State of Cycling in Bengaluru 2020 ??

My opinions, albeit with a clickbait

This past week I had to cab it. My cycle is on a break, getting a full workup done. As I sat amidst the traffic in my daily commute, it felt appropriate to recap 55 months on the saddle. The previous one is getting a bit stale (https://medium.com/@aravindbaskaran/cycling-in-bengaluru-lessons-and-challenges-442e144c1325)

I was very much averse to the idea of writing a “Cycling in Bengaluru” note for last year. I can honestly say that I did not enjoy cycling every day in 2019. I was avoiding a rant at the end of it. I had written it down but never got to publishing it. Some of it has snuck in here though.

Good stuff (and Smart moves)

Early start

I started early. Really early. 7am starts. Avoid major traffic. Enjoy the cool Bengaluru morning - crisp, chilly air, chirpy birds, and a meager number of vehicles on the roads.

Or go really late, like 11am (though on Tuesdays 10 am works). Take those morning calls at home, and start at leisure. Not as good, but better than the 9am rush.

Me trying to park my bike safely. But no safe space for cycles :(

Unpredictable finish

The end-of-day though continued to be a variable. The best way to prepare was to be okay with the state of traffic. If I had to reach somewhere else before heading home, giving myself that extra 10–15 mins head-start was very useful to calm me. The traffic didn’t bother me much, I was prepared.

Being the nomad

Since 2018 I have lived in about 10 places, including Indira Nagar, Domlur, Cox Town, Victoria Road, Sanjay Nagar, Kormangala. This includes a stint of 6 BnBs in 6 months and staying with different friends (who allowed me to crash with them ??). The rest was a bit more settled (i.e. at least a quarter of habitation)

That sounds hectic, but what made this easy to execute was

1. Whatever I owned could fit into about 5-7 hand luggage sized bags (still fits)
2. My trusty cycle. I could commute without waiting or worrying about cabs, roads or parking or public transport.

Exploring new roads and routes was interesting, the sights and sounds of the daily commute. Adding to that, the varying distances, some days it was 30Km of commute, to some days being 10km, and the up-down terrain en route made for interesting challenges on pacing the self.

It’s not okay.

Here is the bad stuff. There is a lot of bad behavior on the road. Sometimes even going to a threatening level and cause damage to you or your property. It is real. I had an altercation, a small one, but it looked big to me.

The lesson — Seemingly sensible and educated people are okay doing wrong things until they are caught. I realized that after I heard the numerous apologies from the same people who were okay abusing me and even going on to push my cycle down over conversation. The river of apologies started flowing on the route to the police station. Left a really bad taste. It has made me equip myself better to protect my space or anyone else’s for the future.

Dressed for comfort

Here is my principle

If cycle -> a bright t-shirt + shorts

Else -> anything (shirt or t-shirt) + anything (shorts or pants)

Reasons

1. Bright t-shirt —Makes me visible on the road in the day as well as night. An inner full vest was good during the chilly winter mornings and nights. Combine that with a tight face mask (bandana perhaps) and helmet when on the cycle.
2. Shorts —Easier for my calves to breathe through
3. Shirts — Uncomfortable. Long or fast rides = More sweat
4. Pants — Uncomfortable. Long or fast rides = More sweat

Works well for me. (Except for the days when I have permanent blushes from the increase in heads turned because I wore a shirt and pant :|)

Downtime and alternatives

Unlike the years before, my cycle held up pretty well. Very few downtimes because of a puncture or other issues.

Maintenance actions I did to ensure longer uptime

1. Tyre pressure was checked and topped up at least a week if not more. I kept my air pump accessible to do this before I headed out.
2. Chain and gear ratchets were oiled at least once every 21 days. Any engine oil would do, but I had purchased a specialized one.

Hard to leave behind when going out of town, always missed ??

*Pats self on the back*

During downtime though, there are good alternatives these days. The Bengaluru Namma Metro line and the cycle rentals ala Yulu are very useful to get that elusive last-mile connectivity.

My first crash

I used to cycle back home as late as 4 am. I continued doing that as much as possible. Unfortunately this year, I fell off my cycle, i.e. crashed for the first time during one of those rides.

It didn’t have too much to do with the lateness of the night per se. But as part of the nomadic routine, I was in a new area. And these new areas had different rules. i.e. The pups who crash on the roadside can get pretty riled up when something speeds past.

One night, they chased. I slowed down. I hit the median. I fell face-first. The helmet took most of it. I had a scratch on my palm. The bike had a few scratches. I asked the dogs why they did that, to no response (of course). Well, the response was clear, I had to be careful not to disturb them. I didn’t want to disturb.

I had dealt with this while running on roads early mornings as well. When they start chasing, I usually stop, try talking or showing some form of affection to them (some gesture that shows you are not a threat). They do calm down and let you pass if you slow down sufficiently.

Applying a similar approach of calm-down-no-threat for when I am on cycle, has worked so far.

To the future and experiments

Carrying the extra load

When on cycle I used to optimize for keeping it as minimal as possible. For eg: there was one backpack, and whatever can fit in it. Everything else could wait. But recently I have been trying out different ways to carry those extras (usually more food :)). One of them is to have a rope bag which I wear on the front. I tried that for grocery rides, hauling change of clothes, etc. Felt a little cumbersome, having to tug at the bag every few minutes from hitting the knees, slowing down the ride as a result.

The backpack allowed for a slightly different variant. I could tie the rope bag through the extra loops on the side and let it hang on the back. Neat, right? Better than tugging at the ropes in traffic.

The Swym team backpack, part of our onboarding kit :) Side note - If you want one, drop me a note on twitter — hiring we are

I have now started toying with buying something like the big logistics bags most last-mile delivery personnel carry.

Source — https://www.amazon.in/TRIAGE-Polyester-ltrs-Blue-Luggage/dp/B074M28LQW/ref=asc_df_B074M28LQW/

It seems like a good option, especially for grocery rides and other once-in-a-while trips that usually make the cab ride. Hopefully for some of that messy stuff that get crush from undue jerks on the road.

Me wants more, better

Everybody does, don’t they?

More space, more safety, more flexibility, more incentive.

Cycling is a good excuse to do something sustainable.

But I want to know what you want.

From your fellow commuters? From your office? From your dates? From your meetings?

Hope for more ???♀? ??

P.S: I don’t do group cycling activities. If you do, let me know what kinda things your groups do? Okay? Thanks :)

Originally posted on Medium - https://medium.com/@aravindbaskaran/state-of-cycling-in-bengaluru-2020-cbc463bc3604