It was a long break from writing!
Finally, tapping my
keyboard for a reason which doesn't involve my office work; Off late, doing the
things which I missed in my younger days and finding solace in them.
I started
running and cycling. I participated in one of the 10km runs and have just begun
to improve my timings. I will publish a detailed blog on how running changed my
perspective towards life after I achieve my personal target (Hopefully soon!).
For now, let me keep myself to cycling and other great
opportunities life is throwing at me. This post is about my first 150km+ ride.
A year or so ago, cycling flu hit my friends and each of
them got a bike. I wasn’t initially interested and considered waste of money to
invest on a bike. Although, I was persuaded often to buy one myself, I laughed
at them saying it would just rest in my home and not on roads.
I still remember the day. The day that changed my life! It
was July 23rd 2014. I was sleeping and when I woke up to 6 missed
calls from a friend of mine. Generally, my friends don’t call up early in the
day. I returned the call and asked him if everything was alright, he told me
that a particular cycle was on clearance sale and they were selling at a throw
away price. Initially, I got mad at him for waking me up for a stupid reason.
After a while, I thought about it and called him again to en-quire about the
price.
We, Indians are very good at this. We fall prey for anything
that’s available for free or at a lower price. Well, Yes! I fell for it. There
was almost a 40% discount on the bike. I went to the store and bought it with no
idea of specifications of a bike (After reading many blogs and being part of
many groups, now, I understand how seriously people look into the specifications
before buying one).
My first ride was from the store to home, which was around
10km long and I took an hour to cover the distance. It was damn hard to cycle
and cursed myself for wasting money and was thinking of a possibility to resell
it. Few days passed and my cycling enthusiasm grew day by day. I started
cycling everyday to the park where I run and then went on long leisure rides on
weekends and fell in love with this great friend and slowly cycling turned into
my passion.
One of my friends shared a cycling event post on facebook.
It was a 150km ride from Bangalore to Mysore. After doing a few 60 to 80km
rides, I felt probably this was the right time to take the big step forward.
The constant posts by the organizer on the event page and introduction of two
gurus of cycling made my desire grow higher and stronger.
Finally the big the day came! We planned to start at 4:45Am
and as is always the case with my group, we were late. We started at around
5:30Am and thus began our first long journey.
We started from Rajarajeshwarinagar and paced towards
Kanakapura road, we assumed that all the riders would have passed and we had
little chance of meeting them unless they are late like us. On the way, we
passed the thuralli forest; cool morning breeze welcomed us. I love the trails
in the forest and we remembered a few incidents of our rides in the forest.
We hit the kanakapura road in an hour, we were riding at
15kmph, after which we decided to increase the pace to reach the breakfast
venue on time. Here, we met a few more bikers and got to know many were
behind. This lifted our spirits up. We were not the only lazy ones :-).
It was a good ride as the sun wasn’t up yet. Well, two of my
friends were behind and myself with another guy in the front. When we were
about 6 to 8km from the breakfast point, I couldn’t keep up the pace and
dropped behind. I was damn hungry and then realized the famous quote “Drink
before you are thirsty and eat before you are hungry”. I utterly failed to use
this logic and decided to stop over when I find a place to eat. I found a few places
but the organizer’s post which mentioned about mouth watering dosa wouldn’t let
me compromise and somehow slowly pushed myself. I cursed myself and my friends
for not starting early and not reaching on time.
This sight almost brought tears in my eyes. Finally, food!!
I jumped around, went to the counter and ordered a dosa. True to its publicity,
it was really mouth watering.
After this I had another plate of rice bath and
then kesari bath and then a cup of coffee. After a moment, I remembered that
the ride doesn’t end here but a long way forward. I realized now that in a
ride, you must eat before you are hungry but not so much which makes you unable
to ride.
By this time, we had covered 50km in about 2 and half hours.
I was wondering if we go at this pace, we should be able to cover the remaining
distance in another 5 hours. Sun came up to greet us.
The next 50km ride to
Malavalli was an uneventful ride for me but my friend had an issue with his
bike and had to change it but he wasn’t comfortable with the new one and had to get back
to his own bike. There was a problem changing the front derailleur to final
gear. His passion was too much to worry about this and rode the next 100km with
this problem.
I made a terrible
mistake of adding more electral to the water which made me thirstier whenever I
had it. A sincere advice to amateurs is to mix the electral or any salt agents
in the right quantity. I had to soon refill more water and make the mixture
even.
The roads were flat and not much terrains; it was a ride
more like a song on a single pitch. The scenery around was calm and beautiful.
I was bored to pedal at the same pace.
I laid my hands upon whatever I found on
the streets, be it coconut water or cane juice or a small shop where we get biscuits.
It’s a myth that you have to keep eating to endure a long ride. I learnt this
lesson the hard way. It made me more tired to ride eating so much.
(During one of many stops)
Once we reached Malavalli, there was a hydration point and
thanks to whoever organized this, it was bliss! I could refill my water and
rest for some time. We had more or less maintained the same pace and reached
this spot in around 3 hours. Stage 2
completed and felt happy about this milestone and a few pictures clicked to show
off on facebook.
Stage 3 and the final milestone of 50km greeted us. My bums
were aching whenever I stopped and took a few minutes to get adjusted to the
long routine again. I seriously wonder how the brevet guys manage this issue. I
was thinking of a bean bag/sofa to ease my pain. These thoughts only aggravated
the pain and my saddle enjoyed the show.
Flat roads again, now, I really started to hate flat roads. I
loved up hills and down hills but the sight of flat roads infuriated me.
Whenever there was a flat road, my friend used to over take me and during
terrains, I used to overtake him. This game continued for a while.
Soon, we
were greeted by many kids and villagers. Answering their questions and
curiosity of the villagers made us feel more proud about feat we were going to accomplish.
Now, we reached a town and I got sick of the sound of horns.
It was so peaceful a ride so far and listening to sudden honks from some idiots
made me damn angry. I don’t understand why people honk for no reason.
I abused a few and soon realized that this is the story of
my daily life in the city. A few hours away from the city makes you realize the
value of peace. I so badly wish that honking is banned in our country.
The sight
of Go green cyclists group always brings a smile on my face, proud to have such
a group in our city. I am sure they will continue to promote this eco friendly culture.
Once I passed this little town, I was at solace again but
was wearied down because of the constant peddling on flat roads. I reached the next
hydration point and rested for a while. This was a strategically well planned
location. Again, thanks to you, Sir.
The time was around 2pm and last leg of 13km left. 4km of
ride and finally the first true up hill. I have done quite a few like this
before but a hill like this at the end of a long ride is always pain in the
ass. I somehow peddled up and emptied my water bottle. The last 9km ride was
the pride ride, every km passed made me feel great and I stared etching this in
my memory as one of the best achievements and a story which I will talk about
for the rest of my life.
We reached our destination at around 3, probably I could
have saved an hour or so if not for my often pit stops, nevertheless will learn from
this and improve. We had a big lunch, went in time to see the elephants
entering the palace and took our bus back to Bangalore. Hopefully next time, we
would ride back.
A sincere thanks to Go green cycling group for allowing to
use their pictures.
My fellow riders, just their sight was enough to motivate me
to move ahead.
A special thanks to Anil, his team and the guys who
organized the hydration points.
