82Kgs on 18/08/2010, 81Kgs on 18/08/2011 So what did I actually gain?

To cut the story short, I got into cycling on this day, exactly a year back. Before that my ride was a Hero Ranger or a One Tonner :)

Was introduced to good cycles and BikesZone while searching for 26x1.75 tires for the Ranger. Till that time  cycle worth 5K was costly for me and the suspension on ranger a Luxury. Was blown away one day when Vandit said somewhere about 25K fork on his Niner. Slowly built up my mind for getting a new cycle as I was feeling tempted as well as a wayanad trip was being planned. Took a lot of time from fellow BZers asking whether extra 2K for Schwinn over ACT110+ was worth. Finally took the plunge after talking to Krish from TBA. Became a proud owner of Schwinn Sporterra on 18th Aug 2010. Was ridiculed by many for 'wasting' 14K on a 'cycle'. Anyways kept my cool and headed to Wayanad the day after on 20th. Till date I dont know how come I managed that distance with that ease!
Seeds for anther long solo ride were being planned while returning on a crappy Kerala ST bus.
Started riding almost daily, a distance of 30-35kms on weekdays and 80-100s on weekends. Was not aware of cross training and all such fundas. Got introduced to Rohan Kini when he talked in BBC about a garage called BOTS he owns. Talked to him and got introduced to the wonderful community of BBC and BBCh and a bit of bike servicing after RR cycles screwed my RD.
One fine day did a solo trip to Goa. Was talk of the village for two days courtesy the bike trip and more so for the 14K cycle I owned. Got some snarky comments, I moved on. Returned to Bangalore while dad wanted to keep Schwinn for him.

Took around a months gap, one fine day or I should say night, was speaking to Krish. He just made a passing remark that someday ill own a roadbike. I tried skipping that thought but it was not to be. Did couple of test rides on Vishaks Sport1 and made my mind. I did not have enough money so opted a interest free loan from Company and bought myself a roadbike, Giant Defy 2. Was welcomed to the 700c club whole heartedly :)
Started enjoying the whole new world of roadbiking. Weekend distances increased from 100kms to Multiple Nandi climbs. One day got up early morning and rode to vellore to return home by 9pm, distance 405/17hrs. Still was far way from any methodic training. Weight came down from 82 in Aug 10 to 71 in Jan 11. Did set my PB on Nandi in this period. I was having a good time with BBCh and other rides. Or should I say this was the calm before a storm?
Then on Jan 15th, Bangalore BRM 200km, rode hard without a warmpup and injured my left knee. Limped back 105km and finished the Brevet. Just a day earlier, my comment that 'I can just get up and ride 200km' had come in some Newspaper, coustesy Anita. Blamed my overconfidence and took rest for around 4 months, did many things to get out of the injury.. Did some sporadic rides in between but nothing consistent. Changed my job as I could not afford maintaining roadbike with previous salary. Spoke to many friends regarding recovery and correct ways of training. Though I was not cycling, was actively involved in various community events like BRMs and BBCh.
Got back to regular training from June. 1st. No exercise(except for knee) took toll on my body as I gained around 11kgs to my Jan 11 weight. Lost a lot of Stamina. Suffered like anything on a short 46km ride with friends. Got better slowly and followed a training plan. I love Long distance riding but all of that was taken away from me, in a day because I hurried up into things. Someday in my life I want to finish PBP and RAAM. Lets see how  things go. 

So what I gained in last one year? Most important for me was the new friends from variuous walks of life, managing events and a lot of self confidence. This is the best investment I have probably made.

I would like to thank all those who have helped me in various ways. Rohan, DocD, Rajesh, Vandit, Nalla, all Venkats/Venkys, Manish, Siva, GR, all Abhis etc etc. The list is looong :)

Breakfast at Vellore, Lunch at Krishnagiri and dinner at home, 405kms/16hrs 49mins

This ride is dedicated to my loving parents for their upcoming 25th wedding anniversary.

Nothing much to write about as I was concentrating on riding. Not many snaps too. Also I might miss some timelines as I did not note them much.

Planned this ride with Dipankar Paul. Target was to head 200km towards Vellore and return back.

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 enroute. 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. I am still getting that pain in elbows :(. 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. Dipankar wanted to do 200km by 9am so as usual he started pushing at 37-38kmph. I was getting tired while keeping pace with him but the crazy bugger just went ahead. 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.

Started for Bangalore and ran straight into headwinds. Also sun was starting to show up we were getting ready for the bit of sufferfest. En route Dipankar took his trademark 10min powernap 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 answered many questions from other motorists. A guy riding Pulsar asked me why we were riding. With my answer that we are practising, 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 also tired so we decided to rest for sometime.

 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 to the 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 dont like 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.

Something important I came to about myself that, I energise well if I take a 10 minute break. All in all this was a nice ride and never felt like I had to push myself too hard except 165-200 mark. Thanks to Dipankar for riding with me.

Total distance 405km

Riding time: 16hrs 49min

Total time: 19hrs

My new mean machine, 9.24kg Giant Defy 2

http://picasaweb.google.com/akshayprabhugaonkar/GiantDefy2#

Goa conquered! 587.73kms and 29 hrs of riding.!!

First of all thanks to all of you for the support and the tips. for
those who were in touch with me during the entire ride, Sandeep,
Shanky,Vishak,Manish,Dipankar,Sapna. And also my parents and GF
who supported me right from the beginning.



Some stuff here too
http://www.bikeszone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6725&start=0
I am lazy about writing down stuff. So please excuse me for all the
below crap. I will be very pleased to answer any questions though. For
those who dont want to read, here is the summary.

"I rode 587.72km in ~29hrs and reached goa"

I thought of this ride(and doing it solo) when i was hanging from a
bar in a crowded KSRTC bus returning from Wayanad while our bikes were
loaded on the top. Riding with those friends with whom i had done
Wayanad trip, i somehow felt i was capable of maintaining much higher
speed over a much longer distance. From here started that quest for
the trip to Goa and preparations for the same. This ride was supposed
to be in November first week and i was training as per that schedule.
But due to some other commitments, i was forced to do it last week. My
target was to cover all that distance in 36 hours. I did plan the
major stops but fully avoided mapping waypoints as that makes it less
adventurous and i always love to find unknown things.

The preparations went as follows,
Daily ride of 35km for almost a month, gradually increased from 20kms.
Weekends 100-120km,
Two back to back centuries a week prior to my ride.
Getting my bike serviced from Rohan and new Schawalabes from Sachin.
Sachin gave me his spare headlights too.

The stuff that i carried
Mini repair kit
frame pump
Puncture kit with spare tube
four Parle-G packs
18 Energy bars
Red Bulls
Pack of dates
First Aid kit and Moov Spray,
16 pouches of enerzal
Toilet Kit
etc etc

over the complete ride, i DID NOT stop any where during riding for
more than 10 minutes(that includes lunch breaks too) because franky i
did not require it.and also i did not want to loose the momentum. I
kept on eating Cakes/ParleG/energy bars/Bananas every 2hrs.

And this is how the ride began.....

I had planned to start at 01:30am on thursday morning but it rained
continuously. I felt my dreams will be shattered but luckily the rain
gods listened to my prayers and i went to meet Vishak to do a final
check on bike. He has helped a lot in knowing about bicycle tuning and
giving me his toolkit to use. I am very grateful to him.
It was 11:pm by the time i had good meal. Packed the stuff and tried
to rest for sometime but couldnt get sleep due to excitement. It again
started raining again at 12 and continued till 2am. Finally after
having a nice bath and some prayers i started for the biggest
adventure in my life. My roomie took couple of snaps of and i pushed
the pedal ahead. It was sharp 02:58am on Thursday 7th October 2010.

My day one target was to reach Shimoga which is 295-305km from
bangalore.

DAY-I
Weather was nice and i took the ORR and headed towards Tumkur.
Headlight which Sachin gave me was sufficient for 23-26kmph. After
riding for an hour i felt some pain in the left knee and i feared for
the worst as abondaning the ride was the last thing i wanted. Took a
break of couple of minutes, had some ORS and started again while
putting less effort on left leg. Somehow the pain subsided over the
descents of Neelmangla-Bangalore road. Weather was really nice and i
was cruising at 24-25kmph. Noticed a bypass to Guppi some 10km before
to Tumkur so headed that way. Though a shortcut, road is really very
bad at some places and i ended up in many potholes. Not good for road
bikes.!!! Found an Indica and a Spark punctured on the way. I
completed 102km exactly at 0726hrs and took couple of snaps and
updated the ride details on FB. Also had one energy bar. Now i was
full of confidence about completing the ride. Started riding again
through the flats. Luckily sun wasnt shining fully and i was saved
from the heat. Passed guppi eventually and joined NH206 which took me
all the way to Honnavar. Found a companion here in the form of HT
electric wires which produce nice humming sound . They were with me
till Jog. Anyways i kept on drinking water/ORS and eating and taking
snaps in between. The land was not as barren as some had told but some
nice paddy fields and also greenary, thanks to the rains. Reached
Tiptur at 10am i think. some slopes on the way with few ascents helped
keep the average up. Had some water and snacks at a shop after doing a
short climb. From here i had a glimpse of western ghats. Started
riding again. There is a nice lake on left some 50kms from Kadur. I
finished 200 at around 1240hrs. Ate some bananas here. Was averaging
around 23.4kmph until this point. A funny thing happened while passing
through Kadur.

A truck and a Tempo were ahead of me. A dog was trying to cross the
road, first the truck and than the tempo horns scared him. When i
passed him, i just made some sound to irritate him. Little did i know
that he will get insulted and follow me for some 100-150mts. I was
literally scared and pedalled for dear life!!!!!! Finally he gave away
and i was left panting at the end of around 500mt sprint!!!

Ate couple of energy bars and started again. Shimoga was 107km from
here. At this point i realised that im far off from Bangalore and no
return journey was now not possible.

Anyways i kept riding and passed Arsikere. Started feeling some heat
now and poured in some water over the head to cool-off. Crossed a
railway crossing at around 1445hrs and came a very very bad section of
road. I got down from the bike and pushed for over a km. Sure i would
have got a puncture if i had ridden over. With lot of dust around and
scorching sun i was getting tired. Energy bars and water kept me
going. A Honda City passed me with a C'dale F7 on top. Again came a
small stream of water where i cooled-off again.

Nothing eventful happened until i reached Tarikere only to notice
clouds gathering over the horizon. Did some quick recce and found a
lodge on the highway(hotel sagar i guess) just in case i needed some
backup. Rode without any problems till Bhadravati and just when i
thought ill make it to Shimoga, it started raining heavily. Did not
have any option other than to wait under a tree. Wasted some 10-15
minutes there and after getting irritated by the attention i was
getting from the other bikers who had taken shelter i left for
Shimoga. Luckliy the rain stopped in some minutes and i pushed again.
The nice weather and the greenery around made me forget the exhaustion
and i really enjoyed the ride till Shimoga city. Just checked in to
the first lodge i saw after confirming that i can sleep with my 2nd
sweetheart . Time was 1826hrs. An exhaustive Day 1 had come to an end
with 305.76km on the odo. My FB account and Cell was flooding with
messages from 'You are an idiot' to 'You are an inspiration' stuff.
Loved that. Spoke to some friends, had bath followed by a nice dinner,
icecream and went to sleep at 2035hrs.

Though covering 306km was not easy, what lay ahead on day 2, shunned
this fully.

Following is a brief stat for day 1. (avg speed and trip time got
reset on decathlons DC-7 cyclocomp after 12hrs. Will get it checked
from them.)
Total time: 15hrs and 28min
Total riding time : ~14-14.30hrs.
Distance covered : 305.73km

Day II
I did not keep any alram purposely thinking that ill automatically
wake up after I am back in shape. Exactly same thing happened but only
at 0610hrs Anyways quickly checked that all body parts are in shape
and got ready by 0645. Weather was pleasant with sun rising in a
cloudless sky. Just to warn me of all the heat i will be facing later
in the day. Me thinks. Here I took one important decision to skip Jog
falls and try to reach home in two days as 285km looked like an
achievable target.

Started for Sagara which is approx 70kms from Shimoga. Here onwards
hilly terrains rule most of the part. The Flora changes from small
bushes to big trees. Road is also generally nice with few
bumps(without any signboards) in between. I was doing preety well
until something suddenly went wrong with my left knee while
negotiating a climb. Got down from the bike and sprayed some moov and
gave myself some rest. Did some 5omt running and i felt better. Mind
you, this was somewhere way inside forest, i was alone and frankly was
little bit scared also as i had passed one Tiger-Lion safary park
soometime back!!!. Anyways pushed ahead and after the hilly area was
over i came under some intense sunshine quite early in the
morning(9-9.30 I think). I feared running out of water as i was
feeling thristy quite often. Luckily found one nice and clean water
stream near one field and got cooled again. Got the water filled from
a house i found on way. Met couple of young chaps who were curious
about my bike and wanted to ride it until they saw the seat height and
got scared(I said it cannot be lowered). I met Mr Arun, a mechanical
engineer, now fulltime into farming. He has done cycle trips to
Kanyakumari and some other southern cities in his heydays on Atlas
bikes. I offered him a ride on my Schwinn and he was impressed a lot.
Only 5th guy till than to get my bike to ride!!! I continued ahead and
passed the bridge to Jog falls. The road condition changed from small
climbs to unending twisting and turning curves and from smooth to
bumpy and at times no roads at all!!! I realised this will be my test.
I managed almost all climbs without getting down except few where i
forgot to change gear while watching the mesmarising mountain views
and ended up in very high gear. It had rained sometime back in that
area so the whole atmoshere was amazing. Took some snaps on the way
and reached the traditional view point to have a look at Sharavati
valley. I felt great standing there, watching at the vast water basin
some 1000mts below. What i felt can be understood can be understood
only after riding through that terrain and reaching the summit. sadly
took just one snap here which wont do any justice to what i saw. I
forgot all my pains until one tourist uncle asked me whether I have
cycled from Jog falls. When i told him about my ride, he called his
family members to tell about me and a kid took my snap too

I cant really recollect about where the climbs and descents are, but I
will suggest getting some good brake pads before doing this route. I
ended up with hell lot of rubber over the rims. Anyways I finished the
ghats and was very happy that Honnavar is just 33kms ahead which i can
do in 2hrs and than ride home. What came next was a complete shock to
me......

In between me and Honnavar stood 4 huge climbs followed by descents
with no twists and turns and right under the scorching sun. I managed
the first climb only to find another one coming up in matter of
minutes,just after finishing descent. I gave up and just walked the
entire climb. Same thing happened at the third climb and i just sat on
a rock right under the sun. I was demoralised, thristy and very tired.
Also thought of dozing off after reaching Honnavar. Finally emptied a
can of Red Bull and couple of Energy bars. RB did energise me a bit
and somehow i finished all the climbs and reached Honnavar. I cannot
explain in words what i felt looking at those barren hills with the
road going all the way till the top. Those who will follow my
footsteps can hopefully explain it better. I really believe this was
the test of my endurance and i did pass it somehow.

Anyways reached Honnavar at 1700hrs, a complete 1hr 30minutes behind
my plan. My house stood 115kms from Honnavar. I decided to push and
cover the distance at night as i was familiar with the roads. Passed
Kumta at 1845hrs and stuffed myself with some Bananas and water. It
will already getting dark and i had trouble adjusting to bright
headlights of incoming traffic. The NH17 is a two lane road with quite
lot of traffic. Ride till Gorkarna junction went without any problems
until one tempo without any lights came directly into my lane. I jus
spotted him in time and got off the road. Got scared a little. Still i
was in dilemma whether to continue or stay at Ankola. Anyways pushed
ahead and just when i had covered 4-5kms i got blinded by lights of
incoming vehicles and almost banged a truck head-on. I know i had a
very very narrow escape. I was shaking litterally. Took the bike aside
and had some water. Called dad to book a room in a hotel at Ankola.
Reached there after covering remaining 24kms and had a siegh of
relief. Day two ended here with some amazing and some horrific
moments. Finally i had covered 533km in two days with around 26hrs of
riding. Got fresh and had a refreshing fish curry and fried fish
dishes at the hotel.
Went to sleep feeling bad that my sweet home is just 54km away, at the
same time happy for what i had achieved.

Day two stats
total time : 13hrs(0645-1930hrs)
total riding time : ~11:45hrs
Distance covered : 228km
-

Day III

Started at 0515hrs and after paying a visit to our kuldevi Shri
Aryadurga, headed towards Karwar. Traffic was near non existent. This
route is very scenic with three nice and small ghats on the way. One
of which passes next to Sea Bird Naval base(largest in asia). I had
something very surprising while on the descent. Guess what. I found
two cyclists!!!!!!! They came all the way from Austria and headed
towards Kerala. Total distance on odo 12000kms. Mind boggling. We
chatted for sometime and exchanged contact details. Anyways i reached
Karwar in no time and raced towards Goa. I crossed the Goa border at
sharp 0811hrs. Got couple of snaps from local police guy. Just 4 kms
remained to reach to my sweet home. I choose the route were we used to
cycle during school days. Remembered how we raced down those descents,
how i had crashed couple of times, once taking down another guy with
me.. Yeah i became little emotional here. Finally reached my home at
0830. I did done it after surviving through the ordeal on 2nd day. Was
feeling great. Took the bike on shoulders and went down to my home.
Met my parents and did some photosession. Thats how i completed my
journey with 587.72kms on the odo.

This ride gave me lot of confidance.

Lessons learnt,
1. I was faster riding alone rather than in a group.
2. People showed lot of curisity towards me and my bike whereever i
stopped(i choose places with less people, Dipankars advice)
3. I told them that my friends are coming in car behind and doing
sightseeing as I am riding slow. This thing paid off i think.
4. Though i skipped long breaks fully, i took snaps with N82 cam
everytime i stopped to cherish those memories.
5. Get water full water supply all time. We never know how far is the
next shop or house in a forest.

My target will be to do this distance in less than 24hrs. May be after
I get a road bike!!!!
Once again thanks to everyone and also those handful of people who
will read the above boring rant. Here are some pics...


http://picasaweb.google.com/akshayprabhugaonkar/GoaConquered02?authkey=Gv1sRgCP3h6LjAqtbcHw&feat=directlink

My first maiden solo century in 04:09:10 on my Schwinn

I did it finally. A SOLO maiden century!!!!!
Warm up for the D-Day ride.
Though i have done many centuries before, this was the first time i did it solo.

And big thanks to Doc who said he averages 24-25 for a century which i thought of targeting and Shreekumar who gave me some much needed confidence. Thank you both.

I Started at 05:00 from AECS with 4 bananas in tummy and half litre of water, with full gear, hydration pack and extra packets of ORS, only to realise after crossing varthur that i left my headlights home. No more street lights and i started wandering in pitch dark with occasional ray of hope from passing traffic. oncoming traffic did more bad than good because i just couldnt make out where the road was after there lights vanished. Stopped at dommasadra at around 05:45 had a quick tea. By this time there was some light and i started again. Now there was no darkness but such a heavy fog that i just couldnt see anything more than 20mts ahead.To make matter worse my glasses started collecting due to such an extent that at one place i recognised there was a bump on the road only by the sudden vertical movement of an lights of oncoming car. Frankly i was scared.http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/kSqBWlqYICTpqeF8DYqTfVwH1KqVmp22ctDkMEKNTN0?feat=directlinkhttp://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/TwIFFF5SjyWV23RbsRjDiVwH1KqVmp22ctDkMEKNTN0?feat=directlink By this time i averaged just 16km in 01:20hrs.

Luckily for me things started to brighten up and i reached hosur in good light and with some overtaking manuevers on splendors and Activas. Took the left just below the flyover and Started on Bagalur road. It is very nice road with less traffichttp://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/JmA_RwuVVfHIdYixYC_xVFwH1KqVmp22ctDkMEKNTN0?feat=directlink till i reached a junction and again took left to head for sarjapura road. There are some very very bad patches on this road. Found this funny stuff on way!!!http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/lsxHXOm3WlSV3PrHmziUelwH1KqVmp22ctDkMEKNTN0?feat=directlink From here to dommasadra and decathlon things went normal until one mad truckie honked for a minute and than overtook me. I waited for few seconds and started drafting him till i was comfortably doing 44kmph. Up came the open road and i easlity overtook him with a smile on face. dragged for over a km till i got tiredhttp://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/q4D1CpAoouGNne4IqMK-ElwH1KqVmp22ctDkMEKNTN0?feat=directlink. The WTF look that the truck cleaner gave me.. I will never forget that.

Then followed the boring route ORR-Marthahalli-KRpuram-Whitefield-AECS. Slow traffic near KRpuram added atleast 15 minutes to my ride time.

Finally reached home. cyclocomp read 100.71km/24.2kmph at the endhttp://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/Hbpo2uUTqJFUQOE7YjkQfFwH1KqVmp22ctDkMEKNTN0?feat=directlinkhttp://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/M4Z4b6rEWNJbEbvMDDJhq1wH1KqVmp22ctDkMEKNTN0?feat=directlink. That was it. Target achieved. Also my comp logged exact 700km since the day i bought it http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/91C_Xq5ZQ05lbjEbyMuRGVwH1KqVmp22ctDkMEKNTN0?feat=directlink

Spent total of 15minutes excluding ride time for taking snaps and hydration.

I feel 25kmph was well in reach but for some scary blind riding and traffic messup on ORR. Feeling great for my achievement. And can clearly see improvements in my riding speed which i can keep well above 35 most of the time on level and open road.

This ride added a ton to my confidence for the Goa ride plans.