Sohan Sintre's Weblog

Started riding towards Madhugiri fort, and I called Sreepathi to inform that I am running bit late, as I had lost and he was fine, Sreepathi asked me keep riding and hung up.

Now riding faster as much as I can, as I was very eager to see/catchup the 2 riders ahead and my phone rings and Rajanikanth (our RK) on the line

Rajanikanth: Hi Sohan, have you already crossed Madhugiri fort?

Me: no not yet, heading towards it now

Rajanikanth: ok..I forgot my gloves in a hotel, where we had lunch and we are 3KMs away from Madhugiri town towards Sira…would you mind picking it up for me please

Me: sure, why not…will do…

Rajanikanth: me, Mohit, IISc guys, Manjula, Arvind are together, see you soon and hung up

I reached Madhugiri town and looking out for the hotel with a reference given by Rajanikanth, as the hotel didn’t had name/board, I managed to locate that hotel and picked up Rajanikanth’s gloves and started riding.

It was awesome feeling to see Madhugiri fort

Madhugiri fort

After Mahugiri fort, while heading towards Sira again my water bottle popped up from the bottle holder and this time, it got broke after hitting real hard on the road and after 10KM or so, I met Vasu and Sandeep, these guys were resting on the side way, very relaxed clamly…I was delighted to see both, as until now, I was riding alone I thought, oh these are the 2 riders that shop guy mentioned.

Now, we 3 started heading towards Sira on the way, Vasu was planning to have tea break at Sira and few meters away, we found a coconut vendor and tea break was canceled, after a refreshing coconut water, we started towards Sira and reached around 04:00pm and at the end of this road, we had water-melon and a refreshing sugar cane juice.

Back on the saddle, heading towards Hiriyur almost 05:30pm and still 12 KMs to Hiriyur

Almost reached Hiriyur, didn’t see Vasu and at a junction, preferred to call him and Vasu is right there resting near a small tea shop, after 10 mins Sandeep joined us.

Sunset: 12KM away from Hiriyur

Via Ambedkar circle reached 2^nd control Eraballi around 08:00pm and took the pics

Sandeep preferred to rest here and me and Vasu had hot puris (tasted good) from a home made/shop, wanted to fill the bottles, but water here was not good…Vasu had tough time after drinking water from this place, for long time.

We started from Eraballi towards Aymangala and reached 3^rd control around 21:12 and during this stretch, Vasu was giving surprises like screaming all of a sudden from behind, it was fun though and here is the conversation, this stretch was really really quite kind of feeling riding through the forest:

Vasu: Sohan…aagr, ab yahan sher hamhare samne se guzre tho kaisa rahe-ga (now, what if tiger crosses our way)

Me: Ye kaise hoskatha hey…(how is this possible), when already a tiger riding his bike

Hahahaha…

Before we hit Hiriyur, Rajanikanth called us to inform that some problem near ATM, while taking pics on the last control and security not allowing them to take the pic/ATM, so now I called Sreepathi, and explained that our fellow riders have faced this problem near ATM and asking, can we take pic at the entrance as the 4^th control of Hiriyur…he was fine

From here we reached 4^th control Hiriyur around 10:05pm

Last control as per Cuesheet, Vasu with my bike

From here about 10-15 kms, Vasu wanted to go see fellow riders ahead, me and Sandeep preferred to have dinner, before we start for long ride on the highway and Vasu said, he would co-ordinate and wait for us ahead.

On NH4, from a small place me and Sandeep had 2 rotis each and started around 11:00pm towards Sira, we were riding fine, me and Sandeep taking small breaks every 10kms and got a call from Vasu saying that he would wait for us after Sira – Thank you sign board and as promised he was waiting for us and Sandeep too joined us and after a short break, I preferred to start and both joined me in 5 mins.

After this, I had hell of a ride, as we didn’t find a good place or get water bottle for me and to have with gatorade, since the bottle broke…didn’t had gatorade…I wanted to keep riding and I was about to faint, but don’t want to stop riding…Vasu was right behind me on his bike noticed that, I am not good and Vasu asked me to hold his shoulder during descend and this is for about 5 mins or so, Vasu asked me to stop and gave his water bottle and insisted me to pour gatorade, had full as one sip and that brought some energy in me and with in 2 mins…I felt, oh yes I can still ride, got some hope of completing the ride…then, Vasu left his bottle for me…and flewed away on his RB and from here, climbs was looking for me as never ending upto Tumkur.

I was waiting for Sandeep, by turing around every now and then, riding slowly as I was still being revovered, soon Sandeep jonied me and after 10kms, I stopped and Sandeep too and we planned to rest for a while, and I took a 5-10 mins nap, sitting on the side way and resting my head on my bike, Sandeep wakes me up and said, lets ride and I felt so good after this short nap…we started riding and we were around 20kms away from Tumkur Sandeep again stopped to get some rest and after 2 mins, Sandeep asked me you can start riding, if you wish to…I said fine, and this was the last time I saw Sandeep.

Around 05:10am I waited Sandeep at Toll booth: Tumkur after buying a water bottle, waited for about 15 mins and he didn’t truned up and I thought, I will start riding and reached Dobbaspete around 05:45am and from here, without any breaks kept on riding and before Nelamangala toll booth, took 2 mins break for some almonds/raisins and to hydrate, few kms from here saw the beautiful sun rise.

Good morning Namma Bengaluru

To complete in time, it was still 50-50 chance for me, but never stopped riding and I see the board 24kms around 08:05am, got some hopes…I may make it, then pushed little harder and I was expecting a head wind on the flyover, but luckily NO, passed by Peenya on the flyover and called Vasu he said, aajayega (you will reach, good keep riding)…I was really impatient until I reached New BEL road, and kept on looking back hoping to see Sandeep, until I took left turn on ORR Taj Vivanta but no sign of him, felt this ride is never ending until I reached IISc gate – finishing point and our fellow riders, who reached before 08:00am were returning from their breakfast towards IISc, before entering IISc gate, had to deal with Volvo bus as this guy stopped right in the middle of road right in front of me…couple of times, before I entered IISc gate and managed to be there on time.

Still can’t believe myself - Did I made it

My Brevet card

Yes I did made it - Pic by Nirmal (IISc)

What was missed: a. Distance measuring instrument, yes I don’t have one – is Cateye cyclo-comp good, wire or wireless or Garmin forerunner – 305?

b. A good water bottle, one that I had, popped up and fell down/broke after Madhugiri fort, while riding over the pothole and Thanks to Vasu for lending me his water bottle before Tumkur.

c. Full hand gloves (Finger covering hand gloves)

What helped me:

a. My Son’s digital wrist watch that helped me going ON for 27 hours and time management. I don’t use wrist watch, but my Son asked me to use his for the ride, so I took his word…SO SWEET OF HIM…

b. “Keep riding” Sreepathi’s words on the secret control

c. Nano 16GB IPod

Foolish-ness:

a. Didn’t get proper rest/sleep, before and during ride,  as I had already wasted 1 hour for getting lost, during this ride

b. Didn’t care to look into the cue-sheet, rather followed fellow rider and getting lost…NP

Ride/Gear:

On 21st Jan, after doing practice 400K brevet route (25% of the brevet route, up to Koratagere) on my road bike, I preferred doing the actual brevet ride on my MTB with semi slick tires, hearing about bad stretch with lots of potholes, after Koratagere via Madhugiri fort.

FAQ through the ride: Right from Madhure – Aaymangala, I am sure; most of the riders were quizzed by the local people as: which place, from where you started and where you guys heading to, why you people do this, what is the purpose, is it a race, fiddling with the bike…etc

Also, it was really funny…while taking pics at the controls and people watching us “what these guys are up to” kind of looks

Overall, it was 429K for me, when the actual ride was 409K…as I was lost  ;)

Thank you organizers and fellow riders for picking up my calls and for direct/indirect support and motivation before/while riding. With out you guys, I wouldn’t have managed to finish in time.

Thank you all for your comments via email/FB and messenger, for most of the comments and messages I could not respond in time, on Sun/Mon I was still in recuperate mode.

I am not a good writer, tried my best to keep it short and simple to convey what I experienced during this endure…

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment

Thank you