When 6th Gear Felt Like Granny Gear

I hadn’t ridden my bike awhile before this evening. I excused myself from commuting to office on my bike on the basis that the Sun has started hotting up. But I knew that I was faking and I badly wanted a ride.

So, yesterday (Saturday), I gave the bike a hearty wash and set it up for a long ride today (Sunday). Things didn’t happen as I had wished, and I had to wait till evening to go for a quick spin.

I only rode for 10 km, but boy did I enjoy it? Initially the ride was nothing spectacular, but once I clambered over the MIT flyover, I started cranking effortlessly on the 6th gear (the highest I have on my bike) and felt as if I was riding on the granny gear (the lowest). The ride was so wonderful that in an effort to sustain momentum I dodged a strip of tarmac that was strewn with shattered glass pieces with the precision of a surgeon, without slowing down.

In the end I thought I had put to good use all the carbohydrates I had stocked.

Second Installment of the “ECR Ride”

I don’t want to bore you again by ranting on my ride on the ECR. But, I’ve got a few pictures of the scenic ECR this time. So, here is a snippet of the second installment:

Stats are pretty same as the previous ride: 55kms at an average speed of 16.5km. This time I went up to the Kelambakkam-Kovalam junction beyond Muthukkadu. The January morning was pleasant, and when I rode on the ECR, I felt I could go up to Pondicherry at one go. Wonderful tarmac, cool breeze, and azure sea for company–what else one would want more?

Pictures:

A 55km Cycle Trip on the ECR

Prologue
Last week, I had been mulling over going for a spin on the ECR (East Cost Road: the famous Chennai-Pondicherry scenic highway). Though I have been commuting to office on a cycle, a decent ride (read 50+km) was long due.  So, I wanted to make a trip on the ECR to market it as a possible weekend destination for fellow cyclists (as if no Chennaiite knows about it ).

Missus wasn’t happy, though. Her reasons were:

1. An unenviable record of heavy casualties on the ECR due to rash driving and narrow roads.
2. There had been instances (rumors?) of robbery on the isolated stretches of ECR.
3. I had had my right inguinal hernia operated two years ago, and she didn’t want me to strain.

I had to resort to all sorts of tricks to convince her. She finally accepted my proposal with a condition that I would have to complete the trip in two hours. I started wondering if I would be able to do a 25kmph ride.

ECR, here I come, come what may
I start at 6:45 (late by any standard) from my home at Chitlapakkam near Tambaram. Shove a couple of bananas, a packet of biscuit, and a bottle of water into the backpack. I don’t have a helmet, so put on a cap. (I am sure that with the amount of sea breeze lashing, I will not sweat much. Also, my hair will not be dry as an arid land after the ride.) Hand gloves have always proved their worth, so I put them on.

Take the Tambaram-Velachery road. Traffic is sparse and the cool morning breeze is soothing. Road is good and I start eating up kilometers. Reach Medawakkam (7 km) and turn right toward Sholinganallur. When I am about to touch the Sholinganallur junction, I feel this pain on the right knee. I have had this dull pain during the previous 50km ride. Now, I start to panic. I want to ride on the ECR, and I will ride come what may. It is just a niggling pain, so I will snub it. Excruciating it may not be, nevertheless it starts hampering my speed. When I reach the ECR (14 km), happiness obliterates pain, and I start enjoying the ride. Also, I find that if I try the stand-up-and-pedal trick, the pain vanishes.

Scenic ECR
ECR has always been my favorite weekend destination, but I have never ridden a cycle on it. It twists along the seashore. Scenic, beautiful, enchanting, and if all these adjectives describe something, then it must be dangerous, too; right? The tarmac is inviting, but the road is narrow and doesn’t have a divider (median). Shoulders are provided, though. So, I compete with the local people who ride their roadsters and MTBs. A tailwind helps ease the pain. Sneak through the toll plaza (two wheelers are spared, anyway), and go past a few rustic and not-so-rustic villages. On the way, I see quite a few (Ok, about eight) cyclists in full cycling attire riding in the opposite direction (toward Chennai city); I notice two Bianchis (of which one is a single speed). I wave and show thumbs-up as I ogle at the bikes.

Enter Muttukkadu that is famous for its little backwaters and the boathouse. Time is 8, and the missus calls me as per the contract. Odo says I have covered just 22 km, and I want to make it at least 25; but, she insists I take enough rest and get back. Swallow some biscuits and the bananas, gulp down some water, and start the return journey. Swallow some more biscuits near the toll plaza.

OMR-Thorappakam-Pallavaram stretch
Now, the tailwind becomes a stiff headwind and rubs salt into the wound. The pain restricts my speed; the wind limits my movement. I crawl all the way up to the Sholinganallur junction. I do not want to take the same Sholinganallur-Medawakkam route again, so I turn right on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), which is also called the IT Express Way. The road has three lanes (I think) on either side of the median and is very good. The headwind still haunts, but I manage to reach the Thorappakkam junction. The signboard says Pallavaram: 10 km. The Thorappakkam-Pallavaram is one hell of a stretch; hell because numerous IT parks are being set up along this way, and even on Sundays, tippers and trailers ply at monstrous speeds. The tarmac is good, though. To avoid the pain, I stand and deliver (err…pedal). Reach the end of the stretch, turn left, ride along the railway tracks and cross them, reach the GST road, go past the MIT flyover, and return home.

Stats
Time spent on the saddle: 3 hours and 16 minutes. Distance covered: 54.92 km. Average speed: ~17kmph. Top speed: 30kmph. I console myself that I would have reached early if not for the pain. Only another ride can tell.

Epilogue

It was a nice trip. If you have a good bike (road bike or MTB with thinner tyres), you can cruise through the ECR all day. My bike (Hercules Ryders ACT 103) with its primitive Shimano SIS 6-speed gears held on well till the end.

Thirupporoor – The War Town

Thirupporoor, in Thamizh (Tamil) and Samarapuri in Sanskrit, is a little town (or village if you wish) near Maamallapuram (Mahabalipuram). It is famous for–no, not the IT Expressway–the Murugan temple. On a Sunday afternoon, we were breaking our heads (two big and one little) on how to spend the rest of the weekend. Voila, I thought we had never visited this place, though it was on our list of must-see places around Chennai. Before my wife could veto my decision, my daughter accepted it. Soon we swung our respective legs over the Discover (motorbike) and were on the Thambaram-Velachery main road.

Thirupporoor is at the end of the IT Expressway (Old Maamallapuram Road). Actually there are three routes that one can take from Thambaram to Thirupporoor:

• Take the GST road up to Vandaloor, turn left on the Vandaloor-Kelambakkam main road, go up to Kelambakkam, and take the IT Expressway.
• Take the Thambaram-Velachery main road, turn right on the Maambakkam main road (the first junction before the Medavakkam main junction), join the Vandaloor-Kelambakkam main road at Maambakkam, reach Kelambakkam, and take the IT Expressway.
• Take the Thambaram-Velachery main road, turn right at the Medavakkam main junction, go up to Chozhanganalloor, turn right on the IT Expressway.

We took the third route; Thirupporoor is at a good 35km from home. The quality of the tarmac is OK up to Chozhanganallor, and it gradually improves as you ride through the IT Expressway. After Kelambakkam the IT Expressway ends (I think) and a village road starts, but the village road is equally good. You can hear the sea roaring a few km away. That day, the sky was overcast and the weather was nice; we thought it would rain. (Rain it did when we were circumambulating the temple corridor.)

Like Thirukkachur, Thirupporoor has an old-world charm. Till Kelambakkam, you feel that you are the uber-modern 21st century human being who fiddles with all that jazzy gadgets. Enter Thirupporoor and you move back a century or two. I think the Samarapuri of the bygone era mentioned in the Kandhasashti Kavasam would have resembled the present-day Thirupporoor except for a few concrete structures that fill the town’s skyline.

Though the temple is fairly big, I was a bit disappointed, as I expected it to be ancient (belonging to the Chozha or Pandiya period). It’s old, though. As with other temples, the temple pond welcomes you as you enter the temple. The pond is (ahem) a bit dirty with the non-biodegradable plastic bottles thrown into it. The place that houses the altar (balipeetam) and flagstaff (dwajasthambam) is circular (I haven’t seen one like this).

We prayed to Kandhaswamy, the presiding deity, and started circumambulating the inner corridor. It started raining as we entered one of the smaller shrines that dot the corridor, and the rain continued for about 20 minutes. On our way back home, we spotted a temple on a hillock. We found out that it is the Kailasanathar temple (ancient) and is under the aegis of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). There are steps to reach the top, but the temple is being renovated, so reach the summit to have a panoramic view of the ECR and the town. I forgot to take my digicam to take a few snaps of this nice place.

If you yearn for a nice ride and salubrious air, may I suggest you this place? Go enjoy it with your family.

P.S. If you are one who doesn’t want to ride a bike, take an MTC bus or a muffasil bus from Thambaram.

One week on the saddle

It’s been a week since I started using the nonpolluting vehicle for commuting. The first day was indeed special; I was excited like a kid on a festival day. Got up early, put on the nicest clothes, wiped the nonexistent dust off the bike, and started. The sky was overcast, but the humidity was unbearable. I thought I was going to sweat like a dog (I sweat a lot, normally). Luckily, the weather turned good and a gentle breeze blew my predicament away.

When I ride my motorbike, I always lookout for errant pedestrians and cyclists. Now, the table had turned. I was careful to not make the same mistakes; I rode on the left end of the road, yielding to fast-moving vehicles. Slopes and elevations which hardly existed while I rode a motorbike now appeared like monsters on the horizon. But I showed them who the boss was. The dependable Shimano gears gave me the confidence I needed, and I conquered elevation after elevation with aplomb. It would seem silly, but for a guy who had taken to cycling again after 15 years, it was like the first day on the saddle. MEPZ SEZ (Madras Export Processing Zone), Chennai, a hilly area of sorts and where my office is situated, posed the biggest threat. Pedaling up hill was a daunting task; journey down hill was easy (should I tell that ). In the evening, I regained confidence. I rode with elan. This time I chose the longest route possible and enjoyed every bit of the journey. Crossed the MIT (Madras Institute of Technology) flyover in a jiffy. Wow! I kissed my bike passionately. The remaining days of the week were happy days, too. So far, I have clocked 60+ kilometers. It’s a big deal for I always depend on my motorbike even for the smallest distances. Now, I have come out of the rut. I didn’t touch my Discover during the week (though it will remain a companion for weekend rides with my wife and kid). Overall, a wonderful experience. Thanks to all; I have turned a new leaf in life.

About the bike: It is easy to operate. Gears shift like a charm; V-brakes do their best. There are a few niggles, though. While riding down hill (without pedaling) as well as riding in the lower gears 1, 2 and higher gears 5, 6, a mild noise emanates from the front wheel as if the brakes scratch the tyre. This sound stops when I reach the planes. Also, the front tyre has been fitted (or factory fitted) wrongly. The tread pattern is in the reverse direction. If time permits, I will take my bike to the bike station to sort out these issues.

Back to circle (cycle) two

I have been riding all weekends with my better half and kid exploring the ancient temples of Thamizhnadu. Though I love motorcycles, I have always had my eyes set on a good cycle (henceforth referred to as ‘bike’).

I have cycled exhaustively (no pun intended) in my school and college days (a 60km ride was the high point ). I haven’t ridden a cycle for the past 10 years or so. One fine July morning, I thought I would have to reignite my childhood passion.

Now was the difficult part of selecting a bike suitable for commuting. I did a bit of homework. I visited a lot of showrooms (and a bicycle forum) and contemplated all permutations and combinations: aluminium alloy rims, alloy frames, 6-18-21 gears, front and back shock absorbers, Indian and imported bikes, phew. But due to budget constraints (duh!), I had zeroed-in on Hercules ACT 103. Yeah the frame is steel (though rims are alloy), and it only has 6 speed Shimano gears and front shocks. But it fitted in my budget. The frame also made it easy for my wife to use it.

Finally, I got my bike Hercules ACT 103 yesterday.  Got a nice-sounding bell and wire lock along with it. I was so desperate to ride the bike that I thought of  egging on the mechanic to complete the fine-tuning part quickly. But the bike being a geared one (it is a 6-speeder), I wanted it to be perfectly tuned; hence, I waited patiently.

When the mechanic asked me to test it, I gleefully accepted the offer and went for a spin. Boy, how did I like the experience? Was it happiness, ecstasy, or bliss?  I re-lived my childhood memories. It was down memory lanes, streets, and alleys of my hometown. I came back after the “test ride” smiling from ear to ear, and my wife who was waiting at the bike station was even more happy seeing her husband smile like an 8-year old.

After taking delivery, we went to the nearby Vinayak temple for the customary pooja. Then I rode back home (just 3km). Though it was the first time I rode a geared bike, I hardly missed any gears.

About the bike:

Hercules ACT 103: 6 gears, front shocks, alloy rims, unisex frame (my wife will also be using it occasionally). It retails at Rs.5350 here at Chennai. Gears are butter smooth (touch wood).

Funny part of the story:

I had put on my helmet when we went to the bike station. While riding back home, I asked my wife to wear the helmet. She felt it too heavy and promptly plonked it back on my head. So, I had to ride the bike wearing a motorbike helmet. Should I tell you that everyone’s eyes were on me rather than on my bike.

OK… here is a view of my bike:

my bike