When I bought my Trek 7.1 in August ’13, I used to go on 10 Km rides for the first nine months and feel proud about my “endurance” rides. June ’14 is when I started riding with my friends in preparation for TAF Freedom Ride in August ’14 and the target of 67 Km sounded insane at that time! I struggled whenever I did more than 25 Km and was thoroughly exhausted after the Freedom Ride. When one of my friends talked to me about brevets that started with 200 Km, I could not imagine myself completing such a distance. But I managed to finish my first 200 Km in November ’14. I then limited myself to that distance for the next two years till I decided to try out my first 300 Km in November ’16. Even then, I did not fathom myself trying out 600 Km brevet riding through two full nights and a day. But once I completed 400 Km brevet, the idea originated in what looked like the final frontier and becoming a Super Randonneur!
I started mentally preparing for the 600 Km ordeal soon after completing 400 Km brevet. I had about 2 weeks after 400 Km to recover and prepare for 600 Km brevet – In to the Wild. I studied the route, memorized the landmarks and contemplated several strategies. But I knew from experience that all strategies need to be flexible to adapt to real time situations and constraints. Anyways, I was all set to start off at 4 PM on Saturday, December 17th from St. Martin’s Engineering College at Dullapally. After the paperwork, a total of 16 riders were flagged off!
The first 200 Km was pretty much the same route as the previous brevet and quite familiar having ridden there just a couple of weeks back. I targeted to reach Zyka for dinner by 7:30 PM. I was a tad bit slower than last time but still managed to reach for dinner by around 7:40. This time I switched to rotis and butter chicken. All the 16 riders had reached by the time I left the place around 8:20. I was some where in the middle of the pack.
I set myself a target to reach the 209 Km point at Singh is King dhaba at Nirmal by 3 AM. This also marked the end of riding on NH7. I maintained a steady tempo and arrived at the checkpoint at 3:07 AM. I had roti with dal tadka at the dhaba and we were six people at the dhaba then. We all took a power nap and I was woken up after about 30 minutes around 4:15. I felt refreshed – a power nap does wonders to our body. We started riding and felt terribly cold for the first 15 mins. We had completed about 210 Km and were done with more than 12.5 hours. So we did not have much buffer built up and thought we should ride fast to build some buffer over the next 10 hours. As the body warmed up, we exit NH7 into the Adilabad forest. We were told to ride together through the forest that stretched for the next 120 Km. The six of us were almost together and I was in the middle of the pack trying to keep up within sight of the tail lights of lead pack. There were moments of loneliness that made me nervous thinking about Kanwal tiger reserve we were riding through. As dawn broke out, four of us assembled together at a village tea stall. I gulped down a couple of glasses of tea and met the remaining two folks from the lead pack at Kadem. We took some pictures at the scenic lake and decided to ride fast to have breakfast at a town called Jannaram. We arrived for breakfast around 9 AM. We had covered around 280 Km till then in about 19 hours.
After a few idlies and vadas, we started riding around 9:30 AM. The sun was out but riding through the forest, we did not feel the heat. After 320 Km, we turned right out of the forest towards the next checkpoint at Thakkalapally village. The last 25 Km to the village was tough – started feeling hungry and tired that was made worse by slow progress due to uphill. I finally reached the checkpoint at 1:10 PM. Luckily for us, the family at checkpoint had prepared good simple food saving time that we otherwise had to spend at a restaurant. After a sumptuous lunch of rice, dal and rasam, I took a power nap for 30 minutes. While the six of us were at the checkpoint around the same time, one of riders decided to get some head start without a nap and the rest of us started riding again around 2:30 PM.
It was time for strategizing again. I had about 17.5 hours left for the remaining 250 Km. This should be quite easy but for a couple of reasons – the elevation (it was pretty much uphill all the way to finish) and having ridden for almost a full day till then, fatigue would be a factor as well. I decided to take it small chunks at a time and set a target to reach the next checkpoint at Siddipet around 8:30 PM giving it around 6 hours to cover 100 Km. I crossed Jagtial, Vemulawada and Sircila at good pace to reach 400 Km point by 5:30 PM. Then came another tough stretch – Sircila to Siddipet was a constant uphill. All of us split after lunch and as I was riding at steady constant pace, two of the riders joined me as I was struggling through the uphill. They were taking breaks every 30 mins to have some snacks and water while riding faster than me at other times. I took a couple of breaks along with them and noticed that one of them had a hurting knee. We encouraged him to endure till Siddipet and decide. We arrived at Siddipet at 9 PM, 30 minutes later than my target.
My strategy went for a toss at Siddipet! I had planned to dinner at Siddipet and start riding out of the place around 9 PM. But I reached there only at 9 PM and wasted precious minutes waiting for the two riders who were with me for the last 30 Km ( I later found out that they dropped out at Siddipet out of pain and exhaustion). As I crossed Siddipet, I did not find any place for dinner. As I was riding slowly looking for a restaurant, I did not realize that it was already 10 PM and I had covered only about 10 Km during the last hour. I enquired a passer-by for a restaurant and he said I either had to go back 10 Km to Siddipet (which was not an option given the time constraint) or proceed for another 25 Km. I had about 10 hours to cover the remaining 140 Km and it was getting close. All the buffer was gone and the remaining distance was all uphill as well. I decided to skip a full fledged Indian dinner and instead survive on the plentiful energy bars and dry fruit chikkis I had left. I pulled out an energy bar and started riding again with determination.
It was painful progress given the gradual uphill and I stopped at a dhaba to gulp down a couple of glasses of tea. I continued to ride alone and was surprised to see a couple of stationary blinking tail lights ahead. As I approached, I saw a couple of riders taking a power nap over one of the culverts on the highway. They had left the lunch place around the same time as I did but were riding ahead and faster. Catching up with them gave me confidence on finishing and they were super confident on finishing. We rode together for a few kilometers but lost sight of them as I stopped to eat another energy bar just after Ramayanpet at NH7 junction. Finally a downhill stretch started and I was able to increase my pace. I had to stop for a few minutes at a railway gate and as I was waiting for the freight train to pass, a man on a motor cycle stuck a conversation. He suggested that I wait till dawn to cross the Narsapur forest. I said I did not have time but will take care. I quickly raced past the forest downhill for the next 25 Km and reached the next checkpoint at Medak by 2 AM for greetings from a couple of volunteers. I also rejoined the two riders I had met a while back. I took a 15 minute break and the volunteers said that I should be able to finish easily within time and suggested I just relax and enjoy the rest of the ride along Narsapur forest. The three of us decided to ride together for the rest of the distance. We had a little over 5.5 hours for the remaining 80+ Km.
We entered the core forest and would have ridden for about 20 minutes when one of the riders said he wants another power nap. I said that I will not be able to finish with my pace if I took a nap but if they took a 15 minute break, they should anyways easily catch-up with me before the next checkpoint at 565 Km mark. So, I started riding along again as they took a power nap. It was a tough uphill section and I was very sleepy. I gulped down an energy gel that is supposed to be loaded with caffeine to keep one alert but it did not make any difference. As I was riding sleepy with about 10 Km left for the next checkpoint, the two of them joined me. I was happy to see them as talking to them helped me stay awake. We finally reached the last checkpoint at 5:20 AM. It was a manual control point at BVRIT college and it was nice of them to serve us with hot idlis at that time! After a 20 minute break, we started riding again at 5:40 AM to cover the final stretch!
After more than 37.5 hours and about 565 Km, it now boiled down to covering the remaining 37 Km in about 2 hours 15 mins! This last segment included a steep climb for the first 15 Km after which it was supposed to be an easy downhill. My fellow riders turned the heat on and started riding too fast for my comfort as they wanted to leave some time for any contingency. I pushed myself to keep up with them and managed doing it! As we reached the last 10 Km, the roads became bad and we had to slow down. Fortunately, we had build sufficient buffer by that time to finish on time. After negotiating all the challenges, the three of us rode together into St. Martin’s Engineering College, the FINISH POINT!!! We had a couple of folks to greet the Super Randonneurs, including the first timer – that’s me!!! It was one heck of a journey and an immensely satisfying one completing 200, 300, 400 and 600 Km rides every alternate weekend to become a Super Randonneur!!!
I could not have imagined doing this a couple of years back but am slowly realizing how we can condition our body and mind to push the limits.
