A very bright spot of light moving quite fast across right to left and inching towards another one bigger dot of light.
How can a star or something like that moves so fast ?
Probably it can !!!
Oh..... there is another one ......
Both are going almost in similar direction but little staggered !!!!!
I'll come back to this in a while.
On 15 December 2013 , suman paul wrote to BBC:
Friends
Need your help and suggestions.
Yesterday was rather disappointing. I attempted KGF 300. But could not finish it. Had to drop out somewhere close to Vanyambadi. Even though I was quite confident to do Krishnagiri climb as I've done that route twice. But got cramp in my right calf. From 40 km mark it started. Did some stretching and it went off for sometime and came back again at 70 km mark and that stayed all the way. It slowed me down and making the ride extremely difficult. Could not pedal at all without break after 4-5 km. Then finally got a very crunched time to reach till Krishnagiri which made me to decide to drop out. If there was no problem in calf, probably I would have made it to the end control. Because I was not out of breath and stamina was not an issue. I faced this problem in Mysore brevet also. There it happened twice and after some stretching it did not persist and I could finish the ride.
I'm thankful to Anil who has generously helped to show few steps to build up stamina and it helped greatly.
Now I'm not able to figure out the possible reason for this cramp to occur repeatedly in most of the rides. There must be something fundamentally wrong. If I try to list down few things below, it might help to figure out.
1. Nutrition - I do not follow any particular diet in general, in the ride, try to eat at every one hour - snickers/ chikki/ bun/ cake / banana etc.
2. Hydration - try to drink a litre of fluid an hour in the ride - plain water and electoral water together.
3. Exercise - I do not exercise daily and not physically very active in general.
4. Cleat - I have recently started using cleats and yesterday was my second ride with cleats. The first ride with cleats was fantastic and did not get any cramp in 120 km at all. Before I used to ride with normal running shoes and with that also I used to get cramp.
If you can help me out to find possible reason and way to overcome the issue then my future rides will become more enjoyable.
On Dec 15, 2013, Ali Poonawala wrote:
Suman,
Though I am a doctor, let me clarify, I am not orthopaedician and hence my comments should be probably have same value as an astute patient!
If you have cramp in only one area two possibilities immediately come to mind:Though I am a doctor, let me clarify, I am not orthopaedician and hence my comments should be probably have same value as an astute patient!
either due to faulty technique ( Bike fit ? !! ) or
to protect another injured muscle/s
You must try and identify if even when you are not cycling, are you getting pain/discomfort on pressing certain areas of muscles.
If
yes, i.e. soreness which has not gone away, you are dealing with
muscles which have injury and not healing due to persisting or
repetitive strain.
In that case,
See an orthopaedician/sports physiotherapist
On Dec 15, 2013, Chidambaran Subramanian wrote:
Did you try licking a little salt + a little chikki when this happens?
This was the time to introspect and get things sorted out for my longer rides. Dr. Ali and Chiddu were just spot on. I looked into bike-fit and it changed the way I was riding almost completely. I was in the safe hand of my friend Naveen John and the process was so invigorating and evolving that really changed the understanding of my body basics which I was totally ignorant about. Bike-fit is a game all together. If you change little bit of set-up then it has to be re-arranged in many aspects. Like after the fit, I changed my saddle and that changed the complete adjustment of the saddle post. Then that change lead into the reach of the handle bar, and, so on. Still I'm not fully done with that but it is very interesting. After the first fit, I attempted the same KGF route again, and I did not get any cramp in my legs for the first 100 km and after that in one stretch I started going little faster than usual and immediately got a cramp on my right calf. Did not think twice. Stopped immediately. Picked up the stock of salt and licked it with a chikki and sat for 3 minutes. And, my cramp vanished like a magic. Ecstatic. Then on the way I was thinking, why I get the cramp attack on my right calf first always ! Am I injured which is not visible ! Yes. My left ankle was twisted long time back and I do not even remember when and how. But I injured it repeatedly in many occasions and the latest being toppling over a flight of staircase and twisting the same left ankle recently. I got my answer. Since I'm not confidently using my left leg's full strength, my right leg is tending to over-work and perhaps causing the cramps. However, I could not finish that brevet but that ride was very very insightful. Presently I'm treating my left ankle to stabilize it and it is helping. I guess the point of 'outstripping of blood supply locally, due to some blood vessel block/injury etc.and the demands of that group of muscles is not being met', may be unlikely scenario for the moment.
A very bright spot of light moving quite fast across right to left and inching towards another one bigger dot of light.
How can a star or something like that moves so fast ?
Probably it can !!!
Oh..... there is another one ......
Both are going almost in similar direction but little staggered !!!!!
Felt very content.
Did you try licking a little salt + a little chikki when this happens?
This was the time to introspect and get things sorted out for my longer rides. Dr. Ali and Chiddu were just spot on. I looked into bike-fit and it changed the way I was riding almost completely. I was in the safe hand of my friend Naveen John and the process was so invigorating and evolving that really changed the understanding of my body basics which I was totally ignorant about. Bike-fit is a game all together. If you change little bit of set-up then it has to be re-arranged in many aspects. Like after the fit, I changed my saddle and that changed the complete adjustment of the saddle post. Then that change lead into the reach of the handle bar, and, so on. Still I'm not fully done with that but it is very interesting. After the first fit, I attempted the same KGF route again, and I did not get any cramp in my legs for the first 100 km and after that in one stretch I started going little faster than usual and immediately got a cramp on my right calf. Did not think twice. Stopped immediately. Picked up the stock of salt and licked it with a chikki and sat for 3 minutes. And, my cramp vanished like a magic. Ecstatic. Then on the way I was thinking, why I get the cramp attack on my right calf first always ! Am I injured which is not visible ! Yes. My left ankle was twisted long time back and I do not even remember when and how. But I injured it repeatedly in many occasions and the latest being toppling over a flight of staircase and twisting the same left ankle recently. I got my answer. Since I'm not confidently using my left leg's full strength, my right leg is tending to over-work and perhaps causing the cramps. However, I could not finish that brevet but that ride was very very insightful. Presently I'm treating my left ankle to stabilize it and it is helping. I guess the point of 'outstripping of blood supply locally, due to some blood vessel block/injury etc.and the demands of that group of muscles is not being met', may be unlikely scenario for the moment.
A very bright spot of light moving quite fast across right to left and inching towards another one bigger dot of light.
How can a star or something like that moves so fast ?
Probably it can !!!
Oh..... there is another one ......
Both are going almost in similar direction but little staggered !!!!!
" I want a tea " Silvester told. I said " yes ".
Again he asked " do you want to take a nap here ", his voice was little surprised.
I said calmly " no just want to stretch my body for five minutes ".
Me and Silvester were on the footpath in front of Kamat Janapadaloka and by then we had finished riding 150 kms by around 4 am. When we left Mandya 'U-turn' by around 2 am, we were going at a reasonable pace and first stopped at Channapatna CCD at 3 am and decided to ride faster and reach Ramanagaram as soon as possible. Incidentally I met Silvester just the other side of the Kamat Janapadaloka on the way out at around 55 kms mark couple of hours before when I was passing by and waved to couple of guys who stopped for a break and in couple of minutes Silvester broke away from the group and caught me from behind. Then on we were riding together. My first ever ride with some one for such a long time. Was feeling so comfortable. But the start was not that comfortable for me. The morning of the brevet, I woke up with a mild fever and the whole day was in a dilemma, whether to go for it or not. Any how made it to the start point by 7 pm and that time it was pouring cats and dogs and I almost decided not to start. Most of the riders started by sharp 8 pm and it was still drizzling. I was still undecided. I told Tanija, who came to drop me, that I'll wait for some more time and if rain stops then only I'll go. Chiddu smiled and said, what happens if it rains in the middle ! True. Time to forget about all these non-sense. Pull up my rain coat. Get the bike checked by Sandeep and collect the card and say bye to Tanija and push-off. 20 meters. Stopped to check why my cyclo-comp is not working ! Jayaprakash E came from behind and asked why did I stop ! Then he smiled and said " just 200 kms no, don't worry, come we will go and come back ".
We finally started at 8.20 pm. Jayaprakash and me riding through the thick traffic of a mad saturday evening in the city and then hit the sliding Uttarahalli stretch where we chatted and cruised along. At the Kengeri junction, there was a long traffic jam and I just went ahead thinking that Jayaprakash is just behind me and when I took the highway and went little ahead, realised that he was not there at the back. Stopped there for almost 10 minutes hoping that he will come but when he did not arrive by then, felt bad to leave him behind but pushed-off. Near Bidadi, got little bit of rain and saw couple of riders zipped passed me. This may be the most beautiful part of the Mysore road with a good amount of easy rolling which kept me going smoothly till Ramanagaram where I saw Sanath and Manoj at a bakery and immediately I stopped to catch up with them. Exchanged few words and filled water and started in couple of minutes. After Ramanagaram city, I missed them and went ahead and at Janapadaloka got Silvester. He is a fantastic rider with loads of riding experience with recently finished double SRs and 1000 k. We were chatting and riding and he was slowing down for me quite often to give me company and I felt blessed and nothing could have been better than that. We reached Mandya control at 1.20 am. 5 hours and half the distance is done. WOW. Ravindra, Khuram and Anup were really welcoming volunteers with lots of refills. Anup snatched the bottles and filled water in it so that I do not have to bend down - lovely gesture. Had a sandwich there and tried to take a quick nap but could not get any sleep. Then me and Silvester started again from there by 1.55 am.
A very bright spot of light moving quite fast across right to left and inching towards another one bigger dot of light at 4 am.
How can a star or something like that moves so fast ?
Probably it can !!!
Oh..... there is another one ......
Both are going almost in similar direction but little staggered !!!!!
How can a star or something like that moves so fast ?
Probably it can !!!
Oh..... there is another one ......
Both are going almost in similar direction but little staggered !!!!!
" I want a tea " Silvester told. I said " yes ".
Again he asked " do you want to take a nap here ", his voice was little surprised.
Aaaahhhh ...... they are two different aircrafts going and incidentally
their lights were looking very similar to the stars on the sky. Stars do
not move that fast. But in a power nap mode in the middle of a night
brevet, aeroplanes also resembles with stars.
I said calmly " no just want to stretch my body for five minutes ".
We started in five minutes from then and had tea little ahead and continued our chatty ride.
Near Bidadi, Silvester was little ahead of me and I quickly chased him as the sun was rising at the horizon and told him " Good Morning ".
He smiled.
We were riding last night together and the day is breaking.
Refreshing.
Felt very content.
Reached Kengeri at 7 am and had a fresh butter fruit shake and started for the last leg at 7.15 am. As per Chiddu this stretch of climb is like a desert which comes after a beautiful meal to top it up and conclude. We embraced it and got on to it. Had enough time and was feeling quite relaxed and finally me and Silvester reached the end control at 8.15 am. He could have reached much earlier but slowed down for me and I'm just grateful for that.
12 hours and 210 kms done.
Yes I want a medal for this. I've opted for that.
It still has not become a habit for me to do any brevet like this. But with this ride, I was very happy with my timing, pace, stamina and lesser shortfalls.
Enjoyed the night.
And this write-up, I would like to dedicate to Dr. Ali Poonawala and Chidambaran Subramanian.
I do not know any better way to show my gratitude towards you.
