Rider of the Week #25 – Ravi the Grate

1. Tell us a bit about yourself

I am a bean counter who likes to pretend I can ride a bike. I live in Wahroonga where all the aspiring MAMILS congregate. I am married to Megan, who has now accepted my addiction to cycling is not a passing phase and have two daughters who hate seeing their dad wear lycra.

2. What got you into cycling?

We moved buildings and I lost my permanent car spot in 2008. Best thing that happened to me. I hated catching the train to work. One day my boss Ashley Fenton told me I should try and find that bike track from Chatswood to the city as I may like it. My old Giant steelframe mountain bike ventured out one morning in January 2009, found this track and the rest is history.

3. How did you come to join the Easy Riders?

I mentioned to Peter McNamara who was doing some work with me I had started riding. He told me I should join the Easyriders as it was safer than riding alone. I got onto the email list and three months later took my first ride with the group after talking to Captain and Satnav by email.

4. Tell us about your bikes.

I own a trusted aluminium Argon 18 Plutonium which has survived two crashes and still does the commute well, the Pinarello FP7 which flies up hills as some have noted and still keep my 20 year old Giant Steelframe Mountain bike.

5. If you could ride anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I love riding the Adelaide Hills. Want to try a TDF stage one day but still think Adelaide Hills scenery is hard to beat (go Beebs).

Ravi at the Tour Down Under

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6. Tell us a riding story.

Has to be my first ride with the Easyriders. The Argon was on a flatbar back then. Satnav said join the group at Gordon and he would hang back with me. He did. I had to push the bike up the Esses at Roseville on my first morning and by Boundary was finding it hard to stand up. It was a damp cold July morning as it had been raining. We got to the Artarmon path and I said to Satnav I knew the way go on. He still hung back so I decided to catch the group. I accelerated then had to brake suddenly along a grate. All I remember is the back wheel sliding from under me so I applied front wheel brakes and went over the handle bars. Satnav first on the scene got me to sit on a rock whilst he rang an ambulance. Up till then I had never broken a bone but I knew I had done just that. I was operated on that evening. Still have the titanium plate and six screws. Actually was too embarassed to feel any pain. I remember the Peppous and B2Bs coming through talking to Satnav as the ambos arrived then went gaga as they gave me the gas. Captain later named in the the ride report “Ravi the Grate”. A ride not to forget. Megan told me not to ride with the ERs again as for six months I was riding alone and nothing happened! Good thing I didn’t take her seriously…..

7. Do you have any advice for the riders at the back of the ER peloton?

My advice for riders at the back of the peloton is don’t try to get to the front as I will get left behind (I’m still at the back four years later). My philosophy is it is all about enjoying the ride and the company. I like a challenge but am not competing with anyone except myself to improve. I try to set small achievable goals and stick to them.

8. Lastly, tell us something we don’t know about you.

In my school years I was known as the “concert pianist” and harboured ambition of one day performing with the SSO. At uni I could not complete both my music and accounting studies and with 8 job offers from all the major accounting firms after finishing my economics degree I decided the money in music did not compensate the ambition. I failed my final music exams and have hardly touched a piano since.

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