Teaching adults how to cycle

[Ali Poonawala]

Hi friends !

Sorry about the delay in reporting !

After a long while.. we had two sessions amongt regular students !

Session 1

Cubbon Park :

Parag reports...

May8

Niharika and Arush were the first ones to arrive, and helped us get the bikes from the KSLTA. 

Rama arrived soon after.

Parag started with Rama , who is 63, and is relearning to ride , she has not ridden after teenage. After the intiail nervous start, she managed to get the balance quickly, and by the end of the session, even managed to pedal up and down the slope independently.

Junaid started with Niharika who is a newbie, and has never ridden a two wheeler before.

Arush started with remastering of previous lesson independently and later in the session learnt a bit of hand signalling during turns, but he still tends to go too fast, and even had a minor fall due to that.

Gajendra and Aparna were the newbies who were being put through the drill by Trainers Junaid and Krishna, and both have learnt to scoot, though balance elludes still.

Sujata, Suchithra and Baani came a bit late and working with Parag all 3 made good progress on turning, and also going out to the bandstand circle to get a bit of a real road scenario. 

To top it they helped us put the bikes back at the KSLTA..!

Parag Patankar

Session 2

Begur

Ganesh reported :

Reporting from Begur:

At last, the session started at Begur, albeit delayed from the planned 8 am. 

Currently, the lone learner Deepa started almost from scratch after a long gap. 

Tried a few techniques in tapping around with one leg which she got comfortable of by the end of the session. 

Need to use this going forward to get both legs off the ground and start full pedalling from next session. 

We definitely have a good learning strip found at DLF that can take more students(and volunteers)... See pic

"

Ganesh

There is serious discussion about reviving JP Nagar centre in near future ...

Watch the space..!

Meanwhile..  keep pedalling !

Ali Poonawala 

[Ali Poonawala]

Hi friends ..

Two sessions took place today..

1. Begur session

Ganesh's report copy pasted

Quote

"

Begur :

Both Pradeep and Deepa were on time and  anxiously waiting to get cracking as I rolled into our Begur point. Earlier what started as a wet morning turned into a bright hot sunny hour for our training. As both learners took turns on the bicycle, Pradeep is fast shedding his lurch. Very comfortable with straight lines now. We figured his speed and jerky lunge were contributing a lot to his wobbly start which is smoothened now.

Deepa worked on her one legged tappy balancing and by the end of session got to pedalling with both legs. Now that pedalling is sorted out, she must be able to focus on balancing from next weekend.

On our way back after the session we had a curious lady who has been watching the session from her balcony walk up to me and enquired of our class. In her own words, she was looking for such a help and wanted to join the session next week.

(we remembered to click our customary snap just after Deepa left, so just Pradeep and self)

"

Unquote

Ganesh

2. Cubbon Park session report :

Rain God's persistent presence at 5 AM was worrying...wheather the weather will disrupt the training session ? 

And next thought immediately jumped for TCS 10K event participants.. Dear me...what a dampener !!

Fortunately, The mighty Sun scattered away the drizzle and Hudson Circle and Cubbon itself looked business as usual except  some banners, direction signage  relaxed team of cops..

What was noticable of course... the warriors of TCS , numbered bib plastered on their proud chests ,  returning in groups.. tired but happy  !

Trio of seasoned cyclist Anil, Anushil and vedansh were there and while speaking to them, Mahimambika, Ankita and Sonalika turned up and Kempaiah took charge of getting the bikes from KSLTA premises..helped by Mahimambika.

Parag came in with  neighbour friend Vishy and soon Junaid and Krishna joined the criss-crossing trios of  student, trainer and bicycle..

Anil and co. helped too and Vishy stayed till the end.

Trainers : 

Parag, Junaid, Krishna, Ali (Vishy, Anil)

Newbies:

Ankita and Sonalika

Seniors:

Gajendra, Mahimambika, Rama ( hubby Swami in tow ) Preetham ( mom Varalakshmi in tow) Suchithra, Anupama, 

Alumni:

Shruthi, Fatima

Ankita and Sonalika both got the scooting balance well and had a go at pedalling too and will master it soon.

Gajendra needs to work on relaxing right shoulder,  keeping handlebar steady and get left foot on the pedal and push it !

Preetham is still lurching. It makes balancing unpredictable.

Rama is progressing nicely, despite some minor false programming issues.

Suchithra was out of my radar, so was Mahimambika. Anupama and Fatima went out on internal Cubbon  roads with Parag for real life scenario.  Shruthi dusted the cobwebs and needs hand signs sorted out next time.

Junaid graciously offered to host breakfast at Konark but due to possible TCS crowd and my delicate tummy today..it will have be taken up next time !

Shamala was kind to ring up to tell me that Laggare session was cancelled due to rain 🌧️ related challanges the  Garment factories ladies had to sort out at their  homes.

So folks ... 

Till next weekend

Keep pedalling !

Ali Poonawala

[Ali Poonawala]

Hi friends ...

Two sessions to report !

First  at Begur 

Ganesh did a wonderful job, staying well beyond assigned closure...In his own words :

Quote:

"

Begur :

Cloudy morning which remained so through the extended session which started on time. Pradeep, Deepa and Mridula were  already at the spot by 8 am. Pradeep started working on shedding his lurch. Mridula has been learning at Cubbon, comfortable balancing on her own, just needing more practice before graduating to turns. 

Deepa is getting more comfortable with pedalling and getting a hang of balancing well seated and pedalling, needs more efforts. 

Priyadarshini is starting afresh today. For Day 1, she has shown great efforts and progress. At this pace I expect her to be riding unsupported by the end of next session. 

Time sharing of just one learning bike (and trainer) resulted in more than optimal waiting time for all.  Had to extend the session till 11 am so that all the learners get adequate saddle time. We will look for 1 or 2  Yulu rental the next time. It should also help with a peculiar problem we have, of all the learners being well above average height and Miss India proving to be of a smaller frame for all .

"

Unquote

Second at Cubbon Park :

A light drizzle...!

 Lo and Behold !

The official monsoon couldn't wait and arrived full ten days early ! Talk about enthusiasm ! 🤣

Leesha first to be seen,   Mahimambika was already waiting near the cycle parking area !!

Yesss.. talking about real enthusiasm !

Trainers :

Parag, Anil, Shamala, Ali, Krishna

Newbies:

Leesha, Aparna, Zeel, Prasham

Seniors :

Rama, Aaroosh, Sujata, Mahimambika, Preetham, Varalakshmi, Shraddha,  Swati, Baani, Sonalika

By the time we got the cycles the signs were clear that we are going to be busy .. 

Leesha is a natural and Anil had his first student do him proud ..by getting balance within thirty minutes of saddle time !  

Shraddha and Swati from Katraj gang got some practice rides, Little Shraddha managed standing start beautifully.  

Aaroosh was left to his own designs today and did circles. Mom Jhumpa kept a watch on him.  It was so touching to see her getting annoyed and at the same time fussing over Kempaiah who crashed when Naveen obstructed, both getting hurt in the bargain...nothing serious fortunately.

Parag got Aparna riding well and carried forward hand signal training of Rama, Sujata and Baani (accompanied by her dad, who came3 days earlier from Kolkata)

 Shamala got to train Zeel and Prasham duo, proud parents of ten month old baby. Zeel was balancing in bits and basic skill set looks promising..  Hubby Prasham was an easy dusting job...of skills not used for a while. She scooted downhill , Prasham rode uphill and Shamala ran along uphill ....win-win-win story !

Krishna supervised Sonalika who as predicted, managed her balancing on her second session..

Preetham still remains an enigma in terms of attention span but is a willing soldier, like his dad, who came with a walking stick, just 3 weeks post major hip operation to support Preetham and Varalakshmi ! 

Parting lesson came from Parag, who persuaded Sonalika to go by bus and not Ola...

There is so much we can do when the heart 💖 is in it !

All in all a great day

[Ali Poonawala]

Hi friends !

Two sessions to report ..

Ganesh's Begur session :

Quote :

"

Begur:

Shorter session but a good one with just Nehanizar and Nima attending out of the 5 registrations. They both had learnt basic balancing at Cubbon last year but couldn't continue to come due to the distance. Nima is a natural, she just took off and had a strange left drag until she bumped to the pavement as she rode perfectly balanced. Quickly addressed, she was on her own practicing straight lines. She needs to work more on stronger start. 

Neha does well with her starts but a bit of lurch bothers her stability. Both of them need to work on their pedalling strengths and pick up some speed. The bright hot sun was not helping much on that front when they almost pleaded to call it a day which we did by around 9:15 a.m after our customary selfie

"

Unquote.

Thanks Ganesh... We need second volunteer and bicycle for Begur ..! 

Cubbon Park session :

Classical May morning and reached Venkatappa Art Gallery gate in time,  meeting  Exodus of Shreyas's 360°  runners group at the barrier...still leaving Shubham's Swasthaya group winding down with photo sessions on !

 Swati took off on the Foldie... Junaid arrived with  Dermat  friend, Dr. Shabbir after a 30 km morning spin !,  Rama  Kempaiah Shraddha, and  Mahimambika came to get the bikes...and the show was on !

trainers 5 ...

Junaid, Anil, Ali, Krishna ( with left knee injury medal, earned 48 hours ago !) and Parag.

Students trickled in ... 

Newbies : 4

Sai ( Katraj), Bhavana, LogaNayaki Vaishnavi

Seniors : 12

Swati and Shraddha (Katraj gang) Mahimambika, Rama, Pradeep,  and Varalakshmi and Preetham, Meeta, Priyanka, Zeel and Prasham (in tow with his scooter !)  Anupama 

Alumni: 1+(1)

Shruthi and (Param)

Drop in blessings:

Jasbeer Singh ji

Smt Shanthalakshmi and  Chandrashekhar sir

Sai alrady had balance under his belt but had peculiar standing stance half pedal motion, tiring him out. Easily corrected...hope does not relapse ( Simile?  Habitual smoker :It is easy to give up smoking.. I have done so many times !! 🥴)

Parag told me Bhavana, Priyanka's younger sister, was a natural and cracked balancing in no time . LogaNayaki, with a friend and friendly Leia was a walk-in who already had balance, got skills refreshed and a few safety tips thrown in as bonus !

Vaishnavi took a round and had some reservations...trying to find out through her friend Mahimambika.

Seniors and alumni warmed up the hearts of trainers by their doggedness, despite the heat.. Preetham was a star ...survived my stern teaching and a small fall, complained about little blood at the left knee scrap but continued cycling nevertheless!

And for Zeel and Prasham... with little jnatva feeling sidelined and making it obvious to all,,sheer  determination to pursue their goal and continue the duet- of Zeel scooting downhill and Prasham riding uphill -  just AWESOME !!

Krishna rewarded us all..  with hot fresh and yummy thatte Idlis from the mobile hawker near Venkatappa Art Gallery...being a perfect host, he was quite upset with us, for allowing some students to leave early and dampen the full glory of the celebration... Apologies boss !😩

The jewel in the crown, unquestionably, was Param, an alumni and budding film star , who so graciously agreed to my request of creating a repository of short teaching videos, and scripted and recorded trainers speaking about various facets of cycling ...

Parag converted Priyanka and Bhavana from Ola to Bus riders ! .. 

Bless you all for a wonderful morning !!

Keep pedalling 

[Ali Poonawala]

Hi friends ...

Two sessions to report !

First  at Begur 

Ganesh reports

Quote:

"

Begur :

Begur: Learners 3, Trainer 1

Pradeep rolled in on his borrowed bike which was a great help to reduce the waiting time for the only bike we otherwise had. Pretty much same time Deepa and Priyadarshini joined. Priyadarshini had finished her 15K run at HSR earlier in the morning before coming to Begur. With that sort of a learning spirit, we got rolling. .. and yes, it is Deepa's day. She cracked it towards the end of the session. She needs a lot of consistent practice and correction but certainly she saw the moment of getting over the hump today. Priyadarshini is getting more confident with balancing and being on her own. Need to address her zig zag which I see is a result of a mild lurch to be corrected. 

Pradeep, senior most enjoyed his uninterrupted ride around the strip which helped him well on shedding the massive lurching issue that was sticking to him for a while. He had a bonus lesson on 'dirtying his hands' fixing a popped out chain. We called it a day after 2 hrs under the blazing sun, leaving the place with visible improvement (and tan) in all of us from where we started.

"

Unquote

Second session :

at Cubbon Park :

Day begun by attending nice and short appreciation ceremony for senior cyclists organised by Icycle.in and Bangalore Bicycling Club at Agara HSR, ( 3 of our Bangalore Bicycling School volunteers team got honoured..!! Brigadier Ravi sir, Krishna and Ali )

Reached Cubbon in time and today was a full house with so much action that I was clueless as to what was happening !!

Trainers : 5

Brigadier Ravi, Krishna, Junaid, Parag, Ali, 

Newbies: 10

Purnima, Badrinath, Alishba, Aparna & Suvarna(Katraj gang intro !), Aisha, Avantika (with dad Anil), Bhavana(with friends Ranjitha and Vidyooth), Samvita and Sanjali twins

Seniors : 10

Rama,  Preetham, Varalakshmi, Shraddha,  Swati, Pramathi, Zeel, Prasham, Priyanka and Bhavana.

Hellos :

Mrs and Mr Chandrashekar ji Mrs Indira Kaurji and Jasbeer singh ji.

It seemed lot of newbies got great balance straight away... Avantika stole the show ! Aparna had previous experience to make it easy but Suvarna did well too and Badrinath's diligence was outstanding...Twin sisters were passer bys and did well and may practice near home, Nagarbhavi. Aisha, Alishba are good and will come good soon..

Amongst the seniors ..Preetham gets honorable mention for a good downhill run ..he is using brakes much better.

Parag has been taking seniors on the inner roads and Rama was clearly delighted with the progress. Priyanka and sister Bhavana were with Parag and request his addtion here please.

Junaid is away for couple of months and gave a treat at IDC on residency road, before we parted ..

 

A record breaking attendance !

Till next weekend

Keep pedalling

Ali Poonawala