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.