A journey that keeps you going

On the occasion of World Bicycle Day 2020 which is observed on June 3 every year, I wish you good health and remind you how bicycle is a simple solution to one of the greatest problems of mankind. We recently completed over 200 years after the invention of first bicycle by Baron Karl Von Drais from Germany in 1818. Nonetheless, since then we have evolved and so has the bicycle. Today, the world’s most expensive bicycle probably costs somewhere around $500,000 named Butterfly Madone from Trek.

Interestingly, there is more engineering than that meets the eye in a bicycle today, of course, you will agree more readily if you use one daily. I think it will be unfair to not to mention, for many of us as a child one of the most wonderful memorable experience was to ride a bicycle and zip past our parents, brimming with pride, a first of the many accomplishment to come in our life. Today, it has evolved I have friends who are doing a 50 mile ride with their 12 year old.

A little later in time through our early childhood, we graduate to what I call our first club experience, i.e., biking with our teenage lads and lasses in our neighborhood. From there on, we find ourselves moving steadily yet fast to our first teenage date/first crush, this is when we likely walk the bike more than we ride it, all because we want to spend more time with our sweetheart or even better ride the bike with her sitting between our arms and resting her bottom on the uncomfortable bike frame, uncomplaining. I think some of these experiences are undoubtedly carved deep into our memories but among all these early life experience, on thing that stood by us was; we had our bike, which we loved and really valued.

For many of us our love affair with bikes is likely to start from our childhood and follow through our adulthood, I’m now convinced this is probably true wherever you are in the world.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

Of course, inventions and need for faster transport has led us to use more of alternative means. Nonetheless, despite the rise of vehicles over time 200 years since the invention of bicycle, it is still the most sustainable mode of transport, and an healthier alternative, further it has evolved to a much unique experience today in many ways.

Let me explain this better, you can consider it as a sport or embrace the social side of bicycling given the ever growing communities and affiliations, or make it part of your multi-sport lifestyle albeit one where most likely you learn the art of being a professional athlete through training, practice and access to scientific resources.

One can say the experience a bicycle can bring to you today has transformed to a much different level than it was even 10 years ago but the best part about it today is it is fueled by purpose and passion. The drivers for these I find are either environment or well-being and in some cases quest for indulging in the coolness of engineering.

You might be inquisitive, how I’m able to conclude or boldly propose that view or probably you don’t care anyway. I can confidently say because I make it a point to ride wherever I travel in the world, luckily all the places I’ve been, let’s take last two years’ time frame and I probably did over 5-10 different countries and I always found very different experience when cycling than when being a typical tourist (who is exploring places conventionally). I genuinely learned more, made my own discoveries, I felt the breeze on my face, the smell of local food many times leading me to explore local cuisine and certainly had more brain activity through the ride and post ride reflecting on my journey and last but not least very insightful conversations with locals. I often ended up making friends usually through the famous app Strava - simply put, the professional standard for athlete workout data in cloud.

Through cycling I’ve learnt more about being an athlete and enjoyed learning about the mechanics of the bike and ride, they are very different by the way. The first one very much tends to revolve around your allegiance to a brand manufacturer or the type of biking you enjoy, i.e., mountain biking or road biking, etc.

Although, today the intellectual orgasm for bikers is to assemble their own bike knowing the various available component manufacturers for almost every moving part of the bicycle, to satisfy their creativity, experimentation and proficiency in engineering. The second is most likely influenced by the bigger influential groups like GCN, Global Cycling Network and the company you keep during your ride or maybe what I call your learning network, groups, and professional clubs. You learn the intricacies of gear shift and endurance for all day cycling, you get into the habit of challenging yourself for a better you. I can tell you all this greatly influences your personality and personal growth and even better helps you make professional connections and discover yourself.

I have a story to share that will help linking cycling and professional work that probably many do today. In my first job, I didn’t know I was being interviewed by my boss over a game of badminton but I think it was the most candid interview I ever had, I guess I might not have fared better if it was a regular job interview but I was lucky and I got into a company doing very cool stuff i.e., writing proprietary code and designing proprietary hardware for distributing digital media via satellite and internet when HD was not the norm. The startup mindset of the global business led them to grow from 17 people to 1700 in 4 years. Research has only proven that being oneself, thinking on the feet and having right attitude and being aware on social/emotional balance is more often why people make it successfully past an interview, basically by being authentic. Job specific skills that are needed for work execution can always be learnt depending on where you are in the career ladder, often much easy at the career start.

I think regarding interviews, one can understand another person much better in a context and whether it’s sports or cycling, clearly you learn many aspects about somebody in the first few conversations, therefore it is only easy to extend it in informal conversations, etc. For example, when we do group rides being a team player is very essential, so that you do not put others at risk or create unwanted hassles. Similarly, being a leader of the group you have to make decisions on safety, route and manage crisis or even motivate when the group is having a bad day, etc.

I think cycling has given me a lot more than I would have imagined considering when I started five years ago. Not to forget it is an extremely healthy alternative for the Millennials and Gen Z. In addition, bicycle always has been a sustainable medium of commute and likely will be the same in the future. If you have not discovered the joy of riding, now is the time to do. I say that because given the constraints coronavirus places on all of us and using it as an opportunity to inculcate new habits that not only protect ourselves but make improvements to our overall well-being is a blessing in disguise. Further, the impact of coronavirus on economic terms is very clear and unfortunate, all this means our attention to sustainable living, sustainable goals may be stressed and difficult to achieve or the least not be on top our minds even though we have discovered that the lockdown has given us better air quality and connection with nature. Therefore, we must start winning every day, do little by little towards sustainable living, contribute to sustainable agenda globally by making conscious decisions every day and setting ourselves everyday ‘tiny targets’ at our personal capacity hoping that summing it up over years and volume, across the world, will make a difference. A good way to begin is discovering yourself by riding a bike every day and making it part of your journey whenever possible.

Happy World Bicycle Day.