Post-Covid Comeback

I came down with Covid on April 7, 2021. Though not hospitalised, I was pretty sick and even had a black out on the second or third day. I did not cycle the whole of April (except for a few days before Covid) and then the entire month of May I took rest and tried to recover. 

I came back to the road on the first of June. It was a short ride. I realised that the going would not be easy. Earlier, cycling was never an effort. Now I realised that after a short distance of 10/15 Kms it required me to give more than I could. In the initial few days I had the added problem of not being able to ride my Red Roadie. I was riding the Surly which takes more effort due to its wider tyres. 

In June I rode a total of 136 Km. I don't think I attempted to ride any bridge for the first several days. Earlier I would ride the Lake Gardens flyover some 5/6 times. Mostly at full speed. 

July was a little better. I did 258 Km in the entire month. If it had not rained so much this number would've been more. But still I didn't feel that strength that I had in the pre-covid days. I never thought I was strong. My cadence was hopelessly low. My speed was very poor. Relatively speaking, after Covid I realised that in my pre-covid days I was much stronger. 

I rode for many days with Chenku and did a few 30+ kind of rides. But I knew that this wasn't my pre-covid form. I silently felt bad about it. 

Suddenly, one fine evening on July 20 (two nights ago) - after a couple of days of unscheduled rest - I realised that my pre-covid form was back. I did a total of almost 40 Kms at 20+ kmph (this is a reasonably good speed in pot-holed Calcutta with heavy traffic and extremely high humidity) and did not feel overtly exhausted after the ride. I could've gone for 40 more perhaps.

I felt like my pre-Covid days during this ride

On July 21, the next night, my speed was even marginally higher than this. I am right now at 258 Kms with ten more days of riding left in this month. I should be able to clock 400 Kms. At least that is the target.

In fact on 21st I taught a joker a brief lesson on why not to race with a hybrid bike against a roadie. This was on Anwar Shah Road at around quarter to ten. I never race with anyone on the road, except when challenged. If it's a child (usually from the slums) I let them win. This fatso on a hybrid with quite wide tyres was trying to race with me. He had a white helmet on his head and a small backpack. He was obviously commuting, which is nice. His  cadence was double mine and I was riding at a moderate cadence. We were just about side by side but sometimes I was ahead sometimes he was. Suddenly he tried to push very hard to overtake me. So I decided to teach him a lesson. With him a little ahead of me, I almost doubled my cadence and upshifted the gear also. Within a few seconds he was way way behind me. I didn't even look back to see where he was. I am sure he got the shock of his life. I just hope he realises that it was my bike vs his bike that did it. Of course it made my stomach ache a bit but the thrill of being able to teach a lesson to a joker was nice to savour. 

I am back to my pre-Covid fitness level. I felt really nice. Covid took away some years from me in terms of fitness and abilities. I think I am now on the way to gaining them back. My stomach feels very flat and straight and strong now. This is a sure fire sign of good fitness.

On 21st I had to deal with yet another joker in less than 5 Kms. This was a little after Shahid Nagar. This baldie on an ordinary hybrid kind of bike (with not so fat tyres and possibly without any gear) came up next to me. It was past 10 pm. He was obviously out on a joy ride. He suddenly pointed towards my front wheel and said "dada apnar tyre ta ki garte porechhilo"? Did your tyre hit a pot hole?

I felt a little worried. Is it bent or something or is there some visible sign of hitting a pot hole. Instinctively said, no but tell me why? Later I realised I had actually hit a large pot hole at high speed on Southern Avenue. 

Then I realised the fellow wants to know what happens if such a thin tyre hits a pothole. He said he wanted to get a similar tyre and asked me about the size of my tyre. I said this tyre is not available in India now due to government policy. He completely laughed away the point. I said please keep my phone number and let me know if you find it. 

I think he meant the size. I meant the brand. Anyway, he got into a side lane and went away.

Smooth As Silk

 

Last Sunday, 11th July, 2021, I cleaned the Red Roadie fairly thoroughly. I wanted to do it because a few days ago I had to ride in the rain for quite some time. 

First I cleaned the bike with the 3M Shampoo. Next I applied a little bit of kerosene to get rid of the black lube marks. This really cleaned up the bike. Now I wanted to experiment with my newly bought Formula 1 Caranauba wax. I thought I would experiment only on the front fork. 

So first I cleaned the fork with a little bit of isopropyle alcohol. This really made it clean and the natural new colour came out. But the real richness of the colour came out after the application and buffing of the wax. This glaze is really addictive. It makes you want to ride the bike right away. And the smell of the wax. Oh, it's addictive.

I finally waxed the entire bike except the chain stays. The bike now looks like new. Water droplets drop off the frame. And if I hold the frame there is no finger mark. I have to now see how long this lasts. Of course, I did the buffing with microfiber cloth only. The application was with the original applicator.

After this, I cleaned and lubed the chain. The usual process was followed. First with kerosene. Next with water and soap. After thoroughly drying it up I applied the new lube. WPL Wet Lube. I had bought this a few months ago from Happy Earth for Rs 600 I guess. This is a Canadian brand. 

The effect was simply superb when I rode it first on Monday. The bike became butter smooth. We in India call it butter and not silk ;-) The bike glides like a bird with not the slightest hint of any roughness. Of course the chain is new but then I had been riding with the new chain for about 150 Km. It wasn't this smooth before.

My experience with different lube brands is rather limited. Therefor my opinion may not matter. And I never say anything good or bad without using it. 

I have been using Finish Line dry lube since buying the bike. It's a reputable American brand with lots of good reviews online. I have never had a wet lube as they are not easily available in India. This experience with WPL completely changed my perception about what a good lube can do to a bike. In comparison Finish Line now seems like a very ordinary lube. 

WPL is apparently made from natural bio-degradable material. Apparently if the chain gathers a lot of dust it can be just sprayed and cleaned with water. I shall see how that works but sounds very hi-tech. I do not know what it is made of but it makes the ride very smooth. Thank you very much WPL.

    

 

Gear Cable Change For Red Roadie

Before I came down with Covid in early April 2021, I had replaced my old chain on the Red Roadie. After that i tried to tinker with the derailleur cable and ended up breaking it while trying to pull it too hard. I wanted to go and get it replaced but it did not happen and then I was down with Covid and then lock down started etc etc. So it got delayed and delayed

Finally last Friday, that is 19th June, 2021 I got it replaced at Stay Tuned. It was an unknown brand that they installed. While the cable cost me Rs 200, the total cost came to Rs 621 or something like that. They charged double the amount for indexing, which I think is on the higher side. Anyway, now the bike is running fine. 

They told me that I had routed the chain in a wrong way. I was a bit surprised because after installing the chain I had ridden the bike for something like 23 Kms. The bike has run only 3415 Km when the cable was changed. I asked them about the front cable and they said it looked fine. 

The bike is now rolling fine. 

Tubus Front Rack

Yesterday, while surfing through the Happy Earth store I suddenly came across a Tubus front rack. Not that I had a specific requirement for it right now but it was indeed in the wish list. After seeking Monisha's approval I placed the order. Apparently, they had just one in the warehouse. At Rs 11K it is not cheap. In fact if I had it brought in by someone it would work out much cheaper for me. But then you cannot really request someone to bring in a bicycle rack for you. It is quite bulky I am sure and no one will like carrying it. I do not know when it will come from Happy Earth. Perhaps next week. 

Tubus has quite a few different types of front racks. This is the Duo Low Rider. These are essentially two S shaped tubes that you fix on either side of the front wheel. There is nothing connecting one to the other like the Tubus Tara. There is another like the Surly one that has an elaborate ladder kind of platform in the middle (above the mudguard). I did not want that. It would be quite heavy and bulky. Happy Earth has the Surly model too. But I have the Tubus rear rack and the moment I saw the front one I went for it. 

(If you are not an Indian and chanced onto my blog - getting quality, high end products for cycles is not easy in India. Even if you get some reputed brands - getting a choice of different brands and varieties is almost impossible. So one has to be on the lookout all the time. You cannot buy them just when you need them. In my cycling cupboard I have two chains and two sets of brake pads. I am also on the lookout for Garorskin or Schwalbe tyres.) 

The online review for this particular rack is almost non-existent. All the reviews are for Tubus Tara. There are a few discussions of people who have had problems fitting it to their bike. But it was reassuring to find a few reviewers saying they are happy with it on their LHT. Some say that with the rack on the skewer becomes a problem and taking off the front wheel is an issue. I will have to see. I have the additional problem of the mudguard also :-)

I think there is a case for making a video on how to install it. I shall do the unboxing live on GoPro when it arrives and show the pros and cons of installation. Let me see how it goes. 

Wednesday, 24th February 2021

Fedex delivered the big box at the office yesterday. I am yet to open the box at home. I will do the entire unboxing in front of camera. Therefore I will do it when I have the time. Possibly around the weekend.

January Gran Fondo

Indulgence at 99

One of my cycling goals for the year 2021 is to do a century ride every month. The January century ride wasn't somehow happening, though in terms of daily rides it was turning out to be one of the most productive months in my short cycling life. The last two days of the month were weekend. On Friday evening I didn't go out, thinking that I would do the century on Saturday, so I must rest on Friday night. But Saturday came and went. I couldn't motivate myself enough to go out for the ride. In fact I ate my breakfast at 11 or so. It was cold in the morning by Calcutta standards. I thought I would go for an evening ride and slept the entire day. In the evening also I felt sleepy and went back to sleep, intermittently watching English football. I told myself I will go out tomorrow, like I always tell myself every Saturday in winter. Sunday was the last day of the month. If I didn't do it I would miss the January target, right in the beginning of the year. Also, my monthly odo was showing 725 Km. That was another motivation. I wanted to push that to 800.

Sunday morning came. I couldn't get up early enough. My target was 6 am but that remained illusive. Finally after 10 am I decided that come what may I will go. I must go. May be a late lunch but I will go and at least finish the 800 Km target, if not a century.

Went out after my usual breakfast, which now means two eggs, one piece of toasted bread, a toasted bacon and some green peas. Took two boiled eggs in the small Apidura bag and two bottles of plain water. I also carried a packet of Electral in my pocket - just in case.

For the unsuspecting stranger who might be reading this - what follows after is a rather drab route description and may not make any sense to you unless you know the roads and geography of North 24 Parganas. 

As is my wont, I didn't have any plan. This is the benefit of solitary cycling. I went towards Golpark and then off towards Gariahat, meaning to go towards Gurusaday on the way to the Red Road area. At Gariahat red light crossing I was on the extreme right lane. When it turned green, all the vehicles to my left started turning right towards Ballygunge station. After some time I decided to follow the herd and turned right. Okay I will go to Rajarhat. 

During Durga Pujo Chenka and I with Atish had gone to Badu via Kharibari. At that time we saw a wide four lane road meeting the Kharibari Road on the right hand side. Evidently it came from the New Town. So this time I thought I would explore that road, as it meant quite a short cut and of course the opportunity to ride on a nice new road. 

 

I got the exit right in the first attempt. The main arterial road of New Town takes a sharp turn to the left towards Rajarhat and VIP Road/Haldiram's. This is after the Eco-Park. There is a big traffic island there with artificial rock climbing walls, subways etc. From this point I turned right and kept moving straight. It's a wide four-laned sort of road. As of now it's all vacant plots of land on either side but in a few years I am sure this place will have lots of buildings all around.

As expected, this road met Kharibari Road beyond Rajarhat. From here I turned right towards Kharibari (going left would bring me on the Rajarhat junction going towards VIP Road). This Kharibari Road, as I had discovered during my Pujo ride, has now become a nice wide road. It used to be a narrow road with water bodies all around even a few years ago. But now I can see visible signs of urbanisation all around with large, tall buildings. Work is on to make it four-lane up to Taki Road. I stopped for a moment to drink a glass of Chhatu (ground chhola powder, mixed in water with chopped onion and chillies - poor man's health drink but very tasty and mildly spicy) from a road side vendor. It was quite a refreshing drink for Rs 25 only. Off I went towards Kharibari, which was around 10 Km from the point where I emerged on the main road. 

Last time I had turned left from Kharibari towards Guste (my grandfather went to a school here), Kanchantala, Badu, Madhyamgram. This time I pushed further on. I wanted to see Taki Road where the Kharibari Road ended. As per my calculation, it should come at 46 Km from home. And it did. Kharibari, incidentally, was 42. 

Taki Road is a T-junction. Here one can turn left towards Barasat (Chapa Dali Morh) or right towards Basirhat and on to Taki. I had originally meant to come back tracing the same road. But once there I turned towards Barasat. I wanted to see how good or bad Taki Road was. Turned out Taki Road was pretty bad and not at all suitable for a narrow wheeled roadie. 

I wanted to check out the new road that goes through our village. It connects the Kharibari Madhyam Road with Taki Road. I thought I would find it from Kadambagachhi. But they said no, the road is to be found near Dharmatolla. So from Dharmatolla I found this new road. Kanchantala is just 2.8 Km from here. This road goes through my village Kuberpur. 

My Parents 

It was quite a cultural shock for me. The first thing I found here was a three storied building which is a multi-gym. I cannot imagine a multi-gym here near my village where my cousins don't get a square meal every day. I soon found myself cycling through Kuberpur. I saw the small house my father had built. The old brick road is now a narrow but concrete road. My father would have been very proud of this. I regret that I have done nothing for this house. I somehow never liked the local village society here. They are not only extremely poverty stricken, the cultural atmosphere of the village is terrible. I heard extremely loud music blaring from some speaker in what used to be Khudu or Ronu Jyatha's garden. Some picnic party was having a good time. 

I remember taking this road in the 90s to visit my parents when they would stay in the village for a few days. It used to be a narrow village road with paddy fields on both sides and small village houses full of green orchards. Now it is urbanised in a very ugly Indian way. Sree-heen as we call it in Bengali. Meaning, looking shabby and impoverished.

I regret I could not keep this last wish of my father. I did nothing to keep the small one-room house in a well maintained state. It looks like a haunted house from a distance (not the least because our aunt had committed suicide setting herself on fire in our balcony). I cannot imagine ever going and spending even a night there. I will write about this in some other post somewhere else. To keep it short, the abject poverty of my cousins there shocks me and embarrasses me. We support them financially for their children's education or in some crisis but there is a gulf of difference between them and us. Both financially and culturally that I cannot reconcile myself to.

I soon cycled out of the village. No one noticed or recognised me. Reached Kanchantala which is now quite a well populated square. I remembered my parents standing in the sun there for long to catch a bus to Calcutta. We didn't have a car then. I cycled through Badu, which is a big town now. Even the small non-descript sweet shop where my father would customarily stop to get some sweets is now a swanky shop. I thought of stopping there but didn't. Pedalled on towards Madhyamgram. 

From Madhyamgram I was on the Jessore Road towards the airport. The road is much wider now and from Doltala in fact it is a four-laned road. Once on VIP Road I saw my odo was showing only 70 Kms. If I took the straight VIP Road I would reach home at 95. So I entered Rajarhat. At Gariahat I was still 95. So from Jugal's I turned towards Southern Avenue and went towards GolPark. Near Anderson I bought a chock-o-bar for myself and ate it at 99 Km outside Narayan's tea stall. I hit 100 infront of Menoka and reached home just after 101. It was well past 4 o'clock. I had a late lunch after a big shower. Didn't feel too tired. But it was a very dusty ride. 

I did not need the eggs. Drank one bottle of water and a little from the other one. Of course finished the other bottle when I reached home.

My cycle is all dusty. The front wheel I thought had come loose. I tightened the skewer. Next morning I took the Surly to work and didn't ride the customary 40 Km evening ride. Tonight I will. Possibly on the Surly but with the Brooks saddle. 

New Brakes For Roadie

 

I just got for myself two sets of brake pads for my Red Roadie. These came in from Happy Earth and cost me around Rs 3000 for the two pairs. These are arguably one of the best brake shoes available in this country, if not the world. 

The brake shoes that I have are there since the beginning. They came OE with the new bike and it never occurred to me that they might ever need to be replaced or might even need cleaning. After taking them off at around 2500 Kms the other day, (read about the cleaning here) I realised they were hopelessly damaged from use without maintenance. I am not sure if they require an immediate replacement (they are working fine as of now and the bike is indeed stopping pretty well, save for the hideous, gritty noise once in a while) but I went ahead and bought the new sets nevertheless. I don't want to wait for even a day if and when the current ones give way. Right now there is a terrible crisis of bicycle components and accessories.

I will keep a detailed note about how to replace and adjust the pads, when I do replace them. I know it's very simple but still I would like to keep a detailed record. 

Incidentally yesterday I did an adjustment to Mezda's rear brakes. He felt the brakes were not hard enough and asked me to ensure that it aligned perfectly with the rim on the left hand side, which I did. After getting back home he reported it was holding remarkably well. Seems like a happy customer. My only customer so far. 

Saddle Comfort

 I am so much in love with my Brooks B 17 that recently I swapped the Surly's saddle with the Red Roadie's. Since I was not riding the LHT and was taking out the RR every evening I wanted to go for the more comfortable seat on that bike. The LHT had the Brooks while RR had the Shimano. To keep the swap process simple I took out the entire seat post and placed one into the other, so that swapping it back would be easy, if I need to. 

While the Roadie became super comfortable, despite its geometry being different, the Surly has become super uncomfortable (I use it for the short office commute once in a while). Now, I am a little puzzled by this. I have ridden the Surly with the Shimano seat on before. In fact before the arrival of the Brooks that was my installed seat on the Surly. It wasn't so uncomfortable then. I went to Darjeeling in this combination. So what could be the reason for this new found discomfort?

I have two possible explanations. A. I have got used to the comfort of Brooks B. The seat post has a major role to play in saddle comfort. 

The LHT seatpost is a stainless steel one, while the Merida seatpost is made of aluminum alloy. But I must also add here that the Red Roadie with the Shimano seat and Merida saddle wasn't as uncomfortable as what the Surly feels now.