Chintamani (200 Kilometer Brevet)

Date: 1 November 2017

Total distance: 200 Kilometers

Start Time: 5:30 am

Return Time:  pm

With: Rajkumar Khot

Altitude Profile:
Kanteerava Stadium – Chikkaballapur – Chintamani – Kolar – Kanteerava Stadium

Its the start of the 2017-18 brevet season and I have been looking forward to this year as this is the pre-registration year for PBP. Am looking forward to warming up for the long distance rides by going for the SR series rides and hoping to do the SR series comfortably so that it will serve as a confidence booster for the 1,000 kilometer ride scheduled for 15 December, 2017.

I have not been able to ride as often as I would have liked to, however this is an opportunity to get back on the saddle and to ride regularly. The rains have receded and the weather is beginning to turn cold. Have made a few additions on the apparel front and also this will be my first brevet on the Trek 1.5.

November 1st came by pretty quickly, even though I had made plans to prepare for the upcoming rides, I could not manage to ride due to work commitments and the rains playing havoc was a huge deterrent. I had restarted jogging and after a couple of runs I was feeling confident about my legs being able to handle a run and in my eagerness to run I managed to hurt the ligaments in the feet and the left feet was hurting very badly. I went for this run on October 25 which resulted in the injury and sat back after that and hoped that I would recover in time to be able to ride. Although the leg still hurts, I was able to cycle and did not feel any discomfort in the feet. Walking and running is still a problem, however cycling was possible.

Rajkumar had also registered for the ride. We expected it to be a straight forward ride and knew that we could complete the ride. Being the first brevet of the season and as it was a 200km ride, there was a huge turnout for the ride. There were close to 70 registrations and the usual faces were also present. We planned to start at 4:30 am from my place as the ride was scheduled to start at 5:30 am.

We started promptly at 4:30 am from my place and rode to the new start point which is at Konark Hotel in Kanteerava Stadium. There was a huge crowd and as expected there was a delay in the start time since all the formalities had to be completed for the riders.

The ride was flagged off at 5:50 am and we were told that 20 minutes would be added to the cut-off times at each control due to the delay. As soon as the ride started a few riders took off very quickly. Rajkumar and I were in the front of the pack and rode quickly through the city. In a few minutes I realised that we were also quick off the blocks and had opened up the gap to the rest of the riders. As it was a familiar route we kept the pace up and soon we were out of the city and were on the Airport road.

As this is familiar territory and with no climbs in today's ride we were pushing just below limit. Although it was sun rise there was a heavy cloud cover and the Sun barely made an appearance. The wind though was beginning to take wings and it did slow us a little. It was a head wind and I wanted to ride quickly to Chikkaballapur so that we can avoid the head wind from there as we turn right.

We took just under 2 hours to get to the Nandi turn. The rolling terrain continued and after a couple of steep flyovers we were in the vicinity of Chikkaballapur. The cloud cover was heavy and the view of the horizon was hazy which impeded the view of the majestic Nandi Hills from the flyover on Airport Road. It was disappointing that the view was blocked and I was denied a photo opportunity.

Just before reaching Chikkaballapur town we stopped at the HDFC ATM to take a pic which was confirmation that we had reached Chikkaballapur. We rode into Chikkaballapur without wasting much time. The Karnataka Rajyostava parade was on in Chikkaballapur. I checked with Rajkumar if he wanted to stop for breakfast and he was ok to continue riding. We had carried fruits and chikki as refreshments for the ride and decided to survive on this till the manned control point at Chintamani.

The first few kilometers from Chikkaballapur towards Sidlaghatta is not in good condition. Road work is in progress and the road has a lot of potholes which made riding difficult. Coupled with the waning energy levels made it difficult to ride. The ride slowed down as we made slow progress through the bad roads. The road condition improved after Sidlaghatta, however our pace had dropped and we were laboring towards Chintamani. Knowing that refreshments would be available at the control point it was a motivation to ride a little quicker. The view of the hills was a marker and I knew that Chintamani was not far off when I saw the hills.

I was looking forward to the control point and kept pushing myself to get to the control point as I would be able to get a rest there. I was beginning to cramp and jogging on the wheels was difficult and I was restricted to riding on the saddle. I was disappointed that I was beginning to cramp after just a 100 kilometer ride. I did not have any doubts about completing the ride, however I knew that I was in for a difficult afternoon if the situation worsened. I passed by the place which was the control point during the previous year and having assumed that this was the same route and the control point was the same I thought that we had arrived before the organisers could get to the control point. It was not a very good thought as I would have to continue pedaling and the rest stop did not seem to be happening in the near term.

As I got closer to Chintamani, I opted to call Alok, the organiser and enquired about the control point. Just as I was asking him about the location, I saw them ahead and was relieved to see them. Stopped at the control, filled up the bottles, got the brevet card signed and then ate Bisi Bele Bath which the organisers had arranged for. A few biscuits and a little sprite later I was ready to get back on the road. The legs were feeling better after the rest and I knew that I could pedal quickly.

Although we did not intend to, the stop at the control point cost us 30 minutes. It was a long stop and the clock was ticking towards 11:00 am when we started. Deep Singh Ranawat had also reached the control point just after us and he joined us for the rest of the ride. The ride from Chintamani to Kolar is beautiful as the roads are largely good and are lined with trees on both sides. Another aspect of this route is that it is mainly downhill. Although it was a downhill route, we rode slowly and relaxed on the downhill's. We began to accelerate a little as we got into Kolar. However, when we reached Kolar we were stuck in a traffic jam and lost a lot of time in getting to the KSRTC Bus Stand which was the next control point.

We reached Kolar Bus Stand at 12:25 pm. We still had banana's left and although it was time for lunch, we decided to ride further since we had fruits with us. I was hopeful that if we could ride about 40 kilometers in an hour and a half then we could ride all the way without stopping for lunch. However, 40 kilometers in one and a half hours would be a difficult ask on the Kolar - Bangalore highway given that it is famous for head winds.

Just as we made it out of Kolar we ate a couple of bananas. To our surprise we had a tail wind and that got us going. We hit a steady speed and kept eating away at the kilometers. We got past Narsapura and as we got closer to Tavarekere the hunger pangs were beginning to bite. I kept sipping on water to subside the hunger and kept pedaling. The area had received a lot of rainfall and we came across a lake which was non-existent on the previous rides over the past 2 years. The sight of the lake was refreshing and kept me going.

We were about 10 kilometers from Hoskote when we decided that we might as well stop for lunch since we would have to wait for the organisers to arrive at the finish point to submit the brevet cards. The organisers were scheduled to arrive only at 5:30 pm and we were on course to reach at 3:15 pm. Since we had a lot of time on hand we decided to stop for lunch.  We stopped at Nandi Grand which is 3 kilometers before Hoskote, ate a south meal and were back on the saddle in 30 minutes.

It was a quick lunch and we were back on the road. The Sun was still hiding behind the clouds and we were fortunate to have ridden the entire stretch without the Sun sapping our energy reserves. As we reached Hoskote, the flyovers came by and when we made it past the  flyovers it reminded me that I was tired and was struggling to make it to the top quickly.

With KR Puram approaching quickly, I prepared myself for the KR Puram bridge and wanted to ride up as quickly as I could. There was a lot of traffic and unfortunately for me I had a slow start as I was stuck in a pocket of traffic. I pushed myself to keep pedaling and made it to the top. I was disappointed that I could not make it to the top quickly. What welcomed me at the top was a traffic jam and I had to ride on the bumpy footpath to make it to the bottom of the bridge. It was a painful experience as my body was aching and having to tax it on the descent was asking for too much.

The ride from KR Puram Bridge to MG Road was a ride through traffic filled roads and we had to intermittently get onto the footpath to avoid the traffic. Once onto MG Road we rode steadily and made it to Konark restaurant. We reached at 3:45 pm. Took the selfie and then began the long wait for the organisers to arrive. We spent 2 hours lazing around at the finish point and submitted our brevet cards at 5:45 pm when the organisers came by.