Anyone Interested in Bike training program?

[kk27]

Yesterday, we again decided to do the round Mumbai but taking a detour to Vashi & do a loop over Sion Panvel Highway to add that extra kms to make it a century. The only difference was we decided to take it easy this time & keep a consistent pace...sort of base building ride.

The ride started exactly as we planned, slow & steady with a few fast sections at highway(lap 2), which was blowing us back with strong headwinds...but both of us were riding chatting all the time.

an hr into the ride we hit the Eastern express highway (Lap 3) was a relief from the continuous headwinds, but Prabu suggested something both don't like....a break. we took about five mins to gobble up some water & a chocolates. Thanks to my Gamin we were constantly reminded there was a turn we need to take to Vashi, I for a change didn't want the rain today...but we were welcome with a light drizzle.... it seemed very English & just about when we were beginning to enjoy, I had a flat. quickly installed the a new tube but the hastiness must have damaged the tube, so had to take Prabu's spare, we got it right this time & pushed ahead. & moments later we were doing 40s on flat road....sort of making up for all the delay ;P. we reached vashi took the U-turn back to the highway, but began searching for a puncture repair shop since we were out of spares...... & just then BAAAAMMMM a loud noise & a blast of air on my face.... Prabu's rear tyre had blown up. Prabu looked in for a Taxi & I thought what to do????. I decided to push ahead & complete the ride...I had to ride about 60kms alone. I tried keeping the consistent pace...again on the express way I was greeted with a drizzle & then with sunshine ;P, past Thane when I hit Godhbunder, my bottle was empty.... took a break of few mins to swap with another bottle & fill it with Electral.

Lap 4 I hit the climb section of the ride.... the last time I was here the avg was 20kmph & I wanted to improve this & decided to push myslef a bit & when i finished the section hitting Lap 5 I was quite happy with myself & knew that i had done better than before, only to later find out how much to my surprise.

But the Lap 5 destroyed the avg due to heavy traffic, because the Police had blocked the road from Bahyander till Dhaisar for some blasted politician. This really bugged me & cause lot of pain in the back from constant cleating-uncleating, I even had to walk a few times our push with one leg. Though I was very frustrated, but I was happy looking at the stats here it is - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/10358066

the split data says it all... http://connect.garmin.com/splits/10358066

Lap 1 - from Start to Wes.Exp.Highway
Lap 2 - WEHg till Sion
Lap 3 - Sion-Vashi-Est.Exp.High
Lap 4 - EEH till Godhbunder Climb section
Lap 5 - Climb section till Bahyander
Lap 6 - Bahyander till End point

This ride was a bit diferrent in many repects but esp the cadence....since I got my FD working, most of my ride was on the 52 ring & it feels really good riding on it. In the end it was a fantastic ride & I'm happy I chose to continue & finish the ride... & we have it on our menu again next Sunday.... hopefully without the jinx .

[kk27]

Lap 4 I hit the climb section of the ride.... the last time I was here the avg was 20kmph & I wanted to improve this & decided to push myslef a bit & when i finished the section hitting Lap 5 I was quite happy with myself & knew that i had done better than before, only to later find out how much to my surprise.

But the Lap 5 destroyed the avg due to heavy traffic,

Correction - it's Lap 5 & Lap 6.

[anindya_911]

Nice ride summary, Kaushik!

This weekend, I visited (not by cycle) Javhar & Selvassa. The roads were completely out of the worlds and were so inviting. Almost nil traffic and vistas to die for!
I will post the details separately, but I was thinking You & Prabuddha could use those routes instead of the pothole ridden & vehicle infested Godbunder road (especially, the Dahisar stretch)

Here are few pointers

Fountain Hotel Junchtion - Manor Phata (along NH8, Ahmedabad H'way) 56 km
Manor Phata - Javhar (Via Vikramgad) (take right from NH) 50 Km, nice climbs enroute, Javhar is at 1680 ft
Javhar - Khanvel(Dadra & Nagar Haveli) 46 Km, little quaint town dotted with resorts
Khanvel - Dudhani 19 km, some awe-inspiring scenes and some hard climb and descends, you have to comeback to Khanvel for onward journey

Alternate route from Javhar:
Javhar - Mokhada 21 km
Mokhada - Khodala 22 km some killer climbs enroute
Kodhala - Kasara 29 km

Depending upon the distance, you can plan it single day or overnight trips. Except for the highway, the traffic is very less and 99% of the road are smooth as butter.

Cheers

[prabuddhadg]

Anindya, was this on a Saturday or a Sunday? Kaushik, are you thinking what I am thinking?

By the way, Kaushik, the tube that I kept in my saddlebag, the one that you tried installing but didn't work, seems to be cracked and is leaking in places. The puncture guy said the tube appeared to be old and a little dry.

[kk27]

By the way, Kaushik, the tube that I kept in my saddlebag, the one that you tried installing but didn't work, seems to be cracked and is leaking in places. The puncture guy said the tube appeared to be old and a little dry.

Funny it was the one we had bought.

Anindya... like I said your rides always intrigues me & I'm sure you'll definitely do this one someday ;P.

Anyway..... yes Prabu; I'm thinking exactly as you. Lets do one of those on Saturday/ Sunday or either. it's definitely refreshing to go touch new tarmac, & after Sunday's hundred, I've tasted blood, I'm sure I'll be thirsty by the weekend. I can map those & check which ones are more interesting.... we can then discuss it out. We've never done an overnight ride, we definitely need to do that too.... probably something like a 150+ oneside, but I feel those be done after the rains. I mean it's really looks bad to enter a hotel asking for rooms, with yourself half buried in muck.

[anindya_911]

Anindya, was this on a Saturday or a Sunday? Kaushik, are you thinking what I am thinking?

By the way, Kaushik, the tube that I kept in my saddlebag, the one that you tried installing but didn't work, seems to be cracked and is leaking in places. The puncture guy said the tube appeared to be old and a little dry.

It was both the days

If you spray talcum powder on the inner tube before stowing them, it helps to lengthen its shelf life.

Cheers

[Ren_V]

If you spray talcum powder on the inner tube before stowing them, it helps to lengthen its shelf life.
Cheers

Yes, I second that. I had cut open an old tube i had for some DIY work last weekend and found it coated with the powder. So Anindya is right.

[kk27]

Anidya - I could find a route till Jawhar but from there on there was no direct route to Khanvel apart from the highway or the way around the mountains parallel to the highway. I'm sure there must be a un mapped - route. even the road to Khanvel only showed from the Dadra side. I tried the wikimaps.... there i mapped a unmapped road but mapping one from Jawhar would take some time. But I don't know if these will reflect in Mapmyride.com so that I can upload it on the Garmin. Do you have the route mapped????

from Kandivili to Jawhar was some 120km or so don't remember exactly but I'm sure we can cover this within 5-6hrs easy - are there any hotels there to stay???

The second route was easily mapped.....till Kasara in a day could be a bit longish, but can certainly be covered in a day.

whilst seeing through the map I found it that it's very close to Triambak - famous Triambakeshwar temple.... maybe we can do a religious tour too

So Prabu.... now which one would you like to do???

[anindya_911]

KaushiK,

The google and other mapping co. seems to have a nasty habit of mapping only the major and popular routes. The best routes often lies outside them.

There is a direct route which takes you from Javhar to Khanvel, no need to comeback to highway. Just ask anybody at Javhar for route to Selvassa (it is called Selvas by the locals), plus there are many milestones at each corner to guide you towards the rightway.

Javhar has got 3-4 pricy resorts which are usually full on weekends. However, I have seen many boards of homestay arrangements (Called Gharghuti in marathi), the will be basic roof over your head types but will be available at a minimum cost. So ask locals around and you will be guided to the nearest.

Kasara is single day will be very tiring as the road goes up and down 500 ft at a drop of an hat and there are some major climbs before Javhar and between Mokhada and Khodala, where the route goes down to river bed at Deobandh ( a beautiful temple).

Trimbakeshwar will be 55 km from Javhar and the route is again very scenic.

All the best, go out and have fun!

Cheers

[anindya_911]

More details of the route are here viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3491

[RNair]

2500kms in Italy and Greece, racing and touring, the Italian Alps to the mesmerizing blue coast of Greece, many high moments - conquering Ventoux (France), Blockhaus, Alps, racing and chasing in a peloton at 50km/hr, lost in the back roads of the Peloponnese, SATISFIED! Time to get back home. few more days left, will try and make each one worthwhile! Thanks and Apologies to everyone for putting up with my cycle-centric messages!

Humbly I feel I have over done myself. I never thought in Jan 2009, I would be riding at speeds of 40-50km/hr in the thick of a peloton, hard work has paid with dividends. Very proud to have gone from a 30km/hr rider to sustaining speeds of 40km-50km/hr. I will now reap in the fruits for another month before hanging the boots for a month of recovery. I want to return to Europe next year even more stronger and I believe I have it inside me.

[uhk]

Kudos mate. Your improvement has been just amazing. It has been an incredible journey for all of us who started the training program. Woo hoo.

[prabuddhadg]

Rajesh's improvement has been amazing. But then his dedication to the programme too has been exemplary. Me, for instance, while I do like to ride fast, I just don't want to take as much pain as Rajesh must have, to perform that much better. I'd rather have it on a platter.

But still, whatever intervals and cadence drills that I have done, have contributed to making me a better rider. It has been specifically the cadence drill that was the biggest contributor to my desire to give up smoking. Had I not got into this programme, I would most probably have remained a smoker till this day. Its 7 months and 3 days since my last puff.

The intervals from Rajesh's programme have given me ideas for some intervals of my own, that start off from the faster cadence that I am now capable of maintaining. That is on ongoing routine, and I'm loving it.

My next project is to get my wife to learn cycling. I have set up Thor for her, with saddle height and stem length set up for her. Now to get her to get on the bike. Is there a programme for that?

[kk27]

I too have followed the cadence drills rigorously, Though I was never a cadence rider but now, 120rpm comes seamlessly. Infact both of us have started on our Interval training by increasing cadence and we are loving it.

As for getting a wife or even mother riding regularly, the only thing required is perseverance

[prabuddhadg]

Yesterday, we had a pretty nice ride. In fact, it turned out to be quite a surprise in terms of performance. The night before, we had agreed upon a long and easy ride to Nariman Point and back, which would be about 85-90 km. In the morning, however, Kaushik said he needed some work to do to meet an office deadline and would have to return by 9:30. It was raining, so, in my mind, Ghodbunder Road with its concrete road climbs was not on the favourites list. Finally, we decided to ride to Bandra. This would be just 50 km, but then I thought if I rode on a high ratio, that would mean some hard work. Anyway, I had started off from home on the 52 12, just for the heck of it. In fact, I realise that if you do not push this ratio, its pretty nice for a different warm up.

We set off over the wet roads, with no drizzle yet but overcast skies. I moved from 52 12 to 52 14 and soon to 52 15. Soon, I was moving reasonably smoothly at about 30 kmph, and it did not feel like I was grinding. Kaushik too was on the large ring. Looking at him pedal I kept noticing how slowly he seemed to be pedalling, which in fact was the same cadence as I was maintaining. That made me realise how the high cadence method had got ingrained into my thoughts.

We reached the WE Highway after crossing one flyover, still on the larger ring and me on the 15 cog. The moment we join the highway, the wide smooth stretch of Goregaon leading to the Aarey flyover is an immediate invitation to accelerate. I resisted the temptation to increase the cadence all of a sudden, and accelerated smoothly. The southward climb to the top of the Aarey flyover is short and we got to the top easily. My speedo had stopped working, and was showing a 0 as my speed. I would have to stop a fiddle with the sensor on the fork to make it start working again, but the speed and cadence felt pretty nice, so I just kept going. Soon, it began to drizzle and it felt nice. I have by not got into the habit of giving the bike a nice hose down as soon as I get home, so rains and puddles and muddy water do not bother me even a bit. I just kept going. In fact, the rains keep the body temperature down and I hardly sip any water these days. By the time I reached Bandra, I realised I had not had any water. So, just like that, I drank some water.

Kaushik's Garmin was recording all the data that I was having to guess. Both of us were pleasantly surprised that we had already completed 25 km on the 52 and were not feeling any strain. The base building was yielding results. I remembered the times just a couple of months back when I would get off the bike at Bandra after a fast ride with my legs feeling quite tired. Today things were quite different. We had come to Bandra after a month or maybe more, and this was a nice surprise.

We loitered in the small pedestrian tunnel under the road towards the Sea Link appreciating the graffiti, and after a while, as the rain faltered a bit, set off again.

I was by now feeling quite accustomed to the load of the 52 17. Every once in a while, I would shift up to the 15, and on the flyovers, shift down to the 17. I had done the fiddling with the speedo at the halt in Bandra, and I was pleasantly surprised every once in a while as I looked at it, that I was most of the time on speeds of 32 or even 34. And the legs still felt quite fresh.

There is a stretch just after the Jogeshwari flyover, as one approaches the Hub mall, where the road widens to something like 10 lanes, and there is ample space to work one's legs up. Both Kaushik and I let fly and as I glanced at the speedo, I saw the numbers 49, 50, 51 fly past. 52 came a little more slowly and then 53. I was feeling out of breath. At that point I remembered the TT timings of the Tour, and realised that those madmen ride at this as their average speed. I may have maintained the speed for about 15 pedal cycles. Doing an hour at 50 is not even a distant dream. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted.

As we left the highway and moved into the busier and slower Link road, I noticed that it was a lot easier to maintain 30+ on these ratios than on the 42 17 and 42 15 that I had been riding on most of the time. This route to Bandra may be a boring ride in terms of views around, but for training it has its merits. I think I shall do Bandra more frequently and practise the high ratio rides here. I got to 52 14 briefly this time. I am looking forward to the time when I can sustain 52 12 for some time without looking like I am in slow motion.

We ended our ride with some strong coffee at CCD. Our legs still felt fresh. Kaushik said his average speed seemed pretty high, around 27 or 28, though we had never really pushed ourselves except during the brief 50kmph stint.

Later, he called to give me the news that for the entire ride, we averaged 28.5 kmph. So much for some easy pedalling. In fact, the effort felt more like an average of 23 or max 24. So, now I am pretty certain that if I focus on it, my desire to do a Bandra ride with a doorstep to doorstep average of 30 kmph is within my reach.

So, guys, I think the programme is really working. Really.