I thought that this might be useful to others planning to ride in India.I will add more as time goes on. 

MY CYCLiNG DAY

I try and get an early start to use the cool and empty mornings to cover miles, so I get up at 6am and am rolling by 6.45am.  I don’t eat anything but I do drink about a litre of water.  I try to ride for about 3 hours / 30 miles then stop  for a short time and eat breakfast. Sometimes it is just water, bananas and biscuits.  I then try to ride another 10 miles or so, and by then (11am?) the sun is high and progress is more difficult.

Finding a place to stop in shade is not always possible so I find it best to plod on and get the last few miles done and reach my destination around lunchtime.  This just about works with 50 mile days.

After I find a place to stay there is the ritual of a shower and washing out my clothing so it has time to dry before the next morning (if it is still damp it gets strapped on top of the rear rack bag: many in India have seen my underwear!).  Then lunch, and in the afternoon time to look around the place I am staying. 

Once back at the hotel I refill my water bottles with tap water and a steritab ready for the next day. And charge my phone and powerbank.

A real rock n’roll lifestyle!

CLOTHING

I get protection from the sun from my clothing, not from lotions, so I always ride wearing a white hat with a rim and sunglasses.  Dark sunglasses in the middle of the day, yellow tined ones in the morning. They are actually safety specs with a good UV protection rating and strong lenses.  I usually wear gloves.  Summer cycling gloves seem to have mesh on the back of the hand which means sunburn so I use thin leather work gloves with solid fabric over the back of my hands which lets moisture out.  I keep wondering about cutting off the finger tips to make them cooler.  When I lost my gloves I bought ‘arm sleeves’ with a hole for my thumb.  They are designed to give uv protection and to help cooling if soaked in water. They cover the back of my hand and knuckles and seem fine when the sun is behind me but riding more into the sun my fingers are exposed too much.  And they give no protection if I fall. A thin pair of mesh backed gloves on top might work well.

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

A neck tube keeps the sun off my neck and if the sun is on the front of my face I have a fabric facemask to replace the neck tube.  Of course all this clobber does not keep me cool!

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

Shoes - I take flat bottomed cycling shoes that I can walk in and walking sandals that I can cycle in.  The bike has plastic toe clips that work with any shoe, no cleats.

THE BIKE

I need a bike that is strong, reliable and which will ride on tarmac and unmade tracks.  Obviously I need a ‘gravel bike’……

The bike I took on this trip is a MKI Thorn Sherpa from about 2005.  It was designed and built before ‘gravel bikes’ existed and Thorn marketed it as a bike that you could tour on anywhere.  The grand daddy of modern Gravel Bikes?

 It has V brakes, 26” wheels and derailleur HG 3x9 gears.  All a bit dated and not without faults.

Faults…..well I hate derailleur gears with exposed chains.  In dry conditions they are reasonably OK but the dust does get on the chain.  I am using wet oil, I might have been better waxing the chain and using a dry lube.  The transmission is 3 x 9 Hyperglide which is getting harder to find parts for so I may update to 2 x 9 CUES with a larger range rear sprocket.  Lets see, I still have some HG parts on the shelf to use up.

In dirty conditions I also prefer discs (cable operated) that stay grit free.   V brakes grinding on rims are not pleasant to hear!  Discs do work better than V brakes.  Descending the Western Ghats my V brakes would slow me but on some gradients would not stop me.  I know discs would have stopped me and would have taken less hand pressure to use.  

I like 26 inch wheels.  With a medium sized frame they give more toe room and tyre clearance than larger wheels and spares are available in India so I just carry one innertube (and a patching kit).  Tyres are Schwarbe Marathons, a Plus on the rear(26x1.5’) and a Standard on the front 26x1.75’).  Why the different sizes? - my theory is that a larger front tyre will roll more easily over a bump (look at off road motorbike wheel sizes) - and I happened to have these tyres hanging on the garage wall.  If they ever wear out I might go up one size at each end.

The bike frame is 20 years old and I don’t know it’s history.  It is a steel frame and steel forks.  I would not buy 20 year old alloy or carbon components.  I have no experience of carbon but I have had alloy frames strip threads and wear at the dropouts.   There is also the chance that a cracked steel frame could be welded as a bodge to let me complete my trip.

GEAR

I travel pretty light and like to be able to carry the bike upstairs with all luggage in place. On this trip the bike with luggage is 26kg plus 2kg for water and food.  Food is bananas and biscuits.

I have a Caradice clip on/off handlebar bag which has a map window on top that my iphone pushes into.  I have cut a hole so a powerlead will go from the phone to a powerbank in the bag,  I do try to keep the weight low in the bag low so it does not effect the steering.

Two elderly Karrimor panniers clip to the rack and a small bag sits on top of the rack for pump, lock, food etc.  Both the handlebar bag and rack bag will fit in the panniers so I can walk away from the bike carrying everything (useful when the bike was on the train).

TO BE CONTINUED