All photographs courtesy Guy, Jeremy & Parag :)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Day 2 at Enduro3, 2011
05.02.2011
Day 2 started with sore thighs, sore backs (what else would you expect if you slept on a stone) & dirty dirty clothes. The campsite was BARE. No washroom, no food, no pretty bunker beds, no spas for massages... But it did have something.. It had a lake overlooking stone slabs you could sleep on. It had water, It had trees for shelter. As far as I was concerned this was just a perfect home.
I slipped out of my sleeping bag into my cycling shorts & a new t-shirt (which is actually the oldest tee I own) that I had packed despite weight regulations as after all these years of wearing it, its 100% cotton had run down to 0% weight. Stacking up on water & clearing up the campsite, we un-eagerly awaited the monotonous drone of a marshall to bestow upon us the next challenge to endure. Kayaking.
Now that was fun. As we geared into the lifejackets Jeremy & Guy briefly discussed paddling strategies (& who'd enjoy the view at the front) we set forth into our assigned kayak. Girl team members were to sit in the middle as were supposedly thinner & leaner & the boys had to row it across the river & back. I was happy to get Jer's waterproof camera in my hand & I enjoyed the moment clicking wildly! Off we went swiftly drifting across the lake leaving everyone behind; Hey we were first & fastest to reach by a long long margin!
Our victory was shortlived as our time was running & we picked up our backpacks & geared up for another promised strain on the calves (Jer slipping in between a short interview to Star News on our overall experience) We said bye to the campsite & started the uphill. Tired as hell as we were we didn't really care too much about the time count so we took it easy on ourselves & walked the sections we were too tired to contemplate whether they be ridable or not.... Full of bitterness, we finally rounded up the crazy uphills & subsequently short downhills. I learnt soo much that day.. With a thirst to just keep moving forward you really do conquer quite a few nasty terrains.
My knee hurt with every pressure I put on it while walking so I decided to pedal some sections similar to the stony uphills from the day before. This time I also rode the stoney downhills. I looked 15 metres ahead to subconsciously pick up lines for my wheels & braked occasionally to lower the pace to maneuvre sharp turns. Every downhill & new maneuvre was not considered an achievement, it was considered a past & I had no time to dwell on the past when the future was this uncertain.. How much more of this is left?! We finished the riding with LOTS of stops & breaks & a little breakfast of 4 cheese cubes, beef, crackers & bread. We thought this would be our last meal.. Our food supply had finished (& so was the water) "Hey we've to scavenge for water. We really are running out"
With only 1/4th of a bottle to share amongst us we headed forth onto the now completely messed up uphills that mimicked the sinewy curves of a voluptuous woman. With absolutely no energy, I arched myself to gain as much momentum as I could from the scornfully low downhills to climb the mammoth of the uphill.. As the uphill would approach I wouldnt anticipate & start pedalling but wait till the last ounce of momentum my wheels could go on for before pedalling in the 1-2/ 1-3 shifts. I knew this was probably stupid but I wanted to drag the bike with momentum as much as I could (& it did work on a few stretches..) Desperate for water we finally managed to come across a little shack, the owner of which gave us all the water we wanted. It was 11:30 by this time & the sun was up & shining. We were now also running low on electrol with about 1.5 packets of electrol & 1 packet accelorade. Refreshed with the water break we pressed forth to the next checkpoint.
"Your next challenge is for about 15 kms. The first checkpoint is 5 kms away on this stretch from where the volunteers will direct you next.." I moaned.. She added: The next time count (TC) checkpoint is where the race ends.
Suddenly everything seemed brighter & I hugged the marshall. She laughed before offering water & biscuits. We'd wanted this to end.. It was sweltering hot. It never crossed our minds how dirty & smelly we were, we'd passed by a lad from another team who'd puked due to dehydration (5 cms away from Jer's bike; ofcourse he had a lot to say about that), we'd outstretched our enthusiasm for the race & even the strong & chirpy Guy had exhausted his reserves. Ofcourse we wanted this to end, & end NOW.
At the 5 km checkpoint the volunteers smiled, you see the hill... fuck fuck fuck no way! NO! absolutely not!... he still continued, take the path to your left & keep climbing. You'll see a tree at the notch. Thats where the volunteers will guide you further. It will take about two hours.. So its not that much. Two hours 2 HOURS? 15 kms I can ride in 30 mins! Gimme the tarmac & i'll finish it dumass! A hill? Now?
Guy & Jeremy pulled me away from the marshall & dragged my bike up the hill. We rounded up nasty curves & slippery paths & chugged our bikes who's pedals had now formed permanent marks on the back of my legs as they hit with every few steps i'd take. Soon I maneuvered a way to keep the bike & me on one path & make the pedals behave. We all remember this climb. It was tougher than the one we managed at night! This time we had to create a path as there was absolutely no other way to reach the top. Guy went up first to break through the tough growth of some variety of plant that i have no idea or inclination to know about. Then would take my bike up. Then would follow Jeremy & then I would take the support of the roots of the now cut out growth to support my weight for clambering through. After a tortuous 2 hours we reached the halfway mark only to realize that there was indeed a path that we didn't see & was much less strenuous. We here came across a gentleman who's team members had quit but he had persevered forward just to finish as much as he could. He treated us with lovely paranthas & cheeni-roti that energized us for a climb forward. We were still without water.. & there didn't seem to be any sign of it (except the beautiful lake that looked at us menacingly waiting to engulf us lest we fall)
At this point we met with other frustrated teams. I was slow. Super Slow. I had no energy & will to do this anymore. So I continued forth last amidst shouts of This is the wrong way! There is no path here.. Its not the most encouraging thing to hear.
I needed water, & the hope of finding it at the top kept me moving. Eventually a marshall came down to help us see the path as were terribly lost. We'd climbed tough growths & lost our way & had to climb back down to find the path the marshall guided us to. These moments when you're living them have a much different outlook. You're there, with no water, no food, in sweltering heat & lost & being told to climb down the path you had just climbed up. You don't know when its going to be over. There is no internet & therefore no google to guide you through to the terrain. Even if there was, you don't know whats the endpoint you need to put up as Point B.. Theres no way to back out, coz you don't know how to back out. You're in the middle of a hill!
We finally reached the bloody tree in the notch & its obvious this is not over.
Without water & 15 minutes rest we headed forth. We had to cross 3 hills to Abhiruchi Top, proceeding down from it is where we'd find our last checkpoint. At some point here I started hallucinating. I'd let everyone else go ahead coz had i been in the middle i'd have slowed everyone down. We soon reached a village, they served us murky red water. Part of me inched to drink it. I needed it, if only half a glass. I didn't give a shit about hygiene. I had 6 layers of dirt on my arms & legs, there was no way I wanted to give a shit but I did. I had 1/4th of a glass of water..I was still bloody thirsty but I moved on anyway.
While the team proceeded forth, I gave up under a tree & sat in a quiet place for 10 mins contemplating licking the remainder of the dew off the leaves. I waited for cold winds to brush my face to get a little of that chilly sensation on my tongue. These thoughts however were disturbed when I heard something stir in the trees & one part of its branch fell on my bike. That little bit of fear that everyone was too far ahead to come back quickly if needed was what woke me up from my near faintish stage. I mustered this one last ounce of energy to reach the guy in front of me who was from another team. I asked him for one sip of water as I was now unable to push the thought that I could go on without it. That one sip of water coupled with 2 mars bars gave me the energy i needed to push forward. I didn't slack now, I made my way to the head of the group to meet jeremy & guy & rode with them till I found a village. (yes rode!.. you cover distances faster when you ride even when theres a sheer drop to your left) I think I drank 2 glasses before realizing that these guys must be getting their water after walking such distant miles. Thats when I stopped. I decided I'd quench my thirst later. For now I just needed these two glasses to move on.
From there on it was about 30 minutes of riding on top of a hill. Jeremy, Guy & I kept close together with Guy going back & forth in between to help other people at the back. We rode, & didn't stop & finally saw the lovely young marshall, Kavitha, at the end who said the words I wanted to hear. This is the last checkpoint, go DOWN this hill, you'll see the tarmac. Go downhill from the tarmac. Thats it. Thats the end.
I couldn't ride the first patch of downhill as it was steep & stony & I was now missing a brake-shoe.
I rode the tarmac down though without the brake-shoe determined not to slow down. It was a beautifully soft glide that refreshed me entirely. I didn't have the energy to clamber up another uphill but I had energy now to walk again.
We finished the 5 km downhill in less than 7 mins. You can imagine how fast we went. We swung our last swerve to reach the endpoint, gladly dropped our bikes & chatted merrily with the marshalls. Were you expecting a more dramatic 'threw our bikes & lay flat on the floor' end?
Sorry our energies were back..
& we could think of nothing else except "The Place" & the brilliant sizzlers that were calling out to us.
(Addendum:16 out of 27 teams completed the race.. & we came in 6th!)
Day 2 started with sore thighs, sore backs (what else would you expect if you slept on a stone) & dirty dirty clothes. The campsite was BARE. No washroom, no food, no pretty bunker beds, no spas for massages... But it did have something.. It had a lake overlooking stone slabs you could sleep on. It had water, It had trees for shelter. As far as I was concerned this was just a perfect home.
I slipped out of my sleeping bag into my cycling shorts & a new t-shirt (which is actually the oldest tee I own) that I had packed despite weight regulations as after all these years of wearing it, its 100% cotton had run down to 0% weight. Stacking up on water & clearing up the campsite, we un-eagerly awaited the monotonous drone of a marshall to bestow upon us the next challenge to endure. Kayaking.
Now that was fun. As we geared into the lifejackets Jeremy & Guy briefly discussed paddling strategies (& who'd enjoy the view at the front) we set forth into our assigned kayak. Girl team members were to sit in the middle as were supposedly thinner & leaner & the boys had to row it across the river & back. I was happy to get Jer's waterproof camera in my hand & I enjoyed the moment clicking wildly! Off we went swiftly drifting across the lake leaving everyone behind; Hey we were first & fastest to reach by a long long margin!
Our victory was shortlived as our time was running & we picked up our backpacks & geared up for another promised strain on the calves (Jer slipping in between a short interview to Star News on our overall experience) We said bye to the campsite & started the uphill. Tired as hell as we were we didn't really care too much about the time count so we took it easy on ourselves & walked the sections we were too tired to contemplate whether they be ridable or not.... Full of bitterness, we finally rounded up the crazy uphills & subsequently short downhills. I learnt soo much that day.. With a thirst to just keep moving forward you really do conquer quite a few nasty terrains.
My knee hurt with every pressure I put on it while walking so I decided to pedal some sections similar to the stony uphills from the day before. This time I also rode the stoney downhills. I looked 15 metres ahead to subconsciously pick up lines for my wheels & braked occasionally to lower the pace to maneuvre sharp turns. Every downhill & new maneuvre was not considered an achievement, it was considered a past & I had no time to dwell on the past when the future was this uncertain.. How much more of this is left?! We finished the riding with LOTS of stops & breaks & a little breakfast of 4 cheese cubes, beef, crackers & bread. We thought this would be our last meal.. Our food supply had finished (& so was the water) "Hey we've to scavenge for water. We really are running out"
With only 1/4th of a bottle to share amongst us we headed forth onto the now completely messed up uphills that mimicked the sinewy curves of a voluptuous woman. With absolutely no energy, I arched myself to gain as much momentum as I could from the scornfully low downhills to climb the mammoth of the uphill.. As the uphill would approach I wouldnt anticipate & start pedalling but wait till the last ounce of momentum my wheels could go on for before pedalling in the 1-2/ 1-3 shifts. I knew this was probably stupid but I wanted to drag the bike with momentum as much as I could (& it did work on a few stretches..) Desperate for water we finally managed to come across a little shack, the owner of which gave us all the water we wanted. It was 11:30 by this time & the sun was up & shining. We were now also running low on electrol with about 1.5 packets of electrol & 1 packet accelorade. Refreshed with the water break we pressed forth to the next checkpoint.
"Your next challenge is for about 15 kms. The first checkpoint is 5 kms away on this stretch from where the volunteers will direct you next.." I moaned.. She added: The next time count (TC) checkpoint is where the race ends.
Suddenly everything seemed brighter & I hugged the marshall. She laughed before offering water & biscuits. We'd wanted this to end.. It was sweltering hot. It never crossed our minds how dirty & smelly we were, we'd passed by a lad from another team who'd puked due to dehydration (5 cms away from Jer's bike; ofcourse he had a lot to say about that), we'd outstretched our enthusiasm for the race & even the strong & chirpy Guy had exhausted his reserves. Ofcourse we wanted this to end, & end NOW.
At the 5 km checkpoint the volunteers smiled, you see the hill... fuck fuck fuck no way! NO! absolutely not!... he still continued, take the path to your left & keep climbing. You'll see a tree at the notch. Thats where the volunteers will guide you further. It will take about two hours.. So its not that much. Two hours 2 HOURS? 15 kms I can ride in 30 mins! Gimme the tarmac & i'll finish it dumass! A hill? Now?
Guy & Jeremy pulled me away from the marshall & dragged my bike up the hill. We rounded up nasty curves & slippery paths & chugged our bikes who's pedals had now formed permanent marks on the back of my legs as they hit with every few steps i'd take. Soon I maneuvered a way to keep the bike & me on one path & make the pedals behave. We all remember this climb. It was tougher than the one we managed at night! This time we had to create a path as there was absolutely no other way to reach the top. Guy went up first to break through the tough growth of some variety of plant that i have no idea or inclination to know about. Then would take my bike up. Then would follow Jeremy & then I would take the support of the roots of the now cut out growth to support my weight for clambering through. After a tortuous 2 hours we reached the halfway mark only to realize that there was indeed a path that we didn't see & was much less strenuous. We here came across a gentleman who's team members had quit but he had persevered forward just to finish as much as he could. He treated us with lovely paranthas & cheeni-roti that energized us for a climb forward. We were still without water.. & there didn't seem to be any sign of it (except the beautiful lake that looked at us menacingly waiting to engulf us lest we fall)
At this point we met with other frustrated teams. I was slow. Super Slow. I had no energy & will to do this anymore. So I continued forth last amidst shouts of This is the wrong way! There is no path here.. Its not the most encouraging thing to hear.
I needed water, & the hope of finding it at the top kept me moving. Eventually a marshall came down to help us see the path as were terribly lost. We'd climbed tough growths & lost our way & had to climb back down to find the path the marshall guided us to. These moments when you're living them have a much different outlook. You're there, with no water, no food, in sweltering heat & lost & being told to climb down the path you had just climbed up. You don't know when its going to be over. There is no internet & therefore no google to guide you through to the terrain. Even if there was, you don't know whats the endpoint you need to put up as Point B.. Theres no way to back out, coz you don't know how to back out. You're in the middle of a hill!
We finally reached the bloody tree in the notch & its obvious this is not over.
Without water & 15 minutes rest we headed forth. We had to cross 3 hills to Abhiruchi Top, proceeding down from it is where we'd find our last checkpoint. At some point here I started hallucinating. I'd let everyone else go ahead coz had i been in the middle i'd have slowed everyone down. We soon reached a village, they served us murky red water. Part of me inched to drink it. I needed it, if only half a glass. I didn't give a shit about hygiene. I had 6 layers of dirt on my arms & legs, there was no way I wanted to give a shit but I did. I had 1/4th of a glass of water..I was still bloody thirsty but I moved on anyway.
While the team proceeded forth, I gave up under a tree & sat in a quiet place for 10 mins contemplating licking the remainder of the dew off the leaves. I waited for cold winds to brush my face to get a little of that chilly sensation on my tongue. These thoughts however were disturbed when I heard something stir in the trees & one part of its branch fell on my bike. That little bit of fear that everyone was too far ahead to come back quickly if needed was what woke me up from my near faintish stage. I mustered this one last ounce of energy to reach the guy in front of me who was from another team. I asked him for one sip of water as I was now unable to push the thought that I could go on without it. That one sip of water coupled with 2 mars bars gave me the energy i needed to push forward. I didn't slack now, I made my way to the head of the group to meet jeremy & guy & rode with them till I found a village. (yes rode!.. you cover distances faster when you ride even when theres a sheer drop to your left) I think I drank 2 glasses before realizing that these guys must be getting their water after walking such distant miles. Thats when I stopped. I decided I'd quench my thirst later. For now I just needed these two glasses to move on.
From there on it was about 30 minutes of riding on top of a hill. Jeremy, Guy & I kept close together with Guy going back & forth in between to help other people at the back. We rode, & didn't stop & finally saw the lovely young marshall, Kavitha, at the end who said the words I wanted to hear. This is the last checkpoint, go DOWN this hill, you'll see the tarmac. Go downhill from the tarmac. Thats it. Thats the end.
I couldn't ride the first patch of downhill as it was steep & stony & I was now missing a brake-shoe.
I rode the tarmac down though without the brake-shoe determined not to slow down. It was a beautifully soft glide that refreshed me entirely. I didn't have the energy to clamber up another uphill but I had energy now to walk again.
We finished the 5 km downhill in less than 7 mins. You can imagine how fast we went. We swung our last swerve to reach the endpoint, gladly dropped our bikes & chatted merrily with the marshalls. Were you expecting a more dramatic 'threw our bikes & lay flat on the floor' end?
Sorry our energies were back..
& we could think of nothing else except "The Place" & the brilliant sizzlers that were calling out to us.
(Addendum:16 out of 27 teams completed the race.. & we came in 6th!)
Day 1 at Pune, Day 1 at Enduro3 2011.
03.02.2011 - 04.02.2011
How many emotions can you count in one day?
I think a day seems fulfilling if they go beyond the fingers on your hands..
Nothing could've prepared me for my enduro experience & I wish to capture as much of it as I can remember before i sadly forget the downsides & remember only the ebullient stages. (this is a detailed account)
It started with our arrival, where we met Crazy Gautam & his lamborghini (a beautiful 27 year old maruti 800) that swerved through the streets of Pune with a mean "fuck off the road..*beep beep*".... I thought I was a bitch on the roads but this little machine took the trophy. I had just landed & not even started the race & I could anticipate a crash any minute.. but i soon joined in the abuses & enjoyed the gush of moist heavy wind that I missed so much living in dry delhi! After dropping off our huge bike boxes we headed towards "The Place" for a sizzling meal that would be the last proper meal we'd have for the next 2 days.
Friday morning started with a groan & a very angry "what" to Guy on the other end of the knocks on the door. I'd slept for only 4 hours! After all the planning I didn't think i'd get this little sleep before what I knew to be a grueling event! We packed up our gear & food & hit the road to S.P. College for the start of the race at 7:30. Shockingly, the chief guest arrived 30 minutes late in his 4WD Fortuner & a squad of men running along the car that encircled the premise before reaching the spot. Talk about spotlight. We had a 9:30 flag off after much drumroll & "enduro enduro" chants.
The policemen stopped the traffic to let us cross through the busy intersections on Pune streets to reach Khadakwasla; what we thought was the first checkpoint but was actually the flag off point. 'So about 14 kms of riding were unaccounted for????' I protested with curses. The flag off was on a uphill. No anticipatory gear change, no "run-ups", just start your ride by releasing the brakes and pedalling a steep climb..Woot! Now did it end there? No! There were about 15 curves of climbs! I was about to give up before even properly starting the race! Guy & Jeremy tugged my bike & then pushed me forth to the last curve at which point I had only my reserve of Ipod (Rome by Phoenix) that had helped to keep moving my pedals forward. With the last ounce of force I pedalled my last climb to witness what I can claim to be the most spectacular downhill..through chilly breeze & a glorious green hill with the bluest sky & the brightest sun that bounced its shine off the grey-black tarmac. I quickly regained all my energy with shrill cries of laughter that cracked the serenity of the place with one arm guiding the swerves of the downhill & the other fingering the wind that swooshed between my fingers softer than silk....
Oh it was lovely. Its beyond the pleasure you feel at winning an award or getting through an admission in college or getting good grades. This is different. This is like the pleasure you feel when you're missing two legs & the art of prosthetics has given you an ability to fly.. This feeling is indescribable.
But there lay a road.. that I knew now wouldn't get any easier & I had only just crossed point 1 off the stipulated 9 checkpoints.
Was it a good feeling? Im not sure.. I just knew I'd had an incredible experience
& I just wanted water.
The marshall at the checkpoint guided us down "that hill" for another 2 beautifully scenic swerves where in the middle of it somewhere we found a little hut that was a surprising host to chilled thumbsup & lots of water! We guzzled up all we could & played with the little puppy that was trying to entangle itself in our bag straps before gearing up for another promised strenuous period of mechanical leg-movement. Riding in full intensity through flat plains we came across a pretty little spot that looked promising for a lunch. We dropped our bikes & set out a picnic that was complete with A plate & A spoon but not a tablecloth. 2 cheese triangles & 3 bread muffs for each with one spoon Gajar halwa. Yum.
Set forth we did after the delicious meal to reach a checkpoint where the marshals pointed "this section is to be completed in 30 minutes.." It was about 2 pm that time & we were only to happy to finish it in half an hour to retire for the day. At this point I had already reconciled myself to the fact that I've had the most glorious 5 hours of riding i've experienced in my life & if faced with an adversity i'd quit.. but that thought was pushed behind in the fraction of a milisecond as it came. The tortuous 3 hours that lay ahead! Oh my my... 30 mins? That bloody arse! Did he know what he was talking about????? It has to be the most difficult path i've come across. Riding with every ounce on loose stone on a road that was not really a road with no clear sand patch you could swerve towards to ride on.. It was horrible. Stones! We're riding on stones!!! & we're riding uphill on stones!!!! Who the hell thought this would be a good idea!? Completely ignoring the scenic beauty of an undulating lake around me, my fingers were paining with the strain to keep my handlebar straight & hitting the brakes.. I couldn't let the bike roll on downhills as the end of it is a steep curve that you're guaranteed to lose control & fall off! I had to hit the brake on downhills full of loose stone. Not gravel, STONE.
I had at this point dropped my bike atleast 3 times to tender to the sharp muscle spasms that hit both my calves & all my fingers simultaneously & were gruelling to make you cry as at this point there was no electrol to cure the pain & no bed to rest for a bit to proceed forward. Drop the bike, shake it off, somehow. Grab the bike & move on. I willingly handed my bike later to guy & jeremy who took turns to walk it up the steep sections coz i couldn't pedal 'that thing' further!.... Is this going to end?
Finally the checkpoint. Please tell me its a campsite.. It looks like it, its got a car, its got people lying around squirming in pain & grief...ok.. Whats happening?
We reach out to the marshall. "Hello there. I wish to pay my condolence to the idiot who told me I could finish the last section in 30 minutes. I will kill him. On another note, please tell me this is the end for today."
a polite smile... "you see that hill top there? You have to climb over that hill...." & then he said something i didn't hear well enough. I really think at this point i'd started hallucinating. Was he kidding? Its nearing 7 pm. He wants me to trek WITH MY BIKE, Over THAT HILL!? WTF.
Jeremy confirmed this... I'd zonked out. What hill? That bloody hill?
What????
Still in the haze I plonked for 10 minutes on the grass & snapped at the marshall who mercilessly told me that my time is running & that I need to keep moving.. while Guy fetched us some water from the village. I didn't look up. I just took out my lights from the backpack to gear up for the "up that hill" .."trek"...
& it wasn't pretty.
With only 3 lights on our helmets to guide us we were trying to head up a hill with our bikes through sections im sure I'd have enough trouble walking through in the bright sunlight of the morning as well. Theres a gorge on one side & a path that has enough space for only two feet to pass by. Im not sure why i kept slipping.. I couldn't get a grip on the soil!.. which wasn't the nicest thing to say when you have a bike in your hand as well! We called out to 3 beeping lights we saw little over us "Is there a path??" & awaited a "We don't know" call-back. Ok time to re-evaluate.. Is that red light up on to the right a beacon? Is that where we have to go? Lets climb this straight forward & wait for a path to break towards the right.
In the midst of the chaos & right before what we would soon realize was indeed a break, we reached a landing. I think at this point we were sufficiently under-enthused about the beacon & of finding respite at its end.. so we did momentarily discuss this landing to be a campsite for the night.. I had my back to the mother of a hill that I wanted to climb to reach a flat path that would break to the beacon red light that I thought must be the point to reach & my eyes hovered over to the sky...
Imagine being plonked on a stone right in the middle of a hill, with silhouettes of hills all around & a pitch dark sky with no moon to disturb the twinkling stars, with no real reason to reach a top which wasn't even that clear to reach & with absolutely NO sense of a proper direction except the thought that you had to move "Top" & with one yellowish-orange fire blazing through a distant hill in a snake-like manner... We decided to egg on & marked the spot if we wanted to come back to it.
But it wasnt necessary, we soon found the break in the path we were hoping for & a marshall with a torchlight.. but we were pretty sure at this point that this was not the end.
The marshalls equipped us with the last bottle of water they had left & we took a 10 minute respite before "climb a bit further & then take the path to your left".. Ohkay.. "Walk for about 30 minutes & you'll see a downhill of 10 kms that you'll ride to the campsite.. It shouldn't take more than 2 hours more here.."
& these were the marshalls who previously told us to complete a section in 30 minutes that we took more than 3 hours to finish.
Alright then, its time to push someone off the cliff.
(Anger? Why was I feeling that?)
Atleast this was a flat plain.. Guy was high on spirits, Jeremy was too. Their cheerful banter & my little muster of a laugh & pointless conversation which skipped topics every 2 seconds as noone really concentrated on what they were saying led us through the flat plains of tugging the bike. I did get Guy & Jeremy to push my bike then too, I did protest but not too much as I was more than happy not carrying that burden.. My arms would ache as I would lift them half up to grab the handle-bar to make it move forward.. who knew steering the bike would be an effort.
We passed downhills & uphills & had a few scary slips but we made it through.. We were with about 5-6 other teams at this point & all of us were eager to get this over with. Sipping through the last ounce of water & struggling with directions given by the villagers we made it to the next checkpoint. Now its riding time... In the dark.
While everyone was busy fixing up their flat tires (we managed miraculously with none: Slime Tubes. I Love You) we rode in the dark through gravel enhanced, stony path that was termed as "road" by the marshalls. At this point my fingers were numb with pain & I really didn't give a shit. Just rode. Didn't think about it, just rode to the campsite.
Now this is the end right? Come on! Nothing more... Nope. Sorry the challenge for today hasn't ended yet. There's still river crossing to finish.. "You're the team leader?" he pointed towards me.. "please proceed towards the river & the volunteers will guide you through river crossing" Its 10 pm. Im tired. "I don't know how to swim" I managed with the excuse & asked Guy if he would do this instead of me & I think he was only too happy to jump in the water for a swim that we were eagerly awaiting an instance of during our 3 hour ride but not right now.. not when swimming requires energy that you don't have.. But he did it anyway & boy was he fast.
So with this our Day 1 FINALLY came to an end at 10:30. We found a spot & set base for the night. We got out our pan & hunted for wood for a fire.. You can't light a fire! The marshall's exclaimed! & we retorted with "just watch us" :P
The marshall's protest gave up soon.. & we cooked a lovely methi chicken readymade meal & finished in flat 5 minutes with the bread we had left. My mouth still waters thinking of it.. Had I been home at that time & in the state i'd been in, I would've probably emptied the fridge but for now this was good. This was enough.
How many emotions can you count in one day?
I think a day seems fulfilling if they go beyond the fingers on your hands..
Nothing could've prepared me for my enduro experience & I wish to capture as much of it as I can remember before i sadly forget the downsides & remember only the ebullient stages. (this is a detailed account)
It started with our arrival, where we met Crazy Gautam & his lamborghini (a beautiful 27 year old maruti 800) that swerved through the streets of Pune with a mean "fuck off the road..*beep beep*".... I thought I was a bitch on the roads but this little machine took the trophy. I had just landed & not even started the race & I could anticipate a crash any minute.. but i soon joined in the abuses & enjoyed the gush of moist heavy wind that I missed so much living in dry delhi! After dropping off our huge bike boxes we headed towards "The Place" for a sizzling meal that would be the last proper meal we'd have for the next 2 days.
Friday morning started with a groan & a very angry "what" to Guy on the other end of the knocks on the door. I'd slept for only 4 hours! After all the planning I didn't think i'd get this little sleep before what I knew to be a grueling event! We packed up our gear & food & hit the road to S.P. College for the start of the race at 7:30. Shockingly, the chief guest arrived 30 minutes late in his 4WD Fortuner & a squad of men running along the car that encircled the premise before reaching the spot. Talk about spotlight. We had a 9:30 flag off after much drumroll & "enduro enduro" chants.
The policemen stopped the traffic to let us cross through the busy intersections on Pune streets to reach Khadakwasla; what we thought was the first checkpoint but was actually the flag off point. 'So about 14 kms of riding were unaccounted for????' I protested with curses. The flag off was on a uphill. No anticipatory gear change, no "run-ups", just start your ride by releasing the brakes and pedalling a steep climb..Woot! Now did it end there? No! There were about 15 curves of climbs! I was about to give up before even properly starting the race! Guy & Jeremy tugged my bike & then pushed me forth to the last curve at which point I had only my reserve of Ipod (Rome by Phoenix) that had helped to keep moving my pedals forward. With the last ounce of force I pedalled my last climb to witness what I can claim to be the most spectacular downhill..through chilly breeze & a glorious green hill with the bluest sky & the brightest sun that bounced its shine off the grey-black tarmac. I quickly regained all my energy with shrill cries of laughter that cracked the serenity of the place with one arm guiding the swerves of the downhill & the other fingering the wind that swooshed between my fingers softer than silk....
Oh it was lovely. Its beyond the pleasure you feel at winning an award or getting through an admission in college or getting good grades. This is different. This is like the pleasure you feel when you're missing two legs & the art of prosthetics has given you an ability to fly.. This feeling is indescribable.
But there lay a road.. that I knew now wouldn't get any easier & I had only just crossed point 1 off the stipulated 9 checkpoints.
Was it a good feeling? Im not sure.. I just knew I'd had an incredible experience
& I just wanted water.
The marshall at the checkpoint guided us down "that hill" for another 2 beautifully scenic swerves where in the middle of it somewhere we found a little hut that was a surprising host to chilled thumbsup & lots of water! We guzzled up all we could & played with the little puppy that was trying to entangle itself in our bag straps before gearing up for another promised strenuous period of mechanical leg-movement. Riding in full intensity through flat plains we came across a pretty little spot that looked promising for a lunch. We dropped our bikes & set out a picnic that was complete with A plate & A spoon but not a tablecloth. 2 cheese triangles & 3 bread muffs for each with one spoon Gajar halwa. Yum.
Set forth we did after the delicious meal to reach a checkpoint where the marshals pointed "this section is to be completed in 30 minutes.." It was about 2 pm that time & we were only to happy to finish it in half an hour to retire for the day. At this point I had already reconciled myself to the fact that I've had the most glorious 5 hours of riding i've experienced in my life & if faced with an adversity i'd quit.. but that thought was pushed behind in the fraction of a milisecond as it came. The tortuous 3 hours that lay ahead! Oh my my... 30 mins? That bloody arse! Did he know what he was talking about????? It has to be the most difficult path i've come across. Riding with every ounce on loose stone on a road that was not really a road with no clear sand patch you could swerve towards to ride on.. It was horrible. Stones! We're riding on stones!!! & we're riding uphill on stones!!!! Who the hell thought this would be a good idea!? Completely ignoring the scenic beauty of an undulating lake around me, my fingers were paining with the strain to keep my handlebar straight & hitting the brakes.. I couldn't let the bike roll on downhills as the end of it is a steep curve that you're guaranteed to lose control & fall off! I had to hit the brake on downhills full of loose stone. Not gravel, STONE.
I had at this point dropped my bike atleast 3 times to tender to the sharp muscle spasms that hit both my calves & all my fingers simultaneously & were gruelling to make you cry as at this point there was no electrol to cure the pain & no bed to rest for a bit to proceed forward. Drop the bike, shake it off, somehow. Grab the bike & move on. I willingly handed my bike later to guy & jeremy who took turns to walk it up the steep sections coz i couldn't pedal 'that thing' further!.... Is this going to end?
Finally the checkpoint. Please tell me its a campsite.. It looks like it, its got a car, its got people lying around squirming in pain & grief...ok.. Whats happening?
We reach out to the marshall. "Hello there. I wish to pay my condolence to the idiot who told me I could finish the last section in 30 minutes. I will kill him. On another note, please tell me this is the end for today."
a polite smile... "you see that hill top there? You have to climb over that hill...." & then he said something i didn't hear well enough. I really think at this point i'd started hallucinating. Was he kidding? Its nearing 7 pm. He wants me to trek WITH MY BIKE, Over THAT HILL!? WTF.
Jeremy confirmed this... I'd zonked out. What hill? That bloody hill?
What????
Still in the haze I plonked for 10 minutes on the grass & snapped at the marshall who mercilessly told me that my time is running & that I need to keep moving.. while Guy fetched us some water from the village. I didn't look up. I just took out my lights from the backpack to gear up for the "up that hill" .."trek"...
& it wasn't pretty.
With only 3 lights on our helmets to guide us we were trying to head up a hill with our bikes through sections im sure I'd have enough trouble walking through in the bright sunlight of the morning as well. Theres a gorge on one side & a path that has enough space for only two feet to pass by. Im not sure why i kept slipping.. I couldn't get a grip on the soil!.. which wasn't the nicest thing to say when you have a bike in your hand as well! We called out to 3 beeping lights we saw little over us "Is there a path??" & awaited a "We don't know" call-back. Ok time to re-evaluate.. Is that red light up on to the right a beacon? Is that where we have to go? Lets climb this straight forward & wait for a path to break towards the right.
In the midst of the chaos & right before what we would soon realize was indeed a break, we reached a landing. I think at this point we were sufficiently under-enthused about the beacon & of finding respite at its end.. so we did momentarily discuss this landing to be a campsite for the night.. I had my back to the mother of a hill that I wanted to climb to reach a flat path that would break to the beacon red light that I thought must be the point to reach & my eyes hovered over to the sky...
Imagine being plonked on a stone right in the middle of a hill, with silhouettes of hills all around & a pitch dark sky with no moon to disturb the twinkling stars, with no real reason to reach a top which wasn't even that clear to reach & with absolutely NO sense of a proper direction except the thought that you had to move "Top" & with one yellowish-orange fire blazing through a distant hill in a snake-like manner... We decided to egg on & marked the spot if we wanted to come back to it.
But it wasnt necessary, we soon found the break in the path we were hoping for & a marshall with a torchlight.. but we were pretty sure at this point that this was not the end.
The marshalls equipped us with the last bottle of water they had left & we took a 10 minute respite before "climb a bit further & then take the path to your left".. Ohkay.. "Walk for about 30 minutes & you'll see a downhill of 10 kms that you'll ride to the campsite.. It shouldn't take more than 2 hours more here.."
& these were the marshalls who previously told us to complete a section in 30 minutes that we took more than 3 hours to finish.
Alright then, its time to push someone off the cliff.
(Anger? Why was I feeling that?)
Atleast this was a flat plain.. Guy was high on spirits, Jeremy was too. Their cheerful banter & my little muster of a laugh & pointless conversation which skipped topics every 2 seconds as noone really concentrated on what they were saying led us through the flat plains of tugging the bike. I did get Guy & Jeremy to push my bike then too, I did protest but not too much as I was more than happy not carrying that burden.. My arms would ache as I would lift them half up to grab the handle-bar to make it move forward.. who knew steering the bike would be an effort.
We passed downhills & uphills & had a few scary slips but we made it through.. We were with about 5-6 other teams at this point & all of us were eager to get this over with. Sipping through the last ounce of water & struggling with directions given by the villagers we made it to the next checkpoint. Now its riding time... In the dark.
While everyone was busy fixing up their flat tires (we managed miraculously with none: Slime Tubes. I Love You) we rode in the dark through gravel enhanced, stony path that was termed as "road" by the marshalls. At this point my fingers were numb with pain & I really didn't give a shit. Just rode. Didn't think about it, just rode to the campsite.
Now this is the end right? Come on! Nothing more... Nope. Sorry the challenge for today hasn't ended yet. There's still river crossing to finish.. "You're the team leader?" he pointed towards me.. "please proceed towards the river & the volunteers will guide you through river crossing" Its 10 pm. Im tired. "I don't know how to swim" I managed with the excuse & asked Guy if he would do this instead of me & I think he was only too happy to jump in the water for a swim that we were eagerly awaiting an instance of during our 3 hour ride but not right now.. not when swimming requires energy that you don't have.. But he did it anyway & boy was he fast.
So with this our Day 1 FINALLY came to an end at 10:30. We found a spot & set base for the night. We got out our pan & hunted for wood for a fire.. You can't light a fire! The marshall's exclaimed! & we retorted with "just watch us" :P
The marshall's protest gave up soon.. & we cooked a lovely methi chicken readymade meal & finished in flat 5 minutes with the bread we had left. My mouth still waters thinking of it.. Had I been home at that time & in the state i'd been in, I would've probably emptied the fridge but for now this was good. This was enough.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thoughts on Creation
Through this last year of going through dblogs, i've found a remarkable difference in the language that is used to communicate ideas.. If you read comments you'll often come across abduction, lateral thinking, design synthesis, extrapolation, insights... The fact that similar terms are used to describe a design in China, Norway, Canada, USA, UK makes it startlingly apparent that we indeed have an accepted way of communicating that does transcend all the differences in spoken language!
When you view this talk by Tim brown, you'll understand this much better... or understand how far behind you are in catching up with this new language :)
Even though I love the fact that like maths, design too will become (actually, IS to some extent) a subject that one studies through school days.. I'm afraid that it will become a discipline as strict as maths which would just contain this wonderful process of creation into the hands of a certain few, the designers.. Which is just a typical logical course of evolution of any subject.. Isn't that ironic?
Re-viewing this talk, one begins to wonder though.. Would it have been possible to develop & enhance an inherent process of developing a new subject/language so easily had it not been for the technologies that connect us all?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Redefining "Dis"Ability
Indeed, redefining the most basic notions of user interactions and society in general.. Could we have ever thought of disability this way?
Makes me wonder what we could create if we exclude ONE design feature that we take for granted as imperative in our designs...
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tim Brown on Simplicity vs. Minimalism
"There is a discussion going on amongst some of my colleagues about the merits of minimalism versus simplicity.
My own view is that minimalism has come to represent a style and as such is limited in its usefulness. It represents a reaction to complexity whereas simplicity relies on an understanding of the complex. This is an important difference. One is about the surface, about the stuff. The other is about our experience and requires a deep appreciation of how things work so as to make them just simple enough.
Minimalism is often all too obvious while great simplicity can be practically invisible..." Tim Brown, IDEO
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Bio-Mimetics
Woke up today with a thirst for random inspiration,
Jumped to TED (but ofcourse)
and found these really cool videos :)
check em out....
Jumped to TED (but ofcourse)
and found these really cool videos :)
check em out....
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
IsenSeven: The Video Marvel
Isenseven - TIMES from Vincent Urban on Vimeo.
"Times" is a self-contained short-clip by Isenseven and at the same time the last part of the upcoming full-length movie "Let's Go Get Lost". As this clip will be edited slightly different in the final movie, we decided to publish this original version online already now.
This clip contains a collection of footage we gathered throughout the season and during the summer days in our hometown Munich as well as in Berlin, New York, Tokyo, Bejing, Portland, Barcelona and many other places.
We like to thank all of our close friends for a great year 2009 and especially thank those guys for riding their skateboards for us: Conny Mirbach, Christopher Geyer, Jonas Rosenbauer, Michael Von Fintel, Christoph Friedmann, Dennis Gläser, Timo Kavermann, Mack McKelton, Gunes Ozdogan, Marcus Sweeney, Philipp Schuster and John Zelehoski.
Filmed by: Felix Urbauer, Alex Schiller, Vincent Urban, Niko Jentsch, Magnus Törnkvist
Edited by: Vincent Urban
As Munich plays a major role in this clip, we are happy we could use a song from a local band for this project. The song's called "Mindestens In 1000 Jahren" by Frittenbude from the Album "Nachtigall". Support the band and be friends with them on Myspace! (www.myspace.com/frittenbude)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
A Complex Simplicity Paradigm
Of late the buzzing word "simplicity" has struck every chord in my little mindspace. Really it is a beautiful word. Where we as humans have complicated everything including our lives that were initially set out to be very simple. Live for Survival.. It is a complicated word "simplicity" indeed. I'm going to try break it up here, atleast as much as i can.
The art of thin-slicing (as popularized by Malcolm Gladwell)
99% of the data you're posed with is useless. the 1% is critical. That one percent is the crux that binds the data together. We all know this but we still get stuck with the 99%.
There are various methodologies listed all over the web that help you reach the 1% and the one i choose to follow needs extreme getting used to. I call it the art of structure.
I structure everything. I write it down. I make diagrams/charts/ any other form of visual representations ..anything.. to structurally collate the data.
If you want to follow this path i can suggest an easy way to start.
Post-its. Write out all the variables on post-it notes. Paste them up on a wall. Re-arrange them to clusters which seem common.
Now take an individual cluster and ask yourself, What binds all your information together?
In the little cluster that you've intuitively created its easy to find the common link.
Once you have these common links, the next step is to bind them together. This is the hard part and it takes a while getting used to!
Two things will happen when you start this process, you'll start finding the information less over-bearing and therefore you'll attain a sense of calm within a whirlwind of mess. Secondly, you'll know where to look for more information..
I've practiced this for about a year and now im slowly getting used to it. Do this till the process of combining common variables becomes so deeply intuitive and instinctive that you start structuring everything from feelings to thoughts to emotions to decisions... its a fun world to live in coz you start questioning Everything! and thats when you start questioning anger, happiness, joy and you kinda become autistically fascinated by them.
This process is just to know what you're trying to achieve.. When it becomes instinctive and intuitive you don't need to do this process all the time.. It will come naturally. And for it to come naturally it is important to feel a little disconnected to your information. To practice the art of letting go i've found it easy to tear up all the un-organised information and retain only the common links to play around with. It gives a sense of detachment to the information which makes it easier to look a step beyond.
The art of information gathering is like making a shopping list, when you start of you say i have too much to do. when you've made a list you say hey i just need to go to 2 places for everything to be done!
Thin-Slicing is the art of breaking down everything within a "blink" till it meets you with startling revelations... and trust me, they're always startling.
The art of insight: the next dimension of visual creativity.
Do you remember your childhood days? Do you remember what you felt last time you were happy? Chances are that you just drew out a mental image of your happy moment and you added words and sounds that fit the visual description of your happy moment. Don't kill urself over it. its natural to do that. Its therefore established that its easier for your brain to collect and recollect images.
Now think about it this way.
Its easy for my mind to visually collate, so why don't i feed it more visual data?
.. And maybe if its easier for my mind to recollect visual data it must do a series a calculations or somethings that helps it to remember the visual data i fed it without making me realize it? So my mind actually has the capacity to think more about visual data.. with this realization I drew this map.
now let me try to break it down in "simpler" terms.
All of us have given interviews. Now pick your favorite. What did you like about the questions being answered? 9 times out of 10 you'll find what you liked about the answer is NOT that you answered exactly what was asked, what you liked is that the answer brought out a startling revelation.
Having given one such interview I found it interesting to dissect the art of visual mapping and i realised something i did very intuitively was create a visual map of where the question being asked is heading to and create a simultaneous visual map of what I want it to be and answered the question from MY perspective. Its like screw you i know what you're asking and you'll get me into shit so here's the real deal.. Whats interesting is that I did it instinctively.
This re-rendering of visual maps is one thing that spurs an insight... and insight the way Jane Fulton Suri describes it in thoughtless acts, not the marketing term that we're getting used to using in lay terms :)
maybe ill write about this in detail later.
Simplicity in basic dissections.
Simplicity till now i've viewed in 2 strange ways: Include Everything & Include Nothing.
1. Apple
Your mac is a highly intuitive piece of equipment. Infact the trend sparked by their technological revolution is to make technology conform to you rather than you conforming to it.. Humanising Tech
nology as i like to call it.
What does this simplicity require? Extreme technology. Include Everything. Include every known technological inspiration to make this happen.
Have you ever truly seen your mac laptop? sure its simple in interface but more than that there is a greater revelation: there is no visible demarcation to show that you can tear your laptop apart the way you're used to opening up your dells and compaqs. It visually feels as if they're saying hey, we know what we're talking about.. Its high-tech stuff here babe. Enjoy my privileges but don't mess with me.
Simple in interface. Complicated inside.
2. Ross Lovegrove's Chair
Its based on a simple principle: Minimise the Unnecessary. Include Something of what already exists and redefine the rest.
It just has to look simpler than what i usually see..
Simple in thought. Simple in Execution.
A sub-version of this is when i include nothing of what i already know and just redefine my parameters from scratch. We usually dont do this. We ask hey who wants to reinvent the wheel????
in all this ive realised one substantial thing. in simplicity lies complexity. Like my boss says, its like this, when you have a problem and you want to reach the simple insightful revelation to it, you need to create an entire circle around the problem, dwell into all complexities to reach the solution.. and when you reach the solution you say wtf! it was right there!!!! how did i not see it!
now i havent been able to come to the stage where simplicity is just simple and not with its fare share of a complexity circle. in other words, i havent been able to make that tiny little jump. When you do it, let me know about it ;)
Adieu!
Monday, February 15, 2010
T-Shaped Designers
Found a term today: T-Shaped Designers.
(http://www.designsojourn.com/only-god-is-t-shaped/)
I have been thinking about T-Shaped Designers for a long time now. How to be one, what does being one really mean and how effective can one be. Made popular sometime in 2005 by IDEO’s Tim Brown, T-Shape Designers are defined as:
…people who are so inquisitive about the world that they’re willing to try to do what you do. We call them “T-shaped people.” They have a principal skill that describes the vertical leg of the T — they’re mechanical engineers or industrial designers. But they are so empathetic that they can branch out into other skills, such as anthropology, and do them as well. They are able to explore insights from many different perspectives and recognize patterns of behavior that point to a universal human need. ~ Fast Company
I touch on this topic again in 2007, by calling these T-Shape Designers “Renaissance Designers” in my blog series: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Designers.
However after almost 5 years contemplating the existence of such T-Shaped designers and observing the many designers I know, I have to admit that such a personality trait is a myth. Honestly, to date I have never seen or met any designer that I would truly qualify as T-shaped, including myself.
I actually spoke to Chris Bangle about this and tried to tap into his vast experience as someone who hires talent. He agrees that while it was big in 2005, on one talks about this anymore probably because it was never true.
I postulated that such a personality trait is impossible simply because humans are just not wired to multi-task well, or to wear different hats for that matter. Even if a designer has the capability, he or she will lack the time or opportunity.
Therefore the reality is, instead of being a big “T”, you will find designers that are either a little “t” or a “T” with a short vertical stick.
Little “t-shape” designers are essentially most of who we are. Despite many of us feeling that we are “Jacks of all trades and masters of none” after our 4 years of design school. We eventually settle into a specialty of design and designing.
Stunted “T-Shaped” designers are often the senior creatives, the design managers, team leaders and entrepreneurs. Many deal with all the different touch points in the design development cycle, but do not have the opportunity to dive into detail. Some, like the entrepreneurs, may be in the position to do it all, but often will have to either accept work of lesser quality or learn to delegate and outsource.
———-
So at the end of the day, being a T-Shaped is just a nice story for designers to aspire to. While the value of a T-Shaped team is undeniable, it is probably more realistic to build a multi-disciplinary team of experts to work on complex (or wicked?) problems. Now that is something that has withstood the test of time.
What do you think? I’m looking forward to hearing your comments.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Steel-Velcro
Found this very very interesting in terms of the possibilities that lie with its usage!
imagine a car with this on the back side and you can velcro 2 additional seats when they fall short!! :D
or a building that got boring in architecture.. change the structure with these velcro pillars!
as i let my mind wander enjoy the read.. :)
metallic velcro: steel hook and loop fastener
'flamingo' fastener
photo credit: TUM
imagine a car with this on the back side and you can velcro 2 additional seats when they fall short!! :D
or a building that got boring in architecture.. change the structure with these velcro pillars!
as i let my mind wander enjoy the read.. :)
metallic velcro: steel hook and loop fastener
'flamingo' fastener
photo credit: TUM
hook and loop fasteners have become commonplace features of both industry and households.
however, they have one snag: they are too weak for many applications.hook and loop
fasteners made of spring steel have now been developed at the institute of metal forming
and casting of the technische universitaet muenchen (TUM).
the device consists of hook tape and loop tape 0.2 mm thick.
these fasteners are resistant to chemicals and can withstand a tensile load
of up to 35 tonnes per square meter at temperatures as high as 800°C.
photo credit: TUM
spring steel hook elements deform elastically under light pressure to glide into openings
in a perforated tape, once inserted, they return to their original form and resist back pull
like an expanding rivet. numerous steel hooks can attach at any angle to the loops in the
perforated metal loop tape.
it can be mass-produced
photo credit: TUM
'metaklett' is a hook and loop fastener system developed by researchers at TUM,
the technische universitaet muenchen, under the leadership of professor hartmut
hoffmann (and as part of a joint project launched in 2005 with the federal ministry
of education and research / BMBF) in close cooperation with partners from industry.
'metaklett is a portmanteau of 'metall' and 'klettverschluss', which is the german generic
for velcro®. like velcro fasteners, 'metaklett' devices can be easy to secure and release,
yet they can withstand very strong mechanical stresses, high temperatures and harsh
chemicals. the unbeatable advantage of this hook and loop fastener is that it is easy
to close and open again, the principle therefore is put to a very wide range of uses,
for example air-conditioning and ventilation systems in building services engineering
and automotive construction.
hook HF 1 and loop LF1 combined
photo credit: TUM
the researchers created various three-dimensional models for the optimum interlocking
of the fastener elements on the computer.they then built the most promising candidates
as prototypes and subjected them to comprehensive tests. around 40 variations of the
geometry referred to as 'flamingo' alone were tested on the computer. they studied its adhesive
strength and reaction to extreme temperatures to establish the limits of its resilience.
'entenkopf" fastener
photo credit: TUM
a hybrid version with synthetic strap
photo credit: TUM
after testing, the institute settled on two variations: the 'flamingo' and 'entenkopf"
(or duck's head) models. the hook forms of the two systems are vaguely reminiscent of
a duck's head and a flamingo standing on one leg... the entenkopf uses fine steel hooks
and loops, while the flamingo uses wider hooks that snap into openings in the tape.
depending on the direction of the applied force, this fastener can withstand a load of
7 to 35 newtons per square meter.
'entenkopf' fastener
photo credit: TUM
close-up of 'entenkopf' fastener
photo credit: TUM
a car parked in direct sunlight can reach temperatures of 80 °C, and temperatures of several
hundred degrees centigrade can arise around the exhaust manifold. aggressive disinfectants
are used for cleaning purposes in hospitals, and traditional hook, and loop fasteners are too
weak for use in the construction of building façades...temperatures in excess and aggressive
chemical solutions do not pose any problem for 'metaklett', which also offers
adhesive strength of up to 35 tonnes per square meter when tensile force is applied parallel
to the fastener surface. when it is applied perpendicular to the fastener surface, 'metaklett'
can still withstand a force of seven tonnes per square meter, and, like a standard velcro® fastener,
it can be opened and closed without the help of any tools.
up and close on velcro®
more than 60 years ago, the swiss engineer and inventor george de mestral
was trying to painstakingly remove burrs from his dog's coat after a hunting excursion,
he stumbled on an ingenious idea. based on the model he had observed in nature,
he constructed a fastener from numerous small hooks and loops, which he
subsequently named velcro®. unfortunately, standard synthetic hook and loop fasteners
are not very resistant to heat and aggressive chemicals.
Via Designboom
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Creative Thinking... & Our Box.
Stumbled upon this when i was looking for things to put in my Design Box. Will write about that in a few days when I've made it.. :)
Whether you’re trying to solve a tough problem, start a business, get attention for that business or write an interesting article, creative thinking is crucial. The process boils down to changing your perspective and seeing things differently than you currently do.
People like to call this “thinking outside of the box,” which is the wrong way to look at it. Just like Neo needed to understand that “there is no spoon” in the film The Matrix, you need to realize “there is no box” to step outside of.
You create your own imaginary boxes simply by living life and accepting certain things as “real” when they are just as illusory as the beliefs of a paranoid delusional. The difference is, enough people agree that certain man-made concepts are “real,” so you’re viewed as “normal.” This is good for society overall, but it’s that sort of unquestioning consensus that inhibits your natural creative abilities.
So, rather than looking for ways to inspire creativity, you should just realize the truth. You’re already capable of creative thinking at all times, but you have to strip away the imaginary mental blocks (or boxes) that you’ve picked up along the way to wherever you are today.
I like to keep this list of 10 common ways we suppress our natural creative abilities nearby when I get stuck. It helps me realize that the barriers to a good idea are truly all in my head.
1. Trying to Find the “Right” Answer
One of the worst aspects of formal education is the focus on thecorrect answer to a particular question or problem. While this approach helps us function in society, it hurts creative thinking because real-life issues are ambiguous. There’s often more than one “correct” answer, and the second one you come up with might be better than the first.
Many of the following mental blocks can be turned around to reveal ways to find more than one answer to any given problem. Try reframing the issue in several different ways in order to prompt different answers, and embrace answering inherently ambiguous questions in several different ways.
2. Logical Thinking
Not only is real life ambiguous, it’s often illogical to the point of madness. While critical thinking skills based on logic are one of our main strengths in evaluating the feasibility of a creative idea, it’s often the enemy of truly innovative thoughts in the first place.
One of the best ways to escape the constraints of your own logical mind is to think metaphorically. One of the reasons why metaphors work so well in communications is that we accept them as true without thinking about it. When you realize that “truth” is often symbolic, you’ll often find that you are actually free to come up with alternatives.
3. Following Rules
One way to view creative thinking is to look at it as a destructiveforce. You’re tearing away the often arbitrary rules that others have set for you, and asking either “why” or “why not” whenever confronted with the way “everyone” does things.
This is easier said than done, since people will often defend the rules they follow even in the face of evidence that the rule doesn’t work. People love to celebrate rebels like Richard Branson, but few seem brave enough to emulate him. Quit worshipping rule breakers and start breaking some rules.
4. Being Practical
Like logic, practicality is hugely important when it comes to execution, but often stifles innovative ideas before they can properly blossom. Don’t allow the editor into the same room with your inner artist.
Try not to evaluate the actual feasibility of an approach until you’ve allowed it to exist on its own for a bit. Spend time asking “what if” as often as possible, and simply allow your imagination to go where it wants. You might just find yourself discovering a crazy idea that’s so insanely practical that no one’s thought of it before.
5. Play is Not Work
Allowing your mind to be at play is perhaps the most effective way to stimulate creative thinking, and yet many people disassociate play from work. These days, the people who can come up with great ideas and solutions are the most economically rewarded, while worker bees are often employed for the benefit of the creative thinkers.
You’ve heard the expression “work hard and play hard.” All you have to realize is that they’re the same thing to a creative thinker.
6. That’s Not My Job
In an era of hyper-specialization, it’s those who happily explore completely unrelated areas of life and knowledge who best see that everything is related. This goes back to what ad man Carl Ally said about creative persons—they want to be know-it-alls.
Sure, you’ve got to know the specialized stuff in your field, but if you view yourself as an explorer rather than a highly-specialized cog in the machine, you’ll run circles around the technical master in the success department.
7. Being a “Serious” Person
Most of what keeps us civilized boils down to conformity, consistency, shared values, and yes, thinking about things the same way everyone else does. There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, but if you can mentally accept that it’s actually nothing more than groupthink that helps a society function, you can then give yourself permission to turn everything that’s accepted upside down and shake out the illusions.
Leaders from Egyptian pharaohs to Chinese emperors and European royalty have consulted with fools, or court jesters, when faced with tough problems. The persona of the fool allowed the truth to be told, without the usual ramifications that might come with speaking blasphemy or challenging ingrained social conventions. Give yourself permission to be a fool and see things for what they really are.
8. Avoiding Ambiguity
We rationally realize that most every situation is ambiguous to some degree. And although dividing complex situations into black and white boxes can lead to disaster, we still do it. It’s an innate characteristic of human psychology to desire certainty, but it’s the creative thinker who rejects the false comfort of clarity when it’s not really appropriate.
Ambiguity is your friend if you’re looking to innovate. The fact that most people are uncomfortable exploring uncertainty gives you an advantage, as long as you can embrace ambiguity rather than run from it.
9. Being Wrong is Bad
We hate being wrong, and yet mistakes often teach us the most. Thomas Edison was wrong 1,800 times before getting the light bulb right. Edison’s greatest strength was that he was not afraid to be wrong.
The best thing we do is learn from our mistakes, but we have to free ourselves to make mistakes in the first place. Just try out your ideas and see what happens, take what you learn, and try something else. Ask yourself, what’s the worst that can happen if I’m wrong? You’ll often find the benefits of being wrong greatly outweigh the ramifications.
10. I’m Not Creative
Denying your own creativity is like denying you’re a human being. We’re all limitlessly creative, but only to the extent that we realize that we create our own limits with the way we think. If you tell yourself you’re not creative, it becomes true. Stop that.
In that sense, awakening your own creativity is similar to the path reported by those who seek spiritual enlightenment. You’re already enlightened, just like you’re already creative, but you have to strip away all of your delusions before you can see it. Acknowledge that you’re inherently creative, and then start tearing down the other barriers you’ve allowed to be created in your mind.
Get more on: http://www.copyblogger.com/
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Just Do It!
As smoke billows from a burning bus at a demonstration in Tehran, a Mousavi supporter flashes the sign for peace, or victory.
Check his bagstrap..... :)
Horsetail Falls
'Yosemite National Park is one of the world’s great destinations for photographers. Each year in late February, however, camera buffs converge with a particular urgency: There are just a few days when the setting sun and the position of the Earth’s orbit transform El Capitan’s wispy Horsetail Falls into a spectacular light show. This year’s “fire fall” effect was captured at about 5:45 p.m. Friday as the sun lit up the 1,500-foot waterfall against the darkening granite behind it. '
From what I've gathered through blogs & videos this event is difficult to capture as the intensity of light falling on the fall as well as the water content of the fall makes all the difference! Theres also a particular time when you see it as molten lava, on most other occasions it just brightens up the fall & the surrounding area.
Google Horsetail Falls, Yosemite National Park for more info & images :)
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
This Watch is A Phone
Tired of carrying an I-pod, phone & watch where-ever you go? This classic-new style statement hell yeah decreases the load of gadgets you'd want to carry with you!
With an equipped 1.5 inch touchscreen, bluetooth, mp3-mp4 playback, 1.3 megapixel camera, 128 MB memory (& additional support for 8GB)..with a 100 hours of standby battery giving 180 minutes of talktime.. its well.. quite 'Cool'....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)