Routine Post

• We rode to Nandi Hills and back on our cycles last Sunday. The whole journey of 130 KM was done in 9 hours, including breaks. It was a fun trip and I won't rate it as too tough. The climb up Nandi and the ride down was the highlight of the journey. The ride up took me around 45 minutes (covering a little over 7 KM), but downhill was lightning fast and was finished in 12 minutes. 

• I made Mysore Pak the other day. It's supposed to be hard to get right the first time, but I seem to have done a decent job -- at least I didn't have anybody say that they didn't like it. I followed this video to make the sweet-dish (the guy has a pronounced Indian American accent. Don't we all love those?).

• Lately the same old "Shoes are a waste of money and you should run bare-feet" debate has started again. Rather than believing what journalists write, I would like people to read what scientists and running-coaches believe. To summarize, the studies (which the journalists are using to say barefoot running is good) were done on professional athletes, not amateur runners. If you are already habituated to running with shoes, getting to run without them is going to take time and is prone to injury. Shoes protect your feet from the glass on the road -- and if you are in India, also excreta of various animals

Going Forward

In which we look at what lies ahead.

• It's been 1 week since Mumbai marathon and I have recovered. It took 5 days for the pain in my legs to go and for me to walk without a limp. With the pain gone I did couple of runs over the weekend and they went pretty well. The next race which I'm running is going to be the half-marathon at Auroville. I'm going to be trying for another sub 2 hour timing.
• The 3 weeks of tapering and 1 week of recovery has left me with more poundage than what I would have liked (which though expected is not welcome). Hopefully I can lose all that before I run Auroville.
  
• One of my goals for 2010 is to do a sub-20 minute 5K. I plan to start training from next week. I don't have a concrete plan defined, but the goal is to systematically and progressively shave off 30 seconds (at least) from my best 5K time (23:52) every month.
• There is a plan in progress to cycle all the way till Nandi Hills on Sunday (31st Jan) and then back. The ride will be around 120 KM long (or more). Let's see how that goes.

Fitness Update

Having recovered from jaundice, I was pretty afraid how much time it would take to get back to doing the distances I did while running and cycling. This weekend dispelled my fears.

Saturday: Cycled to Chikkatirupathi and back ~ 65 KM. Decent pace. All parts of the body were mostly pain-free, except my palms (no gloves) and butt, .

Sunday: Ran till Cubbon park and did one loop inside the park ~ 15 KM. Comfortable pace. Finished in 1:38.

In both cases I was apprehensive about whether I would be able to keep pace with my companions and be able to do the distance. Thankfully I was able to.

It has been a speedy recovery maybe because I was careful of not doing too much too soon (except maybe in the case of the cycling expedition -- it was the first time I took out my bike after the illness and did 65 KM).

To further adventures ... we march.

Freedom!

I had another liver function test yesterday and all things came out in the normal range. I'm cured! Yay!

Jaundice took from me more than a month of my time, a big chunk of my strength and stamina, and 2 KGs of my weight (maybe I will become faster). The only positive part being I managed to read a lot (6 books).

It will take another 2 weeks before I can start training again. Till then the only exercise I can do is take 20 minute walks (yuck). My first target would be the Bangalore Cyclothon on Oct 11th. It's a 50 KM ride and if it were two months ago, I wouldn't have been worried about finishing. Today, that's not the case.

Sometimes I feel that the tough part is not to push hard, but to hold back (t.w.s.s). And these coming 2 weeks will be hard.

Routine Post

Coming back after a long time ... (like Lance Armstrong and Michael Schumacher, but a much shorter period):

• My training for the full marathon has been going good. I'm in the 9th week of training and I had a pretty fulfilling 30 KM run last Sunday. Everything went according to plan and I did the distance in just over 3 hours -- including water breaks. My prospects look good for the Kaveri Trail Marathon.

• The dates for the 2009 Tour Of Nilgiris have been announced and I have decided to participate. Unlike last year's TFN, this time around the distances per day have been reduced to 80 KM from 150 KM. It still poses a challenge and should be fun. As part of the training, the longest distance I have done till date is 70KM. But I think 80KM shouldn't pose much of a problem. Of course, if you put hills in between, it's a totally different ball game.

• I had been avidly following, for the first time in my life, the Tour De France. Lance Armstrong came back this year and gave a good performance. It was not a fairy tale ending for him, but he did manage a respectable 3rd place -- though no individual stage wins. The 1st place was taken by Alberto Contador, Lance's teammate and rival (oxymoron-ic, but true). Armstrong has already announced that he is coming back next year with Team Radioshack. My suspicion is that his team will have Mark Cavendish, the British sprinter, who won 6 stages in the tour this year. Here are some beautiful pictures from the event.

• I have been reading Jared Diamond's : Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee. A book which answers "why humans are the way they are?" The book tackles the question by drawing from various sources: evolutionary biology, history, anthropology, archaeology, etc. In spite of having little knowledge about those subjects I find the book extremely readable.

That's all for now. Till next time, it's bye bye.

Cycling Trip To Chikkatirupati

Chikkatirupati is a town around 30 KM from Bangalore (Koramangala, to be precise). Yesterday, we -- a group of 4 cyclists -- decided to make a trip to the place.

To get there you first need to hit Sarjapur road; cross the outer ring road junction while continuing down Sarjapur Road; take a left somewhere ahead, and follow the road. As is obvious, I wasn't the one leading the pack (or good at giving directions). But fortunately for you, I had a GPS.

Here is a map:

Figure 1: Map -- Bangalore to Chikkatirupati.

Other than Sarjapur road you don't face too much traffic, as the roads are really bad and I guess no one wants to go to Chikkatirupati. The route is scenic, passing through villages; with farms on either side. People in the areas are quite amused at seeing these "weirdos" on bicycles. We had quite a few kids wave to us, saying "Hi" and "Bye". We reached Chikkatirupati in around 1 hr 40 min and proceeded to have breakfast.

There is a nice small breakfast joint inside the town, where you get Idly-Bonda, Coffee, Chitranna, and -- if you are not too early -- Dosa.

Figure 2: Breakfast at Chikkatirupati

After having breakfast we started the return journey. There was a strong headwind and there weren't too many downhills. Fortunately, the weather was pretty good. The return journey took us around 2 hours.

Total Mileage: 65 KM

Highlights

1. Using the gears on the front of the cycle for the first time and reaching close to 40 KM/H (38.3 KM/H to be precise).
2. All the kids in the villages cheering as you pass them.
3. The yummy bondas at the breakfast place.
4. Just off Chikkatirupati a gentleman coming to us, when we were taking a water break, and asking, "Why did you cycle all the way from Bangalore?" Good question. Neeeeext.
5. Finding out that there are some new muscles in my legs -- I'm sore.
6. And finally, my longest cycling trip till date -- a good ride!
   

Bicycle Commute: Second Impressions

Today I rode my bicycle to office for the second time. I wanted to do it last Friday itself but because of the trip to Hampi, things didn't go as planned.

Both the onward and the return rides were blissful. While going, I started early (6:30 AM) and reached office in half an hour. While coming back, there was a slight drizzle and although it took more time, it was a pleasant ride despite the traffic. The only casualty on the way back was my backpack, which got all muddy -- yes, I do have mudguards; maybe they are defunct.

Figure 1, Really Muddy Targus Backpack

This time around there were a bunch of things which I forgot to pack while commuting. So I have gone and made my own bicycle commute checklist to prevent future blunders.

Figure 2, Rohit's Bicycle Office Commute Checklist
(your mileage may differ)

Other Notes:

1. Speed breakers are your friends -- it's fun to jump over them without slowing down.
2. I feel much taller than rest of the traffic when on my cycle.
   
3. There's no better feeling than when you switch gears; the chain snaps to the correct sprocket; the pedals move in sync with your feet -- neither too fast, nor with too much resistance.
4. I feel much lighter and in more control when I'm on a cycle than when on a motorbike.
   

Bicycle Commute: First Impressions

Today I drove my bicycle to work and back. My office is around 10 KM from home. I started the trip towards office at 7:15 AM. There was very little traffic and overall the ride was smooth. I was a bit circumspect about shifting gears and mostly stayed on the 4th gear (2-4, if you are curious). The trip was finished in 35:15.

While coming back I started at 4:45 PM. This time around I was much braver with the gears and was happily playing around with them. The traffic was medium density. I took 46:33 to cover the distance.

Other Notes:

1. Switching from a motorbike to a bicycle also requires a reflex switch -- I was looking inside my non-existent rear-view mirrors.
2. There is a proper way to shift gears, which every newbie cyclist must learn.
3. Overtaking buses at the bus-stop from either side is not a very bright idea -- they will anyway overtake you.
4. You have a super-power(?) which makes you invisible to Bangalore auto-wallahs.
5. Major advantage at traffic jams/signals: you can pick up the bike, become a pedestrian, and easily come to the front.
6. Cycling on Domlur flyover is slightly scary. On both ways there is a left turn, which you should be very wary of, if you are going straight.
7. There are many slow-moving-idiots-on-vehicles whose egos get hurt, as soon as you pass them. And when this happens they will accelerate, causing problems for you.

   They remind me of the slow-moving-runners who increase their pace, when you near them. They feel that they are in front, and you shouldn't pass them. Of course, you are not really overtaking them consciously; you are just maintaining your pace. But they feel hurt and they try to run faster. You, being wiser, and a much more awesome runner, know that they won't be able to maintain the increased pace and happily remain behind them. Within 5 minutes, they are behind you. In 10 minutes, you are a dot to them, which seems to get smaller and smaller^*.
   

8. I'm getting overly paranoid that someone might steal my bike. I have couple of locks, but I'm thinking of buying another (better) one.
9. The overall experience was good. You get to see more things.
10. This point left intentionally blank (or is it?).

* When you are on a cycle and the other guy is on a motorbike, the last part doesn't really happen.

Got myself a new ride

I had been thinking of buying a bicycle for quite some time (read 2 months). After ages of procrastination, I decided to move my ass and buy one. My budget was around Rs 7000. Of course rather than researching too much I just went by word of mouth and decided on the Hero Octane.

So yesterday, as suggested by a friend, I went to Raja Cycle Mart (opposite town hall) to make the purchase. I didn't want to scout at all, I just wanted to make the purchase and start cycling. Unfortunately that didn't happen. When I went to the shop, the young blighter attending to me was least interested in making a sale. I had to go to him, ask questions, and dig out information. He wasn't rude or anything, just plain uninterested. Also, they didn't have the Hero Octane or any cycling helmets and I was asked to come back next week.

Dissappointed I returned home, but I wasn't going to stop trying. I scouted for other shops in Bangalore. In the meantime I also found from the web that the Octane may not be a good choice for a road-bike because of its rear-suspension -- it causes the cycle to bob up and down, and few found that irritating. A better alternative was the BSA Hercules Ryders ACT 105.

I found a BSA shop right next doors -- BSA Track and Trail on Koramangala 80ft road. I went there, but they didn't have the ACT 105. They had the 106, 108, Bianchi Cannondale (fancy bikes), but not the one which I was looking for.

Not to be let down, I called up a friend who had recently purchased a bike. She recommended a BSA shop on Commercial Street, near Safina Plaze. It was called BSA Go. So I drove down there, and found the shop to be pretty decent. They had the bike which I wanted, they had helmets, locks, etc. I promised the shop owner that I will come tomorrow and take the bike away. And that's what I did.

Figure 1, BSA Hercules Ryders ACT 105

Damages:

Bicycle: Rs 7600
Helmet: Rs 400
Chain lock: Rs 200
Total: Rs 8200

I took the bike home back in an auto (the auto fellow charged my Rs 20 extra, understandably). The cycle was met with a lot of approval by the kids in my galli. I test drove it to a friend's place, around 3 KM away. And because of my striking blue helmet, I was being noticed by one and all.

The main goal of this purchase is cross-training on Sundays -- running is still the first priority. But, I do plan to commute few days to office as well.

For a greener tomorrow, ONWARD!