roads. Went to late night pubs and returned on bike. The safety on the roads rocked.. 1am.. 2am. Explored alley graffiti; popped the cycle into streetcars when it was too late and home too far. Saw amazing bike stores with all sorts of maddening-gladdening gear.
Got my first job. Then the Ladakh trip happened. I bought my own Trek 3700. More trips followed. Off-road rides. Now I know other MTB enthusiasts and things are happening on their own. Now I know a lot is possible. There is no limit.
And of course, in schooldays I read a book about a woman who cycled from Ireland to India through rocky n snowy Afghanistan. She spent the nights sleeping on the benches of dhabas (cheap eating-joints); cycled till her clothes were threadbare with the sun and the wind. She did this when she was 21 in 1963. The book is called 'Full Tilt' by Dervla Murphy.
And 6ft 6in Roald Dahl doubled in his RAF plane cockpit fits in somewhere too. And the night ride with Ajay behind me on a motorbike with flickering headlights on the Himalayas. An experience to return to again and again. On cycle maybe.
April 6th, 2009 - 15:23
Aah, ladakh.
you definitely got inspired a lot by that.
I remember you going on and on about Full tilt
And I got into cycling because of you. I’ll probably just point everyone who asks me how I got into cycling to read this. And then I’ll say, you were my gf, and I naturally started cycling more. And it continued.