Rajesh sent me this picture yesterday. This is from an article that appeared in Mid-day on Sept 14th, 2010. Those days we were cycling like crazy. We first started with the weekend rides, but slowly got addicted to cycling. Amma had renamed the PedalYatris as “PaagalYatris” :).
Ten years later, the cycling friendships have gotten stronger but our friendship with the cycle has weakened considerably. We don’t cycle as regularly… infact not at all. Till 2016, when my shoulder trouble started, we were atleast clocking 30 to 50 kms a week. We bought folding cycles to take with us on our ShikshaDaan Yatra. Those cycles would fit inside the Skoda Yeti.
I have pictures from our cycling trips in Madurai, Coimbatore, Chennai, Hyderabad etc. September 2016 changed everything. My shoulders just froze and I couldn’t move my hands freely. Cycling and all forms of exercise went out of the window for nearly two years. We then cycled a short distance in Edinburgh using Sriman’s cycles in 2018 and then again with Sachin in Seeheim, near Frankfurt, the same year. Germany Day 11&12 – Fined on the tram and a PY reunion.
We did do a ride with Sachin in Oct 2019 and then the pollution got to be so bad that we just didn’t step out. The pandemic has been added to the list of excuses :(. Am hoping that soon we get rid of these excuses and start cycling again. It just needs a few days of regular cycling to become a “PaagalYatri” again.