[akshay380]

A short report about a bicycle ride I did in December 2010

This was the first long ride on new bike Giant Defy 2. Target was to head 200km towards Vellore and return back.


My new bike Giant Defy 2 after I left the Schwinn in Goa

Started from Marthahalli at 2am with Dipankar. Reached silk board and turned on Hosur road. DP was having two sets of Deal extreme lights and were more than enough for cruising at 30-35kmph. Somehow I felt my right leg was not at optimum performance. Continued with a doubt in mind that it might screw up en route. Roads towards Hosur were empty with occasional truckies passing by.

Crossed Hosur and the descends started. Took couple of hits in potholes at well over 40kmph. Stopped at a CCD at 65km mark but could not find anything to eat so I had a coffee and got our hydration packs fill up. Reached Krishnagiri and headed towards Chennai. Road was awesome and really loved riding. Stopped for a pee break only to find 110km on speedo in 3hr 37mins. We went ahead and crossed 165km by 8am. It had rained here the previous night so the surroundings were pleasant. Finally at 0915 we stopped after crossing 202kms. Returned and had a break of 30min while we munched on much needed breakfast. Explained why our bikes cost so much to a elderly gentleman.


@CCD at 3.30AM

Started for Bangalore and ran straight into headwinds. Also sun was starting to show up we were getting ready for the bit of suffer fest. En route Dipankar took his trademark 10min power nap on the roadside while I acted easy to keep curious onlookers away. Still got queries about him from 4 guys. Started riding again and during next stop had 500ml cokes each. I emptied the bottle while DP was busy telling me advantages of sweetened drinks while riding. And frankly that seemed to work. Rode nonstop for next 45 or so on the coke boost. Found a coconut vendor on away and had some coconut water


DP taking powernap. I did not like sleeping that close to road but his decision after all

Even the coconut water was quite warm

DP answered many questions from other motorists. A guy riding Pulsar asked me why we were riding. With my answer that we are practicing, he gave a very very strange look and sped away with helmet protecting his left HAND.

We reached Krishnagiri at around 3pm. Stopped at a roadside hotel for a lunch. By now is was so hot outside that I could not even eat properly thanks to high body temperatures. DP was very tired so we decided to rest for sometime.


At Krishnagiri. Very very hot. My eyes still hurt when I see this photo!

Started out again at 4 and the rolling terrain started. I had seen the descents in the morning so was worried about the climbing. Surprisingly we climbed fast at ease. Best thing I learned was to get out of saddle and pump efficiently. I was surprised when he told me that major climbs were over. To me they did not seem difficult at all(dunno why). At 5pm we were ~68kms away from Bangalore so we decided to take it easy and relax. DP had his secret booster drug here :P. We started again and reached CCD.

@CCD

The place which was deserted in the morning was now buzzing with people and I was so full of dust that we had quite a few curious looks. Had a Chicken sandwich and cold coffee here and decided to wait till nightfall as riding at dusk is something I don't fancy much. I asked DP to ride slowly from here as I did not have any headlights and someone coming in my path was the last thing I wanted. Also traffic increased quite a lot from here and I had to be very attentive while riding. Crossed Hosur, had some narrow misses with some morons riding service lane in wrong directions. Took a break just after entering Karnataka and had some water. I ate a lot of dust and smoke from krishnagiri to hosur ride. From here just took the return route and reached home at 9 with a wide grin and a badly smacked butt.

The end

Total distance 405km

Riding time: 16hrs 49min

Total time: 19hrs
Avg Moving Speed: 24.1km/h

PS: I have not done any long rides after this. Attempting something like this is crazy and I could have ended up damaging myself. Confined myself to proper training in shorter distances before doing long rides again.

[n_aditya]

Wow is what comes to my mind. Reminds me of my early college days when I used to practice for the state and cycle all the way till Kanakapura, bannerghatta, Mysore, etc and back on my 5 speed concorde.

Was extremely fit and lean then and now i wonder what i would have done if i had a puncture or something worse. Back then, there were not many phone boots and cell phone's were not even around. The only source of hydration was a bottle of water and gluconD in my backpack. I wasn't even aware that something called hydration packs existed. A battery operated headlight and tail lamp (non led of course) kept me safe in addition to the sparse traffic back then.

Hats off to you. This is an achievement. I really wish our cities had a dedicated track/lane for cyclists. I see quite a few commuting to work on cycles and the amount of dust and pollution they breathe is no joke.

[condor]

@Akshay, after marathons on the cycle, what now ? Marathons of travelogues ?
What more stories do you have up your sleeve ?

[mayankjha1806]

Wow, initially i thought that you started another cycle ride after just completing the Goa trip but when read carefully this was ~a year back. How many such marathon cycle rides more you have?

BTW, although i am sure cycle riders are careful lot, but sleeping on the roadside like that could be very dangerous, especially when cars overtaking others sometimes get down on the shoulder or outside the road as well.

[MX6]

You keep amazing me Akshay! Looking at your cycling episodes, i feel that you should have one megalog of all your bike expeditions! Something like the encyclopaedia of cycling in this forum!
What next? GQ in your cycle?

[speedsatya]

Wow ! This is something !
100 kms in three and half hours is superb .
What was the max speed that you do on straights . I have done a max of 44kph on the down slope just after Electronic City towards madivala . Otherwise my speeds are usually 20 kph :P

What about hydration packs ? What are these ? And when do we use them ?

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

What about hydration packs ? What are these ? And when do we use them ?

Hydration packs are bladders (yes, bladders ) that can be filled with plain water or water mixed with electrolytes such as electral or gatorade, etc.

These packs are available as plain bladders which can be placed in a backpack. They are also available as backpacks which contain the said bladder. The bladder has two ends. One where the hydration liquid (water, etc) is filled and the other end has a tube which the rider can suck on when he/she needs a drink of water.

The advantage is one can have a drink of water or similar without stopping (therefore no disturbing the rhythm of riding) and these also pack a minimum of 2 liters of liquid and above.

See this for more info.

Available at Wildcraft and Decathlon stores.

Popular brands are Camelbak and Hydrapak.

[libranof1987]

This TL amazes me!

I bet it's something you are gonna be proud of and recall for the rest of your life; doubt you'd wanna keep doing it though.

And seriously, 100kms in 3 hours?!

Glad you've been safe on your cycling trips.

[Fordmanchau]

Seriously what are you man!! ?
Even a spiderman would get tired swooshing the web out of his hand for three hours and you kept pedalling!! that too 100 long kms.

Hats off to you!! Have read your Goa adventure too.
Keep pushing your limits. All the best Akshay!!

[bblost]

super duper awesome cool.

The first four words that came to my mind.

[MohsinRoadster]

Inspirational and totally different. Been seeing only cars/bikes doing all the trips.
great stuff.

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Wow, initially i thought that you started another cycle ride after just completing the Goa trip but when read carefully this was ~a year back. How many such marathon cycle rides more you have?

BTW, although i am sure cycle riders are careful lot, but sleeping on the roadside like that could be very dangerous, especially when cars overtaking others sometimes get down on the shoulder or outside the road as well.

I totally agree with you, in fact I told him multiple times not to. But this guy is crazy so I left it at that. I have not ridden with him since.

Originally Posted by MX6

You keep amazing me Akshay! Looking at your cycling episodes, i feel that you should have one megalog of all your bike expeditions! Something like the encyclopaedia of cycling in this forum!
What next? GQ in your cycle?

Haha. Nothing as such. These days cycling has reduced quite a bit due to work. Hoping to start again. Next in line is Bangalore to Goa in 24hrs. Lets see.

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Wow ! This is something !
100 kms in three and half hours is superb .
What was the max speed that you do on straights . I have done a max of 44kph on the down slope just after Electronic City towards madivala . Otherwise my speeds are usually 20 kph :P
What about hydration packs ? What are these ? And when do we use them ?

That was all Krishnagiri downhill man. But during races many people do it even on flats. Max speed I have hit is 69.5kmh on Nandi descent.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

This TL amazes me!

I bet it's something you are gonna be proud of and recall for the rest of your life; doubt you'd wanna keep doing it though.

And seriously, 100kms in 3 hours?!
Glad you've been safe on your cycling trips.

You got it spot on!

Thanks everyone!

[amitwlele]

Akshay you are on a roll. Keep it going man.

I guess now there is a need to have a different subsection for your bicycle TLs on the forum.

[noopster]

Whoa this is awesome! I have been thinking of getting back to cycling myself and this is such an inspirational read.

Just one piece of advice: next time can you please ensure that you have decent headlamps on your bike as well?