Paris Brest Paris (PBP 2023)

While we had done 2019 edition of PBP, what made me think to ride again was the festive atmosphere France creates, chanting “Allez Allez”, “Bravo”, “Bon Voyage”, “Au Revoir” at every nook and corner along the entire 1200kms ride! Non-stop clapping, appreciating every cyclist they see and their hospitality!!! PBP rocks! If you are an endurance cyclist, you must ride PBP at least once to feel it! 6800 cyclists from ~80 countries participate in this once-in 4yrs event.

Preparations:

GOH, Coorg 1000, Bangalore Randonneur’s toughest SR series and then a few long rides of 300+kms for 8 consecutive weeks. The day we landed in Paris, while it was 12:00, everyone started fixing their bikes, that shows the seriousness of BR! Even after long and painful journey, most of us were awake next day ready for a practice ride. Prasad, Shettappa, Dhananjaya Sir, Gulzar, Suresh and me, 6 of us had a plan to take train to start point and then ride 50kms from start point and return making it a century ride. The idea was to get a feel of start point and also getting used to roads, weather, food, wind! First we went to Rambouillet and met a few volunteers who wished us Bonjour and that’s it, we could not talk anymore as they don’t understand English and we don’t speak French. We requested for “Eau chaude” hot water in french, so that we could eat breakfast with ready to eats. The 100kms ride from there on was an absolute lesson for all of us, appreciating the clean roads, less traffic, headwinds. We went in search of food into a town and found a supermarket to eat pizza.

Previous Day:

After the drop bags were handed over to JFT who has been helping us since 2019, Mohan sir called for a group meeting at 6:00pm. He shared his wisdom on big event and how everyone should approach the big day, what to expect and how to tackle CPs, food, weather. He stressed on saving time and sleep management, gave us all caffeine tablets to keep in case if we needed to stay awake during the ride. His strong words to push for BRs success was super important, he pushed everyone to give their best. Monish and me pitched in with a few thoughts from our previous experience.

Paris-Brest-Paris 2023 Event Day:

Paris to Mortagne (119kms)

After a few group pics, we all took train to Rambouillet, before that we all went to Indian restaurant ate Biriyani and packed for night as well. At Rambouillet, it was so well organized, each batch had ~200 to 300 riders and each batch would start with a 15-min gap. One volunteer would hold the group letter like “G” and everyone followed him into the bike check point, then got brevet card stamped and then the start point, loud music, people clapping created that much needed festive mood. I met a Malaysian rider by name Datiya, we introduced ourselves and exchanged best wishes. I started at 5:30pm batch. Plan was to ride non-stop till Montagne (120kms) and then wait for Prasad to join there. After initial careful maneuvering through the thick traffic of riders, I picked up pace after 2kms once we reached the main road. Here I went full speed, but quickly I realized there was a big peloton ahead of me which was led by a volunteer on motorcycle. This was a fast peloton riding around ~32-33kmph avg. Caught up with Rohit in the peloton. I went with the flow and rode for about 30kms, and then decided to slow down as it was getting hard to stay with the the peloton. By then, there was another peleton which was relatively better with about 28kmph. Caught up with Milan here. I stayed with the peloton till 100kms mark and then stayed away from peloton and thought of riding at ease for 20kms till Montagne which was only a food point. I reached by 10:15pm (4:45hrs), while I waited for Prasad, I saw Monish, Anand, Grinny, Dhananjaya sir, Gulzar pass through the food point. Prasad and me ate packed Biriyani, filled our bottles, took a few protein bars and then hurriedly started off towards Villaines.

Riding with the peleton:

Mortagne to Villaines (84kms):

Our plan was to reach by 3:30am, we started pedaling hard, Rohit and Akash also started at the same time. Rohit and me started chatting and then a peloton passed next to us sucking us into it. We were not sure if we wanted to be part of it, but we got surrounded by 20+ cyclists, so we had to pick up pace. We started pedaling hard and stayed with the peloton which was progressing fast around ~30kmph, we covered more than 40 kms with the peleton and suddenly heard a loud sound from Rohit’s bike. We both exited the peleton and it was Rohit’s chain which had snapped. We first went out of the road and then searched for the chain, found it about 100m behind. We first removed the broken link and attached master link, but in the hurry we had put the chain incorrectly in one of the jockey wheels, Rohit got an idea why not break another link, fix the chain properly and then add a second master link hoping I had one. Luckily I had 1 master link. It was good we both were together, it took us about 30 mins to fix, we ate baguette. Meanwhile, we lost track of Prasad, Akash. We called them up and said to wait at Villaines or even get going from there if they both were together. Rohit and me started riding hard and we still managed to reach at 2:57am. Villaines is one of special places on PBP, day and night people flock here welcoming every rider with loud applause and “Bravo”, it makes you feel like a hero! We caught up with Prasad, Akash, Suresh, Kirti, Grinny, Milan. We all thought, eat and start right away and not to waste time here.

Villaines to Fougres (89kms):

The crowd slowly started reducing from here, with cool breeze and the hope of getting Sunlight in 2hours, we rode fast. Found a good coffee shop to complete morning formalities and then had a strong coffee to reach Fougres by 7:57am.

Fougres to Tinteniac (61kms):

It was super hot during the day, we removed all the cold wear and pack it in the small bag given by PBP organizers.

 

Tinteniac to Loudeac (82 kms):

Plan was to reach Loudeac at least 4-hours ahead, but we were about 5 hours ahead. We spent an hour! Its due to the drop bag access, changing clothes, food, packing the bike, cleaning the chain does take a long time. We skipped the bath as we hardly were sweating. Loudeac is a crucial point and from here on, going gets tougher with cold weather and climbs. While we reached Loudeac, Nakul, Pritish were about to start. Ganesh and Naveen were resting here with us.

Loudeac to Carlaix (79kms):

It was evening around 5:45pm when we started off from Loudeac. We had packed baguette for the journey. I knew that it was a bit of climb to Carhaix. Plan was to sleep at Carhaix, so we sped off from Loudeac. We reached Carhaix at 10:30pm and were planning to sleep an hour, but the queue for beds was very long, we came back to restaurant and slept on the floor for 45 mins and started off by 12:00am.

Best part of PBP is the support we get from people, its just amazing!

Carlaix to Brest (90 kms):

We knew about the big hill our way, so the nap was much required. After initial criss cross through Carhaix, we were out on the road, surprisingly it was not as cold as we felt last edition. We were surprised, but it was foggy all along till Brest. The hill is not too steep, it’s much easier than Nandi Hills. And we ride for about 15 kms on the Foret d Huelgoat hill before we descend for about 20kms. We found a volunteer offering coffee in the middle of night, this gave us a good push. Again around 4:00am, we felt drowsy, we found a coffee shop and stayed there for 30 mins. And then final push to Brest, instead of circumventing Brest, the approach route was much better this time. With easy roads, we were cruising. Reached Brest at 5:40am, that’s ~36-hours with clear 4 hours buffer. We had our plan not to sleep, rather head out to Brest and sleep on the way when the Sun was out.

Unlike last edition, in 2023, we see the famous Brest bridge on the return. Its the usual photo point for all of us.

Brest to Carhaix (93kms):

Interestingly the route was changed, instead of going back to the Foret d Huelgoat hill and it was more rolling terrain passing through Playben which acted as a Secret control. This was super hard, as if we were jumping from one hill to another. Very much similar to what we see at Anchetty near Bangalore. We met Raghu Reddy on the way. But, the number of people supporting us here was way higher, food, coffee, beds, fruits we just loved the breaks. We took a 30-mins nap on the way and reached Carlhaix by 1:00pm.

Loved these 2 riders riding so strong on fixie:

Carhaix to Loudeac (85kms):

This was relatively easier route, we reached around 7:00pm. We took our drop bag, changed clothes, ate food, replenished food for rest of the journey and started by 7:30pm. I felt the rear gears were not shifting properly, specially the highest gear, but then I wasn’t sure if the mechanic would fix it. We saw Uday sir here asking them to reduce his saddle height. We dropped off the jacket, full gloves in drop bag as we thought its not cold enough. May be global warming?

Meanwhile, I saw this rider without saddle! And we were worried about which saddle will suit us!

Loudeac to Tinteniac (85kms):

We felt sleepy around 8pm, sun had set by then, we saw a church and slept close to the walls which were warm. I dosed off immediately, and in about 15-mins Prasad mentioned some people called up volunteers to check on us if we are doing alright, and then in 15 mins I woke up shivering. Prasad also mentioned in 30 mins weather had turned around and we were feeling the chill. We were missing our jacket which we dropped with bag at Loudeac assuming it won’t be cold anymore. We decided to pedal hard to shake away the cold. Shivering continued for another 15 mins. Ganesh/Naveen caught up with us and we met Mohan Sir on the way. We caught up a peleton and all 4 of us pedaled hard to stay up with the peleton. The rear gear cable started troubling and I could not engage top gear, which meant had to pedal harder in the lower gears. Around 15 kms we reached a food CP, all of us were hungry, Naveen was drowsy, he took a power nap. I saw a mechanic and showed my bike. He mentioned we should change the cable or else it could snap in 100kms. I gave the bike to repair and headed for dinner. We had pasta, Naveen woke up and then I got my bike, I thanked mechanic for quick help in changing the cable. Me and Prasad picked up pace and reached Tinteniac. We took a 30-mins power nap here. While its not a big control point, but we found a generator area which was bit warm. We saw Grinny, Ganesh, Naveen here.

Tinteniac to Fougres (61kms)

When we reached Fougres, we saw Galin reaching the control. We ate our ready to eats and started off from here. Our plan was to get out of Fougres and take a nap for about 30 mins on the shade. We saw 2 velo’s follow us in an alley which had good tree shade.

Fougres to Villaines (89 kms)

Lijo caught up with us here and rode with us for some distance, Lijo was leading the peleton and on seeing us, he came out and started chatting with us. He then rode with Galin, while me and Prasad headed off to Villaines. Sunil Kumar from Mysore was riding at a good pace, we were surprised at his endurance knowing that it was his first long ride beyond 600kms! He was riding fantastic!

Villaines to Mortagne (82kms):

2 ladies from Denmark were riding with us. They would us as “India” and we kept called them as Denmark every time we meet them. One of them was bit elderly in her 50’s and the other lady was riding her first long ride above 600kms. They were cruising along well but their rear derailleur was causing issues, while I wanted to help by moving the barrel to adjust the tension on derailleur but I suggested they ride till next control and get it checked there. It was a good conversation with both of them about rides in Denmark and what they do for living. While I invited them for rides in India, but one of them wanted PBP to be their last long ride, I did mention that once they complete, they will look forward for next long ride! We ate ready to eat at Villaines and started off in 20 mins, we remembered the places we had stopped during the last edition. We met Vipin here who was riding with a Frenchman.

Met this lively couple riding tandem with ease accompanied by a recumbent rider!

Mortagne to Dreux (77kms):

There are 2 big climbs after Montagne which we were bit worried about as it had caused us problems in the prev edition. Also, this is the place where I had hallucinated last edition, so was bit cautious this time. Prasad realised I was riding slow and probably drowsy, he made me to sleep on the grass for 5-mins before we headed into a coffee break. Coffee kept me awake till Dreux. With flat roads, we pushed hard to reach Dreux.

Dreux to Rambouillet - 43kms (finish push):

With about 5 hours of buffer, we were very well placed and had sufficient time to cover the last 42kms. We still wanted to push for sub-84hrs finish which meant we had to cover 42kms in 2hrs. At Dreux, we had light breakfast, while I was telling Prasad we will take a 30 mins power nap, but the finish line pushed me to go for it than the sleep. We started off with good pace, I saw a rider who was moving around like a snake, I decided to strike a conversation to keep him awake. Coincidentally it was Datiya, a friend from Malaysia whom I had met at the start line. He spoke about his Photography job back in his home town. I invited him to ride in Bangalore for GOH, he was curious about the ride. We reached Rambouillet final point at 5:30am, ~84hours since the start. Ride went very close to our plan for 84-hour finish. We were excited to hear Bangalore Randonneurs finish rate 38 out of 48 riders had completed within time, that’s about ~79% success rate. Surely a fantastic finish. ~127 out of 265 Indians completed the ride with ~48% finish rate, it’s definitely a fantastic show by India at PBP 2023.

Thanks

Thanks to Sushma for all the support while she was hurt in a practice ride and could not move her left hand properly. She encouraged me to ride strong. Ananya, my parents, in-laws, and my 3 sisters provided all the support. Prasad, you are an amazing partner, thanks for your patience and endurance. You are an incredible rider! Thanks to Biju (Cycling Boutique) for patiently taking good care of Cannondale Synapse and answering many queries and addressing every small/big issue!

Thanks to the amazing volunteers/organisers of PBP! You inspire! You have an unlimited energy!

Mohan sir and Bangalore Randonneurs inspire us at every moment. BR community is like a family helping each other, learning from each other and much needed support and motivation comes from BR. BR is an institution where learning never stops, we look ahead for next big challenge! BR rocks!

London-Edinburgh-London 1550kms (LEL 2022)

In 2019, after completing PBP me and Prasad were travelling in a bullet train from Paris to Zurich, we got to know that we could apply for LEL 2021 and if we were lucky we could get a chance to ride in LEL since it was based on lottery. Thats how the journey to LEL started. We had heard that LEL was much tougher than PBP in distance, elevation and weather. We thought it's a good idea to train hard and to try LEL in 2yrs. Covid caused an year's delay and the event was moved to 2022.

While the event itself is magnificent, but the training we went through is a long journey. We prepared hard, Chalukyas 1200, Chamundi 1000, GOH 1200, Jog 1000, Toughest SR series and apart from these, me and Prasad did long rides of 200-400kms for 10 consecutive weekends which included multiple climbs at Basavanabetta, Chamundi hills, Nandi hills, Anchetty, Chitradurga, Hassan, MM Hills and Ooty to name a few. Each of these long training rides were done at brevet speed or faster and all 8 included min 1 night ride and at least 1 hill climb.

Bangalore Randonneurs and Mohan sir were the guiding forces at every stage during the entire journey. Mohan sir is meticulous in planning to every minute detail: air tickets, hotel, gear to wear, food strategy, Controls, terrain, rains!!

Fast forward, the day we reached London, me and Prasad were very clear, unpack and start riding, we went to the Devanant School, Debden. We got late on the return and it was super cold, that was first hint of what we could expect during ride. We followed it up with a century ride on the actual route to do recce, the elevation was 10x the distance meaning, for every 100kms we could expect 1000m elevation. Wind was playing rough, it was windy in every direction, again another lesson that we can't expect tail wind on the return rather it could be mixed or cross wind both ways.

After registration formalities, it was butterflies in everyone's stomach. The unknowns of terrain, rains and wind was playing on our minds. Daniel told us likely it may not rain, that was a bit of relief. The strategy was to ride first 600kms within 40hrs and create 10hrs buffer and from there on retain buffer of at least 5 to 6hrs at a minimum for the rest of the ride.

D-day: We all didn't have enough sleep due to excitement, the Ride started at 8:15am, we stuck to our plan and started riding hard and non-stop to St Ives (CP2) which was 100kms, at 50kms mark we were riding at 25kmph and I saw a peloton overtaking me, I took chance and joined at the tail. With experience in PBP, I knew the pelotons will be much faster, for next 40kms, it was literally a race. At 90kms, I could not keep up the pace, meanwhile Prasad didn't catch peloton, but was just 5 mins behind. We met at St Ives. Usual drill, park bike, check into CP, get brevet card signed, go to rest room, eat quickly, drink coffee, pack bread and rush to next CP. It took us 30 mins and we were on our way. At St Ives we met most of the fast riders, but not after that.

From St Ives to Boston (CP3), it's 90kms of flat roads, we took full advantage and again rode non-stop. There was a slight detour due to an accident near Boston to one of the cyclists. We had to cross the highways and got to be super careful as vehicles are superfast on highways and they don't slow down since they have right of way. It was bit disturbing as the cycle was in mangled state. We reached Boston control in 9hrs from start meaning 190kms , that sure was good speed. We repeated the drill at control, and it took another 30mins. By now we realized each control invariably will take 30mins or more. Next control was Louth 53kms away. We were enjoying the beautiful wheat fields and the grass nearly rolled. Now we had good tail wind and we took advantage to reach by 8:00pm (2.5hrs). With 30mins at control, we decided to go on to Hessle, in UK, the sun sets only by 9pm and it would be dark only around 10pm, so we still had good time to feel cold or sleepy.

Louth to Hessle was mere 60kms, and again tail wind, we rushed towards Hessle, we felt a bit cold, so wore PBP reflective vest, switched on rear and front lights. We could reach Hessle by 11:45pm. We hurriedly completed formalities and ate dinner, but felt too drowsy to continue. An Indian volunteer cheered and helped us towards dormitory. Plan was to have gud deep sleep on the bed for 45mins and start riding from 1am. We informed the volunteers and started snoring. At 1:00am, someone tried to wake us up, but we were in deep sleep. I woke up at 2:30am and realized we were running late, quickly woke up Prasad. For a moment, we felt bad as to why volunteers didn't pour a bucket of water if we didn't wake up. We started off thinking we were late by 1.5hours, but we consoled ourselves that the break was indeed helpful as we were feeling super fresh, legs were strong.

Hessle to Malton was 67kms, it took us just 3.5hrs. We realised that 2.5hrs of sleep every night is a must for 2 reasons 1) to avoid 2-3 hrs of riding in the cold 2) to get good rest on the bed in warm and cozy dormitory. Me and Prasad decided to adapt this new strategy of 2+hrs of sleep in the night at control and 30mins of sleep on the grass enroute between 3-5pm. At Hessle, we had a strong coffee and then we wore 4 layered night gear: base layer, jersey, waterproof jacket and PBP reflective vest on top. With a cotton cap covering the head & ears and a neck scarf as extra protection. And we wore a waterproof glove which covered the fingers, with merino wool socks and thick trekking shoes foot was covered well. It was warm enough and we reached Malton at 6:30am (Day-2). Usual drill at control and at 7:00am, I was hurrying up Prasad that we should start off now.

Malton to Bernard Castle was 113kms, we were targeting to cover in 7 hours (1:00pm). But the elevation was more than 1000m, from here, while the serious climbs started, but even the scenaries were getting more beautiful. The ride through a valley near Malton was very beautiful, we started seeing the real nature, lot of birds chirping, grasslands on either side with cattle, horses and sheep grazing. We had to climb a small mountain which was about 250m. It was quite steep. We reached Bernard Castle at 2:30pm. Its a good climb near the control, we met Pritish's wife who was volunteering. Food here was quite good, we got rice and dal. With 30 mins break we headed to Brampton which was 83kms away. With 480kms done, we were already feeling sluggish, and had 2 big hills to climb, we took a nap at a farm in cool shadow of trees, the 30mins sleep was helpful just ahead of big climbs. Fortunately we had tailwind, so we sprinted to base of hills, a rider started encouraging us that Indian team is now sprinting ahead. They went past us in some time, but we were bit better at climbs thanks to Mohan sir for preparing us hard for climbs with rides like Gates of Heaven (GOH) 1200K. We climbed 1st hill in 20 mins with help of tailwind. The Weardale climb was steep as it didn't have hairpin bends, but just vertically straight, we heard that these roads were built long back (decades old) and mostly used by horse drawn vehicles in those ages. The descent was super fun, unlike the fear of potholes or humps on Indian roads, the descent was smooth and very easy, we must have crossed 60kmph. We continued the momentum with tailwind and reached Alston, a small town enroute, we bought orange juice at a supermarket to quench our thirst. When we reached Brampton (569kms) we had taken at ~37hrs, we had our drop bag here, so it was time to take shower and change to much warmer clothes. We had thermal pants and waterproof socks and thought of wearing 2 base layers since it would be much colder from Brampton to Brampton (going through Highlands). It was a loop thru Moffat, Dunfermline, Innerleithen and Eskdalemuir. Though we didn't sleep here, but it took more than 1hr to get out of Brampton control. It was mainly due to the drop bag access, bath, change over etc. We then headed to Moffat, plan was to reach by 1:00am (42hrs), but we were late by 3hrs, plan was to ride till Moffat and then take 2nd night's 2hr sleep. It was a tough ride as i very drowsy and it was hard to sleep as there was no warm or covered place, invariably we took a power nap power nap 10mins under a flyover. This part of the ride enters into Scotland, the bike paths were very wide and it felt good, we managed to reach Moffat by 4:00am. We grabbed some food and we had mushroom soup to our delight. We got a good 2hr nap. With experience at Hessle when we overslept, we kept an alarm 15mins past our target time just incase we were not woken up. But this time we were on target, here we met Raj and Mahesh, they started off after a good sleep of 6hrs!.  From Moffat to Dunermline was 112kms. It was 6:00am when we started from Moffat with a buffer of about 6hrs. Plan was to reach Dunfermline by 1:00pm so that we would be under 53hrs at mid point against the plan of 50hrs. It wasn't going to be easy. From Moffat, it was a short climb of 200m and we started seeing beautiful hills on both sides. Picturesque! with a blanket of heather flowers at the bottom of hills, beautiful green hills on either side, and clouds playing giving white shade, beautiful blue skies, and white coated sheep grazing grass slowly as if it was a canvas and God was playing colors.

The Dunfermline bridge famously known as Forth bridge, is one of the 3 bridges where cycles were allowed. The old red coloured Bridge on the right was for trains only and was built in 1890 and has seen centuries of human evolution and battles. Its a World Heritage Site. This bridge is key to rest of Scotland. It's barely 20kms away from Edinburgh. 

We reached at 2:00pm, with about 8hrs of buffer. We still wanted to hurry up and get out of control and probably sleep on the way on grass. We cleaned the chain with alcohol based wet tissue and lubed it again. Ride from Dunfermline to Edinburgh was quite challenging, the roads were not good, narrow and crowded, the cycle lanes under the old town was very good but very difficult to navigate. We could never gain pace until we hit the proper roads. Around 5pm, we crossed Edinburgh going through Scottish parliament and Queen's palace, opp Arthur seat, there was a row of trees, and we took a 30mins nap in the shadow. 

Edinburgh is a heritage city with old buildings more than 200+yrs old, the monuments are very well preserved. We reached Innerleithen around 8pm. And again the plan was to ride until midnight, so our focus was on reaching Eskdalemuir. We started in 30mins after the usual drill. 49kms to cover, we thought it should be easy, it was not the case. Getting out of Edinburgh was really tough, with stone paved roads, crowd, traffic lights and then the city cycle paths, while it was safe to ride, but it was very difficult to navigate.  We were sleep deprived and each km started feeling like tougher. We covered 25kms, but 2nd half was terribly tough. It was super cold, i was drowsy and I started the infamous snake dance. At least 3 times Prasad shouted to make sure I don't fall into the deep side of the valley. From 24kms to 14kms I really don't remember how we reached, from here again every km was like taking an hour, but that was not the case, it was the fatigue and lack of sleep. Prasad insisted we take a 10 min nap, but I was pressing to reach control. We reached at 1:30am about 30 mins later. By now Eskdalemuir was like frozen place, it was a small school and did not have dormitory. But we were given blankets and we could sleep anywhere we could get some place. That was awesome. We took a good 2-hr sleep. We saw Monish standing in line for food. It took another 30 mins before we were fully ready to start riding. Ride to Brampton took us about 4 hours and we reached by 8:00am. We were thrilled to reach here as it completes the tougher section or we assumed so. From here to Bernard Castle was 80kms with about 1400m of elevation, this was by far the toughest section with lot of climbing and headwind. The initial elevation until Alston was manageable, but I felt drowsy and stopped by roadside and sat down, but I don't remember when I went into sleep while sitting there, 30 mins later I woke up probably with the music of hubs passing by. Prasad also took rest for a while, we had initially planned to stop ahead of you big hill at Weardale, but instead we wanted to complete the tough part. We stopped by a supermarket to buy orange juice for climbs. We met rider from London who was checking where are we from, we mentioned Bangalore and instantly he asked us "Namaskara, Hegiddira?" (Meaning how are you doing in Kannada language), "Chennagiddira?" (Meaning hope you are doing good). Me and Prasad were dumbstuck. He then explained us that he was in Bangalore for some time and learnt the words.

It was 4kms climb with peak gradient of 17%, climb in itself was not very tough but the wind made it worse blowing at more than 20kmph, the gust was pushing us back. Challenge accepted, I wanted to eat a banana, an Italian rider was saying you are making it look easy climbing and eating banana, for me it's very hard to climb with empty full tank. We stopped briefly at the top to give ourselves a bit of rest and bring down the heart rate. The climbs weren't done yet as we needed to climb one more hill, slightly less tougher than the first one. 

Here there were the 2 legendary UK riders who were serving tea and water for the tired riders motivating them. We reached Bernard Castle by 4:00pm. Again we hurriedly got done with formalities ate our lunch and headed out. Bernard Castle to Malton was another tough stretch with 1200+ elevation. This time the route was different than what we took northbound. It was gradual elevation, but climbs were never ending. The steep descents had gravel on the road, which was bit risky. Certain stretches go through the well developed and neatly maintained communities, it was real fun riding around here. It was around midnight and we just had about 10kms to go, but it was getting tougher, I was joking that even these 10kms might have 10 climbs and it really was so. Even the last 2kms had steep climbs. The elevation graph does not show these minute spikes, so we were not anticipating them. We reached Malton tired and sleepy, it was perfect time for our 2hr nap. The dormitory was a long way from control, we still went about so as to get peaceful sleep. Volunteers woke us up at 4:00am and we headed to Hessle after quick snack. 

After Hessle is the famous Humber bridge, its nearly about 1.4 kms long, its UK's longest single suspension bridge.

At Hessle we took opportunity to get rid of additional warm clothes into the drop bag so that we are lighter. Here again we cleaned the chain with wet tissue and lubed it. From Hessle we still had about 350+kms to ride and about 32hrs left with about 4hrs of buffer. From Hessle to Louth and Boston was bit tougher due to the headwinds, but nevertheless we had done with all the big climbing and it was getting easier and we could generate more buffer and we took rest at St Ives for the regular 2hr break at night. 

At Louth, me and Prasad were very thirsty and we saw a rider came to us and asked what are we looking for, we wanted water and juice. He took us to a nearby supermarket, gentleman's name was Venice. We had a good chat about the ride, cold at night and hot sun in the day and then we all resumed our journey.

Between Boston to St Ives it was around 8:00pm and on the right side we could see the sun set and within minutes, we were lucky to see the moon rising over the wheat/barley fields, it was as if there is no place for darkness, it was beautiful moon with the foreground of golden wheat field, but pictures could not do justice to what we saw. Around early morning, we saw a rider fixing a flat tyre, we offered help, but he was good, he asked if I can give him an extra tube, which I offered as between me and Prasad we had 3 more tubes.

Sun set

Moonrise

From St Ives to Great Easton we had company of Monish and Pritish, it was relatively easier 70kms going through Cambridge University and it was one last control at Great Easton, it's a small school which only provided food and shower. We were very well placed with more than 8hrs buffer and this 45kms we were almost on an easy mode, which made us bit sleepy, so we had to pick up pace to stay awake.

We reached Devanant School, Debden at 9:00am, it was after 120.5hrs of hard work done covering 1550kms over 5 days and 5 nights about ~8 hrs ahead of allotted 128 hrs. Even though we were prepared for rains, we were lucky it didn't rain.

Every long ride teaches us something new, makes us stronger and prepare for future. LEL has been a great learning exercise on training, planning, clothing, preparing for cold, rains, climbs and more climbs, how critical every night sleep of 2hrs, of all the things, navigation is the best learning. Without navigation, it's nearly impossible to ride. Garmin Edge 520+ was most useful and with rwgps and bikegpx as backup. With so many lessons learnt, LEL was an unforgettable experience.

Thanks to wonderful Organisers who have been planning for years to make it a successful event, selfless volunteers at LEL who almost were awake for more than 48hrs continuously to support all the riders. Thanks to Bangalore Randonneurs and Mohan sir for all the help and guidance throughout this entire journey. Thanks to my parents, my in-laws, Sushma, Ananya for all the support and motivation.