A picture is worth a thousand words - ThrowBack

 

I won’t say I stumbled on this image — I was intentionally hunting for it in my photo gallery.

I wanted this exact pic because I planned to talk about clipless cycling shoes — the ones with cleats that lock into specific pedals (shown below). The idea was to highlight how many times I fell while learning to use them. With these pedals, when yu brake, you better remember to unclip first, or else — boom — yu meet the ground.

My plan was to connect it to a life lesson: In learning, falling isn’t optional — sometimes it’s necessary.

If anyone ever wants to learn skating, my first advice will always be: Learn how to fall first.
Once the fear of falling goes, your confidence rises.

Clipless Shoes

Anywho — when I saw this pic, it took me down memory lane and so many aspects have been captured here. In no particular order — yes, the jersey I’m wearing is specifically for running, and when this was taken, I had just started cycling again. And yeah — I love loose sleeveless T-shirts during workouts.

In one of my earlier posts, I used this pic to show the shorts — this was my fav running short. I had a pair of them, and I still remember going to CST (Mumbai market) with dad to buy it. It has a distinct cut (near the white stripes) and I am particular about some of these small nuances. Watching Kenyan and Ethiopian runners on TV wearing similar-style shorts only made me want one even more.

The helmet — of course, a Decathlon product. And yes — this helmet did save me a couple of times 😅

Then the watch — well, I love watches and used to even wear one while going inside Goa beaches. For running and training, my main preference used to be a simple stopwatch — nothing fancy. This one was a Sonata, and I used it for years, including both my full marathons. Now I have a slight upgrade — GPS and heart-rate monitor.

Then — then — ankle weights.
Man, this takes me straight back to Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, where Sanju (Aamir Khan) trained with ankle weights while cycling. Then later in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Farhan Akhtar was shown skipping with heavy ankle weights — and I followed that too. To this day, I love skipping with ankle weights — it works like magic for me. 🙂

This is almost a decade-old pic, and it reminds me of everything I explored, how much I continue to explore even now, and also what all I’ve stopped doing.

Closing this for now!

Would love to hear your side someday — and deep-dive into your photo gallery too. 🙂