Now continuing my story from my earlier post -
https://steemit.com/jsvlog/@ajsvlog/a-cycling-trip-to-remember
Having forayed into the digital space with my channel on YouTube and supplimenting it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram I set about interacting with various local bike shops (LBS) in order to review them. Being a cyclist helped ... a lot.
The Giant store review was followed up by the review of Crankmeister Bicycle Works the following week
This LBS is located in a beautiful old house, with high ceilings and still retained the 'old Bangalore charm'. Unfortunately there was construction happening in a neighboring building and this 'spoilt' more than one shot of mine. I had to do multiple takes of some shots as the construction noise (drilling machines, hammer blows etc) would invariably interrupt me. What I thought would be a 3-4 hour shoot ended up as a full day shoot.
These delays actually benefited me as I met Col John Britto there. Col had retired from the Indian Army and was a senior citizen. He had a custom built cycle and had done solo trips to Leh-Ladakh and two trips to Sikkim. His enthusiasm and energy were infectious, interacting with him and getting a sound byte (thankfully without interruptions) was a feather in my cap!!
This review was followed by my review of Bums on the Saddle.
Bums on the saddle were one of the earliest retailers of premium cycles. They had grown and established themselves quite well. While talking to Rohan, I told him that I wanted to get into reviewing cycles. I told him that I wanted to share my experience after using the cycle for a week as this (in my opinion) was a more practical review. He immediately gave me a Specialized Alibi cycle to review!! This was my first product review and was quite well appreciated.
Bums on the Saddle or BOTS as they are popularly known, are the Indian distributors for the Specialized range of cycles. They also managed the Specialized concept store and I reviewed this next
Being a regular cyclist, I was connected with the various events in this world, but for those people interested in cycling but not yet cycling were unaware of the events. This gave birth to my next playlist - Cycling events
The first event that I had covered was the vehicle free weekend at Nandi Hills. This was followed by a BBCh roadrace!!
Bangalore Bicycling Championships (BBCh) is a premier racing forum in India which is run as a non-profit venture. Participants pay an entry fee and this covers breakfast and other organisational costs. The participants come here for the pure fun of cycling and the prestige of winning. They organise both Road and MTB races and there are about ten events in a year. The championship winners of Road category (elite and women) win an entry to the Tour of Nilgiris, and the MTB winners (elite and women) win an entry to The Great Malnad Challenge. Through covering the BBCh events, I have met a diverse group of people, spread across the sexes and the age spectrum, who share a common love - cycling
My journey continues next week ...