This ride is planned for getting a medal from Decathlon. This is the first long ride recorded with the new bike computer and an HR sensor that I bought. The ride plan was to start as usual in the morning around 05:45 and go to Azhimala first. The god Shivan statue was beautiful when I saw it on photographs, so I wanted to visit that first. Then, nearby is the Vizhinyam beach and port which also I want to see in person.
I started in the morning as planned, took the Kattakada route to Balaramapuram junction, and there to Azhimala. The morning ride was beautiful as usual. I reached Azhimala by around 8am and saw the statue. It was beautiful and sitting next to the seashore. I parked my bike nearby, went into the temple. Luckily, there is no entry fees for it. I prayed and went to the side where the statue is.
I sat there for a while, enjoying the ambience and returned to my bike outside. The way up to the main road was too steep to ride, so I walked with my bike, reached the main road and started to ride towards the Vizhinjam beach. On the way I saw the port, I didn’t knew that I was not allowed to go in. I went to the main entrance and was standing, when a guard came and told politely that it is a restricted area. So, I left and continued on the main road to reach the Vizhinjam beach. On the way I saw the view of port that I ever wanted. I took a pic with my bike there and left to go to Decathlon.
For this Independence day, a challenge was posed by Decathlon Trivandrum to complete at least 79 km distance ride. There were other challenges like max distance in single ride, and the elevation gained. I was shortlisted on the total distance covered within given time limit of some 3 days or a week I think. I was on the 8th place covering over 222 kms. The name list was released by an official on the whatsapp group. Decathlon will open by 10 AM, so I planned for this Azhimala and Vizhinjam rides. I took the highway and reached Decathlon around 10:30 AM. There I told the reason why I came, and they gave me the medal. They took a photo of me receiving a medal which I thought they will post in the group but they didn’t. Thats Ok for me.
I was checking the calories burnt by me through out this ride. It crossed 2000 kcal when I reached Decathlon. I didn’t have breakfast, but I had the energy gel and an energy bar that I carried, which could have added at max 200 kcal. The rest was burnt from my body. I returned from Decathlon, took the Vattapara route to reach campus by back-gate. There, a lady CISF officer was talking friendly about my cycling activity, I showed her the medal and came inside campus.
I had lunch from cafeteria. The total calorie burnt is 3428 kcals. I was shocked by this number. I can’t imagine how much would I have burnt in that longest ride of 323 kms I did. No wonder I was unable to function properly the next day of that longest ride. I went home last week, where I checked for the sugar level which showed about 35 units which is very low. A mistake I made is that I didn’t eat properly in such long rides. The only ride where I remember eating both breakfast and lunch and returned before dinner time is that Thenkasi ride. And I saw the effect of it, I was functioning normally the next day. I was riding on the severe calorie deficit.
I then decided to do two things for long rides. One is that I should eat food on time irrespective of the ride distance. Second, I should carry glucose along with that hydration powder mixed in the water so that I don’t run out of sugar on my blood.
The ride was beautiful overall. I would go to Azhimala once again, I saw some cave temples there which I didn’t visit due to lack of time. Below are the pics and videos I took on this ride.
Below is the Strava log of this ride.
