Brevet - An Experience

I began my day at 3 AM. This is it I thought, the day has finally arrived. I pedaled away to TBA, Kondapur, refusing to let any feelings of anxiety and fretfulness consume me.

And even before saddling up, I realized that I had the wrong tube! Krish, came to my rescue by opening up the store, just for me! Finally, with a million thoughts cropping up my head, we started to cycle our way to 200KM.

With my attitude drenched in zest, I took in the atmosphere of lively and sporty people, ready to take on the challenge.

After crossing Shankarpally, out of the blue, Krish was cursed with a flat tyre. Krish was planning to sacrifice a hundred rupee note to fix the flat, but eventually we managed to do it with a piece of paper - a first for me!

Till now, everybody managed to fill each other with words glossing with inspiration. But I could feel the nervous energy - nervous, because we had to arrive at the first check point in time and we were running out of those valuable seconds!

It was a huge “phew!” moment when we managed to reach, pushing it to the last minute.

After filling our stomachs with some heavenly food, we got onto our cycles, helmets resting on our heads.

The real amusement became crystal clear when we glided down in Anantgiri Hills at a sharp speed. The wind was up against us, almost like striking us and saying “take that!”. I practically flew down the hill at ease at 56 km/hr, barely even feeling any resistance.

While the rest were caught up in the swirling speed of making it through, gobbling up the food in haste, Aayush, Krish, Varun and I had a different perspective. We cherished our food, while soaking our minds with the delightful lake. You see, we were thrilled to accomplish 100 KM and wanted to create a  graceful memory of enjoying the moment.

Back on our way, some of us walked with our cycles on the steep hilly land of Anantgiri. While I panted, Venkata made several attempts to cycle his way up. Vishwas, Varun, Ayush, Venkata, and I congratulated each other on finishing the toughest part.

This was when I was going downhill, not physically, mentally. My shoes seemed to have turned into breathing creatures clawing at my feet. I could feel my enthusiasm getting sucked into a black hole. My body was asking me to walk away while I could still walk away. But the voice in my head managed to turn this into a mere whisper and I was back!

The last 30 km were left, and my only fuel was Mirza Ghalib’s poetry and my motivating friends.

The Microsoft climb was a piece of cake after what we had experienced just a while ago.

We finished! We achieved it! And we had the cozy welcome from a team, who appreciated us and made it worth the hard work.

Yes, I struggled and completely exhausted myself. But nothing beats the moment when you cycle through villages, giving more than 50 kids a high five as you cut through the wind. Nothing surpasses the curiosity of the amused people, enquiring about the “fancy” group, flaunting their tired selves, shiny cycles and helmets and pedaling has if there was no dead end.

I truly appreciate the efforts of the organizing team for all the arrangements and motivation provided to us at each checkpoint

So, a lot went down on this rollercoaster of a day, and like the ocean waves, left back gorgeous memories on the shore of my heart.

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Rider - Deepankar Joshi
Words - Priya Joshi (Class 9 Student)
Ride - Heaven & Hell 200 KM Brevet, Hyderabad, 12th July 2014
Bike - Cannondale Quick 4

Women, Biking and Freedom

I started biking 5 years back - on a slightly old, less used bike that my sister left behind when she moved. During that period of no-employment, I had decided to try one new thing ever week to build patience. The patience never built, but cycling caught on.

I remember taking the bike out to a local cycle-mechanic since I did not even know how to fix the front wheel. Starting with a few little rides with the Hyderabad Biking group, I visited The Bike Affair to pick up a pair of biking shorts. I remember the store as a lot of cardboard boxes placed next to each other and Krish picked out a large pair of men's biking shorts & told me that would work well. When I asked him if my bike would be ok, he serviced it and told me that it would work just fine!

So, started my journey. That year, I religiously took the bike out every Sunday to Gachibowli Stadium from where we would do rides. What started as an extremely tough 12 km ride through the University of Hyderabad, I moved on doing 50 km rides in just 3 months. On the rare days when I did not have a car, I would bike 20 km from home to the stadium and then continue the rest of the ride. Back in those times, the bike was an addiction. However, as my strength improved I realized what the bike eventually meant to me.

To me, it was freedom. Being brought up in India meant I could not freely go everywhere I wanted to and at all points in time. I never walked on a street alone after 11 PM. However, armed with a bicycle, I could be alone, yet not afraid. I could wake up to dark mornings and see the sun come up on my bicycle. The bike was empowering in way I never felt before and by default I started incorporating the bicycle into my travels as well. I biked on the world's highest motorable road in Ladakh and biked 75 km to see the rarely-visited Being Melea temple of the Ang Kor ruins in Cambodia. On my first solo international trip to Thailand, the moment I rented a bicycle I knew that the rest of the 2 weeks would fall in place.

However, what I had not realized was that the cycle had been a constant companion through my adolescent years. I went to school on a bicycle and went to tuition classes on a bicycle. I also went to watch a few movies on a bicycle!

The cycle is not just a sport, it has been the source of freedom to several women especially in smaller towns and villages. It helps girls get to school and women get their household groceries. In fact the bicycle played a HUGE role in the Women's Suffragate Movements as well. In the 1890s, the bicycle moved away from being the rich-people fad and more women started enjoying the pleasures of cycling. And this cycling led to women being liberated from the complicated dress codes of the 19th century to the more comfortable trousers or bloomers.

In those times, social reformer Susan B Anthony famously said, "I think it has done a great deal to emancipate women. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel. It gives her a feeling of freedom, self-reliance and independence. The moment she takes her seat she knows she can’t get into harm while she is on her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood..."

These lines hold true even today as the 10-member Afghan women's cycling team is eyeing the 2020 Olympics. They are fighting their regressive society and their aim for the Olympics is to get more Afghan women on bikes. Getting up on their bikes is an everyday fight for them, since their battle is not just physical, it is also social. They put up with a series of lewd remarks, insults and stares because to them "the bicycle is a symbol of freedom."

Closer home, several state governments initiated giving bicycles for girlstudents to ensure more educated and employable women. History shows that it was never cars that offered freedom, but the cycle that truly gave wings to imagination. It is simple, affordable and exceptionally useful.

More recently, I have been following the series of arguments for including a Tour De France category for Women. For a sport/ activity that has offered so much to women world-over, it should also be offered in the form of a much-coveted world championship. It ll be a huge step towards real equality. Here's hoping that a women's category gets included next year and one of our present-day school girls goes on take part in it!

The Bike Affair Ride Dictionary

TBA is known for its rides as well as its known for its bikes & accessories. And in our rides, we try to fit in all kinds of riders - newbies, casual riders, fitness freaks and serious long distance riders. Just to clarify how you can be part of our rides, why don’t you read through our Ride Dictionary.

SUNDAY LEISURE RIDE - Newbies Alert!

The Sunday rides are fun rides to encourage new riders. The distance is generally lesser than 25 km. The focus is less on speed or distance and more on meeting like-minded folks and having a good time together.

Where do we ride? We don't like going to the same places every week, which means we take different routes and ride to different locations. Ameenpur Lake, KBR Park, Golkonda Fort, Gandipet Lake, Hyderabad Central University are some of the popular places we go riding to.

Route: Is either flat or minimal climbs. 

Distance: Around 25 km

Pace: Around 15 km/h

Difficulty: Low

Starts From: TBA, Kondapur @ 6 am (the start time could change based on the season)

TUESDAY NIGHT RIDE - A Quick Workout

The Tuesday Night rides are brisk 1.5 hours city rides, aimed to induce some suffering :-). The route selected usually have some small hills thrown in. Its good for some one looking for a quick workout. This Tuesday, we will climb past Quality Inn, ride down the Inorbit, to KBR and back.

Where do we ride? Most of the times, we ride to KBR park - either via Quality Inn, or through Whisper Valley (we use the best hills i.e.)

Route: Rolling with small hills

Distance: Around 30 km

Pace: 20 km/hour

Difficulty: Medium

Starts from: IIIT junction @ 9 pm

SATURDAY LONG RIDE - Route to Addiction!

This ride is aimed at building endurance. One can also be part of it to explore new places or enjoy a weekly dose of addiction.

Where do we ride? The route keeps changing though some of the popular roads include Shankarpally Road, Medak Road and Nagpur Highway. At times this ride also gets converted into a 2-day ride where we ride on Saturday, stay back at some place and then ride back on Sunday.

Route: Rolling 

Distance: 80-100 km

Pace: 20-25 km/hour

Difficulty: Medium

Starts from: IIIT junction or TBA, Kondapur. Start time depends on the season.

WEEKEND TRAIL/MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE - The Real Deal!

 

We believe one NEEDS to get addicted to trails and once you are addicted, you can't do without them! Its lot of fun going down a hill or ripping through some twisting trail. Additional bonus is the sheer joy of being amidst nature.

Where do we ride? Narsapur Forests, Anathgiri Hills, Pargi Hills.

Route: Forest trails

Distance: NA

Pace: NA

Difficulty: Medium

Starts from: TBA. 1-2 times a month

Get Ready for your First Brevet

Raman Garimella is a Super Randonneur and regular at national Level races. Here he shares some vital inputs on training and finishing strong on your first brevet.
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Riding a super long distance could be a very gratifying experience. Though it might seem like a highly daunting task to take part in a brevet, it is actually fun. However, the risk of injuring yourself is high if you have not trained enough for your first 200km brevet. With the very popular 2 Lakes- Heaven and Hell brevet right around the corner, we decided to come up with a training plan that focuses on getting you ready for the mammoth ride. (In case you haven't yet registered, you can do it here)

The key to any smart training plan is doing the least amount of work that is required to obtain maximum benefits. Any extra work would be termed, and un-dignifiedly so, “junk miles”. Considering that you are a Monday-Friday office-goer, we scheduled Monday and Friday as rest days and Saturday & Sunday as the key workout days. The weekend is when your schedule will demand a long and/or a hard ride. Resting on Friday keeps you well-recovered, fit and ready for the key workouts and resting on Monday gets you ready for the rest of the week. This schedule has been designed to get you used to spending a long duration on the saddle consistently, to get you into the habit of ultra-endurance cycling.

This plan is not inflexible. You can vary your training within the week if other commitments pop up, as long as you make sure to hit the weekly targets. Keep track of your rides in a personal/public journal. You may do it on paper or on any of the online tracking tools that are available: www.dailymile.com, www.trainingpeaks.com, www.strava.com Keep track of the distance, time taken, weather conditions and how you felt at the end of every ride. This is to record your progress and to reflect upon mistakes if there are any. Before we get to the actual training plan, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Group ride vs Solo ride

Solo riding has an almost meditative feeling to it. People around the world vouch for the mental clarity that riding alone gives them. It is a way to release stress, reflect upon your day, clear your mind or simply spend time with yourself. Riding with company has many benefits as well. The mental and moral support that you get from other riders cannot be replicated by anything else. It is best to have a mix of these two worlds.

Route & Terrain

  

Vary your ride route often, so that you don’t get bored. This way, you will also get to see more of your city, the outskirts, highways and countryside. Varying terrain also helps in preventing your progress from plateauing. Ride hills, flats, downhills, against the wind, with the wind, and so on.

What if I can't ride?

If the weather and/or the traffic conditions are bad you can ride indoors either on your home trainer or on a stationary cycle at the gym. If you scheduled a 90min ride but don't have the time and can only squeeze in a 60min ride, do it. Remember, any activity is better than skipping your training day.

Diet

Following these simple tips will help you  :

• Before starting a ride, eat simple carbohydrates. Bananas, bread & honey are the best options.
• Always carry water with you when you go out to ride and sip small amounts roughly every ten minutes. The intention is to drink water before you feel thirsty, and eat before you feel hungry. You don't want any surprises or realize that you were too late to eat or drink. 
• If your ride is longer than 90 minutes, carry a bottle of electrolytes (salts) and food to eat while on the ride. 
• Get used to eating and drinking while riding (i.e. without getting off your cycle). Typical easy-to-carry food is bananas, energy bars, nuts, dates and other simple but high-calorie food. The salts in the bananas and electrolyte mix will help prevent cramping of your muscles.
• Post-workout, eat within 30minutes of finishing your workout. If this is delayed, you start to lose the benefits of the workout rapidly after the 30min mark. It is best to have a protein shake or any other food with high protein content. You must take care not to overeat at this point.
• Throughout the day, eat small portions but eat frequent meals. This gets your rate of metabolism up and is a sure way to get the physical benefits of cycling - mainly weight loss. 
• It is a good idea to take vitamin supplements as well as you will be spending a considerable amount of time exposed to the wind and dust, and cycling for long hours might drop your body's immune system momentarily.

Warm up and cool down

 

Both these activities are very critical. Before starting a ride, stretch the three most important muscles of cycling - the calves, quadriceps and the hamstrings. After this, warm up on the cycle. While warming up, make sure to start at a low intensity, and gradually build up the intensity to the target endurance intensity. Spend at least 10-15minutes doing this. For cooling down, do the reverse, ramp down the intensity over a period of 10-15minutes. At the end of your ride, spend at least 10 minutes stretching all the muscles you used - calves, quads, hams, back, neck and shoulders.

Over-training 

Start slow and gradually build up. The only way to gaining substantial fitness is consistency and being patient with yourself. Sometimes we push too hard not knowing how much our body can take and the result is "over-training", a phenomenon where the body is undergoing more damage than good because of not staying within the limits of what your body is physically capable of. So listen to your body and progress gradually. Signs of over-training are: elevated heart rate throughout the day, shortness of breath, constant body and muscle sores, frequent headaches.

Guide for zones

 1. Zone 1 - "Rest/Recover" - This does not mean that you must skip riding altogether, it means that you do a very low-volume and low-intensity ride, barely breaking a sweat. If you need a mental break from cycling, any other low-intensity activity like walking, swimming or stretching is equally good. "Active recovery" is better than complete rest - it keeps the blood flowing and flushing out the fatigue - both physiologically and mentally. Recovery days are an ideal way to ride your cycle with the children and family. On a scale of 1-10, this should be a 2-3.
Effort scale: 1/10
Guide: Should feel really good, not even breaking into a sweat

2. Zone 2 - "Endurance intensity" - This is the intensity that you can hold all day (certainly for many hours together) also known as LSD = Long, Slow, Distance. In this zone, apart from all the great physiological benefits of building your “base”, you get a chance to improve your economics on the bike. Focus on smooth pedalling motion, pedalling in circles, cadence between 85 and 95, relaxed upper body, rhythmic and stress-free breathing, eating and drinking on the bike and so on.
Effort scale: 2/10 – 4/10
Guide: Able to hold a conversation, just breaking into a sweat

3. Zone 3 - "Tempo" – This zone is just above the endurance intensity and this is something that is right in the spot where you need to apply pressure at all times, but it is not an anaerobic intensity that you can’t sustain for 60-90mins. Sometimes upper tempo rides are called SST or Sweet Sport Training. Riding in this zone can cause some miracles to your fitness and hence it is the mantra for time-crunched cyclists. However, you can’t only be doing your rides in this zone. Overall fitness is obtained only from balanced training in all zones. Caution: Tempo rides can seriously tire you and you will need a solid amount of time to recover from them.
Effort scale: 5/10
Guide: You are breathing hard and can speak but can't really hold a conversation

4. Zone 4 – “Threshold” – These workouts are focused on improving your strength at your LTHR or lactate threshold heart rate. It is very challenging and requires a solid rest time between sets. We have tried to keep these sets to a minimum.
Effort scale: 6/10
Guide: Panting, sweating freely

Here's the training plan to set you up for your first brevet, which incidentally could be the 200 km brevet. 

	Week 1		Description
	Title	Hours
Mon	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Tue	LT	1.5	3x5mins LT with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Wed	Zone 2	1	Do a non-stop ride in Zone 2
Thu	Tempo	1.5	2x20mins Tempo with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Fri	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Sat	Mixed	3	Do at least 45 mins overall in Tempo. Ride the remainder @Zone2
Sun	Zone 2	4	Long and steady ride with minimal breaks
	Week 2
	Title	Hours
Mon	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Tue	LT	1.5	3x6mins LT with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Wed	Zone 2	1.5	Do a non-stop ride in Zone 2
Thu	Tempo	1.5	2x20mins Tempo with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Fri	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Sat	Mixed	4	Do at least 15 mins overall in LT. Ride the remainder @Zone2
Sun	Zone 2	4	Long and steady ride with minimal breaks
	Week 3
	Title	Hours
Mon	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Tue	LT	1.5	3x6mins LT with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Wed	Zone 2	2	Do a non-stop ride in Zone 2
Thu	Tempo	1.5	2x30mins Tempo with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Fri	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Sat	Mixed	4	Do at least 60 mins overall in Tempo. Ride the remainder @Zone2
Sun	Zone 2	4	Long and steady ride with minimal breaks
	Week 4
	Title	Hours
Mon	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Tue	LT	1.5	3x6mins LT with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Wed	Zone 2	2	Do a non-stop ride in Zone 2
Thu	Tempo	2	2x30mins Tempo with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Fri	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Sat	Mixed	2	Do at least 15 mins overall in LT & 45mins in Tempo. Ride the remainder @Zone2
Sun	Zone 2	7	Long and steady ride with minimal breaks
	Week 5
	Title	Hours
Mon	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Tue	LT	1.5	3x8mins LT with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Wed	Zone 2	2	Do a non-stop ride in Zone 2
Thu	Tempo	2	2x30mins Tempo with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Fri	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Sat	Mixed	3	Do at least 15 mins overall in LT & 45mins in Tempo. Ride the remainder @Zone2
Sun	Zone 2	5	Long and steady ride with minimal breaks
	Week 6
	Title	Hours
Mon	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Taper week begins
Tue	LT	1	3x4mins LT with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Wed	Zone 2	2	You may ride with breaks. Do not stress
Thu	Tempo	1	2x10mins Tempo with 5mins rest between intervals. Ride the remainder @ Zone 2
Fri	Rest/Recovery	1	Take it easy
Sat	Rest/Recovery	0.5	Take it easy
Sun	200km brevet		Good luck!