Hassan (400 Kilometer Brevet)

Date: 22 July 2017

Total distance: 404 Kilometers

Start Time: 5:30 am 22 July 2017

Return Time:  4:50 am 23 July 2017

With: Rohit B V and Ruban Raju

Altitude Profile:
Lavelle Road – Tumkur - Arsikere - Hassan - Channarayapatna - Lavelle Road

I had to ride a 400 km BRM to complete my second SR for 2016-17. The 400 BRM was scheduled to start at 5:30 am on 22 July 2017. The route was announced and it was a repeat of last year's Hassan 400BRM. Ride to Tumkur, Arsikere, Hassan, Yadiyur and back. The route was not exciting as I had done it before, but as it was the last 400BRM for this season by the Bangalore Randonneurs I opted to ride it.

As the cycle choice was pre-decided, although there was a temptation to try the Trek Alpha 1.5, as I wanted this to be an MTB SR, the Merida was prepped for the ride. I had to change the tires as I was averaging at least one puncture on the recent rides. Knowing that having a puncture would be de-motivating on the long rides, I opted for the safer route of changing the tires. A quick trip to RR cycles where I got 26" Kenda Tires in place of the stock Merida Tires on which I had done over 10,000 kms. Have been told that the Kenda  tires will last me 25,000 kilometers if used for city rides, will have to wait and see how it pans out for my usage.

I set the alarm for 3:30 am. Woke up before the alarm rang and got ready. I started from home at 4:30 am and rode slowly through the city. Opted for the inner ring road route to avoid the bad roads near NGV and Viveknagar, however I got my wakeup call near the Domlur flyover when the dogs were back to chase me. Slowed down to a crawl and picked up the pace just a little after getting past the dogs and rode slowly to the start point.

I reached the start point around 5:15 am. The start formalities were completed and the wait began for the route briefing and completion of start formalities of the other riders. Alok briefed us on the route and the ride was flagged off at 5:36 am. 6 minute late start with the assurance that the end time would be pushed by 6 minutes if required.

We had 33 starters and I was slow to start with. I found myself in the middle of the pack. The guys on road bikes up front began to accelerate when they got onto Queens Road. I followed suit and increased my pace in my bid to stay close to them. Further, having done the route I knew that if I could do a quick 100 kilometers as it was a downhill gradient, it will help when the ride gets difficult in the next 100 kilometers.

It was a quick ride through the city and then across the Peenya flyover. I began to catch up with a few riders who were feeling the effect of the quick pace when I got close to Dabbaspet. Spoke for a couple of minutes with Mohan Kumar whom I had met on the Horsley Hills brevet before I rode ahead. The Sun was hiding behind the clouds and the wind had not picked up as yet. I wanted to get as far as possible before the wind begins to make an appearance. I got to the Tumkur bypass and then rode quickly to the control point.

It was 8:24 am when I got to the control point. About 10 riders had reached and were taking the pic as proof of having reached. Few riders were hanging around waiting for the canteen to open at the control point. I did not plan to wait around as I had fixed Hakki Goodu restaurant as the place for breakfast which was 10 kilometers ahead. I synced up with Ruban, Sachin, Aatish riders from previous brevets and Rohit a new face on the brevet circuit and told them about my breakfast halt and began riding. They also decided to have it at the same place and came along. It took 25 minutes to cover the distance to the restaurant, quickly placed the order for water and idly vada. In spite of planning to make this a quick 15-20 minute stop, it stretched to 30 minutes before we resumed the ride.

Ruban and Rohit rode ahead as they were quick, Sachin, Aatish and I were riding together. We crossed Gubbi and rode steadily towards Nittur. When we reached Nittur we had covered 100 kilometers. I had done the 100 kilometers in 4 hours 6 minutes, just overshot the 4 hour mark by a few minutes. I was happy with the pace, albeit I knew that the pace was bound to come down as we would have to start climbing. Further the Sun and wind were out and were making life difficult on the saddle. A few kilometers ahead we saw Rohit and Suresh had stopped to stretch their muscles before resuming. Again, Rohit pulled away on the restart and few more kilometers before Aatish began to feel the effects of the ride and wanted to stop. I rode ahead as I was not too tired.

Took about half an hour when I saw that Ruban, Rohit, Suresh and 3 riders from Chennai had stopped for a break. We were almost at KB Cross and I told them that Coconut water is available at KB cross and that we could make the stop there. We resumed the ride and got a downhill stretch which took us to KB cross earlier than expected. We stopped for Coconut water, I refilled on water and resumed the ride after recharging with electrolyte filled coconut water.

We had a little over 20 kilometers to cover to Tiptur. I wanted to have lunch at Arsikere as I planned to reach Arsikere by 2:30 pm. The plan was to have fruits/juice at Tiptur and then riding to Arsikere. With this as the plan we began the ride. The riders from Chennai and Suresh fell behind and it was Rohit, Ruban and me riding together. Rohit was doing the pace setting and I sat behind Ruban as the Sun had turned up the heat and the wind had turned up its force. I kept reminding myself that the difficulty was for a further 100 kilometers and from that point the wind would change to a tail wind and would become my ally and hoped that the wind would continue to blow when I reached Hassan. The climbs were becoming slow and the downhill's were being used to recover energy.

It was 12:20 pm, we were about 10 kilometers from Tiptur when we had a minor hiccup, fortunately it was not a major one. We were riding on the left, when we were passed by a tractor. As there was a bus coming from the opposite side, the tractor weaved further to the left leaving Rohit very little room to maneuver. He stopped pedaling, Ruban who was right behind him had nowhere to go when Rohit almost brought his cycle to a stop and hit Rohit's cycle and fell. Fortunately he was not hurt, neither was there any damage on both the cycles. We took a few minutes to gather ourselves and a few more minutes analysing the fall. The result of the fall was that it pushed our arrival time to Tiptur.

We restarted the ride and reached Tiptur at 12:45 pm. I was feeling hungry and the energy level was beginning to drop. I had to make a stop for fruits at least, however Rohit wanted to stop for lunch. As we had made our way past the town we had to stop at a small hotel and although we had our apprehensions of the quality of the food we made our way in since we did not have any better options ahead. Suresh had caught up with us and joined us for lunch.

I had lime rice, curd rice, omlette and jeera soda and filled myself up. It seemed like we had spent only 30 minutes at lunch, however it was 50 minutes and we were falling behind on time a little. We started riding and in about 10 kilometers began to catch up and pass by few of the riders who had gone past us when we had stopped for lunch. The Sun and wind seemed to be having an effect on all the riders and everyone seemed to be labouring towards Arsikere CCD as we went past. We made it quickly to Arsikere town and then rode past it to CCD. We pulled into CCD at 3:00 pm, quickly took the pic and then started the ride towards Hassan. When we got back into Arsikere town we realised that we were low on water and had to make a stop for water. The water break became a rest break as we had Jeera Soda as we refilled water.

After a 15 minute break we resumed riding. I knew that there would be a lot of climbing to be done and braced myself for the climb. The Sun and wind were at the peak of their powers at this time and it was a struggle to keep the wheels turning. When we reached the small one kilometer hill, I was able to handle it better than the last time and had sufficient energy in the tank to ride on. Rohit was feeling the heat and we made a small stop to recover after the climb. When we resumed, we were able to ride faster and made it quickly to the railway crossing. Rohit was out of water and we stopped at a bakery to fill up on water as we still had 14 kilometers to get to Hassan and we would be climbing those 14 kilometers. I took the opportunity to have a dil pasand and since it is a sweet it was a refill of my energy reserve.

When we started the ride, Suresh had joined us, however as we were rested we were able to ride faster and rode ahead. I was struggling in this section, Rohit and Ruban were pulling away from me easily and I was able to catch up with them because of the bad roads. They had to slow down and ride carefully over the pot holes, whereas I was making full use of the new MTB tires and riding roughshod in the pot holes and carrying speed which helped me to catch up. As we got closer to Hassan, there was a slight drizzle. I stopped, packed my phone and continued riding. Took a little time, but was able to catch up with Rohit and Ruban. The rain disappeared as soon as I caught up with Rohit and Ruban, we were 5 kilometers from Hassan. The gradient reduced as we got closer and we made quick progress, as we did not have to enter the city, it helped as we were close to the highway, took the left and in the next 5 minutes we were at Patanjali restaurant and were welcomed by Alok.

It was 6:05 pm when we reached the restaurant. Only 2 riders had checked in before us. Submitted the brevet cards for updation of the timings at the control points. We freshened up, ate curd rice and drank lime juice. As we were eating it began to rain. The thought of riding in the rain was not appealing however we did not have another option as waiting out the rain was not one. Fortunately by the time we were ready to leave, it had stopped raining, but the flip side of the rain was that there was no wind either.

We started from the control point at 6:30 pm. Initially we had planned to have dinner at Yadiyur, however, as we had reached the control point later than expected it looked like we would have to stop at Channarayapatna for dinner. We decided to take a call about dinner on reaching Channarayapatna. The start was a little slow as we had to climb to Shanti Grama, however what followed was a very quick ride towards Channarayapatna. I could not keep up with the road bikes as they were going past me with ease even though I was pedaling as fast as my cycle could go and also my legs were allowing me to. Rohit and Ruban had ridden ahead, their tail lights were visible and that kept me going. I would close the gap when there was an uphill and the gap would open again in the downhill. In the midst of catching up with Rohit and Ruban, we reached Channarayapatna at 8:00 pm. We stopped for a break to take a call on dinner. We had 40 kilometers to get to Bellur Cross and I wanted to ride all the way as I knew that we would get there max by 10:00 pm. However Rohit was doubtful and wanted to stop midway for dinner. With no resolution in sight we decided to ride till Hirisave before taking a call.

The ride slowed a bit after Channarayapatna as we had to climb a little. However as we got close to Hirisave the pace had picked up again. We made short work of the distance and were at Hirisave by 8:45 pm. We made a stop at a bakery to refill on water and bought a few snacks for the road. As we had overshot the town we did not have food options and had to ride till Bellur Cross for food. We resumed the ride and were on the lookout for food options mid way if any. However the ride from Hirisave to Bellur Cross was quick and we made it to Bellur Cross by 9:45 pm and headed to Mayura restaurant and checked if dinner was available. We were relieved when they confirmed that dinner was available.

Dinner took almost an hour and it was just after 10:45 pm when we started. The ride from Bellur Cross to Yadiyur was quick again. We made it to the CCD after Yadiyur at 11:15 pm. Suresh had gone past us and three riders were at CCD when we reached. A quick stop at CCD when we clicked pics and then resumed the ride.

I was apprehensive about the ride from Yadiyur to Solur and knew that I would be slow in this section as it involved climbing. I told Rohit and Ruban to ride ahead as I did not want to slow them down, however they said that they wouldn't ride ahead. We decided that we would take a break at Kunigal and then another at Nelamangala. I tried to keep up with Ruban and Rohit, however I was beginning to struggle and keeping up had become difficult. I kept pushing on as they were still in sight. I caught up with them near Kunigal when they had stopped for a break. I rested for 5 minutes before starting out slightly before Rohit and Ruban started so that I get a head start.

It took just one downhill stretch for them to catch up with me, however by now they were also feeling the effect of the ride and had slowed down a little. We rode just over 30 minutes when we were out of water and had to refill. We stopped at a bakery and refilled. I looked at the strava recording to check the distance completed and realised that I had not restarted the ride after the CCD stop at Yadiyur. I had lost 23 kilometers of recording. Realised my folly of manually stopping and starting the ride which I was doing pretty well as long as I was not tired.

We resumed the ride and made slow progress towards Solur. It was slow since we were very quick during the day and also till Yadiyur. During the Shivamogga 600 BRM I had ridden even slower on this stretch and still made it in time. So on the time front I knew that I had nothing to worry as I was well placed. I had over 7 hours to cover 50 kilometers. We were about 20 kilometers from Solur and when we resumed the ride we were quicker than just before the stop. However, it lasted for about 30 minutes before the tiredness set in again. I was feeling sleepy as well although it did not necessitate stopping for a break.

With about 10 kilometers to get to Solur, I was beginning to feel better as the climbing was going to end and the ride would ease out after that. Every kilometer completed from here was a motivating factor. However, as we reached Solur, Rohit was tired and wanted to stop for a break. I stopped at a bus stop and set out the stall of refreshments. I had chikki and biscuits which I set up on the bench. Ruban was not interested and before Rohit could start on it, I had finished a small packet of good day biscuits. Rohit finished a packet, Ruban did not eat anything so I was still left with a packet of hide and seek biscuits. It was 1:50 am; I was very sleepy and did not realise when I dozed off. It was 2:15 am when I woke up, I saw that Ruban and Rohit were also asleep. I woke them up and told them that we had to get going.

It was getting cold and my fingers were hurting when we resumed the ride. It was a downhill stretch when we restarted and I did not enjoy it since it only made me feel colder. I was happy when I had to restart pedaling since I could warm the body up. It took just 5 minutes of pedaling and I was back to normal. The benefit of being able to sleep was that I was not tired anymore and was back to pedaling quickly. It helped that there were long downhill stretches and before I knew it we were at Nelamangala. We took a 5 minute break at Nelamangala and resumed the ride.

The ride from Nelamangala to Peenya was quick again. I was fully recharged and was pedaling like the day had just started for me. Made it past the Peenya flyover and took another break as Rohit was tired and was having a saddle sore. We resumed and made quick work of getting into the city. Rode past Sankey tank, I was riding in front, I made the mistake of entering the underpass near Cauvery Theatre. The road was in very bad condition near the cattle trap, Rohit and I managed to get away, however, Ruban must have suffered a puncture here. In our bid to complete the ride in 23 hours, Rohit and I did not notice that Ruban had fallen behind. I was concentrating on the Windsor Manor climb and was pedaling hard to carry as much speed as possible up the slope. After getting past the climb I continued to ride fast and when I got to Queens Road I realised that only Rohit was behind and Ruban was missing. Since we were less than half a kilometer from the finish we continued riding assuming that Ruban would come by in a few minutes.

We pulled up at Airlines hotel and were welcomed by Sanath who was waiting for the riders to come. 3 riders had finished the ride before us. We submitted the brevet cards and dug into the refreshments which Sanath had got. The clock was ticking away and Ruban had not reached as yet. We waited for about 30 minutes and he had not come as yet. I guessed that he must have had a puncture or a mechanical issue and was surprised that he had tried to fix the problem rather than riding on as we were less than 2 kilometers from the finish. I wanted to wait, however just as 3 more riders came by the cops also came doing their rounds and told us to leave. They did not like that refreshments were being given to the cyclists and asked for it to be removed immediately. I rode back home for some much needed sleep and rest.