Thursday, January 13, 2011
Rally practice: Fitness freak
Rally practice: Fitness freak: "Alarm went off and sounded like a bazooka had gone off. Jumped out of bed and made myself a cup of tea. All for a cause I reminded myself...."
Fitness freak
Alarm went off and sounded like a bazooka had gone off. Jumped out of bed and made myself a cup of tea. All for a cause I reminded myself. Had made myself a promise that health would take the front seat this year. So made plans to get on my Trek 4300D and hit the dirt trail and do skids on gravel with great body balance and in the process gain a wiry and lithe figure that would be the envy of one and all. Hit the road with the bike and started panting almost immediately. Cursed the dogs that were sleeping peacefully in the middle of the road and some of them dutiful gave me a welcome growl. I realized in quick time that I had little to no stamina and had a lot to do, to be a Lance Armstrong. Well, I thought...not bad for a start. At least I was on the road. I pedaled madly through the streets of Bangalore towards the dirt patch I had in mind. After furiously biking in morning office traffic I reached the place. By then, time was already 8.30am and Bangalore was teeming with a zillion cars and wannabe Travis pastrana's all attempting to take up whatever real estate that was available.
Oh...the dirt patch had arrived and I was there to do trail biking and reminded myself that I the rock star could do wonders. Almost immediately..I had a nasty fall. The front slipped...I was reminded of stoner’s fall in one of the motogp races last year. I gamely carried on with the practice and this time the back slipped. Was reminded of Pedrosa’s crash the year before last. It didn’t take too long for the front to slip again. My time at the dirt patch was spent playing Stoner and Pedrosa. The only difference was that they were two different individuals and crashed only once each day while I looked like Fidel Castro after an hour of practice. Stopped practice for good and returned home gingerly riding the bike as most body parts were acting up.
Debating whether having four tires under my bum is the only way to achieve body balance…
Oh...the dirt patch had arrived and I was there to do trail biking and reminded myself that I the rock star could do wonders. Almost immediately..I had a nasty fall. The front slipped...I was reminded of stoner’s fall in one of the motogp races last year. I gamely carried on with the practice and this time the back slipped. Was reminded of Pedrosa’s crash the year before last. It didn’t take too long for the front to slip again. My time at the dirt patch was spent playing Stoner and Pedrosa. The only difference was that they were two different individuals and crashed only once each day while I looked like Fidel Castro after an hour of practice. Stopped practice for good and returned home gingerly riding the bike as most body parts were acting up.
Debating whether having four tires under my bum is the only way to achieve body balance…
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Coimbatore and back
It was a nice and easy weekend coming up for everyone. To me it looked like a target looming large. I had some plans regarding the 2011 Indian National Rally season and needed to get some quality time in my rally car. Clocking some rally miles go a long way in fine tuning ones car control at rally pace. This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish over the weekend.
I set out in my trusted Honda VTEC which now had a brillinat turbo under the hood engineered by ace tuner Leelakrishnan from Red rooster racing. I was looking forward to the 350km drive from Bangalore to Coimbatore in the turbo city. Started from my place in Bangalore at 9.00am and hit NH7 and blitzed through super smooth tarmac towards textile city. Made good time hitting dizzying speeds but kept a check on adrenalin getting the better of me.
Had my share of ego boosts and lows too. A stock toyota corolla came at lighting speed and vanished into the horizon and made me eat humble pie. With my ego jilted, I slowed down considerably and debated on topics such as skill, risk taking ability and a whole lot of topics meant for losers.
Managed to reach coimbatore by 2.00pm and headed straight for Kumar's garage to check out the rally car. The last rally of 2010 had been a tarmac event and the car had to be set up correctly for dirt practice. Met all the mechs at Kumar's and had fun talking to them. We don't usually meet off season and it was only because I went for practice that I was getting to see them in January. Had a quick lunch and got ready to take the car to the test track near kethanur.
Reached the place by 4.00pm and did a recce of the track along with the track creator nagaraj. Brilliant surface and very technical was how the track felt. I test drove the car for over two and a half hours trying out various things with the car. It was an absolute blast and I had a great feeling by the end of the day. Went back to Kumar's and met a lot of folks there who had turned up for small time tuning for the Kari drag meet scheduled for the next day. After hanging around for an hour at Kumar's workshop, me and Kumar went to our regular Biriyani place and had super tasty Biriyani's and natti kozhi chicken fry. Was fabulous food and the right way to bring the day to an end. Dropped kumar at the workshop and took off for Bangalore theerafter. Time was already 10.30pm and I was in for a hong haul that day. Drove steady with minimal breaks and I was at my Bangalore home by 3.00am. A very useful saturday it was...
I set out in my trusted Honda VTEC which now had a brillinat turbo under the hood engineered by ace tuner Leelakrishnan from Red rooster racing. I was looking forward to the 350km drive from Bangalore to Coimbatore in the turbo city. Started from my place in Bangalore at 9.00am and hit NH7 and blitzed through super smooth tarmac towards textile city. Made good time hitting dizzying speeds but kept a check on adrenalin getting the better of me.
Had my share of ego boosts and lows too. A stock toyota corolla came at lighting speed and vanished into the horizon and made me eat humble pie. With my ego jilted, I slowed down considerably and debated on topics such as skill, risk taking ability and a whole lot of topics meant for losers.
Managed to reach coimbatore by 2.00pm and headed straight for Kumar's garage to check out the rally car. The last rally of 2010 had been a tarmac event and the car had to be set up correctly for dirt practice. Met all the mechs at Kumar's and had fun talking to them. We don't usually meet off season and it was only because I went for practice that I was getting to see them in January. Had a quick lunch and got ready to take the car to the test track near kethanur.
Reached the place by 4.00pm and did a recce of the track along with the track creator nagaraj. Brilliant surface and very technical was how the track felt. I test drove the car for over two and a half hours trying out various things with the car. It was an absolute blast and I had a great feeling by the end of the day. Went back to Kumar's and met a lot of folks there who had turned up for small time tuning for the Kari drag meet scheduled for the next day. After hanging around for an hour at Kumar's workshop, me and Kumar went to our regular Biriyani place and had super tasty Biriyani's and natti kozhi chicken fry. Was fabulous food and the right way to bring the day to an end. Dropped kumar at the workshop and took off for Bangalore theerafter. Time was already 10.30pm and I was in for a hong haul that day. Drove steady with minimal breaks and I was at my Bangalore home by 3.00am. A very useful saturday it was...
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