Cycling, Coaching: Thoughts.

Of late, coaching and training in cycling have all been about numbers: precisely drawing up a training plan (based on the athlete's abilities) to achieve a certain goal. Today, with the advent of technology, a coach doesn't need to ever have seen the cyclist he/she is coaching. It's great - one can hire a world class coach regardless of where you live. While virtual coaching is the norm today and is clearly working quite well, I think it lacks something important.

A lot of information about a ride/training session can be obtained from looking at the data but there are also crucial things that are missed. As a cyclist, nothing beats having your coach riding with you and giving you instant feedback - on your pedal stroke, posture, choice of gears, bike handling, efficiency, nutrition, reading terrain and winds, etc. And for a cyclist who isn't at an advanced level, these are really basic and important things - foundations, if you will. As someone who is beginning to get serious about cycling, my brief stint with a virtual coach was undeniably helpful - I had someone experienced designing workouts for me, looking at my ride data and giving me feedback. For me however, the feedback was too little and not quick enough. I thought It was also a little expensive for what I was getting. In addition to that, there are usually limits on how much interaction you can have with a virtual coach. All this experience had me wanting a coach that I could ride with.

One day, I'd like to be a cycling coach and not just a virtual one. What can I provide that a virtual coach can't provide? For starters, physical presence and all the benefits that I mentioned above. Being a geek and a gear-head, my knowledge of equipment could come in handy. I'm also an efficiency/optimization nut and I'll doubtlessly pass the madness on! At the moment however, I neither have the expertise nor the experience to be a coach but what I do know is that I have the passion and dedication for it along with the motivation to keep learning all the time. I need to start racing soon to translate all my bookish knowledge to firsthand experience. The journey has begun.

It's funny...

...how every monkey with a DSLR thinks he's a photographer and has a "Monkey Singh Photography" page on Facebook. Class, people.

That Moment.

Whenever I'm riding with a group of stronger riders, this is what I desperately try to avoid: getting dropped.

A paceline. To be dropped is to be left behind by the group because the rider cannot sustain the pace required to stay with the group. Riding in a paceline reduces the aerodynamic drag significantly.

Riding with stronger riders is something I really enjoy because it makes me push myself more than I normally would. I'm not too sure what exactly it is that contributes more to the post-ride sense of achievement and satisfaction - if it is trying my hardest and giving it your all on the road or if it's the confidence (and ego) boost I get from not getting dropped by stronger riders. It could also be something more physical, chemical: the endorphin induced feeling-good post a hard workout. And of course, a guilt-free pass to eat whatever I want! I suspect it's a combination of all of them in my case.

There are crucial moments in a group ride that determine if you will finish with the group or get dropped and crawl back home alone. These are moments where you have to find that extra bit of motivation to keep going and not give up, dig deep like you wanted to when you saw Eddy Merckx or Jens Voigt ride, apply everything you've ever learned about cycling and try being as efficient (I'll bore you with that some other time) as you can be to give yourself a better chance. These are moments when time seems to have slowed down, moments I remember clearly for weeks or even months after the ride. They define the ride for me. They're like tests which you pass or not: pass when you've really given it your everything irrespective of if you got dropped or not. It's a battle with yourself, not others. It also helps to remind yourself during these times that the suffering is only going to be worse once dropped! 

I don't know about others but, interestingly, these are also moments when I have barely any recollection of the surroundings whatsoever - I could well be in heaven and it wouldn't matter - vague recollection at best. I only distinctly remember the pain, effort and mental strength (or lack thereof) that was required on my part. During these moments, in spite of being a serious gearhead, never did I find myself wishing I had aero equipment or a lighter bike, only the legs and the mental strength.

I'll leave you with this. The great man himself.

Thrilled to be reunited with my...

...butt cream, bwahahaha!

But seriously, a must-have for any regular road cyclist out there.

Ooty and Munnar - Ride Stories.

Ooty

Munnar

The Bicycle Obsession

is one of the two big ones I have at the moment (Himalayas being the other one, in case you're wondering). A lot of even my closest friends don't know just how passionate I'm about cycling (road cycling actually, the Tour de France kind, if it helps understanding). It's part of everything I do - eating, sleeping, reading, browsing the Internet, making up a day's (even a week's or month's) schedule, grocery shopping...you get the idea. Like with anything else, it's a great feeling when you meet people who are as mad as you, who speak the same unintelligible (to the average person) language and who take joy in crazy ass weird little things that the average Joe wouldn't look a second look or think a second thought about. It's a connection; a kind of acceptance. I knew some people through a cycling forum but had never met them before the recent Tour of Nilgiris (TfN) that I rode. It was really great to meet them finally and to ride with them. It was the people I rode with that made TfN a great experience. Riding with people is often very different from riding alone. When you're riding in a group, you work together (by taking turns at the front of a paceline) to keep the speed up. There are a lot of unsaid (and hence beautiful) things going on - mutual trust (riding so close to each other needs a lot of it. It's amazing how a bunch of strangers can trust each other that much), deciding the pace depending on road conditions (terrain, winds, etc.), knowing when a rider is struggling and keeping the pace down for him/her to recover, everyone pushing that little bit extra because you're working as a team etc.; the cameraderie is addictive!

So what do I get out of cycling, I get asked often. It's hard to describe but besides the obvious fitness gains, I feel that it improves my quality of life. The time I'm out riding is time I spend with myself. Although I don't really think about anything specific (actually, all my mental energy is spent on trying to do what's supposed to be done for that ride - pedal stroke, form, making sure I'm neither slacking off nor overdoing it etc. with an eye on traffic), in the end it feels like time well spent. It's also an added benefit that you meet some very cool and like-minded people, like I talked about. One of my favourite tasks is to look at my ride data (yes, ride data; it can get quite technical. Some sample data if you're curious) as soon as I get home. It gives me a high (especially if I think I rode well) :-) It takes a lot of knowledge, time and experience (which I don't have at this point) to use this data. So I enrolled myself with the Peaks Coaching Group. I have a (virtual) coach who gives me specific workouts, analyses the data from these rides and gives me feedback, all in order for me to reach my goals. So what are my goals?

My goals for this year are simple, simply stated at least:
1. Get as close as possible to a sub-hour 40k (this is HARD)
2. Become a decent climber. Climbing is something that I'm really bad at (owing mainly to my excess weight). Climbing fast is something I can't even begin to imagine - it would be intense PAIN. Before the TfN, I used to dread climbs, be afraid of them. The good news is I no longer do and try my best - one of the best takeaways from TfN.
3. Ride 12000+ km this year. I've done around 1200 this month and I'm so far on track.
4. Start racing. While I'm not too keen on this, a race for me would at least be a good hard training ride.

To accomplish or even get close to them require one thing: lose weight! To do it, I have to be watchful about what and how much I eat. While controlling myself with food is a challenge even normally, after a hard day's ride it's almost impossible - it's guilt-free eating after all! And this is why I've NEVER lost ANY weight due to cycling :-P But I know if I have to get closer to my goals faster, I'll have to take food more seriously.

For me, any cycling talk isn't complete without talking about equipment! First and foremost - I love my bike! It was a self-gift for my 27th birthday :-P I'm an equipment geek and lazy. So if some component upgrade holds promise of making me faster without extra effort, I'm sold. My current road bike happened in a similar way. Even though I spent (and still spend) a bomb on it, it puts a smile on my face at the end of the day. What's money in comparison? :-) The next major thing I'm spending on is a power meter, one that's part of the rear wheel's hub and measures the exact amount of power you're putting out. Just the hub costs half of what my whole bike costs! (and mind you, it's one of the cheaper power meters on the market). I should have my hands on it in the next week or so and then I'll be building the rear wheel myself (a first for me).

I've planned on doing some riding in the hills in the south this month and in the foothills of the Himalayas in the summer. I'm also planning to go to Europe and cycle there. I've never been more excited about my cycling!

Explorer Mode

I tell people that if I hadn't become an engineer I'd have become an explorer. A Himalayan explorer to be precise. While it's a rather romantic idea, it's a little hard and a little dangerous to do it alone. Having good company makes the journey twice more fun and half as hard.

What I'd like to try one day, when I find that elusive partner (has to be a girl, obviously :-P) is to start at a place and walk into wilderness with no destination in mind. Keep heading in the most interesting direction. Once the supplies are down to the last third and if there's no settlement in sight, turn around and head back to the starting point. And start all over again.

This is my dream way of travelling in the mountains.

What's holding this world together?

Friction. 

Ridley Fenix: First impressions

Gifted myself this for my 27th.

Spec:
What's new:
Ridley Fenix frameset (size M)
SRAM Apex groupset
53/39, 170mm
12-23 Ultegra cassette
Deda RHM02 handlebars - 42mm
Deda Zero1 stem - 110mm
Lizard skins tape

From my old bike:
Wheels - Kinlin XR380s with Novatec hubs (20/24)
Ultremo/Durano 23mm tyres
105 Pedals
Selle Italia SLR Team Edition saddle

Weighs 8.2kg with pedals. That's more than 4kgs lighter than my KHS (Flite 220). The WW in me was secretly hoping for a sub 8kg build. Oh well.

First impressions first: feels solid, comfort like steel (seriously), accelerates better, SRAM shifting is cool, internal cable routing is neat.

Frame:
Ridley's bike for the classics - Lotto Belisol rode it for this year's classics. Supposedly mixes the good things of both the Damocles and the Excalibur. Has tubes shaped like the Damocles but is a monocoque construction like the Excalibur. Absolutely doesn't matter at my level but just saying. Internal routing, compatible with electronic and mechanical groups. Weighed 1200g. The fork weighed 400g uncut.

Fit:
I could replicate the exact position from my old bike. But I still could go 1.5cm lower here which wasn't possible on the old one. Still fiddling with the stem height to figure out the lowest point I can get comfortable with. Riding it slammed for now and I feel alright. I'm a sucker for speed. I'll give up comfort if I can to go even a little bit faster. Plus, when I'm out of the saddle, I like it better when the handlebars are lower. A small negative though is that the inner part of my thighs touch the TT sometimes because the TT is fat. Not a big problem right not though. Losing fat should solve it.

Ride:
Like steel. Really. I'm honestly a little disappointed that it rides exactly like my old bike. I was looking forward to a more lively ride. Might be a good thing on poor roads and long rides though.

Performance:
I've ridden a little over 300k so far and all I know is that it accelerates better and does it even better when out of saddle. I'm guessing that's because of it being stiffer. I also noticed a strange thing - at speeds over 30-35, it seemed to me that I needed to put in lesser effort to maintain it. It could be completely a placebo effect though.

I was hoping that I would notice an earth-shattering difference between my entry-level steel road bike and this. Sadly, I don't. However, this could be due to a couple of reasons - different gearing and shorter crank arms.

I'd probably be in a better position to judge after riding more and getting more used to it. But if you ask me now, I'd have made different choices -
1) a 12-25 or a 12-27 (or even a 11-28. see 3) cassette instead of 12-23. I thought I'd prefer close gears but turns out I'm too lazy to shift too often, LOL.
2) crank arm length of 172.5 instead of 170 (this wasn't a decision. I just didn't notice when it was being installed. Noticed only after I got the bike back home. Thought I might as well give it a try, was always curious anyway). The 170 gives me a extra avg cadence of 3 or 4 on my usual rides though without any extra effort whatsoever.
3) Since I'm going to be riding the TfN and knowing how pathetic a climber I am, I probably should have gotten a compact. But as I said I'm a sucker for speed and was used to a 52/42 front from my old bike. I still got the standard. Would have been slightly better if I had gotten the 172.5 instead of 170.
4) Black tape instead of white (although to be fair, it was bought with another bike in mind)

I got a PR on my regular 15km segment. So the carbon may be doing something. Or I might have just learned to pace myself a little better. Donno.

Handling:
Feels solid and well mannered. Never understood what people meant when they talked about "a solid front end" but I think I now know. Did some short descents today on Sharath's Road today and I felt quite confident going into corners at 40kmph (had never done that before).

Shifting:
Coming from a 2300 setup, this is great. Took me very little time to get used to the double tap mechanism. I like it. A small crib is that the downshift throw is longer than Shimano's. A bigger crib is that I get chain rub when in 39-13 and 39-12 no matter how much I fiddle with the FD. A little irritating. Shifting is noisier but I don't have a problem with that. Btw, had to tweak the FD 3 times in 6 rides. I touched the FD on my 2300 those many times in 3 years. I'm perhaps doing something wrong or I probably just have to wait for cables to stretch as much as they will and then adjust it. I also had the chain come off a few times when I shifted to the small chainring. So I have to limit the FD movement even more - more chain rub, yay.

Braking:
Fantastic. I now realize how poor the braking was on my old bike.

Upgrades planned:
1. Will temporarily swap a compact crankset for TfN and get a 11-28 cassette or get a med. cage RD to accommodate a 12-32. Haven't decided yet.
2. Wheels. If I lose enough weight (10kg) before TfN, I'm going to gift myself a wheelset. RS81 C24/C35 or DA9000 C24/C35. Can get RS80s for cheaper but they won't work with 11sp ;-)

Okay, some pictures here.

Thoughts after 10000 km of Cycling

This is inspired by this brilliant post. I agree with most of the points there and can relate very closely to them.

Here are some of my thoughts after completing 10000 km of cycling.

• A good, efficient and reliable bicycle is worth every Rupee you pay. It will make you want to ride. 
• If you want to get faster, get more comfortable. Good equipment is useless if you're not comfortable.
• Core strength and flexibility are crucial to being comfortable on a road bike.
• It can be very frustrating to not be able to ride (through injury or for whatever reason). It can make a cyclist's life really miserable.
• Buy once, cry once. Buy nice, don't buy twice. Not my own but I live by it :P
• Don't blindly accept what people say on forums. Try, evaluate, question and find your own answers.
• The fundamental rule of bike fit - listen to your body and use your brain. Don't go around asking strangers on the forums for advice without trying enough.
• Experiment a lot with the kind of riding you do - slowish long distance rides, faster shorter rides. In time you'll know what kind of a cyclist you want to be. Work towards that.
• If you're like me and like fast shorter rides, see what you like more - sprinting, climbing, time-trialing etc., learn what your strengths/weaknesses are and work accordingly.
• Clipless pedals are absolutely a necessity
• Good shoes make a big difference in comfort and riding pleasure
• While I'm not a big fan of helmets, I think a clipped-in roadie should wear one.
• I will never wear a mask while riding a bicycle. To all those masked bandits - HTFU.
• Get a Garmin. It's a necessity if you're a serious roadie.
• I find naming bicycles extremely lame. Even lamer are references to a bicycle as "her"
• Cycling might seem like an inexpensive affair to a non-cyclist. It's hard to keep it that way if you have a credit card :P
• I want to try out everything that's available in the market (different frames, geometries, wheels, groupsets, components, clothing etc.) and see for myself what I like best. Wish I could afford that :P

I'll add more points as and when I think of them.

I soooo want these

Scott Foil

Scott Foil. My dream bicycle right now. Will build it up with Dura Ace 9000 mechanical and Dura Ace wheels!

And if I had a smaller budget, this:

Canyon Ultimate AL

Will probably build this up with Ultegra 6800.

I WANT I WANT I WANT!

...

Why the fuck is everybody running lately?

Wisdom

Buy once, cry once. 
Buy nice, don't buy twice. 

From a post on bikeforums.

The Sidi shoe sizing saga

So at some point in the recent past I started lusting after Sidis (Sidi is a company that makes high end cycling shoes). Unfortunately, the cycling scene in India is not big enough for shops to stock cycling shoes - they're very expensive and even if they do stock them, they wouldn't stock sizes like what I need. My feet are long and wide. Cycling shoes are typically narrower than normal shoes. In addition to that, different brands have different sizing. I currently own a pair of shoes which are also big for me - about two and a half sizes bigger to be precise. After spending a lot of time researching these shoes, measuring and remeasuring my foot in all possible ways, I made the purchase. Turns out the size chart I trusted was wrong. They're two sizes too big.

Besides getting a good understanding of the cycling shoe world, I also got to know a bit about how Indiapost (and the global postal network) works. The package was shipped from Germany through DHL (DHL is also Germany's postal service btw). The package gets handed over to Indiapost once it lands in India and I received a corresponding Indiapost tracking number. I religiously tracked the package from the Mumbai airport to the Foreign post office in Mumbai to the Sub Foreign Post office in Bangalore. The package was retained at the customs office in Bangalore and I had to go provide a copy of the invoice and my bank statement (wtf?). In the process I sort of came to know what happens in the customs office. So after a week, the package came to the local post office and I paid the stipulated duty and rushed back to office to open the package. Guess what? My feet were swimming in those shoes. I knew it as soon as I opened the box. Disappointing and a big loss money-wise too. The shipping charges I paid + the duty + the shipping charges I will pay to return them aren't coming back. I want to get shoes that fit me by the time my new road bike arrives and guess what I did? I bought another pair of shoes and I will get them in a week. Let's see how that goes.

The last few months ...

have been some of the worst in recent times, one of the most important reasons being a left elbow fracture. I have since been forced to not ride my cycle. It feels like my life has paused.

It's hard to explain what cycling means to me. It's not just the fresh air and exercise etc. that make me want to ride, it's something much more important. On a bicycle, I try hard. I give it everything I have. I push myself - physically and mentally. I explore my limits. It's a different world and I miss it sorely. It's a painful reminder whenever I see people riding.

Edit: found a related thread on bikeforums today. it's interesting to know so many cyclists have similar experiences.

My hand is about 90% alright now and I had started riding last week. The joy was however short-lived. A spoke on the rear wheel broke and I have been forced off my bicycle again. Apparently, the rear rim is beyond repair. So I bought myself new wheels. I was also supposed to get my road bike in mid Feb. but that will now happen only in the end of March or in the beginning of April. Clearly, nothing's going my way w.r.t. cycling.

However, not all is bad. A dear friend brought me my new toy while I wait for my other, my D7000! It will keep me occupied until I can ride again! The D7000 (and the cycle not) in action:

Songs I like for their lyrics

In no particular order.

Bob Dylan - Blowin' in the wind
Neil Young - Heart of gold
Eddie Vedder and Jerry Hannan - Society
Frankie Valli - Can't take my eyes off you
Dire Straits - Telegraph Road
The Doors - Break on through to the other side

I'll update when I remember more.

Target for this November

Ride 1000 training kilometers. 3 Nandi rides. 1 Krishnagiri ride. Nothing particular for the rest.

The Pondicherry Ride

One fine day, Ganesh and I decided to ride to Pondicherry non-stop and we did it last weekend. We wanted to avoid riding in the night but since it was going to take us around 20 hrs, we had no choice. So we started at around 6 PM on Friday. It was the first time I was riding my cycle loaded. It slowed me down by a good 4-5 kmph I thought.

At my place before the start

We reached Krishnagiri by about 10.30 or so and took the diversion towards Tiruvannamalai. The roads upto Tiruvannamali are pathetic and if we had known this, we would never even have thought of doing this stretch in the dark. It was insanely slow riding (~10-15kmph) and my wrists, back and shoulders bore the brunt of the damage. I imagine that Ganesh, who was riding my MTB, didn't have as much trouble since that road was perfect MTB terrain. At about 1 AM, Ganesh had a puncture. The roads weren't improving one bit and that was driving me crazy. I can't stress enough how frustrating it is to ride a loaded road bike in the dark. I'm never going to ride in the night unless I'm sure the roads are top notch. It was just plain stupid. Anyway, we finished my homemade cheese sandwiches by about 3 AM and we still weren't seeing good roads.

At McD after dinner. Sleep setting in.

At about 4.30 AM or so, Ganesh had a fall and bruised his knee. We had had enough by then. We were thinking of just taking a bus to Pondi and getting it over with. But in the end we decided to take an hour's break and ride once the sun is out. Turns out, it was a good decision. We rested for an hour in a bus shelter in some random village and started off again at 6 AM. In about half an hour, we reached a small town and had a really nice breakfast of Idli, Vada and Pongal. We weren't feeling so down anymore and rode on to Tiruvannamalai. Ganesh had another puncture and since I was ahead of him, I had to cycle back a km or two. It turned out that the evil glass particle which had caused the puncture before was still in there. We got rid of it, fixed the puncture (amid a huge gang of onlookers) and rode on. The roads after Tiruvannamalai got a little better but weren't the smooth type I'd have liked. We had by now run out of cash and were on the lookout for an ATM. So we spent carefully until we reached Gingee and we again had the luxury of spending thoughtlessly. We were only about 50-60 km away now but had reasonably strong headwinds. We were practically crawling when we decided we must stop to eat lunch. We had some Sambar Rice and reached Thindivanam by about 3 PM I think. Here, we got on to the NH66 and whoa, what a relief! What a road! Massively spirit lifting. Here, a kind gentleman on a moped rode up to us and perhaps thought we would drop dead if we didn't get something to eat and so gave us a banana each. A very kind gesture which lifted our spirits a little more. We were about 25km away when I stopped (right on a nail) to reply to Rahul's (who rode to Auroville the previous day) message that I had a puncture. I cursed my luck and fixed the puncture amid another big group of people who sprang up from nowhere. We rode on and reached Auroville by 6 PM, had a much needed bath, ate some food and crashed for the night.

At the Pondi beach

Wish I had remembered to take our picture when we reached. Damn. We checked out the Pondi beach the next day, ate some pizza and returned back by Volvo. Great fun, overall.

The story of how I got my first Android phone ...

I'm a gadget freak. And I didn't want to deprive myself any longer of all the cool things happening with smartphones. I decided to get myself an Android phone. While I wanted to get an HTC, I found a good deal for a Galaxy Note on Homeshop18 and bought it. And then the tamasha began. Since I was going to be out of station when they were going to deliver it to me, I asked them to deliver it a day later. They went ahead and delivered the package anyway. I opened the package when I got back two days after and found a small crack at the bottom of the phone. Without any delay, I lodged a complaint with Homeshop18. I was told that since I complained 3 days after the date of delivery, they wouldn't replace it. I was obviously pissed. It was they who screwed up with the delivery date and I told them this clearly. After calling and shouting at them and emailing them everyday for a couple of weeks, they agreed to replace the phone. I was told to courier the package to a Bangalore address and I was given just the address. The courier people said they will need a phone number and a contact person if they will deliver it. So I told Homeshop18 this. I was told that I didn't need to go to a courier service to send the phone and that they had arranged a pickup. After another two days, I got an SMS saying this specific pickup was 'resolved'. I immediately called them up and said WTF. They said they didn't have a pickup service in Bangalore and so they resolved the complaint. I shouted WTF. I was told again to courier the phone and this time I was given a name of the company and a phone number who I had to send it to. I did that and the next day I get a call from the courier people saying the addressee wasn't accepting the package. I was even shouted at. Major WTF now. LOL. This had gotten  so ridiculous that I actually laughed hard. I really did. I couldn't believe this was actually happening to me. Every fucking thing went wrong every fucking time.

I've given up now. I sent a last email to Homeshop18 telling them to fuck off. I neither have the energy nor the patience or time to deal with this any longer. I will get the phone back from the courier people today and will start using it once I'm back from my Pondi trip this weekend. Being someone who loves playing around with gadgets, I've kept myself from using the phone for more than 3 weeks. That's a lot. I don't want to any longer. I don't see why I should because I don't believe that these jerks can solve this. I feel cheated.

Edit: My complaint on their facebook page has been deleted. What else was I expecting?

The Fall

So, I recently bought 'clipless' pedals and shoes for my 220 (for the uninitiated: clipless pedals are special pedals that have a provision for your shoes to lock onto them so that the pedaling efficiency increases as power is transferred onto the pedals even on the upstroke). I'm just back after a not so long ride to Chikka Tirupati (~80km to and fro). First non-trivial clipless ride. A different experience, indeed. The riding style has to change a little and you have to be alert to unclip your show when stopping which didn't happen on one occasion and I fell off the cycle at 0 kmph :P. I laughed to myself, dusted myself off, smiled meekishly at the curious onlooking villagers and sped off as quick as I could to minimise the embarassment. haha. Once I hit the city traffic, I kept my left foot unclipped and that certainly felt safer. I have to make some adjustments to the shoes to find the most comfortable spot that would lock onto the pedal. Overall, a very nice (first not-so-long solo) ride and I'm happy with my ride stats. today. Averaged 22 or so kmph for the whole trip and above 25 outside the city. A picture of my cycle on today's ride (doesn't do justice to the brilliant spot, though).