470 kms and two unfinished brevets later...

470+ kms and two unfinished brevets later.... Unfinished, well, let us take a look at that.

It was all set to start at 4pm on a pleasant Thursday evening. Myself, Deepak started for the startpoint, which was CCD in Prestige Meridian, MG Road. As usual, we started late, and was rushing through the rush hour traffic. When we reached there, the other riders were just arriving. We had just sufficient time to socialize and introduce ourselves. Just as we were getting socialized, I looked at the clock, and it was already reading 1630. So, I rushed to start along with the other riders, Chiddu and Sohan, with some of the Cleated Warriors (CW) following us. Starting at this time, also means, that you have to wade through the rush hour traffic to get out of the city.

Ever since I took to cycling, brevets have been a distant goal. So, what made me chose the 1000K ahead of others....

While the planning had started quite a while back, I had been ordering (not exactly) cheap accesories through my favourite online shopping site dealextreme. Online shopping has its own disadvantages. One, the quality, which so far I haven't found a big issue so far. And the other, delivery time. The shipping from China meant that you'll have to order atleast three weeks in advance, and even if you do, there isn't a guarantee, that it'll be delivered on time. Having said, it is obvious that our brevet shopping spilled on to the day of the brevet too, with some last minute shopping at Decathlon. Thanks to all the expertise, that Deepak had gathered from his fellow teammates, we were decently equipped, for a 200K brevet ride, if not for a 1000K brevet.

And so, why 1000K. Well, you see I dont believe in setting lean targets. The goals have to be stiff to keep me inspired. My travel plans for the La Ultra (www.thehigh.in), meant that I'll miss the 600K brevet in July, which also meant that I had to accomodate it in July. The upgrade from 600K to 1000K happended because I am fairly new to cycling, and wanted to do it with known company. Deepak being part of the 1000K, was just another excuse to join the 1000K.

The most important reflective jacket hadn't arrived till the last day, which meant that we had to buy a cheapo alternative from JC road. Also, the bike computer arrived one day earlier than the brevet, so, it had not been tested at all.

To talk about how equipped I was, I had an uncalibrated and untested bike computer. I had decent headlights, with a reasonable mount, which I happened to break the night before. I did a DIY solution with a zip tie to fix the broken mount, which worked fairly well. In fact, all the original functionality was restored except that the mount rotated around the handlebar. On the shorter rides, I hadn't found it to be a problem.

To talk about my physical preparation, my recent biking exploits and the marathon training schedule ensured that I woke up at 4am everyday, with an average of five hours sleep per day. On some days, I would sleep for barely three hours. Remember, I was logging three workouts on dailymile a couple weeks back, including the commute.

Our preparation also included detailed conference calls with Deepak and Sohan (a very experienced randonneur), on what to eat, where to sleep, how to ride and all that. The conference call put our business calls to shame.

And so, we started at 1630, and had to wade through the crazy traffic all along till we reached Yeshwantpur junction. Somewhere along the line, my bike computer stopped working. I had tagged all along with Sohan, and I was about 20 metres behind him, when we reached the expressway flyover. He zoomed ahead on the bridge, and i had no way of communicating with him, so, I followed him. The winds on the flyover was the hardest that I had seen in all my four months of cycling. I also saw Chiddu zoom past as if there is no tomorrow.

Somewhere along here, it rained hard, and we decided to continue out on the rain, of course, with the jacket on. Within twenty minutes, we were completed drenched. My socks were wet giving an uncomfortable feeling inside the shoes.

We had no option to continue, and we stopped to clean our bikes at a roadside bakery. My bike computer had to wait till now, and it turned out that the magnetic sensor had turned inward. No idea, how it could have happened. The rain had taken its toll, and the bike computer had gone out of function. From this point, I had no idea, how much I had covered, or what speed I was riding.

Just as we started, we saw the CW gang zoom by. We quickly exchanged some tips, and started riding in a paceline. My newly installed toe-clips meant that I started a bit behind, and that status remained through the rest of the ride. 

About fifteen minutes later, I saw Sohan and Gana stopped on the side, and it was flat for Sohan. Gana was helping him, and I also stopped trying to help Sohan. The CW gang who had already zoomed by, were waiting for us about three or four minutes ahead of us. It was only when we reached there, we realized Deepak was desparately trying to reach us. He must have given some ten missed calls. The gang decided that we'll stick together till the rest of the ride. 

From then, it was a paceline formation, with Opendro taking the lead, and myself contributing a bit now and then. Deepak also pitched in when there were heavy winds. With no experience of paceline riding, I found it a bit harder to handle, and was calling easy easy all the time.

A few more stops later, we were still looking for the elusive dinner place, and finally decided, "Ok, let us have dinner here". All of us are tired.

After dinner, it must be some magical energy, the paceline was moving smoothly, with tailwinds also contributing to it. "All in", would be the call from the lead, and Gana doing the sweeping duties would relay it back if there wasn't any gaps.

I was struggling to keep up in the paceline. So, I would attack off the saddle, go ahead, and then come back and join the paceline.

At some point, the backpack on my shoulder was causing me a stiff shoulder, and I told the group that I had to lie down and stretch for five minutes. By this time, some of the riders had already gone ahead. But Opendro, Deepak and gang decided to stick together with me.

When we started, my toe-clips again ruined my start, and I was 100 metres behind to start with. I tried my best in keeping up, but could never close in on the paceline. After one stretch of construction, where we took the service road, and joined back, i lost sight of the paceline.

From here, for the next few hours, I was riding alone. It was a scary experience, with my lights going on an off. My estimate of 10 hours for a fully charged battery went for a toss, with the batteries lasting only 3-4 hours max. And these batteries weren't even fully charged.

When I reached the next toll gate, I was relieved to see Deepak, Opendro, and Kiran waiting for me. Opendro took off as he would miss the control otherwise. By this time, Kiran wanted to turn back. Both Deepak and Kiran talked me into returning. At first, I wanted to reach atleast the first control. Both of them mentioned that I had been pushing and wont be able to continue past the first control, and even if I do, wont make it to the next control in time.

I was in a spot: I had no experience of traveling with bike. I could either join Kiran, who was returning anyway, or continue riding alone for another hour and a half, to the next control, which looked stiff. Just at this moment, one more wave of drowsiness set in, and the decision was clear. I cannot brave sleep atleast immediately. With half an hour nap, I will miss the control. 

Kiran and I were trying to find out if we could get a ride to Bangalore. Fifteen minutes in the biting cold, and a few buses later, we got a private Volvo sleeper. We put the bikes in the bottom compartment, and the sleeper also meant that we could stretch. I only remember covering myself with the blanket. The next thing that I know was the cleaner asking us to get down at Navrang. For some reason, he let us continue till Anand Rao circle, and we pedaled our way back home.

So, how do I start the 600K

Just as I was getting down from the bus, I told Kiran, "I shouldn't have returned last night. And guess what, I am registered for the 600K".

The ride back home was spent planning what needs to be mended if I were to start the 600K.

The laundry list included, getting the bike computer laminated to make it water-proof, getting the bike lubricated, shopping for medicines, getting batteries fully charged, etc.

In the evening, I wanted to have a good protein based dinner. Going out to a restaurant was ruled out, as Chandu was held up at work. It was time to try out something new, and I got Indian Salmon fillet from Hypercity, which was marinated in my trademark gravy, and steamed. I never knew that cooking fish was going to be so easy. I can fill in my protein requirements with ease now on.

After unpacking my backpack, and handlebar bag, I set out to preparing to pack. The Gatorade packs were neatly arranged, so that they can be pulled out at anytime if I wanted. In went all types of nuts and dry fruits in separate packs (which I realized was a mistaked later on. All I needed is a trail mix with one pack).

When the packing finished, it was 2230. I lubricated the bike with the wetlube bought at Decathlon earlier in the day. When I went to bed, it was close to 2330. I was just hoping to catch up a couple of hours sleep, but was awake till almost 0100.

The alarms were set at 0200, which when promptly rang, I still needed another 10 minutes to get out of bed. It was almost 0240 when I left home. 

It was a hushy-pushy till CCD, MG Road, where I reached by 0330. Sreepathi and another organizer. They patiently answered all my questions, and were gracious enough to give me the directions, and also the phone numbers for all the riders who had already started on time. When I pushed off, it was 0340.

Outer Ring Road, was a pleasure to ride on, being fully illuminated. I was still getting a creaking noise from the drive train, and so, I had to stop and lubricate it. Besides, I had to stop to appease a stray dog chasing me. And I did make a couple of stops, once to check the Brevet card, and another time to check the bike computer calibration. (Later in the day, I would realize that all these stops proved costly).

From the previous experience, I avoid the elevated expressway, and was comfortable riding on the service roads. Seriously, there wasn't any traffic at 0430 in the morning, and it made sense not to take the winds on the elevated express way. 

The next stop was the toll gate after Nelamangala, and I stopped to take water. I also muched on a juicy Mysore Pak. The sugars didn't matter, as they would get used up anyway. "Its all downhill to Tumkur", the comment from a lorry driver motivated me to cruise all along till Tumkur. 

By this time, I had established contact with a fellow rider, who was ahead of me by one hour. No matter what I did, I could average only 17 or 18, leaving me little room for improvement. Remember, I had lost 40 minutes at the start.

Just a little before Sira, I felt the bike was sluggish. I stopped to check the tire, and found that the rear tire had a flat. The sun was beating down at 1030. Luckily, it was just by the side of a small orchard, and I quickly moved the bike to the shade of a tree and set out to repair the flat. A small glass piece has found its way through the tire, to cause a puncture. The cut was a little wide, and hence I had to patch it. With nothing available, I used the the sandpaper that came with the puncture kit.

Putting back the tire was a big struggle. This is the first time, the tire had been taken off. I took a breath, took a quick shot of Gatorade, and with all the energy boost, managed to get the tire back in. I must have lost somewhere around 30-40 minutes for the puncture. This also meant that I had to average 16 for the next 60-odd kms to make it to the control with half-an-hour to spare.

The next few hours went like a struggle against the clock, with two water stops. For one, I had to walk about 50 metres into a compound, and the Dhaba staff took all their time to give me a water bottle. Luckily, the next one was a free one, at a small house, by the roadside. They were not selling water bottles, and hence it was their own well water filled with all essential minerals. I took the opportunity to get another gulp more.

When I reached Hiriyur control, I had about 40 minutes to spare. I made a few enquiries to get to the ATM. And you know the store with State Bank Atms. Half the time, they aren't working, and when they are working there are atleast half-a-dozen people waiting outside.

When I reached the Atm, a group of three were already trying to figure out if the machine worked or not. And that only meant more crowd gathering. I was lucky to get a spare ATM slip from one of the users, but wasn't sure if I could use it. (It was from a different card). With some struggle, I explained the staff, that i need only a slip, and managed to get it. The ATM didnt have cash anyway. All this cost a crucial fifteen minutes. 

When I came out of the Atm, the sky opened and a light drizzle started. I used the opportunity to get into a hotel, and get some Anna Sambar. Also got some Chikki and filled my water bottles with tender coconut water. I wanted to get a photocopy of the Cue card, but as luck turned out, there wasnt any power. 

Quickly enquired for the directions and got out on the highway, and when I hit the next toll booth, I looked up the cue sheets. The next control was at 2356, which meant that a nap closer to the control would be costly.

There was an ambulance shed at the next toll plaza. "Illi malko bohudha', (Can I lie down here), was met with a "No problem" from the ambulance driver. I lied down for about ten minutes, and dozed off. It must have been half-an-hour. It did not matter for me, as I still had nine hours to catch up to the control. 

Just half-an-hour before this, Karthik, the fellow rider confirmed that he was an hour ahead. I could have caught him (atleast hoped), if I had not rested. But considering the one hour sleep last night, I needed a break, which would help me continue on the ride.

Outside of Chitradurga, there was a steep uphill, and stiff head winds. No wonder, they have placed the windmills correctly here. My riding speed halved to almost 11-12kph. Just then, I stopped and had a mouthful of Figs and raisins. 

Not sure where the energy came from, the next half-hour I saw myself riding at blazing speeds, without minding about the winds. This gave me a big confidence boost. As I entered Chitradurga, i checked the cue-sheets, and was trying to find directions. The directions included going through a no-entry. The policeman at the junction also pointed out the same way.

Just as i reached the highway to Davangere, I stopped to fill up my water bottles, and get an extra dose of raisins, which could be my magic fuel.

The scenery on Chitradurga-Davangere Road, was beautiful, with rolling hills, and fields on either side. I was maintaining a constant speed of 25-26kph. However, my aggressive riding position meant that i had to stop once in a while. The average per hour was close to 19, while the required average was 18.

I saw the sun set beautifully, as I pushed along the rolling hills. I turned the headlights and tail lights and continued cruising.

There was a note in the cue sheet suggesting speed breakers. I kept looking for those, and they never seemed to appear. I must have crossed 2 or 3 km from the distanced indicated in the cue sheet. So, I moved along.

Some thoughts about my family came along, and it felt why I was doing this crazy ride. Quickly I got out of that mode, and was thinking, what all games the ride can play on your mind.

SCreeech! I just saw a traffic barricade on my way, at about 10 metres. I stopped abruptly. I was safe, and more importantly, the bike was safe. There were a group of villagers standing nearby. I stopped for a while wondering what happened, chatting to the villagers.

They provided more courage to continue. I got onto the saddle and continued. Soon, I started feeling the pain in the shoulders, and the wrist, and the ....

I was already in a different state, and didnt feel it was safe to continue further. I stopped at the next roadside Dhaba, trying to get a hitch to Davangere. I called Deepak and Sohan telling them I am pulling out. Then I called home, telling that I am coming back.

It was a struggle to find a hitch, and finally, one truck driver agreed to give me a ride till Davangere bypass. I was dozing heavily on the truck for the 20-odd minutes that I was inside. If not, I would have caught the 1000K guys riding in the opposite direction.

After I got down at the bypass,  I had to ride about 3km inside. And believe me, that was the toughest 3K I would have done so far in my entire life. Bad roads through the villages, pot holes, and at that time, every building appeared like a bus stand.

Finally, when I reached the bus stand, there was Rajahamsa to Bangalore bus exiting. At first, I was concerned about the bike. The conductor gave me a seat, and put the bike in the rear luggage carrier. My bike got an exclusive ride in the luggage carrier. 

I didnt even want to ride from Majestic, so caught a Volvo, and this time, the bike getting a free ride.

And the aftermath...

Do I regret starting the 1000K or the 600K...?

Absolutely not. I might have been a little overconfident or got carried away with the average speed of 15, but you dont understand all that by reading message forums. 

I do regret pulling out, but at that time, that was the best decision to make. I might have made it to Ranebennur control, with time to spare. But to ride through the night for another ten hours, was just too risky. 

Will I come back for a brevet?

Why not... But will come better equipped, and ensure that I'll be in a group when the sun is down.

When I told Sohan that I will be attempting the 600K. He suggested that I take the shorter ones, 200 or 300 or 400.

When you set your goals, you need to aim high! To know that you can do 200K or 300K and attempt that would be short of a challenge. 

As our very own Rajat Chauhan put it,

if you are not pushing the limits, 

if you are not living on the edge, 

you are simply wasting space.

When you see a uphill, you are happy. And when you see a downhill, you are happier.

I had only one goal in mind. I wanted to do my set workout of twenty miles. The hilly terrain goal was already taken care of the location.Speed or timing was secondary.

We were stating at the Taj Gateway, and I had asked for route suggestions with the receptionist. More than one person knew that I was crazy to be running 30 km.

Luckily the night duty receptionist, Dushyanth, was knowledgeable about the area and suggested me a route. He even offered half a dozen yelaki bananas. Wah Taj, they treated us royally. Of course, what else to expect after you have taken the best room available, and have arrived early and got acquainted with half the staff. The F&B manager was more than happy to give a flask of milk to start with. All complementary.

The morning start was planned at 0500. And I went to bed at 2300. I barely could sleep because of the new environment. At 0430, I decided to spring out of bed and get ready. I had to get a few last minute items ironed out.

At 0505, I went to the main gate to find out that it was closed, and the security guard wasn't around. It took some more time to get the run started. It was 0523, when I started, and Dushyanth was there to see me off.

I had four yelaki bananas, and a glass of milk before the run. The fuel along run was Gatorade, wth two sachets tucked neatly inside my running tee. I could carry only 600ml on my water bottle. I double checked that water will be available en route. As a backup, I carried some spare cash, if I were to buy water.

The tank bund with the dirt trail

By the side

Add I exited the hotel, the climb down was steep, and I was only grinning what I could be covering on the way back. It was still dark when the first mile beeped, and I missed the split. I was eagerly waiting to note down the tone for the second mile, which was a cumulative 19:00. I was happy that I was getting a 9:30 average per mile. There was a fork where the road split, I decided to head straight.

Another mile I hit the first village, saggalipura. There were a pack of dogs barking at me. I slowed down a little to appease the dogs and carried on. As I reached the end of the village, the road turned into a trail. I was a little disappointed that the road had ended and carried along the trail. 


With freshly ploughed fields on one side, tall trees bordering the hills on another side, it surely looked like the Garden of Eden.

By this time, sufficient light had come up, and the scenery around the trail was excellent.Within half a mile I hit the fringes of a forest, and was cautious that wild animals could be roaming. I kept my eyes wide open just to be cautious. Another half a mile, there was a small water hole, and the trail ended. I wasn't ready to get into the forest and it could be tricky running inside the forest.

So, I turned back and headed towards the fork, where the road split. The road led me through an elevated platform, what appeared to be a tank-bund. It took me through another village, Nettakerahalli, and into a trail. But this time the trail was wider. It was a steep uphill, so I pushed along. Within another kilometre, the trail abruptly ended in what looked like a farmhouse. I checked if there was any other way, but there wasn't any. So it was time to turn back again.

A long winding downhill

I was going to head back to the hotel. After a few minutes, I realized that I had missed a turn and was heading in another direction. There was still a lot of distance to cover, and so....  After a rough patch of semi-paved road, I hit the next village Kurvangi. This time, I bypassed the village, and ran at the edge of it. Missing your turn can never be so rewarding.

And what came along was truly spectacular. At the end of the village, the road led me into a tank-bund, which wasn't paved. It was just pure earth. "Blissful", I thought and carried along. On the distant horizon, was a small temple atop the hill. I kept thinking, if I should break my run and visit the temple or not. And when it came to crossroad, I decided to carry along with my run, and cover it while returning.

When the dirt trail ended, I entered the village to the left (which I later got to know is Nettakeranahalli, the second village). This time around, there were lot of people outside their houses. The same old routine of running till the end of the village and returning continued.

About 100 metres to my turning point, I saw this steep uphill, and I was grinning. Who wants to miss an uphill when you are training for hills, anyway. So I overshot, ran up the hill and continued further. After a few minutes, I was a steep downhill, leading into a village, Chikkanahalli. And who wants to miss the return climb. The same old routine.

The uphill climb

Railway track in construction

At this village, I saw that they were laying a railway track. On one side, I could see the track being laid, and on the other, the preparation was going on. I also filled up my water bottle at the "Jet" pump, while picking up a conversation with a few teenagers.

It was time to return, and per my calculations, I should be able to cover my target of 32K if I just make it to the hotel. So, I bid goodbye to the temple and continued.

Upon reaching the hotel, I realized that I was still two miles short of my target. I headed down Kadur road, which was heading downhill. This is the kind of a slope, that you can coast and cruise at 60kph on a cycle. I ran the downhill for one mile, and when I turned back, I said to myself, "Take fifteen minutes, but complete the climb non-stop".

I walked the first few metres, sipping the last droplets of Gatorade remaining in my bottle, and mind you, walking the climb was difficult. I gently pushed off, and shortened my stride, increasing the turnover. One step after another, I pushed along, counting myself down last 600 metres, 400 metres, 200 metres, and so. When I reached the turn for the hotel, the mile beeped 12:57.

I didn't stop there, and carried along the next 200 metres to the hotel climb, which was doubly steep, And when I reached the hotel gate, stopped and reset my Garmin. The security guard opened the gate with a smile.

When I reached my room, my family was just getting out for breakfast. I asked them to take a quick picture, headed to take a quick shower and joined them for breakfast. I finished four strawberry milkshakes, two mango smoothies, one banana smoothie, and one buttermilk from the buffet bar. All small servings, after a longish run.

To run a 20-miler is a difficult task,...
and that in the hills is daunting, and
when you top it off with a steep mile climbing 240 feet,
there is nothing more you can ask.

The hills were so mesmerizing that I returned two days later, to do a 10K tempo run, but ended up doing double the distance, covering the temple that I had missed on the first run.

When you see a uphill, you are happy. And when you see a downhill, you are happier.


Garmin Link: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/190326339

The TCS 10K experience

Sometimes, its just the determination that wins! Not practice...

Carrying an injury, I deferred my training till about two weeks to go into the race. Of that I got only one week of quality training.

Despite having such limited training, I just stayed focused on my cross-training. Thanks to my recent interests in cycling, and the urge to learn swimming, I have been consistently on a work-out plan for the last two months. To the extent, that I was doing three workouts a day till about two weeks ago.

And thanks to the charity program for Diya Foundation (www.diyafoundation.com), and the need to motivate a few people at office, I just carried on my cross-training.

The longest distance that I had ran, in the recent past, was 8.3K. And the timing could be forgotten.

With such limited training, I had a clear plan. To stay at 85% of my Max heart-rate till 2km to the finish line, and push. 

The day before Race-day

This one was relaxed with a visit to some relatives, and a dinner at a restaurant. I was conscious about the dinner, and wanted to get some good carbs in for the race. By my standards, the dnner was more-than-half junk.

Before going to bed, I opened the race packet, and got my essentials ready. My race day luggaged consisted of one banana, one bottle of gatorade, racing bib (pinned to the T-shirt), and 200 bucks that went into the race shorts. The timing chip was secured to my Vibrams, which I preferred for racing, just because they are faster. The Garmin and heart-rate belt and default add-ons for every workout now.

Race Day

I woke up at 0600 hrs which was late by my standards, and got ready within half-an-hour, to meet my projected start time of 0630. When I got ready, some tardiness set in, and I had the usual last-minute nervousness, double-checking everything that I needed to carry for the race. 

I walked out of home at 0640, after a couple of calls to Deepak and Senthil. Some nervousness had already set in, as I would have barely enough time to warm up at the race venue. It was a different experience to walk with bib-pinned. I am sure everybody was looking at me on the road, but who cares!

It was a pleasant surprise to see some fellow runners when I reached the bus-stop. (Please note that none of them were wearing the bib, so, I surely was a step ahead). As bus moved on, more and more fellow runners boarded the bus, including one past colleague, whom I havent met in years.

I reached the race venue, with about 30 minutes to spare. Soon, I located the warm up area with my C-holding area marking. For all that hungama, that had been created, the runners were left to themselves to warm up. I assumed that the race was going to start from here. 

Ten minutes to the start, I realized something was wrong. There wasn't enough crowd in the warm up area. I got out of it and found the correct holding area. By this time, there was considerable build-up of crowd, and the entry points were choked. I just pushed through the crowd, and moved as close to the gate as possible. Till this time, I wasn't able to locate any of my colleagues. The only known face that I had seen was Bhasker's brother Chandramouli, and Athreya in the warm-up area.

Just as I reached the holding area, I saw the elite athletes get the gun shot and kick off their race. Within a couple of minutes, the rest of the runners were opened in three batches. To my fortune, I was in the third batch. Once again, I pushed through the crowd to get the starting point. Till this time, I was under the assumption that they were going to give us a start.

It was poor organizing that they just let us continue to run from the elite start. There wasn't any waiting near the start-line, and the customary pre-race wishing. I started my Garmin with a few metres to go for the start-line. At this time, my heart-rate was already at 90%, and my plan to stick to 85% had already gone for a toss. From this moment, I stopped bothering about the heart-rate, and kept pushing through the crowd.

The first kilometre was heavily crowded, and I had to wade through the crowd, maintaining good pace. After the first kilometer, there were sufficient gaps between the runners to weave through comfortably. 

About 150 metres to the turnaround point, I saw the first of the elite runners go forward, and then some familiar faces were there. Athreya, A2, Bhasker, etc. I cheered everybody at the turnaround. I took a walking break at the turnaround to finish my 2nd gulp of the gatorade.

As I continued to run, I recognized Vasu was ahead of me. I called out his name, and continued with him. He mentioned that we are on track for a 47-minute finish. It was great news for me, and I stuck along with him.

As we were reaching JDP circle, I was happy that we were going straight ahead to Kanteerave stadium. And the the detour towards Queens Road came. "How come we can finish a run without passing by Vidhan Soudha", I commented. Both of us were making good pace, and I was at more than 100% Max HR all the time. 

Both of us took a drinks break at the next point, and lemon gatorade I ingested didn't go well. Yet, we carried along at great pace, and entered Cubbon Park.

I had to take another water break with the water stop inside Cubbon Park, while Vasu carried along. He was about 30 metres ahead of me. I still had the chance of making it to the last km sprint with him, only that I had pushed it to the last 500 metres. 

As we exited Cubbon Park, I noticed the 9km mark, and was closing the gap and getting ready to finish. As he entered the stadium gates, I followed him fast, but lost track of him. 

Suddenly, it looked like I had lost my way, and there were people all around. I kept yelling, "Way please", and "Where is the finish line?". One volunteer indicated, that I had already finished. I spotted A2 and he indicated that the stadium entrance was the finish line.

Very much confused, I went to collect my medal and refreshments. After that, I quickly headed back to the finish line to cheer for others. I spotted a lot of familiar faces on the way back, including Bhasker, Deepak, Mani, Atreya, Damian, etc.

After about twenty minutes of cheering at the finish line, and about hundreds of high-fives to finishers, I decided to get back and catch up with the others, and got back to the finish area. Only A2 and Athreya, were around. The crowd was huge. I still hung around for another half-hour before heading back to my daughters swimming classes.

With both the start time and finish time botched up, I dont have exact finish time. However, I am sure that I had finished in less than 50 minutes, which is indeed great, considering that I had pushed myself to the core, and took three and half drinks breaks. 

About the race organization

Organizing a race with such huge number of participants is always going to be a challenge. On the other hand, the Bangalore 10K has been in running for fifth year, and Procam is professionally organizing races for about eight years (atleast as I know), and they have experience running Mumbai marathon with much larger participants.

The overall organization was great! The medal distribution, the refreshments, directions for the runners, etc.

Here are somethings that I'll definitely want to improve upon:

1. Deprivation of a proper start: I never felt like I heard the gun-shot. Though in most large races, its hardly noticed, in this case, we saw the elite runners kick off. And the others just ran from their holding areas. There wasn't a proper start. 

2. 9th Kilometer marking: I am sure the the distance from the 9Km marking to the finish line was less than half-km. This must have been the same marking used for elite runners, who had a different finish line. That makes me wonder, if the distance covered was actually 10k.

3. Finish line: Why deprive runners of a stadium finish! None of us saw the finish line with a 100 metres to spare, depriving us of the sprint to the finish!

4. Insensitive organization: As I was cheering up the finishers, one of the organizers came and told me to move away, saying that cheering from there would cause a pile up. Though he was sensitive not to say anything absurd to me, it was still a joke asking not to cheer runners up.

Overall, it was a good race for me. I felt great after the run, with my timing just in the ballpark I had expected.

Having not done major runs, it was just the determination to stick to cross-training that helped me get to the finish line in great shape!

Edit: My official time is 48:20
Overall Rank is 190
Category Rank is 119.
Just missed my goal to the be in the Top 100 for my category!
http://www.timingindia.com/raceDetails.php?event=tcsopen12&bib=8141

The scales are tipping

I was thrilled to see the reading, when I stepped on the scales this morning. The scales were showing a 200g drop compared to yesterday! And so, is the the case for the last three weeks or so, that I have been trying to conquer Mission 65.

Honestly to say, the last few weeks have been easy. The trouble starts only when you are not at home.
Its easy to manage the breakfast and lunches. There aren't strict guidelines for those.

Dinners, are the real problem. I have been living in a setup where dinner constitutes the heaviest meal of the day. I am still wondering why, we have such a heavy dinner. To top that, we also have it quite late in the night.

As long as I can see have a light dinner, there is steady progress. And when there is something extraordinary, for example, the falafel dinner I had a few days back, had pushed me back almost by a week.

I had committed eight weeks of "food" control, and in the fourth week, I feel like I am halfway through!

For those who are number conscious, the scale read 66.3 kgs.
Is it a coincidence that my height is 66 inches.

1.3 more to go...

Bangalore City ............... Conquered ................ Twice

I had promised Dr.Rajat (Doc) yesterday evening that I'll report at 5:30pm. Thats for the Earth Day Run volunteering that I had taken up. It would take much more than a blog to explain who Doc is. He is a well-known sports doc and more importantly the man behind La Ultra (www.thehigh.in).

After getting all the sundry work complete, I hit the bed at 2330. It was late considering that I'll have to wake up by atleat 0415 to make it to Cubbon Park from my Brookefields home. I had second thoughts about setting up the alarm earlier than the 0440 as I was waking up any way.

As luck would have it, I overslept. It was 0430 when I woke up. Some replanning and the cycling to Cubbon park was still running on the back of my mind. I didnt make sense for me to drive to the venue, when I could bicycle all the way, that too on Earth Day. I made a mental calculation that if I am able to leave 0455, I'll make it by 0535, which is still ok. My only concern was any unruly traffic at this early hour. Today being a Sunday, all the cab drivers are out, and so, it is safer than other days.

I did get ready by 0455. However, I still had to run through my backpack and get it ready for the ride, which cost me a few minutes, and I was able to hit the road a couple of minutes past 0500.

Given that I was already behind schedule, I was pushing through the ride. The first hurdle was Marathahalli Bridge, which is a longish climb (atleast by my current endurance levels). Having got through that one, the rest of the rolling hills along the route (Marathahalli - Airport Road all the way upto Command Hospital - Trinity Circle - MG road ) were considerably easier. I had to take a few seconds break after Domlur as I was pushing all along.

Finally reached Cubbon park at 0540, where a few of them including Doc had already assembled. Quickly passed on the printouts that I was carrying. All of them appreciated that I had ridden all the way.

There wasn't anything worth mentioning in the return ride, except for the fact that my Garmin hung, and I couldnt use it for the ride. I'll have to look up in the manual on how to do a hard reset to bring it back.

I returned from Ananya's classes around 1-ish and was thinking whether to go to Decathlon or take my roadie to Wheelsports. Venky of Wheelsports had been out of town and the bike needed a minor tuneup after the 250-odd kms that had been covered. Venky confirmed that I could get the bike tuned today.

The plan was to complete the tuneup and go to the icycle event in Cubbon again at 1600. The time was 1400ish and the sun beating down heavily. It was a hot day. Taking the car out just for the bike service was ruled out.

Started by 1415 and clothed myself fully to protect from the sunburn. The Dri-fits are anyway good in hot weather. Also got half-a-litre of diluted Gatorade to cover me for the ride.

This time, the Marathahalli bridge climb still made its point. Otherwise it was a nice experience driving down the Airport Road on a bicycle. I made a lot of heads turn around with the cycle.

Particularly, one conductor on a bus asked the price of the bike. I replied, "just dont ask that one question".
He asked if the bike would do 40km. I replied, why 40, I have done 100 on the bike.
Later realized that he was asking about the speed!

The Mysore Road climb wasn't that difficult. Finally go to Wheelsports in little over an hour. Not bad at all, considering all the traffic stops that I had to make.

After finishing the tuneup, I checked the time. It was 1610. The icycle run was scheduled to start at 1600hrs. So, it had to be dropped. I wouldn't even have made a delayed start. Besides, it would get dark by the time I get home.

Heading back home,  the sun had receded, and there was some cloud cover. So, the ride was mostly pleasant throughout. The only climb involved was the Double Road flyover, which was tough, but I had seen about four flyovers today, and I am getting better.

Both the rides put together was 64km. That's about 5 litres of petrol, and 11.5 kgs of less CO2 in the atmosphere. (Source of calculation: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_CO2_emission_per_liter_petrol)

Its a totally different experience riding on the bike on City roads. The roads are obviously good, and would support a roadie ride. Its the traffic that I would want to avoid.

Riding along with the traffic is a mixed experience. But that doesn't matter when you are keeping up with them. At most times, you have a good lead when you are starting off at a traffic signal. And who cares, when you are making heads turn, and having the time of your life!

A good end to the week, and swimming classes start tomorrow. I'll have to wait a few days before I get on the saddle again. The milage this week should make up for that.

Riding at a relaxed pace through the older parts of the city would be an excellent experience. I'll save it for another day...

Edit: Forgot to add the bit about
Casualty of the Day
As I was returning on the second ride, I was getting a clicking noise for every rotation of the crank. I looked down, and found that the Gatordate bottle on the cage had just popped out of the cage. When I tried to adjust it on the run, it just slipped off and fell to the road. Its a coincidence that it had fallen almost at the same place about four months ago.
I quickly screeched to a halt, and turned back to pick it up. Just then, it got run over by a Volvo. RIP Gatorate bottle. This one had served me for almost five months. 

Mission 65

Well, certainly, you are not going to get Chicken 65 in this mission. Literally!

This all started with the complementary body composition report that I got from a upstart nutrition clinic at an event last weekend. As with all complementary things, the outcome of the report is to draw you towards them and make you a paying customer.

The reports looked alarming. With numbers like BMI, RMR, TBF all showing numbers which are leaning towards the red side.

"Red is not good", I am told. And that includes red meat.

While I was pondering over these numbers, I chanced to meet the nutritionist at my gym, who has already convinced me to cut that extra sugar and extra fat that comes along in the food intake. A few weeks into this, I am already experiencing the benefits. I am feeling lighter, and more active. Not to mention the half-a-kg or so weight loss that I have experience during the one month program.

While that might be laughable, my weight was standstill even when I was on an intense exercise program. Basically, the inputs accounted for whatever I burnt through my sessions.

Having blown the bank on my recent bicycle purchase, (new post awaited: stay tuned), which weighed one kg less than its nearest counterpart, I have decided to start a mission.

My weight was 65 kgs when I ran my last 'good' marathon in 2002. From then on, I have been mostly accumulating fat in my body. So, to reduce all that fat that has been accumulated over the decade or so, it need some serious, oh wait, drastic measures.

My current weight is ~70kg, and I already look lean, if not feel lean. Can I manage to burn out this 5kg of this extra material tucked inside my body, in all the cozy corners.

So, forget the Chicken65. My diet chart looks like oats, muesli, skimmed milk, ...

Let me see if I can hold my tastebuds for a whole two months.

The first big ride

How it started?
It all started with a message from Deepak which read "Are you game for tomorrow?"
"Sure, what do you have in mind", I replied.

Tring tring, my cellphone rang immediately. I knew it was Deepak.
"I am bored of the Chikkatirupathi route", he said. "Let us do some other route".

I could understand, having rid with him two weeks before, and because I'd like to explore and stay off-beat.

"How much do you have in mind. We want to do the long one on Sunday", I queried.
"Lets do about fifty. Some of my friends are also joining. One is joining from Banashankari".

That puzzled me. The distance to and from Banashankari is itself fifty kms. I was thinking how we could accomodate the guy from Banashankari.

I gave him multiple options and mentioned clearly that any ride for him will exceed the fifty we are planning.

"Ok, let us plan the route. We can do the Gunjur - Huskur - E-City -Chandapura -Dommasandra and back, and that is about 50K" I suggested.

He seemed to agree and asked for a map, for which I shared the Garmin connect link.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/154664968

First of all, I had been waiting for the weekend to ride, and the call from Deepak only escalated excitement. I was super excited, that it is going to be a two-ride weekend.

Prepping for the ride
Maybe, I should prepare a checklist which I can peruse later on.
500ml of honey-enriched water in the Gatorade bottle, Another litre in the backpack. With that went in some delicious dates which my brother in Saudi sent me last week.

I felt I was missing something. Ok, the sprouts. I already had peanut sprouts, but that wasn't sufficient. Ok, let me soak some Black Chana, and I put it along with peanuts.

I checked my Garmin 405CX, which showed 71% battery. I put it on charge to get it up to 100%. My Samsung Galaxy S2 was feeling alone, and I let it spend sometime with the Garming, and the guy and the girl were getting charged.

Ok, what next, the puncture kit and the spare tube went in to my backpack.

I went up to my new found love, the Giant Boulder SE, and checked the air in both in the tyres. The front one seemed ok, and the back one didn't have sufficient air. I quickly got the hand pump, and started filling air.

I wasn't sure about the position of the lever in the pump, and after a couple of tries, went to youtube to find the correct position.
I found this wonderful video, explains all the different valves, and how to pump them too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehf6HL0aLTc

After a couple of tries, I got it to a satisfactory level, and sent a message to Deepak to get his pump as backup.

Looks like the guy and the girl had so much fun, that they got charged quickly. I got the Garmin along with the   Heart Rate belt ready on the table to be picked up in the morning, and the Galaxy went into the front pouch of
Along with it, went my wallet. I double-checked that I have sufficient cash, and some change too.

I went up to the helmet which was sitting in a corner and was cradling the gloves and the sunglasses. I picked up the sunglasses, and gave it a gentle bath with mild soap, to get it ready for the ride.

The time was already 2330, and I was supposed to start at 0600 hrs.

I got my biking jersey along with another dry-fit ready and kept it on the table, along with the Garmin. Picked up an alternate pair of shorts and dri-fit T, which went into the back-pack.

I went and checked the bike and found something missing. After pondering for a while, I realized that it was the watch holder. The last time I took it , it was loose. The thing did not come with the Garmin and was a carryover from a old HRM.

Fixing the handlebar watch-mount
My engineering mind quickly checked for an engineering solution.All I needed was some padding in the middle to hold her up.

So the search continued. A few minutes later, I found a small rubber sheet that came up as a padding along with a Titan Watch. We should have thrown it out then and there, but you see, trash has some value. I quickly cut it up fit within the watch holder, and it fit perfectly. I mounted the watch holder on the handle bar.

With that I was satisfied, that I went up to bed. The time was 2350.
I realized I need the Galaxy S2 for the alarm, and picked it up from the bag. I set two different alarms, one at 0440 and another at 0450, as I usually do. The alarms actually work like a charm. They play a natural soothening tone 5 minutes that you wake up from deep sleep without disturbing your sleep patterns.

My super excitement did not let me sleep. I would have been awake for another half-an-hour atleast.

Some time later, I woke up, and checked the time was only 0235, and went to bed back again.
The next time, it was 0335, and I didnt catch further sleep after that.

When the alarm went up at 0435, I was already awake, and canceled it to rest for a while.
When the next alarm came up at 0444, I got up from the bed and was wondering how I'll pass the next one hour.

Went to the kitchen and drank two full glasses of water (about 600ml), to speed up the morning ablutions. Also turned on the geyser, as I had sufficient time for the shower. I opened my laptop, and checked the fixed the problems that it was showing up the previous night.

I still had 30 minutes to kill, which was spent usefully in browsing biking related websites.

Now the preparation for the ride starts...
I forgot to leave enough water for the black chana to soak up properly, which meant that it wasn't ready for consumption. I picked some roast chana dal as backup.
At this time, I realized that I am missing bananas, which is my favourite fuel.

I realized the time was 0540 already. Took a quick shower and the last minute formalities followed...

I got on to the biking attire that I kept aside the previous night Wore the HRM, and put the Garmin on the watch mount. Unlocked the bike. The lock and key went into the backup. (I must get an alternate lock. Man, this lock weighs so much). Anyways, I consider the bike rides as exercise. All weights carried on your backpack increases your endurance. Just hoping my bag doesn't mind it.

I gently rolled the bike and kept it outside, so that the Garmin will get all the heavenly blessings from all the stars, and went back home to wear the shoes, and pick up the helmet, gloves and sunglasses.
It wasn't dark outside; so, the sunglasses went into its own case in the backpack.

The time was 0550. Quickly called up Deepak, who said "5 mintues, I will be there", at our agreed meeting point, Varthur Road circle.

I gently woke up my wife, who was still in the middle of the night, and told her I should be back 12ish. I put on the backpack, locked the house, and put the keys into the backpack. After wearing the shoes, I was ready, and the moment was here...

I went to the bike, which was parked in the middle of the road. (Sometimes, I wonder what'll happen if somebody steals it. I keep my eyes on the bike, once I park it outside).
Quickly checked the Garmin, which seemed to have got all the blessings to start the ride.

Pressed the "Start" button on the Garmin, and that's how the ride started...

The weather was cool. It was a little brighter than what it was two weeks ago (that's my previous weekend ride).

I paid attention to all the "changing gears" stuff that I had read up on bikeszone.
(Now my gear shift pattern is 3x7-3x6-3x5-2x5-2x4-2x3-1x3-1x2-1x1. ).

My Garmin beeps and laps at every mile (it has been set to). I looked up at the timing and felt it was much slower than what I was doing previously. But felt what the heck, and continued.

I reached our agreed starting point 12 minutes into the ride. Deepak wasn't yet there.I quickly checked the pressure on the rear tire. It didn't seem ok. Took the hand-pump, and filled it up again. After about 40 strokes, the tire felt ok. I put the pump back in its place, and looked at the path, in which Deepak was to come.

One rider just arrived. I checked with him, and he wasn't from our group. Deepak arrived in a minute, and delivered the good news that its going to be only two of us. His two buddies have overslept and wont be joining us.
(Deepak and I match up very well. He is a strong rider, and keeps up with the pace of my Giant on a old Firefox. I cant beat him on up hills. Man, he has stronger legs. With 24 marathons under his belt, what else can I expect. I've managed only six till now).

Rider from Basavangudi
He called up the rider from Banashankari. It was supposed to be Basavangudi. He was 30 minutes to Decathlon. A quick back calculation on my mind, and I told we should take the longer Dommasandra loop to be at Decathlon by 30 minutes. Deepak agreed.

Ten minutes into the ride, Deepak's phone rang. It was bad news from the Basavangudi rider. .He's had a flat, and was held up at some place near Sarjapur Road-ORR junction.

"Ok", I said. "Let us ride faster towards him then".
Luckily, we hadn't passed the Gunjur crossover point. We took it, when it came, and we rode faster to reach him. I love this route. The sun was just coming up, and was its best for the day.

Soon we reached Sarjapur Road, and took a right towards Agara. Sarjapur road had gentle ups and downs, which meant frequent gear changes.
I was ahead of Deepak by about 100 metres. I kept a watch of all the riders coming on the opposite so that the rendezvous wont be missed, assuming that he would have replaced his tube and started riding.

Then, at Total Mall, I stopped, waiting for Deepak. When Deepak arrived, he confirmed that he hadn't seen our man too.

We didn't see him till the ORR junction, and Deepak suggested that we ride further ahead.
"We can find him easily if we ride on the wrong side", Deepak suggested.

That was big NO for me. "Let us ride on the correct side", I said.
After about 300 metres, we spotted him. Here comes Vivek, on a btwin roadie. I queried him about all the details of the road bike. (There was a cinema running on the back of my mind with me riding the roadie).

We bumped into our fellow marathoner Manoj Bhat, who was running towards Agara. We exchanged a few words. Manoj mentioned getting a bike for cross-training. One more rider to be club, welcome.

Our start to plan the ride again. The time was about 0700, and we still had lot of time for Decathlon opening hours.
"Let us have breakfast then", I suggested. We can come back to Decathlon after the breakfast.

All the inclines and declines again, with frequent changing gears. We stopped at Decathlon and confirmed that the opening time was 0830.

Breakfast at Priya Darshini
Priya Darshini restaurant was our next stop, which has become favourite for breakfast. I confimed that Vivek was a Southie, and he can give expert feedback on the idli-vada.

One plate-idli vada for each of us. I ordered an extra khara bath, after having tasted it a couple of weeks ago.  
When we finished breakfast, it was still 0800, and going to Decathlon meant atleast an hour drop from the schedule.

Vivek didn't have a puncture kit, and that seemed to be a problem. He was keen to go to Decathlon, to make the purchase.
Deepak suggested that he will spare his puncture kit with Vivek, and we both (Deepak and myself) can use mine.
"Great", I said, "Lets roll, then"

Deepak was querying about Thalli, and I replied, "Let us go to Chandapura circle and take a call".

Dommasandra to Chandapura
I was ahead leading them, and when I reached Dommasandra circle, I stopped to reset the Garmin, and mark  the route for Chandapura. (That would have made it easier for sharing). Both of them passed me. I followed after resetting my Garmin.

I passed Deepak in a short while. Only temporarily, he'll  catch me in the next uphill.Vivek was riding smoothly in his roadie, and was maintaining a good pace. I was having a hard time catching up with him. I briefly passed him on a downhill.

When we reached the railway crossing, I stopped, turned back and signalled a pot-hole alert to Vivek. He stopped and rolled his bike. Deepak was there within 10 seconds, and just as I was about to start, my phone rang.

Guessing that it should have been home, I got the phone out of my backpack. (Its time for a handlebar bag now, the backpack is too complicated).

It was my mom from Chennai, and wanted to speak to my daughter. Quickly finished the call stating I am outside, and started the ride.

The route from Dommasandra to Chandapura had rolling hills, with a good share of downhills. We covered the 11K in about 28 minutes, and as we approached Chandapura, a herd of cows greeted us. (We had the divine blessings of Go Matha also).

Reaching Chandapura
Vivek was first to arrive in Chandapura, and I was a few paces, should I say pedals. Deepak was about 30 seconds behind.

It was a market day in Chandapura, and people were just setting up shop. It was time for fueling, and you know what is my favourite fuel.

A kg of robusta (green variety) cost 15 bucks. When the shop-wal put it on the weighing scale, it showed more than a kg, and the shop-wala said "Give me 15 rupees".
"oru kg irukka. (Is it one kg)", I asked.
"Ha sir, melaye irukku (Its more than that)".
"Athukku than kettan (That's why I asked)"
"Muthal Boni, sir. Eduthukkoga (First customer, take it,sir)"
Shopkeepers have a practice of making a hassle-free deal for the first customer of the day.

Deepak and Vivek were grinning at me looking at the big bunch of bananas. They were thinking that I am going to eat the dozen bananas. We quickly shared the bananas.

Three of us gobbled up five bananas. Knowing that the peels will end up in the landfill, only to rot, I collected them and ran back 50 metres to feed it to the cows.

"Ok, so what, now?", the question popped again.
"I am going home from now. I'll take Hosur Road, No Decathlon for today", Vivek said.

So, it was between me and Deepak. The time was 0900.

"What the heck. We are already here. Its only 0900. If we make ride quickly, we'll make it to Thally in two hours, and can make it home by 1300 or 1400".  Both of us picked up our cellphones, called back our homes, and got our ETPs  (Extended Time Permissions).
Having done the route by car, I fairly know the route, and knew that it had lots of uphills, and that we are making an aggressive estimate.

I packed the remaining bananas in a newspaper, and put them in the backpack. There was already two more litres on the water in the backpack.
"You are becoming a luggage carrier", Deepak grinned.
"As long as it on my back, it is exercise for me", I countered.

The next major destination was Anekal. One km into the road, we hit a semi-paved road with the gravel left loose. My Garmin beeped just before and after the patch, which means that it is close to 1.5K. Both of us got off from our saddle, and rid the bad patch out. It was a gentle downhill, so we didn't have to pedal much. I was thinking about the return journey when we'll have to pedal hard.

The road to Anekal had trees lined on both sides. Throughout the ride, there was a gentle breeze. I was in top gear most of the time, and we reached Anekal quickly. I cautioned Deepak, that the up hill will start once we hit the Tamil Nadu border. I was leading him, so there wasn't any pitstops till then.

As I knew the way, I was breezing through Anekal town. Many people were looking at us.
As we were passing by, I noticed a few shops, and just remembered that it'll be good to pick up chocolates, in case, we encounter any children on the way. I got down and got some chocolates.

When I came back, I realized that Deepak hadn't stopped and would have gone past. Out came the cellphone, and a quick call to request him whereever he was, and that I would catch up. I kept looking for him on the way, but could find him only after about two kilometres.

The road to Tamil Nadu border had eucalyptus trees on both sides, and similar to the ride from Chandapura to Anekal. A few kms later, we saw an eleneer (tender coconut) shop.
Deepak was reluctant, but I wanted to stop. When have I ever said NO to the heavely drink of Tender Coconut. Just when we were having tender coconuts, a couple of guys on a bike stopped. They seemed to know Deepak, and were from Navadarshanam (www.navadarshanam.org). We chatted for a few minutes.
I had two of them, while Deepak had one. And the ride started again.

That's Deepak trying to catch me on his cellphone camera.

Tamil Nadu Checkpost to Thally
The ride upto Tamil Nadu checkpost was fairly uphill, but we didn't find it difficult. There was gentle downhill after that, which, my bike seemed to race. After a while, there was another downhill, on which my bike was zooming. I was trying to pedal hard on the top gear but could not catch up with the bike. At one point, my Garmin showed 46kmph (wow).

Two kms later, I saw a board for Navadarshanam. Stopped right there for Deepak to arrive, and pointed the signboard to him. He nodded his head and carried forward. I followed him.

Two kms later, I realized that I have not restarted my Garmin. I was very much annoyed with the AutoPause feature from Garmin, and was thinking of doing it myself. This was the third time today. Now, I have learnt my lesson. "Leave the simple tasks to the Gadgets. Enjoy the scenery."

The ride further to Gummalapuram seemed to have a steady incline, but we were determined. The road was on a ridge, and had scenic views on either side. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures. And so did Deepak.

Reaching Thally
As we pedaled a few more kms, we reached the Hosur-Thally road junction. We took a right towards Thally. We were racing down at every downhill to save time.

When we reached the bridge before Thally, there were a lot of people fishing on the lake. There should have been atleast a fifty people on the 2-acre lake. It looked like they had gone on a massive fish hunt. A portion of the bridge had caved in, but, there was enough space for an auto to pass through. Our bikes sailed through seamlessly. Finally we reached Thally around 1115.

We quickly got to a tea shop, and had some tea. Neither did we have the patience to find a good idli shop, nor the luck. We munched on two bananas, and set out with the hope that we'll find better food in Chandapura or Anekal.

Return Journey
For the first half-hour our return journey was alright. When the sun started beating down, the ride got tougher. More so with the steady inclines along the route. We stopped at several places en route  for water, and a little rest.

A group of villagers stopped and enquired about our rides. We told them, "we are training for Karnataka state tour" on bicycle. Given the chance, I'll happily do that. They even offered us Ragi Mudde, which we had to decline because of time constraints.

When we reached Karnataka border, I had a mild sign of cramps. But more importantly, the bums were paining after six hours on the gel saddle.
Deepak suggested that we have stop at the elaneer joint again. I took two elaneers again.

The ride to Anekal was tougher than in the morning, with the sun, and with heavy crosswinds.

Drinking Water for the rides
Deepak stopped to pick up another 2L bottle of water. We had almost run out and had no other choice.
"I dont mind picking up water. But I dont like picking up plastic". (Those two bottles are still lying in my bag, as I am ever ready to carry more weight on the backpack).
He seemed to agree, but there wasn't another way for us to get hydrated, unless we socialize with people en route. And, I seem to be getting good at it.

Lost in Anekal
After reaching Anekal, we were enquired to find the road to Bangalore.  After traveling almost two kms, we realized that it wasn't the road we came through. Then it struck me, that we should be asking for the road to Chandapura. And by chance, we encountered this guy, Afzal. He was too reluctant to pose for the picture.

Fellow bikers, this is what the Indian manufactured bikes are used and abused for. We can include a new category in BBCh of cargo-laden bicycles.

So, we turned around and caught the road to Chandapura. The sun was beating us down, and the trees were at regular intervals. I could say the tree cover was close to 25%. That was better than "no trees at all".

We stopped just before the big bad patch, to gather enough energy to cross it. The patch was a big relief this time, our bums being off the saddle.

The time was 1315. Our priority was to reach home by 230.
We continued our pedaling. Just when we were reaching Muthanallur, a group of kids waved at us, and I remembered the chocolates. I stopped there and distributed the chocolates to the kids. There were lots of questions. Why are you riding cycles? How far are you riding? etc. etc. One kid wanted to try out the bicycle too. I declined citing time!

So, we continued towards Dommasandra, facing gradual inclines. I remembered Deepak's cadence advice of 80, and tried to stick to it, shifting gears down whenever required. I stopped frequently to get a good sip of water.

With two kms to go to Dommasandra, my Garmin beeped. It was the low battery alert. It still had 20% battery. At this time, I was thinking, "We have covered about 8 hrs and there is still one-fifth of the battery left. It should easily last for the next hour home".

Reaching Dommasandra
We reached Dommasandra at 1355. I reset my Garmin to mark the end of the route.
By this time, Deepak had dropped his Decathlon plans. I suggested that we take the Gunjur road to avoid lorry traffic. Deepak agreed.

It was a great start. With a gradual slope, my bike raced down. My long time goal of a sub-3 mile seemed to be within reach. I pedaled down hard not to give any chance. The mile split was 2:50.

As usual, Deepak was slower on the slopes. His logic is "Why to waste energy when gravity is already aiding you?". He was a good 200 metres behind me. I looked behind for the traffic, and swerved to the right, signalling a right-turn.

Not willing to lose momentum, I continue to pedal fast. I knew the route like the back of my palm. (We used to commute this route to E-city daily for about two years).

After about a km, I stopped under a shaded tree to take a sip, and allowing Deepak to catch up. A few curious kids came along, and I still had some chocolates left. Deepak hadn't still arrived. I picked up the cellphone, and gave him a call.

As to my suspicion, he had missed the right turn. He was only one km away from Decathlon. So, I asked him to continue to Decathlon. My spirits took a low, I'll have to ride the last leg alone.

I got onto the bike, and started the first pedal. One beep. I wasn't expecting a mile marker this time. I looked down to see what it is. The Garmin had fainted. He needed fuel to carry around. His ion imbalance could only be corrected by the charger sitting back home. There was a small exhilaration that I outlasted the Garmin.

I wasn't expecting Garmin 405CX to faint. For sure, I couldn't have exhausted 20% battery in 15 minutes time. I don expect the discharge rate to be so high. In any case, Garmin rates it for 8-hours, which it has lasted.

Now, I dont even have the GPS for company to motivate me. Left all alone, I continued to pedal for the lonely ride ahead.

After a minute or so, an idea struck my mind. My Galaxy S2 was sitting in the back quite comfortably. I got it out and turned on Endomondo. Divine blessings from heavens were aplenty. The GPS signal read "Excellent". The back of my mind, I was running calculations. "So, that's eight hours for the Garmin, and another three hours for the Galaxy, which means, I have a range of 11 hours". I exclaimed.

Its better to carry the charger for Garmin and get it charged when you are resting. In the worst case, you can carry a portable battery pack, if AC power is not available.

"Excellent", I thought, and continued. The next twenty minutes was spent in solitude, which is the foremost reason I venture out to run or to bike.

I pedaled slow and steady. This is a route I would be racing down on any fine day, to beat my previous timing. The usual traffic mess at Varthur didn't seem to affect me. I breezed through the narrow gap on the left lane, extra cautiously for any pedestrians who might just come on the way.

Soon, I crossed the Varthur Lake and turned left towards Marathahalli, and stopped at the usual spot just before Tyre Empire. There was a small tree which provided relief from the scorching sun. The last drops of water from the bottle were emptied. "I dont need any more water", I thought.

So, I continued, pedaling steadily through the inclines, and gliding with gravity on the declines. Ten minutes later, I reached home. The time was 1445.

I took out the Galaxy and checked the distance. It was 6.48 miles in 29 minutes. "Great", I thought, "I have this covered"

I gave a gentle pat to the bicycle, on completing the 130K-or-so ride.

After the usual suprabatham from all those at home, I chose to have Lunch first and then the shower later. I went to wash my face, and found a thick layer of salt on my face. I haven't been like this for atleast two years now.

You may have to zoom in to see the salt layers.

There was an excellent lunch, thanks to Ugadi yesterday. Bonda soup, Obbattu, and so on. Guess what, the black chana sprouts that I had left behind also made it onto a dish. "Protein, protein", my mind screamed.

Silently, I slipped in an application that the next ride is 175K.

After the sumptuous lunch, I had a mandate from my better half, not to sleep. What is a better way of spending time than blogging about your ride?

I went back to the bicycle, and looked like the gel seat has had its day. I guess I was too hot for the seat to handle. The gel was popping out at many places. Soon, I'll have to look for a proper biker's saddle.

I just started my riding four weeks back. Its 135K today. At this rate it wont be long before, "I'll have to introduce the Giant as my spouse, in social circles". And who knows, I'll have a roadie for my second wife too! Much better fun and lesser maintenance.

Breakup:
Home to Sarjapur-ORR and to Dommasandra: 31.25 K
Dommasandra to Thally & back: 81.8K
Dommasandra to Mullur: 3.2K
Mullur to Home: 10.45K

Total: 135K