While I touched 900 km mark on running front by mid October, I was off mark on cycling during 2016. Strava showed reduced cycling activity from April till September, due to summer vacation and not participating in monsoon brevet during July. Usually a 200 km brevet results in covering 400 km with 200 on the event day and another 200 during the preceding 2 weekends as part of preparation. So, I decided to register for Bhongir Fort brevet on November 5th and that also excited me as my previous three brevets were all along the same route.
I planned to cover all the lakes of Hyderabad as part of my preparation and I expected them to be beautiful after recent plentiful rains. I covered 3 lakes – Himayat Sagar, Gandipet and Ameenpur lake during the first long ride. It was a delight to see all the lakes with copious water – particularly Ameenpur lake that was filled to the brim.
I decided to go to Shamirpet lake for the second practice ride. It was a wonderful sight – I had never before seen it with so much water! It was a pleasant cloudy morning that helped me easily cover 100 km without getting tired!
With the practice rides, I felt all-set for my first brevet in a year. Having looked at the elevation profile before the brevet, I always knew it will be a tale of two halves. The first half was a cake walk covering almost 130 km in the first 6 hours with favorable gradient and pleasant November morning weather. I even thought I can finish in around 10 hours. But with the constantly increasing gradient of Vijayawada highway coupled with harsh afternoon sun beating down the barren road, the last 70 km was treacherous and took more than 5.5 hours. Net-net, I finished the brevet in a decent 11 hours and 40 minutes.
