Ride On, Write On: Bike Bloggers Of Bangalore To Keep Up With

This guy is known by many names in the Bangalore cycling community. Bike Venky, Lord Venky, and sometimes, just Lord. His full and euphonious name is Venkateswara Rao Navanasi and his inspiring story, like so many others, is one of the realisation that there ought to be more to life than 9-5-ing it. Getting on a bike changed all that. He blogs about his bike rides, races, and the one race he always does — the Tour of Nilgiris. The crown prince of Bangalore’s amateur cycling scene has a smooth narrative style, and we promise, your heart rate will spike as you read his race reports.

Check out his blog here.

This gent here has been trailblazing the path of bike racing in India ever since he landed here in 2012. He is now the first Indian cyclist to be offered a professional contract from the Australian based team – State of Matter – MAAP Racing. But his story has been far from easy: from having picked up a bike to tackling weight issues in college to winning the National Championships and the National Games title in the same year, Naveen has documented his incredible journey in his blog, which should be every upcoming racer’s bible.

Check out his blog here.

Among the fresh crop of youngsters, he stands out for his penmanship, in addition to his pedaling. With hopes of bridging over to being a pro racer, Sarvesh’s blog talks about his racing, and since his stint as the first Indian to race in Belgium last year, his increasing races across the world. His millennial scribing style has memes, pop culture references and a “Monty Python has a direct line to my funny bone” tone. All this makes for serious reading but with much laughter.

Check out the blog here.

Cycling worldwide has very little representation from women, but we’re thrilled to say, that’s not true of Bangalore! Anita is a traveller, foodie, blogger and cyclist, pretty much from the time the sport took off in Bangalore. Just taking in the bucolic countryside across four continents! Did we mention triathlons? Yeah, throw that in too, for good measure! This glocal lass might be sampling the Socal cycling and gastronomic delights right now, but we have cause to know that her heart beats for Bangalore!

Check out her blog here.

Only two blog posts in, but already standing out, thanks to a ridiculous sense of the ridiculous. How can we have a list of Bangalore-based bicycling bloggers and not include a nerd doing his PhD from IISc {Indian Institute of Science}, the holy ground of much in-campus bicycling? Et voila – meet Shaunak, who is relatively new to bicycle racing, but is catching up fast. His blog is aimed at the not-yet-cyclist crowd, as much as his cycling buddies. So, its short, doesn’t have technical terms you need to Google or ignore, and is served up with a large dollop of funny.

Check out his blog here.

This one is a frequent podium ascending cyclist and runner. Timtim, a Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon winner {and that’s kind of a big deal}, is all kinds of firebrand, and is a super strong athlete. Read about how she started cycling seriously while on a break from running, owing to injuries and how that has developed into another true love, over time.

Check out her blog here.

BOTS has been elemental in developing the community of cycling in the city over the past decade and much of it has been documented in their blog that dates back to its inception in 2006. From How-To guides on basic bike maintenance and repair to expert series about hydration and nutrition, this blog has everything a beginner would need.

Check out the blog here.

The up-and- coming athlete wear brand based in the cycling capital of India is all about the love for the sport, which is abundantly evident in their blog. With race reports and how-to-race guides, any racer will be glued to their screens and asking for more. This bunch of sub 25-year-olds are entrepreneurs, and also spunky and funny, to boot. Lest we miss affirming, they also make really good bike wear!

Check out the blog here.