How a few short rides with friends after the COVID lockdown became some of my earliest cycling adventures.
When I first started cycling, it had nothing to do with racing or training. I used to ride with my Dada to my skating practice, which was around 3 km from home. The cycle was simply a way of getting there.
Then COVID came.
During the lockdown, my friends and I spent most of our time inside our flats. When the restrictions eased and we could finally start going out again, we took our cycles.
At first, the rides were short. We weren’t thinking about distance or speed. A big part of the fun was stopping somewhere on the way for tea and a vada, and then riding back home together.
Slowly, we started going farther.
One of our favorite destinations became Shanghumukham Beach. Every time we managed a little more distance, we wanted to see if we could go farther the next time. Without really planning it that way, we had started testing our endurance.
How We Became “Kutti Pattalam”
As more of my friends joined, our little cycling group became bigger.
During our rides, we would meet members of Trivandrum Bikers Club (TBC) (opens in a new tab), many of whom were my Dada’s cycling friends. They encouraged us and sometimes rode along with us.
It was the TBC members who gave our group the name “Kutti Pattalam.”
The name stayed.
As Kutti Pattalam grew, some of my friends’ parents also started coming with us. The adults would ride at the front and back of the group, helping us ride together more safely.
For us, they weren’t organised training rides. We were just kids enjoying our cycles, going somewhere together and seeing how far we could ride.
A Little Motivation from Strava
I was also recording some of my rides on Strava.
TBC members started following me there. They would give my rides kudos and comments, and that was exciting for me at that age.
It may have been a small thing, but it gave me motivation. I wanted to ride more regularly, and I started going out more often with Dada.
Some of those Kutti Pattalam rides in 2020 were already more than 20 km. At ten years old, those distances felt like proper adventures.
Looking Back
Today, cycling is very different for me. There are training plans, races, power numbers and specific goals.
None of that was part of Kutti Pattalam.
We were riding because it was fun. We enjoyed being outside after spending so much time indoors. There was the excitement of reaching the beach, stopping for tea and vada, riding with friends and trying to go a little farther than before.
Looking back, I think those rides gave me something important before I ever started training seriously.
They made me want to keep riding.
