A journey to remember - Part 1

When do the most creative ideas and the most daring thoughts knock the door of the brain?
Before sleep? Bathroom? Sitting idle?
Am not gonna answer that! :P
But I happened to experience a hair raising thought just a while back.
Thinking about how I ended up choosing to go for the dreamy distance of 300 km ride.
All this while my legs are still begging for a bit of mercy as they got exhausted big time from the 200 km ride only a couple of days ago.
The tan-lines are still fresh.
My palms became rough and numb. No wonder though, as the ride itself is labelled ‘Heaven and Hell’ officially!
But my mind still feels happy that I am a randonneur now.
My mind is now racing to find all the memories and stick them together… to tell the tale!
It all started when casual commuting on bicycle (hereby referred as bike) came to a stand-still and re-entered my life, after the bike got back to me, in running condition!
One fine day the words – “We can go for long rides on weekends” triggered the thought of upgrading to a better bike, feeling the joy of finding company for starting country-side rides.
The next few weeks had me thinking about what to look for and how much to spend, and also riding for 15-20 KM on the current bike to start chasing my dream of long distance ride once again. That dreamy vision is what made me choose the current bike (hybrid with thin tyres).
Did a good amount of reading and searching, and finally ended up with an awesome lot of folks for buying the bike, who not only help in choosing the bike, but they themselves are passionate riders and organisers. That is when I came to know that there is so much more to know! The unknown technicalities waiting to be explored had me glued to all the stunning bikes they had, before finally choosing the new bike.
What better way can luck find me?
It only took a  group ride of 40 km, to get me landed into my first century ride, just a week after it.
What’s in store for me? My ever green love for nature waiting to get pampered and a bunch of like-minded folks who would make friends instantly!
That’s not all. The passion got tenfold to the level where I weighed it more than my sleep, only to discover the joy of night rides, and also the fact that the places I love are much closer than I ever imagined!
The passion inspired the dormant dream to wake up slowly.
I learnt that tackling 120 km from the experience of 100 km or 110 km rides is difficult, but totally possible!
I no longer held back while riding 100+ km. Giving it all, just like the 50 km rides, felt great!
And then it happened. I was not feeling the fear, when thinking about attempting a 200+ km ride!
The registration and preparations only fuelled the excitement.
After mixed feelings of anxiety, delight, excitement took over a well-planned extra sleep, the day arrived.
More than a 100 brave souls conquered the fears and 99 of them joined me in attempting the much hyped ‘Heaven and Hell’ 200 km brevet.
Many of them, just like me, were at the venue by dawn, to see themselves as ‘randonneurs’ by dusk of the day!

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