Melur Veppur (400 Kilometer Brevet)

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. When I saw the broken axle, I thought that I would not be able to ride the brevet and that I would be taking an early bus home, however, with Prashanth's help not only did I get the axle replaced, the bent hangar was replaced as well, the only issue which remained was that the chain was stretched as a result of pulling after it was stuck between the rear cassette and the spokes. I was not overly worried on account of the chain stretch as I was confident of getting through with this ride without too many changes in the gears.

Had a relaxed lunch while the cycle was getting fixed and headed back and saw that the cycle was ready. I prepared the small back pack in which I was carrying the spares for the ride and kept it at Track and Trail along with my luggage which I had removed from the cycle. There was still over an hour for the ride to start and I was catching up with the other riders. A huge contingent from Salem arrived, 10 of them were riding this event to complete their maiden SR's. Saw a lot of familiar faces as I had met them during the Twin Hills event, Vivek Kannan, Joseph, Mohan Raj to name a few. Siva Balaji came along with 4 others from Coimbatore and to round it off Vaisayaraju had come from Bangalore.

We were briefed about the ride and given route instructions by Anand from Trichy Randonneurs and the ride was flagged off at 4:00 pm. I rode about a kilometer and realised that I had not taken my back pack. Too risky to leave behind as it had the spare tubes and pump. I rode back to Track and Trail and picked up the bag and started the ride. Loss of about 10 minutes by the time I could get started again and then a few stops in the city on account of traffic lights and a political rally in the city before I got onto the highway.

Getting on the highway was a relief as I had left the city traffic behind. It was a three laned highway with a wide shoulder on the left making it rather safe for the cyclist as long as I stuck to the lane. I was not feeling the strain of having ridden over the past couple of days and set about trying to ride the first 100 kilometers in under 5 hours. The other riders had made a fast start and had disappeared. I was riding alone and it felt like a continuation of the tour rather than a brevet as I was the only cyclist around. It was almost 30 kilometers when I spotted a cyclist ahead and was reminded that I was riding a brevet.

I overtook a few riders more on account of them having punctures rather than me being quick. The Sun had gone below the horizon and the light faded quickly after 6:30 pm, the head lights were switched on and pretty soon it was about focusing on the patch of land on which the light was focused. The sky was being lit up in the distance on account of lightning which was a worrying scene as I did not want it to rain. This spurred me to ride quickly and make it as far as possible before the clouds opened up.

I reached the Punjabi Dhaba where Prashanth had arranged for refreshments at 6:50 pm. 65 kilometers done. It was not a control point, however, arrangements had been made for curd rice and delicious cup cakes for the riders at this point. A slew of riders were at the location when I reached. I refilled on water as well and started from the Dhaba at 7:10 pm.

The riders from Salem had started at 7:00 pm. I caught up with them 20 minutes after the restart. We were riding rather quickly as it was downhill terrain and I wanted to build a buffer for the night in case the tiredness catches up. Spoke at length with Vivek Kannan during this stretch and did not realise that we were averaging over 25 kmph. The roads were good and the rains did not arrive which allowed us to ride quickly. I pulled away from the group with about 5 kilometers remaning to the control point. The kilometer stones indicating the distance to Melur was coming down quickly, however, the last few kilometers to the control point was rather painful as I was low on energy. The sight of tail lights in about a kilometer was a relief as I knew that I was almost there.

I was welcomed by the Madurai Randonneurs. They had set up a refreshment stall and served delicious halwa and savouries which had been prepared by a randonneur. I refilled water and had fruits, however the highlight was the halwa which was an energy booster. I synced up with Siva Balaji here and rode with him for the remainder of this ride. Siva Balaji was waiting for me at the control and we started from the control at 9:00 pm. The control point formalities had taken 20 minutes, that is more to do with the eating than with filling up the brevet card.

105 kilometers were completed and 300 remained, with 22 hours available for it. I was charged up and rode as quickly as I could. I told Balaji to ride ahead since I would not be able to match his speed, however he slowed down and rode along. We chatted about our GOH experience and the earlier Dhanushkodi 600 ride. The talking kept sleep and hunger away and I did not realise that an hour had passed and we had knocked 28 kilometers off during the period. We pulled up next to Prashanth's car where we had cup cakes again. It was 10:00 pm when we reached, 133 kilometers done. Although I was not very hungry at this point, since we would not get anything for the next 9 hours, we decided to eat up and headed to a nearby Dhaba where I had Parotta and omlette. I was introduced to 'Half Boil' egg by Siva Balaji which is essentially a Bull's Eye and I relished it.

We had spent 40 minutes at this junction before we restarted the ride at 10:40 pm. Based on the ride and since I was not feeling very tired I expected to reach Trichy around 2:00 am which would give a good buffer for the remaining ride. We rode about an hour when we came across Prashanth who was on his way back to Trichy. He had stopped for tea and we stopped too for juice/flavoured milk. 10 minutes later we were back on the saddle. As we got closer to Trichy we were getting slower, signs of tiredness were beginning to creep in. We reached the control point just outside Trichy where Prashanth was waiting for us. 195 kilometers were done, it was 1:30 am. We were not allowed to sleep at the Control Point and decided to ride a few kilometers and take a quick nap before proceeding with the ride. We found a bus stop and set out to take a nap. I set the alarm for 2:00 am which would give us 20 minutes to sleep. I woke up over an hour later and saw that I had missed the alarm. Surprisingly Siva Balaji had not heard the alarm too which could only mean that the alarm was not working. This was a big delay, however, we had sufficient buffer to cover the delay.

We started at 3:00 am and still had to make our way past Trichy. The rains which had stayed away till then were showing signs of breaching the clouds. It started as few droplets here and there and pretty soon there was a drizzle. Fortunately it was only a drizzle and the shoes did not get wet, however it was sufficient to throw a lot of grime from the road onto the cycle and the drive train had become noisy. We took a stop on one of the flyovers to lube my chain as well as Vivek Kannan's chain. An hour later we had made it to the outskirts of Trichy, 220 kilometers done in 12 hours. Sleep came calling again and Balaji and me stopped near a store. I set the alarm for 4:15 am and went to sleep, as I was still oblivious to the fact that the alarm was not working and had thought that I was at fault when I missed the alarm earlier.

Woke up 40 minutes later, another missed alarm notification on the phone. I was distraught, lightning had struck twice. Balaji and me got going at 4:45 am. Mentally I knew tht I had to push for a further 45 minutes for day break and with it sleep would not be a factor anymore. What was worrying me was that the time lost in the night would hit us hard during the day since we would have to ride in the heat, which I did not fancy.

It was slow progress for the next 45 minutes. Almost like we were waiting for day break to increase the pace. The pace automatically increased after day break on account of better visibility. The next hour was about counting down the distance to the breakfast point. It was a relatively easy ride although we were gaining altitude it was very gradual. We did think that getting back to Trichy would be easy when we get into the last 50 kilometers at this point. We crossed Prashanth who was at a bus stop, I was too focussed on the ride and had not seen him, until Balaji pointed him out. At 7:00 am it was like 10:00 am, the mercury was rising rather quickly and it was worrying as we were still 160 kilometers from the finish.

We reached the breakfast point at 8:00 am. 260 kilometers completed and we were served a delicious breakfast which comprised of Pongal, Kesari Bath and Vada. An hour spent on breakfast along with a host of other cyclists. Guess only Vaisayaraju and the Chennai cyclists had gone ahead, the remaining riders were still at the breakfast point.

We restarted the ride at 9:00 am. Along with the heat came the wind. It was a cross wind and riding became painfully slow. I had a saddle sore to go with it which made it a rather uncomfortable ride. The gradient was not difficult, but coasting was not an option on account of the wind. What should have taken under 2 hours took 2.5 hours. We took the pic at the control point and the organisers came along at the same time. I had an ice cream to cool off while Balaji had a soft drink. We were informed that lunch had been arranged around 20 kilometers away and that Prashanth would be waiting for us.

I was looking forward to an easy return ride, however, the wind was still a factor and so was the heat which was making the ride very uncomfortable. We managed to ride 23 kilometers in an hour and reached the place where Prashanth was waiting for us with lunch. It was arranged inside a school premises, which allowed us to sit under the shade and enjoyed the cool surroundings rather than the heat that we had been riding in. We were just 20 meters from the highway and it still felt like we were in a different part of the country. Balaji slept while I ate Corainder rice and Curd rice. Woke Balaji up after 30 minutes, he had lunch, we refilled water and got going. We had taken an hour for lunch. We had 70 kilometers to get to the finish with a little over 6 hours in hand for it.

I came out of the shade expecting a tail wind and an easy ride for the next 70 kilometers. It was anything but easy. The heat was ever increasing and the wind was still hampering the progress. The saddle sore was getting worse on account of the heat and it was difficult to sit on the saddle for a long period. Felt like I was sitting on a frying pan while pedaling. 1 hour 20 minutes for the next 30 minutes was a decent effort in spite of the struggles. In parlance to an automobile, if I have to describe my state at this point, I was overheated. Still had over 50 kilometers to ride and was hoping for cooler temperatures. We came across a Milk Parlour and Siva Balaji beckoned me to stop. It was a good break and I was treated to a couple of milk shakes and a glucose drink as well by Balaji. I was severely slowing down Balji by this stage. The previous day's riding had caught up and I was struggling to ride at this point.

It was a 20 minute break, but the clock was still at 2:30 pm. The afternoon heat was not letting up. Guess I was at a fairly average pace for 30 minutes after which I dropped off drastically. Balaji rode ahead and I did not push to catch up as I was done for the day. I had shut shop mentally and was focussing more on the saddle sore, heat and wind. I stopped near a parapet wall and took a 5 minute break to re-focus on the ride. Thinking of the negatives only makes it appear more difficult than it actually is. Calmed down and got back on the saddle.

In a few kilometers saw that Balaji was waiting for me. I was able to ride steadily, although I was not riding quick, the pace was hovering above 20 kmph. Better than before the break, moreover we had reached the Trichy outskirts. The Srirangam temple followed by the bridge over the Kollidam river and then the Kaveri river were good distractions and pushed me along the road. We were passed by Prashanth just as we entered the Trichy by pass and in a short while we were pulling up in front of Track and Trail.

The 400 BRM was completed and and with it my 3rd SR for the 2017-18 season. This ride would not have been possible if not for Prashanth T K getting my cycle fixed in double quick time, and also with the support of Siva Balaji. Having his company from the 100 kilometer mark till the finish made this ride so much easier and fun to ride with. Congratulations to him as he completed his 4th SR for the 2017-18 season and to the Salem cyclists for their maiden SR's.