Living by Default or by Design...

After our marriage me and Shagun were on the customary visit to all Our relatives.

Papa was driving the car and i was reading a small Article on Lance Armstrong(The cycling guru).
...Infact not just the cycling Guru but there is a lot more to learn from him.
He is a champion while on cycle and a bigger champion for the cancer fighting cause.

In this article he had mentioned the way he would want to die...
He Quoted

"When i am 100 years old.....
I want to come screaming down an Alpine descent on my bicycle at 75 miles per hour.
I want to cross one last finish line as my wife and my ten children applaud,
and then I want to lie down in a field of those famous French sunflowers and gracefully expire."

This line struck somewhere...i read it again...and again and again.

Just think of it...a person is excited about his death...he is planning the way he is going to die.
I mean come on...there are days i am not even excited about the way i live..

I know Lance is a kind of person who doesn't take things as they come but the things come as he wants them to come.
That's how effective people live .....they don't live by default.....they live by design.

....but this was something different ...Lance not only lives by design...he wants to design the way he dies too.

Death will not happen to him...
he will die in a way that ensures he has lived till the very last moment.

First Timed Trip

Origin - Destination ---Moti Nagar - India gate - Moti Nagar

Distance - 13km One way

Start Time 8:30am- 10:00am.

Time - 31 min (45 min)

Travellers - Gaurav Vashist, Suresh Sharma

Story - We had made our weekly trip to Qutab Minar yesterday and were in a mood to rest through the Sunday morning.

but once the cycling bug has bitten you it's hard to stay in bed.

We decided at 8 that we are going to make a short and fast trip to India Gate.

And with a smile we were out of the beds and into the cycling gear.

We agreed on the rules for the sprint...

1)It was not a race. We were just timing ourselves.

2)No one loses No one wins.

3)No one is going to jump the red light.

4)We are not going to hit any soft pedal. :)Test your limits (This one was fun)

It was excruciatingly painful at times but we decided to test our endurance and pain bearing limits.

Watching 127 hours over the weekend helped :).

Thats how it went for me:

On my way to India gate four kids were on a bike and they were driving just side by side.

One of them said "Are indian hi lag raha hai..puch na?"

but none of them asked anything....

I was busy putting in the hard pedals but i managed to give a smile to them.

One of them says "How much cycle cost?"

I smile again and said "jai mata di..."

Now they were sure ki indian hi hun and giggled on the bike.

They gave me company till india gate.

I made it in Flat 31 minutes .Suresh took a detour and somewhat lost his way. although he also made it in 36 minutes.

Small small kids were selling tea at India gate...one of them asked to buy tea and help him do his "boney".

He was waiting for the payment but more than the payment he was more interested in checking out my cycle.

He asks very inncocently "Ye bahut tez chalti hai kya?"

I nodded...I could make out that he wanted to ride it.

I asked "Chalaoge?"

There was a small twinkle in his eye ....he left all his tea bags and the kettle right there and jumped to grab the cycle.

He took a round and that followed by two others taking a round each.

Their smiles made my day.

View Larger Map

We moved back after 10 minutes or so...had Slice and Patty in between.

Reached at exact 10:00.

Thats how it went for me(Suresh)

I had a weekly cycling trip to Qutub Minar with my buddies. So there was not any plan for cycling next day. So I was in rest mood and finished a movie with my friend and slept late in night.

The next day (7:46 am), a call from Gaurav woke me up.

Gaurav: chalen bhai India Gate...it will be a "decent " sprint..:)

Me: (first it seemed some awkward time to me but then i replied) haan chalo..:)

We left at 8:20 am.

Gaurav told me to go by straight route through CP. First I felt some uncomfortable as I never tried it before but then it was OK.

Through my way at bus stops I looked in people eyes. All were looking strangely at me. It seemed like everyone was questioning what was wrong with that dude. My mind told me there was nothing wrong. Just remember the target- The India Gate...:)

I managed to reach the destination in 36 minutes. Then I saw Gaurav there. He had managed in 31 minutes. It was great feeling to complete 13kms in that time..:)

The more funny was some kids left their Dal and Chai and tried my friend's cycle. It was like a dream came true to them. It was nice..:)

After some time we returned through Patel Nagar, had some snacks on the way, some competition with DTC's low floor buses..:), finally reached home at 10am.

In all it was new experience and was a lovely, energetic trip....Thanks to my HERCULES for this..:)

Soon planning some hard cycling..just stay tuned...:)