two glasses of wine

Two glasses of wine, a wonderful lunch, great company and a cup of coffee later, I enjoyed riding back home more than usual!

Fixing the valve

For the last two weeks, my bergamont was lying about in my stilt parking gathering dust because of the front tyre valve which refused to let any air being pumped in the tube. And because I had no time to get it fixed because I was just flittering back and forth from site to site and home. And college.

So day before yesterday when I was bored of work- just having watched a movie called 'Whip It!' (it's about roller derby) I felt like skating. So I went to the store room to search for my old skates.

I couldn't find them.

But then I happened to notice my bike lying around gathering more dust even as I walked towards it. Instinctively, I undid the front break, pulled the quick release wheel lever and took the front wheel up to my room. I washed it, fixed the presta valve pin which had to be straightened. I pumped air in wheel and took it down, fixed it back on the bike, washed the bike clean and was ready to go.

I will probably start servicing and fixing my bike myself from now on...

I was just going through this lovely blog I recently started following called girls and bicycles, and came across this post.

Innovative uses of a bicycle - I (Sharpening knifes)

Mr. Kishan Yadav- the 'Dhaar Wala' (knife sharpener) came to our doorstep today morning. I had two knifes which needed sharpening so I went out to get it done.
As I shot this video, I noticed how a buffing wheel has been attached in the top tube of his simple bicycle. It is connected to a circular strip on the back wheel. He pedals his bike while on the stand and then sharpens the knife on the buffing wheel which moves quite fast.
The speed can be controlled manually by pedaling faster or slower. The technique requires a lot of practice. One must learn it the hard way. But what is life without a little hardship.
It's an old method of sharpening blades in the Indian Subcontinent, Africa and even South America, apparently. The sound of the blade being sharpened is calming at times, and can be totally maddening the other times.
But the careful concentration and calm with which Kishan Yadav goes about his business was worth seeing. Looking at knifes being sharpened was never such a therapeutic experience before...

Look ma no hands - IN REALTIME!

calendar December 2011

calendar December 2011, a photo by DraconianRain on Flickr.

calendar December 2011

New beginnings

A little over a month after I bought the bergamont, the presta valve on the front tyre broke because my local bike shop guys couldn't figure out how to fill air through it. As fate would have it, I suddenly got busy with work which is finally coming my way. The combined effect of which was my bike lying idle in my stilt parking.

This went on for three weeks till Wednesday, when I decided to get it fixed once and for all.

I got the bike back last evening and planned to ride with two of my friends to Koregaon park.

It also gave me the perfect opportunity to click photos with funky effects through my new tough and water resistant phone!

We had a leisurely ride in overcast conditions and it didn't rain till we reached Koregaon Park.

After a brief water and group photo break, we rode towards Vohuman cafe for breakfast. The one time I went there, the walls were covered with baby posters. Quite creepy! This time, the walls were bare and freshly painted with beige and brown oil paint. It somehow made that place brighter than before.

Our cycles parked and chained to each other, we sat in and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of bun omelette, bun butter jam and tea as it drizzled outside. Discussing architecture for a good 20 minutes before the non architect intervened and the topic of conversation shifted to more generic themes.

After the breakfast, we decided to ride back on the river side road, which was once the subject of great controversy. But thats a thing of the past. It started drizzling, and the traffic had also increased substantially. We stopped to click photos of the Mutha river while crossing over to the other side. I saw horses grazing on the greens by the river and I had to stop to take pictures of those tall and bony white horses.

As we rode home, it drizzled a bit more, but not enough to drench us. Reached home happy to have my bergamont get back in action! Looking forward to cycling more this monsoon!