600 km brevet (606 reallyy) done in 36:55, 33 minutes faster than my last year’s timing. Goal was 36 hours, punctures slowed it. But heck, it was a great ride. By successfully completing this, I became a Super Randonneur (SR) this year. Yay!
A on-the-dot start at 0700 on a wonderful Saturday morning, cutting through the city, arriving at the busy Kanakapura road and off we went. A nice non-stop ride to Sathanur approx 70kms, the first control. A photo control, all of us took a group picture Whatsapp-ed it to the organiser.Coconut water and couple of oranges, back on the saddle in less than 10 minutes to Kanakapura (~100kms) for a Idli/Coffee breakfast at a roadside eatery. Loaded with carbs, we enjoy the steady climb on Kanakapura and turn left into Harohalli-Jigani sector, an elephant corridor.
A fellow cyclist after seeing the board “Elephant territory” asked me “Do you think we will encounter an elephant?” and my answer was “Heck can you control this? Enjoy the ride man!”. Well, last year, an early morning cyclist did encounter an elephant and ran for his life, but lost his cycle! But the time is well past noon and the elephants must should be sleeping and why the heck worry! The typical searing sun in the shadeless setting is very kind to us today. A bunch of climbs with a very steep ~300m,then a long 2km climb, and a bad stretch and then we are in Jigani. We ride through the industrial corridor, see a tall building of Otis and I think “Hmmm, this is where I guess they must test their lifts..”
We turn right and go though a long stretch of tree-lined road where we lots of gated communities with brilliant pictures of amenities, but right now we see only “gates and no community”! Approximately 40kms of riding after the Kanakapura turnoff, we are at Attibele (~3:30pm)at the junction of Hosur road. We have ridden ~163kms. I send a SMS to my wife that says “Completed 163kms. At Attibele via a circuitous route.”
A nice South Indian plate lunch at a nearby stand & eat joint and fresh orange juice and we are back on the highway to Hosur. A hour later, Sunil ran out of water and we (Sunil, Vignesh and me) break for water refill at Shoolagiri. Could not resist a cup of hot filter coffee! As we leave, Sohan arrives, sips a quick cold coffee at CCD and joins us. Evening sets in and weather is cool. We zip and reach the Krishnagiri turnoff quickly. An hour later, I am desperate for a cup of hot tea and am scanning for a bakery where we had tea/biscuits a few weeks ago in the 400km brevet. We timeout and settle for a simple tea joint. Aah, it is nice.
Another 33kms of good riding, we see Mufasas, the dinner joint. At last FOOD – we are hungry. Wolf down rice+sambhar+curds+chappati and kulfi, refresh ourselves and we are ready for the long night. As we leave Abhilash and Mohd. Rafi arrive. We have another 63kms to the U-turn (midway@347km). The night is cool, with the half moon hiding behind the mountains, and the cloud cover makes it look dirty. And a shooting star whizzes by!
One more tea break and we whizz though the highway to reach the Vellore control point at 2:33AM. As we leave, Abhilash and Mohd. Rafi and JP arrive. Now we have a big group on the highway that is looking for the CCD 20kms to catch a quick wink! 363kms mark, and we reach CCD. Eight of us sprawled in different postures and directions some curled on the sofa and some stretched on the ledge outside. I enjoy the 45min nap outside and am refreshed. Freshen up, empty up and I am ready for a Cold Chocolate Frappe with Ice-cream and Croissants. Love this. Charged up, we leave around 5AM, all set for the Palamner climb.
It is about 40KMS from the Gudiyattam turnoff. Fantastic weather and we zip through. Nice chatty and peppy ride with Abhilash, Mohd. Rafi, Vignesh and Sourav. Sohan and Sunil are trailing a few minutes behind. As we enter the Chittoor forest Mohd. Rafi regales us with his trekking experiences here. It is monkey territory now. A mother(monkey) is sitting atop the top-most branch of a small tree with the cute young kid delicately clinging to the mother, a beautiful sight. Some monkeys are doing their morning walks, young’s kids are playing, some are busy de-ticking. But all of them seem to look as if to say “what the heck are you doing here at this time of day in your crazy attire?”.
A welcome tea break at a check post with some nuts/bun and we are set for the 20km ghat section. As we ride the pleasant set of climbs, we see dug earth like the moat outside a palace, and Mohd. Rafi explains that these are to keep elephants off the main road. And he tells us “Elephants can run real fast, run downhill if you need to escape from an elephant”.
After nearly an hour of brisk ride, we (Vignesh, Sourav & me) are at the highway at Palamner and have a nice breakfast of Pongal/Idli/Tea at a small eatery. Nice. 420kms done and it is 8:45am on a beautiful Sunday morning. Good breakfast, great weather, peaceful state highway, makes us a little sleepy. We continue and about 10:30AM reach Punganur, the next ATM control. No paper at the ATM, we take a picture and Whatsapp it to the organiser.
A nice cold flavoured milk and we have ~50KMS to Srinivaspur our lunch stop. I propose that we pack food and have a picnic lunch, Vignesh and Sourav love the idea. Srinivaspur is brimming with people on on the streets due to a political mela there. We pack meals quickly get out the town, find a nice place and enjoy a nice heavy picnic lunch! First time I am doing a picnic in a brevet!! Another ~50KMS to Chickaballapur the last control before we head to Bangalore.
We continue to ride on the nice tree-lined roads slowed due to a belly-full of food! Slowly the tree-cover becomes sparse and we feel the heat. The ride is slower and we consume water frequently. As we near Chintamani, Vignesh and me are delighted to see a Sugarcane juice vendor. All of us gulp down two glasses of juice to quench the thirst and also have a big slice of watermelon. A short power nap for 15 minutes and we are back on the road to the last control.
Chintamani is a small, but busy town and we navigate the crowded streets and are glad to get out of the hustle and bustle. Back on the tree-lined roads and we have some respite from heat and we up the pace. Two guys on a motorbike irritate us by constantly engaging us in a silly banter irritating us as we pedal hard along the mildly rolling terrain. We do not pick a fight and attempt to be non-responsive, but they are irritatingly persuasive. At last they give up and speed away.
We are happy and then Vignesh rear tyre is kinda flat. As we stop, a elderly woman comes up to us and gives us a big bottle of water. She thinks that we stopped because we are thirsty. A wonderful soul, what a contrast to the idiots a few minutes ago. It is these wonderful souls who make life joyful. Thank you Ajji. Changed the tube and we zip to Chikballapur and collect the last slip from HDFC ATM. Sugarcane vendor is bang opposite the ATM and we could not resist one and half cups of pure sweetness!
Five kilometres later, we are back on the National Highway after a wonderful ~120kms of ride in the tree-lined State highway/Small roads. Sourav zips away, Vignesh and me maintain a steady hard ride, up-down, up-down on the long flyovers. We are keenly looking for a quick ice-cream shop and sadly all of these are on the other side of the highway. Sigh. We maintain a good steady pace and ride on the elevated road and as we near the Hebbal flyover, Vignesh’s rear tyre is low on air. We decide to pump and ride as it is a ‘slow-release’ puncture.
Then Sourav calls and says that he is waiting near the last flyover, so that we can ride together to the end. Nice. Well we reach and search, can’t find him and his phone is busy. We continue and meet at the IISc Gate- Nice! Three musketeers are the first to arrive at the end control completing the Tri-State 600(606 really) in 36:55 hours. Approximately an hour later Sunil and Sohan arrive. Pictures taken, ATM slips given and card submitted, Vignesh and me bid goodbye to others and leave.
But we have an unfinished business – Ice Cream 🙂 We find a food joint close by and have a nice milkshake with Ice Cream – Yummy! And then a quiet ride back home with Vignesh. It was great riding with you guys – Vignesh, Sourav, Sunil, Sohan, Abhilash, Mohd Rafi and JP!
Thank you IISc Rando team of Kalpesh, Karthikeyan and Vijay & Abhijit. Thank you weather God for being kind to us. With this ride, I have become a Super Randonneur (SR) this year. My objective was to ride the 600 casually and I think I managed to achieve this. It started two weeks ago with a Half Marathon run at Auroville, then off to Japan that evening. A couple of morning runs in the very cold Tokyo and then two 10KM runs in the warm & humid Kuala Lumpur and then 600KM brevet three days after arriving at Bangalore. Glad it turned out well. A busy two weeks and three weekends not at home.