Republic Ride conducted by TAF to coincide with Indian Republic Day on Jan 26th every year was one of my planned events in 2015. I almost dropped out 3 weeks before the event with an alternate weekend plan that I could not skip. With the eleventh hour cancellation of the other event, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to participate in the Republic Ride 2015.
My target was to complete the 100 Km in less than 5 hours. I assembled with my colleagues at Gachibowli stadium by 5:15 AM to be part of the early start planned for 6 AM. It was a cold morning and visibility was low. The ride was flagged off around 6:22 AM after visibility improved.
I settled into good rhythm with a pace of about 24 Km/hr whizzing past the first couple of checkpoints at Malaysian Township and Inorbit Mall very comfortably. Unlike Freedom Ride 5 months back, I did not lose pace or energy even after the first 30 Km. I could sense that my regular weekend long rides was making me stronger.
I was on track to complete the ride under 5 hours when a couple of TAF guards posted to guide the riders pointed me in the wrong direction at Narsingi Junction. The irony was that I was very familiar with the route and I was sure that the third checkpoint at Taramati required me to take a left turn. But the guards did not allow me take the left and asked me to proceed straight on ORR Service Road. With a doubtful mind, I proceeded straight but soon felt confident as I could see more riders ahead of me. I caught up with one of my colleagues and shortly a TAF volunteer on a motorcycle from the opposite direction told us that we missed the checkpoint at Taramati. I was mad at being misguided but reminded myself that my anger was not going to help me. I took a u-turn and rode back to the junction. I eventually found that I had cycled an extra 8 Km due to this and I now had to complete 108 Km to finish the ride. On my way, I expressed my anguish to the guards and they said they just did what they were told. I knew they were just doing their job and told myself that I should just focus on finishing at my best pace. By then I also knew that under 5 hours was ruled out now.
After the checkpoint at Taramati, I had a good breakfast of idly and vada along with a break of about 20 minutes. The weather was pleasant and with the breakfast recharge, I proceeded comfortably to the next checkpoint at Himayatsagar. I had completed 50 Km at an average pace of 24 Km/hr.
The next checkpoint was at Kalika temple 30 Km away. The sun was out by this time and it was getting tougher. I passed through VIF College and Gandipet strong. As I started along the Shankarpally rode, after about 65 Km, I could feel that I was tiring. I started to lose my strength as I reached Kalika temple around 10:15 AM. The average pace for the last 30 Km stretch was 21.5 Km/hr. I had started to lose strength.
As I started after the checkpoint to head back to Gachibowli stadium, I encountered strong headwinds and felt I was just crawling. My pace was only about 18 Km/hr now and could see a couple of folks overtake me. My objective was to hit the Kokapet foothill with strength left to climb it and Microsoft hill. I managed it and suddenly found several riders struggling with the Kokapet climb. At least half a dozen riders had given up the climb and were walking their cycle up. I lowered my gears to 1-1 but did not give up. As I continued to cycle, I overtook several folks to swipe at the last checkpoint above the hill. The same repeated as I climbed up the Microsoft hill overtaking about half a dozen riders. After reaching the top of the last hill, my adrenaline started kicking in and I wanted to finish strong.
I reached the finish point just before noon with Strava showing elapsed time as 5 hrs 37 mins, moving time as 5 hrs 13 mins and total distance as 108.6 Km. It was 37 mins more than my target but 8.6 Km more as well. My target of under 5 hrs will have to wait till Republic Ride 2016!
