Kittur Express (1,000 Kilometer Brevet)

Date: 15 December 2017 - 18 December 2017

Total distance: 1,020 Kilometers

Start Time: 6:00 am 15 December 2017

Return Time:  6:20 am 18 December 2017

With: Raghu Nandan Nagaraja, Parthasarathi Mahakud, Satish Addanki (up to 350 kilometer mark)

Altitude Profile:
Vidhana Soudha – Chitradurga - Bankapur - Khanapur - Kittur - Dharwad - Chitradurga - Kanteerava Stadium

The SR series was done in a month and the day for the 1,000 km brevet had arrived. The SR series rides had been done to be able to ride the 1,000 km brevet and now that the ride day was approaching, I was excited. The cycle had been serviced at RR cycles the previous week and I went back to purchase a Cateye Volt 300 headlight as I did not want to run into a situation of riding with dim lights and going into a pothole as had been done in the Twin Hills brevet which almost cost me the ride.

Rajkumar was not riding this brevet as he was riding the Tour of Nilgiris. I was worried that I would not have a ride partner and having become accustomed to riding with him, I was apprehensive about being able to complete the ride. Getting through a 200 or a 300 km ride alone is easy, however for something like a 1,000 km ride I would have preferred to have him along. Although there was a temptation to back out of the ride I decided to go ahead and ride and take things as they come.

The plan for the ride had been made back in November 2017, however it was a conservative plan and as the ride date approached I was beginning to feel confident about my riding ability and was making aggressive plans. I finally settled on a slightly aggressive plan which would require me to ride for the first 2 days continuously without sleep and try and get the remaining distance for the last day to about 200-250 kms before stopping for sleep. Arrangements would be made at 570 kilometers for sleep, however, I felt that was too early and also stopping there would make it difficult for me to ride after and preferred to stop at 750-800 kms instead. Although the plan had been made, I was flexible with it as I did not want to put myself under pressure if I did not reach a place on scheduled time.

The cycle  was prepped and the bag had been packed. I loaded the saddle bag and felt that it was heavy. However, I wanted to ride with the saddle bag rather than go with the drop bag facility which had been provided as I wanted to get used to riding with the saddle bag.

I set the alarm for 4:00 am and went to bed at 11:00 pm. When I went to bed I knew that it would be the last opportunity to catch up on sleep and rest the body as I would not be sleeping for the next 2 days at least. I woke up when the alarm rang and got ready and although I had the feeling that I had missed packing something I left from the house at 5:00 am. If I had missed on anything then I would have to make up for it on the road.

When I reached Vidhana Soudha, it was 5:45 am. All the riders had arrived except Satish and Raghu. Mohan Sir and Prashant Sir had prepped up the place with the Bangalore Randonneurs standee. I was given the brevet card and when Satish arrived the route briefing was given. Mr. Prabhakar Rao of Go Green fame had been called to flag off the ride. He spoke to the riders about the importance of riding safely and wished us the best to complete the ride. With Raghu's arrival the ride was flagged off at 6:00 am. Although there were plans to take photos at the start point with the majestic Vidhana Soudha in the back drop, the plans had to be shelved as it was dark and there was no sign of day break in the next few minutes.

There were 15 starters which comprised of 14 men and 1 lady. It was a slow start as all the riders were keen on making some last minute adjustments to their cycles after the flag off. I settled into a casual pace and had reached Sankey tank when Raghu caught up and the ride started from here. Raghu is a very fast rider and although he was riding well below his usual pace it was fast enough for me. I increased my pace and in a few minutes Satish had caught up and the ride was finally a go for me.

As we got to Yeshwantpur, a few other riders were catching up with us, however by the time we got past the Peenya flyover, it was just the 3 of us. Raghu riding ahead and Satish and me riding together. It was day break and the Sun was up at 7:00 am. We had done the same route a month back in the 400 km brevet and we had raced through this section, although the pace was not as fast we were still very close to the pace in the 400km brevet. Since the route is familiar riding it is becoming easier and knowing where to increase the pace and where I could relax and more importantly where I could make up a little time was making it easy for me.

We reached Dabbaspet at 7:50 am and that is when I got to know that we were riding very quickly and that I was ahead of schedule. I had expected to get to Tumkur at 9:00 am, however with the downhill section ahead we rode quickly and were at Tumkur at 8:15 am. The ride through Tumkur city was slightly slow as a result of the flyovers and when we made it to the first checkpoint at VRL it was 8:50 am. We had done 85 kilometers in just under 3 hours and were averaging 30 kmph. We had caught up with Rupert at Tumkur and 4 of us reached the first checkpoint together.

Although we wanted to have a quick breakfast and leave in 15 minutes, the service at VRL was very slow and we were able to get the food only after 15 minutes. I had a masala dosa and just as we got ready to leave all the other riders began to stream into the checkpoint. Almost everyone was riding at a very fast pace.

We started from the checkpoint at 8:20 am. Within a few kilometers Raghu and Rupert had sped ahead and I was riding with Satish. The Sun was up and there was a strong cross wind. It seemed like it was a cross tail wind as we were not paying too much on the speed front because of the wind. We maintained a good speed and were knocking off the kilometers at a quick pace. We made use of the downhill segment and got past Sira town at 10:30 am. 120 kilometers done in 4.5 hours which included a stop of 30 minutes for breakfast. We were still riding at 30 kmph, although I was surprised with the speed I was happy that I was covering distance in good time and was ahead of schedule. I had planned to get to Chitradurga by 6 pm considering that it would be a head wind, however, with a favorable wind it looked like 1pm was possible and if we continued to ride at the same pace we would make it to Chitradurga by 1pm which would give a good buffer for the rest of the ride.

Just when Chitradurga seemed to be closing in, the mind began to go into the 'take it a little easy' mode as getting to Chitradurga would be completing only 200 kms of the 1,000 and I would have 800 kms remaining. I was reminding myself that the ride was not getting over at Chitradurga and I still had a long way to go. Just then Satish said that we should take a break. I suggested that we ride ahead a little and stop for coconut water which was available a few kilometers ahead.

We pushed ourselves a little and came by the coconut vendor and stopped to recharge on electrolytes. Rupert also came by and stopped, we had overtaken Rupert a few kilometers ago. The coconut water break had recharged us and we got back on the saddle. Rupert and I rode together and as I chatted with Rupert about his plan for the ride and about his preparation for the ride I did not notice that Satish had fallen behind. I told Rupert to go ahead and slowed down to wait for Satish. Satish was beginning to slow down on the climbs. We picked up the pace a little when he caught up with me. The drop in pace was not much, we were still riding in the high 20's, although it felt like we had slowed down, it did not reflect on the ride timings.

We reached Hiriyur and just as we exited town, Satish had fallen behind again. I stopped at a shop and refilled on water and bought a packet of biscuits and waited for Satish. 5 minutes passed by and there was no sight of Satish. The thought that he could have passed me began to grow and every 5 seconds that I did not see him I was getting worried. I tried to call him, as he did not answer I was thinking about my options. Just then I saw a rider coming and just ahead of the rider I saw a car with its hazard lights on, I guessed that it was Mohan Sir's car. It indeed was Mohan Sir's car and they confirmed that Satish was coming up and they enquired if I needed anything. As I had just refilled on water, and was stocked up with biscuits I said that I was fine. Satish caught up and said that he had slowed down as he was cramping. Mohan Sir said that they would drive ahead and wait for us at the Chitradurga control point.

We continued the ride, ate the biscuits as we rode and even though I was wondering if I should have saved the biscuits for later I remembered that it was better to eat before I am hungry. The road began to climb towards Chitradurga, as Satish was struggling with a cramp we slowed down a little to allow him to recover as much as possible. The climbs were becoming difficult for him. Although it was hot, as it was not a head wind, we were still making good time. I knew that the 1:00 pm expected arrival at Chitradurga was not going to happen and was looking more like a 2:00 pm arrival and was a little worried on the nutrition front if there would be a further delay.

I rode ahead and with 19 kilometers remaining to Chitradurga stopped and waited for Satish to come along. He came by in a few minutes, a little stretching and we were back on the saddle. Riding on a familiar route is definitely easier than on an unknown route, saying this because on my first ride to Chitradurga, I had struggled to knock off the last 15 kilometers to Chitradurga with the climb and head wind, however, today the 19 kilometers were easy as there was a tail wind and I made it past the climb easily. I rode past town and saw the board to Naveen Regency and I had to get off the highway onto the service road. However, I thought there would be an opening in the road further ahead and decided to ride on the highway and was left ruing my decision as there was a huge wall and I had to back track on the highway. I reached the turn and stopped to wait for Satish. Satish came by in 5 minutes and we reached Naveen Regency at 2:10 pm.

We were welcomed by Mohan Sir and Prashant Sir. As we settled in to have lunch, Raghu was almost done with his lunch. Raghu had reached at 1:30 pm and Rupert at 1:45 pm. We placed the order for food and freshened up. We got the brevet cards sealed and waited for the food. Satish said that he was feeling better and was sure that the cramp would not return. Raghu started off from the restaurant at 2:40 pm and said that we could sync up at Bankapur, I shared my number and said that I would be in contact about where I have reached so that I don't delay him. Rupert had injured his right leg and had a swelling on his right knee and was contemplating on continuing the ride and was looking for quick fixes for the problem.

The service at the restaurant was very slow and as the clock ticked by I was beginning to feel very weak. A few reminders to the staff to get the food quickly was falling on deaf ears. When the food finally arrived my fingers were beginning to go numb. I was relieved that the food was served and dug into the chicken biriyani. I was done quickly and then laid into the curd rice as well. I calmed down a little and realised that I was bonking and that I had to go easy on the food. I could have eaten another biriyani, but knew that it would do more harm than good. We rested for 5 minutes after food before starting from the restaurant. I took a banana and kept it as a reserve in case I run out of energy on the road.

It was 3:20 pm when we started from the restaurant. As we were rested, I started off well from the restaurant. The thought that I had to make up the time to Raghu so that he would not have to wait for too long at Bankapur was pushing me to ride quick. After riding for about 30 minutes we caught up with Parthasarathi who was riding a MTB and had covered the distance which road bikers had done. Satish had slowed down a little and as I waited for Satish to catch up, I chatted up with Parthasarathi and got to know that he was able to cover the distance as he had not stopped for breakfast or lunch and had been managing on chocolates/bananas. I told him that it was not advisable to do so on long rides and that it was better he make a stop and eat. I gave him the banana which I had and Satish gave him a yoga bar when he caught up. When we crossed the Davangere toll the three of us stopped for a break. Satish and I drank coffee while Partha ate curd rice.

After the 20 minute break, we rode for roughly half a kilometer when Satish slowed down and checked his rear tire. It was a puncture. We pushed the cycle to the service road and began working on replacing the tube. Half an hour later with the tube replaced we were back on the road.

Satish was struggling with knee pain in both his legs and was riding slowly. It was not a pain that would subside and would require rest and we still had 750 kilometers to ride. It would require a huge effort on his part to keep going and he was soldiering on. The wind was helping and although we had slowed it was still above the 25kmph mark and I was ahead of my schedule, so was not worried.

We got to Davangere and the Sun had gone down. It got dark very soon and the lights were switched on. I started off with the Raven light as I wanted to save up the CatEye for the section from Bankapur as it was going to be interior roads and there would not be any ambient light available. I was riding behind Satish and as we got close to Harihar I went ahead and rode on assuming that Satish was behind. It was only after I went past Harihar and looked back that I realised that Satish was not behind. I stopped and waited and after a few minutes Parthasarathi came by. I enquired about Satish and he said that he hadn't seen him. I was surprised and tried calling Satish, but he was not answering. I messaged Raghu that we were still at Harihar and that we would not be reaching Bankapur by 10:00 pm. Satish came by after 10 minutes and said that he had stopped to eat as he was hungry.

We resumed the ride and rode towards Ranebennur. All the while I was calculating the distance remaining to Bankapur and how much time we would take to get there and was wondering if we could push ourselves to get there for dinner which was looking bleak. The arrival time at Bankapur was looking more like 11:00 pm without a dinner stop and I knew that although I was not hungry that I would definitely get hungry around 8:00 pm and pushing with depleted energy reserves would be difficult. Amongst the thoughts of getting to Bankapur we had closed in on Ranebennur and Raghu messaged saying that he had stopped for dinner just after Ranebennur, 50 kilometers from Bankapur.

As expected with the clock ticking towards 8:00 pm I was hungry and so was Satish. We saw a Kamat and Satish enquired if we should stop, I told him that Raghu was waiting further ahead for us and that we should continue riding. Satish agreed and said that there is another Kamat which is roughly 20 kilometers ahead and that we could stop there. 20 kilometers meant riding for another hour almost and I was not sure of being able to make it that far. I called Raghu to check his location, his phone was not reachable and I knew that he had started riding again.

We rode steadily and reached the restaurant where Raghu had stopped. Rupert was still at the restaurant and when we were considering going for dinner, Mohan Sir came by and said that we should go to the Kamat restaurant which was 8 kilometers ahead. We agreed and continued riding.

It is very difficult to ride when I am hungry and the 8 kilometer ride seemed more like a 25 kilometer ride as the Kamat restaurant was just not arriving. I had to calm myself and tried to distract my mind from food, however, it was not working and it was a pretty painful experience to get to Kamat restaurant. I was happy when I got to the restaurant and got off the cycle and pushed it across the road to the restaurant.

Mohan Sir and Prashant Sir were already at the restaurant and had placed their order. Satish and I ordered Jolada Rotti Oota and Parthasarathi ordered the same when he came by. As we chatted during dinner, Satish said that his knee was hurting very badly and that he was considering quitting. I was surprised to hear it and was disappointed as well. Mohan Sir said that rather than quitting here, Satish should ride till Bankapur and then take a call on quitting since getting transport to Bangalore was easier from Bankapur. Satish agreed and said that he would rest for 10 minutes before leaving. Mohan Sir was going to leave and asked me to take any refreshments from the car if I needed. I took fruits and chocolates and headed back to the restaurant. With Satish and Parthasarathi sleeping I tried to sleep as well but couldn't. I looked around the restaurant and they were selling roasted peanuts and I was buying a packet when the restaurant staff said that we shouldn't be sleeping there. We got ready and started from the restaurant at 9:50 pm.

Satish told me not to wait and said that I should ride ahead. I said that he should ride in front and that I would ride behind. Parthasarthi had ridden ahead and it took a short while for us to catch up and then go ahead. Even though Satish was hurting it did not show in his pedaling and we were riding steadily. It helped that it was largely downhill and we were able to coast on the downhill's. Following on Satish's wheels and tracking the remaining distance to Bankapur, I did not realise that we had ridden for over an hour and a half. When I saw the lights at Bankapur in the distance I rode ahead of Satish and crossed the toll and got to Delhi Durbar restaurant which was the control point. It was 11:50 pm, Mohan Sir and Prashanth Sir were sleeping in the car and I waited for Satish to arrive before waking them up. However, by the time Satish arrived they woke up and we were given refreshments.

I went with Prashanth Sir to the restaurant to have tea and when I came back I saw that Parthasarathi had arrived as well. He was sleeping and Satish had decided to quit the ride. I tried to tell him that he should continue riding rather than quitting and that he should take a call after getting to Dharwad. However, he had made up his mind and was looking at transport options. I hung around and tried to give him more time to rest in the hope that he might change his mind. However, he was fixed on quitting as he did not want to aggravate the injury. Lokesh, Alok and Shravani arrived at the control point and took a room at the hotel to catch up on sleep for a few hours.

When I was finally convinced that Satish would not continue I decided to resume riding. It was 2:00 am when we restarted the ride. I was very close to my original schedule  where I had planned to get to Bankapur by 3:00 am and knew that I did not have a big enough buffer as I had expected. 4 riders had quit by the time we restarted from Bankapur, Bijoy and Suraj had stopped at the first control point, Satish and Rupert had quit at Bankapur. Only Raghu was ahead of us and had started from Bankapur at 11:00 pm, which was 3 hours ahead of us.

Parthasarathi joined me, I had to check the maps on a couple of occasions to get on track. It was 27 kilometers to Mundgod and the first thing that I noticed when we got onto the interior roads was that it was very dark and also that there was no traffic around. I continued using the Raven light as it was doing a good job and saved the CatEye inauguration for later. In a few kilometers we had hit a downhill stretch and in a few more kilometers entered a forest area. I was surprised that we were allowed to ride inside the forest at night and that there was no one at the checkpoint to stop us. I was excited and it was at this point that I looked up at the sky and saw that it was filled with stars. It had been a long time since I had seen a night sky filled with stars and it was probably on the Kumara Parvatha trek that I had last seen something like this. I was very excited with the sky and the downhill ride and was enjoying my ride.

There were a lot of road humps which necessitated that I concentrate and also slowed us down. We made a small stop to eat fruits and then resumed the ride. We reached Mundgod and it helped that the distance between the towns was in the 30 kilometer bracket as I could set small targets and tick them off quickly. The road was largely downhill again from Mundgod to Kalghatgi and there were a lot of villages in between. With the villages came road humps and dogs. Every 4-5 kilometers we would cross a village and invariably there would be barking and on most occasions we would be chased by the dogs as well. Handling the dogs is more difficult at night as we cannot see the dogs and they come running out of the dark and on a couple of occasions they caught me off guard. The positive from the dog attacks was that they kept me awake.

When we reached Kalghatgi, I wanted to stop to eat and when I stopped at a well lit place, I was chased from there by a dog again. I got back on the saddle and as I rode out of town, Mohan Sir came by and offered refreshments. I had a boiled egg, an orange and stocked up on chikki and resumed the ride. It was 4:30 am when we restarted the ride.

Just before the restart, we had been talking about the road being downhill and when would the climb start. We got our answer when we made the turn from Kalghatgi to Haliyal. The climb had begun and the pace slowed down. 23 hours of riding was done and it was beginning to show as a little bit of tiredness was setting in. Parthasarathi was slow on the climbs and the gap kept opening up and I stopped at a village to wait and the stop extended to a snack stop when we ate the roasted peanuts and then almonds and then a 5 minute sleep for Parthasarathi. I was unable to sleep and wanted to get going as soon as possible. I woke up Parthasarathi in 5 minutes and we were back on the road.

The road kept climbing and the slow pace was making me drowsy. I was beginning to doze while coasting. The clock had ticked past 5:30 am and there were a lot of folks from the town who were up and jogging/walking. I was looking for the next spark to get me going and that's when the phone rang. I knew that it was Raghu and answered and got to know that he had crossed Haliyal and was 4 kilometers after Haliyal. I was 8 kilometers from Haliyal and as I was pretty close I was charged up and began to pedal fast again. It was the spark that I was looking for and I had woken up. I made it quickly to Haliyal and as I had to take a few turns from here to get onto the Khanapur road I waited for Parthasarathi to reach. We rode out of town together and were sent the wrong way by a localite before getting back on track.

As I rode out of town the gap opened up again and at the next junction I had to wait for almost 10 minutes before Parthasarathi came by. When we restarted we had to climb a little and we were both very slow which showed that it was a steep climb and that we were tired. We stopped and took a break. Parthasarathi wanted to sleep for 30 minutes, whereas I was keen on restarting and said that we should get going as getting back to rhythm would be difficult if we stopped for too long. We were back on the saddle in 15 minutes and when we rode the gap opened again.

I reached Alnavar town and as there were no deviation in the road I continued riding and did not wait for Parthasarathi. The road was not in good condition and although it was rolling terrain I was not able to carry speed from the downhill's as the speed was being absorbed by the vibration from the road and I had to pedal on the uphill's a lot more. I was riding the high gears and losing speed was beginning to get irritated as the distance was not being covered quickly. I pushed harder and as the going got tougher I was trying harder to keep the pace up and was not keen on getting onto the lower gears. This hurt me, literally as the Achilles tendon on the right leg began to hurt.

I felt the tendon and felt the middle section of the tendon had become hard and there was a swelling and significant pain when I touched the tendon. Usually the tendon would hurt either at the top where it connects to the calf or at the base and it would subside after I massaged the area a bit. However, this time it was in the middle and there was a swelling as well. I had not heard a pop and knew that the tendon had not ruptured, however, at the same time I knew that I had damaged it and it was probably a case of tendonitis. I feared that my ride was over, however I was not ready to quit and wanted to manage the pain rather than stopping. I tried to change my leg position on the pedal and also took it easy with the right leg and was putting more effort with the left leg. In short I was pedaling with one and a half legs rather than two legs.

The road not being in good condition was making it very difficult and with the leg hurting the difficulty level was amplified. I was pulling into Bidi town when I got a call from Raghu that he was at Khanapur and was having breakfast. I was 20 kilometers behind and as I had received the call, I planned to ride to Khanapur for breakfast rather than stopping earlier. The thinking behind riding to Khanapur for breakfast was that a late breakfast would help me to get to Dharwad for lunch and save some time.

The next town on the radar was Nandgad and when I made it out of Nandgad the road improved and with a smooth surface I was able to carry speed. Mohan Sir passed me when I was 8 kilometers from Khanapur and said that Parthasarathi had fallen behind and that I should have breakfast at Khanapur and they would wait for me there. I increased the pace after they left only to be slowed down by the gradient when I got to Khanapur. I got into the lower gear and put my head down and started the climb. Mid-way through the climb, I heard Raghu shouting out to me. He was there with Mohan Sir and Prashanth Sir at Gokul restaurant. I could barely get off the cycle and needed Prashanth Sir's assistance to get the cycle across the road. While I freshened up and ate breakfast Raghu started from Khanapur. I had a plate of Upma, a Kesri Bath and then 4 pooris and a pepsi before starting the ride. It was 10:00 am when I restarted the ride. I was done with 490 kilometers and was 80 kilometers from Dharwad. Although I was halfway through the ride based on distance, I considered Dharwad to be the mid way point since the gradient and wind would play a role in making the 430 kilometers from Dharwad seem more like 500 kilometers.

In my eagerness to restart the ride, I did not check the map correctly and rode out of town, and with a good road and the road going downhill I did not bother to recheck. When it did dawn on me that I was probably not on the right route I had ridden 3.5 kilometers from town and had to turn back. When I got back to Khanapur it was 10:30 am and I was effectively starting the ride at 10:30 am. When I took the turn to M K Hubli the road was in bad state. It was a slow ride and a few checks of the map to ensure that I'm on the right track got me to a section with huge climbs and narrow roads. In a few minutes I was passed by Mohan Sir who informed me that Parthasarathi had reached Khanapur at 10:30 am and had restarted without eating breakfast.

I had ridden about 8 kilometers when I received a call from Parthasarathi asking for directions to M K Hubli. Talking on the phone while concentrating on the road and climbing was very difficult. I tried to explain the route as much as I could and he said that he would try to catch up as I was only 8 kilometers ahead. I continued riding and 10 kilometers later I was onto good roads but ran into a strong head wind. The difficulty level of the ride was increasing and having a bad leg was not helping at all. I had to bear with a pesky village kid and his derogatory talk before getting onto the highway. I was happy when I reached the highway but being welcomed by a strong cross wind did not do me any favours.

It was a concrete road and was bumpy and was difficult to ride on. It was again a case of keeping the head down and churning the pedals. The distance covered did not matter as long as the cycle was moving forward. I was 15 kilometers from Kittur and was making very slow progress. Parthasarathi called and said that he was struggling to get to the highway and had done only 5 kilometers from Khanapur as it was very difficult terrain to ride on. I told him to keep riding and gave directions to get to the highway. In a few kilometers I saw that Raghu had stopped at the side of the road and was waiting. I was happy to see him and knew that the pace would pick up as soon as we ride together.

It was 6 kilometers from Kittur when I caught up with Raghu. The ride speed increased as we pedaled hard on the downhill's to make up for the loss in speed in the uphill's. At every opportunity when the wind speed reduced we used that to increase the speed and make as much distance as possible. The strategy worked as we crossed Kittur and were making good progress to Dharwad. However, there was a limit to the rhythm and it came by when we ran out of energy reserves and the gradient also became very steep as we got close to Dharwad. A couple of breaks did not help and the pace dropped down to a trickle. 10 minutes is all it took for me to go from "I'm not hungry" to I want to have food to recharge myself. We were 10 kilometers from Dharwad when we stopped at a restaurant to have an ice cream and juice. It was a 40 minute break but with the glucose intake we were ready to motor along again.

We rode 5 kilometers and got off the highway to get into Dharwad. With the deviation off the highway the wind was blocked by the buildings and we had an easier ride. Although it was slow, we still made it into Dharwad and a few anxious kilometers later we were at Ankita Residency. Mohan Sir came out and welcomed us. It was 3:00 pm when we reached the control point.

I unloaded the saddle bag and struggled with the weight on account of the fatigue and carried it to the room. We freshened up and then ate Jolada Rotti Oota and then had a shower and changed into fresh clothes. It was 4:30 pm and I wanted to leave immediately and ride till around 12:00 pm - 1:00 am before stopping. However, Raghu wanted to sleep for 4 hours before resuming. Mohan Sir also said that it would be better to rest for a while before resuming. As Raghu was still freshening up, I decided to rest for a while till he gets back.

I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes. I was fast asleep in a few seconds and when I did wake up it was 6:00 pm. Raghu was sleeping as well and so was Parthasarathi. I had missed my start time and had to change the strategy now. I had to prepare myself to ride through the night. Raghu woke up around 6:15 pm and we had a discussion about the leaving time and we settled on 7:30 pm as the time to leave after having an early dinner.

The positive from the additional time spent at Dharwad was that I got time to think about the leg. There was a swelling and I did try applying volini but it did not help. I remembered that when my Achilles tendon had ruptured in the left leg I had used a heel support and wanted to try the same for the right leg. As I would not get a rubber piece to be moulded for the shape of the shoe now I decided to keep a sock in my shoes as heel support and try riding with it.

Although the plan after the discussion was to get 30 minutes of sleep, I could not sleep. Raghu and Parthasarathi got up and began to get ready. They had opted for the drop bag facility and took their time to get ready. Dinner arrived and after dinner by the time they packed and then I loaded the stuff onto the cycle it was 8:00 pm.

430 kilometers remaining and 37 hours to do it in. Simple equation, we were not going to struggle on the time front as long as we could manage our sleep and I could manage the pain. The ride out of town was slow as we made a few stops to find a store where safety pins were available as the zip in Raghu's pouch was broken.

The ride started at 8:30 pm when we were done with the shopping. I finally inaugurated the CatEye Volt 300 lights and was very happy with the brightness of the light.  We got onto the highway and were welcomed  by huge climbs. It was rolling terrain which was a huge climb followed by a huge descent. As it was a two lane road, we had to be careful and on a couple of occasions were almost run over by a bus coming from the opposite direction. The hills were done with when we reached Hubli. Raghu as usual was riding fast and was opening the gap easily. I tended to relax on the downhills and was catching up a little on the climbs. In my effort to keep up with Raghu I failed to notice that Parthasarathi had fallen behind and I called him to tell him that it was better that he waits for the other riders if he is looking for company as he was riding slowly. We were 75 kilometers from Haveri and it was looking to be very far off. The clock had ticked past 9:30 pm. Parthasarathi said that he would continue riding and that I should inform him if we stopped for a break.

The gradient eased out a little, however, tired bodies were beginning to show and I was struggling to pedal on the high gears. The benefits of having a lot of gears was coming to the fore. I had started the ride by using the 2X5 and 2X6 gears and was even going to the 2X7 and 2X8 gears sometimes. After 600 kilometers, I could not pedal on the 2X5 or 2X6 and I was using the 2X3 and 2X4 gears. The effect of using one and a half legs was also beginning to show as the left thigh was beginning to hurt. It was a difficult proposition where I knew that the right leg would not recover and losing the left leg as well would be the end of the ride for me. Just as I was wondering how to manage the leg, Raghu had stopped since he was sleepy. We decided to stop further up for coffee. We rode a few kilometers when we saw a Dhaba and stopped.

We sat on the cot and ordered tea. While we sipped on tea, Parthasarathi passed us. I called him and told him that we were at the Dhaba. He came back and he had roti's. After an excellent cup of masala tea, we decided to take a nap on the cot. Half an hour later I woke up as it was getting cold and my hands and legs were beginning to freeze. We had spent an hour at the Dhaba. We had another tea before restarting the ride.

The additional cup of tea did not do me good. My chest was hurting due to the attack of gastritis after the cup of tea. I did not realise that it was the tea that had caused it and had another pain to contend with. The chest was hurting now. I tried to manage it by drinking water and having a candy. The road was downhill and we rode steadily and made decent progress in the night. The initial kilometers were spent getting warm and once the body heated up I was pedaling in the 20 kmph bracket. I was not worried about the speed as long as I was making progress. We rode steadily and reached Bankapur where we stopped for a break. I sat beside the road and waited while Raghu headed in to the restaurant to handle the saddle sore. Parthasarathi came by and continued his ride since we were sure that we could catch up with him. We took 30 minutes to restart.

What followed was a slow ride as the gradient began to increase. It was a slow increase in the gradient, but it required that I pedaled constantly and there was no chance to coast. I was tired and was getting frustrated that there was no break and it was even more frustrating when the wind started to blow and was slowing me down further. Parthasarathi was ahead and there was no sign of him, Raghu was behind and there was no sign of him either. Every time I looked up I could only see vehicles coming from above and knew that I still had to climb and there was no rest in the near term. I remembered that I had climbed to the Kamat hotel the previous night when we had dinner and thought that the downhill will commence only when I get to the restaurant. I began to countdown the kilometers to the restaurant and hoped that I could find something in me to increase the pace of the ride.

Although I could not increase the pace of the ride, just keeping a steady pace helped me knock the kilometers off. As I got closer to the restaurant, I was hungry and had planned to make a stop at the Coffee Day next to the restaurant and have an egg wrap. As I got closer to the restaurant, the speed began to increase and with the start of the downhill the speed increased further and I reached the Coffee Day. I ordered 2 egg wraps and as I waited for it Raghu came by and he ordered 2 egg wraps as well. We ate and then I slept for 20 minutes before being woken up by Raghu to get going.

I had ridden a few kilometers when I got a call from Parthasarathi asking where I was. We were roughly 10 kilometers behind him. I did not know at the time of the call as he was not able to tell where he was but I recognised the place when I passed by it. It was very cold and restarting was always with the face covered and hands folded into a fist to keep the cold from getting to the fingers. After a few minutes when the body warmed up, the face was uncovered and the fist would be opened to grip the handle bar properly. Raghu rode ahead as my pace dropped and waited for me at the next toll. Parthasarathi was there too and we had a cup of tea. That's when I realised that tea was causing the gastritis attack. There was acute pain in the chest and I felt like vomiting. I would do anything to get rid of the pain and was looking for quick fixes. I calmed down and told myself that I should not be drinking tea anymore and tried to handle it by drinking water.

We were 40 kilometers from Davangere and started the ride at 6:00 am. Body had cooled down, so initially it was back to warming the body and then we were back on speed. Made quick work of getting to Haveri and as we got back on the highway it was daybreak. I reached the outskirts of Davangere and as the control point kept getting closer the Sun was beginning to rise. With the Sun came the wind as well. It was one of the best sun rises that I have seen. The Sun was soo close, it looked like we could touch it when we got on top of the flyover ahead. It was a big beautiful blob of orange and was looking like a candy. I tried to capture it on the phone camera, but was not able to do justice to the beauty of the Sun. It took all of 5 minutes for the Sun to go up higher and with it came the heat.

Mohan Sir called to enquire where we had reached, I told him that I was 5-6 kilometers from the control point. He said that he was at Ranebennur and told me to wait at the control point as he would reach soon. However, I was so low on energy that I was barely able to pedal and took a couple of 2 minute breaks and pedaled slowly. By the time I could cover 5 kilometers, Mohan Sir had driven 40 kilometers and reached the control point before me. It was 7:50 am when we reached the control point.

Parthasarathi and I crossed the road and we went to the Coffee Day and ate refreshments and then freshened up at a restroom which was perennially occupied and we had to wait for a long while to get to use it.

I had struggled with the weight of the saddle bag through the night. Now with day break and with the jacket going to be loaded onto the saddle bag the weight was going to increase. I knew that it would make the ride very difficult and opted to unload the used jersey and towel and handed it over to Mohan Sir to carry in the car. I had started off with the plan to carry the weight, however, after 600 kilometers I could not lug the weight around anymore. I had pushed for a further 150 kilometers and at 750 kilometers I wanted to put in minimal effort to finish the ride rather than adding to the effort and putting more pressure on the legs.

We had breakfast at Coffee Day and before we realised the clock was ticking towards 9:00 am. A look at the trees made me realise that we were in for a very difficult ride to Chitradurga. The trees were swaying and it was going to be a head wind. I did think that I could wait for a further hour and wait out the wind, however, as the clock ticked the wind was only getting stronger. I decided to get going, lest the wind gets stronger.

750 kilometers were done and I had 250 kilometers remaining. I had 23 hours 40 minutes to complete the ride. Time was not an issue and I knew that I would complete the ride as long as the body held up. As I had not slept a lot over the last two days, I knew that I would not be able to sustain another night without sleep and wanted to get to Bangalore by 2:00 am so that I would complete the ride before the next bout of sleep hits me. So effectively I had 16 hours 40 minutes to ride 250 kilometers. An easy task on any other day, but after riding 750 kilometers and with a strong head wind for the next 50 kilometers it seemed like a challenge.

I waited for Raghu to get ready, but he was taking his time. As he is a fast rider, I was sure that he would catch up with me and told him that I would start since he would catch up with me. Parthasarathi and I started from Coffee Day at 9:20 am.

I shifted into the low gear and considered that I was climbing a hill and started the ride. The speed did not matter and I was only looking at covering distance even if it was slow. I did not set any targets as that would unnecessarily pile on the pressure. I kept my head down and kept pedaling. Small breaks in the wind came as a relief and I used the opportunity to relax and hoped that the body would recover to be able to take the next bout of wind. I checked my progress at the end of the first hour and I had covered 16 kilometers, I was very happy with the distance covered and was motivated to ride. I got a call from Parthasarathi enquiring about my whereabouts and I decided to stop for a break. I sat on the side of the road and restarted after 10 minutes. I rode about 2 kilometers before stopping again for a further 10 minutes. I realised that the number of breaks were increasing and that I should ride for an hour at least before taking a break. I got a call from Parthasarathi enquiring about my whereabouts and he informed that he was about 7 kilometers behind and that Raghu had overtaken him.

I spent the next few kilometers looking over my back to see if Raghu is catching up and would have loved to draft behind him. The kilometers kept ticking away but there was no sign of Raghu. With 10 kilometers remaining to Chitradurga I called Raghu and he said that he had suffered a puncture and was working on replacing the tube. He told me to carry on and would catch up if possible. I pushed on and with 8 kilometers remaining I stopped to have a coconut water.

With hardly any distance remaining to Chitradurga, I rode all the way and then made my way almost out of town before stopping at Upadya Hotel for lunch. I had a sumptuous vegetarian meal and as the service was good, I was done in 20 minutes. I had reached the restaurant at 2:00 pm and started from there at 2:20 pm. I called Parthasarathi to inform him that I was done with lunch, he said that he is only 5 kilometers from Chitradurga and that he would also join me and asked me to wait. I told him that I would ride out of town and wait for him. I rode for roughly 2 kilometers when I found an abandoned shop and took the cycle inside and sat down to wait. Parthasarathi was calling every 10 minutes informing about his location and asking me for my location. After guiding him and informing him about my whereabouts I waited for him to call me when he gets close. Being tired, the minute I did not have anything to do I dozed off and when I woke up at 3:00 pm, there had been no call from Parthasarathi. I called him and on enquiring about his location I got to know that he had gone past me. I told him to wait up as he was just a kilometer ahead and started the ride.

When I pulled up alongside him he handed over his phone and asked me to charge it. Since he could not keep the phone and power bank with him, I kept it for charge in my handle bar bag. I enquired if he had lunch and he said that he hadn't. I knew that he would struggle to ride on low energy levels, however we started off towards Hiriyur.

The wind had eased, it was a gentle cross wind. We had 38 kilometers to cover and with the wind easing we had only the Sun to worry about. I picked up the pace and pulled away from Parthasarathi easily. In a few kilometers Mohan Sir came by and handed over refreshments and said that he is heading back to Bangalore and asked me to call him when I get to Sira and inform about reaching the control point.

I agreed and as he drove away I started the ride. Once again Parthasarathi was not able to keep pace, I slowed down and told him that he should stop to eat something since he would be able to ride faster, however he said that he was having problems with shifting the gears and was struggling on account of that and not because of the nutrition. He wanted to know if I could rectify the problem, I told him that he should manage with the available gears rather than trying to rectify it and making it worse.

The Sun's intensity was reducing and I wanted to make the most of the ideal conditions to ride and targeted to get to Sira in daylight. I increased the pace of the ride and again Parthasarathi fell behind. I kept churning the pedals and in a short while I was at Hiriyur. It was 4:40 pm when I made it to Hiriyur. I looked behind and there was no sign of Parthasarathi. I could not call him since his phone was with me. I waited for him and when he came by, I handed over the phone to him and told him that he should eat at Hiriyur, told him that Raghu was coming just a few kilometers behind and that he could sync up with him in case he is unable to catch up with me. However, he was adamant about not stopping to eat and said that he would continue riding.

I started off from Hiriyur and the initial kilometers were slow as I had to get back to rhythm. To add to it, an eye lash went into the eye and getting it out was an ordeal. I had changed the arrival time at Sira to 7:00 pm from 6:00 pm. However, once I was in rhythm, I was able to push the pace and with the increase in pace, it rekindled hopes of making it to Sira before dark. It was a race against the setting Sun and I managed to make it to the outskirts of Sira just as it turned dark. I had reached Coffee Day and had to ride a further 6 kilometers to get to Kamat at Sira which was the control point. It took me 20 minutes to cover this distance and I reached Kamat at 7:00 pm.

I clicked the selfie and posted it on the group and with plans of having a quick meal and leaving in 20 minutes I ordered a vegetarian meal. I called Mohan Sir to inform him that I had reached the control point. When I got through, Mohan Sir said that Shravani was being stalked by two guys on a bike and asked me to contact Lokesh or Raghu and inform them to contact Shravani. Lokesh and Raghu were riding with Shravani, however they had ridden ahead by a kilometer or two and that's all it took for these anti-social elements to begin their harassment. As Lokesh and Raghu could not be reached we got in touch with the cops and with some swift action from them the issue was resolved.

By the time all this was done it was 8:30 pm. I wanted to start, however Lokesh, Shravani, Parthasarathi and Raghu wanted to catch up on sleep. I decided that I should also ride with the group rather than riding alone and decided that I would also sleep. However, as I was the contact point at the restaurant for the entire episode, when I tried to sleep I had the staff coming and enquiring about the ride and what had happened and invariably gave their advice that we should ride in a group rather than alone. As they had been very helpful I could not be kurt and not answer their queries as well.

Lokesh and Shravani got ready to leave at 10:15 pm. Raghu and Parthasarathi were not ready and I told Lokesh and Shravani to carry on and said that we would start a little later. It was 10:30 pm when we started.

It was cold and I was struggling from the moment we started. I was slow off the blocks and it was like a lethargy had set in. There was a loss of interest in the ride. It was probably stemming from the fact that I was mentally prepared to ride for half the night, however, now I had to change that to riding for the whole night. The thought that I could survive the night was worrying me and I knew that it would get more difficult as the night wore on. All this amounted to me losing interest and then the inevitable struggle to ride. As it was rolling terrain, I was able to make up a little time on the downhill's. Lokesh and Shravani had ridden away and there was no catching up with them. Raghu and I rode ahead and Parthasarathi was lagging behind.

We took 1 hour 45 minutes for the next 30 kilometers and reached VRL and saw that the canteen was open. When we went in they were closing and had only rice and rasam available. We agreed to have it and filled ourselves up. Although it was not a planned stop, in hind sight it was a stop which was very helpful as I had eaten at 7:00 pm and now a meal at 12:30 am was perfect to keep me going for the rest of the ride. The only issue rankling me at every stop was that I would have a bout of sleep and how was I going to handle it.

We started from VRL at 12:50 am. We had 85 kilometers to cover and had 8 hours to do it. Time was still not an issue as long as I was able to manage my sleep. The restart was very difficult as it had gone from cold to freezing cold. With a slight breeze the temperature seemed to be dipping even further and I was struggling. I was covered from head to toe (except the fingers because I wore half fingered gloves) but was still freezing. Raghu was getting anxious with the slow pace and was egging me to increase the pace.

When the mind is weak all the other physical pains begin to take a bigger proportion than they actually are. I was feeling the pain in the Achilles a lot more now, same with the left thigh, the chest, the head, everything was in pain and I was thinking only about the pain. I calmed myself and tried to focus on the remaining distance rather than the pain. Just when I was getting my focus back I began to hallucinate. I had to stop to sleep but wanted to push on as we had stopped just an hour ago. However, with every passing kilometer, it was getting more difficult to control the mind. I told Raghu that I wanted to sleep for 15 minutes and that we should stop if we find a bus stand. He agreed and the next few kilometers were spent searching for a bus stand. However, as there were no bus stands, we stopped on a flyover and sat on the footpath. Raghu set the alarm and then I slept. I was woken up in 15 minutes and although I wanted to sleep for 15 more minutes, I picked myself up and tried to get going.

I was very slow on the restart and made painful progress towards the Tumkur Toll. Raghu told me to increase the pace and to put in a good hour so that we would be done with the ride. I prepared myself to give it everything, since I knew that the next 10 kilometers to Dabbaspet was going to be difficult and if I got past this section then the speed would automatically increase in the rolling terrain that would follow. I got down to the lower gear in the front as I gave importance to cadence rather than power and started turning the pedals quickly.

The 10 kilometers to Dabbaspet was done pretty easily, or rather easier than I had expected. When I saw the Dabbaspet flyover I was relieved and knew that the ride was done with. I looked back and could not see Raghu or Parthasarathi. I rode ahead and rode about 15 kilometers from Dabbaspet before stopping and waited for Raghu and Parthasarathi. They came by in 5 minutes, we exchanged advance congratulations for completing the ride and then got back on the saddle.

It took a few more minutes to get to the Nelamangala toll and we were welcomed by a huge traffic pile up at the toll. Parthasarathi and I were able to negotiate our way through the traffic and got past the toll and then rode ahead and waited just before the next toll. Raghu meanwhile got stuck in the traffic and when he came by we stopped and Raghu gave us a chocolate bar. I called Mohan Sir to inform him that we had reached the Nelamangala toll and would arrive in a couple of hours. We stood on the flyover and watched the traffic pile up near the toll and I was thinking of riding back and getting off the flyover rather than ride in the traffic. Just then Lokesh and Shravani came by and we hopped onto our bikes and followed them.

The remaining 30 kilometers was ridden in a train formation most of the time. We weaved past the Monday morning traffic jam and made it to the city. The usual route through the city and then the eventual climb near Windsor Manor to test our mettle even when we are just 3 kilometers from the finish.

It was day break when we got past Windsor Manor and we coasted towards Kanteerava Stadium. We made Shravani lead the way to the stadium and saw that there was a crowd of cyclists waiting to welcome us. I was surprised to see Rajkumar waiting at the finish. He had come directly to the venue after finishing the Tour of Nilgiris and was waiting at Kanteerava Stadium from 2:30 am. All the riders were congratulated and given a warm welcome and given refreshments. It felt good to have finished the ride and the surprise at the end made it worth the effort.

We were felicitated for having finished the ride and were garlanded and given a Mysore Peta. A small gathering but a very warm gathering which filled us with pride at having completed the ride. The riders were treated to breakfast and we dug into the food.

5 riders had completed the ride, there were still 5 more on the road and I stayed back and waited for them to complete. Aravind was the first to arrive at 7:34 am. He joined us for breakfast and we discussed about the ride and the highlights of the ride.

Swami, Prasad and Rajasundaram were next in at 8:11 am. The felicitation was done and after breakfast and a little socialising the crowd dispersed as it was a Monday morning and office duties took over. Alok was yet to arrive, Mohan Sir, Rajkumar, Aravind and I waited for him to arrive. Alok came in after 11:00 am, although it was a late finish, he still completed the ride. He was also felicitated and when he headed in to have breakfast Rajkumar and I rode home.

It was a fantastic ride experience. The 1,000 km mark has been breached and now the 1,200 km beckons. I am worried about my Achilles tendon and am hoping that it will be a short lay off rather than a long one.

The inevitable feeling of I could have done better will linger but it was a ride that I enjoyed thoroughly. I missed Rajkumar on the ride, I was disappointed that Satish had to quit the ride. But keeping these aside, I was extremely happy with the organisation of the ride. Mohan Sir and Prashant Sir were always there for the riders and took care of us very well. They put the riders before themselves and catered to our needs excellently. I run short of words to appreciate their efforts for this ride.

I clocked my personal best times for 100 kms, 200kms, 300 kms and 400 kms and then slowed down as we got into interior roads and then had to face the brunt of dicey roads and wind. The interior roads were difficult and coming back to the highway was a relief, however the highway did not do us any favours. The ride from M K Hubli to Chitradurga involved a lot of climbing, heat/cold and wind which sapped me. The determination to get through the ride came through in the section from Davangere to Chitradurga where I did not allow the wind to get to me and cleared the section. It was good that the ride had these difficult sections since it feels like I have earned the distance rather than riding an easy 1,000 km. I am still on a riders high and hope that I can savour this feeling for some more time before I reset my goals and get back on the saddle after I recover from the Achilles injury.