After the disaster of the last 400 BRM, I really wanted to get a 400 under my belt. In the interim, I had finished the 200 quite comfortably in January on my roadbike. I was a lot more comfortable on it than on the initial 300 I did in November. However, just to be safe, I made some changes to my bike. I put on 28c tyres, fitted a smaller stem and wider handlebars to make it much better for extended riding.
I usually drive down to the venue, but because I had heard about the parking restrictions, I decided to ride down. The previous night, I had bought an egg biryani to eat before the start but I found it too spicy and could eat only a little bit. I left the rest for my daughter who was really surprised and happy to find the treat. I packed a couple of peanut butter sandwiches to consume on the road.
Prior to the brevet, I had contacted a couple of my friends, Anand and Srikrishnan to ride along. I could meet Anand at the start, but due to the large crowd, I could not find SK there. The ride promptly started off at 6. Though Anand was slightly in front of me, he thought I was further in front and decided to take off to find me. After a few km riding alone, I decided I'll try to find him later on.
Around 45 minutes into the ride, I stopped for a bio break and as I was about to resume, a rider stopped in front of me. It was SK! We then rode together for the next hour or so. Around this time, we saw the Cadence 90 group, so started following them and drafting off them. In that time, we got separated by a short distance and I continued on, not realising that SK had stopped for breakfast near Tumkur. I continued on reaching Nittur and having my first sub 4 hour 100 km. I was thrilled enough to take a screenshot of this.
By this time, I had lost the Cadence group. I stopped for breakfast at Nittur. As usual, I was feeling very lethargic after breakfast and decided to lie down for a few minutes. At that time, a large crowd of construction workers gathered around and started asking me questions. A few riders stopped by asking if I was OK. Among them was SK, and we decided that we will ride together for the remainder of the brevet.
We rode together quite calmly and reached the second CP at 145 km by 12:50 pm. The second CP was in a field 2km off the main road and as we reached there, we saw Anand heading back. It turned out that he was chasing another guy thinking it was me! He was around 30 minutes ahead and we just asked him to carry on hoping we can catch up somewhere. A quick lunch and small chit-chat with the other bikers and we set out back by 1:20 pm.
The next CP was at 181 km. By now it was getting quite hot and uncomfortable, so we stopped for some delicious sugarcane juice by the side of the road.
After that, we made good progress and reached CP3 by 3:09 pm. This was at a Cafe coffee day. The place was again a detour of 4 km with some nasty climbs and we were cursing the organizers for not choosing a venue in the town (Mohan likes to create the most challenging routes). We treated ourselves to some cold iced coffee and started off.
A minute into the ride, I realized I had forgotten my backpack and went back to retrieve it. Unfortunately, there was a metal grate and I braked exactly at the wrong time and went down hard, albeit at very low speed. I was feeling stupid for doing this. Luckily, the only damage was that my front left lever had been displaced. So, I used force to align it correctly.
I must have done something wrong, because after that, the front derailleur would not shift to the big chainring. My bike fixing skills are not that great, so I told SK that I would manage with just the small ring. The next CP was at 226 km with quite a bit of rolling terrain and climbing. We heard reports from the earlier riders that the road condition was quite bad.
So, we rode quite hard to ensure we complete the section before it got dark. We were successful and reached the Hassan by 6:22 pm just as the sun was setting.
Along the way, we picked up another rider, Ayon, who seemed to be of similar pace to us.
The balance 175 km was on super smooth highways so we were looking forward to riding it. We decided to fuel up at a local restaurant helping ourselves to a nice dosa and also packed up some fried rice just in case we got really hungry in the night. The next CP was at 315 km and we planned to complete it in 4 hours by 11:15. However, though I did not have the big ring, SK and Ayon were finding it quite difficult to keep up with me. The usual pattern was that I would go ahead and then wait a couple of minutes for them to catch up. As a result, we reached CP5 only by 12:10 am. This was still enough, as we had just 85 km to go and 9 hours to complete it.
The CP was at another coffee day and I had a chicken burger and hot coffee. I tried to sleep on the chair but found it difficult, so then just lay down on the floor by the side of the chair and had a good nap for around 30 minutes. Ayon just slept through, SK had a sandwich and tried to sleep. We started again at 1:15 am and rode slowly. I was feeling very fresh with the burger and the nap. I spinned a bit on the lower gears on the climbs to get some heat into me (it was around 15C). My partners were just not able to keep up due to their tiredness (and I guess lack of nutrition). At 3:15, we were at 340 km, I realised that we had just ridden 25 km in 2 hours, which was very slow and I told them that they needed to eat and rest or else we would be in trouble.
We found a bus stop and had some of the rice that we had packed. SK went to sleep right away. I didn't sleep much as I was feeling quite good, so I woke them at 3:55 and we pushed on with 68 km to complete in 5 hours. The first target was a town called Solur around 22 km away. As we started, it was quite clear to me that I was in a different state of freshness compared to them, so I told them that I will ride ahead and wait for them at Solur. I made rapid progress covering the 22km in around 50 minutes and waited for them at the bus stop. I parked my cycle and lay down on the seat. As it was an uncovered bus stop, I started losing heat rapidly and feeling quite cold. At 5:15 they arrived and woke me up. I told them to ride ahead and would catch up. Our next target was Neelamangala, 18 km away which we hoped to reach by 6:00 am.
At the beginning, I was so cold that I started shivering uncontrollably. So, I switched to the lowest gear and started spinning rapidly to work up a sweat. It worked and after a few minutes, I started feeling good again. I caught up with them quickly and then told them that I will push on and wait at Neelamangala. I reached just a few minutes after 6 am. They arrived a few minutes later and we had some hot tea and cakes for the final 28 km push.
We decided to avoid the elevated highway due to the bus traffic and take the service roads. By now, I was feeling very energetic and ready to push hard. Midway through, I saw some riders on the elevated road and took the next entry. I caught up with them and as we got closer to the city, the traffic increased quite a bit. The last 10 km were the least pleasurable as I had to avoid traffic while waiting interminably at various traffic signals. I finally made it to the finish line at 7:55 am with over an hour to spare. SK reached a few minutes later and Ayon at around 8:15.
I greeted a few other riders, including a couple from my CNL club who finished their SR ride with this one. We had a small cake cutting to celebrate the occasion and I then made my way home. By now, I had lost all energy and the last 10 km was painful grinding. I slept through the morning. But by early evening, I was feeling quite good (must be the regular long rides) and was able to go across town to complete some errands.
Now only the 600 remains. We have an event in Bangalore in a couple of weeks called the Twin Hills 600. I am still unsure if I will attempt it as it is one of the toughest with around 5000 m of climbing and unrelenting heat. But having been bitten by the randonneuring bug, who knows I might just try it.
I usually drive down to the venue, but because I had heard about the parking restrictions, I decided to ride down. The previous night, I had bought an egg biryani to eat before the start but I found it too spicy and could eat only a little bit. I left the rest for my daughter who was really surprised and happy to find the treat. I packed a couple of peanut butter sandwiches to consume on the road.
Prior to the brevet, I had contacted a couple of my friends, Anand and Srikrishnan to ride along. I could meet Anand at the start, but due to the large crowd, I could not find SK there. The ride promptly started off at 6. Though Anand was slightly in front of me, he thought I was further in front and decided to take off to find me. After a few km riding alone, I decided I'll try to find him later on.
Around 45 minutes into the ride, I stopped for a bio break and as I was about to resume, a rider stopped in front of me. It was SK! We then rode together for the next hour or so. Around this time, we saw the Cadence 90 group, so started following them and drafting off them. In that time, we got separated by a short distance and I continued on, not realising that SK had stopped for breakfast near Tumkur. I continued on reaching Nittur and having my first sub 4 hour 100 km. I was thrilled enough to take a screenshot of this.
By this time, I had lost the Cadence group. I stopped for breakfast at Nittur. As usual, I was feeling very lethargic after breakfast and decided to lie down for a few minutes. At that time, a large crowd of construction workers gathered around and started asking me questions. A few riders stopped by asking if I was OK. Among them was SK, and we decided that we will ride together for the remainder of the brevet.
We rode together quite calmly and reached the second CP at 145 km by 12:50 pm. The second CP was in a field 2km off the main road and as we reached there, we saw Anand heading back. It turned out that he was chasing another guy thinking it was me! He was around 30 minutes ahead and we just asked him to carry on hoping we can catch up somewhere. A quick lunch and small chit-chat with the other bikers and we set out back by 1:20 pm.
The next CP was at 181 km. By now it was getting quite hot and uncomfortable, so we stopped for some delicious sugarcane juice by the side of the road.
After that, we made good progress and reached CP3 by 3:09 pm. This was at a Cafe coffee day. The place was again a detour of 4 km with some nasty climbs and we were cursing the organizers for not choosing a venue in the town (Mohan likes to create the most challenging routes). We treated ourselves to some cold iced coffee and started off.
A minute into the ride, I realized I had forgotten my backpack and went back to retrieve it. Unfortunately, there was a metal grate and I braked exactly at the wrong time and went down hard, albeit at very low speed. I was feeling stupid for doing this. Luckily, the only damage was that my front left lever had been displaced. So, I used force to align it correctly.
I must have done something wrong, because after that, the front derailleur would not shift to the big chainring. My bike fixing skills are not that great, so I told SK that I would manage with just the small ring. The next CP was at 226 km with quite a bit of rolling terrain and climbing. We heard reports from the earlier riders that the road condition was quite bad.
So, we rode quite hard to ensure we complete the section before it got dark. We were successful and reached the Hassan by 6:22 pm just as the sun was setting.
Along the way, we picked up another rider, Ayon, who seemed to be of similar pace to us.
The CP was at another coffee day and I had a chicken burger and hot coffee. I tried to sleep on the chair but found it difficult, so then just lay down on the floor by the side of the chair and had a good nap for around 30 minutes. Ayon just slept through, SK had a sandwich and tried to sleep. We started again at 1:15 am and rode slowly. I was feeling very fresh with the burger and the nap. I spinned a bit on the lower gears on the climbs to get some heat into me (it was around 15C). My partners were just not able to keep up due to their tiredness (and I guess lack of nutrition). At 3:15, we were at 340 km, I realised that we had just ridden 25 km in 2 hours, which was very slow and I told them that they needed to eat and rest or else we would be in trouble.
We found a bus stop and had some of the rice that we had packed. SK went to sleep right away. I didn't sleep much as I was feeling quite good, so I woke them at 3:55 and we pushed on with 68 km to complete in 5 hours. The first target was a town called Solur around 22 km away. As we started, it was quite clear to me that I was in a different state of freshness compared to them, so I told them that I will ride ahead and wait for them at Solur. I made rapid progress covering the 22km in around 50 minutes and waited for them at the bus stop. I parked my cycle and lay down on the seat. As it was an uncovered bus stop, I started losing heat rapidly and feeling quite cold. At 5:15 they arrived and woke me up. I told them to ride ahead and would catch up. Our next target was Neelamangala, 18 km away which we hoped to reach by 6:00 am.
At the beginning, I was so cold that I started shivering uncontrollably. So, I switched to the lowest gear and started spinning rapidly to work up a sweat. It worked and after a few minutes, I started feeling good again. I caught up with them quickly and then told them that I will push on and wait at Neelamangala. I reached just a few minutes after 6 am. They arrived a few minutes later and we had some hot tea and cakes for the final 28 km push.
We decided to avoid the elevated highway due to the bus traffic and take the service roads. By now, I was feeling very energetic and ready to push hard. Midway through, I saw some riders on the elevated road and took the next entry. I caught up with them and as we got closer to the city, the traffic increased quite a bit. The last 10 km were the least pleasurable as I had to avoid traffic while waiting interminably at various traffic signals. I finally made it to the finish line at 7:55 am with over an hour to spare. SK reached a few minutes later and Ayon at around 8:15.
I greeted a few other riders, including a couple from my CNL club who finished their SR ride with this one. We had a small cake cutting to celebrate the occasion and I then made my way home. By now, I had lost all energy and the last 10 km was painful grinding. I slept through the morning. But by early evening, I was feeling quite good (must be the regular long rides) and was able to go across town to complete some errands.
Now only the 600 remains. We have an event in Bangalore in a couple of weeks called the Twin Hills 600. I am still unsure if I will attempt it as it is one of the toughest with around 5000 m of climbing and unrelenting heat. But having been bitten by the randonneuring bug, who knows I might just try it.
