Fun Sustainable Transport
Biker of the week - Ravi Ranjan Kumar
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Ravi Ranjan Kumar – on his Trek 4300
Introduction
Name : Ravi Ranjan Kumar
Age : 30 Years
Occupation : Staff Engineer @ Infineon Technologies (Semiconductor Sector)
Martial Status : Married (since last 5.5 Years)
Kids : 1 and Half (Half because after 5 months I will father of another ….)
A Little bit of Past
A regular engineer @ an IT company, long working hours and the zeal to prove yourself again and again, over worked.
Date : 6th May 2005
My nose bleeds, I ignore … consider that you know a normal thing … it will not happen again.
Date : 10th May 2005
My nose bleeds again. I go to Manipal Hospital for check-up
The Trigger
My father-in-law comes to see us (I think in 2005 some time) and looks at my small cute beer belly (Which was protruding a little beyond it’s boundary) and states “Ravi, Prosperity huh…?”. I was shocked and after my FIL went back, I talked to my wife .. Yar, your dad said this ….. and she reacted saying “Sahi to kaha (He was right)” .
I was shocked and charted out a plan to get more fit. Joined the GYM at ITPL, very soon I started finding that boring, started running near my house (Fortunately I stay near a jungle in Bangalore… wonder where in b’lore huh?). I started looking for a running partner. I came across RFL. Running with RFL over week-end was nice, but weekdays were still boring.
Idea
an Idea clicked in my mind, get a bike (not the motor assisted one) and commute to office with that, probably will save on time also.
Got a bike with gears (I don’t remember the name of it now) coasted me INR 3500/-. Started taking it to work which is 21Km one way, this meant 42Km a day. Few days later I left it overnight at the office, in the bicycle parking lot. To my surprise the next day I didn’t find it in the parking lot. I was disappointed and happy about it. Happy because by now I knew that there are good bikes from Firefox and Trek being sold in India, I did not even bother to file a FIR/Complaint with the Police. I got a rickshaw and at home shared this good/bad (good for me and bad for her) news with my wife, and also shared that I would like to buy other one. She was shocked (I don’t know to what extent but she was).
Next day start searching bike stores in Bangalore, and very easily I bump on to the BumsOnTheSaddle (BOTS) website. Sent an email. No-reply for 2 days….
I called up Aravind Bharti from RFL, spoke to him about it. He asked me to wait for their reply, as it would be worth the wait. After a week or so, I get a reply from Nikhil, and he informed me that Rohan (Who is his partner in the ideal of promoting biking) is getting married and he was out of country, so he can meet me only coming week-end, I requested him to be my Santa and meet me on X-Mass (2007), he agreed!!
On the day of X-Mass on the way to BOTS, I got a Santa Cap for Nikhil. It was not difficult locating BOTS. Met Nikhil and gave the present (The cap). Observed .. very silent guy, does not waste time and energy talking much. He showed me all the bikes in his store .. and also explained me all the technicality of each of the bikes .. It was like knowing how many bones in your body. Well, I chose Trek4300, which Nikhil said I can pick-up on coming week-end, which I did.
The Change
This time I got a big-strong steel chain with a big Aligarh lock (Suppose to be really strong..). I started commuting to my work again with this bike (42Km a day), but I used the chain and the lock to secure my bike this time
Stats
Average speed while commuting to office would be around 21Km/H
I will have 3KG of weight on my back.
In all, It was faster than going by car (1.5 hrs one way) and I did not have to workout. It saved fossil fuel, and saved around 2 Hrs of time in a day for me, 1hr for commuting and 1 Hr for the workout.
Once I took this bike for a long ride of 115K in 5 hrs
Sasur ji Khush (FIL Happy)
Last week my F-I-L was here to see us and guess what .. he looked @ my 6-packs and was congratulating me …
Adventure
Can you believe this .. now I am going for the famous Enduro3 race in Pune with my bike .. and it is on 8-9th feb 2008
Wish us (me and my partners Sriram and Donald K{is}sing) luck … please!
Biker Of The Week Archive
Comments
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Hello, I am really to see your post. Its kinda inspiring man... Good going...One Q for you how do you manage with the Sweat? ...Do you have shower facility in ITPL?. Guess what i am your collegue, trainee though.(In Wireline department).
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All the best for Enduro3!
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Daz a cool hobby, to decrease the Green House Effect. I too join to congratulate on ur 6pack... Awaiting a big treat from u ! All the best for ur Pune Ride/Competition in Feb08. Way to Go :)
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Thanks for sharing. Great post. yet to figure out my cycle transport though.
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Thanks for sharing. Great post. yet to figure out my cycle transport though.
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Good post dude! :) Goodluck with ur enduro !! Cheers, Vignesh Raja
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Nice one.. 42 kms a day is coool ! I would like to say it is possible to commute by cycle than motorbikes/Cars .. good health wise .. good for the environment and its fun. Anyone looking to get a new motorbike please give a second thought and go for a good quality cycle . One can easily do 10 km one way. Right now I commute twice a week on my Octane, once I get my TREK I plan to do it everyday.. :) @Ravi : How good r those locks? Did u get them at BOTS? Gud luck for the Enduro3 :)
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@Madhu: I got a chain and lock, the normal one. So i chain my bike to things like electric pole or pillar or tree ... @Santosh: I take a shower @ ITPL Gym, and that is how i manage that ;-) ~ Ravi
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great article Ravi, hv bn thinkin of taking to biking for long... after reading ur post m a lil more determined :) Cheers & atb for Enduro3 Satsang
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Hey thats cool....are we allowed to shower?..or do we have to be member for that???
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Too much I say too much. Aap to chaa chha ke chaata ban gaye. Awesome! What next? Bungee jumping with your bike from the top of ITPL? Hahahaha... wish you the best of luck for the race. Get snaps. TC.
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That's cool. Good luck for Enduro.
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Good to hear that you are cycling to work. Self & my colleague are also evangelizing cycling to work at office here in Bangalore. Specially bangalore does require more people working in the IT sector to get onto cycles(you see a lot of cars on the road with just one person travelling to work...leads to traffic overload, pollution on the pathetic roads of bangalore). I feel this move requires a change in mindset. Most of the guys feel it is below their dignity to travel by cycles. This needs to change and I am sure we as a group can make this happen!
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Great Achievement Ravi ! Did you really came down from a cute beer belly to six pack just because of cycling ? I am trying to loose my beer belly which is protruding a bit, cycling 10km/per day to office and back on my trek 3700 I will start long weekend rides in couple of weeks now. regards Shashikant
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Great Ravi... How was the race??? As Zaheer... mentioned Most of the guys feel it is below their dignity to travel by cycles. it needs to be changed.. I m from Mumbai... belevive me zaheer, banglore has better roads than mumbai.. I bought a new firefox wid the help of rohan and travelling arnd 25 km per day..
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hi ravi... its great to know that u ar doing ur bit for saving the environment..i am about to join wipro there and soon will join people like u too... six packs of abs are cool....shahrukh khan ko ye idea kyun nahin aaya..haha
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Dude! The surnames Ksing!! :P And ya, the official snaps are in. Sorry couldn't give it before, was busy and got held up. Will send soon..
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Hey! I'm really inspired man, I've been debating with myself if it's crazy to think about riding 6 miles one way to work...but you know what, it's settled now. Good luck with everything, and thanks. Suvesh.
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Suvesh - thats awesome dude. All the best. Biking to work is teh best way to commute in the city dude.
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Hi Ravi Planining to take my bike twice in week to ITPL, does ITPL Fitness one allow shower facilities at Nominal Fee,? I work in General Motors Raghu
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Hi Ravi Planinng to take my bike twice a week to ITPL, does ITPL Fitness one allow shower facilities at Nominal Fee,? I work in General Motors Raghu
