Hassan Express 400, 22 – July – 2017 : My first brevet

Prologue

I want to do the bliss in the hills (BITH), and if possible, in the year of 2017! That’s how it all started…

I used to read a lot about brevets and the ride reports that bikers would post on BBC (Bangalore bikers club). I too wanted to be a Randonneur.

It took me really long to take a plunge into brevets. That, in spite of reading so much about them, having done a few of 500k+ rides myself and being a regular (commuter) cyclist, for reasonably long time.

The build up

Before setting out to do the BITH, I wanted to do a reality check. See where I stood. I started looking for events that were slated to happen. I found a 400k nicely placed on a Saturday morning, on a reasonable easy route – or, so I thought. I thought I could excuse myself from my duty as a father to a two month old for a weekend. I told my wife, that I should get atleast one brevet under my belt to convince myself that I can do the BITH, and she agreed. Although, I was just recovering from a viral fever that lasted almost a week, and I didn’t remember feeling so sick for a very long time in the past, I thought, I should give it a try. Then one day, I just registered for the ride.

I setup my road bike The Cheetah the previous night. I almost set it up like I would for the BITH. I carried an extra pair of clothes, rain wear and snack.

I wanted to sleep early, but I couldn’t. Anxiety.

The flag off

The ride was going to be flagged of at 5:30 AM from the Airlines hotel, about 10km from home. I woke up around 3:30 AM, left home around 4:00 AM, since it was the start of the holy month of Shravana I had to leave without my usual ride breakfast – eggs. I reached the start point a little after 4:40 AM. We had to do the paper work before the flag off. After completing the customary bike check, I took the brevet card, the cue sheet, and put it in the zip-lock bag I had in the rear pocket of my reflective jacket. Just before the flag-off, the ride responsible, Alok briefed the route, reminded us the rules, suggested a possible breakfast point and set us off, with a 6 minute adjustment to the control timings due to the delayed start.

I started easy, stayed with the group till we reached the highway, with the intent to warm up gradually. I met my first new friend on the elevated highway – Prateek, we struck a conversation and it made riding a little less monotonous, he went on to explain how he was pushed to the edge of the flyover by a bus. The traffic, as expected was gradually building up on the Tumkur highway, we kept taking the elevated highway most of the time. I saw a certain rider from the Hubballi Bikers Club taking a left deviation onto a by-pass, I quickly checked the GPS, it confirmed and I followed. At around 70km was the first control at the Ashwini Hospital along the Tumkur by-pass road. I clicked a selfie and checked my account balance to get an ATM receipt, as a requirement for the unmanned control put it in the zip lock cover and back in my rear pocket. Since the canteen at the hospital had not started to serve any breakfast, so I rode on looking for a “ತಿಂಡಿ ತಯಾರಿದೆ” “breakfast ready” board for my breakfast. I saw a small mess, decided to stop over for my breakfast. I joined Pradeep, the rider I had been following just a while ago. We had our pleasantries exchanged, had our breakfast and would continue riding a major part of the ride together.

The winds of monsoon

Until breakfast the headwinds were reasonably manageable I would reckon. The sun was at it’s the pleasantest compared to all my previous rides. Once we resumed after breakfast, although the elevation profile suggested rolling terrain, the headwinds made it a crawl. In the morning session I was averaging at about 20kmph, the second session I was literally dragged down to 16kmph by the wind.

With the sun starting to shine and the winds keeping our pace low, we started missing the tender coconuts, which were as ever, elusive. Around the same time I was beginning to feel a bit of tummy trouble and started to look for a place to dump. Soon I found both.

At the tender coconut stall I met two of the other riders with whom I would ride along for a good part of the trip. Mansur and Swamy.

After the break, I couldn’t keep up with Pradeep, I fell back and rode at ease. Soon I caught up with Swamy and Mansur who were looking for a place to have lunch. I decided to join them, because it was almost 1:30 PM and Arsikere was a good hour and a half away.

Ride on

As we ate lunch Mansur asked me for the cue sheet to take a look, and that’s when I realised somewhere between breakfast and lunch, during the tender coconut break or a toilet break, I lost my brevet card! Without the card, I wasn’t sure if my ride, even if completed in time, would be considered official. I wouldn’t be a randonneur. But Swamy told me to complete the ride irrespective of the recognition. Ultimately it is the self gratification that is most calming. I decided that a lost card isn’t going to spoil the fun I was having.

We rode on, to the next control, a CCD past Arsikere. We clicked a few customary selfies. I decided to call Alok and inform him about the lost card. He told me that it was very important part of the ride. I was too deep into the ride to quit. I rode on.

The new moon night

Arsikere to the Hassan control was a tricky route. If not for the GPS route I had loaded onto my watch. I would have been lost. I trusted the watch and continued pedalling. The road was badly potholed in a few sections, and I wanted to cross over to the highway as early as possible. Troubled with my tummy, I took several breaks on the way, and continued to ride. I reached the Hassan control at around the 225km mark around 7:30 PM. There I met Alok, asked him about the possibility of an official status for my ride. He just asked me to finish the ride and call him once I finished.

I ate my stomach’s fill, attended nature’s repeated calls, and didn’t want to take chances on the missed calls. Said good bye to Alok and mounted the bike, and by then, Pradeep had called for me. He wanted to ride with me and I decided to wait for him to finish his meal, and we hit back the road together. He turned on his music player, and the ride became a little entertaining.

Intermittently the headlights I wore on the bike started to give up, and the deserted road was pitch dark. Luckily I had my power banks that I could fall back upon.

Sleepy eyes

We reached the penultimate control at Yediyur at about 12:30 AM. I was actually planning to sleep for a while at the CCD. I ordered my Iced tea – Sandwich combo, finished it in a blink and tried to take a nap. I couldn’t. It was around 1:00 AM, and we decided to ride.

No sooner than I crossed 5km from the control, I felt an urge to sleep. I asked Pradeep to carry on, while I stopped at a bus shelter hoping for a quick nap. The nap wasn’t coming. I decided it was better to ride than to waste time, waiting for sleep. The change of winds which were assisting me to ride, were now also lulling me to sleep! A tricky proposition. I tried again for some sleep. I sat on a bus stop platform, held my bike top tube under my arm pit, and hugged her to sleep. I might have fallen asleep for a couple of minutes, and the bicycle slipped from my hands (my failsafe to make sure I didn’t sleep too long and wake up after the ride was over! :D)

Tea (at an odd) time

After the short catnap, I started off again, I realized that I was out of water, well past 2:30 AM in the night, hope for a refill were bleak. Luckily I found Swamy and Mansur riding ahead, I checked with Swamy if he would be able to share some water if the need arises, and he was more than happy to help. If I called finding Swamy lucky, I found more luck when I found a small shop that was open at that hour. What’s more, the lady in the shop was serving hot tea. I bought a bottle of water, topped up my empty sippers. Burnt my tongue trying to hurry up drinking the tea. Paid the lady at the shop and hopped on the saddle.

The finish

The tea seemed to blow my sleep away. I am not sure it was the wind or the elevation or the tea. The miles began to roll at a very decent pace. By about 5:00 AM I reached Nelamangala, and was greeted by the waking city traffic. Bullied by the private buses, and TTs incessantly, I steadily moved towards the finish. As I reached the control I was greeted by Sanath and his Son. Thanks to their generous gesture for providing us with some snacks and juice. It was such a welcome relief. I thanked them for the snack and bid farewell, and turned around, and I heard a voice call my name. It was Pradeep, we exchanged numbers and spoke for a minute or so about the ride and I turned to head back home.

The Randonneur I didn’t know I could become

400km and 25 hours and 19 minutes later I became a Randonneur. Now I needed to introspect to see if I had it in me to do the BITH this year. Although I am still tempted to register for it as I write this blog, I know I need to train. In Swamy’s words, I had to “do at least one multi-day ride to know your body’s needs. Learn to manage hunger and sleep”

I spent rest of the day resting, later in the evening I met my wife and son, spoke to her about the ride experience. We both agreed that I would not attempt the BITH-2017, I hope there will be a BITH-2018.

Epilogue

A couple of days later, the saddle sore has almost healed. The elbows are a little cranky, and the shoulders and legs a bit stiff.

The training I had for the ride are my 3-4 days a week office commute on my Leopard the MTB which totals to about 75-100km a week. 5 km a week swim. 4 hours a week of Yoga.

Special mentions

Swamy a calming and very friendly person. Enjoyed riding with him.

Mansur a single speed maverick, seriously blew my mind away when I saw him ride!

Pradeep the (super randonneur) SR man, all the very best to my ride buddy on his attempt at becoming the SR.

The new addition to my gadget inventory the TomTom spark 3 that was awesome along the ride. Although it didn’t save some of the ride segments, I am happy with the fact it kept me on course.

All the people I met on the road who’s curiosity about the ride I happily explained.

The people who wanted to help the rides, which I politely declined as it was illegal to take external help in brevets.

The guy who gave me a facepalm when I told him that we were riding for fun! 😀 “ಬೇರೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಇಲ್ವಾ ನಿಮ್ಮಗಳಿಗೆ”

Finally, Alok who allowed me to finish the ride!

Route map, courtesy: www.ridewithgps.com