Red BaroN Charity Ride(s)

4200 and counting...

2011-01-11T08:54:00.000+00:00

Hooray - crossed the 4200 mark.!!

Thanks all for your contribution. I am sure i couldn't have done it with every single one of you.

Keep it coming and i am sure we can collectively make a huge difference.

Thanks and regards.

the Red Baron

2,500 and counting..

2010-12-03T08:05:00.000+00:00

Thanks all for your contribution. I am sure i couldn't have done it with every single one of you.

Just crossed the 2500 mark in absolute contribution, making it over 3150 pounds including Gift-Aid.

Keep it coming and i am sure we can collectively make a huge difference.

Thanks and regards.

the Red Baron

Day 8, 9 and 10 - Trinidad and our return trip

2010-11-23T23:51:00.000+00:00

The last 3 days days of our trip was mainly to visit trinidad, relax by the beach and our hectic flight back -Iberia, Again.!

Few pics of our last 3 days in Cuba.

Thanks once again to one and all for making this trip a success.

Would like to thank Amelio, Aryaal, Santos, Michelle, and Louise for their fantastic backup support.

Kudos to the team.!

Signing off for now, please let me know if there is anything else to be added.

Cheerio.!

Day 6 and 7 - Cienfuegos to Hanabanilla and hanabanilla to Trinidad

2010-11-23T23:42:00.000+00:00

17^th November, 2010

Day 4 into our Cuban adventure, and we had sufficient warning that today was going to a tough nut to crack. We were told that the distance would not be too much but the steep hills would drain us, and drain us it did.!

We hit the rollercoaster hills section within 20 minutes of riding. And oh yes, it was difficult. It was a bit overcast, that it help us, but nevertheless the humidity factor was quite high. The team really did very well to keep up the momentum.

Stopped for lunch before a strenuous 8 km hill – the last 8 km of the day. Post lunch, as expected it was an intense climb towards our hotel at Hanabanilla. But it was intense determination and team spirit that took us towards the top of the hill, and what a moment it was. Brilliant team effort.!

Our stay over for the night was at Hotel Hanabanilla. A beautiful little hotel besides a reservoir.

Total distance: 60 KM

Difficulty factor: 7

Saddle soreness factor: 4 (perhaps getting used to it by now)

Highlight of the day: reaching the top of the final hill.!

18^th November, 2010

Last day of Cuban ride but were told that it would be the toughest of the lot. We were looking at around a total distance of 90 km for the day. Left the hotel early after breakfast, for our final dash towards Trinidad.

Tough day.

Lunch at another Campismo, before an 8 km bus transfer, due to bad roads and steep up and downhill.

But towards the end, before arriving at Trinidad, had a few more excruciating steep hills, that sapped us all of what we had left in us.

But as usual, the team did exceptionally well.

Ann led the way into our final hotel – Ancon resort on the ancon peninsula.

Was a great feeling with few tears shed, but it was indeed a moment of determination and true grit winning over all obstacles put in front of us!

A time to salute the team for being a wonderful family in our journey. Pat on the back to each and every one of you.!

Final day in Trinidad, before we leave back to London on the 20^th of November.

Statists:

Total distance: 87 KM

Difficulty factor: 8

Saddle soreness factor: 5

Day 5 – Rancho Luna to Cienfuegos return trip

2010-11-23T23:37:00.000+00:00

16^th November, 2010

Day 3 of riding of our Cuban challenge. Today’s ride was supposed to be an easier day to prepare ourselves for the following days of intense cycling. But it turned out to be a bit tougher than expected, perhaps because of the speed at which we did the final ride.

Had another fantastic breakfast at our hotel – Rancho Luna (Club Amigo) and departed at around 8:30 from the hotel and made our way towards the historic and beautiful city of Cienfuegos.

The ride towards the city was an easy 10 mile ride, quite flat and downhill. However the highlight of the ride were a group of young (school perhaps) girls riding the other way, saw us and turned back and joined us. There were obviously quite fit and had proper road bikes and caught up to us in no time. Some of them even fancied a grab or a grope rather of our very own resident Dj’s back side, who as usual was completely unfazed by what was happening around him, tried to slap their back sides, but stopped at the last moment. But it was indeed a moment to cherish.

Reached Cienfuegos square around mid morning, and spent around an hour visiting the nearby shops and museums.

Proceeded towards bahla de Cienfuegos – a reservoir in the city. Went in for a quick swim before the non stop return journey towards Rancho Luna. Back in time for lunch, and spend the afternoon at the hotel. There was a quick game of pool volleyball between the boys and Mark and his girls – needless to say the boys won with a resounding victory, although the girls did put up a good fight, or rather we let them think that way in any case :P

Amilio cracked up with a ‘Sho the Munkhey..’ joke – another highlight of the day..

Dinner was followed by a salsa night at Club Amigos. Was intense fun but we were advised to rest well before a tough and intense day the next day.

Stats for the day:

Total distance: 45 KM

Difficulty factor: 5

Saddle soreness factor: 5

Day 4 - Matanzas to Cienfuegos

2010-11-23T23:26:00.001+00:00

15^th November, 2010

Day 2 of our Cuban cycle escapade. On the whole it was much easier ride today in terms of the flatness of the entire terrain, but the distance was a lot further.

Had a great breakfast at our hotel in Veradaro – the best of the trip so far. Started from our hotel and had our bus transfer to our last destination point near Matanzas. Started cycling at around 9:00 am and started cycling south towards Cienfuegos.

Today’s route was a much flatter surface and it was quite smooth throughout. Stopped after around 10 km, just to regroup.

Today, weather-wise, it was glorious day – blue skies above, roughly around 27 degrees Celsius and I presume a humidity factor of around 50%. Perfect conditions for cycling

We then stopped for lunch in a lovely little village - Bolondron, before which we stopped for a quick toilet break enroot at a local’s house. It was a nice little, high ceiling, and tiled roofed house. Reminded me of the houses in my hometown in Kerala, India. Angela again grabbed the opportunity, and handed the little kids of the house her pink CLIC sergeant balloons who were mighty thrilled at the prospect of having a toy for their near future.

Lunch was served near the village’s local rail station. Was a perfect opportunity to shoot some abandoned railway track shots. Lunch was cooked by our backup truck drivers wife, and as always was perfect.! Salad, banana critters, rice with black beans and some lovely beef and potato.

By this time we had completed 45 km for the day and according to amilio, we had another 25 odd km to complete before our transfer to the hotel.

Post lunch session was another situation of perfect riding conditions, and perfectly summed up the days ride – challenging, yet thorough fun.!

Stopped just before the main highway stretch and loaded our bikes onto the truck. It was then a good hour and fifteen minutes transfer to our next hotel for the following 2 nights - rancho Luna resort, on the outskirts of Cienfuegos, where we would be put up for the next 2 nights. Enroot, amilio enlightened us about the life in Cuba – “the best part about Cuba is you can get divorced easily!” jokes aside, it was informative and amilio tried his best to demonstrate the socio economic conditions of Cuba and life of a Cuban.

The resort seemed massive to Cuban standards, I guess, and even had a fantastic swimming pool. Dinner was fab, and was in for an early night as it looked as if jet lag and exhaustions had finally kicked in.

Stay tuned for the remaining part of our journey, until then Adios.!

Stats for the day:

Total distance: 72 KM

Difficulty factor: 5

Saddle soreness factor: 5

Day 3 - Playa Jibacoa to Matanzas

2010-11-23T23:25:00.001+00:00

14^th November, 2010

Technically day 1 of our Cuban cycling escapade, and what a day it was.!

Had a quick breakfast (speciality was cheese and Jam.!) and met up for a team briefing at half past 8. Amelio, out tour guide briefed us on dos and don’ts – pee behind bush was acceptable if needed. Arial (pronounced Areeyal) was our cycle leader and led us well, he did.!

Started at exactly 8:47, not sure of the significance was, and proceeded south east towards the coastal city of Matanzas. We had out first break at around the 10km mark, where we diverted from the main road, which was immediately followed by a 20 minute snack break, near a church in a small village.

From there on it was pretty flat terrain until our next stop, at around the 25 km mark. Got welcomed by few local kids who were completely mesmerised by Angela’s Cancer research balloons. From here on began the steep climbs, which was topped off by a 2 km uphill that completely (almost) drained us of our energy. From here on it was a 2 km ride to the outskirts of Matanzas, which was our lunch break.

Lunch was provided by our back-up truck driver’s wife and it was traditional Cuban food – rice with black beans, et al.

Post lunch it was all down hill – literally. It was a great 10 km ride to the other end of Matanzas, from where we were transferred onto a coach to our hotel for the night – Acuazil hotel.

Statistics for the day:

Total distance – 47 KM (+/- 1 KM, as I forgot to switch on the timer on few occasions at the start after each break)

Difficulty factor – 5 on 10

Saddle soreness factor: 3

Day 2 – Trip to Cuba – Part Deux

2010-11-13T07:12:00.003+00:00

13^th November 2010.

Well, about to leave my hotel and trying to finally get to Cuba, once again.!

This really does feel like a true challenge at the moment

Hotel stay and food were fine.

Taking an earlier flight of to Madrid today, hoping to be well on time to catch my connecting flight to Cuba

IB 3163 – 10:55 (LHR) – 13:45(MAD)

IB 6621 – 17:00 (MAD) – HAV (21:10)

Stay tunes to what happens next.!

I have posted some pics along with this report of my hotel in London Heathrow, instead of posting pics of Havana, unfortunately. Nevertheless, I have finally reached my destination and it finally feels good to be here.

The flight from London to Madrid was invariable late again, but this time I was at least on time to catch the connecting flight to Cuba. I got a window seat, and it was an Iberia domestic flight, food had to be bought. I had avoided it as I was still completely full on the buffet continental breakfast from the hotel. Got to catch up on some essential nap for about an hour and a half before landing in Madrid.

In Madrid, it was the normal procedure – people with RSU gates, wait until everyone disembarks from the flight and exit from the rear onto a waiting coach, which takes you to the RSU terminal.

To my surprise, the Havana flight (IB6621) was departing from the same gate as the previous day – U55. Being an expert of the RSU terminal by now, I didn’t have nay problems reaching that gate, and in fact guided few other passengers on the London-Madrid flight towards the gate.

IB6621, was delayed by around 25 minutes as they were waiting fro some other passengers from the connecting flight! WHAT ABOUT ME.! I screamed in my mind.! Nevertheless, the captain guaranteed that we would make up for it and reach Havana on time.

I got a pretty decent seat – the first row in the economy section – Seat 10L. I had an enormous leg room available to myself, as good as a lie flat bed. Upon take off, which was pretty smooth, off course, it was the A340-600 (and trust me, it is bloody long.!), we were served dinner within an hour.

The dinner was nothing worthwhile. Almost burnt meat balls with semi boiled potato.! Anywyas, I didn’t have a choice, so had to gulp it down. I watched the disappearance of Alice creed, from my laptop, once I completed dinner, as the in-flight entertainment had not yet started.

I guess some one was spying on me, as just as the movie I was watching completed, volla! They started their in-flight movie – The sorcerers’ Apprentice! Watched half way through the movie, and then fell asleep. The next thing I knew, I was woken up by the FA and she served me pre landing snacks – cold baguettes, chocolate bar, juice and cold bread. Not appetising, but it did wake me up.!

As guaranteed the flight landed on time – 21:20 Cuba local time. By the time I was out of immigration and collected my baggage it was around 10:30. I was greeted by my Spanish speaking driver – nice chap but knew nothing in English. So it was back to basic sign languages between us. Exchanged some Cuban convertible pesos (1gbp = 1.42 CUC at the time of writing) and off we went.

We reached our first night hotel on the outskirts of Havana – at Playa Jibacoa. We were put up in a traditional Cuban village hotel type of a place called ‘Campismo Popular’. It was no best western, but it did have decent sized cottages and a great atmosphere.

I was sharing my room with Mark – The DJ from Ireland, although he spends most of his time these days in Greece, from the group, who was fast asleep by the time I reached. Not spoken to him yet, will do during the course of the day.

So that is the end of my second day report.

Do stay tuned for following days report.

Adios, for now.

Day 1 - Flight to Cuba

2010-11-12T06:01:00.004+00:00

12 Nov 2010, Friday - finally the time has come to leave the murky winter of UK behind and off to warm, humid conditions in Cuba. Just about to finish last minute packing before i airport.

IB 3175 - 12:15(LHR) - 15:35(MAD)

IB 6621 - 17:00(MAD) - 21:10(HAV)

Hope to update this page tonight with pics of the group, flight etc.

CLICK BELOW TO READ ON....

Day 1 – 12th November 2010-11-12

What should have been a 13 hour flight to Havana, via Madrid, turned out to be over 48 hours, due to Iberia and their sheer negligence in managing transit passengers.

Flight IB 3175 due to take of from London at 12:15, finally ended up taxing by 2:00pm, and as expected missed the connecting flight from Madrid to Havana at 5:00 PM.

The flight from London landed Madrid by 5:05, and by the time it came to a halt at the designated gate, it was 5:15PM. By this time I was almost certain that I had already missed my flight and in turn the chance of being in Cuba on time. The steward aboard Flight 3175, kept my hope high that perhaps I could get a flight to Miami and then onward to Havana. Only a miracle could get me to Havana on time.

On board, an announcement was made that all passengers with a ‘RSU’ on their boarding pass, needs to wait on board and would have to exit form the rear exit. By the time this happened and exited from the rear exit, onto a waiting aero bus, it was way over 5:30 PM. The trip to the RSU terminal (later I came to know this was Terminal 4S, as in a Satellite terminal) was around 10 minutes. Upon entering the terminal, it was completely deserted and no proper explanation of where to go, or rather where to run.

Finally saw an ‘I’ board, and sought for some information. Was told to go to gate U55, In Spanish, and the person muttered something else, which I figured was that ‘all the best mate, your flight is long gone.!’

Made my way to U55, and to my surprise, saw nobody there – absolutely nobody.! I heard a ‘Por Favour’ from behind, and saw a sweeper saw point towards an Iberia information desk.

This was the beginning of a 2 hour discussion of what needed to be done next. The first person I spoke to (didn’t get her name and didn’t want to either) seemed clueless and rude - a lethal combination and one which did not help my situation at all. The options given to me by her were:
• The flight has gone; the next best thing to be done was to wait until the next flight, the following day.
o This meant that I would have to sleep on a seat inside the terminal and spend the next 24 hours, as I was not able to go out of the airport to any hotel accommodation as I did not have a Spanish visa to enter into Spain. I was not even offered a business class lunge to sleep as my ticket was on economy.

I found this ridiculous and could not believe what I was hearing. As always, I kept my calm and put forward another plan which I thought to be sensible at that time – fly me back to London and we restart the same flight schedule the next day.

She seemed to agree to this idea. I tried to get her to put me up at a hotel In London Heathrow, instead of me getting back all the way home, to which she said “No possible” quite frustrated at this point I agreed to get back to London. Whilst doing this, she noticed that it was time for her break, and explained the entire scenario to another colleague (Javier) of hers, who had to restart the entire re-booking procedure.

In the mean time, I had notified the tour operator (David) in Cuba, and he was quite helpless, and said that he would rearrange everything possible for me the next day.

Switching Back to Madrid, Javier seemed to be much more helpful and felt for me. He tried his level best to put me on any connection available to get me to Cuba in the shortest possible time. The only issue here was I COULD only fly Iberia as I was stuck in this 4S terminal, and could not move terminals – something I have never heard o f in any other airports, I could be wrong though..

But there was no luck in finding any connection to take me to Havana, and finally decided to get back to London. Javier, in the mean time even sent a telex to London to ask them o provide me with hotel accommodation.

So here I am on the flight back to London writing about my experience with Iberia, instead of writing about how amazing Havana is. Until now I have not been offered any thing to eat or drink..!

Hopefully would get back in to the game tomorrow. Hoping for the best.

Do tune in for the next update on this blog.

Until then...adios!

Letter to Iberia:

· Reached airport at 09:15 as required by the tour organising company (Charity Challenge). Met the group I was travelling with, a quick introduction with few of the members as well. Jo Warren arrived 5 minutes later and handed us our travel packs. We were then told to proceed to check in individually.

· At the check in counter, I was offered an earlier flight at 10:55 (IB3163), but I thought I should stay with the stipulated flight, in order to avoid any confusion and told the attended that I would stick to my original booking (IB3175). At this point there was no indication of flight being delayed.

· Went through departure gates immediately, walked around the duty free area and finally decided to do some work on my laptop finding a place near a plug point.

· At 10:25 I noticed that IB3175 that was supposed to take of at12:15, was delayed until 13:00.

· On seeing this, I went over to the boarding gate where IB3163 was boarding and bought to their notice that I had a connecting flight at 17:00 from Madrid, and my flight to Madrid is delayed by 45 minutes, and whether it would be possible for me to board IB3163 earlier. Unfortunately as I had a checked in baggage, I was not allowed to do that and was asked not to worry, a s Iberia would have to consider that and take care of it.

· At 12:15, a further delay and the new proposed time to take off was 13:25. At this point, I was very concerned and went over to the Iberia travel information desk inside the terminal. The Iberia representative indicated that my flight was expected to take off at 13:25, hence arriving at Madrid at 16:15, still sufficient time to catch my connecting flight.

· Flight IB3175 started boarding at 13:40 and the flight started taxiing at 14:05, and finally took off at 14:15.

· At this point, I was almost certain that I would miss my connecting flight.

· I immediately, on board, bought this point to the flight stewards’ attention, who advised me that Iberia, at Madrid would take care of it. He said that he would try and do everything possible to inform them, so as to come to a possible solution.

· As my flight (IB3175) approached Madrid, it was certain that I would miss my flight, and an alternate arrangement would be made over at Madrid airport. I was told of a possibility of flying me over to Miami, that night, and from there a connecting flight over to Havana.

· Upon landing in Madrid, I was asked to wait for all passengers to disembark, and exit from the rear of the flight, from where I would be taken on a bus to the RSU (Terminal 4 S) terminal. By the time the bus ride was over and reached RSU terminal, it was 5:25 PM.

· There was no clear indication upon arrival at the terminal where we (there were 6 other passengers who had all missed or almost missed their connecting flights due to the delay, but nobody else to Havana) were supposed to proceed.

· Finally saw a person sitting near an information point, who sympathetically told me that I had missed my connecting flight, but nevertheless asked me to got gate U55.

· Upon reaching U55, there was nobody near the vicinity except for a sweeper, who, in Spanish, advised me to go to an Iberia information kiosk adjacent to the gate.

· This is where the truth unfolded. There was no arrangement made for me to proceed from here. This is where my survival instincts kicked in and tried and remain calm. It was then I realised that the rest of the group were on the other flight, and on the way to Havana, except Me.!

· The options offered to me were to catch the next flight the same time the next day. But the catch here was since I did not have a valid Spanish visa, I would be UNABLE to leave terminal 4s, and hence would have to sleep, eat and drink on a seat anywhere on the deserted terminal, for the next 24 hours.

· This was completely unacceptable and tried to persuade them to put me on any other connecting flight to the Americas, and perhaps take a connecting flight from there to Cuba. After checking out various possibilities, the answer was negative.

· I then put forward an option to the Iberia representative (Javier) if whether I could be flown back to London for the night and be given hotel accommodation near Heathrow for the night.

· He agreed to this and I also got it confirmed that my return flight the next day was all confirmed and boarding passes issued.

· This entire process was complete by 19:15, and in time for me to board the next flight out of Madrid, back to London – IB3178, taking off at 19:55.

· At this point, we must note that I have not had anything to drink or eat, since my breakfast in the morning.

· Javier felt for me, and provided me with snack voucher that was ONLY valid inside the airport, not on the flight.

· This was too late, as my flight was about to leave, and was whisked away onto the bus and onto the flight.

· I told of my situation to the flight attendant who pitied my situation, and handed my some peanuts and water for the journey.

· Reached back London at 21:20. And finally I was greeted by an Iberia representative at the gate who agreed to be with me until my issue was resolved. FINALLY some customer service.

· She herself was shocked at the way I was treated and saw to it that everything was arranged.

· Got my hotel at the IBIS for the night. Reached and checked into the hotel at 23:00.

· Had to pay for the internet connectivity, as I wanted to get this letter out to Iberia as soon as possible.

· Now waiting to catch my flight to Cuba the next day.

· IB3163 – LHR(10:55) – MAD(13:30)

· IB6621 – MAD(17:00) – HAV (21:10)

Inconveniences and extra expenditure this has caused me:

· 1 day lost and missed out on a crucial team briefing and city tour of Havana.

· Extra internet charges at the Hotel (IBIS)

· No food the whole day – got dinner at 23:00 (GMT) from Hotel IBIS.

Iberia Response:

Dear Mr RAMASWAMY,

I acknowledge receipt of your letter and wish to thank you for contacting us and for sending us your comments concerning flight IB 3175 of november 12, 2010.

Punctuality is one of our principal objectives and is one that we strive to achieve at all times. This is because we are aware that for our customers it is highly important to be able to travel with the reassurance that they are guaranteed to reach their destination at the foreseen time. On occasions, however, exceptional situations arise which mean we are not able to offer our normal service. This was the case with your flight, delayed owing to air traffic, which affected to the schedule of the aircraft that was to cover your route.

When situations such as these arise we offer our customers all necessary assistance, including meals and refreshments, accommodation and the right to make telephone calls, in accordance with the Regulation EC 261/2004 of the European Union and the Council of Europe, which establishes common rules governing assistance to be given to passengers in cases of delays of two hours or more.

Given that the rules in force make no provision for compensation to be paid, under the terms of our Quality Commitment we offer members of our Iberia Plus loyalty programme compensation in the form of points. The number of points awarded depends on the length of the delay, the route and the fare paid, and they are credited to our customer s account automatically.

I apologize once again for any inconvenience we may have caused you and hope that your next flights with us prove to be fully satisfactory.

Yours sincerely,

Inmaculada Iglesias
Customer Care Assistant Manager

If you wish, you may respond to this e-mail via our web-page www.iberia.com,

by clicking on the "Information" tab and then on "Customer service" or write to us at P.O. Box 36.315, 28080 Madrid, Spain.

This message is private. If you are not the named addressee, please notify us immediately.

So many things...so Little time..!

2010-11-09T07:08:00.000+00:00

With the clock ticking, and only 3 days left before i depart to Cuba, the amount of last minute things to buy/arrange/organise, is mounting by the day.

Kind of a roller coaster of emotions in terms of stress, anxiety, excitement all combined into one ever growing mass of apprehensiveness.!

Anyways stay tuned to my daily report once the i embark on my quest.

Thanks for all those who have contributed and i bet your contribution will not go unnoticed.

Garmin Forerunner 305 - First Run

2010-10-15T16:06:00.001+01:00

My first run with my new Garmin Forerunner 305.

Fantastic bit of kit.

Details of my run below...

(Weblink here...)

Cuban Tourist Card

2010-10-06T23:26:00.000+01:00

Got my tourist card..!!

Isle of Wight - Review

2010-09-29T20:04:00.000+01:00

The last ride of the season - and what a way to finish off the season before I head to Cuba, off course..!

Stayed over at Ryde and chose a starting point near to the hotel. Nothing to brag about the hotel (Abingdon lodge hotel). Quite expensive to any comparable hotel and the service was well below par (no one to man the desk for almost the entire day on Sunday..!) The only positives to come from this chapter would be the decent breakfast and the opportunity to sleep before the ride.

Was at the starting point by 8:30 - smallbrook stadium. Swiftly pass the registration and off the saddle before 9 am. We were given a map and asked to follow the bicycle signs all over the island. It was then I realised that this was not the usual marshaled, sign posted, tailor made route, but this was a normal round the island route we had to follow. In other words this route could be replicated anytime of the year. All we had to was to follow the bicycle signs (blue bicycle with white background indicates clockwise and white on blue is anti clockwise) and reach back where we started.

As, you, the reader of this blog, by now would have guessed how this is drifting - yes organisation wise there was hardly anything to be done. It was only a mere awareness for BHF, which I truly appreciate, but apart from that there was nothing to brag about.

However all was forgotten as we progressed into the ride. We were taken across absolute steep hills (most of which I had to walk), clear blue skies, mesmeric landscape and off course the clear sparkle of the channel near the coast. An absolute fabulous ride that pushed my strength to the absolute limit.

Completed the ride in around 5 hours. This was a perfect way for me to complete my season of cycling. Now I am on my straight stretch for the ride in Cuba. Just going along with my weekday runs and weekend rides to Richmond park and back

Taking a break from blogging for a bit. Should be back for my Cuba ride preview. Shall be updating the blog as and when I make progress towards my ride.

One word of advice for anyone wishing to ride around the island - try avoiding single speed/fixies. Not an ideal place for it. Its completely laden with hills and more hills, each steeper than the other!

A great read - The Rules

2010-09-20T10:27:00.000+01:00

The Rules..

Top picks :

Rule 12:
The minimum number of bikes one should own is three. The correct number is n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned. This equation may also be re-written as s-1, where s is the number of bikes owned that would result in separation from your partner.

Rule 37: The arms of the eyewear shall always be placed over the helmet straps. No exceptions. We don't know why, its just the way it is.

London Duathlon (Review)

2010-09-12T19:11:00.006+01:00

Well, this was the most anticipated event, ever since i was bitten by the triathlon bug last month. Since i am not a keen swimmer, this was a perfect opportunity for me to push myself in the two disciplines i love doing - Running and Riding..

The day itself was picture perfect - Clear blue skies dotted with pure white clouds. Picture a perfect sunny day , and today was such a day.

This day being the only day in the year when Richmond park is closed for vehicular movement, the traffic near the park was quite heavy. But once inside, it was very well organized, except for the bit where in we had to carry our bikes over a temporary bridge, although the view from the top of the bridge was quite spectacular as as the riders and runners went past us below, with the park in the back ground. Apart from that the only other criticism i would have would be the dearth of stalls (only a couple of Maxifuel stalls and 2 other sporting equipment stall) and no Goodie bag at the end of the event.! :(. Being a global event (as i think it is) it was nowhere near the the sheer amount of publicity and stalls that were prevalent at the London Triathlon this year, although the triathlon is definitely a much bigger event as such.

Apart from that, the event was very well organised. Getting the whole of the park without any vehicular moment in itself deserves credit.

The registration was a breeze. I docked my bike at the stands. Followed by this i had around 20 minutes before my race began. The race was delayed by around 10 minutes, and i started the 10 KM run at around 09:55 (instead of 09:40). The course in itself was beautifully designed, with not too many uphills, and was relatively flat. After the 10 K Run, (not sure f the exact time, will be updated soon), a quick transition and i was away for the 22KM bike ride. I quite certain that i did not see any other single speed over the entire duration i was at Richmond park. But my Beast had just been upgraded with brand spanking new back sprockets at 12 inch, from the previous 16 in, making it a light weight speedster.

I am quite certain this was the fastest i had been in a long time, although we can only confirm when i have the times been announced, officially. It did have a drawback though - i could not cycle the up the notorious Richmond Hill. Had to push that twice, over both the laps. Apart from that, it really did perform well, and i was happy with the speed.

The ride was again followed by a quick transition and dashed into the final 5 KM run. This, as expected was the toughest of the three, as your legs are accustomed to riding, and the sudden change after an intense ride, does not bode well with your body. However, i was able to maintain a good pace, and i completed at around 11:55, therefore an approximate time of 2 hours.

Would definitely do this again next year, and hopefully by then we have a few more stalls to browse through after the event.

Official Stats:

Official results over here..

Badge Number                      : 911

Gender Position                     : 723
Category                               : M25-29 (97 position)

Total Time                           : 02:10:53 (824 position out 1566 in the Challenge Route)

Run 1                                    : 00:49:07 (10 KM) (Rank 645)

Transition1                            : 00:02:45 (Rank 986)

Bike lap 1                             : 00:25:39 (11 KM) (Rank 1050)
Bike Lap 2                            : 00:26:41 (11KM) (Rank 1148)
Bike Total : 00:52:19 (22KM) (Rank 1125)

Transition 2                           : 00:01:23 (Rank 495)

Run 2                                   : 00:25:22 (5KM) (Rank 678)

London - Windsor (review)

2010-09-06T07:37:00.001+01:00

A fantastic ride. A starked improvement in the ride level as well as the organisation from Bike-Events. Much more refreshments areas,in fact too many perhaps. But on the whole a fun day.

Costume Spotted : A man in a spider man costume.

Ride Facts : total distance cycled - 50 miles (from home and back)

Ride completed in - 2Hr 30Min

Average Speed - 15 Miles/hour

(In depth review in due course..)

London - Hastings (Review)

2010-08-31T22:22:00.004+01:00

Definitely one of the tougher rides that i have been to. The distance was extended from a 61 mile course to a 80 mile course. but the worst was yet to come - It was a continuous uphill course.!

I can easily say one of my most well deserved certificate, and the satisfaction in seeing the finish line almost bought tears to my eyes )well, just an expression, i don't cry..!)

On the whole the organization for this event was below par as compared to other Bike-Events rides. As mentioned in Radderz Blog the amount of refreshments were rather poor, if none at all. In between, there was even a left turn, which wasn't marked properly, and i followed a lot of bikes going on straight. But my curiosity made me turn back and join the course in the right direction. But on the whole it was a fantastic challenge, and i would like to do it next year as well, perhaps the organization would be better along with better refreshments along the way, and hopefully a slightly different route..! :P

Quick Race facts:

Total Distance for the course : 80 Miles (I suspect my speedometer being a bit too ambitious. 74 was the actual distance told to me later on)

Total distance covered over the entire day : 91 miles (this may be over optimistic as well.!)

average speed for the day : 12 miles/Hour

Max speed : 30.3 miles
Total Ascent : 6300 Ft.

London - Hastings (Preview)

2010-08-23T21:47:00.000+01:00

Just an initial preview of the 61 mile ride from London (Crystal Palace) to Hastings. Seems to be an interesting ride with a gradual ascent towards hastings and then a final descent towards the sea side town of Hastings.

Holla in case if any of you see this message and want to ride along. I am not very fast on my single speed, and hope to complete the entire course, preferably non stop in around 4Hr15 - 4Hr30Min.

More info on this event over here..

The Event beneficary is off course BHF.

Please feel free to support me by clicking the link above near the header of this page.

More info and pics post the event.!! wish me luck.!!

Cheerio.

London Triathlon - Pics

2010-08-11T20:46:00.003+01:00

Pics now available at Sportcam's website

Bib Number - 11518.

London triathlon - 7th August (Review)

2010-08-08T15:28:00.001+01:00

A fantastic event. Been told it is the largest triathlon event held in the world, and it certainly looked so. Must comment on the event organisation and was extremely well organised.

More news and report on the event soon to follow.

Bishopsgate Broncos Timing:

Swim : 28:22 - Emma Gandy

Ride : 1:13:29 - Chris

Run : 51:57 - Varun

Total time of 2:39:42 placed us at 116, out of around 450 teams in the Team relay event.

All teams results over here...

Pics to follow soon.

London Triathlon - Preview (10 KM Run)

2010-08-02T17:17:00.000+01:00

We are the Bishopsgate broncos. After a last minute cancellation by our rider and swimmer, both due to injuries, managed to find replacements in the nick of time. Chris Kateifides is now going to be riding for us and Emma Gandy would be our swimmer.

Our start time is at 11:30 on the 7th August, Saturday.

More info on the event to follow after the completion of the event.

Watch this space..

Photo Shoot - ME..!

2010-07-31T15:23:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Graham Colgate, did a great photo shoot today. The venue for the shoot was at Graham's flat, over at Epsom. Fantastic little studio at his place, perfect for a portfolio shoot.

More updates and photos to be added soon.

Cheers all.

London (Richmond) - Bath, UK - Good Cycle route

2010-07-28T15:28:00.000+01:00

View Larger Map

London - Cambridge (Review)

2010-07-25T16:29:00.002+01:00

Finally did it - Completed the 60+ mile London - Cambridge ride in just under 5 hours.

More in depth report and review to follow soon. Just attached a picture of my speedometer along with my Certificate and route map, below.

Watch this Space...

Review below:

Left from my place at around 6:00 am, and made my way through Camden, Seven Sisters, Tottenham Hale, and finally on to Picketts Lock. The starting point was from the parking lot of the Leeway health club. There were a good 500 + riders by 7:45, by the time i made it to the start line.

Started from the start off point by 8:00 am. I was determined this time not to stop for more than 2 breaks.

My first break was at The Brewery Tap over at Pelham. This was around 28 miles into the ride. It was a pretty flat surface until now. Stopped here for around 7 minutes, just to refresh myself and a quick toilet break.

From there on it was a pretty much smooth ride until my next break, at The Bees In the Wall (Whittlesford) which was the last of the designated stops, 15 miles away from the finish.

Finally reached the finish line at 12:30, a good 4 and a half hour ride. My cycle computer tells me that i averaged a 15 mile/hour though the ride, which i felt was alright, considering my single speed. The weather though out the journey was cloudy, except as we were reaching Cambridge, it was nice and Sunny.! Although the Met had forcasted a bright and sunny 26 Degrees Celsius, well..!

The finish point had a very festive feel to it, and we were very well welcomed by the locals. The train journey back was a smooth one, as i caught the 13:04 service to London Kings X. It was full though, but managed to keep my bike without disturbing other passengers.

On the whole an exciting day of ride through great picturesque British country side. Would i do it again - Hell ya.!

Ride Facts:

Total distacne : 79.76 Miles (whole day ), 65 miles (For the ride)

Average Speed : 14.4 Miles (day) , 15 miles (ride)

Total time cycled : 5:31:30

Equipment used : Specialised San Fransisco 1

Jersey Used : Bontrager Race Short Sleeve Jersey from Evans price matched over here...

Madison Tour Shorts from Evans price matched over here

London - Cambridge Ride (Preview)

2010-07-21T18:49:00.000+01:00

All

Doing the London-Cambridge ride this Sunday, 25th July, 2010., for Breakthrough Breast Cancer It is a 60 mile route and is supposed to be a very scenic route. I have a 10 mile ride to the Starting point, hence making it a total distance of around 70 miles for the day.

The weather forecast for the day is supposed to be hot at 26 Degrees Celsius. Out come the sun block cream guess..!

If anyone else doing the ride please feel free to comment on this message and we could perhaps catch up at the venue or at the finish line.

More news to follow soon. Watch this space....