My second 600 and gunning for a double Super Randonneur and wow what
a ride it was. Total rolling time of 24hrs 50 mins road time of 35Hrs 16 mins
making it an improvement from the last one by about 4.5 hrs.
Couple of moments of down, first at NUH at about 100 Kms
when hit by a Motor bike and me falling straight into the laps of the biker and
his handle hitting my chest and my handle bar hitting my groin area. Well that
was the first perfect excuse i was looking to quit the ride in the blistering
head winds on Alwar highway. Couple of squats of pain relieving spray and popping
a couple of analgesics I was back on the
road.
With afternoon setting in and head winds getting stronger
and the pain brewing up from the hit
nothing was easy besides when I was pace lining behind Nitish and
Shailja.Nitish was very compassionate
here seeing me in pain and telling me to rest from me being in the front for a
while and I followed him and Shailja for the next 30 Kms.I knew I had a wound but didn’t
roll up my Lycra to see it how bad was it as I knew that would
be the last straw on the horse's back and avoided looking at the blood
tricking down.
200Kms done and we are at the outskirts of Alwar city and
our second time station and the end of my first leg of the ride.
I had broken my 600 into 4 legs- start to Alwar(200k), Alwar
to Sikandra/Bamanpura ( 85K) to be reached before dusk,Sikandra-Agra (170k) an all night ride and
almost 400 k in kitty and the Last leg
from Agra to Finish last 200k and decided to take this 600 as a 400 k Brevet
first and once 400k done then will rest and do another 200K.
Two months back I had done a 400K Brevet in 18.5 hrs and so
was aiming to do the first 400 in about 20~22 hrs and then rest for couple of
hours and then crack the last 200 in 10 hrs.
Well easier said than done, soon after leaving Bamanpura Time
station at about 7ish pm killing about 270K, Agra looked farfetched at 158 kms
far but well bituminoid roads and pretty much in sense less traffic made it a
pleasure to ride in the dark. We were like Ghostly Knight riders with our front white Blinkys and behind
the red flashing LEDs.
With me ,Nitish and Shailja taking turns leading the pace
line every 2 Kms we were literally zipping through the dark.
Getting into Bharatpur at about 60 kms short of Agra we
decided to have a chai break and it was our second break since Bamanpur almost
100kms behind and 6 hrs back. The last stop was a dinner break at about 830.
While the group decided to have chai I decided
to have a power nap .Well the group was ready to leave in 15 mins but my
body said I must rest for some more time and now was the quagmire Should I stay
behind listen to my body or stick with my group.I decided to listen to my
body and rest for another 60 mins albeit
Nitish said he will make sure that I don’t dose off on the road but I was not
comfortable and din’t want to slow my team also.
By now the Marshal vehicle also arrived and I felt they
would start after I leave post my rest and would be behind me for some time but to
my surprise they left immediately as soon as the 4 riders left. With no option
left I decided to ride alone after an hour’s rest.
230 am I got up and started my night endeavour all alone. I
was fresh, rested and happy as I could take the Natures call albeit had to
sacrifice my favourite bandana as was not carrying toilet paper :-0
This was the moment I dreaded - alone, impaired vision in one
eye, already done about 380 Kms of cycling in last 20 hrs or so but something
made me carry on. I guess it were my solo long rides almost every day to Inda
Gate and GFR and 400K and 300K Brevets which gave me the confidence.
But deep in my thoughts while pedalling all alone the sole contention
of my thought was I need one puncture to give up/stop cycling now in this darkness
, that didn’t happen but suddenly my
front light battery died and my spare was in the Marshal vehicle 45 Kms ahead……….
Darn should I stop and wait for others to arrive or just try my luck. I choose
the later and took 1hr 35 mins to reach Agra Time station.
Today writing this, nowb I feel that the
sight of tail lights of the Marshal’s car flashing from a distance of perhaps 2
Kms in pitch dark Agra out skits at around 345 am brought life into me and my
Brevet card got stamped at 4:11 am.
And guess what my Team from which I had peeled off 45 kms
back in Bharatpur was also resting here. I had a big lump in my throat seeing
them here after riding about 45 kms alone in absolute darkness.
Now I had killed about 410 Kms in 22 hrs , pretty much what I
had in mind.
At 5 we set out all together for the last leg, the last 190
Kms .Well with day break at Mathura and Headwinds getting back the return journey
till Palwal was not that easy.
My second flat at Palwal city and by the time I could scream out to the
team for help they had disappeared. With the help of local cycle wala I was
back on the road under 10 mins.
3 pm by my watch and almost 60 kms to go, with last 10
practise rides on GFR in the afternoon sun to my advantage, I took up a self
challenge to finish the rest in 2 hours, it took 2 hrs 16 mins instead to see
Manas ,Poonam Anubhav waiting Lemon Tree, the finish line.
A mammoth 608 K cycle ride for the second time finished in
35Hrs and 15 minutes of total time and 24hrs and 50 mins of rolling time. An
improvement of 4.5 hrs from last time with almost 5 Hrs to spare. Could have been
under 32 hrs but there is always a next timeJ.
Few lessons I picked up this 600k
·
One is always looking for that perfect excuse to
quit when tired and alone
·
Practise riding alone really helps to build
confidence in long distance rides and you are not dependent on anyone.
·
Riding in the afternoons whenever I had time
helped me a lot
·
Last but not the least listen to your body and
no one else
chiro mitra
