Minor Fit Adjustments

Yesterday I did a couple of adjustments to the seat of my Red Roadie. First I moved the saddle back a little. Just a little. Less than an inch. Perhaps half an inch. I also raised the seat post by half an inch. Just a tad. Let me see if this improves my position and removes the finger issues on my next ride.

I raised the seat because last Sunday after my 90 km ride I realised I had a small pain on the right knee. It went away in a couple of hours. But it's a small pain nevertheless, that cannot be ignored.

I pushed the seat back a little because I notice that after cycling for a while I am often trying to slide back a little. Now that could well be because of the angle of the seat and it is tilted a little up. But I found that I like it when I slide back a little and the angle to the pedal is more comfortable for pushing.

Two days ago I had adjusted the angle of the left hand brake lever. It was too far moved inside and pushing the gear was becoming difficult, what with my zero strength thumb and index finger. I have a feeling it happened after my small fall a couple of weeks ago. I pulled it more to the left to make it parallel to the dropped end of the handlebar.

My next target is to reduce the reach of the brake levers. But I cannot locate the correct bolt for doing the job. The youtube videos are failing me. I have a feeling it is a bolt on the rider/palm side of the handle. But rolling back the rubber hood is really really hard and it is quite difficult to reach that particular bolt. I will give it a good try tonight.

My Cycling Gear

Over the last couple of years since buying the Merida, I have been building a small collection of essential gear for biking. Time to list them down in a place.

Cycling Apparel & Wearable

Pearl Izumi cycling bib
Pearl Izumi hand gloves
Merida helmet

On Cycle Attachments

Cat Eye Velo 9 (for Merida Red Roadie)
Cat Eye Velo 7 (for Hero MTB)
Merida Bottle Cage - 2 (both on Merida)
Via Terra saddle bag
NiteRider back light - NR TL 5.0 SL (Rs 549)
NiteRider front light - NR Swift 350 (Rs 2299)

Tools & Spares

Park Tool - tyre lever set blue (3 in set)
Park Tool - mini pump
Crankbrothers multitool 19
Firefox floor standing pump
Maxxis tube - 700 - 18/25

Simulating A Flat At Home

Today my father would have been very proud of me and I really miss him for the umpteenth time. Today I managed to take off the front wheel, take the tube out and put it back on again after filling air etc. I remember, when we got Fulka's old bicycle for our house in Deoghar he had wanted me to learn to take off the wheel and repair punctures (in those days street side mechanics fixed a flat without taking off wheels). He gave me the money to buy a pump and rubber solution and the necessary wrenches. Because our house in Deoghar was about 2 miles from the nearest bike repair shop, if it was open at all, his logic was we should be self sufficient.

I never managed to learn it. The pump was so bad it was impossible to pump anything with it. In those days things used to be very difficult and tools were really really bad in our country. In short, nothing worked unless you knew some ingenuous fix for it. For example, to make a pump work we would need to place a small piece of cloth over the valve and then fix the pump nozzle for a snug fit. Those kind of things.

Today, at age 53 I finally simulated the entire process that I would need to do if I had a flat on the road. I meant to learn it for a long time and I felt immensely empowered by this apparently simple achievement. Of course putting the tyre back on over the rim wasn't easy. But I managed to do it. Of course I will need more practice to get it right without a fuss on the road but I will get there. There is no rocket science involved in it. I did struggle a bit to put the tyre back but I kept telling myself, "if the illiterate tyre repair guys can do it, I should also be able to do it." And in the end I succeeded, which is what matters.

The youtube videos all say you should mildly inflate the tube first, wrap it around the rim and then put the tyre on. It did not work for me. Period. It might work later. I will try it later. The first evening it did not work for me. I finally did what our street side mechanics do. I took all the air out of the tube, set it against the inner wall of the tyre and then set it against the rim after inserting the valve through the whole.

After this I inflated the tube with my Park Tool mini pump. I pumped in as hard as possible and then engaged the wheel back to the bike. I checked the pressure with the gauge of my floor standing pump. It read 30 PSI - dangerously low. If I ride with such low pressure on the road I would soon get a pinch puncture. I will have to work out a trick to pump in more air with the pump. It is supposed to be capable of pumping in 90 PSI air into any tyre. Let me see if this claim is true. I think I have to have the valve closer to the floor, which gives me better leverage to put more pressure.

To fix a flat you need two items really. A couple of tyre levers (well, I have three - again from Park Tool) and a pump. And of course a spare/new tube. Nothing else. If you want to repair the puncture you would need a patch. But I guess I would leave that for doing at home.

You first take the wheel out from the bike. I had already learnt it and with wheels with skewers/quick release it takes a few seconds. After this you use the levers to release the tyre from the wheel. Next you take out the tube after taking off the cap and the lock nut at the base of the valve.

The only thing that I did not do is not put the new Maxxis tube in. Incidentally, I found my wheel has a nice orange coloured liner to protect the tube from pinch flats.

The maiden highway ride

Yesterday I went as far as the Dankuni Toll Plaza. I went in through Bally Bridge (46 Km) and came back via 2nd Bridge (30 Km). A total of 76 km. Apart from being the longest ride so far, it is also the first time that I rode on the highway. To add one more first to this ride, it was my first group ride. The rest of the group went as far as the Singur CCD and I came back on my own after a daab and chhatu sarbat beyond the toll plaza with the group.

Incidentally, this is also the first time I peed when I was wearing the cycling bib. It's simple - you take the helmet, t-shirt and waist bag off. Pull the damn thing down and just do it. No one bothers to look at you. I did it by the side of the highway in a desolate place though.

Now back to the ride. First, the special learnings from the ride.

I think riding on the Kona Expressway was the most dangerous thing to do, particularly in the sections where the road is divided into three lanes. I was on the first lane which was being used by the aggressive buses. I had to go down on the side walk several times to let them pass. Finally I decided to take the middle lane, which I noticed was not being used by anyone. This felt a lot safer.

Another critically important thing, to ride on the highway is, your neck should be absolutely supple and flexible. You are on the extreme left of the road. Trucks are flying past you with very little gap when one is overtaking the other from the wrong side. Now a local three-wheeler is coming down the track in the wrong direction towards you. You realise that there is truck coming from behind but you aren't too sure how far behind. So you don't know if changing lane is a prudent thing to do. Turning your head, you find you can turn it a little more than 90 degrees (4 to 5 o'clock). You must be able to turn 180 degrees. Otherwise it can be dangerous. Turning your head 180 degrees while seated on the cycle is not easy, at my age and fitness level.  

In my case, I stopped. The three wheeler also stopped inches before hitting me. I turned my head back with my left toe on the ground. Saw the truck off and then proceeded. 

The places where roads merge are also pretty dangerous, particularly if the other road is merging from the left hand side. I started coming to a dead stop at such mergers and then would go to the far left when there was no traffic.

Now the ride.

As I said earlier, this was a group ride for me. I knew none of these people before Sunday morning 5 am. I had posted on DoW that I wanted to go as far as Dankuni Toll Plaza via Bally Bridge to come back via Kona EW and if anyone would be interested to come along. 

Sumanta Rana Sengupta, the guy in an orange jersey squatting in front, responded. But he wanted me to reach Ruby at 4.30, which was difficult for me because it would entail leaving home at 4 and waking up at 3 am. Not really feasible. Finally it was settled that I would try to make it to Science City at 5 and see where they were. 

Upon reaching the bend where the PC Connector turns towards ITC at around 5.10 am, I found a seniorish gentleman in blue helmet and black jersey (he is standing next to me in the pic and his name is Mr Sanjay Kumar Daga) waiting by the road side. I asked him if he was waiting for Rana and he said yes. I was so glad that I found the group in the darkness of the morning. We moved a little ahead and found Rana was already there along with a few other guys. I introduced myself and I must confess I cannot remember any of the other names now except for the guy in the extreme left who is Idris and the other senior gentleman with a goatee and an orange jersey - Mr Dipak Lal. 

Off we went. We cycled straight down the By-pass. Took the new Ultadanga flyover and stopped near the VIP-Jessore Road crossing where this photograph was taken. We moved on towards Belghoria EW and hit NH 19 (earlier NH 2) near Bally. On the way we stopped briefly for a quick photo session near a place where there was a bifurcation with one road going to Nivedita bridge and another going to Bally Bridge. We took the later. Our next stop was after the Dankuni toll plaza where I saw the odo had hit 46 Km for me. 

Here everyone had daab and chhatu sarbat. I also met Mr Arvindhan Ganesan (he has been my facebook friend for long) here who had come from Shyamnagar to this spot to ride with the group. Mr Daga refused to let me pay. It was time for me to say good bye to the group. They would go as far as Cafe Coffee Day near Singur. For me that would be too far. So despite them asking me to come along, I declined politely and started the return journey alone. 

According to my calculation it would be another 30 Km to home and that turned out to be perfect. Before starting the return journey I did another first. I peed. This demands special mention because I was wearing a cycling bib which makes things difficult. I took off the helmet, my T-shirt (I don't have a jersey) and my waist pouch. Pulled the straps off my shoulder and just went for it. No one quite bothered to see what I was doing on the side of the highway. And even if anyone did I couldn't care less. 

The return journey was uneventful except for the fact that it was my first solo ride along the highway. Never for a minute did I feel overawed or anything. I know this highway like the back of my palm. But then driving on a road in your car or SUV is one thing. And riding your road cycle alone is quite another. The only point worth noting on this trip is that 2nd Bridge is really tough. Very steep and for a very long stretch. 

Oh yes. I hit a lunatic person near Kadamtala Crossing. He just came out from behind a stationary truck, running, to cross the road. It was too late for me. I think I kind of nipped him on the heel. Neither of us had a fall. 

Back home I did a few stretches for my glutes and quads and hamstring and I am fine. But yes, while crossing the bridge before Salap I realised I hardly had any more strength left in my left hand. The wrist had become jellyish. I did not even have the strength to push the gear shifter for the front chain ring. The hand is still bad. I am finding it difficult to even blow the horn of my car with the left hand. 

The effect of the wrist fracture is obviously still there. I have to work on it.