3 States - Let's cycle it out !!

Date: 15th to 17th August across Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerala !

I am not narrating any story adding an extra state to Chetan Bhagat’s 2 states. Well, this ought be told as story but a real story of bicycle expedition of 3 people across 3 states, 3 reserve forests, numerous villages and meeting whole lot of new people with varied experiences. 

After my wrist injury recovery in May, I was hardly riding the cycle with a fear of hurting it more. I slowly started to get back to riding to office with to and fro of around 24 kms. Initially bit uncomfortable, after few the rides I started to feel better. I was now riding the cycle on alternative days. To take ahead to longer rides, I decided to use the public holiday on 29^th July for long ride. Accompanied by my office colleague, we rode to ChikkThirupathi and back, around 80kms distance. Ride felt good in terms of my energy and also my wrist. Same day I decided to call my regular cycling partner Anup about long ride plan between 15^th August to 17^th August, as usual, he was ready without even convincing him. Now planning was on me. This time I wanted to ride more and less of the sightseeing stuff, ooty was one of the options, but as it would be a long weekend, it will be heavily crowded. Then came the idea of circuit, not riding back the same way we rode. Decided to turn towards Wayanad after Bandipur and then head towards Nagarhole forest and then return to Mysore through HD Kote route. So, final route came something like the one below, looks to me like Srilankan landscape route.

Map below:

Cycling route

Anup was ready but concern of wild animals through Bandipur/Nagarhole kept him rethinking about the route. But to my rescue , I saw a blog written last year about similar route that cleared most of our doubts about the route and wild animals. I will write a brief write up just about the route, permission and about wild animals on this route. Next person showed interest was Irfan, you will soon see these guys in photos. Irfan borrowed his friends cycle and we are all set.

Day 1:

We started on 15^th Morning around 3 am towards Shanthi nagar bus stand, after enquiring about bus to Mysore, we got to know it was better to start from Satellite bus stand, we rode around 10kms to reach the Mysore satellite bus stand. After a brief negotiation about fare to our luggage, which we eventually settled at 100 rs per cycle, we boarded the bus and then it was time for good sleep at least for next couple of hours. After reaching Mysore around 7.30 am, got fresh and had breakfast. So finally we are all set to begin our ride, long and adventurous. We hi-five'd and took some selfies and started our ride to stop right in front of Mysore palace. Took some snaps there with tri-color on our 68^th Independence day, what a moment!!. We rode till Najangud, refueled ourselves. To my surprise it was pretty sunny, I expected rain along the way but it was all hot, pretty damn hot. Reached Gundlupet and stopped for the lunch. Surprised to meet few of Irfan’s colleagues who were going to Masinagudi, it was also our destination for the day.  Entering Bandipur Tiger reserve was amazing, I was still hoping to spot some wild animals with equal amount of fear to face them on our cycles. Turns out we landed again in human jungle, lot of people occupied the resorts and too many vehicles were annoying. We continued to reached our planned destination, when police at TN check post stopped us entering Madhumalai forest on cycles. With no hope to convince him, we hired a jeep and boarded all cycles till Teppakadu and thought continue to Masinagudi by cycle. To our dismay, all resorts were full and locals suggested us to reach Gudalur, where we could find a decent lodge. With no option left, we took the jeep further to Gudalur, TN. With sumptuous dinner and brief walk, we were dead on bed. First day ride was pretty decent we covered around 105 kms from Mysore with 15 kms through Jeep to Gudulur. Overall ride distance for the day was 100kms.

Happy Independence Day !!Start from magnificent Mysore Palace [L-R] Anup, me & Irfan

Day 2:

Uppam was our serving for the breakfast from a local restaurant, relishing it was. By now locals started gazing us with lot of puzzled and inquisitive faces. Day 2 plan was to reach Padiri forest or Mananthvady and based on the suggestions by locals we thought to take our decision of further ride or to staying back. This stretch was challenging with few serious climbs till Devarshola, however climbs continued further but with relatively lesser altitude. More fun involved in the descent, we sped on the cycles reaching beyond 50kmph. Reached Sulthan Bathery by lunch time, by now we entered 3^rd State Kerala. we met few people who riding 200/300 km brevet organized by Cochin Cycling Club. Met Biju Jacob one of the organizer for the race, he suggested us to follow brevet route which is more scenic then usual high way route. Due to time constraint we decided to continue by same route we planned which would reduce 15 kms of cycling effort, if we would have took the brevet route. Reached Mananthvady, which was a decent city. We settled for a  lodge inside the market. Day 2 ride was pretty much satisfying except I missed to take my cycle on ferry on the brevet route, I had once carryed my bike on a ferry. Day 2 ride around 90 kms, met few cyclists, discussed few things with them and we were cyclobro’s.

   

Bandipur entrance

@Tamilnadu-Kerala border

Day 3:

Again we were back to riding in the forest, but this time we were skeptic and had to be clear before entering the forest. We reached Bavali and went to Nagarhole Checkpost, now we could speak in our language, we were back to Karnataka territory. Forest officer assured us of no harm riding the cycles through forest with few safety measures of not stopping in between and also following any vehicle in case wild animals appear. Determined to cross the forest and witness some wild animals, we started together maintaining same pace with each other. Spotted deer, missed to see Elephant which had crossed the road few minutes before we arrived. Heard the sounds made by elephants at distance. Ride was unforgettable. But soon we were out of the forest reserve to face the sun again. After riding for couple of hours we realized that it was too much of heat and we could get ourselves dehydrated. We managed to get a goods auto to carry our cycles to Mysore which was about 35/40 kms. Driver agreed to transport the cycles and us 5 kms from Mysore. Next 2 hours was pleasant not riding in a very hot environment. We arrived to Mysore and rode another 5 kms to bus station, with few finishing photo clicks in front of Mysore palace. With a satisfying cycling of around 270 kms, we are now back, back with good memories and happy about the energy with put it in. We can proudly say ‘We burnt no PETROL’. 

... hell yeah !!

Trio on finishing the expedition

Keep Cycling

Mumbai Marathon 2014 – Full Marathon Fantasy !!

Mumbai Marathon 2014 – Full Marathon Fantasy !!                                                              19th Jan 2014

Thought of running full marathon was always back of my mind, but actually registering and running the marathon was always been a dream. Can I put myself through the training? Will I complete the run? What if I am not able to get myself ready for the run? There were hundreds of questions in my mind. Just to tell you, these thoughts popped up after I registered for the Mumbai Marathon 2014. Decision to register for the full marathon category was very quick, I was registering for Mumbai run for the 3rd time in the row, after two half marathons at Mumbai, I really wanted to run my first full marathon in Mumbai but nowhere else. Mumbai marathon gives you the best running experience, be it a crowd, facility while you run or the race finish at Church Gate. 

So I registered the run in June 2013 and started my preparation, I had Hyderabad Marathon & Bangalore Marathon on cards for preparation for the big day in Mumbai. I had always had problem to improve my timings but all that I hoped was finish somewhere around 5 hours, which was a decent target seeing I had roughly around 6 months of preparation. Nevertheless I had certain job in hand which sometime used to take long hours hitting up my regular routine to gym and run. Regular and weekend runs were on and all well. I completed Hyderabad Half Marathon with decent 2 hours 33 mins my personal best on this course now. Next I ran Bangalore Half Marathon in December, which was by far the worst run I had. The flat cement surface of NICE road had effect on my right foot, I was badly hurt and was not able to even walk for couple of days, this was the major setback for the Mumbai run, any miss in my training runs would definitely have effect on the marathon day. I was without practice for two weeks. I was now having nightmare of my first ever full marathon. Anup, my running buddy was running half marathon, his second HM, we reached Mumbai on 18th January and went to my friends place in Khandivali East, Abhinav Mahajan always there for me in Mumbai, this is second year I am visiting him and he such a friend and mentor. Day of the collection of bib, we went around Mumbai, Marine drive and coffee at Coffee House. I just promised myself to run beyond 21kms and quit whenever I would feel to do so. 

D-Day arrived, got up by 3 am and was ready by 3.45 am. Left to catch the first local to Church gate. I was happy to see people in the train who are ready to fight their fear, all in their running attire. I was building my confidence and convincing myself, I will be able to run completely. At the start line, I just prayed then started the run. At a very normal pace, started off my run, unbelievably I was feeling very good about the first few kilometres into the run, confident, no pain and most of all I was enjoying my run. My timer showed 2 hours 30 mins at 21.1kms mark, still feeling good about my run and pace. I saw elite runner making their way, so good to see them crossing you. At 25kms, now I was feeling bit tired and started walks and run. At this point I wanted someone who can run at my pace. At 29kms mark, I started matching pace with one guy who seemed to run at my pace, asked him if I can run with him. We started to talk about the run, started making small intervals of run and walk. This helped a lot to keep the pace and we also made sure we are running. We ran the last 10 kms together and finished together. Running together helped us both, finally I was relieved, happy and very ecstatic. At the start line I was just thinking of having a decent run beyond 21kms but here I am finishing my maiden full marathon, it felt so great.

My friend also finished the half marathon in around 2hr 20 mins, his best so far. We were pretty happy about our achievements and were ready to head back to Bangalore. My few pics and timings below.

 

My running moment

Run Summary

 Keep Running !!

Fracture and thereafter.. !!

Fracture and thereafter.. !!

Finally back to blogging, it’s quite a time I have been writing, exactly three months. This year has been eventful with running, cycling and travelling, until I broke my wrist and had to be on plaster for six weeks. Year started with my first ever full marathon, my first attempt to 200km Brevet, later with first bare foot run and I was all set to start off with swimming.

I was volunteering for the event called Cycling Day in Bengaluru, this event takes place last weekend of every month to promote cycling culture among all ages leading to healthy life style. During February 2014 Cycle Day that was on 23rd Febraury, after the event I was skate boarding, fell down, fractured my hand. So that is it. I had to go for surgery to fix it. Treatment involved fixing it with hand and inserting K-Wires for aligning broken bone and healthy bone. So what was next, I had to head back to my hometown after learning that I am hardly able to manage my daily chores. Back home it was just eat, sleep, watch TV and work from home, thanks to my company policy. I would only walk but couldn’t take myself out for longs walks, since I was feeling uneasy with plaster and sling bag.

Somehow I managed this ordeal, but good in a way I stayed at home for a very long time with family and fun with nephew. Two weeks back that’s on 4^th April I got the plaster off, was seeing my hand after six weeks, looked different, very weak and three K-wire inserted looked bit awkward, to be frank bit horrible. Removal procedure of the wires was also bit scary. I thought ‘all well that’s end well’ but that wasn’t the end. I couldn’t move my hand freely, not even in any direction. I could hardly bend or turn my wrist. I decided to head back to home again. So finally here I am, after some exercise each day and hot water treatment to my wrist, now able to move my wrist about 60-70% freely, hoping to find it better in some more days.

I have started running from last one week, feeling good about that. Able to do 4-5 kms runs most of the days. I dared to register for TCS 10k run coming up on 18^th May. Hope to get back strong. I am planning to put some details about the fracture and my recovery in another blog. 

Tour de Ride Series - Ride to Chikka Tirupathi !

14 December 2013

After having a bad ankle sprain during Bangalore marathon on 8th December, I was hardly running & cycling. To break this, I thought of small ride from Electronic city to Decathlon Sarjapur, which is roughly around 15kms from my room. Since my cycling mates were not available over that weekend, I decided to have this small ride. After riding for decent 10kms, I felt no pain in the leg and decided to ride further. Amit had already been to ChikkaThirupathi and he had put up mail regarding that giving more information about the route. So I decided to ride to Chikkathirupathi which was further 20kms from Decathlon Sarjapur, which makes a ride of around 35kms one way. Climate was good and I continued to ride till Chikkathirupathi. On the way I had breakfast and reached the temple around 9.30 am. I had darshan and spent some time around. I watched the local weekend market for goats. Goats and sheep were sold in an open market, costing up to 5000 rupees each. I took few pictures and left the place. Rode down at the same pace and reached Decathlon Sarjapur by 11.30 am, made few purchases and reached back to my room around 1 pm.

Route details- 

Electronic city [G.S.Pallya] -- Sarjapur road [some middle roads not through Hosa road] - Sarjapur - Chikkathirupathi [35kms]

Fuel - One idli/vada, orange juice, one laddu and a coconut water.

I suggest this route for a half day ride, when you have to spend the next half with some one important :)

Keep Cycling !!

Bangalore Ajmera Thump Marathon - My Half Marathon Misery !!

8th December 2013

With same group of running buddies we had run for Mysore Celebration Run, Amit, Samatha & Anup were looking forward for a good run in Bangalore. Amit & Samatha, the running couple were running 10k marathon, Anup & I where chasing our half Marathon run, we had new member this time, Ananth, brother of Amit running his 5k. Route for the run was NICE corridor, stretch of 10&1/2 km to and fro. 

We arrived at the venue just before the start of the run, got ready for the run with little bit of stretches. I was little bit of sceptic this time seeing the route, this stretch was concrete road and I was wearing soft training shoe from Puma, I was afraid of spraining either my knee or ankle. Started off good, I was keeping my pace with Anup, first half of the run was slow and steady, I believe we took around 1hr 4 mins at 10kms mark. It was all started at the second half, I was feeling bit of pain in my right foot, just below the foot, asked Anup to continue with his pace and I will follow up. Started with walk and run strategy, few times I kept pace with fellow runners. It was really getting hard on my foot, decided to have a long walk and see if I can further able to continue with run. This proved to be effective, after a long walk of about 100 meters or so, I started to run, marking a distance from sight and run to the point, walk a bit and continue again. Soon, I could see the finish line, gathered all my energy to finish last marathon of this year with push-ups that I been doing in all marathon this year, went with the push-ups with cheers of the crowd. I finished with timing of 2 hr 27 mins in my watch. Not bad with the pain, but not so good. Every time I feel, a little extra could have improved my timings. Anup finished good; Amit & Samatha did pretty well with their second 10k together. Amit got his personal best. Soon he will be running his next 10k in Midnight Marathon. Samatha din her best for second 10k, While Anup did a good sub 2hr 30mins for his second half marathon.

This marathon took a toll on my foot, I was limping after the marathon, it continued for next two days. I was initially worried of having a fracture in my foot but soon realised this was because of the shoe I wore & surface I ran. Shoe didn't provide the arch support, so my foot was stretched too much. With some googling and info from Runner's World, I could relate the pain I was facing. I did icing and foot massage twice a day for couple of days, pain reduced considerably. No pain after three days, but keeping a watch on my foot for some more time, hoping no serious injury. I will be resuming my run with Infosys 5k run on 19th December, hope to come back strong with no pain. 

Soon will upload my race results and pics.

Keep running !! 

Infosys Run - November !!

21th November 2013

These days I am mostly off-blogging, this is just framed by me, this is blogging inside your mind and not putting it actually on to site. Work has taken away bit of toll, not being able to put down some of my experiences in the recent past. Few things still to come over are my cycling series posts and few runs. This November I ran Infosys 10k called Infosys November Run, previously held in September by the slightly different name Infosys September Run. This time I got it all wrong, missed to notice the event date after registering for the run, I assumed it to be on 28th November while the actual event date was 21st November, that's my bad. With few weekend runs I was bit confident on finishing it good. 

This time crowd was fantastic, more in numbers then last year's September run. I started not so good, with little bit of heavy stomach and dizzy feeling, but soon after crossing half mark, I was confident and ran comfortably for the rest of the run. I finished in 59 mins, finish was good. Next on my list was Bangalore Marathon by Ajmera Thump.

Till then keep running, care for environment around you.

Cheers.

Mysore Marathon 2013 - Good event and run !!

Running Kaveri Trail Marathon wasn't in my cart until the last moment. Earlier I had decided to run Mysore Marathon and registered for the event. Not having ample practice during the week and missing some weekend runs, I planned to take these marathons as my substitute to long runs. Although ideally not recommended, but having not able to make out time for the run, this was my last resort. I was running KTM on 15th September and Mysore run was on 29th September and Wipro run on 22nd. My run at KTM was good except the last few kms where I struggled with cramp and could not push my self. I finished it in 2hr 34mins, although not a good timing but finished on high spirits. I couldn't register for Spirit of Wipro run, which I had planned to run 10k, but ended up cheering up my friends few of whom where running 10k.

Think I already mentioned about my few friends who are now taking up running. I could influence them to register for Mysore Marathon, few actually did. Anup, Amit and Samatha, had registered for the event in 21k, 10k and 5k respectively. So these days I am having good company of my friends at Marathon. That's something to cheer about. So on 28th we planned to go by car. We reached Mysore on 28th September evening, after witnessing the wonderful palace in lights we collected bibs at the event store. We booked a hotel near to the start of the race and called off the day after light dinner.

Up and ready by 5.30 am, we started up to the race start venue. On the way, I was suggesting Amit, Samatha to run at the pace they are comfortable with and importantly enjoy the race as it comes.I was really pumped up to have my buddies along with me on the run, its just those moments when you run together or cross your friend on the other side of the run, to cheer and a high five, pumps up energy. And to see someone at the finish line whom you know adds on more to it. 

Into the race, first half of the run was really wonderful, climate was perfect, I was easily pacing with Anup. Route was perfect with both road and off road running, few kilometre run was beside the lake which added to its beauty. At 16kms mark, Sun started show up. My weak point of not having enough run under the sun was clearly seen, I was getting tired now and getting exhausted after 200-300 meters of run. I started pushing myself to finish off in sub 2hr 10mins or may be plus 5 mins more. But what kept me away from reaching that goal, my practice runs, it was clearly visible to me now, last couple of run I was not finishing well. Last 3-4 kms were taking toll on me and I wasn't finishing the race strongly. Something I need to note for my next race. I finished race around 2hr 23 mins as my watch showed at the finish. To repeat my finishing stunt, I did 5 pushups at the finish line and could locate Amit standing at the finish line cheering for my finish. Soon I was joined by Samatha, who had run 10k instead of registered 5k with Amit. I said wow, that was good to start off.

After finish

Credits - Flashbuzz

Credits - Flashbuzz

Credits - Don't know !

My race results ..

Result

Happy Running.
Cheers..