210 KM Brevet Ride - 7th July 2012

B'lore_ Huliyurdurga _ B'lore

It was time for yet another brevet ride, had tried this route last Nov -11, but was DNF at 140, so was seriously looking to complete the ride this time.

As for a good start, was lucky to have parked my bike on the eve of the ride @ my friends place which was just 100 mtrs away from the start point, loaded with 6 sachets of Gatorade, and a 200KM brevet to my credit, I had a fairly good chance of doing the ride successfully this time.

I reached the start point at 5:40 AM, received a call from Sunil who was supposed to be riding the brevet for first time and along with me. All set to roll out, we started exactly at 6: 00 AM.

There were reasonable elevations but doable. The first control point mentioned in the cue sheet was 35.6 KM, was planning to reach by 8:00 AM ( I was little skeptical about the distance which turned out to be true). The actual control point was at 47 KM @ Magadi Fort and many riders felt they had missed the control point.

Myself & Sunil @ Magadi Fort control point

 It was 8:29 AM when I made it to the control point, Sunil had reached earlier by 15 min. Many were having their breakfast, it was only fluids and an apple for me, did not stand for long and went ahead.

The route ahead was scenic with trees & small bushes on either side of the road,  I had completed around 68 KM, when I started getting back to back calls from my colleagues, 1 guy queried on my riding status and the other repeatedly asked me for some mails ( Today, i.e. Monday, I came to know it was a deliberate attempt to pull my leg...bloody rascallas...)

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At 90 KM, I remembered this store where I had taken a break & had a chit chat with them during the last brevet, this is the junction where we take a right turn and an immediate left to the mud road leading to Koppa, so I stopped again at the same place, them recognized me almost instantly and asked me, are you doing this the 2nd time?. I told the same blah blah.. and then they informed me that few went ahead instead of taking right though they tried in vain to caution them. Coincidentally, I met Anand here and it was exactly in the same manner and at the same location in the last brevet too..!! We had tea together and he suggested to ride along ( Last time we rode together till Maddur Tiffany and then separated). I was happy to find a ride partner, we bid adieu to the gathering and  started pedaling. Just seconds before, a bunch of cyclist were ahead of us, instead of taking left, they went ahead, I tinkled my bell and only the last one (Praveen)behind them heard us and stopped. He came back and we opined that  they were all headed to do extra miles ( and later it turned out to be true). Praveen, Anand & Myself all took the mud road and pedaled towards Koppa.

Ananda & Praveen taking the lead 

I checked my cyclocomp, we had covered 100 KM in 6 Hrs 10 min, another 80 min and 18 odd km left for the 2nd control point @ Maddur Tiffany's. I made a transaction at the Shivapura ATM control point and the receipt showed 13: 01 Hrs. Anand was already there at Tiffany's and was having Idly + Vada. I had a bottle of Limca & Biscuits ( Could not find 7 Up Lemonade :(   ).

Anand in white Tees gearing up to continue the ride

Left Tiffany's exactly at 13:38 and another 29 KM ride to reach Ramanagara. I was so worried at this point coz, shortly this is where I had given up en route to Chennapatna, but hardly 70 - 80 min later we had reached Ramanagara, took the left road leading to Manchanbele and stopped for some refueling, 1 more apple and 2 bottles of juice, little stretching out and ready again for the ride. At 170 KM encountered a killer climb ( 1km stretch) just at Manchanbele dam, but did it in low gear, high cadence, 6 KM to the next control point @ Chandrappa Circle - 176 KM, reached the point and found Sreepathi manning the point, stamped the card as 6:59 Hrs.

Manchanbele Dam

 So it was 150 min more and 30 KM riding ( but 35 actually). Anand and myself continued to ride, reached Tavrekere, went ahead at NICE interchange, Anand was tailing me and most of the times, I used to turn behind to make sure if he was in the vicinity. It was 6:35 PM and I had completed 200 KM just before taking left at Magadi ORR near Kotgepalya, [ a right turn and 6 KM ride would have led me to my home :) ] I did not encounter heavy traffic, I assumed Anand was following me. There was sudden spurt of energy in me and I pedaled furiously, took the right turn after Kanteerva Studio, reached Mahalakshmi Layout,( small steep climb-   #@#$#), Finally made it to the Yeshwantpur Flyover and reached the final end station at 7:13, got the stamping done and went ahead to refresh myself. Then it occurred to me that Anand was tailing me, I could not see him around, Praveen had turned up by that time, and he also did not have a clue on him. I was disappointed and I did not have his contact number also. I don't know whether he finished the ride or what became of him, He was also a DNF rider on the same route last time and he wanted to complete it this time, having pedaled close to 100 KM together and not able to find him in the end was disappointing and made me little guilty.

The end point

My Brevet Card

Happy to have done 2X 200 KM brevets, but unlikely to do the next brevets due to cumulative factors, 

I think, for me, anything more than this distance, requires more preparation and training, combined with parental pressure and work load. My bike has a creaking sound at the front rims and the hubs, so I guess even that is due for a service. It would have been very good if the successive brevets were split over the months rather than weeks to come. :(

Have learnt the importance of B S F ( Breathing, Stretching & Fluids), Thankfully no punctures or any bike faults. 

Thanks to all my friends, Anand and the organizers, I was able to accomplish this ride route successfully ..!! Cheers 

200KM Brevet ride report_Blore_Sira_Blore

My First successful brevet ride.

I have been into cycling just last year, occasionally I commute to office (52 KM  T/F). Had done 3 century rides before this brevet. The 1st  one in September was to Shivgange hills off Dabaspet ( 119KM T/F), the 2nd was the 200KM brevet held in Nov 2011 ( DNF @ 140KM).  The final one was, ride to Panchapalli dam along with Rajni, Sohan, Chiddu, Deepak, Manjula, Ashutosh and others in Dec 2011( 170KM T/F). After this I hadn't done any major rides except for my office commutes. 

Initially, when I heard about the 1K brevet, wanted to do the 300 KM as it was NH roads and fairly reasonable elevations, but was undecided. Then terrible dehydration struck me 3 weeks ago and I required a whole week +  vitamin injections to recover, had another 1 week before the registrations ended for the brevets. Thought of doing an office commute and see the effects of my ill being and then decide. I felt slightly weaker and -2KM on my average commute speed. I badly wanted to do the 300 KM, I deliberated a lot and then thought better to be wise than heroic and signed up for the 200 KM 

There after, I wanted to commute to office daily for rest of the week as a prelude and gear up for the brevet, but all I could do was a single office commute. 

So, finally on the eve of 200 KM, parked my bike at my friends place in Vijayanagar and came back home. The idea was to start on a motorbike from my place, then reach my pals home and  take my MTB to reach the destination ( 9KM).

On 24th, I woke up at 3:15 AM, got readied by 4:15AM, then left for my friends place and started on my RR 5.1 at 4:45 AM. On the way I encountered a hound of dogs in at least 3 areas. Leave alone barking, they didn't even woof at me. I was slightly scared after reading few threads on the recent dog bites (guess it's my lucky day). I had called Rk the previous night and he had asked me to come to Citibank @ opp HSBC. I reached the said place at 5:20 AM and no one from the IISC were there, I pedaled towards Brigade road junction and saw one more pal coming from the opp direction. We concluded that none of them have turned up. Not sure what to do, started checking my bike for the last time, fixing the bib number, checking the tool kit, puncture kit etc, waited another 15 min before calling up Rk, he asked us to come back to Citibank entrance.

Start Point- MG road - Citibank 

 Shortly, Sreepathi and others came and we signed the wavier form and had our cards stamped. Me and RK had agreed to ride together, I knew that I was not as fast as RK, but still thought I would do at least the 1st 40KM together with this guy. Some 18 members left together from the start point. Just 300 mtrs after start, I stopped at MG road CCD to reset my Cyclocomp, RK and others went ahead.  I caught up with Rk after 3 KM and that was the last I saw him for the day :).  Quickly made it to the Tumkur road and had clocked 58KM by 8:45 AM. 2 bottles of Lemonade and 5 min relax period and I was on the saddle again, on the way saw Vageesh, but he kept a neat pace and was ahead of me in a short time. I had planned not to stop until 90 KM, but at just short of 80 KM, I was tired and had to stop, ate few biscuits as I had not had any breakfast, pedaled for another 3 - 4 KM and found a roadside shackle serving some dishes and bottled water. I also saw an elderly person ( aged early 50's taking part in this brevet relaxing at this stall).  He was a kind person who wanted to offer me Gatorade and other fluids, somehow I politely refused. But he did advice me that I should be having more fluids every hour and should not over commit  myself. I took his advice and asked the stall vendor for cool drinks or lemonade, he had none and directed me to another bakery which was barely a KM away. Pedaled as fast as I could and had 3 bottles of lemonade and relaxed for 15 min, This worked wonders and I could pedal at a steady pace. When I was at 95KM could see fellow brevets coming back in the opposite lane and it was 11:45 AM or so. We exchanged glances and moved on. Finally I was able to make it to the Karajeevanahalli toll gate at 12:28 PM. Few were already resting, Vageesh came in couple of minutes later and I was surprised, asked him the reason and he informed me that he suffered a fall and had a flat tire due to that. I had tea with biscuits and refilled water. I really did not want to have lunch remembering the last 200 KM brevet, had quit shortly after having lunch as I somewhat felt energy drained out of my body.

 Left the control point at 1:15 PM. Vageesh was ahead of me by couple of KMs but, later, saw him on the side trying to fix a 2nd flat. He had a quick check on the tube and it had slit, assisted him for few minutes and continued riding. At 153KM, I reached the Toll Plaza, had 1 more lemonade, stretched myself for couple of minutes and then resumed the ride again. 

Just started to climb the flyover before Siddaganga Mutt, I received a call from my colleague and answered it. 5 min later,  just checked my pockets and was shocked as I could not find my mobile, took a u turn  and went back almost 1.5 KM i.e. to the point where I had answered my call, I could not find it and something suddenly struck me and I checked my saddle bag and lo.... there it was, how stupid of me. Relieved at getting my mobile and cursing myself, I went the way I came and I had difficulty in maintaining the same position on the saddle after 165 KM, so started riding by sitting slightly sideways, standing up on downhill and also for the uphill, I did a 7 pedal count and relaxed each leg alternately for 2 - 3 sec, this method actually increased my average from 11 to 13 KMs and did not tire me too much.

Had another 40 Km to finish and it was 4:15 PM. Took couple of breaks in between and pedaled along, sometimes at 14KM and sometimes at 30 KM down hill. Also wanted to click some pics all along the way, but there was nothing so worthwhile and only the boring highway roads, so couldn't feel like clicking many. Finally, I had covered 207 KM when I reached the last control point. Went to the ATM, saw many ppl queued up, requested few of them and they obliged, quickly got a transaction done and the time recorded was 6:55 PM, felt happy at the achievement, had done the 200KM brevet ride with 35 min to spare. ( May be, I need to better that, but then,  that's part of my continuous improvement plan). Another half KM, I met Nirmal at Hesarghatta CCD, gave in my card and got it stamped. Many of them were sitting around and relaxing in CCD, 

Hessarghatta - CCD

The first thing on mind was to get home quickly, have a hot water bath and hit the bed.

When I did the last 200 KM brevet, there were few things which I wanted to avoid and overcome them

Last 200 KM Brevet	This 200 KM brevet
Had to pedal all the way from home to start point – 18 KM ( I know ppl have pedaled > 30, well this is me)	Started pedaling from my pals home– 8 KM
Reached late by 40 min to the start point	Reached early by 40 min to the start point
Had an improper fit of the handle bars and improper posture	Got a flexible stem and tried to maintain an upright posture all the while
Had heavy lunch which drained my energy completely, post lunch session which led to DNF at 140Km	Survived only on fluids and 1 ½ pack of biscuits. ( This might be body and distance specific)
Breathing through the mouth	Had read a lot on disadvantages of breathing through mouth on BBC forum, also  had felt the difference when I tried breathing only through the nose during the panchapalli ride dam, so continued the same here.

1 crucial lesson I learnt this time is, intake fluids even if u don't feel thirsty and do not over commit ( Thanks to the old gentleman) ... Will Keep this in mind.. :) 


Thanks to Sree and all other members for organizing this cumulative event.


Thanks to RK, Chiddu, Sohan, Ashutosh, who rode along with me for the Panchapalli dam which gave me the required confidence to complete this 200 KM Brevet. ......