Discovering SL, one climb at a time!

My Scott Cx Addict

Some of you already know that I have relocated to Colombo, SL for the next few years. it has been over 6 months since, of which I spent 2 months riding and racing in Italy this summer. I like SL, it is a fantastic place and truly deserves the tag of the emerald island. But that tag seems a distant reality when I am in Colombo which like any Asian metropolis has its wide share of urban problems. Colombo has a huge cycling scene, majority of the folks who ride race, maybe just about everyone races. All the armed forces have their own cycling team and I run into them or ride with them often! Most of them are really lean, strong cyclists. There are 2 kinds of races in SL. The category is divided between those who ride gears and those with single speeds! The geared bikes are just about all the big brand bikes while the single speed bikes are roadsters, precisely tuned to be very competitive with road bike pedals, race saddles and some even have aerobar extensions! These guys ride them at 40km/hr, a treat to watch. Bicycling only exists in a competitive form or in the form of the many impoverished who ride to work. I dont mean that in bad way. There is no amateur scene like the ones you witness in Bangalore or other Indian cities. I hear occasionally some foreigners do turn up to ride their bikes on the trails in the central highlands. It is tough, very tough riding on the urban roads here which are very narrow and infested with urban moronic drivers. I even drew a conclusion during one of my rides that many of them at home also suffer from premature ejaculation, since they are so notoriously impatient! It has been extremely challenging but somehow I have managed to persist and slowly i am finding my ways to adapt to the conditions. For someone like me who has spent most of my life riding in the US and EU, the reality on the roads is very alarming. These days my training calendar is worked out to the last detail so every ride is effective and delivers a purpose so i dont have to be on the roads without a purpose. Every now and then i also put my bike on the trainer and ride to some training dvd's. I ride my more intense rides in the company of a pilot motorbike/vehicle. I have dressed my driver up in flo green jacket/vest and helmet, the motorists and even the cops take him very seriously. The bright colored vest helps to separate him from the other motorists otherwise he could just be any other motorist on the road! Anyways add to the above 2 long monsoons and perennially hot and humid weather! Having said that I am riding far more in SL than any other place I have ever visited or lived. Since moving to SL I am averaging close to a min of 400km a week compared to the 250-300 in the US. The extra miles have been to compensate for the rather flat terrain in and around Colombo. SL has also required me to ride early in the mornings, this has been hard on me since in the US I pretty much rode whenever i wanted! It gets to 30C by 9am! To me this is a huge lifestyle change as I am not one to wake up early. I graduated at university in Zoology because it was the only major that did not require me to wake up early!! Riding in this heat takes a toll and i try to finish the ride by 10am max and quickly return home to refurbish myself with salts and other supplements.

I brought most of my bikes to SL and some I left in Italy so I don't have to carry them back and forth. The bike that I effectively built myself for SL was my Scott and so far it has delivered! Custom built, Full carbon from head to toe and maybe one of the lightest cross bikes out there! I am riding 32's on it and after almost 5000km and I still have to get a flat. Before I left the US i spent a month with my friends at the bike shop where i built several bikes and learnt the inner workings of a bike and it's components. I knew I had to learn if i had to survive a few years in SL. Riding the scott has been easy on the body inspite of the blemished surface of the roads. I have been getting fast rides out of it and even clocked a 20k TT at 40km/hr! 

Army and National Cyclists

I also ride my TT bike on the weekends when the roads are relatively empty and I can let me hair loose. It is a crazy feeling to ride a TT bike thru Colombo in aero clothing, it literally brings the city to a standstill. On my weekday rides I ride out of the city to places like Hanwella or Avissawella. It is relatively comfortable to ride on those 2 way highway stretches but there is no room to let the guard loose. Frequent accidents on that stretch mostly involving buses and motorbikes keeps me wide awake. But it is still a good stretch to ride and the sighting of many other cyclists does help to calm the fears! I have also ridden on the wheels on some national cyclists on that road and it is just great to be in such esteemed company. 

Downtown Colombo

Alternatively on weekends my wife and myself take the coastal route south to Galle. I have not made it to Galle yet which is 120 south of Colombo. We ride to Bentota and return which is over a century. We routinely finish our ride at a beach resort in Kalutara which lies in between Bentota and Colombo. We treat ourselves to the huge pool, the beach with gigantic waves and a huge buffet meal of Sri Lankan cuisine! 

The road to Galle is a 2 lane highway and probably one of the busiest in the country, it really does not look like a highway and is just like any road you find in Kerala. We usually just ride tempo since we go thru several towns along the way. The ride is of course flat but since we ride south so far we have been riding into the head winds! All along south of Bentota was severely hit by the Tsunami and you can still witness remnants of that disaster! Many graveyards along the road are stark reminders of that unfortunate tragedy.


More photographs from the rides.

A beach along Kalutara lined with fishing boats

Destruction left behind by the Tsunami

Riding towards Kalutara