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.
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| 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.
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| 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 :( ).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The end point |
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My Brevet Card
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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
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