The Monsoons ...

My Singing Guitar

Oh! my lovely lovely acoustic Guitar. A set of brand new d'addario light gauge bronze strings on, it is singing like a dreammmmm ...

Couldn't stop myself from recording it. A short, offhand, made in a jiffy, sort of self composition from a teeny weeny, bitty blunt tune which was going on in my mind from days. Excuse, for the imperfections or a possible resulting boredom :P good luck otherwise :)

Once again, thanks to all, for being the patient listeners!

go Bananas!

A sketch of my all time favorite food

Why go Bananas? hmm.. well, because a banana is

- irresistibly delicious
- relatively inexpensive
- available almost everywhere
- whole, natural, unaltered and unprocessed
- excellent source of potassium, iron, b12, bla bla, .. a very long list
- loaded with high quality simple sugars, the best fuel for the body
- quickly satisfies hunger, gives instant energy boost
- portable, convenient, eat anytime, anywhere
- a true 'fast food' just peel and eat .. simple
- easily digestible
- wont make you fat
- natural laxative, rich in dietary fiber
- anti depressant and mood enhancer, natural relaxant
- anti inflammatory
- anti cancerous
- anti ulcer
- soothing antacid
- makes excellent shakes and smoothies
- natural electrolyte replacement while running or cycling
- awesome pre or post gym workout food
- banana skin good for our skin, eg. works well for mosquito bites
- anti pollution, anti garbage, throw off the leftover anywhere .. no worries
- and funny but .. banana skin is also a shoe polish :P

300+ km night-out bicycle ride

A short poem and a sketch capturing the spirit of sleepless, full night-out, bicycle ride experienced on a self supported, 310 km Bangalore - Hiriyur - Bangalore brevet ride, covered in almost 17 hours, with about 14 hours of riding. Adding the commute distances from the start/end point to home registered a total of 346 km on the day, my longest ever.

endless highway, complete pitch black
a dreaded deep stillness, so pervasive so expansive
this darkness a void, an indefinite pause in time
like everything else had stopped, only the pedals kept spinning

-mudit

The experience in short:

23rd June' 2012. Excitement filled my heart to fullest, when I left home around 9:00 PM, to witness the longest ride of my life. 10:00 PM, MG road, the moment began. An initial chocking traffic at MG road, then the long confusing flyovers of  Yeshwantpur Railway Station, finally into the butter smooth NH4, a roadies delight. An irresistible rush of adrenaline, low aero posture, hands on the drops and eyes fixed straight ahead, speeds scaled up like a bullet just fired from a gun. 55 km, a stop at half closed Kamat, near Dabaspet, water bottles refilled, moved on to Tumkur. Thereafter, except some lorries and a few cars, no street lights, no road side shops, no civilization to be seen. Dark endless, lifeless road lay ahead. Deadly, scary, exciting, interesting. Power lights installed on handlebars of the bike and the white strip on the edge of road to follow, being the saviour of the night. Soon, 107 km, a stretch break near Karajeevanhalli toll gate. Weather surprisingly pleasant, a gentle flowing breeze, pitch black darkness,  clear skies and a full array of stars, the little embedded diamonds, shining with radiant brilliance, it all seemed to be a different world, a world cut off from our world, a world of solitude, of true heavenly freedom.

4:30 AM, some stiffness in lower back, shoulders and neck, an urge to sleep, almost dozed off a couple of times while riding, still kept the momentum. Another water break. 5:30 AM, 162 km, Hiriyur, the turn about point, went looking for the control ATM. 6:15 AM, stopped at Idli point, to find no Idlis available, settled for a coffee, some biscuts, a good leg and back stretch, then started off, back to Bangalore at a lower pace. Little after Sira, a stop at Kamat, a good breakfast. The fatigue and soreness magically vanished, moved on. Sun showed up quite well, soon became hot, pace reduced, fatigue increased. Midday, a big lunch near Dobaspet. The heat of the day being quiet intense by now, ridding became difficult. Bums burning on the saddle, hands numb on the handlebars, back stiff, leg muscles tired. Last 30 km left, gathered some nerve, continued, slow and steady. Several streams of sweat pouring from face, last 10 km a struggle, reached CCD, Hesaraghatta, the end point, bicycle parked. Dumping myself on sofa, a big mug of grande cappuccino coffee in hand, some chit chat with other riders, the story got an happy end, and i felt awesome in return of the effort.

A couple of hours later, cycled back to home, and slept within minutes :)

Some Pics:

the route: point A to B to A

one hour before the ride

installing water bottles, air pump, tools, new tires, lights, food etc

The bike is all ready for the trip

midnight the reflector jacket is working

submitting the time stamps at the finish point CCD

the finishers

a sun burnt happy ending :)

The leaving note:

Thanks to IISC Randonneurs and all co riders. It was one of the best rides, the night ride part being the favorite :)

A quick RAW meal

Not a recipe at all, but delicious and nutritious all through, it was fun making and eating it :)

This is how i made it, sprouts of whole wheat berries, mung beans, white black garbanzo mixed with veggies whatever available chopped coccinia, bringal, capsicum and lots of fresh green curry, mint and cilantro leaves, a dash of crunchy mustard seeds, pepper, cinnamon, finally a sprinkle of ginger lemon juice, topped with a delicious banana mango pulpy dressing ... irresistible RAW Heaven!

the APE in man

uncultured ugly wild free

the beast within wants to flee

to unwind, to unman, to reveal

the APE in man!

Blowin' in the wind - instrumental cover - lastday@office

Dedicated to the occasion of being the last working day in my organisation, trying out guitar + harmonica cover version of the Bob Dylan's classic "Blowin' in the wind". The video footage has been compiled from other sources. Though not perfect, hope you like it :)

Enjoy!

5000 km of cylcing

Today, an historic day, just crossed 5000 km mark on my bicycle. Almost 11 months of ridding. An incredible journey so far. The bicycle with all its gear being the most expensive product that i have ever purchased in my life, repeatedly stood the test of time to be one of the most value for the money stuff. Honestly speaking, i think, this simple efficient machine changed my lifestyle forever. 

Happy riding.

Some stats so far.

mileage covered 5002 km
time taken 11 months
time spent only pedaling 11 days 6 hrs 47 minutes
approximate calories burnt 266100 calories
no of wheel spins 2345054 revolutions
approximate fuel saved (if i had a car 15km/l, 69rs/l) 23000 rupees
no of flat tires 1 after 4766 km

the historic moment of crossing the 5000 km mark on bicycle

celebrating the V-Day

Dedicated to all Singles on the V-Day

They do have a strong reason to celebrate. After all they have enjoyed unparalleled freedom, autonomy and an carefree state of life.

no offence meant to any of the couples though :P

The Evil Coin

you humans, you ravening species
you created me, you coined me
and then
your blood em poisoned
your eyes blinded
your minds hypnotized
you fell under my spell

my humans! my slaves!
you will now forever bow to my Power

-mudit

A failed attempt - with happy smile

This is a summary of my recent attempt at the 300km Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) Brevet ride dated December 17, 2011.

So here is my story. Being my first 300km+ bicycle ride, was excited about the event, the excitement doubled due to  none 100km+ rides done in past 3 months, was eagerly waiting for the day. The ride would take me across 3 states Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, where i had to cover a total of 315km in 20hrs. wow!

The previous night preparations included, procuring some high energy goodies at the grocery store, packs   of electrolytes from the medical store, some general gear check up, installing high power front lights and rear strobe (as a few hours towards the end had to done in the night), lubing chains, inflating tires and all that stuff followed by a hot shower and an sleepless night :P anyways, woke up early at 4:45am, slipped into the compression clothing, a reflector jacket on top, set myself on the saddle, to peddle 10km to the start point, the MG Road metro station, in a serene and quite early morning chill. Being the the first one to reach there, waited for bunch of co-riders and organizers to arrive, signed off waver form, got the brevet card stamped, received a cue sheet with a map and kicked off for the big ride sharp 6am.

The early morning darkness lifted off within minutes, was soon cruising through the dense misty fog all the way up to Hoskote where took a right turn towards Malur. Water droplets dripping off the helmet, wet hands engulfed in fog, ridding felt like a dream. Highways shrunk into narrower village roads. A tough time maneuvering through a numerous patchy stretches and a consistent wind resistance to slow me down. every small bump on the road faithfully transmitted all throughout the body. The fantastic weather being on my side helped to keep moving on. After a fresh hot idlis at Malur at 43km, refilled my water stock and headed toward the Tekal. Roads were decent with sudden broken tarmacs in between. Small towns of Bangarapet, Bethamangala, Venkatagirikota were soon crossed. The co-riders gave  a wonderful company. Stopped in between a couple of times, stretched, ate countless roadside bananas, had a hot refresher tea, while the local people and children gathered around to see, touch and inquire about the expensive looking bicycles with techno gadgetry and strange thin wheels. Told them about the trip and got big smiles back, soon moved on.

As the time passed off, eventually sun made its presence felt. A midday and i was riding into Andhra. Kind of felt exhausted with the rising mercury, but then a 20km decent from Vekatagirikota into the deep gorges of Peranampattu was the sweet desert. Crowded town of Peranampattu at 142km under 1:30pm blazing sun felt crazy hot. Unable to find a decent place to rest and feed myself a lunch, gulped 2 rounds of orange juice and started to Vaniyambadi at a little lower pace. The Peranampattu-Ambur stretch was a cool surprise, In spite of being hot, an awesome country side, roads lined up with luscious green trees with wide canopies, the coconut plantations, black grapes, sugarcane fields, plump tamarinds fallen from the trees,  the spectacular sight of small houses and village life by the road side was wonderful to watch.

The radiant sun slowly turned into pleasant yellow. After 180km of almost a non stop hard ridding, it felt nice to be on the smooth Bangalore-Chennai Highway. Felt hungry and exhausted.

Final Destination still 120km away, was going strong and confident but, unfortunately developed some weird knee pain, took the most needed rest and lunch at Cholas highway restaurant at 5:30pm, started again, pushing myself to another 40km upto Krishnagiri only to increase the pain to the point where pedaling further felt difficult and impossible. The long krishnagiri-hossur climbs waiting ahead felt like a monster. Had enough of strength and endurance to make it but the knees wouldn't just allow to move further, decided to drop off from ride, a wise decision indeed. Dark 7:00pm looking out for transport, found a mini truck at Krishnagiri, threw myself and the bike in. Although felt relieved but cant explain how bad it felt to drop off from the ride i was counting on from weeks. wanted so much to finish this ride. Safely back in Bangalore, a hot shower, followed by a dead sleep, the hard day came to an end and i became the 'Did Not Finish' (DNF) in the ride  :(

Nevertheless 220km is still a big number. Actually its not about the number but the journey and the experience and i am happy to have absorbed and grown on that :)

It was good overall experience with a lot of lessons to learn. 

1. Never mess up with the bike fit settings just before a big ride
2. Practice long rides more often. Long brevet rides aren't jokes. They aren't impossible either but they just need a different planning, preparation and strategy
3. Speed thrills but still avoid hitting those big gears on a long ride. Take it easy on knees
4. Loose weight. A reduction of mere 2kg makes hell lot of difference specifically on the climbs

A quick search on the net showed up ITB syndrome mixed with micro trauma due to overuse. A full recovery from the injury being crucial for speedy rehabilitation.

Its been more than couple of weeks now and things seems perfectly fine. Currently focusing on the overall fitness and the right cycling techniques, have already started doing short frequent low gear, high cadence rides. Luck next time.

Some Ride Statistics

Start time: 6am
Drop time: ~7pm 

Total time: ~13hrs
Total distance: 220km

Max Speed: 53.4kmph

avg speed: 21kmph


Elevation profile and the Map of the route

Google map - Kolar Gold Fields 300K BRM