BBCh 5: Rajanakunte

I haven't ridden much this month. Atleast not on my bicycles. The road bike was due for a warranty issue, and the theft of the saddle provided the opportunity to send back the parts. So it was unrideable. The mountain bike has been lying forlorn in my room for want of a new crankset -- which my dealer assures me will arrive "soon". Yeah, right. After four months of waiting I've ordered from another dealer.

BBCh 5 is a road race, and we've been feverishly preparing the Raleigh for its debut. Well, by "we", I mean my friend since I really didn't do much. He, on the other hand, has probably built half-a-dozen wheels by now. It all started when we learnt that the Raleigh is of an era whose wheel sizes are "out-of-fashion". That means no new tyres or rims in that size were available. So we decided to upgrade the wheels to more modern rims. That was an adventure onto itself, involving incorrect spoke lengths, rims that "tore", and sidewalls that weren't uniform enough and ultimately the Raleigh ended up riding on my road bike wheels.

That still left me looking for a ride, when P lent me his cycle for riding because he couldn't make it to the race. So finally everything clicked, and attired in what must be 90% cycling wear for the first time -- the debut of my shades and shorts, I rode the 20km to Rajanakunte with two friends who were also racing.

The race was a 2x31 km route, mostly upwardly-flat in one direction, and while I wanted to do both laps, an old injury which I thought I had left behind last month reared its ugly head and I decided to stop after one lap. I finished 31km in 1:18, which makes for my normal pace of 23kmph. The irony, of course, is that I rode to the race faster than I rode in the race!

The Raleigh did much better, finishing both the laps at an average speed of 27kmph. There were mechanical issues as well as the problem of not being adjusted to the bicycle, but it can only get better from here!

There were some tense moments when another racer crashed (at 40kmph!) into some idiot show-off motorbikers zigzagging in front of him, but he's doing good now.

And in closing, bicycling shorts rock! I detected no chafing at all after the 70km ride, and these are definitely not the best of shorts available. I guess I can now get another when I can afford it!