A century ride to Janapadaloka and back was my next long ride. It was the first time I'd seen so many cycling enthusiasts and I was filled with admiration for each one of them! It was only later that I realized I was admiring myself too. I made a lot of new friends during the ride. What caught my attention was the variety of perspectives in that crowd. There was everything, many of the gears I was seeing them for the first time. It all seemed so cool. The coolest thing was when I saw simplicity in motion. A person riding 100km on a ladybird. A thought crossed my mind, "It's the engine that matters most, and you are the engine of your bike. Ride on".
The questions "What next? When ? Where to ?" were haunting my mind and they cannot be left unanswered, not for long. May 10th, 2014, these questions would find an answer. I expressed my interest to Alan about going further than a 100 and a plan was made for a ride to the sugar city and back. That very night was fullmoon and if I recall rightly, there was a 200km brevet along the same route. Alan and I started the ride at exactly 5:15am, we planned to return by evening so that I wouldn't have to be interrogated by my folks at home.It would seem like any other weekend where I'd leave home in the morning and reach only by late evening. My mom says I was born with wheels beneath my legs. I must have a packed weekend. She expects me to rest on weekends. My definition of rest is when I'm occupied and active, doing what I enjoy.
I had forgotten to carry a water bottle. That called for our first stop at Bidadi, opposite to the Hanumantha temple is a stretch of shops where we bought water. I had had 4 eggs(only white) before starting from home and wasn't hungry yet. As we crossed Janapadaloka, I was excited about the fact that this was the farthest I had ever been away from home on a cycle. It gave me chills for a moment. We stopped for fuel, just to avoid using up the reserve, at Kadambam, Channapatna. I was not aware of the fact that it was famous for the puliyogere that they served and ended up ordering a dosa. Our next stop was a forceful one. A huge loaded truck had gotten off road and it wouldn't start. I still can't get myself to believe that the truck driver stopped us and requested us to a give it a push! Oh, it wasn't even a decent that the truck would move.We tried any-ways, all in vain. I had just created a funny cartoon version of the situation in my mind. It is hard to figure out what was on the truck driver's mind when he stopped us and what was on our mind when we were trying to push the truck. May be its hope. I love hope.
I was very scared to let go of the handle bar and reach out to my bottle to drink water. I had to stop by the side to take a sip. Now I've learned to drink water while on the move and feel very proud about it. What's the hurry anyway. Alan was sharing his ride experiences and it was very fascinating and inspiring to listen to them all. The word Mysore came up during the conversation. That was the trigger. I spent my engineering days in Mysore and two of my dearest friends stay there. Alan gave a wonderful idea "Why not surprise them? Mysore is just 40km away from Mandya. Considering our average pace, we'd need an extra 4 hours". Wow! I would be more than happy to meet them and surprise, rather shock them. The excitement was on a whole new level after this plan.
The best thing about riding to Mandya is the sugar cane juice. Yes, that was our next stop where we downed 4 glasses of the fresh sugar cane juice and started towards Mysore. The excitement was doubling up as I saw the reading on the milestones by the road side reduce by every kilometer. The distance to Ooty was also etched on every milestone. For some reason the crazy me kept reading it aloud. While I was lost in this excitement, we were again force stopped, but this time it was a person whose vehicle was in perfect condition. I do not recall his name, he is someone who walked from Mandya to Manthralaya, Tirupathi and many more distant places on his list. He was delighted to know that we were riding from Bangalore towards Mysore and this generous man bought us tender coconut water to drink. Again, it was his simplicity that interested me as he spoke about the way they'd just walk miles without carrying much, calling the road their home, sleep by the road side, reach their destination. He wished us a happy and safe journey and we continued to ride towards Mysore. That tender cocnut water that we drank had magic in it. The magic of love and appreciation, compassion and humanity. It reflected in the pace with which we rode the last few miles to Mysore.
There's this huge water tank that can be spotted when you are about to reach Mysore. I call it "The Great Wall of Mysore". Every Monday morninng during my engineering days, as I traveled back to Mysore, I would give a call to my roommates at hostel alarming them of my arrival at the great wall and they would be awake and ready to welcome me because I had the yummiest food with me. Dad-made food. He would wake up at 2:30am almost every Monday morning to cook and parcel food for 9 people. His food is quite famous amongst my hostel friends. It brought him inexpressible joy when I'd call him from hostel and all my friends would cheer in the background thanking him for the amazing monday morning feast. I am blessed with the best dad.
We passed the great wall of Mysore and reached Columbia Asia at 12 in the noon. Phew! 6hrs 45min of journey on saddle and pedals and we were in the heritage city! Time to fuel up,we had a heavy meal at Siddhartha Hotel from where I called up my friends to check if they were home. One of them was at work, which disappointed me a little. But I was too happy to hold on to that. While we were riding towards my friend's place, we bumped into one of the cyclists in Mysore, who recognised Alan, though they'd never met offline earlier. He shared that he was setting out to Goa on his bike the next day. Wow! Someday, I will too. He had a wonderful handlebar bag on his bike.
I called out my friend's name as we stood at her house gate. Oh yes, she was totally shocked. It took a while for her to believe that I was there for real. She invited us inside and enquired about the journey and called us crazy numerous times. It was mango season and she offerred us some super sweet mangoes. We had a small seize-the-moment session, she gave us two bars of snickers and we started our return ride at 2pm.
What gave me the confidence that I could ride back was the company that I had. Alan is one hell of a rider, more so, he is an inspiring one. His love for fitness is very contagious, I must say. The constant appreciation from him about my stamina throughout the ride so far, made me feel stronger and kept me going, also, it made me feel very special and good about myself. This feel good factor is a miraculous thing. It creates a positive aura around you and takes you to a new level of positivity where the impossible doesn't exist.
Sugar-cane calling, our next stop was Mandya, where we relished the natural energy drink and the melted snickers bar under the hot sun. That reminds me , it was a sunny day but we hardly realized that. Neither of us complained about the sun. We were thoroughly enjoying the ride. It was about 6:30pm when were reached Chanpatna. Alan wanted to stop by and meet one of his friends, Dr. Sanders. His house was en route. Dr. Sanders was very welcoming, he offered coffee and food. It was getting dark and we had about 70km to ride. No front lights or reflective jackets, we had not prepared for a ride in the dark. Dr. Sanders strictly told me that he'd put my bike and me in a bus if I didn't wear a reflective jacket. Now where will I get it from! He was generous enough to lend me an extra reflective jacket that he had and we set out on our saddles towards home.
Once we passed the Chanpatna traffic, worry started creeping up. I have never ridden on a highway in the dark before, and hence panic was setting in.Usually I enjoy darkness, but the speeding vehicles on my right started freaking me out. I went off road once and that scared Alan too! Somehow he instilled confidence in me and we were riding at a good pace. I was riding just about half feet behind Alan. What bothered me more was the explanation I had to give at home! My phone's battery was dying. A few miles before Bidadi, we took a quick water break. There was still loads of energy left, but it was infected with panic and worry. I knew I would never be riding at night again. There was one moment where the trees grew thicker, no speeding vehicles, absolute silence, the moon was shining big and bright, there were no street lights but there was enough moon light. This was the moment when I lost myself to the nature and zoom goes a vehicle on my right bringing me back to reality.
As we were nearing Bangalore, we saw many brevet riders, there was more light, no speeding vehicles due to traffic and I was calm. We had been riding for about 17 hours, 275km on the saddle. There was a sense of accomplishment but I was too worried to celebrate. It was exactly 10:05pm when I knocked on the door, holding my cycle close to me for moral support.
The questions "What next? When ? Where to ?" were haunting my mind and they cannot be left unanswered, not for long. May 10th, 2014, these questions would find an answer. I expressed my interest to Alan about going further than a 100 and a plan was made for a ride to the sugar city and back. That very night was fullmoon and if I recall rightly, there was a 200km brevet along the same route. Alan and I started the ride at exactly 5:15am, we planned to return by evening so that I wouldn't have to be interrogated by my folks at home.It would seem like any other weekend where I'd leave home in the morning and reach only by late evening. My mom says I was born with wheels beneath my legs. I must have a packed weekend. She expects me to rest on weekends. My definition of rest is when I'm occupied and active, doing what I enjoy.
I had forgotten to carry a water bottle. That called for our first stop at Bidadi, opposite to the Hanumantha temple is a stretch of shops where we bought water. I had had 4 eggs(only white) before starting from home and wasn't hungry yet. As we crossed Janapadaloka, I was excited about the fact that this was the farthest I had ever been away from home on a cycle. It gave me chills for a moment. We stopped for fuel, just to avoid using up the reserve, at Kadambam, Channapatna. I was not aware of the fact that it was famous for the puliyogere that they served and ended up ordering a dosa. Our next stop was a forceful one. A huge loaded truck had gotten off road and it wouldn't start. I still can't get myself to believe that the truck driver stopped us and requested us to a give it a push! Oh, it wasn't even a decent that the truck would move.We tried any-ways, all in vain. I had just created a funny cartoon version of the situation in my mind. It is hard to figure out what was on the truck driver's mind when he stopped us and what was on our mind when we were trying to push the truck. May be its hope. I love hope.
I was very scared to let go of the handle bar and reach out to my bottle to drink water. I had to stop by the side to take a sip. Now I've learned to drink water while on the move and feel very proud about it. What's the hurry anyway. Alan was sharing his ride experiences and it was very fascinating and inspiring to listen to them all. The word Mysore came up during the conversation. That was the trigger. I spent my engineering days in Mysore and two of my dearest friends stay there. Alan gave a wonderful idea "Why not surprise them? Mysore is just 40km away from Mandya. Considering our average pace, we'd need an extra 4 hours". Wow! I would be more than happy to meet them and surprise, rather shock them. The excitement was on a whole new level after this plan.
The best thing about riding to Mandya is the sugar cane juice. Yes, that was our next stop where we downed 4 glasses of the fresh sugar cane juice and started towards Mysore. The excitement was doubling up as I saw the reading on the milestones by the road side reduce by every kilometer. The distance to Ooty was also etched on every milestone. For some reason the crazy me kept reading it aloud. While I was lost in this excitement, we were again force stopped, but this time it was a person whose vehicle was in perfect condition. I do not recall his name, he is someone who walked from Mandya to Manthralaya, Tirupathi and many more distant places on his list. He was delighted to know that we were riding from Bangalore towards Mysore and this generous man bought us tender coconut water to drink. Again, it was his simplicity that interested me as he spoke about the way they'd just walk miles without carrying much, calling the road their home, sleep by the road side, reach their destination. He wished us a happy and safe journey and we continued to ride towards Mysore. That tender cocnut water that we drank had magic in it. The magic of love and appreciation, compassion and humanity. It reflected in the pace with which we rode the last few miles to Mysore.
There's this huge water tank that can be spotted when you are about to reach Mysore. I call it "The Great Wall of Mysore". Every Monday morninng during my engineering days, as I traveled back to Mysore, I would give a call to my roommates at hostel alarming them of my arrival at the great wall and they would be awake and ready to welcome me because I had the yummiest food with me. Dad-made food. He would wake up at 2:30am almost every Monday morning to cook and parcel food for 9 people. His food is quite famous amongst my hostel friends. It brought him inexpressible joy when I'd call him from hostel and all my friends would cheer in the background thanking him for the amazing monday morning feast. I am blessed with the best dad.
We passed the great wall of Mysore and reached Columbia Asia at 12 in the noon. Phew! 6hrs 45min of journey on saddle and pedals and we were in the heritage city! Time to fuel up,we had a heavy meal at Siddhartha Hotel from where I called up my friends to check if they were home. One of them was at work, which disappointed me a little. But I was too happy to hold on to that. While we were riding towards my friend's place, we bumped into one of the cyclists in Mysore, who recognised Alan, though they'd never met offline earlier. He shared that he was setting out to Goa on his bike the next day. Wow! Someday, I will too. He had a wonderful handlebar bag on his bike.
I called out my friend's name as we stood at her house gate. Oh yes, she was totally shocked. It took a while for her to believe that I was there for real. She invited us inside and enquired about the journey and called us crazy numerous times. It was mango season and she offerred us some super sweet mangoes. We had a small seize-the-moment session, she gave us two bars of snickers and we started our return ride at 2pm.
What gave me the confidence that I could ride back was the company that I had. Alan is one hell of a rider, more so, he is an inspiring one. His love for fitness is very contagious, I must say. The constant appreciation from him about my stamina throughout the ride so far, made me feel stronger and kept me going, also, it made me feel very special and good about myself. This feel good factor is a miraculous thing. It creates a positive aura around you and takes you to a new level of positivity where the impossible doesn't exist.
Sugar-cane calling, our next stop was Mandya, where we relished the natural energy drink and the melted snickers bar under the hot sun. That reminds me , it was a sunny day but we hardly realized that. Neither of us complained about the sun. We were thoroughly enjoying the ride. It was about 6:30pm when were reached Chanpatna. Alan wanted to stop by and meet one of his friends, Dr. Sanders. His house was en route. Dr. Sanders was very welcoming, he offered coffee and food. It was getting dark and we had about 70km to ride. No front lights or reflective jackets, we had not prepared for a ride in the dark. Dr. Sanders strictly told me that he'd put my bike and me in a bus if I didn't wear a reflective jacket. Now where will I get it from! He was generous enough to lend me an extra reflective jacket that he had and we set out on our saddles towards home.
Once we passed the Chanpatna traffic, worry started creeping up. I have never ridden on a highway in the dark before, and hence panic was setting in.Usually I enjoy darkness, but the speeding vehicles on my right started freaking me out. I went off road once and that scared Alan too! Somehow he instilled confidence in me and we were riding at a good pace. I was riding just about half feet behind Alan. What bothered me more was the explanation I had to give at home! My phone's battery was dying. A few miles before Bidadi, we took a quick water break. There was still loads of energy left, but it was infected with panic and worry. I knew I would never be riding at night again. There was one moment where the trees grew thicker, no speeding vehicles, absolute silence, the moon was shining big and bright, there were no street lights but there was enough moon light. This was the moment when I lost myself to the nature and zoom goes a vehicle on my right bringing me back to reality.
As we were nearing Bangalore, we saw many brevet riders, there was more light, no speeding vehicles due to traffic and I was calm. We had been riding for about 17 hours, 275km on the saddle. There was a sense of accomplishment but I was too worried to celebrate. It was exactly 10:05pm when I knocked on the door, holding my cycle close to me for moral support.
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