Took the bike out for a spin right after the CLO trick or treat. Reforma and parts of Centro Historico were closed out for the monthly night ride and this one coincided with Dia de muertos. Quite a few people showed up and most of the route was a huge bicycle jam. Nevertheless some good time out on the roads in the nippy weather. Clocked around 11 miles. ...
Miss V and I headed over to the Thiruvanmayur coast early this morning. This was her first longish bike ride (~10 mi) and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Riding on the roads here in India calls for a totally different skill-set. If living in a city, you need to ride through traffic to get to the trail/viewpoint and more often than not other vehicles drive totally oblivious of your existence. Miss V weaved in and out while navigating the traffic signals and it was a pleasure seeing her learn the ropes from the corner of my eye. We’re also using bikes that are 20+ years old! So she had to deal with skipping crank-sets and loose chains! I got them to a ride-able condition a few weeks back. However, bike maintenance is overdue and now’s probably the best time to get her into that too. ...
Good to be back on the saddle after a while! ~50km ride to Kovalam and back on a very relaxed pace with folks from TFI Chennai. If only chennai had some better weather!
Day One 27th January, 2012 Dharamshala – Shahpur – Lunj – Masroor Rock Temples – Nagrota suriyan (Distance 85 kms) Day Two 28th January, 2012 Nagrota suriyan – Ranital – Baroh – Nangni – Jaisinghpur – Andretta – Baijnath – Bir (103 kms) Day Three 29th January, 2012 Bir – Baijnath – Palampur – Dharamshala (73 kms)
One year into Biking and today I’ve learnt the three gospels of riding at unearthly hours the hard way! Carry a spare tube. PERIOD. Never ride when you do not have the tools handy. Buy a Tube sealant and USE it! I badly wanted to get myself a better helmet and decided to head to the Hypercity mall which supposedly stocked real cool biking stuff. Having got real good reviews, I decided to head to this place after the Walkathon meet yesterday. The store did have most of the stuff that you’d need but as luck would have it, they’d just exhausted their helmets stock! I did manage to talk one of the sales guy into looking for one in the stocks room but decided not to purchase it for want of a better one. Strayed round the place for sometime and finally picked up a tube sealant and a cool pair of gloves. Reached home at about 10:00pm and did some basic bike maintenance. The Sanghi ride was still ON despite none joining - I stay about 30kms away from the area where the real Biking ‘cult’ stays! ...
The road ahead seems to penetrate into infinity as the sky gets overcast. Sounds from the innumerable streams cascading from the towering ranges abutting the road on the left side, seem to be magically muted by the strong gusts of wind. There’s not a soul on the road kilometres ahead and kilometres behind. I stand upright on the pedals letting the rules of physics govern my motion. As I dissolve myself in the encapsulating ambience capturing every frame with my closed eyes, the stark phenomenon of passage of time becomes evident. One year back I was right here on this road in a cab. Today nothing has changed - Just that I’m on a two wheeled machine powered by just the mind and the legs. ...
The atlas cycle in front of me squeaks as the rider careens into one of the construction sites of the Aliens group. As I follow in tandem, I’m swept over by the cheers of the construction workers standing by the gates to welcome us into the rest station. Thumping music pulsates the 100+ crowd and the support they were profusely displaying for the cause was quite evidently portrayed in their charismatic faces. Each one ebulliently clapping and swaying as if they’re inviting the unbeatable winner of the Tour de France in regal honors! I’m at a loss of words to portray those emotions. These people just made my day and not to mention, that of the 150+ other riders. ...
As I wind up the class for the kids, I get this sudden surge of pain on the left side of my chest and a numb sensation on my left hand at about 11:55hrs. For an instant, I think it’s a heart attack. But then the logical side states that’s just not possible. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I’m much more active than anyone out here and haven’t yet touched 24! I let it pass off as an ‘out of the blue’ pain and keep moving. A quick meet with a pal who’d turned up in town and I head back home by bus. All does not look OK as I manage to find a seat in the bus. Breathing turns heavier and the pain grows and then it strikes - It must be the ‘Glide ride’. I get down at the next stop and pick a rick to head home directly. Just as I reach home, I’m ashamed for having accepted defeat this early. I stop the driver on the road, pay him the fare and walk home instead. I’m just not able to match the pace which I usually take. A quick call to a friend to see if he’s got any known cardio doc in town. As i wait for a response, I head home have a quick lunch, fix an appointment with a doc for 17:00hrs and crash on the floor. ...
The milestone reads - Sojha 1Km. The three of us are literally panting for breath. The altimeter on Bala’s digital watch states 400 more meters is yet to be covered. Far ahead we see a state transport bus inching its way up the curves of the road. A gust of wind gets the thin air moving and suddenly from somewhere I get this sudden urge and energy to pedal the last km of upslope. I bluntly retort to Bala that his altimeter was wrong for some self motivation and crave for my calf muscles to stand with me. Every revolution on the crank seems to sap the almost drained out energy. I just didn’t want to push my bike up the slope in the last one Km! I close my eyes and pedal almost oblivious of the steep valley to the left, give it all I have and in that seemingly endless five minutes and finally reach the next milestone which hazily reads - Jalori 5km. ...
07th Feb.- Saturday 23:25hrs. It’s damn chilly out here and every breath you take in brings out just another sore cough. We careen round the corner and happen to sight a couple of lorry drivers gambling on the roadside by the moonlight. Mallik and I park the bikes and venture ahead to enquire how far we were from Thangaon. 18Kms is what we get in response. Almost instantaneously I spurt out - Give it a damn! I lose my patience and decide to quit. Quit a race that I’ve been mentally preparing for close to three months now. I believe in my instincts and truly live by it!Another look at Mallik and Trupti only reconfirms the decision - I was not alone. ...