Inception of Exotic Trails

The speedometer was showing 53.4Kmph. It was almost the end of the descent and I was peddling like my life depended on it but it stayed stubbornly at 53.4. I tried to shift to 7th gear on my 6-speed FireFox RoadRunner but, of course, the Revoshift would not budge. Though I was on top gear, there was little power transmission from my frantically pumping legs to the wheels.
53.4… 53… 52… 30…
That’s it! End of descent and my dream of touching 60kmph vaporized. It was then I decided that I need another bicycle with better gear ratios for more efficient power transmission.
As I cycled towards ABB, I started thinking. A Trek would be too expensive, not Hercules, not another FireFox. I remembered Rakesh of RR International Bicycles, Madiwala mention the Schwinns. I liked the name and decided to enquire.

The moment I saw the Schwinn the next day, my heart went out for it.
“You can get a Schwinn Sporterra for 13k and Sporterra Sport for 15k”, he said and assured me that Schwinns are far better than Firefox, “There is no comparision sir”, were his exact words.
I had a windfall the previous day, HCL had at last closed my PF account and deposited the money in my account, so 13k was kind of affordable.
“Ok I will take the Schwinn Sporterra”, I said deciding on the spot. I knew thinking on and on would just be a waste of time since I would end up buying anyway.
“Right now we only have the Sporterra sport sir, we will get the lower end one in three days”, said Rakesh throwing me in a dilemma.
I just could not wait getting my hands on a new bike but spending 2k more?
“What are the exact differences between the two?”, I asked
“Sporterra sport has got continental double fighter tires, has 24 gears,..”, and he mentioned a couple of other differences.
“I will think over lunch and come back”, I said hearing my stomach growl and seeing that it is already 2pm.
Over lunch in a nearby Shanti Sagar, I decided, no more KFC’s, no more rich food, go for meals and idlies, save money in all ways, healthy ways, and go for the bike!
After an hour, I was the proud owner of a sparkling Red White Schwinn Sporterra Sport.
Riding towards college thinking how to put the Firefox to good use, I decided to start a bicycle rental venture.
I will organize rides, give cycle on rents and like I have recently realized, will make others realize that cycling technology has indeed undergone a revolution making everyday medium to long distance cycling a pleasure.
I had to christen the idea and I choose ‘Exotic Trails’ after my debut novel ‘Exotic Engineer Entrepreneur’ which indirectly led to all this craziness. (Read my blog on how I burnt my first cheque).
I reached college and got down to work – wrote a blog and sent a mail across.
PING!
Prutvish: I will join and throw my Hercules in.
Me: Are you sure?
I was surprised because a bicycle is a very personal belonging and to rent it out, well tough! I had a tough time convincing myself.
Prutvish: Yes
Me: Take your time, take a day and tell me tomorrow
Prutvish: Not required, waste of time, I know I will come to the same decision anyway.
I laughed and thus we became partners of our little venture.

The next day I was surprised to find a mail in my Inbox from Pradeep B V asking me if I would be interested in adding five more bikes to our stable! I literally sat staring at the screen for a while. Pradeep is the co-architect of the Mapunity Platform. Mapunity is a startup incubated at IIITB.
Honestly, all we need to do is start something, help will come!

The Hero Hawk
A week later, unaware that he was busy with a ceremony the next day, I barged into Pradeep’s house. His house was bustling with activity but Pradeep was kind enough to set aside time to pump air in his Hawk and his 8 year niece helped me carry the bike out. She was so cute. Thanks a ton Pradeep!

Act 102 and BSA Mach1
Another week later, Prutvish and I went to Pradeep’s office to find these two bicycles, unused, locked and without air. Like two nifty thieves, we half dragged and half lifted the cycles till the nearest hardware store where we bought a hacksaw blade. It took us a little less than 10 minutes to cut through each lock in public with no one pouncing on us asking what the hell were we doing.
“It took us 10 minutes, it would take a pro 1 minute”, Prutvish remarked belittling the usual cycle safety measures.

Thus, we now command 6 cycles and have students of IIITB, RV college of Engineering, employees of Wipro and Cycling and More as our present customers.