Where your focus goes, your energy flows. My mind started playing smart as the door opened and I channelized all my energy, excitement and sense towards some other topic which I had identified was of a higher priority to my mother. So the immediate reaction phase was handled. Now comes the explanation phase which I started voluntarily to avoid being questioned. Spontaneous story telling is something that comes to me naturally and I keep this skill alive by practising it with my friends for fun. So I went on a ride in the morning, caught up with a set of friends for lunch, met another set of friends in the evening after which I went to airport along with another friend to drop her sister and her kid. I was the only one available to accompany my friend till airport and back and that's the reason for me being late. Those were the days when I owned no cycling jerseys or padded pants or reflective jackets so I was safe from the other questions which could have been shot at me. Since I was wearing the reflective jacket that Dr.Sanders had given me, I covered up by telling that a traffic police who noticed I was riding without lights was concerned enough to give it to me. Now comes the nodding phase where I nod my head in agreement to everything that is being told to me about me being a girl, not following the rules of getting home before dark, airport road is unsafe, Bangalore is unsafe, not spending weekends at home, blah blah and its done. I ate my dinner as fast as I could to avoid giving details on the day's events and rushed to bed.
As I lay on my bed, staring at the trees and sky from my window, I went through the day all over again. It was one of those days I'd never forget. Too may first experiences and indeed I had discovered a new part of me, the one that doesn't get tired easily. Finally I had the time and space to celebrate the day.
A thought lingered in my mind and it bothered me a lot. I knew for fact that I would be exploring beyond 275 km, but how could I do it with the fear of riding in the dark with vehicles speeding by my side. Of course I would buy lights, but there was some fear factor that I had associated with riding at night because of my first experience which was not so pleasant and obviously not a strong base thought for me to build on.
During Coorg Escapade 2014, a hill trail run of 10 km with 300m of elevation gain over 5km, I was running(jogging/walking) up towards the 5km u-turn point and a guy sped past me from the opposite direction yelling that he had seen me with Alan and cheering me to climb faster. Later I learned that this guy had cycled from Bangalore to Coorg , run the hill trail of 10 km and cycled back to Bangalore. Thanks to Facebook, I connected with him once I was back to Bangalore. Arthur and I became good friends. I had then expressed my interest in getting over the fear of riding at night and it was then a night ride plan to Madikeri was born with a group of 5 riders including me. Arthur lent me a MacRider . We were all set to start from Bangalore on a Saturday night. However, there was a turn of events when 2 of the riders dropped out and the plan was cancelled. To best utilize my weekend and daylight, I did a 80 km ride in the morning and meanwhile, the night ride plan to Mysore was on. I made the necessary arrangements at home and was out by 7 pm. I bought rear lights and did a quick air check. Arthur, Daniel and I met at the decided start point at 8 30 pm. I had met Daniel during one of the Cycle Day events. We put on our reflective jackets and I was given strict instructions to stay with the pack and ride in the middle till dawn. We were riding in a single line, Arthur in the lead ,Daniel behind and I was riding in-between. It felt like I was a princess with two strong body guards. Indeed they were strong, physically and mentally, to have taken up the responsibility of ensuring my safety, creating an opportunity for me to experience a night ride. I am extremely grateful to them for putting up with me. We reached McDonalds on Mysore road by 11 30 pm.
I waited for quite sometime, but neither did the speeding vehicles fear nor did the fear of night showed up. May be they lost me. Good for me, I was thoroughly enjoying the ride. There was light drizzle for quite some distance. Infact the ride turned out to be peaceful and interesting. Not for a second did any fear creep in. It was then I realized, I have Nyctophilia!
Daniel was too sleepy and he decided to take a nap at Righto, Mandya, while Arthur and I continued our ride. We were on constant conversation on so many subjects that sleep was off our mind. I had spent the previous night without sleep since I was out on a drive with some of my friends. The ride excitement had taken over sleep and we reached Mysore by 3 am. Columbia Asia hospital is where we freshened up and refilled our water bottles. I was keen on making it a 300km ride so we decided to go further towards Madikeri. As we entered Mysore and reached Ilwala, it was like I was given a sudden and instant sleep dosage. I told Arthur that I was too sleepy to ride and he immediately found a bus stop where I could take a power nap. Once awake, I did not want to continue as I was too sleepy and we took a U-turn and started riding towards Mysore Suburb bus station where we would be meeting Daniel. This was the first time I slept on the saddle. Arthur tried to make conversation so that I stayed awake. We reached Suburb at approx 5 15 am. Daniel was hit by the rains on his ride from Mandya to Mysore and he wanted to take a bus back to Bangalore. Arthur somehow talked Daniel into riding back and motivated Daniel to choose bike over bus. We had coffee at the bus station and it was approx 5 57 am when we started our ride towards Bangalore.
Riding at that time of the day when the light just sets in and the dawn breaks is one of the most beautiful moments. The transition period of just those few seconds speaks volumes in relation to life. The calmness, the new energy, the light , the aura, is pure bliss. And above all, it is an awakening, spiritually and at that moment literally I woke up from my sleepy state. Now I was allowed to ride ahead or lay back. The awakening came with some tremendous force that I was riding at a decent pace and the light drizzle from Mysore to Sriranapattna added to the fun. Now that tremendous force was controlled to a great extent by a piece of glass which pierced through my rear tyre and there it was, my first flat. I was on a hybrid, Arthur was on BSA Mach and Daniel on an MTB. I had not carried an extra tube, however all of us had patches. The light drizzle had turned into not so heavy rain. Daniel fixed the puncture and Arthur supported. We spent almost 45 minutes fixing it. Our next stop was at Mandya when Daniel caught the aroma of fresh jaggery. We walked in to the place and they generously gave us one big cube of the fresh jaggery! That's the best jaggery I have ever tasted and it sure did fuel us up. Our next stop was at Maddur CCD where we freshened up. Arthur was forced to drop the ride after a few miles since he was facing some mech issues with his bike. Daniel and I continued the ride and as we neared Bangalore, the rain gods welcomed us. The scene where the motored vehicles were parked by the road due to heavy rain , while Daniel and I ruled the streets, thoroughly enjoying the ride, rain and the stares of "How could they? Crazy people!" from the public gave us immense joy. We parted towards our respective humble abode at 2 30 pm. Arthur too managed to reach home by then.
By the end of the ride, we had achieved what we had set out for. I was over my false fear of riding at night , I had enjoyed the experience of it. The three of us had a lovely time riding together. A weekend well spent and I had biked 380 km that weekend.
During Coorg Escapade 2014, a hill trail run of 10 km with 300m of elevation gain over 5km, I was running(jogging/walking) up towards the 5km u-turn point and a guy sped past me from the opposite direction yelling that he had seen me with Alan and cheering me to climb faster. Later I learned that this guy had cycled from Bangalore to Coorg , run the hill trail of 10 km and cycled back to Bangalore. Thanks to Facebook, I connected with him once I was back to Bangalore. Arthur and I became good friends. I had then expressed my interest in getting over the fear of riding at night and it was then a night ride plan to Madikeri was born with a group of 5 riders including me. Arthur lent me a MacRider . We were all set to start from Bangalore on a Saturday night. However, there was a turn of events when 2 of the riders dropped out and the plan was cancelled. To best utilize my weekend and daylight, I did a 80 km ride in the morning and meanwhile, the night ride plan to Mysore was on. I made the necessary arrangements at home and was out by 7 pm. I bought rear lights and did a quick air check. Arthur, Daniel and I met at the decided start point at 8 30 pm. I had met Daniel during one of the Cycle Day events. We put on our reflective jackets and I was given strict instructions to stay with the pack and ride in the middle till dawn. We were riding in a single line, Arthur in the lead ,Daniel behind and I was riding in-between. It felt like I was a princess with two strong body guards. Indeed they were strong, physically and mentally, to have taken up the responsibility of ensuring my safety, creating an opportunity for me to experience a night ride. I am extremely grateful to them for putting up with me. We reached McDonalds on Mysore road by 11 30 pm.
I waited for quite sometime, but neither did the speeding vehicles fear nor did the fear of night showed up. May be they lost me. Good for me, I was thoroughly enjoying the ride. There was light drizzle for quite some distance. Infact the ride turned out to be peaceful and interesting. Not for a second did any fear creep in. It was then I realized, I have Nyctophilia!
Daniel was too sleepy and he decided to take a nap at Righto, Mandya, while Arthur and I continued our ride. We were on constant conversation on so many subjects that sleep was off our mind. I had spent the previous night without sleep since I was out on a drive with some of my friends. The ride excitement had taken over sleep and we reached Mysore by 3 am. Columbia Asia hospital is where we freshened up and refilled our water bottles. I was keen on making it a 300km ride so we decided to go further towards Madikeri. As we entered Mysore and reached Ilwala, it was like I was given a sudden and instant sleep dosage. I told Arthur that I was too sleepy to ride and he immediately found a bus stop where I could take a power nap. Once awake, I did not want to continue as I was too sleepy and we took a U-turn and started riding towards Mysore Suburb bus station where we would be meeting Daniel. This was the first time I slept on the saddle. Arthur tried to make conversation so that I stayed awake. We reached Suburb at approx 5 15 am. Daniel was hit by the rains on his ride from Mandya to Mysore and he wanted to take a bus back to Bangalore. Arthur somehow talked Daniel into riding back and motivated Daniel to choose bike over bus. We had coffee at the bus station and it was approx 5 57 am when we started our ride towards Bangalore.
Riding at that time of the day when the light just sets in and the dawn breaks is one of the most beautiful moments. The transition period of just those few seconds speaks volumes in relation to life. The calmness, the new energy, the light , the aura, is pure bliss. And above all, it is an awakening, spiritually and at that moment literally I woke up from my sleepy state. Now I was allowed to ride ahead or lay back. The awakening came with some tremendous force that I was riding at a decent pace and the light drizzle from Mysore to Sriranapattna added to the fun. Now that tremendous force was controlled to a great extent by a piece of glass which pierced through my rear tyre and there it was, my first flat. I was on a hybrid, Arthur was on BSA Mach and Daniel on an MTB. I had not carried an extra tube, however all of us had patches. The light drizzle had turned into not so heavy rain. Daniel fixed the puncture and Arthur supported. We spent almost 45 minutes fixing it. Our next stop was at Mandya when Daniel caught the aroma of fresh jaggery. We walked in to the place and they generously gave us one big cube of the fresh jaggery! That's the best jaggery I have ever tasted and it sure did fuel us up. Our next stop was at Maddur CCD where we freshened up. Arthur was forced to drop the ride after a few miles since he was facing some mech issues with his bike. Daniel and I continued the ride and as we neared Bangalore, the rain gods welcomed us. The scene where the motored vehicles were parked by the road due to heavy rain , while Daniel and I ruled the streets, thoroughly enjoying the ride, rain and the stares of "How could they? Crazy people!" from the public gave us immense joy. We parted towards our respective humble abode at 2 30 pm. Arthur too managed to reach home by then.
By the end of the ride, we had achieved what we had set out for. I was over my false fear of riding at night , I had enjoyed the experience of it. The three of us had a lovely time riding together. A weekend well spent and I had biked 380 km that weekend.
Nice! Bravo!!
ReplyDeletenice one . that was very brave of you to do a night ride that also with a weak looking guy like me
ReplyDelete