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!

I came to know of 10 K run as part of Puma Urban Stampede when I went to collect my bibs for Olympic Duathlon 3 weeks earlier. My friends were not very keen as we had just completed a much tougher Duathlon and I ignored it along with them… Till I met another colleague a couple of days before the run on November 2nd. He encouraged me to participate and I decided to spot register the next day at Puma showroom, Banjara Hills.

The Puma showroom was impressive with an excellent collection of latest sports wear and gear from Puma. There was a 20% discount for all Urban Stampede participants that lured my into buying a Puma Faas 600 S shoes and a few dry fit apparels.

I had a niggle on my right knee for a few days and was worried if it will hold up for 10 Kms. The niggle caused discomfort whenever I ran more than 5 Kms during the last couple of weeks but got better after some rest. I decided to take a gamble.

The event was at an open ground beside Novotel near Hyderabad airport and the 10 K run was scheduled at 7 AM with a reporting time of 6AM. I woke up at 4:30 AM, made myself some coffee and started to the venue at around 5:15 AM. When I reached the venue, warm up exercises were going on for 5 K participants that was kicked off at around 6:15 AM.

The venue was exactly 2.5 Km from the junction of Airport Road with Srisailam Highway. 5 K was to be covered by running till this junction and returning to the start point. 10 K meant repeating this route once more.

10 K run started at 7 AM as scheduled and I felt good as I set some good pace. Though we are strongly advised against trying a new pair of shoes for an event, my Puma Faas 600 S felt good and I did not feel the niggle on my right knee. Looks like the gamble was paying off!!!

I started strong and was among the lead pack for the first 2.5 Km and finished it in 14 mins 17 seconds to be 29th of 173 finishers. I dropped my pace a little bit during the next 2.5 Km but still finished 5 Km in 30 mins 2 seconds. I harboured hopes of finishing 10 Km in less than an hour. But the 3rd quarter was taxing. I took more than 18 mins and with that went the hope to finish under an hour.

As I was mid way through the last quarter, my colleague passed by and gave me a great piece of advice. We were going through a downhill. He said that I was stopping with each step and I should just “go with the flow” without losing momentum. He was right. I was coming down heavily on my heels with each step and this would hurt my knees too. I tried to carry on with the momentum and could feel myself increase pace slightly while putting lesser effort.

With that, I could finish strongly but still took 1 hr 4 mins to complete what was actually 10.7 Kms. Nowhere near bragging result but I had still done my best 5 K and 10 K during this run. I reserve sub-hour 10 K for future!!!

After Freedom Ride on August 15th that gave me the first sports medal in a very long time, I took a break from cycling for a couple of weeks. I also caught a viral fever towards end of August that took me out of action for some time.

The idea…

As I was getting back in shape, one of my colleagues, Manivannan Elangovan spoke about an upcoming Olympic Duathlon event in October conducted as part of Hyderabad Triathlon. This event starts with 10 Km run, followed by 40 Km cycling and ends with 5 Km run.

Cycling sounded fun when I decided to take the plunge a year back but running did not sound like my cup of tea. I did not want to disappoint Mani and played ball during the conversations assuming that I can pull out later. Around 4 weeks before the event, Mani started pushing me seriously and I decided to give it a try.

Preparation at Hyderabad

For the last 6 years, I walk every morning for about 25 mins at Indira Park that is right opposite to my kids school. I wanted to check out my ability to run any significant distance by converting this morning walk into a run. I embarked on my first practice run on September 16th and was surprised at being able to run continuously for about a kilometre. I completed about 2.5 Km run / walk in about 20 minutes. This gave me confidence and I decided to give it a serious try.

I repeated the 2 Km runs at Indira Park for the rest of the week. I also encouraged my cycling friends Mani and Aditya to subscribe for the event. We decided to spice up cycling that Saturday with some running. Another colleague, Aditya Majety joined us for the ride on Saturday. He had already subscribed for Power Duathlon that was literally double of Olympic Duathlon on every leg.

After riding for 30 Km on Saturday, we locked our cycles at Himayat Sagar lake and started running. Mani ran like a pro and also coached us. I managed 3.9 Km in about 28 mins. Aditya Majety continuously ran at a steady pace and it appeared that he could run for ever. Syed and Aditya did quite well for their first run! The icing on the cake was the 300 meter sprint that Mani asked us to do at the very end. We were all exhausted but felt happy that we were about to run more than 3 Km after cycling continuously for 30 Km. We were all hungry and had a variety of dosas for breakfast at a roadside stall.

I had set a deadline of Sep 30th to make up my mind on registering for the duathlon. I noticed that the registration fee for Olympic Duathlon was going to increase after Sep 28th. So, I registered on 27th and Syed registered the next day. Aditya took a couple more days to make up his mind and he surprisingly registered for a triathlon event. He was the only one to have chosen swimming in addition to cycling and running. I was glad to have a swimmer in the gang.

Practice runs at Kodaikanal

I continued with my daily runs at Indira Park and longer rides over the weekend. I went on vacation with family to Kodaikanal, a hill station built around a beautiful lake. We stayed at a hotel near the lake. There was a nice running track along the lake and its circumference was about 5 Km. I completed running a full loop around the lake on all the 3 days we stayed there.

Final preparations

After training for 4 weeks, we all felt confident that we should successfully complete Olmypic Duathlon well within the cut-off time of 7 hours. A day before the event, I collected my bib and timing chip from the organizers. I also bought a smart dry-fit from Nike to make sure that I had the right attire to go through with the event. Another learning from Freedom ride was not to push the limit on big event days. So, I attached my cycle mount to my car and decided to take my cycle to Gachibowli Stadium in my car. The mount can carry two cycles and the plan was to pick up Syed on my way to the stadium.

The D-Day

I woke up at 4:30 AM, made myself some coffee and got ready as usual. I started from my home at around 5:30 AM. I picked up Syed and reached the venue by 6 AM. After attaching the bibs and timing chip, we were all set for the start at 6:30 AM. There were about 120 participants for the Olympic Duathlon.

First Leg – 10 K Run

We started running at around 6:35 AM and with the pleasant weather at that time, it was an enjoyable start to the Duathlon. The 10 K run was essentially running along a straight road that passed 2 hills (Microsoft and ICICI at Gachibowli) for 5 Km and retracing the same route back to the stadium. I kept pace with the lead pack for the first couple of kilometres and felt good. Though I dropped some pace after that, I kept running continuously for the first 5 Km and completed it in about 28 mins. It was easily my best 5K and was surprised myself. But after completing 5K, I started losing pace rapidly and another problem hit me soon. At about 8 Km, I started feeling pain on my left knee. The Duathlon had just started and with a long way to go, I did not want to risk losing my knee. So, I stopped running and started on a brisk walk. I completed the 10 K in 1 hr 7 mins, which was still my best time till then.

Second Leg – 40 Km Cycling

I spent about 8 mins stretching my legs and sipping some Gatorade before I started cycling. I thanked my stars that the pain in my knee did not flare up while cycling. Looks like I strained my running muscle, which did not affect my cycling. I started quite strongly and overtook several people during the first 10 Km of cycling. All the 3 hills during the first 10 Km passed easily and I rode at a good consistent pace on the relative flat surface after Kokapet hill till ICFAI. I took a little break at ICFAI for some Gatorade and bananas and maintained good pace all the way back to Gachibowli stadium. I completed the entire 40 Kms in 2 hrs 9 mins.

Final Leg – 5 Km Run

As I got off my cycle and landed my foot, I felt my knee pain flare up. It was much worse than the way I felt after the first run. After some stretching, I tried to run but the pain was too much. I then decided that the goal is to just complete the last 5 Km and did not matter whether I run or walk. Eventually, I limped along the 5 Km in 53 minutes and successfully completed the Duathlon! I took a total of 4 hrs 23 mins to complete the Olympic Duathlon.

I made sure I had some energy left to take some pictures with my medal to show off! Mani had completed the event about 15 mins ahead of me and was waiting for me at the finish line. He clicked a few great pictures that I will cherish for a long time!

Mani had got some Australian oranges that we had with salt for recovering. It felt like magic potion but I started to blank out as we were finishing off with some stretching exercises. I realized that I was hungry and had to eat something. Mani and I went to the food counters and Syed joined us in a few mins once he finished successfully as well.

As we had our food near the swimming pool, we saw Aditya swimming to complete his final leg of Sprint Triathlon. It was around the same time when cyclone Hudhud crossed the coast near Vishakapatnam that is around 700 Kms from Hyderabad. The winds had picked up and several hoardings crashed. We thanked our luck that we finished cycling before the winds hit us.

Mani, Syed and I took a picture together before heading back home. Mission Accomplished… And in style!!! I would not have thought that I could complete an event like this even 3 months back. I realized how determined training can push our limits. And I could see that I am developing an addiction to complete challenging events like this one!

Freedom Ride is one of the cycling events conducted by TAF (The Atlanta Foundation) every 15th August covering a distance in Km equal to the number of years of Indian freedom.

I was re-initiated into cycling in August 2013 when my colleague Mayank spoke to me on his experience being part of a cycling relay team for TAF Freedom Ride 2013. Though I had the vision of completing Freedom Ride 2014, I never seriously thought about it till my discussion with a couple of colleagues in June 2014.

Preparations for the big day!

Aditya took the lead and created an email distribution group for cycling enthusiasts at work. We planned to go on practice rides every Saturday, along the expected Freedom Ride route.

We had to assemble at Gachibowli ORR beginning point, which was about 15 Km from my home. At that time, I was not sure if I can cycle continuously for 30 Km, forget 67 Km!!! But Aditya and Syed were inspirations for me. Aditya stays a further 10 Km from my place. He had to ride till my house and cycle with me for another 15 Km to reach the assembly point. So, it should be easier for me! Syed had successfully completed the TAF Peace Ride in 2013, where he cycled all the way from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad covering about 200 Km every day for a week. He was a truly accomplished cyclist! I am lucky to cycle with him and draw inspiration.

A few weeks later, another colleague Mani joined the gang and the four of us started seriously practising together every Saturday. I had the privilege of being the only person not to miss a single weekend once I started my practice rides.

My dilemma

As the 67th Indian Independence day drew near, I completed 3 rides of over 60 Km and was quite confident of finishing the Freedom Ride in style. One question remained – how do I reach the starting point, Gachibowli Stadium on the D-Day? I had a cycle mount for my car and common sense told me that I should just drive my cycle to the venue in my car since I had only tested my ability for about 60 Km.

But I wanted to push the limit and encouraging me was Aditya. He wanted to ride all the way from his house to Gachibowli Stadium, complete Freedom Ride and ride back home. Once again, I reminded myself that Aditya should cover about 120 Km for this and it would be about 20 Km less for me. So, I decided to ride all the way and cover about 100 Km!

67th Indian Independence Day

I woke up at 4:30 AM, made myself a cup of coffee, packed my Gatorade mix and sports bars, checked tyre pressure and waited for Aditya to reach my place. After getting his tyre pressure back to optimum and starting up my ride on Strava, we started from my house around 6AM and reached Gachibowli stadium around 7 AM, just in time for the flag off. As per Strava, I had clocked 15.5 Km already. I was surprised to see hundred of riders already lined up! I did not realize the cycling culture at Hyderabad was truly on already! The ride was flagged off around 7:15 AM and people jostled with each other to get out of the stadium. Once we hit the main road, people picked up their pace.

The ride had 8 major segments with support stations marking completion of 7 0f them and the finish point marking the completion of the last segment. We always knew that the segment from Khanpapur Jn to Microsoft will be the toughest one as we need to deal with 3 steep climbs in addition to dealing with them towards the end. I had practiced along this stretch several times and managed to cycle through the gradients. I wanted to see if I can manage doing it during this long ride as well.

Segment 1: Gachibowli Stadium to Malaysian Township

Distance:- 10.3 Km; Elevation: -20 m; Time Taken:- 24:19 min;

Excellent start, good pace. I overtook a lot of people during this initial time and do not remember any one overtake me during this stretch. Many people picked up bananas / water at the Support Station but I was very energetic and whizzed past after swiping my card to register completing this segment.

Segment 2: Malaysian Township to Inorbit Mall

Distance:- 6.3 Km; Elevation: 8 m; Time Taken:- 18:41 min;

It did not take much time for me to slow down… After completing 12 Km, my energy levels started going down. I started sipping my Gatorade and it appeared to help a bit. I managed to complete the steep Inorbit mall climb without getting off my cycle but I was gasping for breath after completing it. I saw Mani re-energizing himself with a banana. I was reminded that I should eat something and finished one energy bar while riding. But my pace continued to drop and I saw Mani crossing me. I tried in vain to keep pace with him and very soon he was out of sight. I would not see him again during the ride. I later found out that he proceeded very strongly after that and completed the ride several minutes before me.

Segment 3: Inorbit Mall to Langar House Road

Distance:- 10.2 Km; Elevation: -67 m; Time Taken:- 27:37 min;

This is the easiest stretch with a long downhill stretch. I was able to maintain a constant pace though I was not able to reach the pace I set during the first segment. As I neared the end of this segment, it was past 8:30 in the morning. I started feeling the sun and its heat.

Segment 4: Langar House Road to Himayat Sagar

Distance:- 15.5 Km; Elevation: 25 m; Time Taken:- 52.30 min;

The first half of this segment continued to be downhill and I was able to maintain pace. As I neared Golconda Fort Road, I saw a lot of policemen and remembered that the Independence Day Flag hoisting was shifted from Parade Grounds to Golconda Fort this year. Apparently the Independence Day speech was being delivered by the Telangana Chief Minister a couple of Kms away. As I passed the Golconda Fort crossroads, I had crossed the mid-point of the ride and the downhill had ended. The next 10 Kms till Himayat Sagar was the beginning of my ordeal that day! The sun was beating down, the road continued to incline up and now I started seeing a few people go past me. I was dropping pace and losing energy. I was in bad shape by the time I reached Himayat Sagar. The silver lining was that 42 Kms were done and I had survived. I took a break for 5 mins, had a couple of bananas and refilled my water bottle. When I was ready to start, Syed was just reaching the support station. I remember that I was well ahead of him after the first couple of segments and the Pro has caught up with me.

Segment 5: Himayat Sagar to VIF College

Distance:- 7 Km; Elevation: 25 m; Time Taken:- 34.59 min;

Syed and I rode this stretch together. It was more than 60 Kms since I started cycling from my home in the morning. I was taking my body into unexplored territory now and I was not sure how it will hold up. When I reached the VIF College support station, we took a break, had some mango juice and Syed asked me to do a few stretching exercises. I could not make out if I was feeling better. One thing became clear to me – if I were to complete the remaining 17 Kms, I need a lot of will power and determination. My pace had already dropped to about 16 Km/hr. I decided that the objective is to finish the ride and not bother about the time. With that, we started cycling along Mrugavani National Park.

Segment 6: VIF College to Khanapur Jn

Distance:- 6.2 Km; Elevation: -13 m; Time Taken:- 27.43 min;

We crossed Mrugavani National Park and Gandipet Lake maintaining constant pace. I had managed to increase my pace slightly to 18 Km/hr on the flat segment. Syed stopped after Gandipet Lake for some more stretching to take care of cramps but I continued along. Not because I was feeling any better. I was riding purely on my will power. I was scared that I will lose it if I stop and will not be able to start again. I cycled along slowly and Syed soon went past me after his stretching. I could not catch-up with him again after that.

Segment 7: Khanapur Jn to Microsoft

Distance:- 7.5 Km; Elevation: 56 m; Time Taken:- 38.20 min;

Here comes the killer stretch! 3 steep climbs – Kokapet hill, ICICI hill and Microsoft hill. After a minute of Kokapet hill, I reminded myself that the objective is to complete the ride. It does not matter whether I cycle or walk the cycle! I go down and walked the cycle through the climb up and repeated it with the remaining 2 climbs. When I reached the top of Microsoft hill, I felt proud. Though I crawled at about 12 Km/hr during this stretch, I managed to reach in one piece.

Segment 8: Microsoft to Gachibowli Stadium

Distance:- 4 Km; Elevation: -15 m; Time Taken:- 26.17 min;

The home stretch!!! I took more than 25 mins to complete the remaining 4 Km and reached the stage. The day had turned very hot by that time and more than the joy of completing the ride, I was looking for a chair under shade to stretch my legs and relax. So, I quickly collected my medal and did not bother to stand in the queue to take my picture along the finishing board! I do not have a picture with my newly acquired medal and the finishing board to show off! What a miss!!!

I slowly ambled towards one of the vacant chairs under the only tree in the vicinity and stretched my legs. I felt very weak and just them noticed the folks around me getting food. I remembered that I had food coupons. I got some hot sambar rice and as I gulped it down, I could feel my strength coming back. A few mins later, Syed called me to check if I was doing fine and we can meet. I told that I was in a bad shape and will try to get back home after relaxing a bit more.

I was once again in a dilemma – should I ride my cycle back home or should I carry it in an auto-rickshaw? I decided to push the limits once more and check how far my will power can take me. After the food and water, I got some energy back and the ride back home being a downhill helped as well. As I was riding out of the stadium, I noticed that Aditya was just entering the stadium to finish. He had a flat tyre that he fixed and still managed to finish well before the cut off time. I reached home after 1PM riding all the way through. I had clocked a total of 97.8 Km as per Strava.

It took a few hours to recover and realize the achievement. I felt proud and wanted to do it again… Without repeating the mistakes – I should have work good dry-fit attire instead of a sweatshirt, I should have started the day with a nutritious breakfast, kept myself better hydrated and taken more breaks with some stretching exercises. But not bad for the first time!!!