[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

What prevents you from riding in the rain? I love riding (or running) in the rain - have done it multiple times. I absolutely love it; the cycle is a mess to clean post the rain but it feels heavenly to ride in the pouring rain, despite any loss of visibility. I'm actually looking forward to do so once the monsoons start in full swing.

Completely agree... Riding in rain has its own fun and have done that a few times (this for example). But yesterday had to stop because of heavy winds, so much to sway the bike and make it dangerous to be on road. I went ahead a bit thinking of taking a bike/walk trail, but there was a risk of falling trees and even more dangerous in dark.

Clearing the mess is not a problem; here the bike gets super clean in heavy rains. Below is the picture of the dry bike after I returned home yesterday

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Clearing the mess is not a problem; here the bike gets super clean in heavy rains.

Haha - I guess it depends on where you ride the bike during the rains.

Here's the state of my bike (and a friend's) on the way back in a local after a long ride in the monsoon(s) of Bombay...



... and the state of the rider

[docmoya2007]

From Today's Morning Ride

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Haha - I guess it depends on where you ride the bike during the rains.

Here's the state of my bike (and a friend's) on the way back in a local after a long ride in the monsoon(s) of Bombay...

... and the state of the rider

Oh wow, that really looks like off-road/mountain biking territory

The maximum dirt I accumulated in one of the rainy ride was this...

[amitoj]

This is on my usual morning route. I never stopped to take a pic until today.
It is a war memorial for all the soldiers from the town of Londonderry who have given their life for the country in various wars. Very sobering experience.

[amitoj]

This was my story from my bike ride on the weekend of 29th May. I don't have any pictures from the ride but you'll see why. Just keep reading.

There was a group ride scheduled to start from Weston, MA, which is 1 hour drive for me. The ride was for 48 miles, but a sub-group was going to do a shorter 30-mile loop. Now, I didnt want to drive for a total of 2 hours for a 48 mile ride. I decided to drive 20 minutes to a spot, and ride from there to the start, and ride back to the spot and then drive back home. The to-and-fro would have totaled around 46 miles. I decided that I will do the shorter 30 mile loop, since I had some other stuff to do later that day. In total it would have been nice 75 miles of riding. For those not living in Liberia, Myanmar, UK or USA, thats 120 kms.

You know how sometimes the universe keeps dropping you hints but you are too pig headed to read the signs? Well, that was me.

I normally gather all my gear the night before the ride. On this particular occasion, I could not find my second glove. I thought, meh, it is not going to be too cold, plus I will be taking breaks, so no big deal.

Fine. Next day morning I pack everything and hit the road. 10 minutes later I realize I have forgotten my change of normal clothes. Again, meh, no big deal. Its only 20 minutes drive back.

Fine. I reach my starting point. Assemble the bike etc and start pedaling away. I even find a porta-potty 10 minutes into the ride. Very convenient. 20 minutes later I see a nice spot to take a picture. That's when I realize I left my phone in the car. Again I go, meh. No big deal. People used to ride bicycles without cellphones all the time. So I carry on.

Fine. Half an hour later, which is 1 hour into my ride and another half an hour to go, I get a flat. At that point I yell "Noooooooo". But I have all that I need to fix it. It only means that I will have to skip my scheduled halt for breakfast, hoping that there will be some nourishments at the start of group ride. I walk into the front lawn of a house under construction, thank the lord that there are no flies or mosquitoes and start to fix the flat. I pull out a small piece of debris from the tire, observe how thin my tire is actually, apply a patch to the tube, fill air and start pedaling again. 20 minutes wasted. 5 minutes later I realize that although I dont have a flat anymore, I most certainly do have a slow leak.

Now it becomes a race between time, the leaking air (I stopped 3 times to refill air using my hand pump) and me to get to the ride start and inform the group that I will be heading back. Remember I left my phone in the car?

I finally manage to reach the starting point just in time to let them know that they should go ahead without me. I gracially accept a cream filled croissant, and get down to changing the tube, while the group rides away as planned.

Thankfully the ride back to my parked car was uneventful, even though I kept imagining that I am losing air and stopped a few times to check.

Sometimes things are just not meant to go the way you plan. But I still got 75 kms of riding done, so it was not a total loss.

[aneezan]

We had visited the "Three Country Point" at Vaalserberg just the previous weekend by car, so the urge to do it by bike was high. I also badly wanted to do a climb. So long-ride+good-location+climb all came together the past long weekend. This solo ride was close to 210 KM to and from home.

Vaalserberg is the highest point in the Netherlands. The peak is called Drielandenpunt or "three country point" - where 3 countries meet(the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany)

The climb was ok, but the return was tough-the winds never die here.
About 212 KM in all and a day well spent.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by aneezan

Vaalserberg is the highest point in the Netherlands. The peak is called Drielandenpunt or "three country point" - where 3 countries meet(the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany)

The climb was ok, but the return was tough-the winds never die here.
About 212 KM in all and a day well spent.

Vow aneezan, superb ride The Dutch-land & Deutschland are heaven for cycling. I was there in Germany for 10 months and visited Amsterdam over one weekend but never knew about this "three country point". Wish I could have visited this place when I was there, but thanks for adding to my knowledge

[amol4184]

Went on a group ride for the first time ever.


Here's me.


Me again, toiling behind a dude on decades old single speeder. I did eventually overtake him on a particularly steep section.

Fantastic view from the top.

[docmoya2007]

From Today's Morning Ride

[VishJ]

Did my first hill climb yesterday here at a lesser known hill called Kadambur hills. It was a worthy effort and the downhill cycling was just an awesome reward for the climb. Planning for more hill climbs hereafter.

[docmoya2007]

From Today's Morning Ride

[vb-saan]

Evening ride today...

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by VishJ

Did my first hill climb yesterday here at a lesser known hill called Kadambur hills. It was a worthy effort and the downhill cycling was just an awesome reward for the climb. Planning for more hill climbs hereafter.

Well done VishJ. There is no fun like going uphill and then descending and the cool breeze passing through your head and body, that's an awesome feeling. Keep riding & sharing pics of your rides.

On a side note, last weekend I picked up my new Scott Addict 30 bike from Pedal Drive in Pimple Saudagar. Cycle price quoted was 2.3 lacs, got it for 2.25 lacs + a bunch of accessories (free of charge). I am still keeping my current Marin Farifax SC1 for group rides, weekly errands etc. The Scott will be mainly used for solo & ghat rides. Many thanks to our fellow TBHP member, Dr. Ebonho for answering my stupid queries very patiently and helping me choose the right bike for me.

This Scott is Carbon frame & fork, weighing at 8.6 kilos. Everything is Shimano 105 (groupset, crank, brakes etc). Brakes are hydraulic discs, with great stopping power. Tires are Shwalbe One 700 X 32C. Seat post, stem & other components are Syncross. Sharing below few pics of the pooja & my first long ride on it today morning.







Today morning went for the very first long ride (60 km) on my new Scott & boy-o-boy, going uphill was such a breeze. My legs are now itching to do all the nearby ghats. Few pics below from today morning's ride.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

On a side note, last weekend I picked up my new Scott Addict 30 bike from Pedal Drive in Pimple Saudagar. Cycle price quoted was 2.3 lacs, got it for 2.25 lacs + a bunch of accessories (free of charge). I am still keeping my current Marin Farifax SC1 for group rides, weekly errands etc. The Scott will be mainly used for solo & ghat rides.

Congratulations - that's definitely a looker and a perfect color given how dusty our rides turn out.

Many thanks to our fellow TBHP member, Dr. Ebonho for answering my stupid queries very patiently and helping me choose the right bike for me.

There are no stupid questions when dealing with a such a large ticket item. My suggestion would be an ownership thread or atleast a post on the general cycling thread with those Q&As - I'm sure there are several riders who might be in that state of upgrading from their MTB/hybrids to road bikes that cost more than a lakh.

Happy riding!