My place about 40 km south east of Mangalore [ click for exact location]
e-triking across INDIA
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Used Recumbent tricycle available for sale – cheap.
My place about 40 km south east of Mangalore [ click for exact location]
Friday, June 28, 2013
Suntrip - propelled by SUN
Northern route means less solar radiation but flatter terrain. Southern route means more help from Sun to tackle hilly roads. The leaders of the North route are now in
While searching suitable trike for me three years back, I had short listed AZUB trike from
Saturday, April 7, 2012
An Accident
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Photo features in two Regional papers
Few days back Anilkumar sent message from Puttur that my photo along with trike was in Suddibidugade, local tabloid. I was surprised as I had not met their reporter and there was nothing special. Later things fell into line and here is the report.
I had gone to Puttur two days earlier as I often do. A fellow in mobike riding parallel to me asked my name and whereabouts. Normally I don’t reply to people while riding in middle of city. My thinking is only traffic policeman on duty has right to communicate to a driver or rider moving vehicle. Anyway I gave him cryptic reply about my name and nearby location. I live in a remote village and many people may not be aware of that name. He zoomed past and took a photo from roadside. So single sentence report filed from these information contains only three mistakes - my name mispronounced, my village wrongly stated and that I am new to that town.
Last month I had gone to Kasargod, 54 km away to attend a meeting on endosulphon. Dr Shreepathy introduced me to a reporter - Mr Vinod of Mathrubhumi – leading Malayalam daily. I shared the facts and asked him to give me a hint if that is published.
On 17th May, exactly a month after that visit to Kasargod, I started receiving Emails from Kerala that - they have seen me in their paper and need more facts. After receiving many similar cryptic mails, I started looking around for reason. I asked with Mr Shree Padre, endosulphon activist and journalist - if he has any clues. He gave me probable hints and sent them Emails. So five days after publication, Rajesh of Mathrubhumi was kind enough to forward a small clip.
The clip is too small that you cannot read the printed matter. It is okay for me as I cannot read Malayalam language. The newspapers becomes trash by evening and same attitude is shown by the reporters towards subjects after the interview. I am not very keen to meet reporters as almost news reports so far ignored the crucial fact – this is unique vehicle in the world that makes use of human energy and electric power supplementing one with other.
It is unfortunate that most of our journalists do not exhibit professional conduct. Makes me remember a fake funeral video shot in
http://improveverywhere.com/2009/04/14/cw-11-files-copyright-claim/
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Rode 54 km to hear Vandana Shiva in Kasargod
There is a narrow bridge in Panemangalore pictured above and was built in 1914 which was used till recent past. Two heavy vehicles cannot cross each other on the bridge and one that have not crossed the midpoint had to go back. Looking at the big vehicles that have already entered the bridge, what most heavy vehicle drivers coming from other end used to do was accelerate so that they can reach midpoint early. So there will be roadblock for about half an hour and the culprit was never apologetic. Like these wayward drivers, our companies are stockpiling endosulphon being certain that government will come to their rescue.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Riding Trike 230 km in 11 hour 15 min
It was getting dark nearing Nelyadi and rain which appeared imminent for a while started to drizzle. Anil advised me to leave the trike overnight somewhere with known people but I was not ready for abandoning the trip midway. Shankar also started feeling concerned as I was almost invisible both due to darkness and rain. The drivers have never seen something like this contraption cannot properly visualize the trike dimensions. Getting mesmerized, they may come and hit me was his concern. If under influence of alcohol mean they not even realize that they have hit me. We came across a muddy layer on the road that happened because of rain moved the soil heaped on roadside. Two vehicles had collided just before we reached there and then Shankar became more tense. Operating a Maruti authorized service centre, he gets news of accidents too often and naturally becomes tense before all of us. Not being exposed to so many accidents, I was more cool.
Beyond Golithottu, I put in all efforts pedaling furiously. I had earlier traveled in that road more than ten times and must have created new record on this day. Mohan driving Nano tried to illuminate my path to maximum extent.
Reaching Uppinanagdy Shankar told me that he can talk to hotelier and we can leave trike here. I convinced him that just 15 km more for your workshop and Puttur road in front of us is less crowded. I had told Shankar during planning stage itself that he has to watch over me. Having sensory and perception problems, I don’t always realize being close to collapsing point due to fatigue. Actually I meant more about heat factor during daytime as sensing ability of my body is poor and urinary inconsistency may push me towards dehydration. Maybe it also made him more jumpy.
The road towards Puttur was more undulating with plenty of turns. So I had to depend on my feeble LED trike light for some distance. When we reached Bolwar circle, Mahalingeshwara was on his yearly rounds. Luckily only front end of procession had reached there and we were not delayed. Finally at 8.30, I got out of the trike and stretched my limbs.
Total distance on trike was 230.3 km and I had been riding for 11 hours and 15 minutes. So moving average was 20.4 kmph. Energy used was about 65 Ah plus maybe another 5 Ah when I had disconnected the meter. Power usage was much more than my estimation because of bad design of locally procured rear tire and bad road near Mudigere.
Next day I had to take Sunil to his school for readmission and so took Omni. When I went near the trike, I was shocked to find deflated rear tire. It is not very easy to attend to rear tire as chain, gear system plus my bag limit our access. So carried the trike home in Omni. I dismantled the tire at home, only to find very small pin hole puncture. I could have pumped air and bought it riding if necessary.
I had noticed more power usage since sometime but never thought increased drag was due to the tire. Now have replaced the local Ralson tire with original Schwalbe and performance improvement is noticeable. I am sure this tire would have saved minimum 10 Ah power during this trip and naturally moved faster too.
Having support crew and vehicle with charging facility saved me about five hours charging time along the way. Maximum time spent in riding was around seven hours earlier and it was four more hours this time. That means with battery exchange facilities available or with more batteries very long trips can easily made with pedal assist bikes or trikes. Darkness, Rain and
Friday, March 11, 2011
Cycles are more expensive than cars
Same attitude exhibited in
Traveling by the lonely road is always hazardous and stupid people like me never learn. Our government in
We have to obey law of land and pay customs duty. But the unexpected thrashing I suffered was CVDs. Countervailing duties (CVDs) are duties imposed under WTO Rules to neutralize the negative effects of export subsidies. The CVD also known as anti dumping duty is levied to protect local manufacture and it is payable equal to excise duty payable on like articles if produced in
Cycle and tricycle being symbol of independence should have got more importance, both from society and government. Unfortunately the taxes and penalties on these environmental friendly mobility are extremely high. We are made to pay very heavy price for our principles.