1000 kms on the bike - Part II (One way till Belgaum)
Posted by
Vikramsinh at Sunday, August 11, 2013
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The D-day ..
As soon as clock shows that its 4 o’clock, it started
raining. What we feared for so long.. rain arrived at very start .. It was
first challenge. I fumbled to put on my raincoat, while I was finding my
raingear in the backpack, all the riders left and it was terrible condition.
Not knowing any of twisting roads and no one to guide you. As I was new to
Bangalore, I planned to follow other riders for at least for first 30kms, And
here riders were leaving .. I was bit scared and hurried put on my jacket,
jumped on bike, cleated my shoes and zooooommmm.
Soon my anxiety was over as I saw colorful reflective
jackets, helmets ahead ..on the signal. My mind screamed ..here I come .. I got
merged with other riders. Relentless rain creating havocs on the road, traffic
got moving at pace of ants. We rode through .. muddy water, gravels, mud,
potholes etc. finding paths to go from where ever possible … through inches of
space . I saw Deepak stopped at road side, he was looking for me , we started
again. Once we are out of the city , on the national highway, it felt like
breathing in free air. 30 kms on, Deepak and Raman stopped for pee break, so I
thought I can stop and ride along with them, I had one roti and started again.
I was looking for anyone who can ride along, cause this ride is going to be
endless. Deepak and I rode for few kms, stopping couple of times. He suggested
me to ride with Raman and I followed him. Rain was not stopping, visibility was
low and we were determined to ride .. in any condition. Once I started riding
at bit higher pace, one by one I met riders , Ashok , Sandeep . On the downhill
I tried to dry my shoes by removing foot out of shoes .. while riding. It
worked to some extent . Then I met with Pradeep, a rider from Bangalore and we
rode together discussing few things. At the toll, we stopped and I dried my
shoes by putting news paper inside. Ashok arrived , few guys went ahead. We
started soon and then I met good bunch of riders. It was dark now and head
lights were on, though I didn’t ge chance to put my head lights. I was riding
behind other people and light was enough to see the road. On this stretch I met
to Aman who was riding at good speed we talked, he suggested to ride in
streamline to fight with strong headwinds, so almost 100kms mark we rode
together with good pace. At Sira we had our dinner, refilled water bottles with
electral, I also mounted head lights. This is where I also met to Kartikeyan
who rode 1200kms in 73 hours (same time limits as for 1000kms as per Brevet
rules ) for the first and last time. Aman was staying for more time so I
started alone in the dark and continuously looking for riders for the company.
While I was riding alone in the dark .. I was thinking about many things .. and
these lines flashed in my mind ..
"Eat before you are hungry.
Drink before you are thirsty.
Rest before you are tired.
Cover up before you are cold.
Peel off before you are hot.
Don't drink or smoke on tour.
Never ride just to prove yourself."
Paul de Vivie, aka Velocio
It’s very important for body to be fuelled for all the time.
I kept eating and drinking good quantities of water. Later I saw blinking red
lights at long distance. I was happy to see the riders, I increased pace to
catch them, after some time I succeeded. I tried to ride with them and had few
words. Along the way nothing was visible except the road. We rode with
monotonous rhythm. Small town on the way.. we caught the opportunity to stop
and had hot tea, refilled bottles added electral. When we were back on the
road, others rode on side road while I opted for highway hence again I was
alone. When riding alone it was monotonous and traffic was moving fast on the
highway. I was now waiting for 200 kms mark where we had first control point,
Chitradurga. Once I crossed the hill, I saw the city but now finding the ATM
was task. I started to looking at cue sheet and was confused to in which
direction I should go. So I wait for others to come. Rajani came, I followed
him inside the city. All was pretty standstill, except few people on the road
and couple of dogs roaming around. Meanwhile Sandeep and pradeep joined us. It
was 2.30 AM in the night, We found axis bank ATM , swiped our cards, got the
ATM slip and ready to go. Sandeep suggested to eat something at bus stand. It
was busy place even in the night, as soon as we entered in to the bus stand
many curious people gathered to see our bikes. We tried to keep low profile and
ate. People asked from where we came , where are we going, what is the price of
bike, how lights are working and umpteen of questions.. and bus conductor
didn’t like our presence with bikes. He asked to keep our bikes outside and
then to eat whatever we want. We ignored him to quickly pack our stuff and go.
I put 4 bananas in back pocket, my full hand shirt was wet so I changed to dry
jersey which I kept for return journey. Rain jacket proved very helpful in
heavy rain. Rajani was contemplating to sleep so I left along with Sandeep.
Once on the road, it was dark and again monotony crept in to
the mind. Not much happening, no scenery to see, only the patch of road where
our headlights were illumination the surface of earth was visible. I felt cold
and rain was intermittent. We rode till 4.30AM, reached at 240kms mark ,
stopped at toll booth. I was feeling cold and sleepy so I asked sandeep to ride
ahead. I had 2 cups of hot tea. Removed my shoes , gloves and tried to sleep in
the chair. Half an hour of nap and it was not good, I kept waking up in between.
Day 2 – Unhappy Wind God
At 5.15 I started again with pretty cold in the early
morning, red colour spread on the eastern horizon. I rode fast for some time but
then started feeling sleepy on and off. Through out the journey I was
constantly looking for other riders … but now luck stared turning its other
face . Suddenly I saw someone sleeping on the roadside .. Sandeep probably.
Road looked endless and boredom was shadowed my mind. I was not knowing this
was going to be tough. Slowly we were entered in the wind gods territory, whole
flat region spread across the horizon. Nowhere to hide from the strong winds.
Simple flat roads become difficult to cross, you have to put your head down and
push .. nothing else. Keep pedalling .keep pedalling .. and nothing other than pedalling.
One quick stop for sleep at roadside for 20mins, and bum
pain surfaced back which I felt in 500km practice ride. I was near 300kms mark
, it was around 11AM , I saw Sandeep again and felt good but it was short. He
wanted to stop for breakfast and I was planning for minimum off bike time. Once
again I was alone on the roads .. with all consuming relentless winds and
intermittent rains. It was simply frustrating when you are pushing pedals with
all your power and not getting anywhere. No place for food or water .. I kept
riding.
My time calculations were crumbling as collapsing house of
cards.. similar way how domino effect makes whole cards to collapse one by one.
I was calculating about 200kms for every 10hours for first 600 kms and 12 hours
for each 200kms remaining. This was tough time .. testing your determination ,
persistence , mind control more than physical efforts. Soon I started to
questioning the very existence of purpose of this ride. Questioning mental
strength and physical challenges .. at the end passion won over all the other
things. I persisted and kept going.. crawling in the strong wind, bit hungry
and thirsty looking for restaurants along the way. I found one dhaba and my
eyes sparkled. When I reached near entrance and parked my bike, people gather
around and started questioning .. same story goes .. this time people hurled
funny questions .. iske anadar motor bithai hai kya ? motor pe chalati hai kya
..motor pe ? ( did you fit motor inside ? does it run on motor?) … tires are
tubeless ? (pointing to water bottles) what’s in there? can I ride the bike for
small distance .. I was patiently answered all the questions but diplomatically
refused for bike ride saying its difficult to ride without cleats. After all
this Q&A session I settled in the chair. It was around 1PM . I had full
lunch and unsuccessfully searched for toilet. Started again .. with angry wind
God.
Whole stretch was monotonous and no rider for company, now
distance covered neared to 360kms and possibility of meeting any rider become
distant dream. My lonely training helped lot in this difficult times. After
riding for 2.5 hours in wind with frustrating speed, I reached next control at
410kms, Hubali , 4 pm in the clock. Moving inside the city was quite tricky ,
roads were full of traffic and no space available for free movement. Reading
cue sheet and finding the exact way was pain , at every turn I had to stop and
ask people for directions, this was so consuming that I opted longer but known
route for getting out of city . I traversed same route and went back to the
point from which I entered the city. It added extra 10 kms and now my speedo
was showing extra 20kms compared to cure sheet. This consumed the time cushion
I had created , now 100kms from Belgaum , I need to reach there by 2 AM. Once
darkness started to cover all horizons wind disappeared and rain took its
place. Climbs started to come and go, whole course of this stretch was up and
down. I felt good as I always enjoyed climbing.
Feeling bit cold as I was wet in the rain, I stopped
intermittently. After 450 kms mark I thought to call parents to tell them about
my journey. Also messaged to Chiddu about my location. It was around 8.30pm, I
was thinking about dinner but didn’t find any good restaurant. Also time was
elapsing very fast and I was anxious about reaching the next control. At one
place I saw speed breaker.. my speed was slow so I managed to cross it safely.
It was very dangerous due to its length. Later I came to know some of the riders
fell down at the same place.
Slowly I was nearing to Belgaum , I skipped dinner but kept
eating roties after certain time period. Lonely ride in the darkness and mind
was only focused on reaching next control. But road was endless, I climbed
couple of steep hills and my head lights were bleak. Now Belgaum was very near
so I thought to change the batteries after reaching to the city. I climbed down
and reached in the city, again same story of asking people about directions.
First ATM refused to identify my card, it said “this card is not authorized” I
hurried searched for alternate ATM near bus stand. There I saw 2 machines,
first machine also displayed error and no receipt for me. Now I was running out
of options, last machine and I was thinking about calling chiddu . I tried last
and it sent out slip … yieee …
Now I was again thinking about dinner, it was 12.30pm, I
went to bus stand. Once again all people gathered around and so many questions
.. where are you going , how many people are riding, when did you start , where
are you from , what is the purpose , what is the prize money, how those lights
work , switch on the lights. It was bit scary as I sensed some of them were
drunk. I quickly ate and refilled water bottles and left. Once out of the city
I tried to change the batteries of the head lights ..but alas as I replaced old
batteries and tried to switch on lights .. it refused to light up. It was
frustrating , riding without light in the dark was almost impossible and I need
to reach next control by 8.30 AM. Soon I realized that I have to ride without
original head lights. I was prepared for this situation with one back up light
, so mounted it on handle bar and started again . The new head light was not
much powerful but it was enough to show me the road. Again all cold night and
monotonous road with rain. I started riding back towards Hubali , 2AM in the
clock 530kms on the speedo, 510 kms as per cue sheet… journey goes on ..
...To Be Continued.
