Some how was just hesitating to go on it till everything was ok. This again was a long weekend! Decided to go for another shopping at Decathlon :-) Which motivated me enough to decide that I would take the bike and Sandy could come by car to ORR Coffee day.
Plan was to buy the front fender as well. My brother Jag too wanted to buy couple of things for his bike [Hero Octane]. We decided to take the route from Murugeshpalya - Wind tunnel road through belandur lake to ORR.
Came out of the house and realized I forgot something - oh yeah thats the helmet!! .. Didn't feel that very odd wearing the helmet -btw, this is the first time I'm using a Helmet in my life to ride any bike!!
The roads were pretty good till CABS. The handling was pretty good - except for the small ditches - the shock got directly transferred to the palms and the hands. Started riding a bit more carefully and loosened the grip whenever I hit such pot holes. [already had some discomfort in wrist - probably due to working style - have to get some ergo done]
Once we reached the lake front, there were no more roads :-( it was just rubbles of granite stones- they are just about laying a new road. Wasn't sure how my bike is, which is more of a road bike, going to take it. But then decided to go ahead anyways. Ride was peaceful enough once we crossed the lake and hit Belandur village. All the way through I was meddling with the gears to the right combination. Once inside the village, tried to speed up a bit to catch up - but landed up in gear one in the front again! which slipped and the chain came off!
Omg .. what do I do now .. vaguely remembered using broken sticks to put the chain back in olden days. Got one too, but realized it wasn't necessary, I had to just place the chain in the lower side of the small sprocket and reverse spin it in stand position. And luckily it worked.
Reached CDay and we locked our bikes together to a pole. There were a few curious kids playing around, who started to play with the levers right in front of us! They asked for a rupee, to start with, and then cake to take care of the bikes!!
We sat outside to ensure the kids don't play around too much with the gear system - which they eventually did - what can you possibly do to them? So warned them again and left them alone. They don't seem to be doing anything more. We awaited Sandy.
Observed few more arranged dates here! - Looks like with all the s/w companies and apartments around, this Cday was a popular shaadi.com joint!!
Sandy came in finally finished the coffee - gave a piece of my mind to the cday guy - the glass he served in had a big crack. And walked out.
This time Sandy opted out of riding the bike!! So took off from there all the way to Decathlon. Bought couple of Organic cotton Tees [300] and the front fender [400]. Picked up a mineral water bottle and we decided to head back - it was already dark.
Switched on the front and rear lights and started off. The front light wasn't focusing correctly. Have to align it to focus on the roads. The ride back was pretty good - with the weather being so pleasant - luckily not much traffic as well [probably holiday effect].
After reaching close to Multiplex in Marthahalli, realized its going to be a tough climb till the bridge. Had set the front gear to 2 and back to 4. Half the way moved to 1 in the front. Was moving slowly and steadily. Jag warned that the road is going to have good amount of gradient from Marthahalli to HAL.
By now my palms were paining and I was starting to feel numb - was just wondering that this cycle should have had a front suspension to take all those small bumps. After reaching the top felt relieved - there was a bit of descent [towards HAL] till we reached end of shopping places. Once we crossed this, the gradient again started to increase - very gradually. By now was totally tired and was wondering how on earth can I reach HAL!!
By now I was totally tired, every meter felt like a km! Was hungry and thirsty .. drank some water [was craving for a gatrode!] and decided to pull on as much as possible. I have always passed through this stretch in 60+. With the bike i was hardly able to cross 10kmph!! Kept on meddling with the gears to see what would be more easier. Then decided to leave the front to 2 itself and do the ascend. And once reaching the Helicoptor division, it was like some energy pumping in from some where! Got up from the seat and pressed hard to gain some speed and eventually reached HAL!! -- What a relief!! .. from then on its just descent all the way home :-)
Checked the stats - Max speed was about 32 [in descent] and total distance covered was about 34Kms!! Total time [may not be accurate] was about 1.5hrs. No wonder - never thought it would be this distance when we started off. Sat for some time, took a cold wash of the feets. Had a lemon soda to refresh and cooled down!! Had a luke warm showerand then moved on to Wake up Sid movie :-)
Had a decent sleep - the only time I felt odd was while climbing the stairs. Felt pretty cool - unlike after the majaa run in Sunfeast marathon, wherein, could feel the strain for couple of days.
Summary:
The ride was pretty good - was happy with ACT 110 [I better be :-)]. Ride was tiresome but wasn't too straining. Felt numbness in palms / fingers at the end of the ride - front suspension might have helped; was slightly uncomfortable in groin [will try some saddle adjustments]. No back / neck or leg pain so I think the height adjustments have been pretty ok.
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