Dream Hanger - Lone wolf gets THE crew!!

On a sunny afternoon as I sit here in my balcony looking over at the horizon something inside makes me want to skip my heartbeat. It’s the same feeling I had when I was looking at the horizon on the bike looking at the next point I wanted to reach and I was excited to make it till there and start the process again.

It’s been a week, a good long week. I feel I did the Cliffhanger almost last year, thinking how much I have been thinking and doing since then. But the heart is like a child as it remembers every move, I can almost sway in still position to take the curves of the descents.

The journey has been a good fun and at the same time a grind I took upon myself. I was in UK last year when the DC (Deccan Cliffhanger - 643 kms ride in 32 hrs max and 6,500 mts of climbs) happened and Chai (Chaitanya Velhal - gem of a rider) stormed the line. I was sitting sipping a hot chocolate in my room with the temperature below 1*C outside reading a post of how just three individuals managed to finish the ride in RAAM timing. Well, that was it, I mean nothing happened then! I closed the laptop and moved. Having done nothing more than 200 kms prior to that day and a few shot on doing 300 plus distances on my own, this was a dream I would look to work on one day. I moved on to other targets/rides/tests/fun filled long distances to look at the countryside and fill my heart with the beauty. Then came the UK Coast to Coast ride, top ride mates and understanding about myself took me through the multi day 540 kms ride. Next in the line was Dunwich Dynamo, a test for me to see do I really love night rides and what a fun filled 280 kms they were taking me away from the city to the ocean shore was a feeling I enjoy till today. Although on my own but among a crowd, I met some wonderful people and managed to understand what I like about my cycling, what I enjoy, what I want from it, where do I define my lines. That is when I thought, just 6 months from the post I read in December, that I probably can do this - this meaning the Deccan Cliffhanger (ouch), not to race anyone, not to challenge, but to enjoy and challenge myself. As a routine I rode quite well in the week, the weekends were my long distance, horizon gazing rides, not too tedious but a 80-120 kms of meadows and beautiful sky, sometimes chilly and sometimes balmy in the day ( mostly chilly, rainy and grey – that’s what you get from London :) ).  I looked to engage in rides that kept me fresh at the end of them, that I could do as much as I needed to apart from the ride in the day. This attitude helped me as I pushed myself to the edge of the water and not topple myself in it.

Then it was time to come back to home i.e. Pune, August went in a breeze and I could just manage something in that month, not a whole load of training and putting some weight back on. September in Pune was when I thought it’s now or never time, even when I had not registered due to lot of other reasons, I committed myself to some decent level of training (in my mind atleast). Hills became my wonderland I wanted to visit every other day, those who know them – Lavasa, Bopdev, Dive, Sinhgad, Lonavala and Pasarni are not easily forgiving. Especially the first, you have to earn the beautiful view, especially the one I got in misty early morning of a rainy September day.

So we steam-rolled the same way to October end, not to miss out on a couple of practice sessions with Mikey and Chai. Gem of a guy Mikey is (Michael Lehnig - da winner by some distance this time), he spoke about cycling the way I wanted to hear and put a great perspective in-front of me. 26th October damn, I finally put the cursor on the register me button and viola I was in, no way back now. Divya heard my constant blabbering questions of what's needed and what's not, some wise words from her which I could remember just as I finished - "Crew makes a lot of difference, rider just needs to pedal." Speaking of the crew, I had no clue how much difference they were going to make to me, but frankly I knew they would make a lot of difference given how much a rider has to do when on their own. I asked for a crew and Monish helped me with three top guys - Manish, Sandy and Prayag. I didn’t know them before the ride, but could see that they were enthusiastic about this. We spoke and discussed at length how we wanted to take this forward and that’s how we did it. They knew what I was looking for and they supported me in my focus. They took care of me as if they knew each need of mine more than I did myself.

The day was 7^th November 2015 – the start well 25 kms from my place and for first time unlike BRM’s I did not ride up to the start point :) . It was a quirky feeling standing in that line ready to start this task I had taken on myself and so it was, a start like any other ride I did before, not hurrying to over commit and not slowly to preserve something unnecessarily. The morning was refreshing and because of the folks around me Katraj ghat (30 kms in) just went by in a breeze. The first mini pause was at Shirwal (about 60 kms in) as planned and I was just getting warmed up. As we moved towards the Paasarni climb (about 700 mts climb, 100 kms in), the first error was committed, when I erroneously just went up the over-bridge rather than take the turn towards Wai (felt odd since I had done the route a couple of times before, con's of looking down too much and moving :) ), but it was a quick turn and back on track. Pasarni felt good having trained on the route and going up the mountain felt better with Prayag, Manish and Sandy shouting at some stop points and bucking me up. The feeling moving to Mahabaleshwar was same as ever, I never feel that it’s a climb as it’s assisted by a nice descent out of Pachgani. Reaching the first control-point (130 kms in) was a good feeling considering I was way ahead of my marker I set for myself without burning bad ( my team was telling me where I was against my chart, others race was something I wanted to know about at the dinner party not a whisper before :) ). I could crack jokes and chat and move on – just what I wanted from the break. The descent of Medha was a breeze and a lovely one indeed, but with a twist, a bad bump and my back said "ouch" loud. A fast stop in the middle of the downhill and my team worked (Sandy becoming my ride doctor) with my back to make sure I am good to go for another long while. After coming down the ghat, the roads went bonkers and I was really looking forward to hitting the highway again. Eventually reaching it was a bliss. The route from here on was rolling and straight, the sun was not hammering but still beating enough to make you want to take bath every hour. My team ensured that I was not forgetting to eat and drink, twice they came up to me and reminded - " You are doing good but you need to eat" and then "YOU NEED TO EAT NOW" - a big help indeed. Heading towards Kolhapur I had spring in my steps as we were heading toward evening.

The cold is where I enjoy and have a lot of energy coming into me, night is what I had tested myself for and have always loved moving in dark with my headlight to pave my way through. Hitting Kolhapur (about 280 kms in) as the day ended was just what I thought I would do. The section from Medha bottom to Ghunki of 130 kms was swept aside in 4.5 hours. Then as I rolled into Belgaum ( 400 kms in) first time and took a break for some hot boxed oats( courtesy the awesome work done by Prayag and Manish to ensure I had stuff ready when iI needed and what I needed), my right knee told me its boxed and again my team was working on me to ensure that I do this with no pain and with no stress in the head. They ensured that I ate right and my thoughts were on the ride and no where else, we spoke about numbers and time and kms and I was immersed in what I still had infront of me than the knee right below my eyes. Moving towards Kittur was a task my left leg took upon itself and the whole way of 50 kms was a grind I look back and say that I was a tough nut to crack. At the control point I managed to meet G Srinivas and what a cheerful person he is. He added some more enthusiasm in me speaking about his last time on DC. The ride back was tiring but the goal was coming closer, still 200 kms away, but yup closer. Reaching Belgaum control-point (500 kms in) was great given that I was recovering my knee well, all my rides and caution experience came in handy as I am a lone wolfon my usual rides, so I always had to ensure I read my body better on them.

Chorla was infront of me and I had never seen it before, I was dreading it but I was determined to cross through and look at what Goa had in store for me. Climbing Chorla was great in the early morning darkness of 5 am, I could focus on my light, feel fresh with people jogging and wow what speed they were jogging at (little envy :) ) and keep moving up the rolling ghat ( just not what elevation profile told me - expand it a lot and see, I did it after the ride :P ). The gift was to reach Chorla top on the daybreak, a sight I could never forget, the range of hills cover in morning mist was beautiful and yup was a glimpse, as I breezed past it towards the descent. The Chorla descent was one of the most technical one I have done so far added with the nice touch of vehicles coming up. I dreaded someone will be in holiday mood to scoop me up and carry on. Fortunately I made it to the bottom with no dramas. I did however picture the descent differently and it was way more tedious to do than I thought. Goa checkpoint was something telling me I have come so far that now even if the finish line was wherever I will make it there.

Then the wonderfully good roads and yet maddeningly rolling roads on Goa hit me in the utter heat of the day. My ever awesome team poured bottles of water on me on each climb and I was nice and dry by the top of each ascent. But there was no stopping now this was Goa, and the finish line was in this state and no other. We have one natural border and the road could not be made beyond that, so it’s the matter of reaching there. Manish, Sandy and Prayag were encouraging me all the way through the last 10 kms, they kept me in this and I owe it to them as they took care of me like nothing I could imagine. The finish was sweet for all of us as there was no sweat remaining to drain. We did it a couple of hours away (30.5 hrs) from what I thought I could (28.5 hrs) and yet in a manner that I did not strain myself badly, that I enjoyed the scenic route, that I could crack jokes with others on the break. RAAM qualification was an added bonus, but something I knew that my legs had in them to achieve.

If this is what we could do, then I am looking forward to doing this in more beautiful manner soon J with Prayag, Manish and Sandy taking the wheels as my ever trusting crew. I will train for the love of riding and see what it gives me back, as I expect nothing but sheer joy from it every time I click and move on the saddle of my bike in each journey I take wherever it takes.