Tale of Fat wheels

FAT BIKES

For a non cyclist, a fat bike would be a jargon, so let me first start with explaining what a fat bike is. I bet after reading the description of a fat bike, any person would definitely love to catch a glimpse of it. The naming of a fat bike comes from its tire width. While a normal bike's tire width ranges from 1-2 inches, a fat bike's tire width could be anywhere between 3.8-5 inches. This means that these bikes offer more rolling resistance on roads compared to its contemporaries. Fat bikes were originally used as snow bikes but with subsequent years it gained popularity and people started using it in urban roads as well. Despite the difficulty level of riding a fat bike on roads, the sheer pleasure of maneuvering it on roads, only a fat biker can appreciate.

MY INTRODUCTION TO FATBIKE

Now coming to the point how did my love for fat wheel start? I had never heard of a fat bike. When I saw Sanat’s (now my husband) pictures on a fatbike on a matrimonial site, I was glued to the photo (confused whether to give look at the guy or the bike). Then after interacting with him, I got to know in detail about the fat bike and how it feels to ride it. I was in US back then and literally from that day I was looking at every bike stand to catch a glimpse of fat bike at Cornell, Ithaca. One fine day to my sweet surprise I found a electric fat bike in a cycle stand. When I came for my engagement to India, I rode a very short 4 kms stretch on Sanat’s fatbike. I must say, riding a fat bike is a feeling which cannot be described in words and I fell in love with bike. This was my introduction to the world of fat bikes. Little did I realise that this was just the beginning of a journey which I shall cherish forever.

RIDING A FATBIKE

After our marriage we started fun rides on tandem and completed a 200 kms brevet on tandem (5th Nov 2018). But my thirst of riding a fat bike on road was not satiated, and I felt this was a perfect time to pick up the fat bike and explore my potential. 2nd Dec 2018, I did my first 70 kms ride on a fat bike with a very slow speed of 14 km/h. This did not demotivate me to ride it and I was determined to do my training sessions to get ready for a brevet around March. I had a motorcycle accident in January and my plans of training for the 200 brevet was shattered. God had some other plans, probably he wanted me to be strong and fit enough before embarking on a 200 brevet on a fat bike. After a recovery of 2 months, I picked up my training again. This time I was just enjoying my ride and taking things slowly. My love for riding a fat bike was enhancing with each ride. Due to my work commitments, I was not able to ride a lot but whenever I was on the saddle I was enjoying every bit of it.

BREVET POPULAIRE

2019, Audax started its BREVET POPULAIRE formats and Bangalore Randonneurs (BR) announced a 100 kms brevet populaire on 3rd Aug 2019. It was titled as "Namma Keregalu" and was a beautiful stretch covering few lakes in Bangalore. Not giving a second thought, I registered for this. I knew I had no time to practice but then why to worry about the results when I get a chance of riding on a beautiful stretch with an amazing bunch of cyclists. At the start point, everyone including the organisers were surprised seeing me on a fat bike and Sanat on a foldie. No doubt we were the centre of attraction for the entire ride. Though I enjoyed every bit of the ride, but riding a fat bike requires much of training and practice, and due to my lack of practice I finished 100 kms in 7hrs 13 mins. I was happy, for this was my 1st century ride on a fat bike. On top of that, I had got a best wishes message from the legend himself “John Kennedy” who is a master when it comes to fat biking in India (accomplished 1200 kms brevet).

CORONA HALTS NATION

Next 6 months again gave a halt to my long rides both because of my family liabilities and work schedule. Around Feb 2020, I planned out my schedule of training sessions of 25 kms 3-4 days a week and 50+ kms on weekends. I realised my consistency was paying off both in terms of my strength and pace. But just after a month, Corona hits India and lock down occurs. Not worrying, I thought this is a perfect time to focus on my weight reduction and improving my strength and stamina. Diet control, intermittent fasting and strength workouts was on my mind for next 6 months. Glad that everything went as per my plan and I was able to reduce 7kgs, the strength and stamina had to be checked when I was on saddle.

FAT TANDEM BIKE

September was the month of "reset with cycling". A new member of our family was parked in the parking lot and we eagerly wanted to explore it. Time to enjoy the fat wheels after lock down, but a twist, this time it was on FAT TANDEM. Soul satisfaction it was… After doing a comfortable 100 on our fat tandem bike, we had to give it to Rakes, RR Cycles Madiwala (he is our one stop solution for repair and maintenance of all our unique bikes) for basic maintenance. It is true that best things happen in life when it is not planned. Though our focus was on doing a 200 kms on fat tandem bike, the maintenance phase motivated me to pick up my fat bike so that I can keep my riding practice consistent.

FATBIKE REUNION

The month of October, I was determined to do maximum ride possible. The "Spin the Wheel Challenge" set by the "Spokes Women team" and "Bergamont Tour de 100" provided me the perfect platform to ride consistently. Weekdays ride of 25-30 kms and weekend century rides was my goal. Due to work load, Sanat could not accompany me on my practice ride and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I started doing shorter solo rides. It was a month of exploration riding sometimes with group, sometimes with friends like Rajeshwari, Netra and Aarti and most of the times solo. Decided to give a shot at the solo century ride and could complete it within my set time frame. I was not stopping at this, and went ahead to do a 150 kms ride (Oct 18 2020) with Sandeep, Mithun and Hari. Deliberately chose a route with an elevation of around 1000 mts and finished it comfortably. It was a ride with very less stops and spending maximum time on the saddle and maintaining a comfortable pace of 17-18 kmph (By now my strength training and regular rides was reflecting in my speed). We splitted the route into 25 kms sections and I was riding solo in each sections before meeting my fellow cyclists (for my speed was slow compared to others who were on hybrids and road bikes). This was also mentally prepping me for the highway brevet rides when I have to ride alone. I was quite glad that everything was falling into place. Now I was aiming to do a 200 kms. Nov 1st was supposed to be a easy 200 kms brevet ride— famously called The La Tomatino Chintamani Ride, with an elevation of 1200 mts. Though I wanted to do a 200 practice before Nov 1st, there was no time for it. Further, 150 kms with a elevation of 1000 mts also gave me enough confidence that I can pull off the 200 kms brevet. My training sessions and cycling were not aggressive now so as to prevent injuries and slowly acclamatise my body.

TWIST

Surprises were yet to happen and Mohan Subramaniam (organiser of BR team) announced the route with a twist. Now the elevation was increased to 1500 mts with a section of Markandeshwar betta and Antargange hills. So the easiest route of BR, was no more that easy. I pinged Mohan for registration and he asked me to go through the route once. I was like “ jo hoga dekha jayega” If I can’t finish within time, it shall be a practice 200 kms ride for my next BRM. By now I had planned that I would be riding solo, as Sanat had no holiday. Although I was confident but still the idea of climbing 2 hills were a daunting task for me as I had never rode on hill sections before. When Sanat got his holiday granted and registered for the event my joy knew no bounds… Nothing was going to stop me now… Just 3 days before the ride, did a practice 50 kms with Charan, Netra, Pavithra, Chaitra and Krupa. All set now for the D day. Few days before the ride, I felt that it would be wise to speak to John Kennedy so that I can get his suggestions. He was kind enough to listen to all my queries and answered me patiently. His suggestions and encouraging words were a top up to my confidence level.

BREVET ON A FATBIKE - 1st NOV (CHINTAMANI RIDE)

To skip the option of taking breakfast at hotel, we consumed ghee rice and started from home at 5 am. We rode the 9 kms from our house so that it would be a warm up ride. Reached the Konark Kanteerava stadium at 5:30 am. 85 riders, all filled with enthusiasm were ready to start the journey. It was a surprise to the organisers for I had taken up a tough task. Probably ignorance is bliss, and not knowing the exact difficulty level of the climb, I started. The idea was to finish the first 58 kms at the best of my speed so that I have enough buffer to pass through the hair pin bend sections. We were riding at a decent pace, when around 20 kms, a fellow rider Hari had a puncture and Sanat had to stop for few mins. As per our plans, I went ahead. The 1st 50 kms was covered non stop with a speed of 21 kmph. Bread peanut butter and banana carried by us was our breakfast on the way, so no stops at hotels. Somewhere around 40 kms, Bhagyashree (Bhags) accompanied us, and now we were the “tigdi” riding together. I was leading the group followed by Sanat and Bhags (I being the least experienced one, probably they did not want me to lag behind… LOL !!) A part of the job was accomplished and we were on our way to Markandeshwara betta climb. When we were just climbing, the thumbs up from fellow riders, who were riding downhill, encouraged us. We reached the 1st CP (61 kms mark) at 9:17 am ( CP cutoff time : 10:04 am). Lemon and glucose was a saviour during our hill sections. The hill top view was mesmerising and we felt that it was totally worth the climb. Did not have enough time to relish the view though as the Antargange climb was playing through our mind. So not wasting any time, we just clicked our selfie and rode downhills. Again the idea was to give 110% so that we can have buffer for the Antargange climb. This was a pass through CP, so not a time restricted check point, but if we are delayed at this point the manned CP cant be reached on time. The difficult part of the route was actually full of surprises, and the hill section seemed never ending. It was for the first time that I dared to climb a hill on my fat bike. Riding a fat bike on a hilly terrain was very challenging. The kudos from my fellow riders who were returning was a consolation to my disturbed mind. At one point I was thinking “ Why did I think of riding this tough brevet?? The sole purpose of my fat bike riding was soul satisfaction, and this also had vanished.. Can I sustain to ride the 200 kms after overcoming the Antargange hills, forget about reaching the next CP on time“. To avoid the negativity in my mind, we decided to stop for few minutes and refuel ourselves with food and water. Need to mention here that though Sanat was very comfortable through the hill section, he followed me and constantly motivating me that this can be done (Proving that behind every successful women there is a man). Each and every fellow riders we were meeting had just one sentence to say “ You are doing great ..Just 1 km more” The 1 km actually was never ending. Finally after lot of struggle we managed to reach the hill top at 11:10 am. No wastage of time, refuelled ourselves, filled water and marched enroute. Downhill was not painful on legs but being a novice rider on hills, I was afraid of riding downhills and rode it with brakes applied.

The next leg was riding to reach the manned CP before time. The narrow roads, traffic at certain intervals and rough patch, nothing was bothering us. It was just that I was enjoying my ride after the 2 hill sections and patting myself that I could manage to be within time so far. This leg was very familiar to me as I had rode most part of this stretch during my 1st tandem brevet. I was reminiscing all those memories as I was passing through the lanes of Kolar and Chintamani. And yayyy we reached the manned CP (Hunasenahalli) at 14:24 (14:42 was the cut off). Mohan was elated to see us at the check point. After finishing our brevet card signature formalities we had the yummy bisi bele bhath, curd and mysore pak. The encouraging words from Netra and Mohan made my day. Stopping for just 20 mins, we quickly moved forward. The 10 kms after the CP made me and Bhags a bit uncomfortable due to overeating and we stopped at a petrol pump to wash our face, to feel a bit fresh. This helped and we rode comfortably for the next leg till Devanahalli. After hitting the airport road at Devanahalli junction, I knew this is my area (this was my practice ride stretch) and I can give my 100 %. I was again back to my form and rode at a speed of 20+. The traffic at hebbal flyover was a bit crazy but we were elated that we were reaching the end point very soon. The last 10 kms was a bit slow due to in city traffic but I had anticipated this from my past brevet experience. The announcement from Sanat that “ guys have just 10 kms to go in 1 hour” thrilled both me and Bhags. The happiness that we were on time despite the 2 hill sections made us fill with pride. Reaching the end point at 7:07 pm, I felt Mohan was far more happy than me (for I had completed the 200 on a fat bike). The tight hug from Netra and Bhags made me realise that probably I had done something outstanding. But then apart from all these, I was happy that I had finished it off in style, far better than my previous tandem brevet.

DECLARATION

Many fellow riders and probably the organising team may have wondered “ Why did I choose a fat bike? Was I forced by Sanat to ride it? Did I have no other option?? “ Answering this, I definitely had a option of backing off after seeing the twist in the route or pick up an easier option of riding it on my hybrid bike. No Sanat never forced me into riding fat bike. It was my own interest for which I started riding the fat bike and finally fell in love with it. So I wanted to ride this brevet on the fat bike for the sheer pleasure of riding it and for my crazy love for riding the fat wheels. Easy or tough?? I do not have much data to compare. My first brevet was on tandem, so riding fat bike was not that difficult comparing it to tandem. But then I have never ridden a road bike and my highest mileage on a hybrid is 50 kms for now. So while riding a fat bike the difficulty level has never crept into my mind. The stability it provides and not worrying about the road conditions, attracts me towards fat bike and pedalling a fat bike provides me immense happiness. Describing about the technicalities of riding a fat bike as told by John “ A lot matters on gear changing techniques and love for the bike”. So yes, I was extremely satisfied in this journey. And the fact that I finished a relatively tough 200 brevet on a fat bike, literally means that I can continue with my ride on fat wheels. Finally “ My love for fat wheel won and our marriage still continues”.