[aneezan]

I have been wanting to try out the NL Tours Grand Fondos. They have rides every month within NL/BE and sometimes to Germany as well. There are mostly 3 tours per ride, a shorter 40 to 60km, mid(80 to 100) and a longer(110 to about 150).

I enrolled for the Brabant GF 110km "EPIC".

For 32 Euros participation fee, you get the following:-
- GPX files of the route
-Coffee/Tea and snacks before the start
- Energy Bars and Gels(plenty).
- All kinds of snacks before, during and afterwards
- Technical support and Aid Station along the route
- GF Brabant Cycling Socks
- Meal with Drink/beer at the finish
- Discount voucher for webshop.

Since I didn't know anyone, I tagged along initially with a couple, but they were going for the short(60km) ride. And they were relatively new to riding, and the speeds were a bit too slow for me.
I caught up with a quicker group(I am not fast too, but 25-30kph suits). This was a great gang of about 10 members mixed across age/gender and of-course bikes. They were part of 2 clubs. I asked whether i could join them and they were happy to oblige.

Was a fantastic experience on the whole. I normally ride alone in the NL, so this was pleasantly fun, taking turns drafting, leading and chatting away the whole 115 odd km.
















Looking forward to the next one.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by aneezan

Was a fantastic experience on the whole. I normally ride alone in the NL, so this was pleasantly fun, taking turns drafting, leading and chatting away the whole 115 odd km.

Looking forward to the next one.

Superb ride and looks like a lot of fun in a biggish group on really quiet and safe looking back roads. Also, the fee is excellent value to all that you get.

Here for a 200 BRM the fee is now nudging a thousand bucks. And that covers only the entry fee, the Brevet card, and some bananas and biscuits and water at the control points. The entry fee gets you official homologation of your ride and it covers a support vehicle in case of any mishap or mechanical.

Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

Back home after a Ravet Chandani Chowk loop.

Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

Lonavala return with the boys. Weather was great for the most part today. I think qe had a shorter and less brutal than normal summer this time. Which points to a longer and more brutal than usual monsoon.

Cheers, Doc

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by aneezan

I have been wanting to try out the NL Tours Grand Fondos. They have rides every month within NL/BE and sometimes to Germany as well. There are mostly 3 tours per ride, a shorter 40 to 60km, mid(80 to 100) and a longer(110 to about 150).

Nice! I have signed up for my first ever Gran Fondo in New Jersey on June 2nd. It is a bit of a drive so planning to make it a weekend getaway with my wife.

Highlands Gran Fondo

Originally Posted by ebonho

Here for a 200 BRM the fee is now nudging a thousand bucks. And that covers only the entry fee, the Brevet card, and some bananas and biscuits and water at the control points. The entry fee gets you official homologation of your ride and it covers a support vehicle in case of any mishap or mechanical.

Cheers, Doc

That is a bit steep! The New England Randonneurs offer a season pass for the next year if you volunteer at any of their events. None of their rides have a support vehicle though.

In other news, I finished my first ever Hill Climb race yesterday. It was more of a time trial than a hill climb as it was 21 miles long, with nearly 2,500 ft of elevation. The elevation profile is split into 3 parts: First 10 miles are at a gradual 1% average gradient, then the next 6 are almost flat, and then the last 5 is where all the climbing comes in at an average gradient of 5.5%. The start was like a time trial indeed with the organizers sending out a rider every 15 seconds. We were split into age groups and my start time was at the bottom of my group (45-54). The next group was the younger group of 35-44 and then 18-34. Which meant all these younger faster riders went past me as I was huffing and puffing along. The weather was cool and wet with occasional rain which was quite helpful. RideWithGPS had estimated that it will take me 1h27m to finish the ride and that's indeed how long it took! I am kinda surprised by that! Anyway, I know I am not a climber and was expecting to finish in the middle of the pack and that's where I did end up. 22/39 in my group and 110/199 overall in Men's. So these are the goals to beat for next year.

Question: Would a better climbing gear have helped? 36/28 is the lowest I could go and looking at the data, I was maintaining an average rpm of 90 for the first 17 miles that had an average gradient of 1%, and the rpm dropped to 83 for the last 4 miles which had an average gradient of 5.8%. My normal cadence is around 90.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Question: Would a better climbing gear have helped? 36/28 is the lowest I could go and looking at the data, I was maintaining an average rpm of 90 for the first 17 miles that had an average gradient of 1%, and the rpm dropped to 83 for the last 4 miles which had an average gradient of 5.8%. My normal cadence is around 90.

You know Amitoj, totally counter-intuitive to all the new age gyaan and GCN-itis (lol) that we serious masters cyclists have been fed, the actual seasoned racers hold a different view. When you start getting gassed, and/or the lactate building up in your legs gets bad, I was told to actually shift into a harder gear, and grind for a bit, to both hold on and not get dropped, as well as recover. I've been doing this, and it works! Try it. You will be surprised. You're a spinner, much like me.

Cheers, Doc

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by ebonho

When you start getting gassed, and/or the lactate building up in your legs gets bad, I was told to actually shift into a harder gear, and grind for a bit, to both hold on and not get dropped, as well as recover. I've been doing this, and it works! Try it. You will be surprised. You're a spinner, much like me.

Cheers, Doc

Interesting! Do you get out of the saddle when grinding? Now that you mention it, yesterday I did occasionally drop a few gears, get out of the saddle and ride for a bit. I did that primarily to give my back a break.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Interesting! Do you get out of the saddle when grinding? Now that you mention it, yesterday I did occasionally drop a few gears, get out of the saddle and ride for a bit. I did that primarily to give my back a break.

Yes. I've been doing it for increasing lengths of time lately. Earlier I used to do it only on the steep bits. Like the switchbacks. Now I do them on many rises on rolling terrain. And sometimes even on 1%ish false flats. Shift up 2 gears (I run a 50/34, with a 52/36 you can sometimes get away with a single shift) get off your saddle and ride till you need to sit back down. Like mini intervals. I don't think its made me any faster (yet) but your butt and thighs and back do feel nice with a different set of muscles working for a bit. So that after you sit down, you get a little boost. Like after a good swig of water.

But that's not what you do when your muscles or lungs start burning. You shift into a higher gear, keep sitting, and just power through a slightly less spinny cadence. One of the downsides of compact cranksets for the non pros is that it makes us weak, in that it never forces us to push heavier gears. And social media makes you believe that's good. While the truth is that its only good for the pros who 1) do push heavier gears, and 2) when they spin, their gradients and speeds are a lot different to ours. We are not pros. Never will be. Yet we use of theirs what is convenient for us.

Caveat: This does not mean you change your pedaling style and become a grinder. This is only a short term fix, to get over the burn, hold on, and recover.

Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

Emerald greens now for the next 4-5 months. Love the monsoons.

Cheets, Doc

[ebonho]

My ACT and me during a late night spin to Bhakti Shakti chowk on the Old Bombay Poona Highway.



Cheers, Doc

[amol4184]

I didn't get good pictures during my last trip to India. The heat was just *terrible*, hitting 40 degrees by 10 in the morning.

What astonished me though were the new roads built in last 2 years.
The rate at which they built these multi lane highways can only be called scary fast by previous standards and I am super happy.

The vast expansion hasn't stopped cane juice vendors from setting their shops though, and I am thankful for their existence. Curiously not even the guard rails could stop them as a couple of these shops were beyond the railings and one had to jump the rails to get to shop. Worth the effort. On every ride, I drank about 2 big glasses of this sweet nectar otherwise I would have fainted mid-ride.

Most of the rides went without any drama except one time, when the rear tire went flat twice! Changing tubes in sweltering 41-42 degrees by the road side was no fun and people looked funnily at the scene

Thankfully, on that fateful day I had not one, not two but three TPU tubes in my saddle bag and used up two of them!

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by amol4184

I didn't get good pictures during my last trip to India. The heat was just *terrible*, hitting 40 degrees by 10 in the morning.

Nice pics there Amol. I enjoyed reading your write-up

I agree with your assessment of highways creation in India. You can go through the below news piece. The state-owned company (NHAI) built 6,644 km of national highways in FY24 against the target of 6,544 km i.e. 18.2 km of highway road was built each day in India in the last year. In FY23 it built 5,544 km of national highways.

https://www.livemint.com/industry/in...067816711.html

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

I agree with your assessment of highways creation in India. You can go through the below news piece. The state-owned company (NHAI) built 6,644 km of national highways in FY24 against the target of 6,544 km i.e. 18.2 km of highway road was built each day in India in the last year. In FY23 it built 5,544 km of national highways.

https://www.livemint.com/industry/in...067816711.html

Quite impressive any way you look at it. The NH road quality also looked better than other highways nearby that aren't built by central government. Speaking of which, A'nagar to Shirdi and further north has been in the works for past decade and is still about 80% complete with numerous patches pending. At one place Samruddhi expressway whose construction started way later passes above this road and is already operational while the state govt is still working.

[ebonho]

Saturday evening ritual for the Sunday ride with the boys.

A waxed chain is a fast chain. And a butter smooth, silent, sparkling clean drivetrain.

Chain is closing on 10,000 km now, with still some life left.



Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

The sexy new 2024 Trek Madone in matt black on our group ride today. They have thankfully gotten rid of the controversial and highly troublesome IsoSpeed suspension system that used to grenade under the weight of any normal/healthy rider, being as it was specifically race designed for emaciated Tour De France half haddis. Lol





Cheers, Doc