A Quick Ride Together

After the ride near Laltu's house

Chenka and I cycled together today. Apparently after some 30 years. I started from home on my Merida at around 6.15 and reached Elgin Road-SP Mukherjee crossing. Chenka came from his house and joined me. He was on time, for a change. 

We turned left from Exide and again right from Rabindra Sadan. Turning left again from Planetarium, we went past the Victoria Memorial towards Fort William. Took Red Road and then took Council House Street. After crossing HSBC, GPO and Reserve Bank we turned towards Strand Road to come back. The section of Strand Road was pretty bad for a racing cycle here. Near Babu Ghat long distance bus stand the traffic situation was pretty bad even in the morning. But after that it was pretty clear. We went towards Prinsep Ghat and then towards the RCGC main gate. One needs to cross a small bridge here. After this it's a straight road upto Rabindra Sadan where we turned right into Harish Mukherjee Road. From Elgin we took the main SP Mukherjee Road and went upto Southern Avenue where we turned left towards the Lake. From Lansdowne crossing we turned right towards the Lake Gardens flyover and finally reached Laltu's house. This journey for me was 20 km. After this coming back home was another 3 km. 

I kept the Garmin Forerunner 15 on and here is the result from Strava.

At Laltu's we had a small adda session with tea from the road side stall below their house. Finally after about 20 minutes we parted our ways and came home. 

Chenku rode my refurbished Hero. I took the Merida. We swapped our bikes near Fort William but he soon returned it to me saying he was feeling uncomfortable and uneasy with the dropped handlebars. 

The last time he and I rode together was apparently in 1987 when the two of us went to our village Kuberpur near Madhyamgram for a day trip. That would have been a good 80 km ride. I am sure we can do it again. If he buys another bike we can go again this winter. I cannot go to Kuberpur with the Merida because the roads are really bad but with the Hero, I can. 

A Happy New Year Ride

Pic credit: Geetanjali Roy. Taken on 1st January 2017

Today is the first day of the new year 2017. I took out my Merida road bike after quite some time. I had planned to basically show it to Bobby. He had told me last week that I should get a road bike (when I went to his house with my Hero). Today's trip was principally meant to be an answer to that :-) I also wanted to ride for 50 kms at a stretch. My goal is to be able to do 100 kms at a stretch in the next 3/4 months. I guess I should get there sooner rather than later.

As things turned out, Bobby had left for US already and I didn't know this. At the end of the day I clocked some 43 kms in about 3 hours. This is my longest cycling trip so far. The average speed could have been better but for a few short walking stages.

So how did the body react to this stress? After about 12/15 kms the waist region on the back was aching a bit. But that is a question of fitness and practice. I guess once I start doing the waist stretches more regularly and ride more frequently it should get sorted. Some core strengthening exercise also have to be included. The pain was gone after I stopped and reached home. It is not a lingering pain, so to speak.

I also need to change my stance a bit and not ride so much on the drops. Necessity being the mother of invention, today I learnt to ride more on the hoods. But my ability to brake with the hands on the hoods is a little compromised. I need more practice obviously. If you are a novice and wondering what all this means here is a link to a good site on the subject

In my experience I realised that after 30 kms my body was wanting a short rest. This came in the form of a traffic light near Nicco Park and a stretch near Chingrihata where I had to walk as the road was all dug up there. I am sure this will go with practice.

I also felt very thirsty and had a bottle of water near Bobby's house, which is at around 18 km mark. I also took a short break near our school on the way back. One of the first things I did therefore, after coming back home, is to fix the bottle cage on the down tube. Next time I don't intend to buy drinking water. 

I did wear the Pearl Izumi bibs again today. Makes the journey a lot more comfortable than if I had nothing like that. But the roads of Calcutta are difficult for the road biker. The mastic asphalt stages are particularly difficult. Because they embed small stone chips on the road surface and they stay a little raised. In cars you don't realise it but on a road bike it's terrible. The worst stage was from Ruby to Park Circus. I don't think I am going to take that route any time soon. 

Today I took the Garmin Forerunner 15, rather than Strava because I wasn't sure if the phone's battery would be enough to last the entire journey with the Strava on. The Velo 9 kept the odo moving. I had forgotten to erase the trip meter. But that's fine. I am not training for the Olympics. The Garmin was capturing data in any case.

A Bottle Cage

A bottle cage is an important accessory one needs for anything beyond half an hour's cycling, particularly in this humid Calcutta. Today I went for a 43 km, 3-hr long ride on the road bike and I started feeling thirsty at around 12 km. At 18 I bought a small bottle of water and quenched my thirst. 

After coming back home, one of the first things I did is install the bottle cage that had come a few days ago from Merida. It has a hideous green colour that does not go too well with the red of the bike but then I have to do with it for now. 

Installation wasn't anything hi fi. New road bikes come with pre-punched and threaded holes. Those holes are covered by bolts with heads that need an Allen key. One needs to take those bolts off and fix the cage. The cage also came with its own bolts, which I am going to keep for any replacement need later. 

For precise understanding I used this video from youtube. I was a little foxed and after seeing this video realised that one needs to take off the bolts from the bike first :-)

For now, I think I am going to use a regular water bottle. I don't see any need to invest in a proper sports bottle. 

Incidentally, my other bike - the refurbished Hero - does not have any pre-punched holes. I think I shall get two rivnuts punched. This is a decent video on how to tighten a rivnut .

November 4, 2017

Tonight I installed the second bottle cage on my Merida. Tomorrow I am going to go on a 75 km practice ride. Intend to carry one bottle with plain water and another with electrolyte mixed water. This was my strategy during the Roopkund Trek.

These bottle cages from Merida are of decent quality. In a bad cage the bottle can come out if the road surface is bad or bumpy. It has not happened with me so far. And I have ridden on quite a few bad roads. I even had a mild, low speed fall where the bottle took the knock and had a significant scratch on it. However, the bottle never came out of the cage.

Having improved my cardiac and muscular efficiency through regular running and cycling, I feel less thirsty these days. The other day I completed 50 km without a stop and did not need to drink any water. Did not even stop to wipe my face clean. I sweat much less these days. I know it is bad not to drink water during such heavy exercises, particularly to keep electrolytic balance intact. But I took it as a challenge not to stop. Also, while wearing a bib I remain conscious that too much water might demand a pee break and with a cycling bib it might get embarrassingly difficult.

An Evening Ride

Went out with the Hero last night. I took a different route this time. From Golpark went towards Bijan Setu. On the other side of the setu went towards Jahaj Barhi of Kasba in search of our school friend Biswapriya Ghosal. Couldn't locate him and came back to the main road. Turned towards Garia from Ruby and then again right from the Anwar Shah Connector. When I reached home it was a good 17 km plus, though while riding I thought it would be more than 20. The thighs felt sore as usual.

I find I get a sore butt after about an hour of sitting on the saddle. To gain more mileage the first thing I need to do is get my butt used to the idea of long hours on the bike. At least two hours at a stretch. But finding two hours free time for cycling looks like a big order right now. Too many distractions in life.

But one thing I am fairly confident about nowadays is crossing a bridge. Perhaps due to the gears that the bike has but I am not scared of crossing any bridge. Last night, for example I climbed two bridges. Particularly the Jadavpur bridge was pretty high. But I could quite easily do it on first gear. 

The Kasba Connector has pretty decent surface for taking out the road bike. But traffic is also fairly heavy. As of now going out early in the morning looks like next to impossible. The road bike feels risky in heavy traffic.

On The Road After A Long Time

It's been some time since I rode the road bike. The principal reason for this is I need to go out with the bike early in the morning and finish it all before Calcutta wakes up. And that wsa not happening. Another major reason is since it is a road bike with a very thin tyre, it is very hard on the ass when I am on even a little bad road. And Calcutta roads are reasonably bad. Southern Avenue is passable but most other roads make you really rattle on the bike. 

So I have been riding the 'Ole Hero quite a bit of late. Just the other day on Guru Nanak's birthday I did a 17 km afternoon ride. But I kept on postponing the Red Roadie ride for quite some time. Meanwhile, due to the Hero's fat tyre my speed wasn't anything great. So that was another reason to bring out the Red Roadie.

Early this morning I went out with the Red Roadie for a short spin - complete with the HRM strapped to the chest and the Forerunner on the wrist. I have decided to go out for a half an hour ride every morning. This is to renew my fight against diabetes. On Monday I discovered my HbA1c had gone up to 7 from the earlier 6.1. So today was the first day of my new daily exercise regime. 

Front shifter of the Shimano Sora

Once on the road I realised I have totally forgotten how to shift the gears !!! That's typically me :-) The bike has two derailleurs (Shimano Sora SS). One in the front and another in the back. It has two shifters. With one on your right hand you change the rear derailleur, with the other on the left hand you change the front derailleur. For these two again there is one lever for the upshift and another for the downshift. 

As you can see this is too much for a small, old brain like mine to remember. And as is my wont I quickly forget everything after a few days. I have a mindset problem. For smaller things in life, I always tell myself: "never mind. I will work it out as I go". I did work out the shifter on the back but the front remained a mystery to me this morning. 

I got the confusion cleared just now from this video. But I know I will forget it all after a few weeks. That's why I am writing it all down. Each brake lever works as a shifter. The right lever is for the rear and left for the front. If you push the small lever on your right hand the gear will move to the smaller cog (technically called a higher gear). So if you are picking up speed push the smaller lever on the right hand side. If you are getting slower or moving up a bridge, push the larger lever to the left. The gear goes back from 9th to 8th and so on.

For the front derailleur, it is the opposite. You push the small lever and the chain moves from the larger cog on the right to the smaller cog on the left. This helps you to go up an incline. You can use that for riding against the wind also.

One thing to remember. It takes a lot more than a gentle push of the finger on the larger lever to push the front derailleur up from the smaller cog to the larger cog.

Here is my effort on Strava for all it's worth. As I say, my speed is way slower than the elite marathoners'. My first goal is to come out of this ignominy !! But if the roads were a little better and didn't slow me down I could have done that today itself.

And here is the view as seen by Garmin. The Garmin maps are just a little more reliable. Incidentally I never knew Garmin activities can be shared like this :-) On analysis of all this data I realised that in terms of effort put in, as evident from the heart beats per minute, this ride was nothing compared to even a short 1km run. I guess from the next ride onwards my focus will be on pushing the beats per minute up. Upto 170 is okay for me. But when you are cycling it is difficult to look at the watch on your wrist. Now I know why people in the west spend a lot of money on those attachments for tying the watch up on the handle bar.

One odd thing happened after the ride. This morning I had that typical burning sensation down the throat that you get after an acidity attack. After the 8 km half an hour ride when I came back I suddenly started feeling very sick. I puked out some watery something and then lied down on bed for a long time. Took a Pan 40 and skipped office to take rest. 

First Ride With Refurbished Hero

Went out on a leisurely ride on the newly refurbished Hero. The ride is okay but there are a few small issues. A. The seat post needs to be adjusted. I need it to be a bit higher. B. The gear shifter is quite a pain when down shifting. It takes a huge effort and often it engages somewhere between two gears. C. The rolling resistance being high - fat tyres with MTB type grooves - it is a slow bike. Pedalling is quite an effort but then it is good exercise for my legs. D. In a city like Calcutta one definitely needs a bell. But on balance it was fun. I went through Chetla, New Road, National Library, Bijay Bose Road to Jogu Bajar and then back to Southern Avenue upto Keyatala and back. It was a Sunday but the traffic was really heavy. After all it is the last Sunday before the Pujas. Among accessories, I will go for a Cat Eye, a bottle cage and bottle and possibly a holder for the mobile phone.

The Old Hero

My old Hero got a new lease of life from Someswar. It has new wheels, tyres, forks, gears, handle, brakes, seat. In fact except for the frame every thing else is new but the parts are perhaps the cheapest option available in the market. I took delivery of it in Chenku's house last night. Today I came home riding the bike. It is a full fledged MTB now.

It is rolling well. Much better than earlier. The gear has to be turned like a throttle. It is a 6x1 Shimano Tourney gear/derailleur/shifter set. Upshift is fine but down shift takes effort. I think one has to get used to it. 

Everyone is asking me why I invested money into the old bike, particularly when I had a new road bike. Well, first of all, the old bike had become unusable. It was gathering dust in the old house. When Someswar said do you want to give me a free hand to modify it into a proper MTB? I said take it and just do as you please. We put it in the car and I delivered it to his home in Shalimar. 

The other reason for making it road worthy was to have a bike that is easy to ride on the rough roads of Calcutta in a relaxed way. You cannot ride the Merida in a relaxed way. You have to be involved in the process. Here you can ride the cycle and observe life around the road. I love doing that, particularly on the winter mornings and on old familiar streets of South Calcutta where once upon a time I used to walk as a child.