Greenbo

Hi, I am Zac. I am a mountain bike.  For a few days I was parked besides my big brother Greenbo.  While I had a few stories to tell, mostly I was listening to the numerous riding tales of Greenbo.  Today I'll let the world know about Greenbo, because he doesn't write a diary, like I do.

Greenbo

Greenbo is a basic mountain bike.  He has no expensive parts.  Greenbo says simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.  But I know these are not his words.  He must have heard it somewhere.  For a modest hardware he is, he has tons of experience on the road and off the road.

On the road were numerous morning rides, and the daily chores.  In the initial days, the city rides were the early morning rides.  That changed gradually.  A cycle ride could done at be any time of the day.

Rather than the city rides, Greenbo likes to go out of the city.  He says he likes to go to places where a road bike can't reach.

In the woods

On the road

Born to ride

Off the road

On a road that is seldom used

The Road to Resilience

Up the hill

Downhill

Rubber Side Down

To places not known to many mountain bikes

In the water

The buddy rides

On a mountain pass

Greenbo was in Hyderabad for about ten months.  A city on the Deccan plateau where the summers are hard.  The heat starts early morning and temperature stays high till the evenings.  Undeterred by the tough weather, Greenbo's owner did many cycling rides during the weekends, and rode around the city on the weekdays.

In front of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, in village Jinnaram near Hyderabad

There are no mountains around Hyderabad.  Mostly flat lands and a few hillocks here and there.

While the weekend rides were a few, on weekdays Greenbo was in action daily twice.  Our owner used to feed about ten stray dogs early morning and evening.  The dogs eagerly waited for the sound of Greenbo's brakes.  By nature, dogs are scavengers.  Stray dogs survive on whatever they can eat.  In the cities, that is mostly eatable things in the garbage thrown roadside by humans.  Stray dogs live where they get something to eat.  In areas where there is nothing available to eat, they don't stay.  So if you do not want stray dogs in your area, keep your area clean.  In those ten months, Greenbo never had a punctured tyre, although he rode a lot of dirt roads.  He says he was blessed by the scavengers.

Most stray dogs had wound marks from fighting with other stray dogs.  They fight for the meager food available and territory.  Survival is a skill.  Greenbo saw stray dogs catch skin infections, eye infection, ear infection, wounds from sharp objects in the garbage.  He saw how the dogs recovered when they were treated.  Two stray dogs had their leg cut because a vehicle ran over the leg. There was a narrow road with buses passing by regularly.  One dog had a vehicle run over the second leg.  Then he had two legs, one in front and one in the rear.  He survived for a couple of months.  

Once Greenbo said, a bicycle is the finest mode of transport known to man.  I couldn't agree more.  Still we were discussing this for an hour or so.

Greenbo has done a few 100 kilometer rides.  Being of 14 kilos, that means at least 6 hours.  Mountain bikes are not made for speed.  We are built to ride in places where there is no asphalt road.  Forget about how much distance is done in how much time.  Think about going to places where no road bike dares to ride.  Doing maneuvers without falling down.

Greenbo has some tips that would help to maintain speed and also not lose balance, while being off the road :

1. Arms slightly bent. You may have heard, "Your arms are the best shock absorbers". This is the opportunity to prove that.

2. Stand up a little bit from the seat, and lean back slightly. Where you keep the weight of the body is the key.

3. Keeping both pedals at the same level, unless pedaling is required. You don't want to hit the rocks with the lower pedal, and go out of balance.

4. Three fingers on the left brake lever (rear brake). Two fingers on the right brake lever (front brake). So that brakes could be quickly applied, if needed. Keeping all four fingers on brake levers is not good, because then brake levers get pulled suddenly, and brakes get applied too hard.

5. Don't look down, or at the front wheel. Look ahead. Only then you could see the path ahead, and plan for it.

Did Greenbo miss something?