Monday, August 29, 2011

First Cleated Ride - Headwinds from hell..!!



After a sync up on facebook there were four warriors that made it for this training ride. Vinay, Nalla, Opendro and I. The two unsure warriors were Kiran and Sudhir. As opendro and I waited as silkboard Nalla and Vinay soon joined and we left for A2B for fiesty oily vada - The high carb diet when cycling :-P . Managed to take the elevated tollway and it was a nice cool breezy ride. Managed to capture a video and soon we were off the tollway and on the NH-7. At this point you must be delighted yay they finally allow cyclists on tollway. Actually ..NO.  We did get talked about why we aren't allowed and after a pep talk with the tollbooth operators, left the tollbooth and sped towards Hosur. Quite a relaxed ride till then and then the adrenaline rush started to build up ever so gently. Being my first Cleat experience, I had to be wary and uncleat in a timely manner if there were to stop anytime. I tried to draft a truck at 46-50kmph for about half a km then fell back to catch up with my group. Just beyond hosur there was a downhill with quite a steep gradient and acheived the top speed of 76.5kmph. After about 3-4 kms a flat stretch and a Mahindra minivan at 70kph was to good to resist. I ended up drafting the minivan for almost 500mts at 70kph. Felt good and back to the CW clan as the roads got bumpy with potholes (not big but bad enough for roadbikes at that speed). Another downhill nearing A2B and I tried speed but only touched 60. I think the energy source was depleted and it was time to recharge the batteries.

Thanks to Nalla for sponsoring the breakfast at A2B. I was all for a pongal and vada then Opendro and Nalla talked me into having Idly vada AND pongal. Damn, my flat tummy now was gone and the "inflated tyre" revealed quite under the jersey. Moreso, Opendro helped me finish half pongal as the idly vada already was heavy. The tough part of this training ride was all for uphill. But this being my first cleated ride I wanted to enjoy every bit of it so any chance of uphill I stood up and pounded till the peak of every climb and switched to the low gears to relax till the others caught up. The power surge with cleats is very noticeable. The extra surge comes with the idle foot pulls the pedal up while the power is transferred on the power stroke (down stroke) by the other foot. Maybe pongal was weighing hard down on vada and not letting it release the instant energy. So at hosur each of us took gulped down 2 bottles of soft drinks (limca) and then topped up the water supplies. We stayed together till Bangalore tollbooth (attibele) after which Nalla and Vinay decided to proceed via Bagalur to Varthur. Meanwhile It was only Opendro and I till Jayadeva. We happened to relive the Brevet 600 moments. The last stretch or should I say the last 100 kms was a torture after the 500 kms. Krishnagiri to Bangalore was the toughest, yet we managed to fare better on the Brevet run compared to today's run. Thanks to Opendro for lending the Garmin forerunner to monitor my heart rate and calculate the other parameters like elevation gain loss speed etc. I still await feedback from the Cleated warriors manager ( Venkat) to understand the where there is room for improvement. More about this Garmin capture of the trip statistics here ::  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110228044








More pics at  :: https://picasaweb.google.com/108786458769812949648/A2BTrainingRideAugust282011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

My first BBCh RACE....Team Time Trial...!!


No heart rate monitor, No cleats, no experience in Time Trial, and just a couple of pace-line rides the week before is all it took to get to the podium finish.
Who >> The Cleated Warriors team.
When >> 21st August 2011 organized by BBCh.
Where >> Budigere to the NH 205 turnoff. ( commonly known in the bike world as Siva's Road)
Why >> Head goes where cycling is involved :-)

In my world of cycling, riding regularly the circuits of RT Nagar and hebbal two years ago, who knew I'd someday join a team and be racing with some pro teams...!! Facebook is a big boon for strategies and co-ordination at-least in the Cleated Warrior zone. Venkat and Opendro had made some serious planning on deciding how the paceline will be maintained. More than 50 comments on that thread alone. Looking great theoretically but how will they pan out in the real world on D-Day. This was the big question. Also how many riders would turn up for the race. Will we have excess or less members when it comes to the registering names on the BBCh records? With some intriguing questions on mind we patiently waited for the big day. I'm very glad that Opendro had the bike rack which was able to take 3 bikes.


 
Never knew Linea Boot space was large enough to accomodate a road bike :-)


Met Opendro at BTM and we left for the next warrior to be picked up, Anke Schuermann. But later got to know that she started for the the venue early and was not to be seen on the way to the start point. Met Venkat (CW leader), Major Srinivas, Sudhir and Deepak Rao whose comments I'd seen only on the Bikeszone forums. Got to see the full disc and also the 3 spoke TT rims on the Cervelo. Mean Machines. Droool.!!! Made it in time for a quick 12 km practice ride and deciding on strengths and weakness of each rider for a position in paceline. Max members were 6 of which only 3 had to cross the finish line. Now Venkat Nalla Sudhir and I had the chance of opting for the ITT ( Individual Time trial). The warrior to make it to ITT was Sudhir and he did try real hard but there were a few other strong riders. We were the penultimate team to start with 6 riders. Initial 5 kms was a steady tempo then we picked up pace and soon dropped 2 riders. A couple of more kms and we had another rider fallback. Shouted out only 3 riders in... Check..!!
 At the start line ... !!!



This was pretty much the trio which stuck together for almost 12 kms...!!

The train was lead by Venkat who pulled strong for almost 70% of the route. He was tailed closely by Opendro whom I was drafting just a couple of inches away. Overtook whenever there was a climb to help Venkat recover. Fell back to recover on flat stretches and downhill. Opendro did a wonderful Job of staying close as we did not have a leverage to lose a rider. The last sprint for 100 -150 mts was exciting and all that was on my mind was the 2009 sprint of  Mark Cavendish in Tour de France. Head down and the bike bobbing left and right with maximum force on pedals, felt great to finish first, followed by Opendro and a neat finish with Venkat crossing the finishline. My main objective this race was to ride a proper paceline with the team so podium finish or not, I was happy with the team performance. Mission Accomplished. But a podium finish was just as good as a cherry topping on an ice-cream. Finishing with the pro riders for a close second is indeed an incredulous acheivement by the CW team overall. I'm ecstatic and would treat myself 2 plates of spicy masala puri to celebrate .. YAY..!! Some victory snaps follow :-)





Tuesday, August 9, 2011

CAM - Bhagamandala Kasargod Jalsoor

Having only heard about the CAM rides and intimidated by signature of some members in Bikeszone forums, I thought I'd give it a try. I registered and soon my brother, inspired by the pics of last years CAM ride to Kasargod, said he'd give it a shot too. Voila, two seats booked two weeks prior to the ride. This was no race but to me it was more a mind over matter. A sound always heard in my mind " Do justice to your MTB u roadie scum"!! And so the Saga of the two day tour started. 6th of august approached real fast and I had redefined laziness by packing up just a couple of hours before the ride. I was to ride on my Trek 4300d and a rental bike for my brother. The plan was to load the bike on the canter (Tata 407) which would leave for Bhagamandala even before the bus starts. Reached the drop point exactly at 8:30pm on 6th and loaded the Trek on the canter . Ramesh (my brother) was so excited that he decided to create .. yeah you heard me right.. CREATE 3/4th from an old jeans lying around. He was ready with lycra and a dry fit tee but I convinced him that it was purely a roadie attire :-P. . Within an hour all the riders made it and managed to start by about 10pm. This trip was filled with a whole lot of "Firsts"


1. First long ride on the Trek 4300d.


2. First trip on the Brand New Ultra luxury bus.






3. First long tour on bike for my brother.






4. First ride in the rain with the new jacket from Decathlon. (Continuous drizzle or heavy rain). 




My brother and I had chaat for dinner. The bus stopped next at cafe Coorg which is just  before kushalnagar. Got down for a quick breather. The weather had gotten a lot colder compared to Bangalore. Reached Bhagamandala by 6 and we had about an hour to freshen up at Hotel Mayura Cauvery Yathri and ride to Kasargod. Unloaded the bikes from canter and they waited as the riders got ready. I was wondering, when was the last time that I never bothered about the rain or running helter-skelter for shelter. Probably that time would date back to the glorious school days. Things have changed a lot and the IT industry adding that extra few pounds to upset the BMI and a few inches to the waistline and make your friends say " You've changed a lot" or "You look different" when they literally mean you fat pig.


Plan was to have breakfast enroute but then it was decided against as it started to drizzle and soon it turned to heavy rain. Had two rounds of hot upma/uppit/kharabath and kesari bath. As soon as it stopped raining we headed towards panathoor. The ride map displayed some serious downhill for  DAY 1. Didn't have the need to pedal for almost 20 kms. No smooth tarmac this downhill. Mind at full alert to find out the smoothest path to glide over the potholed trail. One had to stay on the toes to maintain a low centre of gravity all the while until the beauty of waterfalls or cascades make you stop the bike though you may not intend to do so. Also got a chance to stop at a hydel powerstation. Just around the panathoor border my brother's bike ( Act 110) had a flat. Depressing, as we would lose time but good for my experience in fixing flats. Fixed the first flat in 20 mins and then realized that there was another flat. Disassembled the whole thing again and fixed the other one too. This held for about 5 or 6 kms and then the pressure dropped again. This was frustrating because I wasn't sure of the tube size and to wait for the canter truck to arrive and fix the flat would take longer. So called Vikrant (CAM Organizer)  and in about 20 mins he was there with a Btwin MTB. Quickly loaded the ACT 110s on the car and started off to the lunch point at Kanhagad. It kept raining intermittently. Vegetable pulao or peas pulao bundled with curd rice was really good combo. This is the point where quite a few riders boarded the canter as they didn't want to waste more time by riding and miss the beauty of the Bekal Fort. By this time Mohit and I were only riders and we took the climbs with finesse and I was delighted. Then we hit the West coast highway the NH-17 which was as rough as a teenagers face!! Then after some quick doses of sprint we hit the most horrible stretch for about 3-4 kms. I'd say that there wasn't any road, but the Trek made its own way thru the puddles, potholes, mounds of muck and gravel. There is a teeny bit in my brain which rumages about the investment incurred on a bike like this. And to this day I stand corrected - "Worth every PENNY". Mohit and I raced against the clock and reached the Bekal Fort entrance, believe it or not, at exactly 4:30pm. A sigh of relief when Kishan mentioned that it closes only by 5:30. Great, now we have an hour to relax and enjoy the view, which we did. A lot of snaps followed in the drizzle. 
















Result - Water on the Nikon S220 screen and the next thing and the only thing I can see is solar eclipse instead of a photo preview on the lcd. Yaikes..!!! At about 6:30 a few riders wanted to complete the Day 1 riding so the ones who had headlight were the lead of the convoy and I stuck by Mohit whom I had to abandon after 20 minutes due to a fault with the vbrakes on his schwinn Searcher. But after about half hour he caught up and rode with us. Just about 2 kms from the Speedway Inn. there was this valley shaped highway which dipped at almost 15 degrees giving the advantageof speed to make the same 15-20 degree climb. The major problem was that the climb was littered with pebbles and it was hard for quite a few riders. Pradeep mashed thru on this Act 110 and so did my brother. I was off the saddle ever since the climb started and didn't stop till I completed the 200ft of climb which lasted for about 100-150 mts. An immense sense of acheivement. A mini celebration on my mind and a pat on my back. 2 more kms later we arrived at the Speedway INN where we parked the bikes in the basement. An hour to get fresh and head for dinner. With the tummies satisified with the South indian meal, and a deep slumber. 




Surprisingly my brother was awake the next morning, a lot earlier than I,  but was just sitting idle :-). He mentioned that Vikrant had called requesting that we be ready and present at the basement by 6:30am. We were one among the last bunch to make it and lo behold what do we outside.. any guesses ??




Rain.. rain and more rain. This time I tried some DIY stuff. Here's what I did ...try spotting. 




I had managed to find some loose plastic sheets at the ground floor of SpeedWay INN and my mind immediately went to work. Checked with the hotel receptionist for an insulation tape but got the transparent packing tape. Couldn't get better. 15 minutes of carving, cutting taping and the result is the above waterproof shoes. Mine weren't really shoes. It was more of a hybrid from sandals and sports shoes. Hmm..i know you're confused. Let me put it this way, my shoes (reebok's) can be compared to a convertible car. 


Using the copy of printed maps I managed to ask for directions time and again to ensure that we're on the right track. Had to head towards Mularia which was the breakfast point. Kharabath and kesari bath. In the Bengaluru terms it was Chow-Chow bath. My brother left early and I started about 20 mins later. Had some more sprint sessions after a relaxed ride for 8 kms or so. Caught up with my brother only to realize that he doesn't have the bag which had the essential toolkit and some spares. No way to return to find the bag so had to forget that it happened and just tried to enjoy the beauty around. The river flowing and following the course alongside the road on the right with only tall trees separating me from the banks. On the left were again tall trees and some stretches were simply breathtaking. At one point I had a glimpse of a black swift (car) which popped up around a curve and just 50mts behind was a stream of water and puddles on both sides. This driver drove right thru the centre line and made the most beautiful sight. Water splashing in both directions ever so perfect and that moment reminded me of a scene in the Pixar's movie CARS. Venkat has managed to capture half the beauty with the Swift driven by Vikrant but the one I saw had a beautiful backdrop. Just half the beauty captured  ::




Just one of those picturesque moments which could just be captured only in mind, which otherwise captured in pixels does no justice to the true beauty that lies within. I managed to reach Jalsoor by about noon and it still was drizzling. Slowly the rest of the riders and at last the second sweeper truck arrived. By the time the last few riders made it to the finish line it started pouring cats n dogs. Next stop was lunch at Suliya. Meals + an extra treat of ice-cream.
Once the batteries recharged, the conversations started and then some conflicts arose while deciding whether to play  Baasha (Tamil movie) or The flying scotsman or fast n furious 5 or Life cycles. Majority opted for the Life-cycles, unfortunately the dvd player didn't support divx/mkv. Baasha's intro song was played and a hullabaloo broke out which prompted the movie switch to "The Flying Scotsman". Quite an inspiring movie. Reached Bangalore at 10pm and then I rode home from silk board and my brother took a rickshaw. Would have to be better prepared for the next CAM ride or any such organized rides. All in all this is the best trip on the bike in my life yet. 




Been There Done That !! 





The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to RIDE before I sleep,
And miles to RIDE before I sleep



Day 1 - Route and Elevation - http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=wlcwyukypumsltrr
Day 2 - Route and Elevation - http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=skgmosytiqwrevtf
Link to the pics - My Photolog.