His cycling in the reverse direction initially earned him taunts from his villagers and curses from his kin, but his persistent efforts secured him a berth in the Limca Book of Records.
O. Linga Reddy of Bandlapalle village near Punganur town has mastered a rare skill that has left many awestruck. He sits on the handle bar of the cycle, stretches his hands backwards to hold the bar and pedals forward to surge ahead.
After he ‘reversed’ the setup of the gear wheel ratchet, the cycle moves ahead at the same speed with the similar pressure exerted by his feet. The only difference is that the rear wheel moves first.
It all started 10 years ago when Linga Reddy watched the various cycling feats at a local circus that made him think ‘out of the box’.
As he supplied milk to Punganur town, he chose to experiment with the feat during the 10-km ride everyday, till he perfected the art. He was an object of ridicule for children, while the villagers made fun of him as ‘reverse cycling Linga Reddy’.
His wife also lamented over his undue interest over an apparently ‘useless feat’. The ‘stormy ride’ did not last long as Linga Reddy very soon garnered the attention of the local media and later the Limca Book.
The book’s special literature edition of 2015 mentions him as adept in “performing reverse cycling by using a unique technique in which he sits on the handle bars, facing the seat and manoeuvres the cycle using his arms”.
Linga Reddy, who can cycle this way for more than 1 km, throws an open challenge that nobody can beat him. The small farmer has now set his sight on the Guinness Book and is trying to cover longer distances to secure entry into the coveted book.
