My Love For Cycles ?

Cycle gotta be one of the goated invention humankind ever got to find. I'm a week away from my long awaited dream of doin' my all kerala beach cycle trip. I've been planning this for a long while.. and tbh I'm still lil' scared as I'm kinda outta shape. If at all last trip ( cali to wayanad ) taught me anythin' it was that,

My ridin' comrades, Adarsh and Goutham suffered muscle fatige climbing the hairpins even when I had more juice left. I did this 2 years back ? back in the January of 2023 when my total body weight was around 75ish KGs and I was thin as a stick. I've been cyclin' daily and was on hostel Mess Food ( missin' most of the meal ) 2 years fast forward in the year of 2025 I'm now used to fuller meals, and rocking' 10 more KGs and sure hitting the Gym really paid off as I'm now bulkier than my 22 year self. My cycle was in a long rest and now I've revived him with a thick repair, almost makin' it the theseus's ship of cycles. It costed me half the MRP of my cycle to make it to the current condition. You can find the details of my ride plannin' in this mastodon thread.

I've been doin' small rides to warm my body up for the past week or so and also wasa succesful to show up the 12th mile to do a few rounds on the field, I wish I could say runnin' Recent Longest ride I took was Cali railway to my home in Kattangal which I think is an 18-20 km ride. This was done when my cycle was still low-key unmaintained and breaks and wheels were not at their bests.

Now, digging deeper into my cycling obsession I went on a reflection upon my life and how cyclin' really came to my life. Back in 2005 or so I learnt how to cycle, my dad bought me a second hand mini cycle. My dad had the habit of giftin' me random things, but as time has now went by I don't remember most of what he had bought me, I could surely say that him buying me that mini cycle for the 4 year old me was one of his goated moments. FYI I lost this cycle way back 10 or more years ago when I shifted to my new home. Thinkin' back of the adventures I had with that cycle I deeply regret not keepin' it. When I had got it the first time, It came with a pair of training wheels, It's so funny that it's not the kinda trainin' wheels. I started cycling leaning on to left and right of the training wheels, we were living in the ESI compound at Pathalam and It was low key my motoGP track, I think I was done with training wheels fairly shortly and I with the help of my dad got rid of it... I could say this was my first hand experience undoin' a bolt and getting my arms dirty with grease and the first step to roughing up my palms.

Idk if you feel the same but I had removed the trainin' wheels at the point where it was bein' a burden for my speed. I knew that I could go faster and do more stuff if I didn't have the training wheels hinderin' my ride. And Boy oh Boy I was right. I was unstoppable once I got rid of the training wheels. Keep in mind this was all my delusion... I only realised this years later when I saw an old guy overtakin' me while slowly pedaling his cycle right next to me on another road. Keep in mind the mini cycle In picture really was really mini.. I don't think it was any taller than my knee height, and all the time I was pedaling at insane speed and when I was feeling like I was going at light speed I was in fact just going real slow.. next time you see a 5 year old kid cycling real fast you'd know what I mean.

After a while I shifted back to my Mom's side home where my Grand Parents lived and I kept continuing to repair my cycle myself ( usually ends up breakin' it ) One time I did a front flip Accidentally as I was trying to fix my front brake by undoin' the front break set and suddenly I saw one of my UKG classmate teasin' me and runnin' away... I had to go after him in my cool-ass cycle and sure for sure I did... and midway chasin' him My front brake unit went undone and got stuck between my rims and locking up the front wheel resultin' in a "Dhoomachaale" like fall... I fell my back first on concrete road...

Anyhow this mini cycle was the vessel I used to perform my first alien expedition. fast forward kindergarten I had started goin' to LP school and had befriended a kid named Amal Sajeevan, I got to know that he was livin' almost near to my house. My amma and my grandparents were pretty clear when they specified my boundaries to which I'm supposed to cycle upto.. and there was this one border which I was supposed to not cross.. Amal's home was on the next side of this boundary. And like almost all the curious kids I too did embark upon my journey when the right moment came and crossed the boundaries and travelled far alone to go meet my friend. That was my first long trip and I think this was some sub 2-3 KM trip.

When we shifted again this time to the new home my Amma built I lost my cycle.. I surely had outgrew the cycle... and I didn't really demand that the cycle be packed and brought here. And unlike my previous homes the new one had a much active road through which big and small vehicles were moving day and night.

I still was at this wierd point where I knew how to cycle But I didn't.... I knew how to cycle my cycle which was reall smoll. my first encounter with an almost normal sized cycle was when I had befriended Karthik Krishnan who was ridin' a Hercules Apex cycle. It was scary as hell and I think I ended up hurtin' my self a lil' the first time I tried it out. It was like relearnin' cyclin' from scratch... at this point I also started obsessing about geared cycles simply because of the curiousity, and I was damn sure I'd never buy a cycle that didn't have a shock absorber as well. And sure enough... I bought one... not really my dream cycle ( it was hercules atom / fusion at that point ) but hero ( Painfully realizin' I forgot what the name of my cycle was ) It was a purple one, ( I still have him up on my house rusted and abandoned ) It was heavy and it had dual shocks. I loved that shocks and I think my friends did too.. many of them were eager to jump on it and this resulted in me havin' to struggle with frequent complaints from loose handle, loose seat, rim and tyre issues that purely was a result of this shock abuse.

and someday I don't even remember I rode it for the last time and decided I should fix it and disassemble it and just left it there to rust and rot. : \

I bought the current cycle the peak of my cycling now 5 years ago back in 2020, durin' the covid era. I bought it from kalamassery decathalon and I started embracin' the road cyclin' Main roads were no longer a forbidden pleasure... The first day I started cyclin' I was wearing a mask as well.. after travelling maybe 5-6 km I was out of breath and dizzy.. I had to sit somewhere to cool down and get my head straight only then I could return back home. Then slowly but surely I was buildin' up my stamina.

Back in 2021 September I parcelled my cycle on a train and brought it to campus for the very first time. I loved giving lift to people when they were tired, and just simply having people sitting on my front bar while I cycled. Slowly my cycle had become a public property and I had to put up whatsapp and insta stories to find my cycle. I tried lockin' it only to end up forgettin' that I locked it and ruin my lock as well as my back tyre rims.

The one I have right now ( I've named it red rocky in strava ) has been the best investment ever in my life. I had to spend 8k to buy it first time and sure I might have now spend 8 or more K cumilatively on top of it just for maintainance. But all the rides I had and all the memories I got from that cycle is worth very much above all that I'm sure.

As I embark on this trip, I wish that it will bring me more memories I could cherish, as stories I could tell young ones when I'm old and overall an insightful experience. If you were crazy enough to read till this well thank you, I'm sure you either love me or love cyclin' or just simply love readin'. Will post the Cycling updates as soon as I can. : )

Also I hate geared cycles, I consider people who ride geared cycle as weak, and I find geared cycles to be a maintenance nightmare. I like my cycles Simple and Stupid. Keep it Simple and Stupid 💋

You can quote me for your next long journey.

Happy Christmas : P