Twin Hills (600 Kilometer Brevet)

Date: 8 September 2018

Total distance: 600 Kilometers

Start Time: 6:00 am 8 September 2018

Return Time: 9:15 pm 9 September 2018

With: Lokesh Jain, Mohan Subramanyam, Raghu Nandan Nagaraja

Altitude Profile:

Kanteerava Stadium - Krishnagiri - Yercaud - Krishnagiri - Yelagiri - Krishnagiri - Kanteerava Stadium

It was time to ride the twin hills again, Yercaud and Yelagiri. The 600 BRM was being repeated during the season and it was an opportunity to ride this route on the MTB. The ride was scheduled for 1 September, however, I volunteered for the ride and as such was going to be doing the volunteer ride on the subsequent weekend.

It was a great experience volunteering and getting a feel of the other side of the ride. Supporting 50 riders gave an insight into the difficulties of volunteering and also the joy of seeing riders pushig their limits to complete the ride.

The week flew by and it was time for the ride. I was up early and reached the start point at 5:30 am, considering my arrival at the start point for the earlier brevets, this was rather early. Mohan Sir had already reached the start point and we waited for Raghu and Lokesh to arrive. They came by at 5:55 am and we started the ride at 6:00 am. Raghu and Lokesh on road bikes and Mohan Sir and me on MTB's.

Raghu disappered after the initial kiolmeters, Lokesh, Mohan Sir and I rode steadily. Getting past electronic city was the que to get the speed going as we entered rolling terrain. It was evident that the road bike was faster, Lokesh would ride ahead and wait for us when the gap opened. It was smooth sailing and we made good progress. It looked like a late breakfast when we started considering that we were on MTB's, however, we were making good time and every kilometer that we covered was bringing us closer to having breakfast just after 9:00 am. The speed of the ride slowed down a little after crossing the Krishnagiri ghat thanks largely to the rise in the temperature and the change in wind direction. Although it was 9:00 am it felt more like 11:00 am with the heat becoming a factor much earlier than expected. The thought of having to ride a further 100 kilometers in the heat was worrying and with the Yercaud hill to climb it looked like a difficult afternoon of riding.

It was 9:30 am when we reached Saravana Bhavan at Krishnagiri. Lokesh had reached 10 minutes before Mohan Sir and me. Raghu's cycle was not at the restaurant and we assumed that he would have had his breakfast and would have started the ride towards Salem. Lokesh was almost done with his breakfast when Mohan Sir and I settled in and ordered. We were in the midst of our breakfast when Raghu came by. We were surprised to see him and were wondering how he had come by late. Raghu had a puncture on top of the electronic city flyover and had fallen behind. Since we had ridden under the flyover we had not seen him.

We took 40 minutes for breakfast and started at 10:10 am. A look at the Sun and we knew that this was going to be a tough ride. The heat made its presence felt within a few kilometers and the wind had also picked up speed and our progress was being hampered. Once again the road bikes disappeared and Mohan Sir and I toiled hard to keep the cycle moving. Guess, more than the heat and the wind, the familiarity with the route was making this ride monotonous and made this section of the route rather difficult. I could not wait to get to the Thoppur downhill after which the ride eases out till Salem.

It seemed like slow progress, however we were still averaging over 25 kmph. We stopped for a cup of sugarcane juice before getting into the Dharmapuri bypass. We realised that we would not be able to get to the Saravana Bhavan at the Salem toll for lunch. We decided to stop at Sharvesh Inn just after the Thoppur ghat for lunch. Fortnately, Raghu and Lokesh had stopped just before the Thoppur ghat and we were able to tell them about our lunch plan.

We sped downhill and stopped at Sharvesh Inn. It was 1:15 pm when we reached the restaurant and we spent the next hour relaxing in AC environment and having lunch. The stop was 30 kilometers before the Salem toll and I should have eaten a little more, instead I had the same quantity that I would have had at the Salem toll. A mistake which came back to bite me later in the day.

We dragged ourselves out of the the comfortable environment of the restaurant and entered the boiling environment outside. A short climb and we were onto easy gradient from Thoppur to Salem. The heat was at its peak, however, with the increase in pace of the ride after lunch, the kilometers were coming down quickly and we did not feel the impact of the heat too much. Raghu and Lokesh rode ahead, Mohan Sir and I rode as quickly as we could and got into Salem at 3:50 pm.

The ride through town was not very difficult, although the roads were in bad condition, it did not matter too much as we were on MTB's. We got onto the Yercaud road and in a short while pulled up near a Sugarcane juice vendor where Raghu and Lokesh were waiting. We had sugar cane juice, and headed to the foothill where we stopped again to refill water and buy a half litre Coke for the climb.

We started the climb at 4:50 pm. We had sufficient time to get to the top and time was not a problem. Raghu and Lokesh streaked away and had disappeared by the time we got past a kilometer. Mohan Sir was cramping and we took it easy. We took a few breaks to stretch and get the legs going. We had been slow over the first 3 kilometers, after that Mohan Sir picked up his speed and kept pushing the pace. The problem here was that I was running low on nutrition and was struggling to keep pace with Mohan Sir. I kept taking swigs of Coca Cola and water to keep the hunger at bay. We took a break when we reached the hair pins and began to climb. I ran through my water and Coca Cola and was tiring fast. Mohan Sir, was flying and keeping pace with him was very difficult. He stopped and waited for me to catch up on a couple of occassions. I was relieved to make it to the GRT resort, that gave a little shot of adrenaline to ride the last 3 kilometers to the Shevaroy hotel. Raghu and Lokesh had reached and were snacking at a restaurant near the lake. Mohan Sir and I reached Shevaroy hotel at 7:30 pm, took the selfie and headed to the restaurant. Refilled water and ate an ice cream, I wanted just enough energy to get to the restaurant at the Salem toll. I did not want to get into a situation of overeating here and then not being able to eat at the restaurant in an hour.

It was dark when we started the descent and that automatically slowed us down. We were careful in the descent and the focus was on getting to the foothill safely rather than quickly. The descent was peaceful, saying peaceful since we ran into crowded streets of Salem on completing the descent. By the time we exited Salem town, I was low on energy and was pushing on to get to the restaurant. It was again a case of relief when I saw the Saravana Bhavan board. Raghu and Lokesh were already at the restaurant and were having their dinner. I ordered Roti and Dal curry for myself. It did not look like much, but it did the job of getting the energy level back up.

It was 10:15 pm when we started from the restaurant. We were now getting into the time deficit zone and needed to ride quickly to be able to get to the next control point comfortably. Reaching the next control point quickly was required since we had planned to rest at the control point and the wanted to have a buffer for the rest. Since it was going to be a increase in gradient and a climb up the Thoppur ghat I expected the 40 kilometers to the control point to take 2.5 hours.

The dinner break had recharged the batteries, although I did take time to warm up and get back to speed, by which time Raghu and Lokesh had gone ahead. However, when I was back upto speed, I could see Lokesh's tail light about 1-1.5 kilometers ahead. This served as a beacon and Mohan Sir and I rode quickly and did not allow the light to disappear. We were beginning to close the gap as well. This worked for us as we were going to reach the control point quicker than expected and this would give us sufficient buffer to rest as well. With Lokesh's tail light pulling us closer we got to Thoppur where Raghu and Lokesh stopped for a water break before starting the Thoppur climb. This allowed Mohan Sir and me to catch up with them. When the Thoppur ghat started, I accelerated to get to the top as quickly as possible. With a break coming up after the climb, I did not hold back and alternated between jogging on the wheels and sitting on the saddle and made a quick climb. Raghu pushed me along and the two of us sprinted to the top. It worked since we made it to the top quickly rather than labouring on the climb. We relaxed after the climb and strolled to the control point at 12:15 am. Lokesh and Mohan Sir came by 5 minutes apart.

We took a 1.5 hours break at Coffee Day. Caught up on a little sleep and drank juice/coffee before getting back on the road. It was 1:45 am when we started from Coffee Day. 60 kilometers from Krishnagiri, which was the first target. It was a steady ride, the kilometers did not come down quickly, however it was not panic time and we were able to reach Krishnagiri at 4:10 am. We stopped at a tea store and filled up on water and ate biscuits and chips. The clock was ticking fast and we had spent 40 minutes at the store before resuming.

Almost 5:00 am, we had 6 hours to ride 70 kilometers which included the Yelagiri climb. Early morning hours, cool temperatures allowed us to ride well in the rolling terrain from Krishnagiri. It started easily, before the gradient picked up a little and the tired legs were beginning to feel the effects of having ridden 400 kilometers. Realised that the effects were being felt due to hunger and that we would have to stop soon to have breakfast. Since it was still early morning hours, the restaurants were open, however breakfast was not ready as yet. We stopped at a restaurant at 6:20 am since we were told that breakfast would be ready in 10 minutes. However, 20 minutes later we were told that it would take a further 30 minutes. We had wasted 20 minutes waiting and hastily got back on the bikes and started riding. Hunger pangs were biting, however, we had to ride on since we knew that breakfast was an option only after 7 am.

We had to ride for an hour, got close to Vaniyambadi when we stopped for breakfast. By the time we stopped for breakfast, the Sun was already out. It was just 7:20 am and the mercury was already shooting up. We had idly vada for breakfast which was going to be the fuel to be able to climb Yelagiri which was coming up in the next 15 kilometers.

We started from the restaurant at 7:50 am. Took the turn from Vaniyambadi to Yelagiri and within a few kilometers Lokesh pulled up at the side of the road. His rear tire was punctured. We set up shop under a tree and Lokesh quickly replaced the tube and took out a cannister of CO2 and voila in the next 10 seconds the tire had been inflated. There was no loss of energy by pumping air and this was an easy and quick way to get back on the road. We rode ahead and stopped at the turn to Yelagiri to buy ourselves a 500 ml cold drink and carried it with us for the climb.

8:50 am when we reached the foothill and started the climb. There was sufficient shade to keep us protected from the wrath of the Sun which made things slightly easy. Further there was minimal traffic which helped as well. Took it one kilometer at a time and decided to ride till the 9th hair pin bend before thinking of taking a break. On reaching the 9th hair pin bend, I was not very tired and decided to keep going. Surprisingly, I was able to keep going and as the kilometers reduced I was able to push a little to get to the top quicker than I had expected at the start. It was 9:05 am when I made it to the top, Raghu had reached 5 minutes earlier, Lokesh and Mohan Sir came by 5 minutes apart. We took the pic at the top and started the descent.

Lokesh and I sped downhill which was over in a flash and then carried the momentum towards the highway. Reaching the highway was like entering a furnace, the heat hit us and riding the 200 meters on the highway to get to Sai Akshayam restaurant gave a feeler of the long afternoon that was in store for us. Mohan Sir and Raghu came by in 5 minutes and we ate up since we would not get anything for the next couple of hours.

Leaving the restaurant was difficult since we were stepping onto the frying pan. However, we did not have too much time on hand and had to step out. We had spent over an hour at the restaurant and had pushed the break to the maximum, since we were back in the 150 kilometers to be completed in 10 hours zone. There were doubts creeping into the mind if it would possible since a saddle sore had set in and also the heat was soaring up.

We started slowly and then picked up the pace. Raghu and Lokesh had gone ahead, Mohan Sir and I rode steadily. Fortunately for us, after the first hour, there was a cloud cover and the Sun would hide for a few minutes behind the clouds. We made the most of the this period and increased the pace of the ride and slowed down when the Sun came out again. The small bursts of speed helped and we reached Krishnagiri before we had expected. Raghu and Lokesh had stopped to have juice, we had a cup as well and then rode out of Krishnagiri and stopped after we had crossed town for lunch. It was 3:15 pm when we stopped, the equation stood at 80 kilometers in just under 7 hours.

The stop took just over 30 minutes. The Sun's intensity had reduced by the time we stepped out of the restaurant. There were dark clouds lurking above and the thought of having to ride in the rain was not very appealing. 80 kilometers to be ridden in just over 6 hours when we started and it was not an alarming equation, we just hoped that we would get favorable traffic in Bangalore.

It was time to ride a good 40 kilometer stretch since it was an increase in gradient from Krishnagiri to Hosur. We hit the Krishnagiri ghat immediately and it was done rather quickly only for the pace to dwindle after getting to the top and then labouring for the rest of the distance. It took 90 minutes to get to Shoolagiri where we stopped for a break. When we regrouped, Raghu told us to continue and that he would catch up since he had to attend to his saddle sore. Being on the slower side, we were sure that he would catch up and started riding.

20 minutes later there was a drizzle. Quickly packed the phone and rode quickly to make it out of the dark cloud area. 10 minutes later there was a call from Raghu saying that there was a heavy downpour at Shoolagiri and that he had not been able to start riding since the visibility was poor. Not having time in our favour we continued riding. We were able to ride just outside the rain area and managed to avoid the rain. We reached Hosur at 6:45 pm. Just over 3 hours remaining for 40 kilometers. The ride was as good as over here since it eases out after this and the only factor that could hold us back was traffic in Bangalore.

Keeping the traffic situation in Bangalore in mind we started the ride and before long we were riding past Electronic city after which the traffic situation was bad. Tried as much as possible to ride together, but we were getting separated due to the traffic. We met up just before Silk Board junction only to get separated again. The ride through the city was slow as we had to ride past traffic and bad roads and finally pulled up in front of Kanteerava Stadium at 9:15 pm.

I was releived to have reached as I was not feeling very good at the moment. I was feeling nauseous and wanted to get home as soon as possible. Mohan Sir and Lokesh stayed back to have dinner at Konark, I rode back home.