300KM BRM Brevet Ride - Sufferfest climb I've ever done

This Brevet ride, definitely took me to one of the most beautiful place in Western Ghats, but more than that, I took over a thing, which i feared a lot, read on....

Before doing this 300KM BRM, few weeks ago, on a casual weekend ride i was passing through Katraj old tunnel, 250m long.
But the moment i entered into it, reached half-way and i was feeling dizzy/vertigo, my heart beat spiked, i simply took a U turn, and sweared never again will i pass through a tunnel again.

DATE:24th November 2012, the Brevet day.

Started my ride at exact 6AM, this time no wasting time, is what i thought.

I had to finish 300KM in 20 hours, i have to save as much time as possible, so that i can reach home well in time, since it's 25KM away from the end station.

Started at a casual speed, chit-chatting with fellow riders, making new friends, enjoying the beautiful city outskirts morning.

After 23KM, we passed over a via-duct, a bridge over a lake, it was such a  beautiful sight(I really regret not taking pictures, but remember, I am on a no wasting time agenda) i really want to go someday and sit there for some time.

Less gradient climb, but beautiful road, and then precisely at that very moment welcomed me "New Katraj Tunnel - Length 1465m".

I was blank, is this how am i going to end my Brevet was my thought, i mean just 23KM from start point, will it be done, lets give it a try, i entered into it.

Checked my breathing, thank god it was fine, speed 17KMPH ok good, go on.

Thankfully this one had ample lights, but the heavy vehicle sound, it was horrifying.

And i was able to get over the tunnel pretty easily.

I was like, if this wasn't difficult, then why the hell i couldn't pass through the old one, never mind no time for analyzing, just peddle fast and make it quick.

I was riding at a pretty good speed, and at 80KM, was Khambatki Ghat, again a tunnel around 1.6KM in length.

I thought, god how many tunnels do i have to pass through today, but this time with much better confidence,  entered into it, and finished it off.

So now with nothing more to fear, i rode furiously and made it to wai some 100KM from starting point.

Now from here started a climb, destination Mahabaleshwar Market, distance around 30KM.
It's a kind of climb, which i have never done, not in my 600KM Brevet, and definitely not in my 200KM Brevet.
Though it was a very pleasant view, with ample shade, i was simply not able to appreciate anything, i was targeting to reach the control point by 12PM, but it was so difficult, i made it only at 13:06.
It was the most difficult climb, i had ever done, and with the best of the view, i will ask my friends to go and visit this place atleast once, if they haven't.
Enroute, i saw strawberry plantation, it was only after I reached Panchagani, drank a litre of cool water, i got some energy to finish off the ride.

After reaching the control point, i thought to buy some strawberries for home, but there I didn't see, a single vendor, and the route which I had to take for coming back, didn't had any vendors either, result - I am regretting why i didn't purchase the fruit when it was available, and waited to finish the control point.

Next control point Satara was 50KM away, out of which 30KM was mainly down hill. The road actually seem to pass through some forest, so maybe that's why there were no vendors, and nothing was available.
While on my my way back, i met Anil Uchil from Mumbai, he was doing 300KM brevet on 24th, and will be doing another 300KM brevet on 25th in Mumbai, Hats off to his spirit.
From here on, we both rode together, and were targetting to finish by 22:00PM.

While on our way coming back,we passed through Khambatki Ghat pretty easily, as for now, it was a slight down gradient.
At around 19:30, i spotted mountains, and i was literally screaming, "Look Anil we've reached Katraj".
He said, its still far, but i was not convinced, and from here on my wait for that damn tunnel started again.

Till 20:45, I didn't pass through that tunnel, i was so frustrated, damn i saw the ghat around an hour ago, and yet i am waiting to touch its base.

Finally, around 21:00, i reached the tunnel entrance, with zero doubt, and a down gradient assisting me, i zoomed into it, and dared to touch a maximum speed of 66.3KMPH.
I was damn happy about it.

Here on, nothing exciting, i reached the end control point at 22:32, punched my brevet card, shared some experience, and started my return journey of 25KM to reach home.

Trip to Khadakwasla Dam

I had absolutely no plans for doing this trip, and this is how i started my day.
->Got up late, hurried up, got ready, took my scooter and started from home towards office.
->Scooter got punctured, took it to a workshop, he said, patching needs to be done which will take time
->soon enough rains started, having no raincoat, i started to rush towards office, so as to make in time.

I was completely drenched, and it was the wettest day of this season, as already monsoon was so delayed, and then i thought anyways i am completely drenched, so no point in going to office.
Then i had a thought, lets bunk office, and go somewhere, after all you don't get such heavy rains daily.

Without even giving it a second thought, i simply took a U turn, and went straight home.
Searched for some cool place close by, got recommendation for khadakwasla dam, googled the map, took some notes, and started my journey on my hero hawk.

It's around 25KM from my place, and it was raining very heavily all the time that day.
It was such a fun, whenever the rains got heavy, i just used to giggle, seriously its a feeling you can get only when your on saddle.

Roads are really really bad, after the sinhagad road ends.

But the region around the dam is simply mesmerising.
It's full of trees, had the road been a little better, it could have mimicked some french landspace.
One side of the road is the dam water, and the other side, its the sinhagad cliff. 

                                         Back waters of khadakwasla dam

                         I wonder what happens to this road, when the doors of the dam are opened.

                                       My bike !!!, on top of it is my jacket

After reaching khadakwasla dam, my stand broke off.
On my return journey, the break shoe pad gave away, got it changed there itself.

Reached home with a satisfaction of the day well spent. :)
There was nothing special in the ride, nothing i can boast about, my first ride in pune, but still a memorable one.

My first brevet - 600KM

After i registered for the brevet, out of excitement about the event, i wasn't able to sleep properly.

Did some morning practice on my new bike B'twin sport 1, but i knew, it wasn't sufficient. 

Alright, so after a long wait of a week, finally the day same, got up at 3:30AM, called Aman, met him at silk board by 4:30AM, and started the ride towards IISC.

Reached the venue, completed the formality, and we were ready for the ride.

6AM a group of some 15 guys started pedaling, attempting to challenge, the landscape of three states KA-TN-AP-KA.

En route, people were starring at us, some even clicked pictures, i was kind of enjoying the attention.

And after 30mins of starting, we lost the other guys, who were leading us.

Luckily the 4 of us who were left behind, one guy Girish, knew the route, and he helped us cross the confusing city bylanes, and reach the Banashankari-kanakpura road.

Now here the showcase of road bikers started. People were riding at furious pace, I even saw few guys who were doing their morning ride on this road.

The road, is pretty beautiful, it was hard for me to believe that within city limits we can have such  beautiful roads.

Everything was pleasant, till the time we passed kanakpura-harohalli.

After this point the trees started diminishing, sun shined hard, and I was already starting to feel week.

I avoided having breakfast at kanakpura, simply because i wanted to finish the control point first.

Had some electral powder, which was enough to push myself till the first control point at Sathanur.

Now here while having the tender cocunut, the locals were getting pushy, i was feeling uneasy with, ditched the idea of having food here, and started riding towards kanakpura.

Now the real kick ass Harohalli-Jigani belt started.

I was warned about the route well before by chiddu, but i felt anyways i have to do it.

Here i was accompanied by Manjula and Rajeev. Riding in a group is always a pleasant experience.

Clock was ticking real fast, and missing the next control point at Attibele was unacceptable to me.

I had no idea, where the other riders have reached. I called rajni just to confirm the location of other riders.

And i figured, that they are probably just around 1-2km ahead of me.

After passing Anekal, i started to ride at a good pace, and guess what at 4:40PM, i made to attibele,

but locating the ATM and  swiping took some time, my slip showed 4:53, just 1 minute more than the closing time of the control.

This made me very tensed, i thought of calling shripatti and ask him about the same, but i was convinced by fellow riders, that i should continue.

Had sambhar-rice, and within 15mins, our journey towards TN started.

Riding on a busy highway was a little scary at the beginning, simply because of those horrifying sized trucks, honking and making all sort of scary sounds.

The ride was pretty cool, as it was evening, no head wind problem, smooth road, and all riders were together.

While on our way towards Ambur, a very unpleasant event happened, Nirmal crashed, he had a deep wound on both of his hands.

Sohan did the dressing of wound, Rajni and Vasu tried stopping few vehicles, but in vain.

Finally convinced an auto guy, who helped to take nirmal and his bike to brindavan motel.

So here on we started riding again. I was feeling damn hungry, as soon me and Aravind reached Ambur station, we were trying to locate this motel. But nowhere to be seen, this pissed me so off, i was convinced to eat in any road side hotel here.

Anyways, started the ride again, and finally after 10km of cycling we reached the motel.

It was very relaxing, ate sambhar-rice again, slept for 30mins, rajni woke me up, saying we gotta start our return journey. And within 5 mins, everyone was back on saddle.

It was damn cold in night, it took me some time to get used to this temp. outside.

Reaching vellore was boring, long stretch on road, nothing to be seen, it was getting monotonous.

Finally at 04:38AM, i swiped my card, well before the dead line.

The route from Pallikonda to midway to palamner was a visual delight. Me, Mohit, and Parameshwar were together most of the times.

It was full of trees, had ascend, but not very steep, just the gentle ones.

 

Suddenly, it looked as all good things came to an end, and bad steep uphills started, with no greenery in sight. It was a killing route.

Sun showed no mercy to us, and Andhra welcomed us, by throwing some of the climbs, where we had to eventually drag our bikes, i had no energy left to ride atleast over this stretch.

Met some forest officers, who inquired about our tour, wished me good luck, i refilled my bottle and left.

The roads were so bad, that at some places i had to simply lift my bike, and cross the bad stretches.

Now my wait till eternity started, i just wanted this uphill ride to finish.

I believed that once Palamner is crossed, atleast if not descends, i'll get flat roads to make up the loss of time.

After reaching Palamner, me, Rajni, Mohit, Aman, and Param, ate so much of watermelon, i guess we made the day of that vendor.

But.............., IISC guys are smart, they surprise you by throwing some of the most challenging terrains, when you're least prepared.

As dreaded, the entire route from Palamner to Mulbagal was mostly uphill.

Rajni, Aman, Mohit, and Param took the lead, followed by me and Vasu.

it was so damn hot, i was frustrated because of the heat, time running out so fast, and the pathetic speed, at which I was riding.

So the result, i reached the control point 14mins late. Got the timestamp at 01:00PM.

Now i was hell bend, next control point should be on time, no matter what, so devised a strategy, 88KM to divided in three segments 30-30-28.

So first 30KM - Done in 55 mins, great job !!!

    next 30KM - 01 Hour, 05mins, Ok, can be excused.

    last   28KM - All messed up, i was somewhere in Chikballapur, not understanding which way to go.

Local language problem, didn't drink water for almost 2 hours, my future was pretty clear, its all lost.

Called Rajni, and shripatti for direction, then a local today me, few cyclists have passed from here, your destiny is 7KM from here, THAT'S IT!!!, i started cycling like a mad man, and made it to HDFC ATM  at 18:56, 20mins late.

Without much wasting of time I started my ride towards the end point.

But after reaching devanhalli, I started hallucinating, felt so sleepy, i was dozing off on my bike.

After some time, I felt as if I am lost, no idea which place is this, how far is hebbal flyover, and the clock showed, 09:20PM.

My phone indicated low battery, i wanted directions, but whom should i call.

But to my rescue, came Aravind, and Sohan. It was such a relief, when i heard Aravind calling me from behind, we three started cycling from here.

Reached hebbal on time, but here again I got lost because of the traffic.

Now this was really frustrating. So i decided enough, talked to an Auto guy, told him where i want to go, showed him the address, he asked for 150bucks, finally got ready for 100 bucks.

I told him you ride ahead of me, i'll follow you on my bike, he suggested he can fit me and my bike in his auto, i just asked him to do as i said.

That's it, 7-8mins later i was at the IISC gate, abhijeet came to help, it was such a relief to see my fellow cyclists there.

Many times i thought, now toh no chance of completing it, looking back even i don't know how i managed to do all this, but some how it happened.

If you ask me, can i repeat the same thing again, probably no.

Physically, i was so tired at the end of it, i remember, i slept inside IISC campus, sitting on ground.

But i am happy, finally after so much of struggle, I completed it.

Map

Direction list

The trip distance clocked in 2 days

Review Hero Hawk Nu Age 10 Speed Bicycle

I am penning down my review for this bike, after using it for more than 20 months, so i can assure you a review which is not biased by theories and stories, but my actual ride exprience.
When in 2010, i decided to start biking, i was not very keen on spending a fortune on bike, as i was skeptical whether will i be using it a lot, or will it be rotting in my apartments basement.

So, i decided to go in for Hero Hawk NU Age 10speed bike with having no knowledge at all about a geared road bike, or you can say a roadie.
The bike is good enough for a beginner, who has just started to take cycling as a sport, or a commuter who wants a bike to commute to office daily, you get a decent amount of performance from this bike.
The bike is a steel bike, unlike the imported brands which are made of aluminium or carbon, this bike is a bit on heavier side.
Comes with a a carrier, mudgard, and arm rests, this bike can disguise itself as a touring bike.
Don't mistake yourself by considering this mammoth to be any fragile, it can take in bad roads, as in potholed once but definitely, not for off trail rides.
My bike, had its own share of beating, and abuse, gave me few punctures now and then, but no major issues apart from that.
Not exactly for very long distance riding, or hill climbing, simply due to its weight constraint but can be used on regular basis, for city rides.

It uses an entry level shimano gear combination, having tourney at front derailleur and sis at rear, gives a combination of 10 speed.
But frankly speaking, the comfortable gear range reaches only till 2-3, after this combination, the chain starts making considerable amount of noise, so i have always avoided the higher range i.e. 2-4, and 2-5.
But anyways for city commuting you barely need even these many gears.
Apart from the issue mentioned above, till now i have faced not even a single issue, with the gearing, it works like a charm.
The bike is very responsive, and catches good speed, within few seconds. Thanks to gearing system given in the bike.

I have used this bike for few long distance rides, if you are based in Bangalore, and are a cycling enthusiast then you must be definitely  aware of the Nandi Hill ride.
I have done it twice on it, once a 170KM route, and the other time 148KM route.
I must admit, the climb has been killing on it, reaching the base and coming back was not much of an issue though.
Apart from these i have done many sub 50KM rides, which i don't even feel are worth mentioning here.

On the maintainence front, i have got both my tyres and tubes changed recently, but that is the only major expense my bike has asked me for in all this time.
Apart from that nothing major. Though minor tweaks is needed every now and then, such as break pad changing, tighting the brake clamp, etc.etc.

I have covered almost 5000KM on this bike, and i can say this is the bike you can trust even for long distance cycling.
However it stands no comparison to the imported branded bikes, one for a very good reason, that they cost atleast 3 times more than this, and that difference is manifested in the ride quality, and comfort, as they weigh almost half of what this weighs.

Lastly people have a misconception, that the riding posture of a road bike isn't comfortable, and one cannot ride the bike for a long distance without developing discomfort.
BULLSHIT !!!. A road bike is the most comfortable bike i feel, as it gives multiple postures for riding it.
It's just a matter of time, for you to get comfortable with.

How did i get the cycling keeda ?!

I can confidently say, that buying a cycle for myself was one of the wisest decision i had taken.

After getting a decent job here in Bangalore, i desperately wanted to buy a new bike.

When i expressed my desire to my parents, they we're skeptical, as in they weren't wrong, after all how many software professionals you see, using a bicycle for all their commutes.

So reluctantly they suggested me to get a cheap bike, coz as per them, this keeda of cycling will anyway die, in one month flat :)

Since i never had a bicycle in my home town, i too was not confident whether i will be using for all my travelling, so on 1st August 2010, i got my first bike, a hero hawk nu age 10speed bike.

My first bike, hero hawk nu age 10 speed

Boss, i was on cloud nine, so happy, my first bike, out of my own money, and that too had gears.

Ok, so what i didn't have any idea how were they going to help me, but i believed this bike, is fine enough to do some decent long distance riding.

And then next day itself, i begun my office commute.

People were kind of surprised, many suggested me to take a bike, they said, its only for children, and not for office goers.

Some said, if your facing some financial crunch, then you can borrow the money from office, and get a  motorbike.

But i didn't budge, continued my new love affair, with my bike.

I was crazy about her beauty, admired it, loved it, and when i learnt the usage of gears, it was then it became clear, a bicycle isn't a dumb piece of mechanical components assembled together, its complex, and one can easily feel the difference.

My office was then 3KM from my residence.So apart from the daily 6KM ride, i started using it for travelling to other places.

Slowly the distance pedaled kept on increasing. For traveling to any nooks and corner of Bangalore city, BMTC buses started looking like torture vehicles made for humans, so i avoided it.
Traffic was a no problem, after all how much space does a bicycle takes to move around.
I started challenging my friends with motorbikes and cars, to see who takes less time, no wonder it was me who won most of the times, so they preferred to ignore me, and my cycling spree.

I always had stories, to tell, as in how I broke rules in front of traffic cops, and they never objected, now that's the most exciting part, we have to bribe them every time, for almost no mistake of ours or end up paying a fine, for any irrelevant mistake, but here its all freedom, care free riding.

So, after 18 months, the status report says:

1) I am a firm believer, you don't need motored vehicle in Bangalore. That's why i didn't buy one.

    For any commuting no matter how long or short, it can be done on a bicycle.

2)Distance increased, have done a few centuries to brag about, as in this includes 148KM, 170KM, and

    a 200KM ride.

3)My colleagues now consider me a fanatic.

   They no more give me any suggestions apart from the safety ones. In-fact a colleague got inspired

    and gave away his car for daily office commuting, and now uses a bike.

4)Have done around 5000KM, on the same bike.

My bike, has become a source of happiness for me. It makes me feel exuberant, care free.
It brings a change in my monotonous life, and moreover travelling to unknown places is an exhilarating feeling.

:)