Fools of April (2013)

Sunshine hours have been ruling the month of April, bringing along melting temperatures. While Pune city was baking in the noon sun, few mountain bikers were popping out of their bunkers to throw their mountain bikes around the hot trails. These chained soldiers included; Piyush Chavan, Ajay Padval, Cephas Joseph and myself. As rest of the crew in action here is still in college, dodging between the classroom hours was a norm. So plans were made, timings were decided and the shred month began.

Not being a fool of the month, each one of us ‘Puneykarees’ hopped on the bike to have a blazing time. Early start with breakfast stuck in our teeth we landed on the Indian Army powered hills every morning. An ammunition testing range, the ‘Dighi Hills’ of Pune is not a place you take lightly. As war tanks are firing, new army recruits training, low intensity explosives going, the trails on these hills exist to challenge you from all sides. With steep and twisty descents to big air cliff drops, the ‘Dighi hills’ have been a training zone for India’s top mountain bikers.

As we collected our fun time tickets each morning we wanted to brush up a little on our airborne style. The ‘Bowl’ as we call it, is a little natural setup we’ve been riding for years to dial in some style into our jumps. As the month progressed, Piyush Chavan kept getting whackier on his bike. Nailing his first 360 on the big bike to ripping steeps on every ride! Not to be left behind, the hardtail recruits kept the bowl sessions twisted. Cephas and Ajay don’t dance with a cushion on their frame and opted to make the most of the ‘Bowl’ and ‘BB zone Drop’ hours on their hardtails.

At the same time, a big bike 360 off a drop has been on my mind for a while now and decided to throw myself at it. With couple of under rotated spins resulting in a bruised back, knee and wrist; I opted to take it easy. For another day we’ll see how the 3s go off a drop.

As summer’s final month, May has stepped in; we in Pune are getting geared up to make the most of the overhead sun and dry weather. Some Big Air and ridiculous lines are in the works before we welcome the monsoons!

Rider: Ajay Padval | Photo: Vinay Menon

Rider: Piyush Chavan | Photo: Vinay Menon

Rider: Cephas Josepf | Photo: Vinay Menon

Rider: Cephas Josepf | Photo: Vinay Menon

Location: Pune, India

Location: Pune, India

Rider: Piyush Chavan | Photo: Cephas Joseph

Rider: Piyush Chavan | Photo: Vinay Menon

Rider: Vinay Menon | Photo: Piyush Chavan

Rider: Vinay Menon | Photo: Cephas Joseph

Rider: Vinay Menon | Photo: Cephas Joseph