BBCh- 2012 Season Opener- 20k ITT

The count down begins!  

..5-4-3-2-1-GO!!! Off you go! You clumsily grope with your foot trying to engage the left cleat and try desperately to ignore the ridiculously low reading from the malfunctioning HR strap. "Dude! This is serious business! Did you look at all those those awesome riders who turned up for the race? Pay them some respect by suffering a little. Will you?", you chide yourself for the casual start. A km or so into the race you get into a rhythm and start to grind the gears. You remind yourself you need to change gears now and then depending on which way the road is pointing. 

Just as the suffering levels seem to be hitting the roof the HR strap does you a favor and starts showing the figures that would do the suffering some justice. You decide to pace yourself and stay in drops the whole way. Amid all that suffering and all the panting you try to feel good while going past a few riders who have started a little ahead of you. Then, you taste something bitter when a couple champion riders, who started way behind you, whizz past you, as if you were standing still. "Alright! Focus now! At least keep them in sight", you tell yourself. The heart seems to be ready to blast through the chest. The fire in the throat and nostrils from all the panting is enough to make you feel like an ancient dragon on two wheels. One that is old and sick. Terribly sick.

At last you see the flyover which signals that the finish line is fast approaching. You are not sure either to feel relieved or to fear one last punishment. But like a diligent new student of the roadie clan, you decide to bite into the juicy cake of pain. You try to savor it. You surge across the finish line to the encouraging cheers of friends. You feel pleased with the effort thinking that it was the best that you could do. Of course that is just until the masters remind you that you've neither puked nor dropped dead across the line and that means you have not suffered enough! Welcome to the good life, roadie! :)

BBCh-2012-1, 20k ITT Men's Podium Asif(1st), Loki(2nd), Vivek and Samim (shared the 3rd)

 What a start to the season! 

Nearly 86 riders raced, around 10 photographers and volunteers and a huge number of well wishers were there to cheer the riders. It was truly a festive atmosphere at the first race of the season on the new airport road.  

So many bikers and so many bikes. How would it feel if not like a festival! All those bikes with aero gear on them and all those riders on a nice Sunday morning was a sight to behold. Proper time trial bikes, aero wheels, some road bikes with aero bars, aero helmets, and super thin rides in aero skin suits. You name it you had it there.

Quite a few riders came in from other cities, like Roopak Suri from Hyderabad and Mark Anderson from Mysore and quite a few riders from Bijapur as well. Expat riders like Darren Ried, Georg Leuzinger, Craig Raynes, Jeff Schmidt  were there as well with great racing experience. Lokesh, Naveen, Vivek (Mr. 69), Asif and Samim were just a few names out of the number of riders with fair chance of making the podium.

Men's Category results- BBCh-2012-1; 20k ITT

 In the end, it was Asif(1st) of team NAESAR, Loki(2nd) of KYNKYNY Wheelsports, Vivek Radhakrishnan(3rd) of KYNKYNY Wheelsports and Samim of NAESAR that made it to the podium in Men's category while Neera Ketwal(1st) of Team BOTS, Natasha(2nd) and Shilpa Deo(3rd) of team CAM made it big in Women's category.

Women's Category Results- 20k -ITT

BBCh-2012-1, 20k ITT Women's Podium Neera(1st), Natasha(2nd), Shilpa(3rd)

Thanks to the volunteers on the day who made all the fun and the pain possible. Some of them are, Ananda Ramachandra, Satheesh Amilineni, Roshini Mansukhani, Rengarajan Balasundaram, Akshay Arvind Prabhugaonkar and Arvind Ganesh. Thanks a ton guys! Thanks also to the Veloscope photography team of Srikandan Balakrishnan, Archana, Venkatesh Murugesan, Subu, Vidhyacharan, Darshan, Manoj and Harpreet who covered the event beautifully.


The competition is so close and even fraction of seconds matter at the top. If this is any indication of the season ahead, we are in for a kick-ass season of racing ahead of us in BBCh-2012. Buckle up and sit tight folks! Well, not you roadie! Go, get out and train! :P



For info on BBCh races and lots of race photos, follow Bangalore Bicycling Championships on FB. Rest of the results here.

The Lemond And The Roadie Route

The Background To My Fixie Journey:

In 2010 when I was in Vermont I wanted to buy a road bike and was saving for it. I was looking at various bikes. I always had a fancy for classic steel road bikes and I was keeping an eye out on Craigslist. Apart from that my eyes were set on bikes that are supposed to be do-it-all bikes like Bianchi Volpe and Surly Cross Check. But by the time it was time for me to come back home, due to other financial commitments I ended up coming back with just one bike, the Bulldog, which I bought for all of $175 in May 2010. 

 

After coming back home in Sept 2010, with other priorities in life taking lion’s share of the dough I didn’t have enough to spend on a good road bike. I was not sure what I wanted to buy too. All I was sure was that I didn’t want to buy just any bike that had gears like the first time I bought a bike(Hero Hawk). I decided to play the waiting game. I was enjoying riding the Bulldog anyway and it was serving me very well. Then the goal that I had at the back of the mind of trying TFN on my Bulldog also materialized with my registration for TFN being accepted. So, all my training was going to be on that bike. So to go with the ‘no-cash’ scenario, now there was ‘no-need’ of a road bike. At least not until after TFN.

You Need A Road Bike:

As my training progressed and my Nandi climb reports kept piling up, many of my good friends were concerned of the health of my knees in the long term. They were very rightly warning me about the possible negative impact of mashing up a hill on a big gear(42x15) that I have on my Bulldog. That got me thinking and I assured them that I don’t intend to climb with my fixed gear bike forever and that I’m going to buy a road bike soon. But I had no idea when I will buy one and what I wanted to buy. 

Lucky Me:

Then one fine day I saw an for-sale ad on BikesZone of a beautiful bike, Siva’s Lemond. But the thought of buying it didn’t even cross my mind after looking at how much he spent on that bike. I just wished that the beautiful bike would find a good home. But after a few days when Siva quoted what looked like a super price for the bike, I jumped up and quickly responded to him saying that I will take it. But there was a caveat. I told him that I could not take it immediately as I didn’t have cash but I assured him that I will pay and pick it up for sure after TFN. That meant more than two months later. Any seller would not think twice before refusing such a stupid offer. But not him.

He agreed to keep the bike reserved for me. He was also kind enough to offer the bike immediately and asked me to pay him later. Another good friend offered to loan me the cash needed to buy that bike so that I can pick it up immediately and ride it in TFN. I’m only telling you this to show how lucky I’m to be surrounded by such fantastic friends. But I still wanted to go ahead with my initial goal of riding TFN on the Bulldog. By that time my training was going so well that the doubt of ‘can I do it’ was slowly being replaced by a belief that ‘I can do it’. But believing and doing are worlds apart. So I wanted to do it and see if I can. So, I thanked both of them for their help and told that I wanted to pick it up only after TFN. 

So after a good TFN, I’ve finally picked up the Lemond on 5^th Jan. Siva was again kind enough to bring the bike to my home and hand it over to me.  His love for the bike was pretty obvious when he told me that he is selling it to me on one condition that if I ever decide to sell, he should be given the first chance of refusal before I could sell it to anyone. I don’t think I will sell this anytime soon. What a beautiful bike it is! I just love it!

My dad's new ride! She's a beauty! Isn't she? :)

The Lemond's First Nandi:

After taking it for a small ride on Saturday to dial in the fit, I’ve joined Arvind, Ameet, Mohan, Ullas, Shankar and Sanjay for a ride to Nandi. As I was starting training from base again, the goal was to keep spinning and keep the cadence around 100 and stay on the small chain ring all the way. I was not sure if I could do that and still stay with the group. But fortunately the guys decided against hammering that day. 

We formed a paceline and kept going at a steady pace and reached base. The previous best climb time for me on the Bulldog was 31:20. The Lemond, I think, is a better bike than the Bulldog. At around 9kilos, it is a lighter bike than Bulldog which weighs in at around 11kilos of which one kilo is the weight of my saddle bag itself. The Lemond also has much lighter wheels. So, it should climb much better than the Bulldog. So, I was somewhat confident of a sub 30 minute climb on it. Mohan sir was more optimistic and was saying that the time could be around 27minutes for me. I was not sure.

When the climb started Arvind was ahead of me and Shankar surged past me in the first 500m. I kept going stead and decided to take it by the feel of the legs and the HR. I never looked at the time and kept spinning. I slowly went past Shankar and was just keeping Arvind in sight. He was pacing himself beautifully and acted as a carrot for me. I went past him after 5km and kept going steadily. My nemesis, curve 33, is no longer a nemisis as I just shifted to a lower gear and kept going easily past it. It was just about keeping it steady after that and when I took the final curve and reached the arch to hit the lap button, I saw 27:02. Mohan, The Demon, was right after all.

With Lemond at Nandi arch with a PB of 27:02, more than 4 mins better than PB on the Bulldog(31:20)

I guess, it is not a bad start for the Lemond on its first attempt. :) The goal now is to try and reach sub25 by the end of the year. 

Avg cadence was 104 till Nandi base and 97 for the entire ride. AvgHR for the climb: 175 and avg cadence was 67 for the climb. Oh yeah, I enjoyed coasting downhill on Nandi!

The Road(ie) Ahead: 

Is this the beginning of a new chapter? Is BikeyVenky=FixieVenky=RoadieVenky? Only time will tell. 

The Dream That Was TFN: The Tour And The People

The Tour:
The Tour Of Niligiris. TFN. It is a name that is synonymous with not just one of the biggest cycling tours in India but also the most beautiful and one the most challenging tours in the land. I first heard of it around the same time that I started cycling, late 2008. Because the first tour was in Dec 2008. From that time, the thought of riding through the most scenic and challenging terrain of Nilgiris was something that excited me to no end.

I wanted to ride the tour someday. The stories of the subsequent tours only turned that 'want' into a 'need'. I've decided that I NEED to ride the tour at least once. And ride I did! What a tour it was! It has been a dream tour for me and truly a once in a lifetime experience. If there was only one life that was touched by the tour, it was mine, even before I actually rode the tour. Training for the tour has changed me and my cycling forever!


The goal of riding TFN on the Bulldog is what drove me through the most of last year. It was that goal that motivated me to get out and ride 5 days a week for 6 months. It was the same goal that made me ride at insane hours and rake up what looked like an insane number of miles. It was that goal that drove me to lose all those extra pounds I painstakingly accumulated with the help of the foodie me.

But all this did not tell me exactly how badly I wanted this. I only realized the extent to which my mind was taken over by the goal after breaking down and ending up in tears of joy after crossing the finish line on the Ooty climb. I don't remember ever becoming so emotional after a bike ride. I just loved it!


The Riders:
The riders came from across the country and from across the oceans. From the youngest to the oldest, from the most experienced to the most blue eyed newbie, everyone had a common thread to unite them. It was the passion for cycling, the love for a challenge, the will to push their limits and the love for the tour that brought them together.

Rishi goyal from Ahmedabad, the youngest rider at 14, was a surprisingly mature rider riding well within himself and at his own pace. The young at heart riders like Arun Takur, Arun D'silva etc., proved how age is just a number by riding through the challenging terrain. Aparjeet Nakai, the omnipresent savior, helping out station riders with logistics before the tour, was a calm inspiration on the tour as well.

The Hyderabad gang of Sreekanth Gupta, Kishore Samanuri, Raman Garimella, Ranjith Sajja, Maninder Singh and Gokul Krishna of TBA, rode well keeping the HCC flag flying on the tour. From Pune riders like Sumit Pal, Akshat Jain and Vikram Naik were going great guns. Guys like Narayanan and Akshay Jaitley flew in from Delhi while our very own Gaudzilla, aka Vandit Kalia landed straight from Andamans. His DiveIndia was also the prize sponsor for the Tour. Erik Yeh came in from Calcutta as did many other riders from different cities across the country. Mark Hemhauser flew in from Maryland, US just to be part of the tour. It was his second TFN. Richard Joyce flew in from UK to be part of the tour while his friend Mark Ellison made the tour a curtain opener to his 6 month long cycling tour across India.

Although out numbered on the tour, the women riders, Vicki Nicholson, Meera Velankar and Shruthi Saha ensured they were not out spirited by the way they rode. While the more athletic Vicki gave even the male competitors a run for their money finishing the tour first in the gender category and 7th overall, Meera and Shruthi who were also relatively new to the sport of cycling took on the challenging terrain and finished each day with their head held high. 

The tour also brought out the die-hard spirit of riders like, Gaurav, Amrish and Sumit who were ill prepared for the tour because of their hectic work and travel schedules leading up to the tour. Despite the minimal preparation they not only showed up for the tour they love but also emerged stronger by the day as the tour progressed. Amrish who was the first guy to finish the Ooty climb in 2010 TFN refused to let bad form dictate terms on what he considers rightly is his terrain. He dug in deep and came up with a phenomenal performance on his favorite climb again finishing as the fastest Indian on the climb that day. It was a treat to watch him climb that day as he flew past me. Sumit Pal had an excellent tour finishing 6th overall while Gaurav and Amrish finished just outside the top 10 with 11th and 12th in men.

The Champion riders like Rajesh Nair, Mark Anderson and Jeff Schmidt gave the tour the competitive edge while many other riders like many of my rider friends from Bangalore made the tour so much more fun.

The Volunteers: The Engine Behind:
I'm short of words when it comes to describe the amazing job that the volunteers that formed the support crew did to make the tour such a memorable experience. If not for them the tour would have not been such a great tour. The willingness to help and enthusiasm of the guys has to be seen to be believed. The kind of work that goes on behind the scenes to make a tour like this happen is unbelievably huge and needs great planning, co-ordination and incredible patience.

The great team of volunteers at TFN'11 - Photo Courtesy Mr. Shailendra Goyal

Although only a few names come to mind, I remember everyone by face. Sridhar Pabbisetty and Deepak Majipatil from RACF, Tour Director Francis Santosh Lobo, Race Director Vasu Mishra and their army of men like Badrinath V Sastry, Parameshwar Raju, Abhilash Mohan, Karthik Sridhar, Adarsh Kasyap, Adarsh Shetkar, Shahzeb Rafi, Deep Sehmbi, Purushotham Raju, Rakesh Basavaiah and Praveen to name a few. Kiran Kumar Raju who was in-charge of marking the route each day did a fantastic job. Thank you guys for making each day of the tour such a great experience for us riders.

The medical support team of Physio Dhanajeyan of Spectrum Physio and team at Sita Bhateja Hospitals did an awesome job of taking care of the riders and their niggles and crash injuries. Dr. Arvind, who was himself riding on the tour, was a savior on two wheels tending to the crash victims. He even administered stitches to Vineeth with his cycling helmet on and the surgical gloves replacing his cycling gloves. How many tours claim to have a neurosurgeon on board?

There were a fleet of photographers who made us feel like we were riding a pro tour. The official photographers Chenthil Mohan, Aditya Phadye along with their support; Anand Cj and his team at Creative Chisel, all took on the challenging task of capturing the amazing beauty of the terrain and blending it with the spirit of tour. We've seen samples of the work of Chenthil and Aditya which was stupendous. We're eagerly waiting for all the photos and the video. Thank you for the great work guys!

The official blogger Prashanth Kota, Srinath Nelavai from LeapSky Wireless and Rishi's father Mr. Shailendra Goyal also wielded cameras to capture the beauty of Nilgiris and the riders in action. They did a fab job of it. Thank you guys.

Thank You All:

Although I could not thank him enough I have to try anyway. A special thanks to my friend who doesn't want to be named. Without his help, it would not have been possible for me to ride this tour at all. All of you have made this tour possible and made it one of the most memorable experiences for me. Thank you! Thank you!! And thank you!!!

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Here is the day to day account of Tour of Nilgiris(TFN'11):

Day 1: Bangalore to Mysore
Day 2: Mysore to Hassan
Day 3: Hassan to Madikere 
Day 4: Madikere to Kannur
Day 5: Rest Day At Kannur
Day 6: Kannur to Sultanbhateri
Day 7: Sultanbhateri to Ooty
Day 8: Ooty - Kodanad