Into the Wild

I initially thought of writing this post as a generic one, but considering the extreme experiences, I felt that it would be better to limit this to my personal experiences.

Old habits die hard. As with the previous brevets, ended up with not-so-fruitful plans to sleep sound the night before the big day – 5^th-September-2015, as the much awaited, dreaded event - Hyderabad 600 km brevet ride “Into the wild” kept eating up the brain cells with unwanted thoughts, excitement and what not!

The ride not just lived up to the name, but went way beyond it!!

I rode to Raushan’s place at around 2:00 PM and we both started in his car after ensuring that all the mandatory items were in place. We reached the starting point -  St. Martin’s Engineering College at around 3:10 PM.

After getting the bikes checked and going through the formalities, we greeted the fellow riders, well-wishers and volunteers and happily posed for all the photographers. Just before we started, we were briefed about the route and precautions and other useful information. Out of the 29 registered riders, 28 turned up as one rider had to drop off to take care of his son who fell ill.

As the clock ticked 4:00 PM, the college chairman Laxman garu flagged off the event and we all rode away with smiles on our faces.

The initial plan was to ride together with Hemanth and Raushan, but Hemanth sped away. The strategies and energy levels of the riders soon placed Raushan and me alone on the road with no riders visible ahead or behind us.

I could feel the difference in my energy levels when compared to the 400 km brevet ride, as I took care not to over-train this time. The ride felt a bit like the 300 km brevet ride in terms of comfort zone. But the pace was not as good as I expected, given the heat and humidity. After riding for more than 60 km, we took our first short break. Both of us were a little surprised that we could ride that long in one go, as that was the longest non-stop ride till that point of time. Both of us got food for the night, in order to save some time. The plan was to stop at the first checkpoint (automated) – Kamareddy and have food somewhere. Krishna Mandava and other riders crossed us few km after Zyka restaurant. We were sure they must have had dinner by then.

By 8:36 PM, we reached Kamareddy, some 100 km from the starting point. We swiped the ATM card in the first ATM we found and lost way for a short distance before we got back on to the correct route. We were greeted by a few fellow riders while entering and exiting the town. In order to not get lost and lose time again, I loaded the app which has the route map, which I got on my phone before the ride, just to be on safe side. We couldn’t find a dhaba for some time, and I was thinking about stopping somewhere on the roadside. Just then, we finally found one and stopped there. We couldn’t eat much. So the food I brought was used very little. We thought of having it as breakfast the next day. After having some cool drink and filling up the water bottles, we headed to the next check point.

While thinking about the overwhelming distance to be covered, a thought lingered in my mind. “Why not think about it this way? – Cover 150 km till Saturday midnight, and maybe 300 km on Sunday, and the remaining 150 km on Monday?”. I told this to Raushan and he too agreed. I felt that if possible, try to make it 150-350-100. We thought of having 2-3 hours of slack time in hand, so that we can sleep for maybe an hour at the first manned control point.

We reached the second check-point (manual)– Singh is King dhaba, some 209 km from starting point by 2:52 AM (Sunday). The volunteers cheerfully greeted us and offered red bull, juices and bananas. I immediately grabbed a red bull. Met a few riders who were already there and then we parked our bikes. After going about the formalities, we immediately hit the beds at the dhaba to try and sleep for an hour. What I didn’t know was that the red bull is not a friend of sleep :( . Besides, the lights, the loud sounds of vegetable cutting, the sounds of trucks from highway and the cool breeze did not let me sleep. To add to the misery, the guy who was asleep next to me was moving around and disturbing me further. In the planned 1 hour, I might have slept for 15 minutes or so. We got up at around 4:10 AM, greeted the riders who reached just then, and finally started off by 4:30 AM towards the next check-point.

After 4 km or so, we had to get off the highway and that’s where things got interesting. My front light batteries signaled that they would die down anytime soon. The road was pitch dark. We rode together and slowly the dawn broke. By that time, we were riding through a beautiful road with Teak plantation on both sides. The humidity was still heavy and making me sweat more. Raushan was slower than usual as he was not feeling well since the Kamareddy stop. We had a few stops and had breakfast at Kaddam, one of the many villages we came across on the beautiful stretch. After some time, Bharath and co crossed us. We thought that they were ahead of us. Maybe they stopped somewhere for breakfast. The dam, canals, culverts, greenery.... they were indeed a beautiful sight to watch. We felt that the trees were protecting us from the heat and that later on, we would be hit more harshly by the Sun god. And as we thought, the Sun did hit hard! The pace again reduced and we were initially hoping to reach the next check point in Thakkalapally village by 12:00 PM. But the steady raise in temperatures made me rethink the timing. We stopped for coconut water and some corn. Raushan filled his bottles with some much needed water. I was hoping that it would be 12:30 PM. But we made it to the manned check point by 1:00 PM as we had to stop few more times as Raushan was feeling heat exhaustion and nearing sun stroke condition. We met a few other riders who were taking rest after having food there. I washed up my face, hands and legs and had lunch. Raushan had a bath before lunch. We talked about the bruised bums and pressurised palms. Hasan showed his palms which were in a real bad shape already. We laughed at our own conditions :) We tried to sleep for 30 min but I could hardly sleep for 5-10 min due to the temperature, afternoon light, truck noises etc. Few other riders arrived in 4 wheeler and we came to know that they dropped out. We finally made a move after 3:00 PM or so.
Again the heat slowed us down and we had to take many short breaks to keep moving. The few short cement road sections were so rough on us. Slowly we caught up with Hemanth K and Vijay. At Jagityal, I checked the route and waited after crossing the junction for others. But they took a wrong turn and I had to go behind them. I was told to wait before crossing the junction in order to avoid such problems :) After a lime juice break at Tarakarama Nagar, Raushan and Vijay were still riding slowly and Hemanth was riding along with me. Few more km and I was going out of sight. Vijay stopped at a point and said that he had to take a 15 min break. Raushan said that he needs to stop at medical shop to get some medicines. I was keeping track of the time estimation and I felt that the slack time is reducing heavily. But still I tried to stay with the pack, but it turned out to be a futile attempt. On the way, I noticed that Bharath and co stopped for water and snacks. I went ahead and stopped after a few km (after crossing Vattemula) for some time near a culvert and waited for others. None came. So I decided to go ahead and chase the next check point (automated) - Siddipet, some 450 km from starting point, to reach by 9:00 PM with some one hour slack time, as it closes by 10:00 PM. I caught up with Mohan, who rides an MTB. I already know that he is a very experienced rider and guided Krish A last time. So I felt better to have his company. We stopped for idli at Sircilla at after 6:35 PM and by the time we started from there, it was already dark. So I changed my front light batteries and started. Soon after we took a left turn towards Siddipet, the roads were in bad shape and sinisterly welcomed us with steady inclines and potholes and rough patches. The winds even more wickedly started pushing us from front and sideways. The clouds were darker and we could see a few flashes almost everywhere around us. Mohan said that we should avoid getting drenched. As we were crossing Jillella road just before 8:00 PM, it started raining heavily. I spotted a rider waiting in a bus shelter and stopped there. Signaled Mohan who was a bit behind and he too stopped. So luckily, we found a shelter before we got wet. The only thing that bothered me was the slack time getting eaten up by something or the other. Luckily, rain stopped in 15 minutes and we started again. After 20 minutes or so, again a heavy downpour hit us along with the inclines and winds and we had no place to stop. We were severely slowed down by the gushing winds and water on the road, but maintained a steady pace. The rain stopped and I was somehow not feeling good. The voices in my head became weird. Somehow that did not last long and we reached Siddipet by 9:30 PM. We went into the first ATM we could spot and quickly swiped the card. After that, we searched and spotted a food joint close by and had dinner, and by 10:05 PM, we started to the next check point (supposedly automated) - Medak, some 520 km from the starting point. I had to take a couple of breaks and that ate the slack time even further for both of us. The calculations in my mind kept warning me from time to time about the need to reach the check point as soon as possible. But to ruin my plans yet again, it started raining more heavily, and it continued for 2-3 hours. My tail light fell down once as I hit a pothole real bad. The voices in my head became more weird and I was imagining people here and there a midst the rain. Though I was riding steadily, my hallucinations were affecting me big time. After a couple of breaks, I told Mohan that my mind was not stable, and he told me that he had a tough time with Krish A in the last ride. So he advised sleep for some time and we started off to find a place. We found a fuel station and tried to sleep there. The wet screen of my mobile did not allow me to set an alarm and Mohan told that he would wake me up. But the attempt turned futile as I had to sleep on steps and I was falling to my side everytime I start dozing off. The cool down from the stop made me realize how cold it was outside at that time. Nevertheless, I felt better and we started off. After some 20-30 minutes, the sleep again knocked my mind's door and I stopped at a bus stop. We both slept for 15 minutes and started off again, shivering in the cold, due to the cool down yet again. After some time, few more riders caught up with us. I felt more comfortable. I took another short break and this time, my sleepiness left me along with my uneasiness, and my speed was back!
Now the calculations told me that I might reach Medak at around 2:30 AM (Monday) or even late, that too if nothing else bothers me. The closing time was 2:40 AM! This raised an alarm and I immediately started increasing pace. I told others to come quickly and I raced ahead, leaving the pack behind.
After reaching Ramayampet before 1:30 AM (Monday), the map showed that it is a straight road, but I was approaching a T junction! I tried to take a right and the map said that I was going wrong way. I came back to the junction and cursed the map application as it tricked me that way before as well, by not showing cross roads sometimes. Even knowing that I would be asked unnecessary questions, I had to ask cops on bike for directions as there was nobody else visible at that time. They asked a few questions and gave me directions. Even after taking that road, I was a bit skeptic if it is the road I should take or if there is another big road ahead. Tried that as well and figured that I wasted few more minutes thinking too much rather than just taking the road the cops suggested.
The road became more flat and with a few nice descends, I could race comfortably. Just as I was gaining more speed, I went over a speed breaker really fast and something fell off. I stopped and searched desperately on the road but found nothing. So instead, I checked my gear and figured that a pet bottle with water fell off. I moved on again and raced as much as I could. After crossing the highway, only a small stretch of road was bad. All the while, I was only praying that no animal should come on to the road from nowhere or anything should bother my ride, as it was a scarily lonely road. Thankfully, I reached Medak by 2:15 AM and I took a selfie before continuing ahead into the town to search for ATMs. I was feeling hungry and I was carrying only electral and glucose powders to fuel me. At 2:25 AM, just as I entered the town searching for ATMs, I was greeted by the volunteers who were manning a check point! They literally pampered me and saved me with bananas, water and red bulls. They helped me stretch and I was all the way more relaxed, thinking that the road ahead is already conquered in the 300 km brevet, that too on a hybrid...so I should be fine! I asked them the time and distance to the next check point (manual)- BVRIT college in Narsapur. I was told that it was 42 km ahead and the closing time was 5:42 AM. So I thought 3 hours for 42 km on a known road should allow me to build up some slack time. Just when I was preparing to leave, Mohan and others arrived.
I started off at 2:37 AM and carefully followed the map not to take any wrong turns. After exiting the town, my front light warned me that it would run out of batteries very soon! "I thought not again! these are new batteries!" :( After riding for some time, I suddenly remembered that I had Raushan's packet with some batteries in it. I stopped and checked it, only to find that they were smaller batteries :'( Thinking that I was bound to be doomed, I raced ahead a bit carefully, as I had to use the dim mode. A few volunteer vehicles crossed me and I could ask two of them if they had spare batteries and none of them had. So I had no choice but to switch to blinking mode and depend on street lights at some places and vehicles coming from ahead and behind. I raced as much as I could as long as the road was lit.
Finally I reached the college in Narsapur by 5:10 AM and was surprised to see that the gates were closed with nobody at the gate. I tried to take a selfie and just then, a watchman came to the gate. I suddenly remembered that the college had one more gate a bit ahead and asked him if there were people. He nodded yes and told me that they were inside. I quickly went in and finally relieved that I now had some slack time again at last! I asked Prashant, who was volunteering there, about other riders and was very much surprised and shocked that none of them are continuing :( I felt bad as they covered around 450 km and the chances of becoming a Super Randonneur almost vanished for most of them. The good news for me though, is that the next and final check point - St. Martin's Engineering college, which is 602 km or so from the starting point, would less than 40 km away and I had time till 8:00 AM to reach there.
By 5:25 AM, I started off to the destination a bit relieved and rode slowly for some time. The volunteers passed by and offered me a cup of juice. Grabbing the cup from a moving car while riding a bicycle reminded me of movie stunts ;) The few heavy inclines slowed me down more than they ever did, and I was not intending to slow down that much either. So I tried to maintain a better pace and the ride was smooth till I reached the destination by 7:30 AM. There I was welcomed with claps and cheers, for I was just done with a major ride, conquering it successfully! I was beaming with a wide smile on my face, thinking about the 600 km and 'Super Randonneur' challenges while the volunteers and other riders surrounded me to congratulate me. The feeling was awesome!!

The ride would be etched in my memory for a long time to come. It had all the elements from the 200, 300 and 400 km brevets. I was rather lucky to not have any flats, as I had only one spare tube as the other spare tube is still with puncture, and no adhesive, thanks to Hemanth C who rode ahead with those :P, and also for having Mohan with me in the crucial times when the hallucinations and sleep were knocking me off. The idlis, bananas and redbulls helped a lot as they were easy on the stomach. I had only one electral bottle and didn't use the glucose. Now that I think about it, I had some dry fruits with me as well, which I should have remembered when I felt hungry at Medak :) And I also thanked my body for not giving up in the heat. The previous experiences did help a lot! Besides, the few tempo rides with TBA folks and whisper valley climb repeats must have tuned me to conquer the steady inclines after 350 km and pull off speed before reaching Medak. Though I was not so comfortable with the aggressive posture of my road bike, it sure helped me to gain speed in crucial times and helped me save energy during descends and flats.

Hearty congratulations to all the riders! Almost all the riders, finished the ride or not, have gone through the wild, brutal parts of the ride. It takes a lot more than sheer guts to be able to cover whatever distance possible in this ride. Kudos to the finishers and long live the spirit of randonneuring!! :)