2021 - New Year start with a Century Ride :))

Finally after horrifying 2020, came 2021 (OR 2020 Won ?). Woke up at 5AM and I was in double mind - to start the year with exercise on Cure.Fit app or to start with Cycling

Cycling was the first choice but then saw that no one said Good Morning on the Whatsapp group of #TwoTyredRiders - we have a tradition of putting in our attendance by marking Good Morning on the group. Good Morning for us implies - "मैं उठ गया हूँ और cycling के लिए ready हूँ.  अगर तुम लोगों ने वापस Good Morning नहीं किया तो वापस सो जाऊंगा." :)

Anyway, since no one wished Good Morning, I decided to go for exercise session from 6-7AM. 

After the session, when I checked Whatsapp, I found - Hemmanshu (Bheeshma Pitamah of the group), Avinash (The Samrath) and Vikash (The Decent one - nah nah 'Jab We Met' ke 'Hotel Decent' wala nahi) all geared up and away on the cycling trip. 

Seeing them the feeling of jealousy and motivation both jumped right into me and I decided to join them, but they were done with the expedition and were on their way back because of very thick fog. 

No idea what happened, but I got all geared up and ready for a 100km ride. Since no one else was there to join me, I decided to go alone on my favorite route - Noida to Gurgaon and back. The difference this time would be - It would be a non-stop ride and I would complete it in less than 4 hours. 

I know उड़ते तीर नहीं लेने चाहिए, but you know how चुल्ल can be :) 

Finally after waiting for the fog to subside, I started at around 10:15AM and was riding really good (by my standards :P) at around 30-32km/hr. In our group there are 3 people - Pranjal (Energizer Bunny), Ankit (Smarty) and Hemmanshu (introduced above) who ride at >35km/hr, so mine 30-32 was just an average attempt :). 

First 50km were like a breeze, I did not take any breaks and completed the same in around 1hr 40min at an average speed of 29km/hr. Had there not been traffic on the road, it could have been even faster. 

I was really happy, no feeling of exhaustion, no tiredness, no breathlessness. Heart rate was within control too. Overall, it was great. The weather was very good, sun was mild, air was just adequately cool, and almost nil fog. Motivation at its peak and I start my journey back. Still going good, I was running at an average of 29-30km/hr and then came in the traffic lights. I don't know what crazy type of gadget Amazefit Fitness Tracking Watch is - it keeps on starting and stopping in the traffic jams and that reduced my average to around 28 in a matter of few minutes. 

I tried harder, decided to manage atleast 28.5km/hr at the end (Sanjay Dhawan sir did that a day before on his hybrid, and I had a roadie). Kept on going for another 20km and then had to stop. The tracker on my hand was buzzing like crazy and my heart rate was in the danger zone of 185. 

Had to stop for 5 min to catch the breath and then started again - my Non-stop cycling plan came to a crashing defeat. Got further for another 10km and this time the heart rate did not go up, but Quad Muscles started crying. I had to take another halt of around 8 min. This is the last stop before completing the 100km with an average of 27.7km/hr. Then the BS happened, when this data got synced to Strava, the average fell down to 26.6 km/hr. Why this crazy thing happens?

Overall, it still was an amazing start to the new year. My butts are still hurting because of the over-exertion, but I think it would subside. Only I know how did I hide it while going for the next day visit to American Diner. Story of American Diner some other time :)