A bicycle ride for a glass of piping hot chai from a roadside teashop with the bonus of taking in a breathtaking sunrise. Along a trail that weaves in and out of the city, past the sea or the backwaters, through the city’s nooks and crannies…each day for the Monsoon Tea Riders is a new experience over a glass of tea. “We have seen more sunrises these few months than we have in our entire lives,” say a couple of them.
The ‘tea riding’ started out as plain cycling, a ‘health’ activity that would get the friends outdoors. Drinking tea became the bonus. The unknown teashop stop adds that little element of surprise which the riders have come to look forward to, says Arabind C., one of the riders.
The original five ‘Tea Riders’ Arabind C, Subunu K., Hariprashanth M.G., Bejoy Koshy and Ali C.P. are neighbours in an apartment complex. The idea of cycling took shape during a random conversation and before they could say ‘Monsoon Tea Riders’ they shopped for high-end bicycles or got their old bicycles ready and began looking for trails.
Since the monsoon has passed the group might prefix ‘tea riders’ with misty, summer or whatever catches their fancy, Arabind says. He is the managing director of Tamarind Event Management Solutions Pvt Limited.
For the time being the group is focussed on cycling, but their goal is to get more people out in the open. The group calls themselves Born Wanderers; through their eponymous website they hope to promote a variety of outdoor activities. Their motto is ‘Get Out It’s Beautiful Out There’ condensed to ‘GO IBOT’. Cycling is one outdoor activity that they intend promoting. Among the other activities they want to involve in and get people interested are trekking and kayaking. They have a Facebook page by the same name.
Subunu is credited with coming up with the cycling idea, “he said everybody cycles’. And that was that. Initially managing even five kms was good,” says Hariprashanth who is principal consultant - UX Design, Identitymine Software Pvt Limited. He had a bicycle, which had been stolen and the last time Arabind had cycled was in Class 8. The friends call the activity recreational with nothing competitive about it, an adventure nevertheless, “the slowest rider sets the pace. If someone gets ahead, they wait at the tea stop,” Subunu says.
The health benefit and camaraderie are bonuses. Hariprashanth, for instance, lost almost nine kilograms in a couple of months.
To Subunu “the sheer fun of cycling is intoxicating. It gives the energy for rest of the day.” He is procurement manager at A B Mouri India Private Ltd (CSEZ). Ali C.P. is chief web designer at Pineapple Adwings.
Cycling down the same trail was certain to induce boredom hence they started mixing it up. And the expert in finding trails is Bejoy, head of operations of Dravidian Trails, according to Arabind. “He finds these trails – roads, lanes or paths – which we never knew existed. He is really good at it.” Google Maps help with finding biker friendly trails. Group members provide trail suggestions over their WhatsApp group; fix the trail and time for the next day. They take a break once a week and on off days they take off on longer trails.
The group sets out early in the morning, at around five, meet up at a pre-planned point which might be part of the trail and set off. The distances covered range from 20 - 30 kms over two to two-and-a-half hours. They get back home by 7.30 a.m. – 7.45 a.m. in time for work. For some like Hariprashanth, Subunu, Ali and others the cycling extends afterwards too. Hariprashanth works at a software firm, which has provided him a changing room to freshen up once he reaches office.
The group has, over the past eight months, grown to include an eclectic mix of society to include doctors, businessmen, techies, students and even a few Naval officers. Women are welcome, “but the timings interfere with their morning schedule as they would be busy getting the kid ready for school or other chores. But there is one, Kavitha, who is a regular,” Arabind says. Days off from work are a time to extend the trail.
Like the time they cycled 73 km to Muvattupuzha and back. The longest they have cycled is 135 plus kilometres to Thumboli (near Alappuzha) and back. One memorable trip was the Freedom Ride on August 15 this year. Close to 70 cyclists rode to Perumbalam island and participated in the panchayat’s flag hoisting.
The teashop stop and the daily expeditions have widened their horizons. They ‘see’ people from other strata of society – they have spent time with fisher folk at Munambam, ordinary people “who we wouldn’t notice otherwise,” Arabind says, and have bonded with each other.
Rocky chettan at Saudi Junction, Venu chettan at Chathamma, Mohammed ikka , Gopi chettan at Panangad (all tea vendors) are now their friends who apologise if they haven’t opened their shops. They found out that in areas close to the coast there are more church-goers and meat buyers out on the roads in the early hours.
‘Weather Gods’ permitting they plan to embark on a full moon ride.
The world they see today is bigger. And they want to share some of that with the city and encourage city folk to explore the great outdoors. Born Wanderers can be reached at https://www.facebook.com/bornwanderers or www.bornwanderers.com
