Riding a Mountain Bike in Bengaluru traffic

It is a crazy thing when you ride a bicycle in traffic. It is even more when you ride in the busy IT area of Bangalore. And I bicycle to work and use it as my default means of transport in the city.

Too much time on public transport

The idea of riding a bicycle was never on my mind. However, I was spending way too much time on public transport to work. It took anywhere between three hours to four hours everyday. I had no motorbike. Neither did my roommates.

I saw the bicycle in our garage one evening. It was covered with dust, the tires deflated. The bike was in good condition though. I thought of doing a trial and left on a Saturday to explore. On a leisurely pace, it took me around 45 minutes that day. It was a revelation!

When you are shouted at

On the road full of potholes, with the single speed bicycle and with no shock absorber, my first ride to work was no less dramatic. It was awesome and at the same time, horrible.

It was awesome as I would spend way less time on commute (one third of what I was on bus). Also I had freedom in choosing any route that reduced distance. It was also giving me much needed exercise.

The commuters would stare at me as if I were an alien. Some were damn rude, shouting at me as they passed by — “you want to die or what” or “go and ride on the footpath”. It felt bad.

However, as the days passed by, I learnt to ignore them and their comments and instead focus on the road. Plugging the earphones was one option. It is not safe though. Now I have learnt to fully ignore the taunt of bikers.

Who rides a mountain bike in city?

The route I follow to work is infested with potholes. It is so bad that when you try to avoid one pothole, you are surely being embraced by another. I ride a mountain bike because of this. I have now purchased a multi-speed bicycle that sports a shock absorber.

The mountain bikes come with rugged tyres. They somehow survive the ‘embrace of potholes’. And in some roads, the embrace happens too often.