A 400k, Under the summer Sun

Bracing up

I didn’t bother looking at the weather forecast. I knew too well what to expect from the weather God at this time of the year. In spite of the Karaga rains last week. It was hot and bang in the middle of summer, what would you expect? Hot long days with a lot of clear skies!

I was better prepared for this ride than the Melkote ride. The ride started as usual, slow and steady. We reached Mysore road, the traffic was still not as bad as I dreaded it to be. It was a Saturday morning during the vacations after all. Once I hit the highway, it was a brisk ride.

Who’s the boss?

It was almost a solo ride in the morning. I saw someone stopping to fix his bike. It was Swamy cleaning the chain on his single speed. I stopped to check, but he assured me, he had things under control. I continued riding, I guess against the wind, hoping that on the following day when I’m riding back, the winds don’t change direction.

With the intention to make the most of the early hours when the sun is still not too harsh, I thought, I would stop for breakfast at the 100k mark, Mandya. But, when it comes to hunger, I can hardly negotiate with my stomach. stomach rules.

I treated myself for a Pongal and a Masala Dose for breakfast, Maddur. Put my back to rest for a while before continuing to Mandya.

Breakfast stopover at Maddur

Love for Mandya

As I entered Mandya, I started looking for our first control, the HDFC Bank. Just in case I missed the bank, I took a selfie at the Mandya Medical College. Continued looking for the bank, and soon enough I saw a bunch of cyclists stopped at a distance ahead of me, they had obviously spotted the control. I went along and clicked a selfie. Soon enough, single speed Swamy joined me along with Monish Callappa.

While most cities have lost their green cover in the name of  ‘development’, Mandya remains green at its heart. It was such a relief to be there in Mandya during the heat. But, I had to leave the comfort of Mandya in pursuit of the ride mission.

Mandya Medical College.

As I kept riding, somewhere in the middle of Mandya and Mysore, a motorist drove right next to me, and started inquiring about our ride. The 23 something lad was amused to know my age! He thought I looked younger than him! 😀 His comments made my effort totally worthwhile!

Mission mosaranna (Curd rice)

During the buildup to the ride, people had requested for curd rice at the manned control. That got stuck in my head big time. I was in pursuit of mosaranna for lunch. I started looking for a nice restaurant for an early lunch. Till I reached Mysore, I kept telling myself, that I will look for a place close to Mysore to eat. Once I reached Mysore, I somehow wanted to look for a less crowded place to eat. I was a little shy to stop at a crowded place in my lycra 😛 . I went past the famed circles in the city of Mysore, I went past the Mysore palace. I wanted to stop and take a picture in front of the palace, I was on the far side of the road, I had to cross the road for a decent picture, it was so damn hot, I told myself that I will stop on my way back from Gundulpet and click.  It must have been around 12 PM. As I navigated my way towards the Mysore Nanjangudu road through an alley, I saw a set of bikes parked at a small eatery. I heard Swamy shout out “Santhu banni, oota maadona” (Santhu, come let’s have lunch) I shouted back, “mosaranna iddiya?” (They got curd rice?). I just stopped, put my cheetah under what ever shade that was available, put my head under the tap a bit and took my reward of reaching Mysore. A plate full of curd rice!! 🙂

Mosaranna magic! Monish, myself and Parth. PC: Swamy

As we ate, we spoke about the ride so far, and how a modest little goggle goes a long way in fooling the mind saying that the Sun shine is not that lethal after all. I sent down two plates of curd rice, and got ready for the next plate of curd rice at the mid CP.

CoW nostalgia on a Sunny day.

The ride from Mysore to Gundulpet is about 60km. It was a ride down the memory lane for me. The last time I rode this route was in the winter of 2016, during the Christmas, the roller coaster like terrain was a lot different this time in the summer. I rode, and kept drinking a lot of water. I searched for places to top up the water bottles. I found hope in the curd rice that awaited us ahead, and some motivation by the road side.

Sunny day, PC: Swamy

The best thing about riding to Nanjangudu from Mysore is that there are a lot of long inclines and equally long declines. The roads are pretty decent. The traffic was sparse as well, so, nothing really to slow you down on the downhill.

From Nanjangudu to Gundlupet is a gradual and almost unnoticeable climb. A left turn on the Mysore – Ooty highway took me into a not so great road, to the U-turn point. Looked for the non-existent resort that was supposed to be the landmark, then turned to the whatsapp group to check if there was an update regarding the absence of the landmark. Shot a picture of me at the place in front of a nondescript building that was at the spot, and rode back to the mannded CP, the CCD at Gundlupet that I missed while coming.

Upon reaching the CCD I met Loki who had been instructing the riders about the faulty maps, I totally missed it. Not sure I thanked him enough for the second round of mosaranna and the dil-pasand that he had brought for us. This CP again was a chance for me to regroup with the folks who I had been meeting intermittently. Swamy, MC, Parth and Karupaiyya.

At the manned CP, again, PC Swamy.

Inclines, declines and flats

Riding back from Gundlupet, I was hoping that I could reach the palace in time for  a picture. But the inclines and declines were proving to be quite a handful for me to maintain pace. I was trying to figure out if  it was head wind or tailwind that I was riding with. Then I saw a farmer de-husking his produce, with the help of the wind. It was clearly headwind that I was riding into.

Again…. PC Swamy

After some more time, I felt that the bike was not moving in proportion to the effort that I was exerting. I got off the saddle and checked the pressure. Indeed the pressure had fallen. I got down and put the pump I had with me to use. MC reached me and helped top up the air a bit more. I was not used to a slow puncture on my roadie so far, so I didn’t suspect it was a flat. But Swamy and MC suggested otherwise. Either way, I decided to carry on for some more time with what I had. A few kilometers later, I had to stop again and change the tube. It was a puncture at the overlap of the liner ends. Thanks to the group I was riding with for their help. MC and Swamy in particular were too kind. The mini floor pump that Swamy carried was awesome, I didn’t know mini pumps could inflate upto 110 psi until then.

Mysore again

After fixing the flat, Parth, Karupaiyya and I stuck together, for it started to get dark. In fact we ended the ride together. We rode back past the Mysore Palace, which was lit up, and I actually missed sighting it. (Yup, #FacePalmMoment )

We stopped for dinner at a small restaurant in Mysore.  I usually hate to waste food, but the fried rice that I ordered along with the mushroom was a bit too spicy for my liking. I left it to waste. I didn’t know that it would haunt me for rest of the night.

How much time do we have?

We reached Mandya, the 300 km control point at about 10:21 PM. We had close to ten hours to finish the ride. We planned for a 5 AM finish or better. We wouldn’t rush but then we wouldn’t relax too much either.

Post 10 PM, I started craving for some sleep. We planned for a stop at Maddur. We were trying to decide between a road side tea stall, CCD and A2B. We couldn’t find a tea stall almost through Mandya to Maddur, we reached A2B only to find it shut down. I was battling sleep, and had spotted a CCD on the other side of the road. We crossed over, and I ordered a cold (bad choice) coffee. It must have been close to 12AM. I just stretched myself out on the floor of CCD. Waited for the order to arrive. Once it was there, I ate my Samosa and gulped down the cold coffee. The cold beverage didn’t do any good in terms of reducing my craving for sleep. More over, I started feeling cold and stiff. The muscles on the side of my calves started to scream. After a bit of rest, we resumed. I was cautious not to hurt my legs, rode slow.

The Panneer Sandwich booster

Not too far from Maddur, the hunger pangs started to kick in again. We searched for a road side tea stall or bakery. We could find neither of them. We set our next target to Ramnagara, but it was taking for ever to reach that place. We eventually found a tea stall. But a tea didn’t satiate the hunger.

A restaurant that looked so inviting (I don’t seem to remember the name) turned out to be a hookka-bar. No food served. It was teeming with jobless couples (they might have been thinking the same about us, clad in cycling shorts and reflective jackets). I chewed on some of the kadale kaayi chikki (peanut bars), the other two were in no mood to sink their teeth in anything that had a trace of sweetness in it.

Then, when we found a CCD that was serving some Panneer sandwich, we ate them like  famished animals. But, those packets of energy. The ride from Ramnagara to Bidadi was a breeze. We started to count-down the kilometers with glee.

The finish

We finished just at the stroke of 6AM. With just enough light for Mohan to click our pictures in front of our finisher banner.

PC: Mohan Subramanyam

 

A few things about this time’s ride and the riders I was fortunate to meet and ride along. MC, Swamy and Parth all who have rode 1000km Brevets. It was awesome to ride with these folks.

I learnt a lesson too from them, to stop and help riders in distress. If it was not for them, I would have struggled with the flats, and mentally too.

If we are riding late in the night always plan for stretches of the route that would be devoid of any kind of food and beverages. We may think that we can fool our mind by wearing goggles, but that’s not true. At one point, while waiting for the sandwich at the CCD, I had laid down on the floor. When I got up to check on the order, the rush of blood from my head actually sent me into a dizzy. I was fortunate to hold on to something and not collapse.

Off course, I have to thank Nikhil from Crankmeister Bicycle Works for the bike fit. Specially the saddle suggestion. It helped me a lot, in terms of reducing numbness in the groin after such a long ride. The reduced stem relieved a lot of strain on my back. The recovery time was much shorter in terms of body pain. The body took some time to recover from all the overdose of sunlight it had to endure.

In all, it was yet another heck of a ride!

Here is the event page.