From left: Amit Joshi, calm force (just the sort of person you want managing your money) Iron Man, with a beautiful, low cadence, s-shape inducing, never stop style. Raj, marathon man, person of light, and the engine room of the whole project. Fatima, indefatigable physio, tell off anyone who needs it, and full of laughter otherwise. [Yours truly]. Gaurav - words can't describe just how cool and fabulous this person is; the top benchmark for decent human being. Vikas, supercool, soak up any degree of suffering, but keep on grinding it out with a smile. Just the best possible people to go on a ride with; actually the best possible people to do anything with. Humbling. A constant reminder of what decency looks like.
I LOVE this photo: lost in some town that's name now escapes me. The others? Gone. And such a perfect illustration of the general reaction to problems by very cool people :-)
Gaurav. If you walked into a school classroom and saw that smile, you'd know exactly who you should be moving to the front of the class to keep an eye on. And it would be futile. Infectious joy. His boundless sense of humour leads to the sorts of photos below - he has a phone that you can add highlighting to photos with - and then you WhatsApp them to the subject of your eagle-eye of wit:
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| For example, the Gaurav "wtf with your lazy dress code?" photo |
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| Or the Gaurav "wtf with the South African parking?" photo. Relentless humour; divine. |
Shreenivas - the king of decency - benchmark of whether you are contributing to humankind. Here he is finishing his first ever ton. 100 clicks on a bicycle on Indian roads is no sneezing feat. When he's not uplifting humanity, he runs the odd marathon... as you do (and is the guy who casually laid down 100 push-ups ... in a row).
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Hemal. It's no coincidence that his name is one letter off "Heaven" in Afrikaans. What an utterly fantastic human being. And clearly it runs in his family; his mum made a whole cake tin of date and pistachio slice things - seriously, the ultimate bicycle fuel, which he shared relentlessly until they were gone. His quiet enthusiasm for the whole adventure was infectious. Here he is finishing his first ton, doffing his helmet for a photo that I love completely. If you had to go to war, this is the person that you'd be wanting to take with you: an unequaled capacity to soak up suffering, remain focused on the purpose, whilst remaining calm and cheerful. One of the great delights for me was watching the bicycle bug biting him. I'm not sure how far Hemal had ridden a bicycle in one go before this tour, but by the end of it he would have taken on ANYTHING. I notice, for example, on our WhatsApp chat group that he's subsequently knocked out a 160 as a Saturday ride. You have to be (the sort of) crazy (that I love) to do that.
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And we met other cyclists on the road. Fledgling sport it may be in India - but I promise you that with this kind of approach its just a matter of time before their cyclists are going to be like their cricket team - dishing out hidings to any people who fancy one. So let me explain. This is a small temple in the middle of nowhere. We met this cyclist who had taken a working bike, stripped it down (disc brakes? Nah brother, why be slowing down), spot welded a water-bottle cage onto the down-tube (he'd be needing it). Respectfully, he has earned the title of Randonneur. How do you become one. You sign up (it's a global thing - please click here for more - you cant see it clearly, but just below his left hand there is a number on a small white card) and you have to complete a number of Brevets - which are 200km rides in a single day. He was busy knocking out his fifth such. On a single speed, modified, back-pedal brake, working bike. That is the real deal, plain and simple.
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| On the stage at one of the evening events, no flip-flops this time. |
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