Little bit of guts and lots of sunscreen lotion!

So the ride on Apr 20 turned out to be interesting in many ways...

As usual, the build up was quite happening, with many first timers signing up. The inital plan was to ride a 50+ km loop around Chandapura, get on the highway, back to Silkboard and then back into the city...

However, quite a few things were to change, the least was the number of riders who turned up...

Pre-ride: The drunken-munks

As is the norm now, I sent out the route map, time plan etc and it was being forwarded to many interested riders. We also had our first lady sign up...

On Wednesday Apr 17th, a bunch of guys who'd signed up, were out on dinner with Zdenek Berka, who had come down from Prague on work. The usual suspects Sunil Kulkarni, Ashish Kumar Jha and Srinivasan Venkatakumar (readers havent seen the pics yet of these two guys, but I'll haul them up soon for a ride) were with Zdenek. It had turned out to be a high spirited evening and we all know what happens then - crazy ideas start flowing along with the spirits...

And so the guys got Zdenek interested enough to sign up for the ride as well.

Last minute changes to the route and timings, to accommodate Zdenek, were made. He comes from sub-zero temperature, and any hint of heat during the ride got a lot of unknown variables in the equation for him.

We were 12 of us who signed up. And as of Friday night, everyone was up for it. 

And then most of them got drunk again...So there were a lot of unanswered calls, calls that were cut, phones switched off and so on and so forth on Saturday morning :) Apoorva who was set to be our first lady member, pulled out since she couldnt rent a bike on time. Looking forward to her company the next time.

However, the more disciplined of us ( :) ), did make it. I'd dropped Mrs and my doll at in-laws', prepped the bike up and did my standard pre-ride prep on Friday evening. Woke up at 4:30 AM, had the warm shower, got dressed up and off I was. The weather was just perfect - the sun was just beginning to peek, the birds were chirping and the haze was lifting. I was getting drunk just on the purity of it all.

Ram S met me at the HAL police station and off we were to meet Zdenek at the Marathalli Bridge, who'd already reached there at 5:30 AM in his cab. The good man Ashish got the bike arranged for Zdenek to the bridge, and saw us off.

The two new joinees to the group, Dhruva Kotagi and Jeyanthan were still at KR Puram, and so we decided to move on slowly towards our start point. If punctuality had prizes, Ram and I would be heading for the podium. We reached the start point at 5:58 AM, and decided to wait for the two guys who were rushing towards us.

Ram S trying in vain to wake people up, Zdenek searches for his sunscreen

Zdenek all shiny with the sunscreen, Ram is all geared up for the morning

Thats me, dressed for the occasion, and leaning on Zdenek's ride 

 The first leg

We were all off at around 6:15, I was more concerned for Zdenek seeing all the strays out and about. So we kept him in the middle with Ram guarding our rears (pun intended :) ). The updated route was a round trip to Marathalli via Varthur, a total of around 26km from the start point. This way, we'd cover an overall 40 km home-back-home, and still finish our ride by 8:30 max.

So we headed to our Idly point, the Priyadarshini hotel at Dommasandra. We were all ordering away Idlies while the resto guys swept the muddy floors, and the villagers were gathering for their morning exchanges. Spitting was involved to punctuate their discussions, and right behind the hotel was a huge gutter which was overflowing with garbage and other unconsumable items. What I'd call a less than ideal setting for Zdenek to feel hungry :)

So he politely declined our invitation to try some idlies, and we politely gorged on our steaming idlies in front of him :) As we say in Tamil, I was going to have tummy aches for a couple of days for the sin I was committing. But then, he was going to get tummy aches if he helped me avoid my sin!

Jeyanthan with the water bottle and Dhruva in the middle. Zdenek putting up a brave face amidst all the dust

So Zdenek's breakfast was a bottle of Aquafina, and with that completed, we headed off on our second leg.

The Schoolyard

The stretch between Dommasandra and Varthur is home to many international schools. TISB, Greenwood, Oakridge, Indus to name a few. The roads are mostly flat, and this stretch of about 10 km is one of my favourites. Yet to be 'adorned' by apartments, and mostly litter free, the tree covered stretch is a cyclist's dream. Zdenek seemed to enjoy himself here without reservations, and we quickly covered this peaceful stretch to reach our tea-point - Mayura Bakery at Varthur.

On the way is the Hanuman temple, with the huge statue in open air, and just behind Hanuman is Shiva in one of his intimidating poses. I took pleasure introducing Zdenek to our monkey-superhero and the God of Destruction.

Bright as noon, yet cool as it should it be

The foursome

With my buddy

One for the records

And one more for the records

The last leg

It was the last stretch, Zdenek was tiring a little- afterall it was back on the saddle after two years for him. The others were holding pretty fine, and we were off without much delay.

Dhruva and Jeyanthan split at the Shell petrol pump at Ramagondanahalli (tongue-twister practice). The three of us headed to Marathalli. I'd called up Zdenek's cab to be ready and woke up a sleepy Ashish to collect the bike in 20 minutes.

The ramp on the Marathalli flyover took out the last ounces of energy Zdenek had for the morning - Aquafina can only do so much. But he did survive pretty well, aided by a little bit of guts and lots of sunscreen :) He shot off into the waiting cab, Ashish took the bike back; Ram and I headed to our respective homes.

I'd covered 42 km in all and was home by 8:30 AM. A short, perfect ride - and I was glad I didnt break much of a sweat. Ram had a great ride too, and he seemed eager for more. He was glad of the visible increase in his stamina levels.

Picked up a light injury on the left shoulder on Sunday, and hence skipping the bike commute to office. Planning a longer, more demanding ride soon.

Until the next one, ciao.