Bangalore-Goa-Bangalore (BGB - 1200 kms) cycle ride

Bangalore-Goa-Bangalore (BGB-1200km) cycle ride

BGB is the 1200K LRM organized by Bangalore Randonneurs. The route passes by Shimoga, Jog Falls, Western ghats, Karwar, Margao, Doodhsagar forest, Dandeli forest, Yellapura, Haveri, Tumkur and back to Bangalore.

Preparation:

I clearly had a month to prepare before the 1200K ride event. So, the 4 weekends were well utilized to target 4 long rides for practice:

330 Kms Bangalore-Mysore-Bangalore

500 Kms Hubli-Satara-Hubli

360 Kms Bangalore-Salem-Bangalore

400 kms Bangalore-Chitradurga-Bangalore

I firmly believe that training is an important part of the event, to make us feel comfortable during the event. Each of these were done almost at the same or better than the brevet timings.

Brevet Start:

We met all the superstars of endurance cycling. The organizers were Mohan Sir, Monish and Rohit V. While riding 1200kms is tuff, organizing such an event is even more tougher. Along with 1200k, even the 600k Bangalore-Goa was organized, so the 3 amazing organizers had to manage 80+ riders. Helmets off to the organizers.

Bangalore to Tumkur:

Day-1 4:00pm: We started off at 4:00pm on 21-Feb from Konark Hotel, Kanteerava stadium. Ther was heavy traffic until Gorguntepalya. Prasad, me and Arvind regrouped at the signal before speeding up towards Tumkur. Milan joined us here and stayed all along. Me and Prasad had planned to ride a min 100kms before the first stop. So, the Almonds in the pocket were helpful. We reached the second CP at 120kms and did not waste a min and instead moved ahead. I knew there was a hotel near KB Cross as I had cycled on this stretch earlier. The hotel was just 5kms ahead. The owner was helpful in arranging the food as fast as he could. We filled up the bottles, drank coffee and headed out, all in 20 mins. Point was not to waste time in breaks.

KB Cross to Mathighatta:

Day-1 9:30pm: We were 75kms short of the 3rd CP. We now had more than 3hrs of buffer, with good dinner and awesome tail wind, we decided to push faster. We were closer to Tiptur when we were joined by Nithin who had started 30 mins later along with other 600k riders. Nithin had his bluetooth speaker on and some cool Kannada songs were keeping us awake. Since he rides super fast he caught up with us. We all passed through Arsikere town, a sudden gush of wind hit us, but it was only momentary. We passed through the town, we showed the deadly humps after the Bus stand which had taken down 6 cyclists during the Shimoga 600k ride. 6 riders were injured and treated at local Govt Hospital. Since then the humps were clearly marked and there was enough streetlights and everyone could notice the humps. The plan was to complete 200kms under 10.5hrs, but we reached Mathighatta by 12:50pm which was under 9.5hours. We ate quick dinner of Chow Chow bath. Had a nice chat with Mohan sir, Monish and Rohit. And we started off towards Shimoga. We had spent exactly 13 mins at the CP. Me and Prasad have improvised on reduced time at CPs. We did not want to sleep at least until 400+kms, so we kept going. About 15kms later, we were joined by Sunil and Amar. We stopped at a nearby temple, as we could not tolerate the cold weather and finally wore the jerkin and socks.

We reached Birur town, and the Shivarathri was quite visible all along the night. At Birur, people queued up at the Shiva temple. We were all drowsy around 2:30am. After a few kms, we all stopped by a chain of tea shops. We drank tea and had a nice nap for 10 mins while seated on chairs. After we woke up it took us a few mins to gather pace, and around 4:00am crossed Bhadra River Project (BRP), the home to cycling don Shashi, the Army superman. The roads were quite smooth here. We were now joined by Rohit Chandrashekar, he had bluetooth speaker on, and some awesome bollywood mashups helped us reach Shimoga. 

We reached Shimoga 270kms away from Bangalore by 4:50am. That was more than 5hrs of buffer. The roads, churches, grounds reminded me of my childhood holidays spent at my Grandmother's house in Shimoga. We were super hungry, and the only option we had was to eat at the roadside idly shop opp to bus stand. 

Shimoga to Jog:

Day-2 5:20am: After about 10kms at 6:00am, we were very sleepy and chose a small hut. We took a 30 mins nap. The strategy on this ride was to sleep slightly longer than the 10 mins power naps we used to take in earlier long rides. So, we decided if we are taking a nap, it has to be 30 mins or more. It was now 6:30am and we found a petrol bunk and requested the owner. He was helpful and mentioned his close friend is a cyclist. Just ahead of Anandapuram, Amar frantically stopped us near a hotel and mentioned that Sunil's bike had an issue. We tried to understand what had gone wrong. The hub was probably broken lose. Sunil was quite disappointed. But, he had made a call to Nataraj Sir, he is our Go Green rider. A retired KAS officer, a true friend in deed. Everytime we face any kind of issue nearer to Shimoga, he is our God. He has always been helpful. He agreed to bring his hybrid bike on bus and take Sunil's roadie back. So, we decided to move ahead, and Sunil would catch up at Jog Falls or Goa based on his speed and our rest time. Amar now joined us.

Now 4 of us me, Prasad, Milan and Amar formed the team and headed towards Sagar.  From Sagar, it 36kms away from our major destination. We expected it could take approx 2 hours. After about 20kms, we now headed down towards Jog. The steep down increased the speed and in hardly few mins we were at the bridge across the Sharavathi river. It was such a beautiful view from here. We further climbed down the hill towards hotel Mayura and reached our CP4 by 11:30am. We took a selfie at the hotel, and Milan's wish was to take selfie at the falls. We lined up and took nice pics and headed back to hotel. The hotel guys mentioned we were in-between breakfast and lunch period, meaning late for breakfast and too early for lunch effectively nothing to eat. We enquired with local people and found a Bramhins Bhojanalaya up the hill about a km away. It was a tough choice to make, climbing a km out of the way was not easy. But, its the matter of food. If we miss here, we did not know where else could we have got lunch. So, decided to climb up and reached the hotel. The aunty there reluctantly agreed to serve food, but only rice and rasam. We said thank you so much, please bring everything that you have. 

Jog Falls (382kms) to Kumta (454kms):

Day-2 11:30am: We now were high on energy, it was 1:00pm, but we decided to keep going as we knew that its easier to descend the western ghats during day light. The navigation from here was absolutely necessary. We were now heading towards the forest zone, and one wrong turn could have been difficult to recover. I had bought a new phone to replace my iphone as the battery was ever a problem. The new phone had 6000mah battery, so I was hopeful the BikeGPX
would be our best guide here. We made one wrong turn, and the alert helped us to stop and reroute quickly. Our next destination was Vandane. It was getting hotter, so we stopped by a shop at Doddamane and drank cold water from a mud pot. The ladies who were removing the arecanuts curiously asked us why were we cycling, from where, to where. After quick break, we headed towards Aghnashini forest. The climb down here across the western ghats was one of the most interesting part of the ride. The next 25kms was adventurous, its steep, beautiful but many pot holes. So, we had to be very careful and yet attentive to appreciate the amazing scenes across the valley. The valley, thick forest, tall trees on either side, and the Aghnashini river flowing deep down, its view you can't miss. This particular stretch of reserve forest is known for Lion tailed Monkeys which is a protected species. I was hoping against the hope to see one of them, but we weren't lucky. From Doddamane to Dhivagi its a steep down and our hands were paining with clutching the breaks all along.  Just ahead of Kumta, Mr Narayan Hegde has arranged food and rest at his home. It was very helpful especially after the tough stretch across the Aghnashini forest. We now were very relieved as the difficult part was over and we were ready to face butter smooth roads.

Kumta (454kms) to Margao (Goa-588kms):

Day-2 7:00pm: After a quick snack and an awesome tea, we thanked Mr Narayan Hegde's father, mother and uncles who made us awesome food and tea. Prasad's front brake disc was touching the pads, we requested the tool kit and tried to bend the disc a bit, not successful, but we did not have a choice, and Prasad was ready to go even with the problem. Rajaneesh had reached here earlier than us and taken a short nap. He wanted to ride with us. Hemanth also joined us. So, we were now, 6 of us riding together Prasad, Milan, Amar, Rajaneesh, Hemanth and me. The highway was just 4 kms away and we hit the highway with an aim to stop only at Ankola about 40kms away, which was the next CP. The plan was simple, make best use of the 4-lane newly laid highway and reach next CP under 2 hours, and exactly we reached by 9:00pm. A quick selfie and then we headed to Kamat hotel. This is our usual hotel every time we pass through Ankola towards Goa. A heavy dinner and a cup of coffee, we were back on the saddle. Around Karwar, we all wished to drink tea, but none on the highway. So, we could not take a break. We climbed across the small ghats around Karwar and got the first glimpse of ocean. The sea port at Karwar was very busy late in the night with cargo being loaded/unloaded. Without tea break, we just headed towards Goa hoping to get tea near the state border or check post.

Karwar:
Day-3 1:00am: Rajesh Nayak had stopped on the roadside to help Shettappa Pirangi (an awesome rider from Hubli). Since Rajesh was helping him out, the group of 7 decided to move on. But, soon the group wanted a short nap and we all slept at a closed garage. By now, Rajesh and Shettappa joined us. Rajesh was very fast and he went ahead. Now Shettappa joined our group. About 5 kms into Goa, Shettappa's bike had one more flat, he mentioned this was his 4th already. Rest everyone took a few mins rest and me and Shettappa started looking what had gone wrong. After a while, we found the air going out from tube and the corresponding point on tyre pointed to nothing. This was getting tuff. Back on saddle, we were still hunting for the tea shop, Prasad suddenly stopped and pointed to a shop, and it turned out to be a wine shop :-). Very close to the ghats, around 3:00am, we could see one tea shop. By now, Hemanth, Shettappa, Amar and Milan had gone ahead. Prasad and Rajeneesh and me drank 2 cups of nice tea and it helped us to stay awake. We all reached the mid-CP Margao by 4:30am on Day-3, it was 588kms from the start point. This is a major milestone as the feeling of half distance covered and also a good 2-hr nap on the bed. We woke up, took shower and an early morning breakfast of Poha. It was 7:00am, and we were in a hurry already as the buffer now had come down to just an hour. We need at a minimum 2-3 hours of buffer at any point of time to make sure we have sufficient time for climbs, headwinds or bike issues. We got to meet several of the 600k riders at the mid-cp. This was end CP for them. We had a quick chat with Sowmya, Muba and Dr Netra. Meanwhile I lubed the chains for all 7 of us, as it had been close to 600kms ride.

Margao (588kms) to Mollem (634kms):

Day-3 7:00am: Fresh out of bed, a good bath and breakfast we were pumping with energy. It was again tough to navigate through and reach the Mollem road, so BikeGPX was a must. The plan was to stop at an eatery just ahead of the forest and climbs. The idea was to fill our tummies, pack a bit, fill our bottles ahead of the forest stretch. Meanwhile, Prasad's front disc was still touching the pads, so we stopped by a house and requested the owner if he could get the tool kit, we tried to bend the disc in opp direction, it helped only a bit. The sound reduced, but Prasad was determined to ride at any cost. At Mollem base, we could find many hotels but all of them were serving only bread. Milan had found a hotel which served parathas. This is what we wanted, bread wont give enough strength.One person who had come here with his family appreciated our efforts and came back again to give us some food and encouraged us to ride safe and complete. After the 2nd breakfast, we were now up for the climbs. The climb is for about 21kms, with 15kms steep climb and 6kms of rolling terrain. Its a good road and is quite wide and the traffic is high on this Margao-Begaum highway. For our luck, the sun was hiding behind the hills and it was easy to climb under the shades. So, our plan was to climb 21kms non-stop and then wait at the hill top. Shettappa and me were slightly ahead and we decided to keep going. At the forest checkpost we cross over from Goa to Karnataka, from here the roads are cemented, it was good to ride.  It was too hot, there were a few shops, and we took a break and waited for others to join here. 

Anmod to Ganeshgudi (661kms):

Galin, Sundar and Elango were taking rest here and left in 10 mins. Elango forgot to pick his wallet and mobile, we noticed it and took it with us to hand it over to Monish to pass it on to Elango. I told Elango that I wish he left some dollars in that wallet :-). At the Castle rock cross, we missed to take right turn as there was construction work going on and I kept my mobile inside to avoid dust. That was a mistake. Luckily we realized it within a km and turned around. We did one more mistake here to ignore the restaurants. We were now heading towards no-man's land. We now had shifted from Mahaveer Forest to Dandeli forest. At one of the climbs we met Mohan sir and he gave us buttermilk and told us no food for another 50-80kms :-(. But we did have a lot of reserve food. And hoped we will come across something. The navigation around this stretch was super critical. We could not afford to keep away the mobile. BikeGPX was on all the time. Me investing on the new phone was totally worth it. We were short of 20kms to Jagalbet. Shettappa being the local here mentioned until Dendeli he does not expect any food. I was hoping against the hope for lunch around Jagalbet. For our luck, there was one restaurant (Simba) open and we requested the owner to serve us fast, and he obliged. He, his wife and son were superfast in getting us food and cool drinks. We were delighted to have lunch at least 40kms ahead of next potential lunch place. We were still fighting hard to reach the next CP (Chapoli post office) before 6:00pm.

Ganeshgudi (661kms) to Chapoli Post Office (713kms):

We reached Ganeshgudi with about 1.5 hours buffer and then crossed the Dandeli white water river rafting place. We were now trying to go as fast we could to make sure we reach CP on time. It was a tough rolling terrain, many more climbs. At Supa dam, Rajaneesh and Milan stopped to take a pic, but we were trying to rush through, in the hurry Rajaneesh fell down as he was on cleats and could not balance quickly after turning around. We reached Chapoli post office by 5:00pm, easily 1hr ahead of the time. We had a wonderful tea at the bus stop and ordered one more round and then headed to Dandeli.

CP7 Chapoli Post Office (713kms) to Yellapura (790kms) via Dandeli:

Day-3 5:20pm: With the CP covered, we now had the next CP Yellapura to be reached by 12:41am. So, we now had 7.5 hours for 77kms. We took it a bit easy until Dandeli and crossed the fearsome Kali river. The roads were good until Haliyal cross and then till Bhagavathi, it was bad roads with many potholes. At Bhagavathi we stopped for a quick snack and a fresh tea made by an old lady. She was kind enough to make fresh strong tea. We had 43 kms and another 5hrs in hand. Shettappa was a bit worried about Grinny as she was quite behind and in the forest range, and a quick call to Mohan sir confirmed she was now safely riding with Rohit and Rahul. We now were racing to Yellapura. After a few kms, it was total dark and without noticing we were riding in the forest stretch. Since it was close to amavasye (new moon day), the beautiful greenery was not easily visible. But the cool wind and tall trees made it evident. We wished if we had done this stretch during the day. It was slight rolling and pretty much climbing down, we zipped through the forest range and reached Yellapura by 9:00pm, well ahead of the CP close time. we now had 3hrs of buffer.

Yellapura (790kms) to Haveri (880kms):

Day-3 9:40pm: At CP we had dinner and a quick chat with Mohan sir and we wanted to head out. Plan was to sleep when we felt sleepy and not to force sleep. We slowly started off, but heavy dinner, fatigue on 3rd night of the ride started hitting on us. In the next 3 hours we had only covered 25kms. It was very hard to stay on the saddle. While we were hunting for a place to sleep, it was desolate and it was not safe to sleep. So we were now searching for a village. Luckily about 18kms from Mundagod we found a village. Except dogs, the entire village was asleep. We stopped by a house and took a 20 mins nap. After the nap we decided to ride non-stop until Mudagod. Mohan Sir had mentioned there could be fresh idlies served outside the Bus stand at Mundagod. So, we were riding in that hope. We reached Mundagod and were stopped by the Police team who stopped all 7 of us, lined us up and asked a few questions. The Inspector was probably drunk and took some pics of us with him to post it on FB. We did answer all the questions properly and requested if we can get going as we we had already spent 20 mins. After a while Mohan Sir saw us and offered the curd rice, it was awesome at 4:00am :-). From here to Bankapura it was a smooth flow thanks to curd rice. But, Shettappa's cycle again had a flat. We did not change the tyre here, instead replaced the tube and kept going. Another 5 kms, one more flat. We were a bit disappointed as it was 3rd flat since Goa. I asked Shettappa to point the headlight and scratched the tyre a bit with my nails. I could see a minute silver thing. First i ignored it, but there was nothing else nearby which could have punctured the tube. So, the suspicion was right, the thin metal wire of the tyre had come out pricking the tube every time. So, this was first time I had seen the metal wire inside the tyre poking out. As an immediate plan, placed 2 Rs 10 notes and a new tube, we were now set to go. We discussed about picking up the spare tyre which Prasad had placed in his drop bag. At Bankapura toll booth we got to drink tea. From here it was about 20kms and we now were about 1.5hrs ahead of the control point, so we were in good shape. The highway kind of increased pace and we reached Haveri by 7:15am.

Haveri was the 2nd manned control point where we were given lodging facility. But, we did not have much buffer. We opted to sleep just for 45 mins and I had set the time for departure at 8:30am. The facilities were managed so well by the organizers, as soon as we reached the hotel, we had our rooms assigned and our bags already kept inside. So, it was like enter the room and take a nap, get ready and breakfast was served in the room. This is super helpful work by the organizers when we were time constrained. 

Haveri (880kms)  to Chitradurga (1018kms):

Day-4 8:30am: We were now 5 of us Shettappa, Prasad, Milan, Rajaneesh and me. Others took a bit longer sleep break. We 5 started strong against the headwind. Plan was to ride for 2-hrs non-stop and then stop at a breakfast point. Against the headwind, we tend to lose lot of energy, and it was wise to plan this way. Milan was too hungry so we stopped by a fruit seller selling Guavas. It was yummy, Milan got 3 big ones. We stopped near Ranebennur at a small hotel serving Lemon rice, topped with mirchis. This 2nd breakfast really helped us to push faster. Rohit, Amar and Asutosh caught up with us here. We were much a larger team of 8: Prasad, Milan, Amar, Rajaneesh, Shettappa, Rohit, Asutosh and me. 

Closer to Davanagere, Amar and Asutosh stopped for lunch, but the rest of us wanted to keep going and were actually looking for watermelons. Across the road, we found one and asked the guy to cut open a big melon topped with salt.

We cycled for another 30 mins and felt too hungry to go ahead. It was 2:00pm and super hot. So the plan was to eat good lunch, take a good nap and then race to Durga. We stopped at a Dhaba just before the toll booth and requested the Dhaba owner if we could eat lunch and take a short nap inside the dhaba. We had stopped here during Kittur 1000K as well. Amar and Asutosh joined us here. I missed the alarm and we ended up sleeping for an hour. It was a very refreshing sleep for all 8 of us.

Chitradurga (1018kms) to Sira (1098kms):

Day-4 6:00pm: At Chitradurga, we had 2 hours of buffer, so we took a short break of tea. The waiter  Satish at Upadhya hotel is known person to me. He has seen me cycling in this stretch many a times and he understands the importance of time for us. I requested him for 2 Tea's and 2 Coffee's, and it was served next min. Asutosh called me, he was about 6kms behind us, but was struggling due to neck pain. And he was riding in awkward position to negate the neck pain. He called up to request if we can arrange the Volini spray. Amar had one spray, so we handed over 1 pain killer tablet from Rohit and the volini spray to Satish, the waiter and asked him to hand it over to Asutosh. By the time we were about to start, Asutosh arrived, we tried to do a bit of massage, but it did not. help much. He was very gritty. He said, come what may, I will complete this ride. During Mollem climb near Margao, he fell off his bike due to a car coming too close and he had bruises and his jersey was torn, but not his determination. We started off, and I could not see Shettappa, I gave him a call and asked him to be ahead of us as I was suspecting another flat. And in next 10 mins it happened. Meanwhile, Rajaneesh was slightly behind us, so we called him and asked him to catch up with us before we reach Hiriyur, so he can be with us till Bangalore. Now, we decided to change the tyre as Shettappa was carrying the spare  tyre from Prasad. All it took was 7 mins to replace the tyre/tube and we were back on the saddle. Our next planned stop was at Hiriyur, I knew that hotel Parijatha will be open and 9:00pm would be the right time for dinner. We all packed a bit of food for the late night. By now, all 7 of us were riding together and it was absolutely helpful specially when someone felt sleepy, he was made to talk.

We reached Sira by 12:20 and we were good 2hrs ahead of the scheduled close time. We decided to take a 20 mins nap and the hotel staff at Kamat were kind enough to give us some space in the hotel veranda. It was very cold outside, so the veranda was a littler warmer. We woke up and started off, but the fresh tea just close to the hotel was tempting and we spent 10 mins till the hot tea was prepared and served. I bought a few packets of arecanut to chew in case if I feel sleepy.

Sira(1098kms) to Bangalore (1220kms):

Day-5 12:50am: 45 mins after we started from Sira, we started the 3 major climbs near Sira. And i had predicted that our group would stop near the Seebi climb, and as expected all of us stopped here and ate the yummy late night dinner that we had packed from Hiriyur. The beggar near the bus stop protested as we were trying to occupy his bed room (he sleeps in bus stop). Soon he realized that we were mere guests and would exit soon. About 10 kms from here, Galin cheta had stopped. Sundar was sleeping near the shoulder area. Me, Prasad and Rajaneesh stopped to check if cheta needed any help. Rajaneesh first did the right thing to cover Sundar by placing the bike in front with blinker on...this covered Sundar who was not well and was taking rest. Cheta mentioned that it was his 5th flat. I checked if its fine for me to have a look at it. Rajaneesh and Prasad also took a quick nap here, me and Cheta got into the business of identifying the source of puncture.

Coincidentally, just like Shettappa's tyre, even Cheta's tyre metal thread had opened up. It was so minute that it was barely seen. I tried using my nails to scratch it, and I hit upon the sharp part. It was just impossible to remove this metal thread, so I tried my luck by placing Rs 10/- note. and then placed the tube on top. Amazingly it worked all along, Cheta was very happy. I was happy that I could help Galin cheta in whatever way I could. By now, Amar, Rohit, Milan and Shettappa had gone ahead a bit. And soon, we caught up with Shettappa, he had a problem with his bike. Unfortunately his carbon frame was broken. And anytime the fork could have come out. So, this was danger to the rider and the bike. So, I made a few calls to wake up people at 4:30am. It was way too early. We could not get any help to replace Shettappa's bike. We had lost almost about 30 mins in trying to figure out a solution. We were very close to Kyatasandra. From here we had about 70kms and 5 hours in hand. But, we were a bit unsure of the traffic in the city, so we decided to start pacing up from here. We told Shettappa to be careful and instead should consider a replacement bike anywhere along the route. But, Shettappa's Gloria (his bike name), was not letting go, and instead helped him to complete the tough ordeal.

Milan and Amar paced ahead. Prasad, Shettappa and me were riding togther. Asutosh, Rohit, Rajaneesh reached a bit later. We stopped only at Nelamangala toll, drank tea, filled up bottles and again started racing. We reached the end control by 8:58am. It was clear 1-hr ahead of the end control timing. The city traffic slowed us down a bit, but we were well under the control. In all we had slept for about 6 hours in the 90 hours period, but the strategy of 30 mins or longer was very helpful. We were not hit with hallucination. It was wonderful riding along side Rohit Chandrashekar, Asutosh, Amar, Shettappa, Milan, Rajaneesh and Prasad. Each of you are amazing riders and wish to ride again with you folks.

Overall a ride to remember, we made new friends, had a good chat with old friends, faced new challenges with flats/disc but came out strong. A ride thoroughly enjoyed...Thanks a ton to the organizers Mohan Sir, Monish and Rohit and so many other volunteers at the start point, end control and on the way.

Every ride is different, every ride is challenging in its own way, every ride teaches us something new, we need to enjoy every ride!

PBP - Paris-Brest-Paris 1230kms of magic cycling ride

A Dream ride called PBP:

The day was 18-Dec-2017, we had just completed Kittur 1000kms ride and Mohan Subramaniam told us that this would help us pre-qualify for PBP. That was first ray of hope towards a dream ride called PBP. We started exploring what PBP is all about, and why do 7500 crazy cyclists meet at Paris for this epic ride.

Preparation:

16-Feb-2019 and it was my favorite twin hills 600k ride. I braved against the fever and took my Btwin single speed MyBike, and at Yercaud failed to overcome the steep climbs with the heavy bike. I had not prepared well but this opened my eyes to first buy the right bike. That was the day I decided it should be right bike for the epic rides. In that night while hitch hiking a Lorry, I thought of owning a road bike which could help in long rides. I immediately discussed it with Biju (Cycling Boutique). Biju knew about my desire for endurance rides and rightly suggested the Cannondale Synapse roadbike. Geared up with new bike, my speed in brevets did drastically increase and it sure is a comfortable endurance bike. It was a welcome move as Bangalore Randonneurs (BR) had arranged the Jog 1000kms in April with an elevation of 10,000m.

This was a perfect practice ride to try everything as if we were riding PBP. So, I fixed the 8 litre saddle pouch and packed tubes, jacket, spare jersey, pant, batteries, one spare tyre. The pouch was quite heavy. Till mid point we struggled due to heavy saddle pouch, headwind and dehydration. But, at mid point, we realized the weight would slow us down and we got rid of the pouch. For many people this pouch works superb, but for me it did not. I switched back to btwin handle bar pouch. This worked really well.

Gates of Heaven, the 1200kms heavenly brevet in 2018 had taught us many lessons, most importantly, not to give up at any cost. It was a terrible time after we had quit at 560kms after climbing Yercaud and Ooty. The break dance in rains atop the hill station had shown us what goosebumps mean. We hate cold weather, and rains add more pain. But, for PBP, we had to prepare hard, overcome the cold war, love the climbs. Yes Weather and Food, these 2 words scared us about France ride. We feared nothing but weather and food. Being eggitarians, we sure knew we are in trouble at France. But, we also knew that we could get varieties of bread, cheese and it would help sustain the hunger.

Bangalore Team at Airport

The day before the big day:

Bike check was scheduled at 2:00pm, and we had planned to cycle 35kms to get acclimatized. And it started to rain. 35kms seemed like 300kms. The roads were not friendly, and the rain caused more havoc. Finally we arrived at Rambouillet. Thats when I realized what it meant to be part of PBP. The entire Rambouillet's sheep castle was filled up with cyclists and caravans. It was a carnival of endurance cyclists. It was drizzling all along, we stood in queue to get the bike inspected and collect the bike numbers and jersey. We took quick photos in Bangalore Randonneurs Jersey. And headed back to hotel, it seemed a long ride back due to continuous drizzle. While returning we visited the same bakery which had been to on the previous day. The bakery first introduced us to baguette, its the french loaf. Its so thick, it takes lot of energy to cut it open, chew and digest.

Strategy:

We just had a very simple strategy. The control points at Loudeac and Brest, these were keys for success. By reaching Loudeac (445kms), we would have done 1/3rd of the ride, 1 night and then refills and new jerseys. And then reach Brest with 3-4 hours of buffer and sleep for 2-hours. Brest at 600kms being U-turn point was psychologically crucial, and then ride the 2nd half with a relaxed pace. We had planned to switch off mobile data so that we can focus on the ride and not on distracting whatsapp messages. We had kept enough ready-to-eats in the drop bag as it was accessible twice, 445kms and 755kms. Plus there were plenty of things for rain protection, additional batteries etc at the drop bag. The goal was to complete 1230kms of PBP in 87-88 hours. Me and Prasad are known to ride slow, but we always have a simple strategy, focus on the next control point, do not worry about the mammoth distance, take one control point at a time and make sure we create buffer for every hour we ride.

The Big Day at Rambouillet:

Start point, Rambouillet

Day-1 6:00am (18-Aug)

Woke up and was curious to know if it had stopped raining, damn, it had increased. Dark clouds and drizzle meant its going to be really challenging ride. It was nervous faces all around. At 1:00pm, it stopped raining and it was delight to welcome the sun. We ate rotti and MTR ready to eat rice and headed to train station. Plan was to reach the start point by train to save some energy for the big ride.

Day-1 5:45pm (18-Aug)

We were living our dream to participate in PBP. It was a mixed feeling. Happy to be at start line, but nervous what to expect of such a long ride in a foreign country. We were given meal ahead of the ride, it was quite heavy and were satisfied. We got the brevet card stamped, signed and waited for the clock to turn 5:45pm. There were several Indians in our batch as well. Prasad, Raj, Amar and me were in this batch. Every batch would start at a period of 15-mins. The start was very exciting as we got so much support from the people and we picked up pace right away. It was 28kmph avg for the first 2 hours even when we had headwind. The strategy was simple, we wanted to complete 200kms with minimal break and gain at least 4-hours buffer, which was tuff. We had a couple of energy bars and dry dates which I needed to keep going.  But, we still had to stop at 55kms where we first found a village where they were selling food, cool drinks. I quickly got a veg baguette (cheese) and filled up water and in a minute we were back on the saddle. Till here Prasad, Amar, Raj and me were riding together and reached the feed control Montagne at 118kms. This was not a compulsory control, but we were damn hungry. We 4 decided to take 25 mins break and decided to meet at the cycle parking. Raj found out the water taps and we all filled water. Me, Raj, Prasad and Amar ate from the packed food (rice) that we all had got at a hotel in Rambouillet outside the train station. We 4 delayed our exit by another 15 mins, but were not satisfied by the delay. Me and Prasad maintained a steady speed but could not locate Raj and Amar and thought they must be quite nearby and would catch up soon. This was first night, so we were fully awake and hence wanted to take advantage and were riding fast. This momentum helped us reach 1st control point Villaines at 217kms. It was 4:00am, and the crowd was simply superb, it was such festival environment, we were welcomed with applause. We searched to park our bikes and headed straight to get brevet card stamped. All it took was 5 mins, as there were many volunteers. When we entered Villaines, we had 4 hours buffer this was as per the plan. There will be sufficient toilets at Control points, so it was easy to get freshened up fast. We took about 30 mins to eat dinner, filled up water and by then Amar and Raj had arrived. And we started together. Me and Prasad now aimed at maintaining or increasing the 3-hours buffer that we had to at least 5-6 hours, but the impending climbs meant we lost a lot of buffer time.

Day-2 5:00am (19-Aug)

The day broke at 7:00am, and we started seeing a few rays of sunlight. This is the most encouraging time for us, as we had crossed the first night. The next target was Fougeres at 305kms mark. With the fresh energy we chugged along the scenic villages. It never felt like villages, there were sophisticated houses, huge gardens and well decorated windows and cycles hung on balconies. Very few people on the road, but whoever saw us would for sure clap and say bravo, allez (encouraging come on). And all that we knew was Bonjour (Hello/Good Morning) and merci (Thank you). 

I was feeling very hungry at 8:00am, and I signaled to Prasad. He was fine for me to stop anywhere we found hot water. At a village, I found an elderly person clapping to us. I requested him hot water, he told me something in french, which I could not understand and he understood whats happening and he knew we were hungry. He took my hand and took me straight to his kitchen and said something in french again, and all his family stood up and smiled at me. I wanted hot water which I could not explain, somehow they got me cold water. I then took the elderly person into the bath room and showed him cold-hot water taps. He got it quickly and exclaimed, eau chaude (pronounced as 'aww shodh'). Finally we got hot water and said merci, merci and saluted them for their gesture. Me and Prasad ate our breakfast in front of his house. 

And we both left happily to reach Tinteniac CP-3 by 9:00am. We did not spend more than 10 mins as we got our brevet cards signed and soon were back on saddle aiming to reach Loudeac by 7:00pm. But, the buffer time of 3-hours was reducing drastically and we just had about 1.5 hours. Loudeac city is slightly bigger and the control was also well spread out. Good part was we had our drop bag here. So it meant, new clothes, refill ready-to-eats. From here on, we had lot of climbs to cover, so we hardly spent 45-mins at Loudeac control to change clothes and refill. But, we felt we should have started early.

Special Bikes at PBP:

 

Cold night on top of the hills

At Carhaix, we drank soup at night about 11:30pm. As usual I packed a baguette and Prasad was sleeping while in sitting posture. I woke him up and we both stepped out of control, it was cold, severe cold (about 5 degree). I was wearing half gloves as my regular gloves were wet even before the ride started. Now, I started searching in Prasad's back pocket if I can find anything warm to keep my fingers in shape if not the freezing cold cud make them numb. I found merino wool socks, I wore the socks to my hands and it felt warm, so used the same idea for next 2 nights. Even then it was terrible cold, but this was the moment of truth. Either we step back and settle down for 2 hours, or we brave the cold. We thought a moment, this was our time we had been waiting for so long and had prepared hard, we just got onto the bike and started cycling hard. Even it meant bad shivering, after about 10 kms, we felt very drowsy and no place to sleep, we sat on grass and slept for 10 mins, sleeping flat could have made our bodies chilled, and hence the sitting posture. 

Day-3 10:30am (20-Aug) - Brest (Psychologically key mid point)

With barely about 10kms left to reach Brest, we had a sigh of relief that we now are almost at mid point, and me and Prasad were plotting again as to what to do when we reach Brest. We just had a buffer of 1.5hours. The route to reach control point at Brest was round about, we saw the coastal side of France, we took photos at the famous hanging bridge at Brest.

And then it took another 30 mins as it was steep climbs all around Brest. We reached Brest and huge applause invited us again. We headed straight to get brevet card stamping and took 10-mins break to eat using our ready-to-eats. We immediately headed out and on the way met Arvind and suggested him to come out of control as soon as he can. We stopped at a bakery and bought a couple of baguettes and Prasad needed coke and sweet bread. Brest was uneasy as the roads were never flat. 

Day-4 5:45pm (21-Aug) - Prasad's knee pain and our fight for buffer

Prasad developed knee pain at Brest itself. But, we did not have time to relax, it was touch and go as we just had 1-hour buffer. I started pedaling hard intentionally to push Prasad. He soon caught up, but would slow down a bit at climbs as his knees started hurting very bad. At one moment, me and Mahesh caught up and were enjoying the French hospitality and ate, drank, relaxed at multiple stops created by families wanting to help complete strangers who had come all around the globe to participate in this century old cycling event. At one village, Prasad asked if he could get a pain killer ointment or a spray. It took me sometime to explain to the pharmacist, and meanwhile bought some chewing gums to help at night. We had to skip bath on four days to save some time, but the weather was good and we did not sweat much, so changing clothes was sufficient.

 

Monish had joined us at Loudeac and three of us were riding together. After Tinteniac control at night, Monish and Prasad slept for about 20 mins, I somehow skipped the sleep and walked around. I should have actually slept here. This lack of sleep caused trouble later in the night.

Day-5 4:00am (22-Aug) - The Terrible night

We left Montagnes control point at 2:30am, it was still a lot of climbs. It was about 4:00am, and we were hardly 120kms away, and I was very drowsy and could not control but my eyes shut for a few seconds, I cycled with closed eyes and a big shout from Prasad woke me up, I was drifting to the left of the road. Luckily I had not fallen off, Prasad insisted we take a power nap for 10 mins, but I was not ready as body will become very cold and it could be hard for us to get back to cycling. After another 10 mins, Prasad went ahead a bit, and I still being drowsy, entered a lonely street assuming thats the road to Paris, but then I heard cycles in another street, so I quickly returned back. I was desperate to drink coffee. Prasad was waiting for me, and i explained that I had gone in wrong route. The fatigue level was so high that I barely could keep my eyes open and I asked Prasad if he could call up his cousin in the next village and arrange coffee. Prasad was patient enough to listen to all the crap. Hmmm, he said, just keep going man, I don't have any relatives in France. I kept blabbering something in the next 2-hour period. And at one point, even forgot Prasad's name as I was confused between Praveen, Promod and Prasad, all sounded same for the tired mind and around 6:00am, me and Prasad spotted a cycle fallen on road side. We both waited and looked around to see if someone needed help, but no one showed up, we had to keep going and we hoped everything is fine with the rider. The medical support at PBP is really nice, one call to the emergency helpline, ambulance could reach in less than 5 mins. Plus the marshals on bike would continuously be riding all long to provide any help. About 30 mins later, slowly the day started breaking, and it was new life into the tired souls. In the past 2 hours, we just rode 8kms. But still we somehow had managed the buffer of an hour.

Day-5: Target in sight and we had 2-hours buffer
At Dreux control point which was mere 45kms away, we saw the big queue for food, and decided against waiting in the queue and headed out to buy something on the way. From here, it was home run, so we took it a bit easy and rode at a slow pace until Prasad reminded that we are not done yet. Yes we are not done until the ride is over, we just picked up a bit of pace.

Ride Completed:
At 10:35am, we arrived at Rambouillet, the final control point. Me and Prasad made sure to cross the mat at the same second to mark respect for each other. We then waited for our buddies to complete the ride. Mohan Sir, Monish, Arvind, Raj all completed and then we took some pics at the venue. And spent 5 hours just discussing what each one of us faced. This has been an epic ride and a great learning. With all the learnings we were at PBP start line, but at the end of the ride we felt we are very far from being perfect finishers, we need to learn and improvise better and make it more joyful long rides. So much to learn from everyone who attended, each of us had our own story, and it meant a learning for us to be better riders tomorrow. The next seed of dream on London-Edinburgh-London (LEL 1500kms) is already sown into our heads by Mohan Sir.

 

 

Learnings from the ride:

1. Never underestimate any ride at any moment, things can turn around pretty fast
2. Food - while we did a good job, still we can improve upon to be faster. MTR ready-to-eats (small packs), poha, gojju plus adapt fast to whatever veg food that is available
3. Pack less, pack wisely not to make it too heavy, use the drop bag to carry food and jerseys
4. Do not spend more than 10 mins at Controls if we are not eating. If we are to eat, then make sure to exit fast (30-40mins)
5. Cold - Full pants did not do the job properly, need a leg warmer on top. The small head cap from Decathlon which covers ears as well, was quite helpful. One suggestion from Greg Smith (USA) is to use multiple layers of warm clothes than a thick jacket. I recommend having full pants+leg warmer, a base layer, jersey and waterproof jacket. And then a monkey cap which covers ears and then gloves which can withstand the cold/rain. 
6. Waterproof jacket like Showers pass is a must, it helps in rain and in cold
7. DHB base layers were very helpful in keeping us warm and also in sunlight we did not sweat much
8. Sleep - we barely slept for 2.5 hours during the entire 89-hour ride, thats bad. We need to ride a bit more faster, save time and catch a sleep for at least 1-2 hours full length. This must be repeated at least 4-5 times to make it a more enjoyable ride.
9. Decathlon Shoes were sufficient with warm socks, but we did not have a clear plan what if it rains
10. We need to reach the foreign country at least 3-4 days ahead and try one night ride to get a feel of what it takes and get acclimatized to the cold conditions
11. Know where they repair cycles ahead of the plan so that minor tweaks can be done. My wheels were bent and Decathlon team fixed it in just 10 mins
12. For navigation, we did not have to worry as PBP organizers had put up reflective boards at every possible junction which could confuse. If there is no board, then assumption is to go straight.
13. For recording the activity, I used Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music, with 10hrs of battery life, it easily. For Power, we had 1 power bank 10,000mah, and one in drop bag. It was sufficient.
14. For lights, we used the Mako NightRider 250Lumens(front) and rear mako lights. With medium brightness, it easily ran for 2 nights and then carried one pair of AA cells.

Sincere Thanks:

Sincere thanks to Mohan Sir and all my friends at Bangalore Randonneurs for helping us prepare well with all the tips. To Shashi, our Army superman, we remembered many a times, we missed his company. And thanks to Sushma, Ananya and my parents and sisters for supporting at every moment of my endurance journey. And hoping to get their support and motivation for all future rides as well.

SR5: 1500Kms of Cycling in 5 days (Fastest Super Randonneur Series)

Randonneuring is a long-distance cycling. In randonneuring, riders attempt courses of 200 km or more, passing through predetermined "controls" (checkpoints) on the route. Super Randonneur (SR): This title is earned by any rider who completes a series of brevets ( 200, 300, 400, and 600 KM) in the same year. A medal will be sent by Audax Club Parisien (ACP), France. SR title (total of 1500kms) usually takes anywhere between 1-2 months or even much longer based on the rider and the opportunities.

Bangalore Randonneurs is an ace cycling club based out of Bangalore which pioneers in many adventurous rides. To name a few, Gates of Heaven-1200kms, Kittur-1000kms, SR5-1500kms. The organizers of this fantastic club, Mohan Sir, Jins Paul, Harish Venkatachalam are some of the wonderful souls taking utmost care of the riders and providing motivation to break our barriers.

What is SR5: While a regular SR series takes anywhere between 1-2 months, achieving it in 5 days (to be precise 110.5 hours) was named "SR5". Completing 1500kms in 110.5 hours is challenging. The official rest time was 9 hours among the 110.5 hours.

Day	Distance	Start Time	End Time	Rest
Day 1 & 2	600Kms	6:00am	10:00pm	6 hours
Day 3	400Kms	4:00am	7:00am	0 hours
Day 4	300Kms	7:00am	3:00am	3 hours
Day 5	200Kms	6:00am	7:30pm
Total: 110.5 hours (including 9 hours of rest)

Planning and preparation:

Me and Prasad had the experience of unsuccessful Gates of Heaven 1200k, but we had learnt a lot from that one ride. Prasad considered upgrading his bike to roadie so that we could gain more speed and get more buffer time. So, exactly 1-month before SR5, Prasad got his new bike Merida Scultura-400. So, now we both were on Merida roadies. While Prasad did many century rides to get used to the posture, I went for a 340kms solo ride to my home town Hospet on my btwin single speed and a couple of century rides post that set me up for the long ride. We both did a chikkaballapura 100k for another practice together.

Exactly 30 days ahead, our planning started. We discussed in detail as to what should be our preparation, and what could be potential problems we could face during the ride.

We booked a room in Hotel Chancery, which was 500m away from the Konark hotel (Brevet start point). On the previous evening, me and Prasad went to the hotel and kept our luggage bags at hotel cloak room. The apparel for each ride was well thought of and placed in covers, along with spare batteries, lights, cap, dry fruits. Each ride was marked on the cover.

The strategy was simple, to follow the 4-3-2-1 formula, to create and maintain a buffer of 4 hours for 600kms ride, 3-hours for 400kms ride, 2-hours for 300kms ride and lastly 1-hour buffer for the 200kms ride. Me and Prasad had been riding together on long distance, Aravind joined us with his brand new cycle, bought on Monday, took a 100-km practice ride on Tuesday, Wednesday rest and he was ready for the long ride on Thursday.

Day 1 and 2 - 600Kms ride: Bangalore-Chitradurga-Davanagere-Ranebennur and back to Bangalore

Woke up at 4:30am, quickly got ready and headed to Konark hotel. Prasad, Aravind and me were riding together. We started fast and reached Tumkur in 2:20 hrs and proceeded to first control at VRL. A heavy breakfast of idli/vada/masala dosa and a strong coffee, we were back on highway. From Tumkur, we accelerated to reach Sira and headed straight to Hiriyur. Soon the humidity was catching up, we took quick coconut break. Re-energized, we were again back on the bike, we had early lunch at Hiriyur at 12:00PM, we had built a steady 3.5 hours buffer. A heavy lunch at Hiriyur in sharp 20 mins, and we were back on bike. By 2:45pm, we reached 2nd control at Mysore Cafe.

We had a quick interaction with Mohan sir, and he advised us not to push too hard as we had a long long way to go. That was a wake up call not burn out our body on day-1, instead he suggested to go with a steady approach and conserve energy till last day. From here on, we slowed down a bit, and eased past Davanagere at 6:30pm. A quick tea break and we were heading to Ranebennur. The tailwind helped us maintain good pace and we had built a healthy 5-hour buffer. Now, all that we needed was to maintain this buffer. 

We reached mid-point by 8:45pm, a quick dinner of Puliyogare and Curd rice (My Father-in-law had helped in finding and booking the food caterer in Davanagere). After the yummy dinner, we took a quick nap for 20 mins and we headed back. From here on, it was head-wind, the journey was much tougher as it was already 15-hours since we had started and we were feeling drowsy. At Davanagere, we saw that Monish, Rajkumar, Satish and Raghu halted for few mins and had just started of. We realized probably they took a tea break. We stopped there and a nice double tea. When we crossed Coffee Day, we saw a few cyclists, but we did not want to stop and instead pedaled ahead. After about 10 kms, our eye could not control sleep, it was 1:00am, we saw a well-lit temple on the left and saw two guys happily sleeping there. We parked our cycles and slept for 15 mins. That refreshed us, and we started pedaling hard. The sugarcane trucks all along this stretch were very luring. But, we had control our inhibitions to save time.

By 4:00am, we reached Chitradurga and Mohan Sir was waiting for us. We ate a few bananas, and headed towards the city. We again felt dizzy at 4:30am, and try to sleep at veranda of a lodge, but the guard shooed us away. Me and Prasad knew of another place where we had taken rest at an earlier ride. We went back to that place and slept for 15 mins. After the nap, we pedaled slowly towards Hiriyur. Plan was to eat breakfast at Hiriyur. We were witnessing a beautiful sunrise, and our eyes were relishing the beautiful colors of sky changing every 5 mins. As per the plan, we reached the hotel, requested the coconut vendor to look after our cycles. We freshened up and then saw Monish, Rajkumar, Raghu, Satish had reached the hotel by then. They joined us at hotel for breakfast. In 30 mins, we started again, we reached Coffee Day control point by 11:30am, but from here on it was a struggle. It was getting hot, head wind mixed with climbs and fatigue, slowed us down drastically. After the last major Seebi climb, we usually stop at a small hotel for customary cool drinks. We made a mistake here, instead of eating lunch around 12:30, we dreamt of eating at Tumkur/Dabaspet. The slow ride meant, we reached Dabaspet by 2:20pm. Aravind was very very hungry. I was managing with a few dry fruits. This was not a good decision to delay the lunch for so long. With empty stomach we lose speed. After a heavy lunch, we slowly started pedaling. Monish and Raj caught up with us, till then we had thought their gang was way ahead, but then he mentioned they took lunch break at Tumkur. The Nelemangala stretch reminded me, Monish and Rajkumar of our first 600kms ride together in 2015. We remembered the army man Shashi here. It rained heavily, we were least expecting rain in the winter. But, then the rains cooled us and roads were smoother. We did not stop, instead just pedaled through the rains.

We reached the end control at 6:30pm, about 3.5 hours ahead of the end time at 10:00pm. We ate quick dinner at Konark, packed chapathis for next morning and reached hotel Chancery. A quick bath, replied to whatsapp messages, called up our families and were ready to take nap. Prasad was snoring in a minute. It took 15 mins for me to offset the snoring music and get into deep sleep.

Day 3 - 400Kms ride: Bangalore-Tumkur-Devarayanadurga-Lepakshi-Penukonda-Bangalore

We woke up at 3:15am. We had planned for 10-mins per person to get ready, and exactly in 20 mins were ready. The ride started very early in the morning at 4:00am. Mohan Sir and Jins had arranged light snack, we also had packed a few chapathis for late morning. Early morning was not really that cold, we were bit slower than our 600k ride. We could catch up with Rajkumar Khot and Monish closer to Tumkur. After Tumkur, there was a dead-end with right and a left turns without any boards. Monish and Rajkumar took the wrong left turn. We took the right, and then realized that they both were riding on wrong side. We stopped 2 bikes and requested them to inform the duo about wrong direction. Meanwhile, Monish and Rajkumar Khot realized after a few kms that they were heading in wrong direction.

We reached the base of Devarayanadurga at an easy pace, saving the energy for the climb. We had planned to climb non-stop and we could do so slow and steady. Once we reached the control point, took a pic and immediately headed back to meet Rajkumar and Monish at the beautiful lake near base. From here, it was a very smooth road towards Madhugiri. On the way, we stopped at Koratagere to drink sugarcane juice, and we met Mohan Sir and Jins in car and we all had a nice sugarcane juice. We enquired about good hotel, and a local mentioned about Ganesha Tiffin center next to the petrol pump. The thatte idlies were yummy and then half lemon rice (rather he gave us full), was very tasty. All but Rs 90/- for all 3 of us :-). We crossed Madhugiri and headed towards Pavagada. Aravind had a flat, the nearby bus stop gave us shelter to fix. Half the village surrounded us to know more about cycles. I found a small pin. We replaced a new tube, but then, it got a pinch flat, Monish and Rajkumar joined us and then they both fixed the tube properly. From here on, we all were riding together. 

At about 130kms from start, Mohan Sir stopped us for lunch. We feasted on pongal and kesaribhath, and then started towards Pavagada. Heavy headwinds were slowing us down. Once we reached Pavagada, we took a short tea break, and explained our expedition to people. After Pavagada, we were hit with very heavy headwind, it did slow us down. Prasad wanted to sleep before Pavagada, but we kept pushing. We stopped near an old well, a water pipe nearby helped us freshen up. We spotted a few small water snakes in the old well. Monish and Rajkumar were curious to know how could we spot snakes while riding :-). From here on, we all pedaled together cracking jokes. Heavy headwind had anyways slowed us down. So the company of Rajkumar, Monish and Shreyas made our journey joyful. At Penukonda cross, Mohan Sir stopped us with his trademark smile. Some more pongal went in without effort. Lots of wonderful discussions at this spot. Santhosh joined us. Jins gave wonderful massage to Prasad and Aravind. They were thankful to him. Mohan sir shooed us away as we were getting late. Rajkumar slowed down a bit due to knee pain. Monish suggested us to move ahead and they planned to join us at Lepakshi. We cycled non-stop till Lepakshi. It was tail-wind from here on. So, we could speed up.

We had a good dinner at Lepakshi and packed rice for late night. Hell a lot of climbs from here. And late night meant, we were climbing slowly. We stopped at a dhaba and requested the owner if we could sleep at his garden, he denied. And do not know what happened to him, after 2 mins, came back and took all of us inside and showed us a room to sleep. And asked us if we needed blankets. We thanked him for his gesture and said, we are fine without blankets. A quick tea and then we headed towards Chikkaballapura. After about 20kms at a climb, Aravind took a sudden right and was speeding up. I was focused on climb and was riding with my head down. I did not realize why did Aravind took a sharp right, and then I was stopped by 2 transgenders, fully dressed up. For a moment, did not know how to escape. Before they said anything, I reached out to my pocket. They waited, it was pitch dark, and I had Rs 20, 50 and 500 notes. And I pulled out one note, and with a bit of light saw that it was Rs 20. They wished me gud luck, I moved on. Mohan sir had mentioned of secret control, but did not know it was this secret :-). Another 20kms, we were flagged down by Harish. He did the secret control formalities and offered us water. We were looking for tea, even after Chikkaballapura, close to Airport, we could not find even a single tea shop. After airport toll booth, we found one tea seller on roadside, and drank piping hot tea. But, we were still very very drowsy. From here on, we wanted to reach end control ASAP, but the drowsy eye slowed our speed. After Hebbal, took left and kept pedaling without a stop. I showed Kammanahalli road to Aravind where my home was located. From here on, we do not know how we reached MG Road and then to Konark hotel. It was all like a riding in the dream. We reached 2-hours prior to the end control time.

We reached Konark hotel at 5:10am. It gave us a mere 50-mins sleep before we start for next ride. But, we made sure we lube the chains for all 3 cycles before we slept. We had requested for hotel for wake-up call just incase we don't wake up. By now, we had completed 1000kms in 3 days (72-hours).

Day 4 - 300Kms ride: Bangalore-Chintamani-Horsley Hills-Kolar-Bangalore

The 300kms ride was at 7:00am. the quick nap and then hot water bath energized us. But, we were damn hungry. So, we made a strategy to eat breakfast within the first hour. And it was the right step, we took exact 10-mins to complete our breakfast. 3-idlies/1-vada was the energy pack we needed to hit the road hard. We started pedaling hard, we could catch up with many riders before Chintamani. But then, legs were not strong enough to push even faster. At Gownipalli junction, we took early lunch, and then headed towards Horsley hills. Mohan Sir was at a nearby temple holding lunch for us. But, we planned to move ahead and climb the hill before lunch. Even at Horsley, our plan was to climb non-stop. The 8-kms climb took us about 1-hour. We took a quick break at the peak and then headed back to the base. A few quick pics on the way down and then headed straight for Puliyogare and curd rice. We were running close to the control time. Mohan sir suggested we need to be awake and ride properly for 24 hours more to complete SR5. 

While we were climbing down Horsley we met Rajkumar Khot. He had knee pain during 400k ride, but love his grit. He somehow managed 400k ride, but then during 300k, he really slowed down due to pain. But, he never quit, rather kept riding. Salute to his never-give-up attitude.

Monish joined 3 of us and we started riding together. Closer to Gownpalli, we were hit with very heavy rains. There were clouds from nowhere. It reminded us of the Gates of Heaven. We were shivering, but then, we remembered the simple formula. In rains, don't stop instead keep pedaling. After 30 mins, rains stopped, at Gownpalli cross, we did not get any food, we decided to stop at Srinivaspura for dinner. We ate fresh dosas. But, could not rest as we were running very close to the control time. The ride to Kolar was very nice. Both sides tamarind trees, slight moonlight and less traffic, we were relishing the night ride. But, we started pedaling hard. We met someone riding alone slightly ahead of us. It was Santosh. He was delighted to see us and joined us. Just outside Kolar, four of us slept near a hotel. Me and Prasad remembered that we all taken rest at the same place during our last 300kms ride in 2016. We thought of sleeping for 15 mins, but just after 5 mins, the Mosquitoes were fighting for the space on me. I decided to sleep at space between Aravind and Monish. But, unlucky me, my blood was more tastier. I decided to walk around to frustrate the mosquitoes.

We started towards Bangalore. With faint light, saw a rider sleeping at a bus stop. We decided not to wake him up. That was Santosh. His cycle was not there. I thought it was brilliant of him to hide the cycle behind the bus stop and sleep. Later he told us, even he was worried not to see his cycle, it had fallen off :-).

At Hosakote, we badly needed a tea-break, Monish badly needed a nap for 5 mins. Once we regrouped, we just had 1.5hours for 25kms to reach the end control. We decided to speed up. Plan was to ride crazily from here and meet at end control. At a flyover, me and Monish were speeding up and saw a young boy fully drunk was playing with his life trying to touch vehicles which pass by. His 2 more accomplices were convincing him to board the 2-wheeler. Finally he boarded and the 3 of them were purposefully coming closer to Aravind. He was irritated but maintained his composure. They did it again. He was still not moved. Me and Monish were watching all this drama. We were trying not to overtake these guys and to irritate them. Instead, we slowed down a bit. But then, we needed to meet our timelines as well. So, we decided to move ahead. We were 4 of us against 3 of them. The kids did not intervene, though they were riding close by, but did maintain distance. We reached the end control in just 7 mins before the end time. Quick formalities and we headed to hotel Chancery. We badly needed rest. We slept as soon as we reached. We got good 2-hours sleep. And then 8-mins to freshen up and we packed our stuff, checked out of chancery, and we were at start point at 5:59am. 1-min ahead of start time.

Day 5 - 200Kms ride: Bangalore-Kolar-Chintamani-Chikkaballapura-Bangalore

We started at 6:00am, yet again, our strategy was to eat early breakfast. We stopped at Hosakote toll booth. It was a big gang, Santosh, Shreyas, Prashant Iyer, Prasad, Aravind, Rajesh. We ate heavily and headed towards Kolar. Fatigue was already hitting us hard. We stopped for a coconut break near Narasapura. We met Monish here, but asked him to move ahead as we were riding a bit slow. Our strategy was to ride non-stop till lunch. We stopped at a village and ate a few fruits. Mohan Sir messaged on whatsapp about the delicious lunch. We reached by 1:00pm. Ate a heavy lunch and Mohan sir reminded us that, we still have 85kms left. We started off, but could not control sleep. We slept near a house and then headed towards Chikkaballapura. Aravind missed taking pic at an ATM, he came back took pic and joined us. We stopped at Nandi Upachar for quick refresh and tea. We started in exact 5 mins time. We crossed airport toll booth and close to Decathlon, then Monish called up. He spoke about the traffic on Hebbal flyover and asked us to speed up till flyover and then take it easy in the traffic. We cruised till Hebbal and realized the heavy traffic. From here on, it was was racing against traffic and time. We reached about 30-mins ahead of end control time.

SR5 completion:

Satish Addanki, Rajkumar, Bhaskar had been waiting for us. We waited for Santosh for 15 mins, and then started the celebration. A well-deserved photo shoot and then a SR5 cake. Sushma and Ananya joined me. Sushma helped fix cycle to the rack and drove us home. I started sending messages and called up Shashi. That completed our long awaited SR5 series. We had completed a tuff 1500kms ride in under 5 days, 110.5 hours. The dream ride was done. The 5-days of cycling went past like a quick dream. We hardly realized we were riding for all 5 days almost non-stop. But, the fun of riding together, wonderful organizers, perfect routes made it a fun filled, memorable ride.