Gundlupet (400 Kilometer Brevet)

Date: 7 April 2018

Total distance: 402 Kilometers

Start Time: 5:30 am 7 April 2018

Return Time: 4:30 am 8 April 2018

With: Siddalinga Swamy

Altitude Profile:

Kanteerava Stadium - Mysuru - Gundlupet - Mysuru - Kanteerava Stadium

I was not keen on this ride as it was on Mysore Road as I had ridden on this road just a couple of weeks back. A closer look at the route and I got to know that Gundlupet is in Chamarajnagar district and just to cover distance in the Southern most district of the Karnataka state I opted for this route. Although it was just 50 kilometers in Chamarajnagar, it would give me a footprint in the district and I was happy to endure 350 kilometers in known territory just to take the opportunity of riding in Chamarajnagar.

It was going to be the MTB as I was looking at a relaxed ride with the emphasis being on enjoying the ride rather than chasing speed. Although I had decided on the MTB I still got both the cycles ready just in case there is a change in plan at the last minute. However, with a day remaining for the ride, I was keen on the MTB and fixed the rider number onto the MTB.

It was the usual morning drill. Woke up at 4:00 am, got ready and left home at 4:45 am. I reached the start point at 5:15 am. It was a large turnout for a 400 BRM and the start point formalities had been arranged very well by the organisers. I was through with the start formalities quickly and then the wait for the ride to get flagged off.

The ride was flagged off exactly at 5:30 am. I was not in a rush to start and started slowly. I was expecting the fast starters to make a break for it and was looking out for Swamy on his single speed as I was sure that he would be looking at a relaxed ride too. To my surprise Swamy was nowhere to be seen. By the time I had reached half a kilometer I saw Shridar Rao making a dash in the hope of catching up with Swamy and wishing him for the ride. I caught up with Sridhar and checked if he was looking for Swamy, to which he concurred. I told him that I would ride ahead and catch up with Swamy and ask him to slow down and increased my pace. When I reached Town Hall I hadn't caught up with Swamy. I raced up the flyover and caught up with Raghu and was surprised that Swamy was ahead of Raghu. It was only near Raja Rajeshwari Nagar that I caught up with Swamy and that too because his chain had slipped and he had to stop to set it right.

I slowed down by which time Swamy was back on his saddle and informed him about Shridar and Swamy spoke to him on the phone. From here, in the next 10 kilometers Swamy's chain must have slipped about 5 times and we were of the opinion that the chain was slipping since there was too much lubricant on it and we kept removing a little lubricant every time it slipped until we realised that the issue was that there was no enough tension on the chain. Swamy fixed it and the issue was sorted to an extent.

We had ridden 20 kilometers in the first hour in spite of the chain issue. I was comfortable with the speed as I knew that the next stretch would be quick. Having ridden on the route a couple of weeks back, the route was fresh in my mind and I knew that we could make up for the slow start.

Swamy wanted to ride as quickly as possible in the morning when the heat is not a factor and make it as far as possible as he was sure that the ride speed would reduce drastically once the Sun was out. The plan worked for me as well and I was confident at we would be looking at 7 hours to make it to Mysuru after which the ride would slow down in the afternoon heat and rolling terrain towards Gundlupet.

Just as we had expected, the ride to Ramanagar was quick. We did 30 kilometers in the second hour and were pretty much back on track. It looked like Swamy was riding his Single Speed effortlessly and we were catching up and going past a few riders on road bikes and hybrids. We decided to stop for breakfast after riding 65 kilometers. I had expected the ride to slow down a little after Ramanagar, however Swamy was still riding quickly. I kept pace with him and we reached the Coffee Day near Maddur around 8:00 am. Although we could have stopped for breakfast, we opted to ride since the weather was good and we wanted to make max use of the good conditions.

The effect of the good weather conditions was that we reached Maddur at 8:30 am and stopped at Nandi restaurant for breakfast. We had reached earlier than expected and tried to have a quick breakfast. Masala Dosa/Idly Vada and refilled on water which took 30 minutes. A little work on Swamy's cycle to align the back wheel so that it does not rub against the wheels which was the case till now and we were back on the saddle at 9:15 am.

50 minutes later we were at the first control point. Few riders were taking the selfie. 10:15 am and we were done with 100 kilometers. 4 hours 45 minutes with a 40 minutes break for breakfast and a few stops for working on the cycle, showed that we had ridden at around 27-28 kmph to get to Mandya.

We started from Mandya and started the rolling terrain towards Srirangapatna. As we have ridden often on this route, it did not impede us on the pace front and we made out of the climbs pretty quickly and then raced through the descents and were in Srirangapatna at 11:15 am. We caught up with Partha and spoke to him about his Trichy 400 BRM experience. As expected he had not stopped for breakfast during the ride and was soldiering on in spite of a swollen ankle which he had suffered during the Trichy ride.

I was out of water and wanted to make a stop to refill and combine it with Coconut water as well. We had made it past Srirangapatna and were motoring towards Mysuru. I noticed that all the shops near the highway were shut. I was surprised, and the first thought that struck me was that there was a bandh in Mysuru. The next thought was whether we would be able to refill on food and water during the return ride if there was indeed a bandh. The restaurants were open which was a positive sign and calmed me. I checked with Swamy if he wanted to make a stop for coconut water, however we were now within 10 kilometers of Mysuru palace and we decided to continue riding and stop in Mysuru.

We entered a relatively empty Mysuru and riding through the streets was a pleasure. Knowing the route makes things rather easy and riding to the Palace without having to look at the map or ask for directions was a first for me. When we reached the Palace we crossed the road and took some time to take pics in front of the palace. We were not allowed to get close to the gate and we told to remain behind the barricade.

We started from the palace and in 5 minutes had stopped for food. Partha and Karuppaiya had found a place which was serving Curd Rice and we stopped to fill ourselves. 142 kilometers covered in 6.5 hours. We were very happy with the pace. Over lunch the discussion was that things would get difficult from here due to the heat and the wind. The ride from Mysuru to Gundlupet and back to Mysuru was about 110 kilometers and we thought that making it back in daylight would not be possible.

20 minutes for lunch and we were back on the saddle. We rode for about 2 kilometers and stopped at a bakery to refill water and have juice. Cold water was filled into the bottles and a drank a chilled jeera soda to get us going in the heat.

It was 1:00 pm when we started the ride towards Gundlupet. Given the heat, I set small targets and the first target was to get to the Mysuru Airport which was a rather easy task. It was just 6 kilometers away. A quick stop near the airport as I saw a lake and as I did not know about light on the way back I stopped to take a pic.

The next target was Nanjanagud which was 13 kilometers away. The incentive of getting to Nanjanagud was that I would get to see the Kabini river. A bonus of sorts was that the fields around were green since paddy had been cultivated and further the water in the fields had a cooling effect on the temperature since the breeze that was blowing across us was cold. The breeze had picked up and we realised that the morning session we had a tail wind which had contributed to us riding quickly and now we were having a cross wind which was slowing us down and at the same time saving us from the heat.

In a short while we got the first glimpse of the Kabini river. It was a beautiful to see the river flow peacefully and there were a few beautiful views, however I did not stop to capture it. I reserved the pic stop for the bridge and when we did get to the bridge the view was blocked due the railway line running parallel to the road. I did get to see the train passing along side when we reached the bridge, however, would have preferred to see the view without the bridge.

When we crossed Nanjanagud, we were 30 kilometers from Gundlupet and 38 kilometers from the Control Point since we had to ride 4 kilometers from the control point before coming back to it. It was 1:30 pm and we had a lot of time to make it to the control point. At the start of the ride I had expected to make it to the control point around 5:00 pm. However, with the expected arrival being around 3:00 pm I was very relaxed on the time front.

15 minutes later we stopped to have coconut water. 2 were taken for good measure and as the place had a good shade cover, I was enjoying the cool weather. However, with the crowd picking up at the spot we had to start after 10 minutes when I would have preferred taking a further 10 minutes at the place.

The next target was to get to Begur which was 15 kilometers away. This is when the heat began to play a role and I was running through my water supply very quickly. During the morning ride I had made it from Bangalore to Mysuru on 2.25 litres of water. Post lunch I had ridden 40 kilometers and I was almost out of water (1.5 litres consumed over 40 kilometers). I had to ration my water intake to make it to Beguru to refill.

We got past Beguru town and just as we stopped for water we saw Raghu going past us. He was doing the return leg of the ride and was well on course to finish the ride before mid-night. We refilled water, drank juice and got back on the saddle.

It was rolling terrain with steep climbs and descents from here. The road was lined with watermelon vendors and the only thing that stopped us from making a stop was that we had just stopped to refill water and had juice. The climbs were slow and the descents were spent recovering from the climb. The ride had slowed down, but we kept chugging along and made it to the Coffee Day at Gundlupet at 3:20 pm. Lokesh told us that the Bandipur Resort which was the mid-point was not there and that we had to ride straight for 4 kilometers and take a selfie at the board which indicates that we are exiting Gundlupet.

It was a quick ride as the gradient eased up here and we made our way to the mid-point, took the pic and then were back at the coffee day at 3:45 pm. 204 kilometers completed in 10.25 hours and we were now in relax mode as we freshened up, got the brevet cards signed and then ate bananas and dil pasand. Refilled on water and then it hits that we have already spent 30 minutes at the control point and that we have to get going.

We started from the control point at 3:45 pm. Partha, Karuppaiya, Swamy and me started from the control point at almost the same time. We were 44 kilometers from Mysuru and with daylight available till 6:30 pm , I was optimistic that we could make it to Mysuru before dark. In a few kilometers we saw that Santosh had stopped and was pumping air into his tires. It seemed like a slow puncture, as he was not sure he pumped air and restarted the ride. Few anxious kilometers later the puncture was confirmed when the tire was sitting low again. We stopped and quickly got down to changing the tube.

20 minutes later we were back on the saddle after replacing the tube. It was 5:20 pm and the chances of getting to Mysuru in day light were bleak. As we got closer to Nanjanagud, we began to slow down on account of the drop in nutrition levels. The curd rice and the refreshments at the control point had been expended and suddenly we were going to be struggling to make it to Mysuru. We decided to stop at Nanjanagud and eat before resuming the ride.

We stopped at Surabhi Hotel at Nanjanagud. Swamy's uncle and aunt were waiting for us and treated us to Idly and Maddur Vada and gave us Juice and Chocolate for the ride. We fixed the lights and wore the reflective vest and started the ride at 6:45 pm.

It was beginning to get dark by the time we reached the Kabini bridge and by the time we crossed the vicinity of the Kabini river it was dark. From this point on the ride was about getting to Mandya in time to make it for dinner. The ride to Mysuru was done at a moderate pace and when we got near the Mysuru palace I saw that the palace was illuminated. I was very excited since I had not seen the palace when it was illuminated. A request at the gate to allow us to take the cycles inside and 10 minutes spent admiring the view and taking pics of the Palace.

It was almost 8:00 pm when we started from the Palace. I was out of water and had to refill. We rode out of the city and stopped just after Columbia Asia Hospital to refill water. It was 8:15 pm, we were 37 kilometers from Mandya. With the next 15 kilometers having a gradient increase we were going to be running close to make it to Mandya in time to have dinner. The plan was to get to the control point and then have dinner.

As we rode towards Mandya and made slow progress over the first 10 kilometers, we realised that we ran the risk of missing out on dinner if we tried to get to the control point. As we were well placed on the time front, we decided to stop for dinner before the control point. I was keen on getting to the outskirts of Mandya before stopping for dinner. Knowing that the last 15 kilometers to Mandya is relatively quick I managed to push on rather than stopping earlier and we reached the outskirts of Mandya and stopped at Jyothi Hotel at 9:45 pm.

It was a one hour stop for dinner but it was a filling meal. A north indian meal which started with soup, then roti and rice for the main course and jamun as dessert and the 7Up given by Swamy's relatives. I was set to make it to Bangalore on the back of this meal.

Just a kilometer from the restaurant was the control point. A quick stop to take the selfie and we were back on the saddle and were on our way to Bangalore. The plan was to ride for about 2 hours and then take a break during which time we will have the jeera rice which we had parceled from the restaurant. This is usually the time when boredom sets in for me and I was very apprehensive that the return being on Mysuru Road I was definite to be bored and riding would become difficult. However, contrary to my expectation, the sight of the illuminated Mysuru Palace had become a highlight on this ride and I was still basking in the thought of finally having been able to see it. The thoughts were more about reliving the sights during the ride rather than on how many kilometers were remaining. This helped a lot as we made steady progress and in between we kept chatting about movies and brevet rides and did not realise that we had crossed Channapatna. It dawned on me that we had to stop when I saw that I was low on water and needed to refill. The lookout for stores was futile as there were no stores open.

The complexion of the ride had changed. From enjoying the ride, it was in the 'when will we find a shop' zone and we were beginning to labour a little. We crossed Ramanagar and the sight of closed stores was disappointing. The sight of crowded cafe's on this stretch was good and bad. Good since we were making good progress on the time front as the Bangalore crowd was still awake and bad since we would have to be careful while riding since this crowd would be driving back to Bangalore shortly.

We managed to push ourselves till Kumbalgod almost before making the stop. We refilled on water, had the jeera rice and had a cup of badam milk. We had ridden 70 kilometers from Mandya without a break and had just 30 kilometers to finish the ride. It was 3:00 am and as we were very close to Bangalore I was not sleepy. It was the last stretch and I was keen on finishing before any thoughts of tiredness and sleep crept in.

We started at 3:00 am from Kumbalgod and made good use of the rolling terrain and sped towards Bangalore. We were slowed down a little on account of traffic near the outskirts of Bangalore, however it was not as bad as I had expected. As I got closer to Bangalore, I was beginning to tire and the thought of the climb from Raja Rajeshwari Nagar was not very appealing. I rode slowly on the climb and was happy to make it to the Sirsi Circle flyover and as we were just a few kilometers away from the finish point, I sped on the flyover and as soon as it was done, I switched off mentally as the ride was done. Couple of kilometers later we reached Kanteerava Stadium. We reached at 4:30 am.

400 kilometers ridden in 23 hours. The fastest finishers of this ride had completed in 17 hours 45 minutes, 5 hours ahead of us, however, the time did not matter and I was very happy with the ride especially since I got to see the Mysuru Palace illuminated, which would not have been possible if we had ridden quick.

Hats off to Swamy for riding his single speed with ease. He has completed his SR on the single speed and it was motivating to see him riding. We waited at Konark hotel for Mohan Sir to arrive. Shashi and Prasad joined us at Konark Hotel and we shared our ride experience. Mohan Sir arrived in a short while and we spent a good hour at Konark Hotel speaking about the ride before returning home.