MC's Cycling Diary

Date: 27 October 2018 Total distance: 140 Kilometers Start Time: 4:20 am Return Time: 12:30 pm With: Rohit Bidkar Altitude Profile: Koramangala - Yelahanka - Konaghatta - Nandi Hills - Devanahalli - Koramangala I had come back from Trichy on 8 October 2018 and planned to do a few rides to stay in the groove for the SR5 event which was on 1 November. A combination of work and catching a cold/sore throat on my return kept me away from cycling along with the unavailability of the cassette, I spent a lot of time off the saddle. I had managed a couple of rides of 70 kilometers and 20 kilometers which I knew were not sufficient. I still had the cold/cough when Rohit asked me about riding during the weekend. The SR 5 ride was due in 5 days, I still had to risk riding and hope that the cycle and I would not come off worse at the end of the ride. I did not want to ride too far and opted for Nandi Hills again. It was going to be a repeat, however,

Date: 6 October 2018 Total distance: 400 Kilometers Start Time: 4:00 pm 6 October 2018 Return Time: 4:30 pm 7 October 2018 With: Siva Balaji (after 100 kilometers) Altitude Profile: Trichy - Melur - Trichy - Veppur - Trichy I had to complete a 400 BRM in order to complete my 3rd SR for the 2017-18 season. I was optimistic that I could do this in spite of being on a very short tour just before this ride. The ride was scheduled to start at 4:00 pm and I was weary of being able to ride through the night. If I could get through the night with about 150 kilometers to ride, then I was sure that I could finish the ride. The tour went well, however I did have a couple of mechanical issues on the way. I was just 10 kilometers from Trichy when I had a puncture and got to know that the rear wheel axle is broken as well. Fortunately I had sufficient time to get to Trichy and along with a lot of help from Prashanth T K (Trichy Randonneurs) the cycle got fixed.

Date: 4 October 2018 - 6 October 2018 Total distance:  541 Kilometers Start Time: 6:00 am 4 October 2018 End Time:  12:15 pm 6 October 2018 With: - It had been over 6 months since I had done a cycle tour. I was itching to go on a tour, however I did not have sufficient time to go on a weeklong tour. The 400 kilometer brevet in Trichy on 6th October gave an opportunity to do a little touring before riding the brevet. The plan was to ride to Trichy, since I had a couple of days available, decided to ride to Yercaud, Kolli Hills and Thanjavur. I had missed out on Thanjavur on my previous visit to Trichy and did not want to miss the opportunity this time around. Knowing that doing a tour after the brevet would be difficult, I opted to finish the tour before the brevet. Further, the plan was to avoid the national highway as much as possible and to ride interior roads which included the state highway. Since I had ridden from Hosur to Salem on the National Hig