KarthiK S

It all started with a discussion with Sreepathi at gymcafe about R5000 medal over snacks, while returning back from lab one fine midnight. The only event (apart from PBP) which was not conducted till then in India to qualify for that medal, is a Flèche and that's when I came to know about it. According to me, a Flèche is a crazy event compared to all other ACP sanctioned brevets (Well, I may not be knowing other similar events). A short introduction to Flèche (as how it went on and will go on in India, let me not dig the history starting from Flèche Velocio ):-  A Flèche is a team ride, where teams belonging to Randonneuring clubs from different places ride 24 hours to meet at a central location which has some significance, (historical or other), and share a breakfast. A team can contain 3 - 5 machines. A tandem bike is considered as a single machine. And for a team to be homologated, minimum 3 machines has to complete the ride together. Team has to ride a minimum o...

One fine morning, when I opened my inbox, I found Mustafa's mail, regarding a ride/trek trip to Mullayanagiri and around. Most of my recent rides had the influence of brevets I did, where I was concentrating on time, speed, etc., and less concerned of scenaries and spending time around. Also, It had been too long since I rode with Mustafa. So I responded immediately to the mail.  Plan was to go on a 2 days trip. Start by friday evening and reach Bhadravathi by bus on saturday early morning. Ride till  saturday evening covering Bhadra reservoir, Bhadra wild life sanctuary through complete trails, Kemmannugundi, and reach Chikmagalur and stay there for night. Next day, bike to the Mullayanagiri base, drop the bikes and trek to peak. Spend some time at the peak, climb down, reach Balehonnur from where the return bus tickets are booked, on sunday night, if possible, by riding. Take the bus back to Bangalore, back home by monday morning, and back to work. Simple!!

It took me this long to overcome my laziness and jot down about some of my rides. Post the bitter experiences in the Challakere 400 Brevet , since I had to vacate hostel, I dumped my sick Rockrider in Mustafa’s room. For almost a month and a half, whenever I think about riding, those experiences and the condition of my dumped bike started to frighten me and I never overcame those fears to ride out.

Having ridden Bangalore - Ranebennur - Bangalore 600 brevet and made a trip to Devarayanadurga , when I saw the route map of Challakere 400 Brevet before the event, I found that I was already familiar with 300+ kms. Also, since I was riding regularly alternative saturdays the last few months, I was quite confident in completing the ride (successfully). But not always the things happen in the way we expect. Here is the experience on such a ride. Kalpesh and I started riding together from the new BHEL road starting control by 0605 hrs, after getting our brevet cards stamped and wished good luck, by Mustafa and Nirmal. Soon, Mr. Ashok joined us, and we three made our move fast through roads to Hessarghatta. One thing to note about Mr. Ashok, his age is 45+ and he rode 350+ km in this ride, that too, well within the time limits allowed for most part of the ride. A salute to him.

This ride was a rerun for me after failing in previous attempt (my first brevet ride) due to silly mistakes I did. To list some, not carrying stuff needed for long rides (not even a water bottle - resulted in myself almost fainting once due to thirst), not wearing proper cycling gear, riding a brand new bike (hardly ridden some 3 km before) for the longest and challenging ride till then, etc., I had to drop out when I got a flat after 195 km where I had only 35 minutes remaining to cover rest 10 kms. To recall the experience then, I started around 0615 hrs, reached Magadi control by 0800 hrs, 'getting tired + 1 hr wastage to get back to normal' drama happened in Koppa - Maddur stretch, reached Maddur control by 1305 hrs and Chandrappa circle control by 1700 hrs, got back into Magadi road when it was getting dark, and the flat when reached Outer Ring Road (ORR),... I Had to brave rain for initial 30 min, mud road after Huliyurdurga, headwind in Maddur - Ramanagara stret...

He conquers who endures....  - Quote on a t-shirt I came across. Pre Ride Preparatons :- As it happened for me to miss the last two Brevets ( Chellakere 400 and Tristate 600 ), from march I was waiting for a longer Brevet. I well knew the facts that I ride an MTB, and maximum distance I had done previously was 300 km only. But the factors I always trust is, confidence on self (my confidence that time was such that I registered for 1000 km, and planned to do that on MTB, but somehow dropped the idea later as whomsoever I came across thought it insane and lack of sleep 2 days before ride decreased my confidence), practice well before doing anything I dreamed high, and a bit of luck. So, putting altogether, I considered following things. On MTB, I would have to ride more time in less speed compared to fellow riders who would be, for sure riding only roadbikes. So, I might have to compromise with number of breaks (including sleep breaks - I might not get to sleep) as we...

Highly inspired by the previous ride , Gokul and I planned to ride again 170 kms around. Place, as we decided earlier, was Devarayanadurga. This time, out of curiosity, I framed a route , starting with Tumkur road upto Tumkur, reach Uradigere from Tumkur, loop around Devarayanadurga hills after a climb to the peak, return back through Madhurekere and Hessarghatta. Gokul also came up with two routes, but as they were 210 km loops (give or take some) and I had to return back before 1700 hrs for farewell function, we chose the shorter loop. As Gokul says, it really was a killer ride. We planned to start early in morning last sunday. Gokul prepared rava upma (with coconut oil, I liked) and boiled eggs to carry along. We set out for the ride by 0435 hrs. We sped up in Tumkur road, as we were fresh and felt interesting to ride in dark, in smooth highways. We took very early breakfast after TBegur, and soon reached Dobbasapete. Here, to reduce the distance, we planned to skip Tumkur a...