I was still in a slight mental daze for two days after the ride, like a positive buzz
that was proving infectious. My body felt absolutely fine, and my mind felt much
better than the body. This by far is my most satisfying ride on the bike, just
ahead of the Cyclone Nilam ride – and one should note, I did not finish the
brevet. My second DNF after the disaster of the 300km I attempted previously –
but does that really matter on this route? Hell Not for me!
Mind you, I would be in another world if I had completed it,
but the DNF doesn’t rob me of anything in this ride.
This particular Saturday – 01-June-2013 - will be top of my
list of rides for a long long time. I had some of the best moments on the bike
and off it as well in recent times.
A 122 year record
almost breached
Let me start recounting this episode from the day before the
ride. Shasti, now my steady ride partner, signed up for this one (his first
brevet) as well and was having “butterflies in his stomach” (in his own words)
the day before. Well, a lot of us did – just looking at the elevation map of
the route and the climbs that were waiting for us.
This was what we were attempting:
Along with Shasti was Thenappan Meyyappan, my apartment
mate, a new cyclist. And by now I also knew many of the riders attempting this
one, so a lot of familiar faces there.
Sanath (readers might remember him as the one who lent me
the light, quite literally, for the 300km ride) pulled out since he had to
travel on Sunday, but was enthusiastic enough to volunteer to ride till IISC
starting 4 AM! I mean, who would do that knowing they weren’t riding the
brevet? Spirit I say, I am blessed to know people with such spirit and energy.
However, if you were reading Saturday or Sunday’s newspapers
in Bangalore, one would know that the rains on Friday almost matched the 122
year old record of the most rainfall in a single night. That was around 101.x
mm of rain, and on 31-May-2013 we received in Bangalore, around 100 mm.
I had taken the bike to the nearby Shell petrol pump and
filled the tyres, and returned home after buying the necessary chikkis and
Gatorade sachets et all just before the rains.
And I was prepping the bike when the thunders hit us. Scary
is the word. But rain or shine, the brevet was happening and I had to tune
myself up for that. I called Sanath and told him not to do the 4 AM thing, I
really didn’t want him to wake up and ride in such slush just to see us off.
Wife and kid stayed back (we’d planned to have them at
in-laws’) – driving was ruled out; so did my parents – even walking in that
rain was ruled out. Eventually we all hit the sack at around 10:30 PM. And promptly
at 3:15 AM, my daughter woke us all up with her wails – some nightmare she had;
while the others tried to pacify her, I quietly got ready. And by 3:45 AM once
again the house was calm, and I slipped out to meet Thens at the parking area.
Shasti, and a fellow rider Mrinal met us on the way and we were off at 4AM
sharp towards IISc.
Covered the 23+km in an hour, finished the formalities,
chatted up with the organizers and then we headed to a nearby bakery for some
food. Cheese Omelette Bun it was with tea, and everything was just perfect for
the ride. The weather, the people, the positivity.
The Ride:
Ok so you already have the link. But the gist is here:
Route: IISc -> Kanakapura Road -> Art of Living ->
Harohalli -> Jawalgiri -> Thalli -> Anchetty -> Denkanikottai ->
Attibele -> BTM, Bangalore.
Elevation map:
Distance: 206 km
Time Given: 13.5 hours.
IISc to Harohalli
 |
| Start Point with Shasti and all the riders behind |
 |
| All smiles |
There were some bad-ass climbs at Mahalakshmi layout, and I
had that done with ease. Little did I know what was in store, and I was already
elated at my overall form that day.
I had left behind Shasti and caught up with Thens who was
ahead (he wasn’t with us for the wrong 2 km). We waited at the Merida junction
for Shasti who was already daunted by the small climbs so far.
However, we picked up steam, and maintained an easy pace
till Harohalli. I didn’t want to wear us out, especially Shasti and Thens and
hence we were taking it a bit too easy.
Reached the first control at Harohalli with around 40
minutes to spare. With no good breakfast place in sight, we had some cakes and
a couple of Badam Milks.
It was around 8:30 when we left Harohalli towards Thali.
The onslaught
begins
When most of us saw the elevation map, we were all focusing
on the big V, ignoring the smaller sections of climbs before Thali and
Anchetty. This would come back to haunt us when our plans to pace ourselves
were tested to the hilt.
The “should have” and “if only”s were beginning, and we had
to make a rush to Thali. The climbs began around 8km from Harohalli and there
were no signs of them getting any better.
We stopped in between for a few snaps and some much needed
rest. We entered areas marked as elephant corridors, and we were all excited at
the prospects. Long electrical fences, dug outs along the road for stopping the
elephants, high rises made of stones packed together, all these were pretty
fascinating. Even the distant moos of cows and buffaloes were sounding like
elephants to us (:P) Every dark trunk of a tree looked like an elephant
lurking. We were kids again.
 |
| Thens and Shasti on the way to Thali from Harohalli |
 |
| Myself and Shasti with our companions |
 |
| The hills behind us - thankfully we didnt have the climb them yet |
Not a soul on the road at that hour except us bikers, the
gentle and cool breeze, the rolling terrains, and some nice conversations –
made for an enchanting couple of hours.
I was full of mojo at this time, but decided to take it
easy, always keeping in mind the big V, but I was losing time by unmounting and
walking few of the steep climbs in the current section. I did not bother much
as I always knew I can give myself the push when it came to it. Shasti was
beginning to cramp a bit in these sections but was keeping up anyway.
We pushed ourselves in the last 5 km to the control, and
reached the control 7 minutes before closing time, around 11.45 AM (against the
closure of 11:52)
I now realized we were cutting it too close, and we had only
covered 88 km. The next control was at 127 km, and the end time was 14:24 Hours.
So 39 km, and 2 hours 40 mins. We were yet to have a proper meal in the day and
hadn’t an opportunity for a good break.
We were now entering protected forests of Anchetty via
Jawalgiri. And some sections were supposed to have steep descends, and I was quite
positive about making it on time. My legs were raring, I wasn’t really tired,
wasn’t hungry or queasy like the last brevet, so it all looked pretty hunky
dory.
The ups and downs
and then the downer
We rode at a nice pace crossing Jawalgiri and entering the
forests of Anchetty. While we were looking out for the “steep descents”, we
were presented with one after another of dreadful climbs. At one point, what
would have been steps ideally looked like walls. Though everything was
seemingly going my way, I was losing steam and juice. All my rides so far were
on relatively flat terrains with a few flyovers and a couple of difficult
climbs like the Krishnagiri one thrown in.
 |
| A small temple at which we had natural mineral water, Arun's head can be seen |
 |
| Hint of the terrain |
 |
| Thats Ratnaveer, just finishing a climb to the temple - which we guys walked! |
This was a whole new level of climbing and I think I wasn’t
prepared enough. These required more stamina than I had at that time, and more
mental strength to not be daunted seeing those inclines I was approaching. The
moment I saw anything that looked like a climb, I was feeling pretty depressed. I was beginning to understand climbs and adjust my technique, but some of them were just far too much for me to challenge at that time.
And at one point when riding in the forests, I saw Shasti a
little ahead slumping on the road. He was spent. I took a few minutes sitting
next to him. I then told the guys to atleast keep walking and not grind to a
halt. So we walked a couple of hundred meters.
And then I had to take a decision. It was now around 1:35
PM, and I had around 27 km to go. In an ideal setting this should have been
doable. And the downhills were beginning around 12 km from the control. The
first 14 km took me around 29 minutes, and I was now looking at 13 km to go
with 24 minutes to spare.
The best ride of
whatever limited ride-life I have
The descend just started. This section of the ride was the
most exhilarating bit I have ever ridden. I had lost all the others, and I
decided to give myself a chance. I had to maintain more than 26 kmph, and I was
hitting 40 kmph already.
I decided to take risks. I was just teasing the brakes and
never really applied them. At two curves, I went off the road, on the cobbles
and rocks – literally jittering my way through and getting back on the road.
This was on the edge riding for me. I knew that I had minimum protection for my
knees and elbows, and a fall would definitely mean broken bones. Somehow it
didn’t matter. At one place through a village, just next to a lake, I hit
around 61 kmph. That was the maximum I think.
I kept looking at the distance gobbled, which was painfully
less for me - the intermittent climbs were slowing me down, and I was running out of energy. I reached the T junction mentioned in the cue sheet, which was 4
km from the bus stand near which the control was, and the time was 14:27 Hours.
I had lost the battle. Nevertheless, I thought of making it as quickly as
possible and then try begging the organizers.
While I thought I rushed to the control, mostly flat sections in the 4km, I actually reached by 14:47 Hours – it was hard to maintain even 20 kmph now. I pulled
out an ATM slip at the control and then called the organizers. I was exactly 21
minutes late to the control, and I knew it was pretty much over, but whats the
harm is pulling all stops. Ofcourse they sympathised with me, and told me politely
to ride the remaining distance for the pleasure of it J
Reality Check
So finally, I had to digest the fact that I wouldn’t be able
to qualify anymore. So went back into Anchetty village, found myself a juice
vendor, and started sipping fruit punches slowly, waiting for the others to
join. 25 minutes and 3 juices later, Arun (who rode with us in the morning
and gave me good company for most part) came around the corner, and I called
out to him. He and I had a some more juice, and then the folks started
trickling in. 40 minutes later Shasti and Shankar Shastry (a very interesting character - a Chartered Accountant + musician: guitarist/composer + music teacher + cyclist etc.), were
next to arrive. Shankar had yet another flat, and he tried fixing it. But then
seeing us, who were in no mood to continue – he resigned as well. So we went in
search of a good hotel for lunch, it was around 4:00 PM now. Thens returned
now, having slept on the road just before the downhill stretch!
Found a shabby looking place, the only place that had any
semblance of a hotel. Turned out, a family was running it and the lady cooked
stuff in her kitchen behind the customer bay. Lunch turned out to be a tasty
affair, and quite satisfying – if you left out the dust and heat. I had rice
with buttermilk and some curries, an omelette and some bottled water.
Shankar, Arun and myself went out in search of a tempo (we
ditched the plan of a bus since there were too many of us already and we’d have
to separate). Found one – the driver was ready to come till Bangalore Silk
Board for a total cost of Rs 2200. It was around 80km from there, and we were
five of us. Not a bad deal, so we didn’t bargain much.
The best return
journey ever in a biking trip
This is when the imps in us started waking up. Someone
mentioned beer, and lo, Thens, myself and Shankar were pretty excited. Found a
wine shop that was open – Shankar and I bought our supplies, the bikes were
loaded into the trailer, Arun sat inside (he wanted to sleep), the other four
settled beside the bikes.
 |
| See the relief???? Shasti and Thens |
 |
| Our 5 bikes, mine in the extreme inside |
 |
| Myself and Shankar Shastry - the last ditch effort to reach Anchetty control had taken its toll on me |
 |
| Our tempo driver - dont go by his looks, he was one of the most gentle people I met that day |
The snacks were opened, the bottles were opened and then our
hearts opened a little more too. The weather was a gentle breeze, we were
covered by greenery and it was a climb from there till Denkanikottai. Beer,
friends and gentle breeze – this was probably the best van journey I have had
till now, after college ofcourse.
Many more riders had quit at Anchetty, and had taken vans
like us and were coming behind us.
Birds of the same feather
We passed rides on the way, and we were pretty impressed
with guts and shot at glory. However, they were impressed with beer and snacks
I guess ;) So we ended up pulling out the last straws for many of the riders
who chose to join us and the others in another van behind us.
We did turn down a few, I knew them from previous rides as
good riders and they were on the way to complete the brevet in time. I didn’t
have the heart to help them quit, with a few encouraging words (which was all I
could give I suppose), we continued and let the guys ride.
Ride back home
After a small event with the RTO at the checkpost coming
into Bangalore Highway, we reached Silk Board at around 7 PM. We unloaded the
bikes, assembled them, and Shasti decided to take an autorickshaw. Thens and I
decided to ride back. Our legs were fresh and the weather as usual was perfect.
Reached home in around 40 minutes covering 17km. After
dinner and a detailed recount, slept
like a log.
Usually a DNF gives me a lot of pain and frustration, but
this one was worth every minute of it. The entire experience is something that
will stay with me for a long long time.
No comments:
Post a Comment