Palace on Wheels (600 Kilometer Brevet)

Date: 3 March 2018 - 4 March 2018

Total distance: 602 Kilometers

Start Time: 4:00 am 3 March 2018

Return Time: 7:00 pm 4 March 2018

With: Raghu Nandan (first 60 kilometers), Venkatesh Anbazhagan (from 280 kilometers till the end)

Altitude Profile:

Mangaluru - Puttur - Sullia - Madikeri - Kushalnagar - Mysuru - Kushalnagar - Madikeri - Sullia - Puttur - Mangaluru

February 2018 was a bad month with respect to cycling. I was unable to ride as I was playing hockey on all the weekends with an unexpected run in the tournament wherein we ended up winning the tournament. However, the cost of winning was steep as I sustained injuries right from the first match and by the end of the tournament I was left with a tear on the right and left hamstring muscles in addition to various inflammations on the fingers and bruises on the knees. I have recovered well on the right hamstring, however the left hamstring is still dicey and taking its time to recover.

In between the tournament, Mangaluru Randonneurs announced the 600 kilometer brevet route which was to be held on 3 March 2018. It was very tempting to ride since it passes through Kodagu and further I would get the opportunity of riding in Mangaluru which I have not done. The elevation gain being over 6,000 meters for the ride was a further motivating factor. The Twin Hills 600 with an elevation of 5,100 meters is the max that I have done for a 600 km ride and 6,000 meters elevation was the next step in terms of difficulty level.

Although I would have loved to get a practice ride in, I could not ride and spent most of my time recovering from the injuries. Using the cycle to commute is the only rides that I have been able to do in February and that does not add up to much as I do not commute on a daily basis.

Since I could not practice on the cycle, the focus shifted to getting to know the route. I have ridden from Madikeri to Mysuru and know that it is rolling terrain and not easy. As Mangaluru is near the Arabian Sea, there is an increase in gradient from Mangaluru to Madikeri and this would be the difficult part, further as I have not ridden this route the difficulty level would be slightly more. Am going in with the assumption that if I can make it to Madikeri in time then I will be able to complete this ride since the return from Madikeri to Mangaluru is downhill and Madikeri-Mysuru-Madikeri is relatively familiar territory.

Raghu Nandan had registered for the event as well. Mohan Sir and Shashi were tentative about their participation and dropped out in the last minute. So we were two riders from Bangalore. Raghu was going to drive to the event and offered to take me along. Raghu booked the room at Mangaluru and we decided to leave from Bangalore at 8:00 am on 2 March 2018. Raghu said that we would drive through Mysore so that we could recce the route.

We started at 8:30 am from Bangalore on 2 March 2018 and reached Mysuru by lunch time. We made a quick stop at Cyclopedia, the mid-point for the BRM and Raghu kept a drop bag at the location. We  had lunch and then started the drive towards Mangaluru. We took a slight detour to take a look at the Harangi back waters before heading to Madikeri. Since I knew the route till Madikeri I was not too attentive to the road till here. We reached Madikeri and stopped for a tea break. Raghu noticed that the drive to Harangi back waters had resulted in dust accumulating on his cycle chain as it was strapped onto the back and wanted to get to Taj cycles, Mangaluru before closing time so that he could get it cleaned. I had carried the rear lights but not the holder and needed to buy a rear light, so getting to Taj cycles was required for me too.

The recce started from Madikeri and as we headed downhill, we noticed that the road kept going down even after the initial descent of 30 kilometers and the road to Mangalore was mostly downhill. It looked like it was 150 kilometers of downhill and I was getting into a negative mindset about the ride as the start would be very difficult. I was having doubts about reaching Madikeri in time and words of encouragement from Raghu were not helping. We decided that we had come for the event and to give it our best shot and take things as they come.

We reached Taj Cycles at 8:00 pm, Raghu's cycle was cleaned, I got a rear light fixed, headed to the room, dinner, purchased some fruits and refreshments and by the time we were ready to sleep it was 10:30 pm. The alarm was set for 2:30 am.

I don't know if it was the heat or the recce which had blown my sleep away. I just could not sleep. I kept getting up to drink water and kept checking the time. I gave up trying to sleep and was thinking about how I would manage the ride without sleeping. The more I thought about the ride, the more uneasy I felt about it. Tried to take my mind off the ride and it was not working. Although I had a rough estimate of a plan before coming to Mangaluru, I knew that it was not feasible to do it and had to have an alternate plan. To cut the plan short, ride hard from the start and get to the foot of the climb with about 4 hours in hand which would ensure that even if I struggled on the climb I could make it to the top within the cut-off time. I could then take it relatively easy, recover and still push to get to the other control points in time. I divided the ride into 4 segments:

Segment	From	To	Distance	Time (Hrs)	Elevation (mtrs)
1	Mangaluru	Madikeri	155	10	3,200
2	Madikeri	Mysuru	155	10	1,400
3	Mysuru	Madikeri	155	10	1,600
4	Madikeri	Mangaluru	135	10	1,800
Total			600	40	8,000

Will not get into the details of the sub-segments, however, as the night wore on the plan kept getting more detailed. The clock struck 2:30 am and it was time to get ready. We reached the start point, Taj Cycles at 3:30 am and were the first riders to arrive. As we had parked our cycles at Taj Cycles the previous night we signed in and began to fix the number and other accessories to get the cycle ready. The other riders came in a little later and by 4:00 am we had 9 starters.

We were given a nutrition pack which comprised of a granola bar, a packet of cake, some mint candy, 2 electral sachets, some dry fruits and couple of packets of chikkis. We were briefed about the route and wished the best for the ride and the ride was waved off at 4:15 am. We were told that we would be given a buffer of 15 minutes as the start had been delayed.

Segment 1: Mangaluru - Madikeri   

The nine of us rode together for half a kilometer before Mohan, Venkatesh and Elango from Chennai and Raghu and I broke away from the remaining 4 riders. Mohan and Venkatesh raced ahead as Raghu and I made a couple of stops for a dropped bottle and a check for a puncture on the road. We had to ride towards Udupi for about 10 kilometers before making the turn back towards Mangaluru and then getting onto the Madikeri road. I was up to the max speed that I could push and could see that Raghu was holding back and waiting for me to go faster.

We opened the gap to Elango and pretty soon we were just 2 of us on the road. Mohan and Venkatesh had disappeared ahead and there was no sight of Elango behind. We got past the city limits and made quick progress through rolling terrain over the first 50 kilometers. We took just over 2 hours to do 50 kilometers and I was very happy with the progress. By the time it was day break we had done over 50 kilometers and I was beginning to feel the effects of pushing hard. Raghu was beginning to disappear in the horizon and my efforts to catch up were proving futile. I slowed down as I realised that I had 540 kilometers to go and pushing to catch up might be the end of the ride for me. I settled into my pace and rode towards Puttur. It was Sunrise time when I reached Puttur and a quick snap of the Orange Blob in the sky and I saw Raghu ahead. He had stopped as well to click a snap. Just as I was closing in, Mohan and Venkatesh zipped past, they had stopped for a break. When they went past Raghu, that was the last time I saw Raghu before the mid-point as he increased his pace and went chasing Mohan and Venkatesh.

The rolling terrain did not stop and things slowed down after Puttur as there was a lot of climbing to be done. The downhill's helped to keep the average pace up, but the elevation was beginning to take a toll on the legs. As I was quicker than I had expected, I was happy with the progress. A little push later I was at the first control point. I reached Jalsur at 8:15 am, 95 kilometers was done in 4 hours 15 minutes, a decent return for a ride in rolling terrain. The elevation gain up to this point was only 600 meters and as the temperature was cool in the morning it was not very difficult to get to this point.

The ride from Jalsur to Sullia was very quick as it was mainly downhill. I was taking note of the gradient and realised that this section would take time on the return. I stopped at Sullia for breakfast and had a rather heavy breakfast which comprised of three dosa's and semiya. I took about 30 minutes for breakfast and got back on the saddle. It was 9:00 am when I started and I had 50 kilometers to get to Madikeri which involved a 30 kilometer climb. Time was still of essence as I had to ride 20 kilometers in an hour to have a sufficient buffer for the climb.

Surprisingly I was able to ride quickly in rolling terrain. The intensity of the Sun was increasing and even though there was sufficient green cover around the road was pretty open and there was very little shade on the road. I reached Sampaje and stopped at a shop to refill on water and drank juice.

It was 10:15 am when I started and I hit the climb immediately. 28 kilometers to the top and the gradient was not much. the ride in the morning had me feeling very positive since I had ridden 120 kilometers in 6 hours including breaks and I was looking at getting past the climb very quickly. However, it took just three kilometers of the climb for me to realise that I was in for a long afternoon in the hills. What looked like a climb that I could finish in 2 1/2 hours was re-estimated at 4 hours and I was going to be pushing the clock to get to the control in time. Panic was beginning to set in that I might not be able to make it in time and the focus had shifted from enjoying the climb to thinking of the suffering to make it to the top. I stopped for a break to re-focus on the ride when I came across a section with shade.

When I got back on the saddle the riding did not get easier. The start was easy as I had rested, however, the effect of the rest wore off very quickly and the kilometers coming down in a trickle was not helping. What followed was a slow ride with intermittent breaks as the gradient increased and it did not let up. The situation was looking grim as I was taking breaks in the Sun and the heat was not allowing me to recover quickly. Water was being gulped down to keep hunger at bay as I did not want another distraction on the climb. A few candies were popped to help on the energy levels.

It took me almost 2 1/2 hours to cover 14 kilometers of the climb as I had taken long and short breaks in between. Elango had caught up with me and he was also going through a similar ordeal on the climb. We rode together for a couple of kilometers before I managed to increase the pace as the gradient let up. I was able to ride 12 kilometers at a stretch and brought the remaining distance down to 2 kilometers when I stopped at a fruit vendor stall. I could not resist the temptation to have watermelon and spent a good 15 minutes before resuming the ride.

The 2 kilometers were knocked off quickly and I reached Madikeri Control Point at 1:30 pm. I had made it with 45 minutes to spare. While posting the pic on the group I noticed that Mohan had made it to Madikeri 90 minutes ahead and Venkatesh had reached just 10 minutes before me. As Raghu had not posted the pic, I was not sure when he had reached, however I assumed that he would have reached around the same time when Mohan reached.

The heat was beginning to peak and although it was a downhill to follow I wanted to stop for ice cream. I rode 3 kilometers out of town before stopping at a Cafe to have ice cream. 2 scoops and then I ordered a chicken burger. I was unable to eat the chicken burger and had a glass of Passion Fruit juice and started the ride at 2:10 pm. The heat was extreme and eating solid food was a problem and fluids were the only thing that the body was accepting.

Segment 2: Madikeri to Mysuru

After cooling off with the ice cream and juice, I started the downhill. It is an easy gradient to start with and then picks up before becoming rolling terrain again. The effects of not having slept were beginning to show and I was feeling very drowsy in the afternoon heat. As I got down further it was becoming difficult to keep the eyes open and it was becoming very risky to continue riding. Even though I did not have a buffer on the time front, I opted to sleep for a while rather than continuing and risking a fall. I stopped about 14 kilometers before Kushalnagar when I saw a bench and managed to catch 20 minutes of rest in which I managed to have a disturbed sleep. It was like sleeping with one eye open as I had to look out for the cycle as well.

When I resumed, I had my task cut out for me. I had to ride about 140 kilometers in just under 10 hours. There was an opportunity to build a buffer in this section and I targeted getting to the control point by 10:00 pm and having dinner at the Control Point rather than stopping for it earlier. As I knew the route I expected it to be a relatively easy task, however the afternoon heat was unrelenting. To make things a little more difficult there was a slight cross/head wind. It was energy sapping heat and I was waiting for the clock to strike 5:00 pm and the heat to relent. Till then I was fine with riding a little slow as I knew that I could make up for it when the temperature cools down. I took a break for coconut water, had two of them and then rode for 20 kilometers before stopping again for sugarcane juice. Two large glasses and I was back on the saddle.

It was becoming a norm that I was taking a break every hour. Ride about 20 kilometers in 45 minutes and then stop for a 10-15 minute break. After the Sugarcane juice break, I decided to minimise the breaks and ride longer. Even though I knew the route, I was tired and was coasting a lot. I was using every downhill gradient to coast and recover although the heat was neutralising the effect of the coasting. It was irritating to have to negotiate road humps when I had built up speed on the downhill's and mentally it was becoming taxing to keep the effort up.

Things began to ease out when the Sun began its descent. With the temperature cooling down the pace automatically increased a little. When I reached Hunsur, I was passed by a cyclist. I thought that it was Elango, surprisingly it was Venkatesh. He had gone past me when I had stopped for ice cream and had expected him to be at least half an hour ahead. Further, it was nice gesture when I saw him slowing down and waiting for me. I managed to up my pace a little after this and as we were riding together, things began to ease out mentally as well.

We made a stop near Ilvala for refilling water and that was the last stop we made before getting to the control point. We were 65 kilometers from the control point and it was close to 7:00 pm. With the heat and wind not being a factor anymore, riding became easy and we sped towards Mysuru. We reached the Mysuru ring road at 7:50 pm. We had to complete the loop of the Mysuru ring road which was 45 kilometers. We were 2 kilometers from the control point, however, had to go on a long circle before getting to the control point.

The rolling terrain continued on the ring road and till we got to the Columbia Asia junction there was a lot of traffic to contend with. After this the road was not well lit. The visibility was poor and I went into a couple of pot holes hard and was lucky to escape without any damage. Saw it late and could not avoid it. The first half of the ring road was quick, however, the loop is big and was becoming monotonous to ride. The feeling of 'when is this getting over' began to creep into the mind and hunger was becoming a factor. A quick check by Venkatesh and we got to know that we were still 15 kilometers away from the control point. Ate a chikki and that kept me going till the control point.

We reached the control point at 10:00 pm. Umesh and Madhu welcomed us and we saw that Mohan and Raghu were still at the control point. We ordered dinner and Venkatesh began to freshen up. I ate fruits and spoke to Raghu who was getting ready to start from the control point. The dinner arrived, since Venkatesh was freshening up, I laid down on the floor and thought that I would catch a little rest by the time Venkatesh comes out. Just lying down is all it took, I woke up an hour later. It was 11:30 pm, Raghu and Mohan had left, Venkatesh was sleeping. I woke Venkatesh up and got to know that he had eaten half of his dinner. I tried to eat the Chicken Pulav but was able to eat only half of it. Venkatesh joined and finished the remaining half of his dinner.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, I got to know that Raghu had met with an accident. I spoke to Raghu and got to know that he was fine, however his cycle was damaged. It was a hit and run case. Umesh had arranged for transport for Raghu to be brought back to Cyclopedia. I expected Raghu to make it back to Cyclopedia soon and took the time to freshen up. As the option to bathe was available, I took a quick bath and got ready. Having a cold water bath helped a lot.

The clock had struck 1:00 am and Raghu had not arrived as yet. We had just 10 hours to make it to Madikeri and we had to get going. Elango had arrived at the control point at 11:45 pm and we told him to join us as riding alone in the night was not a good idea especially after the accident to Raghu. I spoke to Raghu who said that he did not have a chance to continue riding as the cycle was badly damaged and that he would rest at Cyclopedia and head to Mangaluru the next day to collect his car.

Segment 3: Mysuru to Madikeri

We started at 1:00 am and began the second loop of the Mysuru ring road. We were back to having to complete 150 kilometers in 10 hours. The second loop was going to be a difficult section because it was not exciting to repeat this part of the route and getting through this section quickly would go a long way in helping us make it to the control point in time. Surprisingly we rode very quickly and rode 35 kilometers in an hour and 20 minutes before stopping to eat a little and catching 10 minutes sleep.

We made it past the Mysuru ring road and rode towards Hunsur. It took about 15 minutes more before we lost the freshness from the break and sleep began to set it. We stopped at a bus stop and slept for 40 minutes. Although the plan was to sleep for 20 minutes, it stretched to 40 minutes.

We restarted and immediately there was a search for a tea shop. We rode about 5 kilometers before finding one. 20 minute break for tea and we realised that we were running short of time and that we had to increase the pace of the ride to be able to make it. We decided that riding in a group might not work out and that we had to ride at our respective pace to be able to make it to the control point. We were 100 kilometers from Madikeri and had 6 hours to get there. As there was a climb involved to get to Madikeri, 6 hours seemed to be a touch and go situation.

We rode about a kilometer and a half when I felt a lot of wind on my eyes, I realised that I had left my goggles at the tea stall. I told Venkatesh to continue riding and headed back to the stall. When I enquired with the tea stall owner he said that he had not found any goggles and asked me to look on the road if it had fallen. I should have done this in the first place which was to check my clothes and realised that I had the goggles on me. I wore it and started the ride. The mind is in a strange place when we are tired and everything happens slowly.

I was roughly 5 kilometers behind Venkatesh and Elango when I started. If things were not already difficult, just as I started thick mist enveloped the road and reduced visibility to about 5 meters. I had to take the goggles off since the mist accumulating on the glasses was a major hindrance.

I was 30 kilometers from Hunsur and the ride speed was not as much as I would have liked but it was the best that I could do at the moment with the reduced visibility. I got a shot in the arm when I caught up with Elango. I got to know later that he was struggling since he wears power glasses and was struggling with visibility. I sped past him and kept churning the pedals. Just when the shoulders were beginning to drop, I received another shot in the arm when I caught up with Venkatesh. We were entering Hunsur when I caught up with Venkatesh. It was 6:00 am but it was not day break as yet. It took a further 30 minutes for day break, however the mist cover was still thick and visibility was poor.

We got onto the road towards Madikeri and within a few kilometers hunger pangs began to bite. We took a couple of breaks to eat a cake, aloo parotta (which we had packed) and chikki and candies. At every stop we re-iterated that we could not stop for breakfast and had to think about stopping only after getting to Madikeri. However, within a few kilometers of riding we realised that it would not be possible to climb without having breakfast and decided to stop at Kushalnagar to have breakfast. With rolling terrain to negotiate the average speed was hovering around the 20kmph bracket and we were not making too much time.

We reached the outskirts of Kushalnagar at 8:15 am, behind schedule, however we had to stop for breakfast and wanted to make it a quick one. We had a plate of idli vada and refilled water and restarted the ride. The quick break took 30 minutes. It was 8:45 am. 30 kilometers to get to the control point and we had 2 hours 30 minutes to do it. Having ridden till Suntikoppa I knew that the climb does not start immediately and further the ride till Suntikoppa is rolling terrain with intermittent climbs. So the target was to knock off the 16 kilometers to Suntikoppa in 45 minutes so that I would have 1 and 1/2 hours for the climb to Madikeri.

On queue with the plan, I rode hard on the rolling terrain and relaxed a little on the climbs to save the legs for later. I was 7 kilometers from Suntikoppa when I realised that Venkatesh had fallen behind. I continued riding and decided to wait for him at Madikeri. The effort paid off when I reached Suntikoppa at 9:30 am. I was very excited that I had made it as per plan and got the push to keep going.

The gradient of the climb increases after Suntikoppa and the pace slowed down. The kilometers were coming down in a trickle. It was very tempting to stop and take a break, however, with the clock not being in my favour, it became a suffering session rather than enjoying the greenery around. I was passed by the volunteers who were enjoying their Sunday morning ride and I did not realise that they were the volunteers till I got to Madikeri. The gradient lets up in few sections and I used these phases to recover as much as possible before the gradient picked up again. With about 3 kilometers to Madikeri the gradient lets up and it becomes downhill into town. I sped through the downhill and reached the control point at 10:30 am. I had 30 minutes to spare and was very happy to have made it in time.

Just as I was uploading the pic on the group about my arrival, Venkatesh arrived at the control point. We headed to a bakery and had Jeera Soda. I was hungry and ate cake and dil pasand. It was 11:00 am when we started the final segment of this ride.

Segment 4: Madikeri to Mangaluru

Reaching Madikeri within time was where I mentally thought that the ride gets over since the ride from Madikeri to Mangaluru is downhill and is supposed to be easy. I had expected to coast into Mangaluru. 130 kilometers in 9 hours in downhill terrain is easy on any day and I was looking at 6 hours as the time to cover this distance. However, it was a completely different story today.

Usually, I am moderately quick on the downhill's and enjoy overtaking four wheelers on the downhill's. I had the opportunity to overtake a truck on the downhill, however, tried as much as I could but the legs just were not putting enough power through to the pedals and it was struggle to get past the truck. I realised that I had to back off and take it easy. The truck vanished and so did many vehicles which overtook us. As we got further downhill, it was becoming impossible to sit on the saddle. I was having a saddle sore and it was not helping to stay on the saddle. Making it downhill seemed to be a herculean task. A little further downhill and the air changed to dry air and with the Sun belting down it was dry heat. The butt was on fire and it was difficult to sit on the saddle and standing up while descending is not something which I fancy.

Although the time taken did not reflect the struggle, 22 kilometers in 38 minutes, when we made it downhill we took a break. Jeera soda and cold water. I don't drink cold water, however, today was not a bad day to start. The water was cold only for the first sip with the water becoming almost warm if we kept it out for 2 minutes. We took a 30 minute break and soaked the scarf with cold water and wrapped it around the neck. It helped for 2 minutes when the scarf was cold, after that it did not make a difference.

What was supposed to be an easy ride had become difficult. Saddle sore, the palms were hurting from gripping the handle bar tight on the climbs and on the rolling terrain, dry heat, the list of obstacles to ride were increasing and the distance remaining stood at 100 kilometers. With the end time being 8:00 pm we did not have the luxury to wait out the heat and had to ride in the heat.

100 kilometers to ride in 7 1/2 hours is relatively easy on any day, however with a tired mind and body it was looking difficult. We got back on the saddle and rode slowly and steadily. The previous day I had ridden 100 kilometers of this road with an uphill gradient in 5 hours, so 7 1/2 hours should not have been a problem at all. However, I was riding slower than yesterday. Every climb was painful and the downhill's were spent coasting with additional pressure on the hands as I was spending time off the saddle. Jogging on the wheels was the go to option rather than sitting on the saddle, but something that I could only do in short bursts.

The next 20 kilometers were done in an hour and we were just 8 kilometers from the Control point. We had 90 minutes to reach the control point. We had to stop for lunch and the lunch stop at Sullia took 40 minutes. A stop where getting Biriyani was easier than getting curd rice. We were back to time crunch period with 8 kilometers to be done in 40 minutes in rolling terrain.

We started from Sullia at 2:10 pm. Jalsur was a control point that I had conveniently forgotten and remembered that we had to make it in time when we were having lunch at Sullia. It was rolling terrain with more climbing, somehow in spite of struggling the time pressure pushed us to keep going and we made it to Jalsur at 2:40 pm. 30 minutes in hand at this control point as well.

526 kilometers completed and 74 more to go. We had 5 hours to do it. The equation was back to doing 15 kilometers in an hour and mentally I was sick of 15 kilometers in an hour as the required kilometers in an hour was not dropping at all. It had remained almost constant through the ride with 150 kilometers to be done in 10 hours right from the start.

We continued the ride and thought about where this ride would ease out and came up with Mani as the location to get to for the ride to ease out a little. Our next target was Puttur which was 25 kilometers away. More of the same continued as we climbed and descended in rolling terrain in peak heat. Stopped for coconut water and took 15 minutes off and then rode all the way to Puttur. Venkatesh was pushing the pace after the break and I lost sight of him until he was waiting ahead. Just as we got to the Puttur bypass we were welcomed by a rally being taken out by BJP for the upcoming elections and the traffic had been stopped. We managed to wiggle the cycles through and then stopped at a bakery for Jeera Soda.

It was 4:15 pm when we resumed the ride. The intensity of the Sun was reducing and with it the body did not have to expend the kind of energy which it was under the sweltering heat. We had ridden 15 kilometers when we came across a Sugarcane Juice vendor and we stopped to have a drink. Two glasses and we were ready to get going. 34 kilometers to complete in 3 hours. Finally the distance per hour was beginning to go below 15 kmph which allowed me to relax a little mentally.

We rode quickly in the midst of traffic and made it to Mani which was the place where we expected the gradient to ease out. However, the rolling terrain continued. The drop in heat was definitely helping as we were able to increase the pace of the ride. The saddle sore was getting worse, but the remaining distance being less than 30 kilometers made the mind think more about the finish rather than the body. We made a brief stop while crossing the bridge over the Nethravathi river to take in the view and it was very tempting to jump into the inviting water.

A few more kilometers and we stopped when we were 15 kilometers away for another bottle of Jeera Soda. We had 2 hours to complete the remaining distance and were finally not worried about the time. It was probably the first bottle of Jeera Soda that I had without worrying about the time and was pretty relaxed during this break.

We got back on the saddle and rode into Mangalore in fading light. The last few kilometers were frustrating to say the least as the rolling terrain continued. There was no break in the rolling terrain even towards the end. The thought 'Haven't we done enough' was ringing through the mind. We made it to Taj Cycles at 7:00 pm and were welcomed by the volunteers.

It felt good to have completed the ride and be off the cycle without having to think of the time. The brevet cards were submitted and we had a nice chat with the organisers about the ride and gave our inputs about the ride. It took a while to realise that I am not in Bangalore and had to search for a hotel room. I bid good bye to the organisers and to Venkatesh and then headed into the city to search for a hotel room.

In 15 minutes I was at a hotel and freshened up. I had planned to continue riding around Mangaluru after the brevet, however, the body and mind were exhausted and I decided to take a call the next day about continuing the ride or heading back home.

I woke up early the next day and realised that the legs and palms were still hurting. I could continue riding but would not be able to enjoy the locations with the body under stress and decided to call off the tour and head back home. I rode to the bus stand and loaded the cycle onto the bus and came back to Bangalore. It was 8:00 pm when I got back home.

Summary:

It was a beautiful route except for the double loop of Mysuru Ring Road. It gave a feel of what it would be like to ride in rolling terrain and in the hills under time constraint. I was fortunate to complete this ride on two counts. One being that I went in under prepared and probably the body would not have taken the kind of beating which it did if I had been able to ride in February. Two, I did not suffer a puncture or any mechanical issues, if I had I would not have made the controls in time.

It was a very difficult ride not only from the gradient perspective, but from the varied conditions that we got as well, the sweltering/dry heat in the afternoon to the cold night followed by thick mist which made us ride blind. It was a ride in which I had ridden in rolling terrain so much as to develop a dis-taste for rolling terrain by the end of the ride.

This ride was tough on the mind just as it had been on the body. In some sense if I had given up mentally then this ride would not have been possible. The equation of having to ride 150 kilometers in 10 hours stuck throughout and this ride has given the confidence as well as an idea of how much time I will take to ride in rolling terrain. It also showed that there is significant scope for improvement and that I cannot take it easy and have to ride more in similar conditions to be able to cope in the future rides. 

Ride Details:

From	To	Distance	Ride Time (hrs)	Total Time (hrs)	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Avg Speed
Mangaluru	Jalsur	96	4.25	4.25	4:00	8:15	22.59
Jalsur	Madikeri	59	4.25	5.25	8:15	13:30	13.88
Madikeri	Hunsur	74	3.25	4.25	13:30	17:45	22.77
Hunsur	Mysuru	82	4.00	4.25	17:45	22:00	20.50
Mysuru	Hunsur	84	4.25	8.00	22:00	6:00	19.76
Hunsur	Madikeri	74	4.00	4.50	6:00	10:30	18.50
Madikeri	Jalsur	59	2.50	4.00	10:30	14:30	23.60
Jalsur	Mangaluru	74	3.75	4.50	14:30	19:00	19.73
		602	30.25	39.00			19.90