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. 

The Velo 9 Arrives

The Cateye Velo 9 has arrived today and I am in the process of setting it up. As of now, the unit has been configured to show km, the wheel size has been set to 700c and the time has been adjusted. The unit is sitting on the handle bar. The zip ties are yet to be fastened. Some of the wire has been wound up around the front brake cable. The magnet has been loosely attached. And the sensor is just hanging loose. 

The unit looks very well built. But there is no screen protection though and it will be quite exposed to the elements. The unit's two adjustment buttons are like tiny dots on the back. One is AC, that is, all clear. The other is "Set". They are so tiny that you need a pin head to press them in. I used the head of a wooden toothpick to operate them. Setting the km/mile option or the wheel size was pretty intuitive. But it took me quite some time to understand how to adjust the time. Finally I managed to get it. I have still not been able to understand how to adjust the minute though. So I adjusted it at exactly 8 pm ;-) 

After about ten minutes.

I set up the magnet on the spoke. Nearer the hub. The sensor has been fastened with one zip tie on the front side of the right fork. I am in two minds whether to have the unit sitting on the handle bar or on the stem. If I put it on the stem there is just one angle in which it can be set. Vertically looking up. But on the handle bar it can be set at an angle to make reading easy. I have checked that the sensor to magnet gap is sufficient and the unit is working fine. 

Tomorrow is a holiday. So I will go out to field test the unit. It is a Japanese company but the unit is obviously made in China. 

Today I also got a tripod kind of stand for the bike. But I am not too sure how to place the bike on it. 

An Easy Sunday Morning Ride

Went out for a short ride this morning. My second ride since buying the bike. Covered a distance of a little more than 8 kms over 37 minutes. I think according to Strava it is 14 kmph - that's slower than a decent marathoner !!! An elite would finish the marathon more than an hour before me :-)

Went up to Gol Park and came back home after crossing and recrossing the Lake Gardens flyover. The flyover, with all the gears at my disposal, was rather easy for me. I don't think the first and second gears are necessary in Calcutta at all. 

The thighs are not as fatigued as they were after last Sunday's ride, which was at similar pace (14 kmph) but over a little more than 10 km. I am sweating a hell of a lot, particularly on my palms. And the handlebar grip material is such that the water does not soak in or even evaporates out quickly. Was feeling a little slippery. That can be quite disconcerting, particularly when you are trying to pull the brake. 

It is so funny. Only last night I ran 5 km and did not feel it as much as I feel this 8 km cycle ride. Running uses a different set of muscles. My cycling muscles will have to get adjusted now. The two are not quite the same. 

I am still not too familiar with the gears or even how to change them. I still confuse which lever to push for going up or down. There is no rocket science involved. It's just a sign of old age. Of course if I could go out more frequently for longer hours I would learn it in no time. I wish I had this bike when I was in class 7/8.

What is going to take time for me is growing this habit of riding on the hoods. I am still more comfortable with riding on the drops. But I am not too worried about that. Riding on the hoods is definitely more comfortable for the longer rides. I have to get confident about braking. My fingers were slipping due to sweat. Pulling the brakes while riding on the drops is a lot easier and feels more sure. So on easy traffic less stretches I am going for the hoods. But whenever I see some trouble coming up, I am changing my position to the drops.

I have to get used to going out earlier in the morning. Something like 5.30 am. But then I am not too confident of going out without breakfast. I cannot afford a hypo with a cycle to bring back home. Eating breakfast so early is difficult. One solution is perhaps carrying the breakfast. Let me see if I can work out a solution. 

My First Sunday Ride

This morning I went on my first longish ride. Went first to Chenku's house via Sadananda Road and SP Mukherjee Road. Then onwards via Ballygunge Circular Road and Gol Park, Southern Avenue came back home. The Gariahat flyover was deliberately taken to check out the gears.

A total of around 10.5 Km in about 45 minutes. (I had switched the Strava on from Rashbehari crossing though - about half a kilometer away from home.) That's ridiculously slow. Slower than elite marathoners :-)

But then there are reasons behind this snailish average moving time. 

A. The roads were full of traffic and I am not used to the bike, least of all riding in heavy traffic. In fact I crossed Ballygunge Fari on foot.

B. The cycle is very uncomfortable on bad roads. Even a newly laid mastic asphalt road (which Pratapaditya Road right now is) is very uncomfortable, as the small stone chips are yet to sit flush on the road. The constant rattle was forcing me to slow down.

C. My muscles are not used to riding a bike yet. Although 4 km of evening run is considerable exercise and I am quite used to that but those are different sets of muscles that are exercised. 

D. I am still not comfortable with gear changes. It is yet to happen instinctively, like the way one changes a car or motorcycle gear. 

The Strava app is really good. It worked perfectly fine even with the phone in the pocket of my shorts. 

Upon arrival back at home I realised I was sweating rather profusely. Is it because of adrenalin or the exercise? Not sure. When one rides a new motorcycle or drives a car and feels nervous, one sweats a lot. Was it that kind of nervous reaction? I am not sure. I wasn't really scared of riding. But at the same time, I wasn't panting much either. Perhaps the muscles were getting adjusted to a new type of exercise.

So what are my learnings from day one?

A. I should have checked the air in the tubes before going out. Chenku told me his tyres were harder. And I realised indeed the pressure wasn't adequate. At home I checked - the front tyre was 70 PSI and the rear tyre was 80 PSI. Which means they had lost about 30 PSI in six days. I must check air pressure before each trip. That's a major learning.

B. I must find out bus free routes and go out earlier on holidays. The roads, even at 8.30 on a Sunday morning had lots of traffic. Of course way less than on a normal working day but for a new road biker it is a lot of traffic. I guess Chetla, Alipore, Zoo and Race Course will be a good, bus free route. Southern Avenue is bus free too. But the Gariahat bridge is really uncomfortable because they leave small gaps where two sections of the bridge meet. These are possibly called expansion gaps. When the tyre hits them, it really is uncomfortable.

C. I must change the front brake position to the regular close fit. Someshwar had kept it a little loose for me to get adjusted to. I think I am quite okay with a little harder brake. I am not used to such loose brakes.

D. Just one day a week may not be enough to get cycling ready quickly. But I have no competition coming up :-) I hope the muscles remember this exercise. Muscle memory is a very useful thing for repeats. 

E. I must carry some emergency food, a spare tube and a presta/schrader adapter, if I am going for any longish outing beyond 5 kms. One never knows when I might suddenly feel hypo-glycemic or get a puncture. Do I need a saddle bag? I love the minimalist approach. Let me see if the belt pouch is good enough. Otherwise will have to get a purpose built bag from Via Terra. They make good bags.

The Parts of the Bike

The bike came fitted with certain components. I will soon forget what those are. So might as well copy and paste it from the official site because these details might soon change and finding out the right detail might become impossible. Already the tire is different from what is shown here. I have Maxxis Detonator, rather than Dolemites as shown here. 

I must mention here that the Merida Scultura frame underwent a significant design change in its frame. The 2016 version is apparently more aerodynamic. Mine is a 2015 model though. Because the 16 model is a more expensive by about 15k.

COLOR	matt black (grey/yellow)
FRAME SIZES	44cm 47cm 50cm 52cm 54cm 56cm 59cm
FRAME	SCULTURA LITE
FORK	Road carbon comp
DERAILLEUR FRONT	Shimano Sora D
DERAILLEUR REAR	Shimano Sora SS
SHIFTERS	Shimano Sora
BRAKE LEVER	Shimano Sora
BRAKES	ROAD Dual Pivot
CHAINWHEEL	Shimano R345 octa 50-34 (BSA)
CHAIN	KMC X9
HUBS	Road seal Bearing
RIM	Merida comp 20 pair
FREEWHEEL	Sunrace CS-9S 11-28
TIRES	Maxxis Dolemites 23 fold
SPOKES	Black stainless
HANDLEBAR STEM	MERIDA Comp OS -6
HANDLEBAR	Merida Compact road OS
HEADSET	FSA BB410P/No.55E
SEAT POST	MERIDA road comp SB12 27.2
SADDLE	Merida Race 5
WEIGHT	9.10 kg

The First Spin

Waited with bated breath till about 9.30 pm to go for my first spin. Before going out I changed the gear from 9th to 5th in the back and the smaller one in the front. Chenku told me this is what a normal bike's gearing would be for normal gentle riding on level roads where you are not trying to overtake anyone. I made up my mind that I would not change any gear during the first few rides.

Next was the question of grip or where and how to hold the handlebar. 

There are several types of grips that you can use for a drop handlebar bike. The most preferred one for normal riding is called the "hood" grip. This is what you see professionals doing in Tour de France etc when they are cruising comfortably. You place the hand on the hood of the brake lever and use two fingers to pull the brake.

See here for a detailed description of various types of hand positions. Grips. 

I tried to test it in our garage first because Someshwar had told me to use that. But I felt very uncomfortable and uncanny. Pulling the brake lever with just two fingers is going to take some time for me to get used to. I tested what I later learnt was the hook position. I felt more confident if not comfortable because with this grip your control of the brake is very good. You are essentially holding the handlebar where it bends. This gives you good braking leverage. But with this grip the riding style becomes more aggressive, in the sense you have to lean forward a bit. And if you want to see traffic coming from different angles in the front you have to raise your head a bit.

I must add here that Someshwar set the front brake of my bike in the relaxed position. This is to avoid hard front braking initially. He said change it once you are confident of braking. I think I will set it to normal hard brake soon.

After getting the grip worked out, out I went for my first test ride. I had my phone in the pocket. A towel and my Petzl. My first reaction was "oh my God. This is really uncomfortable" :-) You feel the rattles of the road immediately. The road in front of our house has been recently given the mastic asphalt treatment and it is still quite rough. I could immediately see how rough it was :-)

I went towards Peep Inn, turned left towards Southern Avenue. Turned left again from Menoka. Lake Avenue turned out to be the worst adventure with its numerous small and big pot holes. I guess I would have gone for something like  a 1.5 km ride or perhaps a little more. After a while I could feel a little strain on the right side of the back. It is also a little difficult, as I said earlier, to see traffic coming from various directions in the front when you are leaning forward. 

I forgot to notice how the seat felt. I guess it did not feel anything particularly uncomfortable. Otherwise I would have noticed it and remarked here.

I think I will just need a couple of good rides on empty roads to work out the basics and enjoy the ride. Can't wait for Sunday. I also think some push ups will help. Since my wrist fracture in Chadar in February, that has quite stopped. Must try to revive  that as soon as possible. 

Adventure With The Pump

My first experience with the cycle pump was turning out to be quite a disaster. But somehow I retrieved the situation and managed to pump my tube properly. Here is the  hilarious story.

Modern bikes can have any of two types of valves. One is Presta and the other is Schrader which is the old type. The pump nozzle has to be different for these two types. My pump, I was told had both. The old mechanic at the shop even showed me how to change it. Thank God that he did. It is not a very simple flip of a key or button. You need to open up things and reassemble etc. But once you have been shown, you can quite do it. No rocket science involved.

He set it to the Presta system. They did not have any bike with a Presta valve at the store. So he could not show me how it operates. I said I don't really need to see such a simple thing in action. Just show me that air comes out of the nozzle as you pump and it did. I was happy and I came back.

Come home. I sat down to pump my bike up. I took the cap off from the top of the valve. Loosened the nut on the valve and checked that air was hissing out as I lightly tapped the top. Now is the time to engage the nozzle on the valve. I did. And all the air from the tube went out with a short hiss. There was obviously very little air inside. But more worryingly, the nozzle was just not sitting tight on the valve so that I could press the pump.

Felt quite helpless. Tried reaching Someswar several times to understand what I was doing wrong. There is very little that can go wrong actually. Anyway, his phone was unavailable. After considerable sweating and frustrating attempts, I took out the nozzle. I did the only thing that I had not done yet. I put what was supposed to be the Schrader nozzle. And presto !!! It worked :-)

The illiterate mechanic had no idea which side was Presta.

The tube pumped up quite nicely upto 80/90 PSI with just a few strokes. But after this it became very hard. Pumping was increasingly more difficult. My target was 120 PSI. But I could not go beyond 110. Someshwar had called back just now and told me that 110 is fine. He advised 100 for the front. Let me see how it feels. We used to keep the front wheel a little less so that it wouldn't bounce.

The Assembly

The cycle was finally assembled by Someshwar in our drawing room on Sunday. Someshwar Rao started off as a self taught cycle mechanic. After working for a few years with a shop he got training in Gurgaon by Firefox (an Indian cycle brand). He certainly knows his job. 

I had taken the bike out of the box on Saturday night itself. On Sunday, before Someshwar's arrival, I removed the various protective covers one by one. However, I could not work out how to take off the front fork stay and the other plastic protective covers like on the front and rear hubs. I filmed the entire process, so that if need be I could pack it back in the box and transport it. 

Someshwar arrived at around 1 pm and set up the bike in less than an hour. However, he could not inflate the tyre beyond 30 psi. He said his small pump was incapable of pumping beyond that. My tube needs 120 PSI. I would need a full fledged pump to do it. Being a presta valve it is very unlikely that the local tyre repair shop would be able to do it. So the bike is still waiting in my study room, yet to be ridden. 

Today (Monday) I have purchased a Firefox pump with a pressure gauge which can inflate both presta and shroeder valved tubes. The modern pumps are way more efficient than what we used to have in our childhood. They used to take ages to inflate a tube. It used to be very frustrating trying to pump up a bicycle tube, hard enough to ride. However, the narrow modern road bike tubes don't require too much air volume either. Though 120 PSI is the requirement, it doesn't take too long.

After the bike was set up, Someshwar and I went to our house in Metro Park, where I have the old Hero MTB. Someshwar said he would love to restore it and make it into a proper hardtail with gears and front suspension etc but it would require to be transported to his house. I gave him a go ahead. He took off the front wheel. We loaded it in the back of my car with the back rest of the back seat flattened out. Together we went to Shalimar where he re-assembled it and went home. It is in terrible shape. I don't know what all he would change. Let me see. 

If it is properly restored then I can go to the difficult places around Calcutta with it. Going out medium distance on the road bike is not a very sensible thing to do. 

It is worth noting down how the bike was set up. The order in which the parts were attached. The first to be attached was the handlebar. Next was the front wheel and adjustment of the brake. The front fork's plastic stay takes a strong downward push to be dislodged. 

After this the seat post was fitted with some liquid grease applied to the post first. Next was the rear brake adjustment and some front derailleur adjustments too. With the seat fixed at the lowest point, I am just about able to touch the floor on the two sides. I wonder if I should have gone for a 52 sized bike. Funny that the bike felt so small when I first took it out from the box. 

Forgot to mention that at some in time, the pedals were also fixed. 

Modern bikes have brakes in reverse. What I mean is the rear brake is engaged with your right hand. In our traditional bikes or even motorcycles it was the opposite.

Someshwar told me that the drop handlebar will take some time to get adjusted to. I think he has a point. I tried to ride it in our living room and almost fell as I felt disbalanced. The real test of a bicycle is of course out on the road. Weather permitting I am going to go out today. 

Day 2 - A Few Purchases

Today I bought a pair of flat pedals from the Fire Fox store in the city for eight hundred bucks. These are black and alloy material. Quite heavy. I might graduate to clipless pedals at some point in time in future. But for now these will do. 

From Bhanubhai Desai, I bought a set of allen keys (Taparia) and a set of star keys. These tools (costing Rs 300 and Rs 160 respectively) are important in that if you don't have them you cannot manage with anything else. And modern bicycles have quite a few screws that will need these keys.

I had intended to buy a helmet also. But the Firefox grey helmet was Rs 2600, which is why I had to postpone the idea of buying it today as I was short of cash. Perhaps another day. Let me check the Merida price too. 

I took a look at the pumps available at the shop. Firefox. Rs 1400 for the one with a gauge. That cannot be strapped on to the bike though. The strappable one is Rs 1000. But it looked pretty useless. Problem with these items is you cannot check them out before buying. 

My New Toy

My new toy has arrived. The Merida Scultura 200. Right now it is sitting in our main living room in a cardboard carton.

I got this from Nikita Distributors of Calcutta today. It's an auspicious day. Janmastami. It was a holiday at work. So I took my Duster to their office  in Kamalalaya Center for delivery. Loaded it after flattening the backseat back rest. It is very light. One person can easily carry it manually. The box measures 54.5"x29"x8". You keep it on the floor along the length and height is 29 inches.

The cycle came from Pune, where Nikita's headquarters are. They sent it by FedEx. The cardboard carton got slightly torn at two places on the side. I haven't opened the box yet. I will do that on Sunday when Someshwar Rao comes to assemble the bike for me.

Meanwhile, I will have to buy a pair of pedals, a bottle cage and a helmet. That's the bare minimum. Which I will do tomorrow. After that I have to get a pump and at least one spare tube before I go anywhere cycling.