A cycling story by Vaibhav Agarwal
There is hardly any aspect of life 2020 has not disrupted – our work, social interactions, and every aspect of our living. Among all the losses we have had this year, one thing that this year did successfully was – to break the monotony of everyday life and push us to re-think and reprioritize. It was perhaps this push I needed to take my passion for cycling to new levels with my 2020 cycling journey.
The Background
I absolutely love the experience of cycling. I believe it’s a great activity which can take you further enough to explore new places, at a pace fast enough to keep it interesting. I have been extremely passionate about it and even got my first proper road bike last year. However, I had hardly put too many miles on it so far. I would generally go out on weekends and do about 10-15 kms. I never thought I could go too much longer, at least not too frequently.
But I really wanted this year to be different. I wanted to cycle more than I have done previously and making a start towards doing some long-distance rides, at least longer than what I have done previously. So I started following some local cyclists on Strava who were doing big rides… what routes they were taking, what kit they were using… borderly stalking you can say 🙂 , but with a dream of being able to do the same someday soon myself.
The Initial highs: Back to back biggies
After the harsh Jan 2020 weather here in New York, we started getting some relatively better days in February. I really wanted to get some longish rides in. At that point, I would do 15-20 km rides once or twice a week. A long-distance for me at that time would be 50+km of riding. So, one weekend when the weather was not too cold, I decided to set off with the intent of doing a big ride, with a titillating thought of making it a 50 km ride! But sadly I just couldn’t go any further than… umm… 49 km, I was just empty at the end. It was a big ride indeed, and I was happy about that, but the thought of doing a 50 KM ride was so wired that I crazily decided to give it another shot… right the next day!! Well… not only could I do 50 km this time, I realized I could do 50 km back to back!
From being an event to becoming a lifestyle: 100 days of every day 15+ Km every day
Once the snow and cold weather passed, I did not want to waste any more days, just wanted to be out there riding my bike. By June this year, the urge for regular riding was so strong that I made it part of my daily routine. What started in June, lasted till Oct, every day, rain or sun, I could ride for 10+ miles / 15+ km every day for 100 straight days!
Pursuit For Distance
…. And meanwhile, as riding became a daily thing, I also tried to stretch my boundaries with riding distances. I loved giving myself a new distance challenge every now and then… and I was loving the fact my body and mind were able to keep up… My first 75+ km, Century (100+ km), and 150+ km rides happened between July – Aug 2020!
More than just a recreational sport
With the growing number of rides, I also got to connect with local cycling communities. This helped me assimilate into the greater cause this amazing activity could support.
Starting July 2020: A fortnightly night ride to celebrate the cycling infrastructure and road safety within our city.
You can watch this Instagram post here:
Oct 2020: The Red Ride across New York City hospitals to encourage and thank our healthcare heroes
Instagram video for this ride is here:
December Double Century: The 200km winter ride
The thought of physical endurance seemed to be extremely foreign to me before this year. Just enjoying the views and feeling the wind on my face would be pretty much all I expected myself to enjoy on my bike. However, the long-distance rides I had started doing, gave me an entirely new challenge to work with and a new sense of accomplishment which came along. After doing my 100 km ride in August this year, I went on to do five 100+ km rides, three of which were 150+ km. Some of the last ones I did in November got me extremely cold (I remember shivering doing a few). So I took some time to work on my winter kit and waited for some better weather for doing the next one.
Waited for this first relatively warm day in weeks and knew I had to make the most of it. Opened my Google maps, found the most interesting destination I could think of nearby, and with the intent of making as much of the day as possible, just took off!
After more than 10 hrs of riding randomly from one interesting point to the other, I could bag another of my longest ride! It was just a perfect way for me to celebrate 6000 km of cycling this year.
So what…
While I go through this 2020 cycling journey myself, it’s hard for me to believe all this took just a year. And it’s not about the distance or numbers here. For me what’s special about the whole experience is to be able to do what I have always wanted, in so many different ways, in just a year. All it took was to make a start and let my passion for cycling take over.
At a not so young age, with not at all light weight 😉 , I could do endurance activities which I always dreamt to do, but never ever thought I could. So if you have wanted to do something very much, you can and you can right now. All you need is to start doing it…