I started using bicycle to go from one place to another in campus since August this year. I remember the discussion regarding having a cycle last year with one of my friend. And to be honest, I feel the bond which one develops with their cycle over time is worth the tiredness one feels in beginning while using it. Among all the times, I feel morning and night times are the best for cycling. I can feel fresh, cold air striking my face, making me full of positive and happy thoughts, ready to do things with full enthusiasm and the list is endless. But there are some other aspects too, which cycling has made me understand. To begin with, I hate to see cars on roads now because of so much space they occupy unnecesarily when same travel can be done with cycle much more effectively. Car drivers (or any other 4 wheeler) also don’t take much responsibility for their actions, I feel like they think that roads are made for only them. Can’t generalise though but I wonder how having more wheels in a vehicle, induces a sense of superiority in a person.

I have also realised that riding a cycle is easy when I care about what I really want. I should not try to predict what the other person will do given that I take this action, instead I should just focus on where I want to go and it will do all the work for other people too in terms of travelling freely. I think this kind of thinking makes one patient in terms of making decisions – some sort of sequential decision making in work.

I also feel that the ‘walkers’ are most careless people. They don’t care about anyone at all: sometimes occupying full road to just walk, stopping at random points without seeing which vehicle is coming and the list is endless. I don’t really know the reason: whether it is because of the conditioning we receive since childhood regarding traffic rules in India or is it just some victim mindset. I hope people learn to walk properly because no one can predict the behaviour of walkers easily on road.

Most important and interesting realization: I feel that cycling becomes easier when we don’t think too much about the speed/distance that needs to be travelled but just focus on how the pedals are reacting to our pedalling them. Sometimes not putting much efforts gives wonderful resuts: especially on roads where cycling is hard and we want to pedal very hard (but it doesn’t do any good other than making us tired). Putting effort on the basis of our cycle’s reaction is a very good skill.

More new realizations soon!