Driving SAG for a Rockies Rider

Harimau,

Interesting article. I was a cycling enthusiast two decades ago in Madras, with a red sports bike souped up with dropped handlebars, but no derailleurs (unavailable in my day). I’ve resumed cycling with a vengeance in the US, where I can actually afford good equipment, so this write-up – minus the counterblast against psychiatry – struck a chord.

I have to say I’m most impressed, not so much with the distance covered – modest for 6-7 days, by the standards of serious cyclists – but by the fact that your brother was able to handle what must have been a massive amount of climbing, and horrendous weather conditions, after mostly training in the balmy and basically flat sea-level environs of Madras.

A cyclist would be interested in more technical details, such as the make and model of the bicycles used, the component group, the gearing (e.g. 12-27, 52-42-30), the total elevation gain per stage and for the entire ride (something your brother would have known if his cyclo-computer was equipped with an altimeter), the steepest upgrade encountered, what energy source your brother used (power bars, energy drinks, more traditional fare), etc.

Re:

{{he has lost most of the feeling in his left hand, the hand used to shift gears.}}

If your brother’s bike was a conventionally set up contemporary road bike, the left hand would shift the front derailleur, and operate the front brake, while the right would shift the rear derailleur and operate the rear brake.

{{Cycling magazines rave about the 348 gram carbon fiber handlebars or the 190 gram stems.}}

My own bikes have far-from-exotic 225 gm bars of double-butted aluminium. Today even budget-priced bars rarely exceed 260 gm. Inexpensive threadless stems weighing 180 gm or less are equally common. For all-out weight-weenies, a bar-stem combination weighing around 300 gm would be competitive. One can even buy a one-piece bar plus stem, CNC-machined from aluminium alloy or fabricated out of carbon fibre. The alleged advantage of such a combination is stiffness, but this should really matter only to a powerfully-built competitive sprinter. Personally I think that a lot of the recent so-called technological advances are dubious from the point of good engineering and are more related to separating rich wannabes from their money.

{{The way they price the bikes though, one would think gold would be cheaper.}}

Among the most expensive bike frames around are custom-built titanium-carbon fibre hybrids, tuned to an individual rider’s dimensions, weight, and riding style. They do provide an exceptional ride. A custom-built titanium frame does not corrode and should last a lifetime, barring a major accident, so is actually a steal. Components are quite expensive but in normal careful use last anywhere from 10,000 miles or more (shifters, bottom brackets, hubs) to essentially forever (brakes, cranks, derailleurs). Tires, chains and cables get replaced most often – about every 3000 miles, i.e once or twice a season. So compared to the alternatives – triple coronary bypasses and psychiatry – bicycling is actually quite a bargain.

harimau,

Very nice piece. I guess you kept a diary...or wrote this along the way, and polished later. Wish you had used names, ``my brother`` ``my nephew`` ``my sister-in-law`` kind of impeded the reading. Still, thats just a nit.

Do write more...here than on interracts. Arguing is for those with the breathe and strength to whistle...while you can actually cycle.

Thanks for sharing.

Harimou:
Looks like you chose a forbidding topic for your first article on chowk. The article has to be read in the spirit of being in a marathon, finishing it was a test of endurance.
Bicycle is the transport of choice for the poor man in India and was, until not too long ago, the vehicle of transportation for most of the middle classes. One wonders therefore why there are not many Indians taking part in le tour de france and other international events.
Look forward to read more from you, but please be shorter next time, if you can.

...unkal harimau, very nice...i have great admiration for anyone who has the stamina/willpower to endure smt like this...i get exhausted just by reading it...:)

Thanks for writing , understands so much goes behind the races. Happy your brother made it. All well that ends ends well.

so basically one get anything published at chowk.com............

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re: this articld
A fascinating account, Harimou.
A very well written article. Excellent effort by your brother.
The part about psychiatry was amusing. I hope our Chowk Doc is not lurking.
Sridhar

Harimau:

i only read the first 200 of the 8164 words...so comments will have to wait till i finish it later...did not see any pakistan or muslim bashing there:)...so do not expect to see too many interacts here...and this is not a poem either....pity!;)

...t