“On TFN, I would ride 1,000+ Km in 8 days It is not a flat route, it has 2 killer climbs Ooty and Sultan Bathery”

Why am I doing it ?

I guess for the same reason every endurance athlete does what he does – To explore my boundaries… To challenge myself for something out of my league and then, do it.
I want to finish an Ironman one day. I guess after TFN I would be ready at least for the 180 KM cycling bit

How am I planning to prepare?

In short:

1. Quit smoking – done (It has been around a month since I last smoked. I would write another blog about it in sometime…)
2. Get the weight down to around 80Kg
3. Ride as much as I can !

(Still need to figure out If I am missing something. Maybe I will ask someone who has done TFN’09 and update here)

I downloaded a trial version of Photoshop from Adobe’s site and it is really amazing! I love the Content-Aware stuff! and I could actually feel the performance difference on my 3 year old laptop as well… Great job done by Adobe here. I am sure these innovations would really empower amateurs (like me) to finish their work faster.

I personally feel Adobe should have a separate license for startups… As of today we have to ask our designer friends to work for us (without us paying them of-course )

Give it a try!

Ever since the video aired, we have had a lot of users visiting LifeMojo and a lot of friends wishing us good luck, but I have got a couple of concerned friend calling and asking me is my weight still 110 kg ?

Frankly, I had anticipated these calls, so I asked Himanshu to help me and click a photo of us shooting that bite.

Here it is…

I am not your usually Adventure Junkie who would just pull up his socks and hop on the saddle when he reads that. In fact my first reaction was “Nandi Hills, yeh I have been there once or twice. I don’t remember it to be that steep a climb. Why do people love it so much?”. The reason was, I had been to Nandi Hills before but at 3 AM on usually Saturday nights after enjoying “somras” with a couple of close friends. So I was reconstructing the feeling of being at Nandi Hills with the glimpses of what I remember

This Sunday, I decided to give it a shot. It was a group riding session that a few people from the BBC (Bangalore Biking Club) were organizing. I couldn’t locate the way to Hebbal Flyover and at some place, I guess at Makeri Circle, I took a left and went 30 Kms towards Tumkur. Anyways cutting the long story short… I reached the assembly point 1.5 hrs late. There was no point turning back now so I thought I would climb the Nandi alone and If I meet someone on the way it would be great.

I reached the Idli Point and then got together with 3 more bikers to ride nandi. I parked my car there and we starting riding up hill. It was kinda boring flat road till the Bull Statue around 4 Km from the Idli Point, but it got way more interesting after that.

From the Statue to the top is a 8 Km uphill climb. I usually ride 22Kms daily in around 1.5 hours in the city, so I thought 8 K uphill should not be that tough. But I found myself breathless at the 4 Km mark and I knew it would only go steeper.

I saw a few riders coming downhill at what I guess was above 60 Km/hr. The smile on their face made me do the full 8 Km climb. One of them even stopped and asked me if everything was ok and if I needed any help. That was amazing, a complete stranger, stopping and asking if I needed any help! – I haven’t seen people doing that too often. I guess like Runners, Riders are a close community as well.

From the 4 Km mark, I would have stopped at every Km mark and stretched my legs, had water, enjoyed the view and then thought “This is nice! I can do this!” I finally reached the top and we posed for a few photographs and then started downhill.

The ride downhill is indeed really awesome – I can’t describe it in words, you have to do it to feel it.

http://www.lifemojo.com/people/namit/post/1986036

The Lot: Before buying this bike I had considered Trek 3700 and 4300, Marida Sub V10 and V20, Cannondale F9 (All around INR 17 – 23 K) and finally settled on RockRider 5.2 because of the following reasons.

What’s good?

1. Suspension – it is better than most of the bikes I tried out.
2. Cost – it costs least amongst the lot I was considering.
3. Brakes – better than the rest.
4. Frame – I have absolutely no idea how people judge the quality of the frame. I guess you have to take manufacturer’s word for it. Decathlon claims to have same quality of frame as others.
5. Gear Shifters – I have seen trigger shifters, wrist shifters and thumb (push) shifters on a MTB till now. Of these 3 I personally prefer the thumb shifters because the fingers are busy braking, wrist is busy supporting me and thumbs are free, so it is great that 5.2 has thumb shifters.
6. Looks – If this is something that matters to you, 5.2 comes in a rocking grey and black and looks slick!
7. Chain Stay cover – 5.2 is the only bike of the lot to have a rubber + form covers over the chain stay to prevent scratches on the frame. To me this shows they have cared enough to bundle this essential but most often overlooked accessory along with the bike.

What’s not so great?

1. Gears – I tried playing with them and I think I screwed them a bit, but overall, I think the entire gear assembly could have been a bit better. It is a bit noisy.
2. Weight – it weighs around 13.5Kg and is a bit heavier than some in the lot but when I look at how much I weigh, I can’t complain

Everything else I guess is similar to the other bikes in the same range.

Overall: Great value for money (In Bangalore, India it costs INR 15.5K if you are a reseller)

Need to find a comfortable running stride and style for myself…

Here is a video that made me think about Front and Mid foot landing while running.

http://www.lifemojo.com/people/namit

So you guys can have a look at what I am upto ( health wise ) and the good thing is that it keeps tweeting on my behalf as well

Oh, and if you want an easier access, just subscribe to my Fitness Feed here : http://www.lifemojo.com/people/namit/feed

Sharing the presentation that I used during the session.

It was nice to see so many MBA students turning up for the session. Thank you Prof. Ravi for inviting me to share my experiences.

Watch the promo / intro from Dell here or have a look at this video (the most descriptive video for it that I could find)