I woke up at 4.30am and quickly checked the weather report and it showed 40% chances of rain for 3 days and took the raincoat and shoe cover, after getting down to the hotel lobby saw that it rained overnight but not raining then so decided not to wear the raincoat and shoe cover and left to the start point, reached start point 15 min before start time(6am), got bike check done and had two bananas and bread and jam arranged by organizers. With 11 riders, Ride started on time and it started to drizzle and few riders zoom past me and I was not sure about the road conditions till the city exit so went slowly and rain intensity started increasing, after reaching the high way it started raining heavy and there is no place to stop. After 5km’s there was a bridge and I stopped under it and wore jacket and shoe covers. And in this time everyone crossed me. I started within 5 min’s and kept going slowly, it kept raining heavy and in few places water was knee deep. And water started going into the shoes, and felt slight head wind so I realized rain is crossing us and expected if I go fast enough , might be able to cross the rain section and started increasing the pace, and started crossing the riders. After 50km I saw the last rider who is taking a break and I have continued, I thought one more rider is in front of me and started pushing, around 130km near Harihara Bridge rain stopped for a bit and I took a quick break and had dry fruits quickly and continued within 5 mins. By 1pm I have crossed 160km and rain is still continuing, I thought it will be risky to continue any further as I was already reaching the burnout levels and water bottles were empty, saw an empty hotel stopped and ordered curd rice and dal had it, filled my water bottles, in 30 mins I am on road again, while I was filling my bottles saw a rider crossing me, I have shouted but he couldn’t hear me and quickly I started, but I couldn’t see him, I thought he stopped in the next hotel. From here rain intensity started increasing from 184km’s it was raining crazy that not able to see the road properly, negative thoughts started sipping in and I am telling myself few more km’s probably, few more Km’s. and from 187km’s , wow suddenly its dry road, I have continue for 1 km crossed a small bridge and chain started making lot of noise, quickly stopped to clean and lube the chain and started again in 5 min.
From here it was chasing the cloud’s phase, thick clouds are visible from a distance and it is getting ready to rain, if I can cross 5km’s quickly I might be able to escape so kept pushing, reached the CP1 at 220km by 4pm, I didn’t want to go into the hotel, outside I saw a candy shop went there had a fruit juice and purchased mango candy (which I forgot to buy in Hyderabad) and energy bar. And continued with in 10 mins. Now I had emergency food covered so I can push without any worry about food break. Kept continuing slowly tried to increase the pace as conditions started becoming favourable. By 6pm after Hiriyur around 260, there was a road works diversion and lot of heavy vehicles were there and started suffocating in traffic and suddenly sweat went into both eyes while I was behind a lorry, with burning eyes quickly finished the section and I stopped at chai shop to wash my face had a cool drink, took some salt and had little bit snacks in the store and continued. Now I started having calculations in my head, I am in the front and next rider is minimum 1 hour behind, I can’t wait for them, after 330km’s there is a single track road and need to cross villages, if I am too late it can become a challenge to cross at midnight, I need to sleep on first night and start to Mysore by 4am at least for that I need to reach at least by 2am to sleep point, so started pushing to next CP. Next CP is a toll gate and I am not sure, if I cross the CP, I will get any food or not, by 7:45 around 293 I saw KAMAT hotel, and it is accessible from the highway so quickly stopped had a South Indian Thalli and took 10 mins break after the dinner and again continued by 8:15pm and reached CP2 at 304km by 8:50pm, took a photo posted in group and continued. I was not still sure about continuing alone after 330 but pushed further.
My phone went into sleep mode at 8:30 and I forgot to disable it at CP and kept pushing further, after sometime I took a loo break and checked the phone, 5 missed calls from organizers, quickly called back they asked my where about and I have continued, organizers vehicle caught up with me and I filled my water bottles and had few bananas and kept few to eat after sometime. I told my confusion to Shivanand and he asked me not to stop for others as they are too far and continue as per my plan. I told them I will try to reach sleep point by 2am and continued further. By10:30 I have exited Bangalore high way (335m) and took diversion into Tumakuru city. From here gradually it started becoming empty roads and after another 10km pitch dark roads with no traffic, due to wet shoes bottom of the feet started giving pain, in my mind, sooner I reach the sleep point safer I am so let’s push. I have reached kunigal in no time and luckily organizers were waiting for me to cross a critical turning as that location had too many dogs, while I was crossing he said almost reached, I checked my head unit, 15km left and my legs started giving up due to discomfort, water damaged the bottom of the feet and each pedal stroke is giving sharp pain, still I pushed further and reached the sleep point 395km, by 1:20am. I have saved 40 mins and had a second dinner (curd rice dal) and went to my room along with my cycle. As I removed the muddy shoe cover I felt something needs to be done, as water is inside the shoe, but after removing the feet I realized, it is my own sweat that caused the discomfort so I removed the shoe sole and kept the shoe in front of the air conditioner went, took bath. Went to sleep while organizers also getting ready to sleep. At 2.30 I kept alarm for 4:30am and went to sleep. Due to rain damage to the body, that much recovery time is needed for the body to dry up completely. I woke up by 4am before the alarm and started organizing everything. Shoes are completely dry now and they were looking like freshly washed shoes. I kept an extra chain in the drop bag, I have changed the chain, and it took longer than my estimated time. I wore fresh clothes refilled my chocolates stash and by 5:30 I started from Sleep Point. With a target to reach back by 6:30pm (220km Stretch).
It’s a new clear sky day with Full moon greeting, felt very good to continue at good pace again. This stretch is mostly double way roads with no dividers and crossing villages along the way. After 30 mins, watched full moon in the right side and sunrise in the left side, felt refreshing and started pushing again. At 455km’s near Bellale had breakfast (puri and pulav with onion raita) and continued within 15 mins. Sun started beating down and it started becoming harder to keep pushing further, with one 5mins cool drinks and salt break at 10am, kept continuing, by the time I entered Mysore bottles were empty but I didn’t want to fill the bottles till climb is over. Luckily just before the climb turning saw a Nariel shop and had one and continued the Hill climbing, it took 40 mins to reach the U-turn point. Took photo posted in the group. Made few calls to home and now hydration time, as the next CP is a hotel I can have lunch there. Had sugar cane juice, watermelon and one goli soda, filled the water bottles and off I go to next CP. On the way did a routing mistake and went off route by 1km and came back again to the route and reached the CP (532) by 1:20pm. Had a South Indian thali and took 10 mins break after the lunch and started at 2Pm again. At 550kms riders started crossing me from the opposite side, they are at least 100km behind me so I thought, today night also again alone ride. With one water break in between reached the sleep point by 6PM (615km). Ordered a watermelon juice and went to the room finished chain lube and took bath changed the dress and tried to sleep for one hour but I couldn’t as it is not the usual sleep time, wasted one hour for no reason.
By 8:30pm came down to the restaurant, ordered curd rice and dal and had a watermelon juice again, filled bottles. Checked the weather forecast turns out 50% chances for rain and headwinds all the way to the finish point. Till Tumakuru it is empty roads and I need to go alone, if I start late it may become challenging to cross and with rain scare it is better to cross the section and reach Bangalore high way and depending on the situation decide about the night sleep. I have an emergency sleeping sheet that can be used. Target is to reach tumkuru by midnight.
Started from Sleep point at 9.30pm started riding slowly at first and due to trying to sleep in the hotel, as soon as I was on the saddle I started feeling sleepy, but anyway I need to go ahead and from there struggle started, to avoid sleepy feeling started shouting songs randomly to avoid sleepy feeling after crossing kunigal a dog kept chasing me, to avoid any complications I have stopped and walked for some time again continued the ride, due to that I am fully awake again and continued at normal pace. By midnight I have entered Tumakuru City but I was feeling too much sleepy by now and there was a bad road section with a under pass as soon as I entered the under pass due to bad patch I went into the ditch faster than needed and front tire had a big hit and I thought tyre survived and from the other side while climbing I have cross chained too far and while climbing out of that under pass had to apply full power and chain suddenly snapped and luckily I was able to control the fall. After inspection understood that quick link broke and walked to the next street light and used a new quick link to fix the chain. Then noticed that front tyre lost the air, understood the situation and changed the tube. Around 40 mins wasted here due to lapse of concentration. Again kept continuing and reached Bangalore high way. Lot of Volvo busses were going and I was feeling sleepy, slight hallucination feelings started. I wanted to reach the next CP(705Km) and take rest after that but traffic on the high way gave me Pune accident vibes and hallucination feeling and suddenly it started to drizzle, quickly started searching for lodges along the way, stopped few times to check in the google maps but not getting any nearby suggestions. Kept continuing, by 1:40am saw a lodge that is accessible from the highway and went there, booked a room kept the cycle in a safe place and forgot to turn off rear lights and went to the room to sleep with only mobile and head unit with me. (Retrospectively it was a very good decision as it rained very heavily while I was sleeping till 5am) I kept alarm in the watch and the phone for 4:30 but somehow I turned the phone alarm off in sleep. As I kept the watch little further, it kept on ringing. Finally at 5:30am I woke up and finished washroom break, I was not happy with the way I have managed my time after I reached sleep point by 6pm previous day, in 12 hours I have covered only 71km’s. When I was about to start chain kept slipping due to lot of mud in the cassette, after little bit fiddling, decided to use third cog from the bottom and use only front chain ring shifting for riding.
Final day ride started at 5:50am with wet roads with a little drizzle still going on, my plan was to go to the finish point directly with least number of breaks. So time management started from start itself. Reached the 705km CP by 6:40am after posting the photo, kept continuing. I was eating the mango candy and kept riding, by 7:30 had half of the Energy bar and had the second half at 8:30 and kept riding and constant pace. It was cloudy weather and there was a rain scare, so I was worried about rain also. By 10:40 I have reached Chitradurga and another 220km left to the finish point, I took a selfie in front of the CP1(220km left) so that organizers will get the information about my whereabouts and kept going at constant pace. After 20km’s took a cool drink and salt break and continued further. By now it started becoming sunny but manageable. I pushed for another 50 km’s and took lunch break at 2pm. Shared my location details in the group saying 153km left and had my lunch, Curd rice with egg bhurji and topped it up with fruit salad with honey. After lunch cleaned the chain and put some lube. Took 15 mins break and started at 3:10pm. From here headwinds started to cause discomfort, with two water and salt breaks in between, reached the next CP (955km) by 7:53pm. I was thinking about dinner break but noticed that stars are not visible and in distance there was lightening signs so decided to stop at the finish point only. Next 20km turned out very difficult for me as the strong winds along with slight climbing section caused lot of discomfort to keep going. By the time I finished the Toll section, I finished both the water bottles and still 35km’s to reach the finish point, I couldn’t find any water stops also but on the bright side this section is mostly downhill so no need to worry till finish point. Kept going at constant pace, only pedalling when it is required. By 10:45 reached the finish point. This is my first BRM in which I was in the front and rode solo ride whole time, I never faced this type of scenario, at first, and it was a challenging situation to not go faster than needed. I have maintained a zone 2 effort as much as possible. In the return leg I removed the speed fields in the head units so that I don’t have to worry about the speed which can burn me out. Kept only remaining distance and time parameters and concentrated on going at an easy pace as much as possible. Few decisions that took during the ride were turned out to be very helpful. Overall enjoyed the ride thoroughly.
Comentarios