Shimano Gloves

Yesterday I got for myself a pair of Shimano gloves in size XL and colour red. The sub brand is Airway Glove. From Stay Tuned for Rs 1470. It is a thin pair without any gel. My Rockbros gloves have done 4K plus kilometers and may not last me for too long. That's why I got these. The gloves feel rather ordinary. 

There is nothing except the brand logo that can justify the price. Let me see how long they last. That can be the only justification for the more than double the price of a pair of Rockbros. 

The gloves do not have any closure around the wrist. Just a triangular piece of elastic. In fact the stitch had come off a bit on one of them. Got Monisha to stitch it.  

The one good thing about the gloves is that it is very very light. It hardly has any weight of its own. That's the in thing in the world of road biking. Some road bikers even shave their hair to reduce weight. They are known as weight winnies.

I normally require a pair of gloves to ride my bicycles (or even motorcycles) for two reasons. A. my palms sweat a lot and it becomes very uncomfortable, if not risky, to ride with such sweaty and clammy palms. B. it's safer to be wearing gloves while riding in case there is a fall. It protects the palms from bruises and cuts. Our natural tendency in a fall is to protect the body by smothering the fall with our outstretched hands. A pair of gloves can protect the palms in such a case. 

These half finger gloves are for my regular riding. For cold climes (if and when it happens) I will need a pair of full finger gloves. But that I will buy when I go somewhere really cold. Otherwise it will be a waste of money. Let me see what this winter and the next summer holds for me.

Cat Eye AMPP 400

 

Got this Cat Eye AMPP 400 from Bike Zone (or whatever the name is of the Salt Lake store) just before New Year when we went to Dibhai's house in Salt Lake. It's an excellent piece of Japanese workmanship. Quite bright at its highest and a little lower mode is also available to run it for longer hours. There are two blinker modes. But I realised it's a distraction to the rider. I tried riding with the full blast on. The button turned red after an hour and a half. I shall see when it goes completely dark. And then I shall use the less powerful mode.

They have given a very small USB cable to charge it with. The full charging time will need to be observed too. Right now I am down with Covid. Once I am up and running shall do all these tests. But now that I have two lights I am a lot more confident. Won't run out of light in a hurry.

I have nothing new to say about Cat Eye. They make excellent cycling products that are all made in Japan. This is my fourth Cat Eye product. I have had two Velo's (8 and 9) and one back light. All perform as expected. No drama. This light feels robust too despite being very handy and light. I think it is metallic. Not plastic.

In comparison to my 350 lumen Night Rider this 400 is a lot more bright. Possibly the reflector is of better quality. Looks slick and smart too. 

The unit attaches to the strap that one can install first on the handlebar and then clip the unit on to it. For charging or for taking it away in your pocket from a parked place it is possible to just slide it out of the strap. There is a small clip that you push and slide back. 

The NR comes with a rubber band kind of strap, which is also fine. 

Endura GV 500

It's been a long time ambition for me to go cycling in the Himalayas after retirement and I am well aware that I will need warm garments to do that. So when my favourite nephew asked me what to bring from England I told him to get for myself an Endura GV 500 insulated jacket. It's a bit pricey at 150 pounds but I never expected that he would refuse to take money for it. Incidentally, in case you are worried about the impact of this on his bank balance, his second car is a Porsche Taycan Turbo (yet to be delivered though). The first is of course a BMW.

Keeping the price part and who paid for it aside, this is easily the finest and the most comfortable piece of garment I have ever worn. It's soft, warm and very nicely packable in its own pocket into a small size. The fill is not down, which is one of the reasons I bought it. There is a new synthetic material called Primaloft which is a very premium replacement material for down that is increasingly being used in the adventure and active wear market. 

I have a down jacket for hiking in the high altitudes. It's a Marmot. Very warm and tested at -30 degree celsius in Chadar in winter. 

The disadvantage of down, apart from the whole ethical question, is it is much larger when packed and becomes a mess if it gets wet and in the mountains it always rains. Primaloft continues to work even if it is wet. Or so they claim.

I tried the jacket out one evening here in Calcutta in what was possibly 20 degree. I started sweating in less than 10 km. The only issue is that once I packed it in its own pocket and kept it in the side bag, crease marks came up on the fabric. I have kept it hanging in a hanger at home. Waiting for my next trip to the mountains. 

It has subtle but hopefully effective reflectors on the shoulder and two zippered side pockets. The chains are superbly smooth. They are not YKK but some other brand. A unique feature of the chain is you can unzip it from both upper and lower end keeping only the middle (or any other part) fixed. It is somewhat like a buttoned shirt where you open the top two and bottom two buttons open. This will be nice when you are feeling hot due to cycling but may need to pull it up soon.

I think it will make for a great jacket for around town too except that it has a cycle jacket's cut where the back side is longer than the front.

Endura is a Scottish company that makes top quality clothings and other accessories for cyclists. It has made quite a name for itself in this niche area. I hope this one lives up to the expectations. It is meant for gravel riding, which is what most Indian roads are in any case. I do not really know how a jacket is supposed to behave differently on gravel or on road. This is taking segmentation to its ultimate level. 

In any case, I hope the fabric is tough enough, being meant especially for gravel. It feels very soft and is extremely comfortable to the touch. Unfortunately it is an overkill for Calcutta. One sweats after riding with it for 10 km in the most biting winter evenings of Calcutta :-) So, I cannot really ride in it every evening during the short winter spell of our city.

However, in terms of keeping one warm in really sub zero temperature, it is not a match if compared to the Marmot that I have. One will have to layer adequately for using this in the high mountains. And I have to keep the Marmot handy too because even if the Endura is adequate while cycling, in really cold weather (Khardungla or Sela for example) one will need something warmer than this once the riding stops. 

Pubic Ramus #

About twenty days before my 57th birthday I broke my pubic bone. Sunday, 29th August, 2021 to be precise. It was a cycling accident. Chenka and I were riding happily in the evening. We went to Rajarhat and then turned back from a big jam near Rajarhat crossing meaning to return home along the same route. On the way near Wipro gate Chenka suddenly pulled the brake hard because some old man on a cycle was trying to cross the road and I was close to him. So I crashed into him and fell hard on my bottom on the road. It was very painful. I had to stay on the road for some time. Luckily it was a service road without any vehicular traffic. I had also seen the man. I did not expect Chenka to pull the brake. We could have comfortably crossed the place without a collision and he didn't need to pull the brake. But an accident is an accident. I am blaming him, if you ask, but I don't have any grudge against him. 

 

When I finally got up somehow - after about five minutes - I realised there was no strength in my left leg. It was wobbly. I sat on the side of the road for about half an hour drinking whatever little water was left. The people nearby, there were very few there at that time of the night (around 8.30 pm), were very helpful. Someone picked up the phone which had fallen out of my back pocket (I was wearing the orange cycling jersey). I checked the pocket for the GoPro. It was intact. The cycle was also intact except that its chain had come off the chainring. 

Chenka did a basic check on my back and said there was no fracture. His logic was if there was one I couldn't have stood up. Later in hindsight I understood that that kind of superficial check would show a fracture only if the bone had broken into two or into several pieces. When there is a fall and a sharp pain there is always the possibility of a small hairline fracture. Depending on where it has happened we might be able to do some work (like I cycled 14 km with it) but it is best not to and aggravate the situation.

On the way to Rajarhat. Crashed later

We discussed that the worst case scenario was to call Partha with his Duster and go home in the vehicle with the bike disassembled and kept in the boot. But I took a chance with riding the bike and realised that I could. The small potholes or undulations were hurting. But I could manage. 

I rode very slowly. I was a little worried about crossing the No. 4 Bridge in Park Circus. But even that got negotiated just fine. I reached home and collapsed on the bed. I later realised that I had cycled 14 Kms with a fracture !!! In Ladakh I had walked the Chadar with a broken wrist for three days. You might think one does not need the wrist to walk but trying balancing on a frozen river with a broken hand. You will realise where the challenges are.

On the way back, I realised I was feeling giddy when I looked down and then pulled the head up. I remember not hitting the head on the road very sharply. While falling I remember telling myself make sure you don't hit the head. Hold the head high up. It still touched the road but not with a bang. There is no mark on the helmet. This giddiness was there next morning also but in a very mild form. Finally it went away, I don't know when.

Next morning I realised the pain had just not subsided. I could hardly turn. I told Partha about the accident. He is my doctor friend who does anasthesia for Dr Indrajit Sardar, an extremely reputed orthopedic surgeon who also knows me quite well through Partha. Last night we had thought of calling him if cycling was impossible. 

He said go and get yourself X-rayed and immediately go to Indra-da. He will be free by 12.30. You should not have cycled home for 14 Kms and called me. If there was a small injury you possibly aggravated it. Fracture in the groin region is very common from such falls.

I called for Ranjanda to be my driver. He kindly agreed to do it. Monisha accompanied us. We went to Nightingale. Got myself X-rayed. Mousumi, Partha's wife and a doctor of physical medicine had advised me on what X-ray to do. 

Indrada saw me outside his OT. He was very worried that I had possibly broken the neck of the femur. After seeing the plate he said no, there was no injury on the neck of the femur but he suspected that there possibly was a fine fracture in the ramus - the pubic bone. He made me lie down. Asked me to do a few movements of the leg. He was happy with my response. Finally he started pressing on the pubic bone. It wasn't hurting. Finally at one point it did and he said - there. You have the fracture there. Take bed rest for four weeks. 

So the entire month of September looks like is gone. Today is 9th. I got some strength a couple of days back. Today I did some yoga and feeling better on the butt. 

I shall give a better status report on the various pains tomorrow.   

Thursday 16th September, 2021

I started active recovery in right earnest after last Sunday. Started with stretches of the glute and some very mild stretches of the hamstrings. I was sitting on the floor with the legs outstretched and then tried touching the toes with my fingers, keeping the spine straight. After some effort I could touch my toes. This gave some relief to the butt. 

Having suffered for two years with my left wrist fracture I now know the value of rehabilitation exercise. The fracture had healed in a month but the range of motions and strength of the wrist - these are purely muscular issues - came back after more than two years. I was never told what sort of exercise to do after the fracture had healed. 

I started doing a lot of pelvic floor exercises (that is where I fell originally and sneezing was causing a pain there) and also clenching the thighs and other small exercises for the legs. Things started improving in a day or two. On Tuesday I was being able to take very small baby steps alone and without the stick support. From Wednesday this improved to a slightly longer steps. But I still have to hold the body straight while walking. 

As of now range of motion has improved dramatically - relatively speaking. Yesterday I even did Vajrasan for five minutes. Vajrasan causes no pressure or weight in the groin. But internal rotation of the femur is still a pain. 

Last evening I went down to start the motorcycle and the car. I checked the clutch and whether it causes any pain to depress the clutch. There was none. I think I can quite go for a drive to HSBC but I don't want to. I will go out on Sunday and see if I can go and see Maa.

Last night Monisha brought a small plastic inflatable ball. I used it for pressing between the knees and also between the feet. The later is a lot more difficult. 

From today sneezing is completely pain free. 

One funny part about looking for pelvic floor exercise, Google has started suggesting various sites that deal with Erectile Dysfunction. Normally one looks for pelvic floor exercise as a remedy for ED.

Friday October 1, 2021 

Haven't written in a while. I completed my 4-weeks last Sunday. Started walking from Saturday night. On day 1 I walked for a kilometer at around 18 minutes with considerable pain. On Sunday also it was the same. It had started paining from around 200 meters. But at 800 meters when I changed my posture a little and made the body more straight the pain subsided a bit. But on both the subsequent mornings I was totally pain free. Sunday morning I drove to Nightingale and got myself X-rayed. 

So being pain-free on Monday morning I went to office for the first time in almost a month. I soon realised that sitting on the chair for extended hours was proving to be painful. I walked from Bishop Lefroy's parking lot to the office with Monisha carrying my bag. But I went back to the car in the evening all alone with the bag strapped to my shoulder. It was not a problem.

That evening I set up my Merida on the trainer. First I changed the rear wheel and installed the training wheel. I had to uninstall the rear brake pads as they were fouling with the rim. This is a new rim. Possibly it's fatter by a mm. After that I set the bike up on the trainer which took a while. 

I climbed the bike and pedalled for a minute. I wasn't feeling comfortable. Of course I was in my slippers. I just wanted to have a feel and it was not okay.

Next morning I found there was some pain. So I worked from home. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were rest days with the last two days seeing moderate exercise.

Today I went to work again. I drove Monisha to Dalhousie and came back alone to Bishop Lefroy. Sitting beyond an hour makes it painful. I was constantly standing up and clenching my butts. Came home alone at around 4 pm. 

This evening I did a lot of exercise and felt rather strong in the leg. Monisha and I went for a bike ride. Basically to inflate the tyres. The driveway has become extremely slippery due to monsoon. My feet were slipping as I was trying to pull the bike out while sitting astride. Monisha had to pull it a bit. 

The driveway needs to be cleaned before I venture out again with the bike. It is dangerous. 

I had once before all this driven down to see Maa. I think that was on the third Sunday. I even climbed the stairs in Didi's house. Possibly I shouldn't have. I had also gone for a short motorcycle ride prior to that. 

I spoke to Indra-da over phone on Wednesday. After a look at the X-ray (organised by Partha) he asked me not to walk too much now but to restrict them within the house. He said after six weeks I should be fine. These fractures take six weeks to completely heal. He also advised against cycling any time soon but was okay with stretches. 

I think cycling would be a wonderful exercise for the thighs without any weight. Indrada possibly doesn't know how to cycle or has forgotten how it works. Cycling or swimming, as opposed to walking or running, is not a weight bearing exercise. 

My exercises

I routinely do butt clenching exercise every now and then. Forty times on each leg. At least 3/4 times a day with the first one being right in the morning after waking up. In the evenings I also do a lot of stretches. I recently bought some rubber exercise bands. I also got a rubber ball for strengthening the inner thighs. You hold the ball between the legs and press them hard. It is good and hurts a bit, particularly if I had the ball between my feet. With the ball between my thighs or the knees it doesn't hurt. 

With the rubber band I walk sideways while it stays in a loop around my legs. I also wear it for clam shells. 

October 5, 2021

Contrary to how most people react, I feel very charged up in the evenings on a working day when I come back home. I don't know what will happen after retirement but right now that is how it is. On the holidays I feel very lazy the whole day. 

Anyway, yesterday I did a lot of exercise in the evening. Started with butt clenching, followed by squats 10x3 > stretches for the lower body (glutes, hamstrings, quads etc) > banded side steps > clam shells > squeezing rubber ball > push ups and Trikonasana. It is the best for inner thigh stretching. I have made remarkable improvement in this asana compared to what it was a few months ago. 

October 6, 2021

 

Started indoor cycling from this morning. Did about 5 Km. The first ride was without distance measurement. That would be around 2 Km. For the next ride I added the speed sensor on the rear wheel. That told me I rode for 3 Kms. 

To activate the indoor mode on the Edge 130 you click ride settings and then choose indoor. Every time you do you have to reset it. The unit resets itself to GPS mode. 

I still don't have Zwift. I think I will activate the account once I start riding in right earnest. Perhaps in a couple of weeks. Today's ride was just the first tentative step. My doctor is dead against cycling at this stage. I didn't argue with him that cycling is not a weight bearing exercise for the legs. Actually yesterday I saw an Instagram post from the Liverpool footballer Harvey Elliott. He had a fracture in his ankle and was operated upon. This was much after my accident. Now he is posting photographs of him riding indoor trainers !!! 

Zwift is excellent for the training rides. Must do that also this winter to supplement my road rides. Just road riding every evening is of no use in terms of building long term endurance. I must do at least 3/4 training rides on Zwift every week. 

I have said it before and I must say it again. Without indoor training I couldn't have done Darjeeling.

Monday, October 25, 2021

Yesterday marked my eight weeks of the accident. I am doing exercises in right earnest. There is just one exercise that causes some pain after the exercise. That is - single leg squats or Bulgarian squats. The pain does not linger for too long. But it is pain nevertheless. Proper and normal squats don't hurt though.

Another activity causes pain. That is, if I sit for too long. It starts hurting after about an hour. 

I have bought a foam roller for myofascial release. It is an excellent thing for stiff muscles. But one needs some physical fitness to use it, particularly on glutes and hamstrings or quads etc. I bought it off Amazon for around Rs 600. Good value for money.

Masseur on call

 

My exercise regime is a bit haphazard. But I try to do most of the thigh strengthening exercises. I stopped indoor cycling for a few days because it was causing some pain. Possibly I was riding too fast. Will try at a lower cadence tonight and report.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Ready for the first road ride. November 11. Should've tucked it in

It's been exactly three months since I had the accident. I can say that I am almost 99 per cent normal now. Last night I went for my second consecutive day of cycling. There is no pain. I cycled 20 Kms on Thursday including crossing the LG flyover from both sides. I repeated the same on Friday. I am quite pain free now. I can say that I am back to feeling normal on the bike again. 

It took me a while to come out of the road fear. The motorcyclists are so extremely irresponsible now that using the road - whether as a pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist or car driver - has become extremely dangerous. 

I am using the Surly for these evening rides. But that is more for the Brooks saddle that is obviously a lot more comfortable. I also use my padded cycling shorts. 

I say 99 per cent because there is that very little stiffness in the groin region that reminds me about the accident. Otherwise I am fine.

 

In this last one month or so I had been cycling on and off. But every time I would feel some pain either immediately after my return or the next morning. I was using the heat pad to get some relief. I was even bringing the pad to work.

   

In November so far I have cycled only 82 Kms. May be it will be 100 by the end of the month. I hope to get back to normal cycling now and clock at least 500 Kms in December. Of course, December is a special month when there always is some sort of engagement in the evenings. That might affect my mileage. But I will try.

Monday, 29th November, 2021

On Saturday evening I tried to test the resilience of my groin muscles. I did Bulgarian Squats. Ten on each leg. There was some pain later. Something similar to a 15 Km bike ride few weeks ago. I applied the heat pad. Sunday night I repeated the squats. It pained a little. Heat pad again. I have to go through these pains and get rid of them once and for all. I checked with the pressing of the ball between the feet. I can do them quite fine. 

Bulgarian squats really test the inner muscles of the hamstring near the groin. These are squats on one leg while the other leg rests on a stool behind. There is an element of balance also in this exercise. This squat is ideal if you want a pair of tear drop shaped thighs. 

This week will be difficult in terms of cycling as I have some engagement or the other almost every evening for 4/5 days. Will carry on with the squats and push ups at home.

Independence Day Ride

 

Near Prinsep Ghat on Strand Road

This year's 15th August (last Sunday) marked India's 75th year of independence. A few days ago on a motorcycling forum in facebook someone asked what each member was planning to do on that day. I said, which is contrary to the way I am, that I would go for a 75 Km ride. Now, once you make such a public announcement on a forum you have to live up to it.

My preparation started a few days before the trip. I did not ride the previous day and tried to go to sleep early, which did not quite happen as English Premier League had just started and Liverpool had a match late in the night. So I could not wake up in the morning on Sunday. Otherwise my plan was to go out at 4 am in the morning and finish the ride by 8/9 am. I hate riding in the high sun. 

But as it turned out I made no attempt to wake up early. Instead, I ate a relatively early lunch so that after my siesta I could start the ride by 5 pm. In fact I woke up at around 4 and went out in an hour. I had the Pearl Izumi bib shorts and the orange Adidas jersey. The advantage with that jersey is that you can pull down the front chain to cool off. Otherwise for my normal evening rides I wear the lime coloured Adidas singlet.

Normally, these days I wear my Marmot trekking pants (with the bottom part taken off). But those are for 2-hour long, 40-Km rides. This one would be longer and not on my Brooks. So I dressed sensibly. I chose my relatively faster Roadie. 

Now finding a 75-Km long circuit in Calcutta is difficult. From home I went south and took Southern Avenue. Via Gol Park and Phari I went towards our school St Lawrence. Up Ballygunge Circular Road and then left from Lower Circular Road (now AJC Bose Road) I went towards my familiar Exide Crossing. From here I turned right towards Planetarium  and then via Victoria and Red Road I reached Eden Gardens. Keeping Mohun Bagan ground on my left hand side, I went to Strand Road to go towards Prinsep Ghat.

The area was full of holiday makers who had come to the river side for ice cream and generally roaming around. I went right up to the captured Patton Tank kept in the middle of the road and did a U turn. After negotiating the Prinsep Ghat jam I went straight to Dalhousie via HSBC and then farther up the road past GPO and RBI. 

From the burnt down Standard Chartered bank building I did a U-turn and came back to Victoria via Council House Street and Red Road again. The odometer didn't seem to register anything much despite all this riding. I went for a circle around Exide Crossing, Planetarium, Victoria/Hospital Road and back again to Exide. From here I traced the route back to St Lawrence and Phari again. Again I turned left towards Gurusaday Road and back to Southern Avenue via Ritchie Road and Motilal Neheru Road. 

In case you are still reading and not thoroughly bored out let me tell you that after this I did the Lake-Gardens-Abhishikta-Ruby circuit as well as the Lake Gardens-Gol Park circuit. When I reached the CRC crossing it was some 74 Kms. I took Kabir Road and finished my ride.

Bontrager Bottle Cages

The other day (I think Monday, 16th August, 2021) I went to Veloton and got for my Surly two aluminum bottle cages. They are that shiny stainless steel colour that I was looking for for some time. I intend to use them with the Velo Orange SS mudguards later. I was on the lookout for them for some time online and discovered them at the new store on Anwar Shah Road when I went there for a look a few days ago. 

They cost me Rs 795 for the pair and I installed them right away when I came home. They look nice and are fairly tight for my stainless steel water bottles. All the parts in the bike like the crank, pedals etc are this same shiny aluminum colour. Why should the bottle cage be any different? And the black Decathlon ones had become a bit lose, not to speak of their el cheapo look. 

Veloton has got the dealership for Trek bikes in Calcutta but as of now they have nothing except a few accessories like these bottle cages or bicycle pumps etc. The other Trek dealer who started with a big bang in the city few years ago folded up long ago (I think impractical shop rent killed them, like it kills so many other businesses in our city). Incidentally while Trek is the name of the bicycle brand (and perhaps the company too), Bontrager is the name they use for branding their accessories. This is my first experience with owning anything Bontrager. They are good in terms of price vis-a-vis quality. 

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.