Here is some of the most common things I hear about cycling.
Have you noticed, the ones who never cycled are the ones with strongest opinions on the dangers of cycling!!
• Its not safe!!
This is definitely my favourite “excuse”. It is the excuse most polite folks give you. They don’t want to piss you off by saying it is déclassé or cheap or too much effort. Safety is the buzzword. These are the same folks who will buy a car without ABS or airbag, but safety is somehow big on their list. Who are they deluding, except themselves? I have only one thing to tell them – GROW UP.
Let me put it like this. I have had only two accidents in 50000 km and not one of them spilled a drop of blood. 10.5 years and not a single accident!! How many motor cyclists can claim the same? One accident was when a SUV hit me from behind at 5kmph. Very slow impact, just touched my bike. Enough to spoil the rim, but I did not even fall down or anything. Second was when a scooter crossed right in front of me the wrong way and I hit it slightly. This time my right hand hurt a little, a light sprain.
Yes, when you look “down” from a bus, the cyclist looks so vulnerable. But I feel that in this city a cyclist is very safe. The people of Banglaore are real gentlemen. I feel that most people respect a cyclist. These days it is definitely there, as people are more "health-wise". When I started off in 2000, I used to be treated like a stray dog. Your existence on the road did not matter. And traffic never causes any problems – as long as you don’t cause any problems to traffic.
• Pollution
I love this one too. And to some extent it is valid. Believe it or not, whether you are biking or in a car or in a bus pollution affects you. And pollution does not prevent most people from doing anything they have to – like going to work and back. Then how come it only prevents cycling? To me it looks like many folks are hiding behind the veil of pollution! If it is such a concern, there are very good quality masks available www.respro.com that can completely seal off the nostrils/ mouth from dust/ smoke. I have used them too and found them very effective.
The funniest part is some of my friends who smoke upto 10 cigarettes per day, are concerned about pollution if they cycle. My god. I love cattle and street dogs more – at least they don’t talk such rubbish.
• Cheap activity?
Oh!! where were you born? In the windsor castle? If not, dont act like you did! :)
This more of an attitude issue. These days it is not a problem, since there are plenty of youngsters on bike, with helmets and flash lights and everything. It almost looks like a mini circus!
Cycling is slowly evolving to be a fashion statement! In this city alone you can buy bikes worth one lakh and more.
• Sounds good, but can I do it?
Absolutely! I am the proof. If I can cycle with 105 kgs weight, 36km (18x2) in a day to office and back, what is preventing you. Remember, the lighter you are, the easier it is! ☺
And especially if you have a bike like this:
• I don’t have your stamina.
This is again hiding behind biology and physiology. How do you know you don’t have stamina? You develop stamina for a specific activity when you do it again and again.
Your body is more wonderful than you think. It adapts to all kinds of effort. Believe me, in two weeks of daily consistent effort, you will be cycling around in gay abandon.
• Cycling to work would take a lot of time, right?
Yes, indeed. But traveling by bus or car also takes time. Almost the same or even more. So the question is not about cycling, but how far you stay from work! Most of the time I am at par with buses or even better than them during peak hours.
So if you dont intend to commute, better dont buy a bike! If you bought a treadmill, like most people do, when the first nasha is over, you can at least use it as a cloth stand. With a cycle, even that is not convenient. Stay away!
• Should I do it?
Depends entirely on you. Boss, this is India - You have the right to be as unhealthy as you choose to be.
• I like it, but don’t want to commute to work.
Sorry to say, but if that is indeed the case, the probability of you continuing cycling above 3 months is very very less. In other words, the cycle that you bought will be a useless thing in 3 months! Not a great idea, I would say. The best way is to include it as a commute to work, so that you don’t have to set aside “time for cycling” from your busy schedule or the precious weekends.
• Gears make it easy. Whats the challenge?
And the above statement can be only made by a guy who has never cycled.
Gears make it fun, not easy!
Get on a geared bike, try a good incline. Now try it without a geared bike. You will know the difference. Gear only changes the rate at which work is done. The total work done still remains the same. Elementary, dr. Watson! Gears will definitely help you ride up the inclines which would otherwise make you get down and push the bike up.
• I have been thinking about it
Dude, don’t think. Just do! You don’t think about cycling, you do it. Or you don’t. Don’t let words like “thinking” make you think that you are accomplishing something. You cannot learn swimming by “thinking” about it. Don’t hide behind words. Come forward, be a man! Have you heard this – male by birth, man by choice?
How long are you thinking about it? Some of my folks have been thinking for 11 years! And still no signs of action. Don’t get into this “analysis paralysis” mode. The more you analyse, the more paralysed you get. What we need is action, not just thoughts and theories.
If a thought does not lead you into action, identify it to be a “pseudo-feeling”. A real feeling always induces action.
• What is the cost of cycling?
This is actually a misplaced question. The real question is what is the cost of not cycling? Examples are not very inspiring - Heart problems, high BP, diabetes maybe.
Of course, you can start pedaling with a basic light weight bike like the Hero Hawk or BSA Mac series, both of which are still in production. Get one with 5 or 8 or 16 gears. Not less than 5 gears please. For about 7K rupees, you are pretty much ready with a basic bike, helmet, lights and all.
• These trucks! Do they let you cycle?
Sorry to break any civilized illusions, but I face more stupid behavior from bikes and cars than from trucks. Truckers are gentle folks, they are pros. They know how to behave on the roads. Many times these heavy trucks have come behind me on narrow roads, and applied brakes just so that they don’t have to honk and scare me off. I am yet to see that kind of civilized behavior from cars and two wheelers! Sorry.
• What happens if the tyre punctures?
Oh, come on! Stop kidding. What happens if your motorbike or car tyre punctures? You howl, shout and abandon the vehicle completely and go by bus? No. You just fix it and get on with life. Ditto with cycling too. Fix the puncture, get on with cycling!!
• Too many flyover and bridges
That’s why you need gears. Gears definitely make it a little better for you. When you are in a vehicle and you reach a flyover, do you get off and pray that somehow with god’s blessings the vehicle goes over? You just press the pedal a little more. Same thing here – pedal harder! ☺
• What if it rains?
If you start off cycling, the question is not if it rains, but when? Sooner or later you have to face rains. Buy a raincoat! Simple. Don’t do stunts like cycling with umbrella in one hand and all that. In my childhood I used to see folks in kerala doing it. Those are meant only for the mallus – rest of you, wear a raincoat.
• How do you know you did 50K km?
How do you know your car is due for service? Either the service center calls you, or you figure out from the odometer. I have a cycle computer or cyclometer on my bike and I keep a daily log of the distance done. I write it down in my dairy, on a *daily* basis. I have been doing that since june 2000. I have not missed a single km that I pedaled here in this city.
My hero hawk has two meters - one analog and one digital!
• Don’t you sweat?
That’s how humans are made – if we work out, we sweat. What is the big deal? If you are commuting, do so in a jeans and t-shirt and change at office. Simple!
If the only sweating you do is when you watch horror movies on TV, or you sit for your appraisals at work, my heart goes out to you.
• What will others think?
Wow. Now we are getting closer to the real deal! Frankly, does it matter to you what others think? Or you just think that it matters? Your friends and relatives have problem because you found a simple solution to health problems? Or simply because you found something you like to do without polluting the planet? If so, those folks cannot be called your friends!
All these initial inhibitions will melt away when you get those glances and words of appreciation from complete strangers and friends.
What will others think if you get hospitalized with heart disease or diabetes or other maladies, 20 yrs from now. Let me give you an indication – they may say you were just busy making money, without bothering about health! Dude, others will say many things, we don’t have control over it. You have control only over what you do and what you think – that’s the fact and lets face it.
All said and done, I have just one question - are you ready to get your ass on the saddle? If so, welcome to the world of cycling. If not, forget that you ever read this article. Have fun.
Have you noticed, the ones who never cycled are the ones with strongest opinions on the dangers of cycling!!
• Its not safe!!
This is definitely my favourite “excuse”. It is the excuse most polite folks give you. They don’t want to piss you off by saying it is déclassé or cheap or too much effort. Safety is the buzzword. These are the same folks who will buy a car without ABS or airbag, but safety is somehow big on their list. Who are they deluding, except themselves? I have only one thing to tell them – GROW UP.
Let me put it like this. I have had only two accidents in 50000 km and not one of them spilled a drop of blood. 10.5 years and not a single accident!! How many motor cyclists can claim the same? One accident was when a SUV hit me from behind at 5kmph. Very slow impact, just touched my bike. Enough to spoil the rim, but I did not even fall down or anything. Second was when a scooter crossed right in front of me the wrong way and I hit it slightly. This time my right hand hurt a little, a light sprain.
Yes, when you look “down” from a bus, the cyclist looks so vulnerable. But I feel that in this city a cyclist is very safe. The people of Banglaore are real gentlemen. I feel that most people respect a cyclist. These days it is definitely there, as people are more "health-wise". When I started off in 2000, I used to be treated like a stray dog. Your existence on the road did not matter. And traffic never causes any problems – as long as you don’t cause any problems to traffic.
• Pollution
I love this one too. And to some extent it is valid. Believe it or not, whether you are biking or in a car or in a bus pollution affects you. And pollution does not prevent most people from doing anything they have to – like going to work and back. Then how come it only prevents cycling? To me it looks like many folks are hiding behind the veil of pollution! If it is such a concern, there are very good quality masks available www.respro.com that can completely seal off the nostrils/ mouth from dust/ smoke. I have used them too and found them very effective.
The funniest part is some of my friends who smoke upto 10 cigarettes per day, are concerned about pollution if they cycle. My god. I love cattle and street dogs more – at least they don’t talk such rubbish.
• Cheap activity?
Oh!! where were you born? In the windsor castle? If not, dont act like you did! :)
This more of an attitude issue. These days it is not a problem, since there are plenty of youngsters on bike, with helmets and flash lights and everything. It almost looks like a mini circus!
Cycling is slowly evolving to be a fashion statement! In this city alone you can buy bikes worth one lakh and more.
• Sounds good, but can I do it?
Absolutely! I am the proof. If I can cycle with 105 kgs weight, 36km (18x2) in a day to office and back, what is preventing you. Remember, the lighter you are, the easier it is! ☺
And especially if you have a bike like this:
• I don’t have your stamina.
This is again hiding behind biology and physiology. How do you know you don’t have stamina? You develop stamina for a specific activity when you do it again and again.
Your body is more wonderful than you think. It adapts to all kinds of effort. Believe me, in two weeks of daily consistent effort, you will be cycling around in gay abandon.
• Cycling to work would take a lot of time, right?
Yes, indeed. But traveling by bus or car also takes time. Almost the same or even more. So the question is not about cycling, but how far you stay from work! Most of the time I am at par with buses or even better than them during peak hours.
So if you dont intend to commute, better dont buy a bike! If you bought a treadmill, like most people do, when the first nasha is over, you can at least use it as a cloth stand. With a cycle, even that is not convenient. Stay away!
• Should I do it?
Depends entirely on you. Boss, this is India - You have the right to be as unhealthy as you choose to be.
• I like it, but don’t want to commute to work.
Sorry to say, but if that is indeed the case, the probability of you continuing cycling above 3 months is very very less. In other words, the cycle that you bought will be a useless thing in 3 months! Not a great idea, I would say. The best way is to include it as a commute to work, so that you don’t have to set aside “time for cycling” from your busy schedule or the precious weekends.
• Gears make it easy. Whats the challenge?
And the above statement can be only made by a guy who has never cycled.
Gears make it fun, not easy!
Get on a geared bike, try a good incline. Now try it without a geared bike. You will know the difference. Gear only changes the rate at which work is done. The total work done still remains the same. Elementary, dr. Watson! Gears will definitely help you ride up the inclines which would otherwise make you get down and push the bike up.
• I have been thinking about it
Dude, don’t think. Just do! You don’t think about cycling, you do it. Or you don’t. Don’t let words like “thinking” make you think that you are accomplishing something. You cannot learn swimming by “thinking” about it. Don’t hide behind words. Come forward, be a man! Have you heard this – male by birth, man by choice?
How long are you thinking about it? Some of my folks have been thinking for 11 years! And still no signs of action. Don’t get into this “analysis paralysis” mode. The more you analyse, the more paralysed you get. What we need is action, not just thoughts and theories.
If a thought does not lead you into action, identify it to be a “pseudo-feeling”. A real feeling always induces action.
• What is the cost of cycling?
This is actually a misplaced question. The real question is what is the cost of not cycling? Examples are not very inspiring - Heart problems, high BP, diabetes maybe.
Of course, you can start pedaling with a basic light weight bike like the Hero Hawk or BSA Mac series, both of which are still in production. Get one with 5 or 8 or 16 gears. Not less than 5 gears please. For about 7K rupees, you are pretty much ready with a basic bike, helmet, lights and all.
• These trucks! Do they let you cycle?
Sorry to break any civilized illusions, but I face more stupid behavior from bikes and cars than from trucks. Truckers are gentle folks, they are pros. They know how to behave on the roads. Many times these heavy trucks have come behind me on narrow roads, and applied brakes just so that they don’t have to honk and scare me off. I am yet to see that kind of civilized behavior from cars and two wheelers! Sorry.
• What happens if the tyre punctures?
Oh, come on! Stop kidding. What happens if your motorbike or car tyre punctures? You howl, shout and abandon the vehicle completely and go by bus? No. You just fix it and get on with life. Ditto with cycling too. Fix the puncture, get on with cycling!!
• Too many flyover and bridges
That’s why you need gears. Gears definitely make it a little better for you. When you are in a vehicle and you reach a flyover, do you get off and pray that somehow with god’s blessings the vehicle goes over? You just press the pedal a little more. Same thing here – pedal harder! ☺
• What if it rains?
If you start off cycling, the question is not if it rains, but when? Sooner or later you have to face rains. Buy a raincoat! Simple. Don’t do stunts like cycling with umbrella in one hand and all that. In my childhood I used to see folks in kerala doing it. Those are meant only for the mallus – rest of you, wear a raincoat.
• How do you know you did 50K km?
How do you know your car is due for service? Either the service center calls you, or you figure out from the odometer. I have a cycle computer or cyclometer on my bike and I keep a daily log of the distance done. I write it down in my dairy, on a *daily* basis. I have been doing that since june 2000. I have not missed a single km that I pedaled here in this city.
My hero hawk has two meters - one analog and one digital!
• Don’t you sweat?
That’s how humans are made – if we work out, we sweat. What is the big deal? If you are commuting, do so in a jeans and t-shirt and change at office. Simple!
If the only sweating you do is when you watch horror movies on TV, or you sit for your appraisals at work, my heart goes out to you.
• What will others think?
Wow. Now we are getting closer to the real deal! Frankly, does it matter to you what others think? Or you just think that it matters? Your friends and relatives have problem because you found a simple solution to health problems? Or simply because you found something you like to do without polluting the planet? If so, those folks cannot be called your friends!
All these initial inhibitions will melt away when you get those glances and words of appreciation from complete strangers and friends.
What will others think if you get hospitalized with heart disease or diabetes or other maladies, 20 yrs from now. Let me give you an indication – they may say you were just busy making money, without bothering about health! Dude, others will say many things, we don’t have control over it. You have control only over what you do and what you think – that’s the fact and lets face it.
All said and done, I have just one question - are you ready to get your ass on the saddle? If so, welcome to the world of cycling. If not, forget that you ever read this article. Have fun.
