44, turning 45 in August. Where I live, Bombay, India, cycling is a very uncommon hobby. Cycling here, is more common a poor man's transport, but then, those bicycles are 30 kg behemoths. To my friends I have always been a curious character because of my love for cycling.

I took to cycling in my late teens after a knee injury, and have never looked back. My first road bike was a mild steel, steel-rimmed heavyweight that I converted from its original single speed to a three speed set up. After a long search, I got toe clips and have ridden with foot retention ever since.

In the year 2008, I picked up an alloy MTB from my brother who had left it lying around since he preferred steel bikes. But this bike was light! Compared to my 17kg road bike (now 10 speed), this was 14 kgs with a triple front and seven speed freewheel. I changed the tires to narrower 1.75" semi slick tires. And riding was fun. Then it got drop handlebars and aero brake levers. And better cantilever brakes. Real fun.

In the 80's I had experimented with a single speed freewheel by stuffing bits of steel into the pawl so that the freewheel became a fixed cog. But at that time, I had been riding a very high ratio and fixed gear riding did not really catch my fancy.

In 2009, I happened to come across a steel Olmo road bike. And soon after, a Gios Evolution. Both were geared bikes and were perfect for my long road rides.

Since the Olmo and Gios were both geared and basically similar, I experimented with the Olmo and converted it to a fixed gear set up. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Running a 42 X 18, I did a few 50 km rides. Slowly I realised what people meant when they said you feel one with the bike as you ride.

In the meanwhile, I upgraded the Gios with 105 components and that was my most commonly ridden bike. I do my longer rides on this.

As monsoon approached last year, I got worried about the damage the dirt and grime from the roads would do the the "new and nice" components. So, the Olmo went back to a geared set up. I realised that its relaxed feel was more suited to long distance brisk paced road riding than to the fixed gear set up it was on till then. This became my rain bike.

But I just had to have a fixed gear bike. So the mtb, a Hero Thunder, named Thor by my brother, now underwent another change and it is now a fixed gear bike. I have thrown in a 39 toothed chainring and a 12-tooth cog. Great for fast riding. I have a set of 1.2" tires but those are prone to flats now that the monsoon is upon us and the roads are wet and covered with rubble and dirt.

Components and frames are hard to come by and unless you are looking for race specific parts, you just have to make do with what you can get hold of. So, after looking at carbon track framesets and realising that they are just not suitable for the traffic jungle I ride in, I decided to order by mail order, a very basic steel frame that has a steep geometry that theoretically matches my requirements.

Its stuck in Customs at present and once it comes through, I shall build it up as a nice fixed gear bike. And then do a century.

That's my plan. Lets see.

Nice to see so many fixed gear riders by the way.