Many rides from Bengaluru riding PBP

[Prashanth Chengi]

PBP 2023 started yesterday evening, Paris time, and many of our boys from Bengaluru are riding hard! Names at the top of my head are Mohan Subramanyam, Satish Addanki, Rajkumar Khot, but I hear it's a pretty large contingent from both Blr and from India. 

Here's the live tracking link:

https://track.rtrt.me/e/CC-2023#/tracker

You can search for the rider or riders of your choosing from the search box at the left top corner; just typing in a few first characters is enough as it'll show the matching hits from which you can click and select the rider, and you'll be able to see their speeds/arrival times across various checkpoints. A cool feature is that it automatically slots the rider results one below the other, so you can track multiple riders on the same page, without having to open a new tab for each rider you want to track. Mohan is as usual doing the ride on his MTB, so mad respect and kudos for his courage and tenacity. 

The night temperature can drop to around 15, which is rather pleasant for riders, particularly from the colder countries, but this will certainly prove to be a hard challenge for many Indian riders. At first glance, I could see that Rajkumar Khot seems to be flying, which will certainly help him against the cold too, but will also mean that his calorie burn will be monumental. Hope he fuels up well on the stops!

I wish all of our riders a pleasant and incident free ride, and a strong finish, meeting all the cutoff times enroute.

Regards
Prashanth

[Prashanth Chengi]

It's now down to the last 20 hours of Paris Brest Paris 2023. The lack of sleep and the low night temperatures are probably taking a toll. It's going to require a very strong effort, both physically and mentally, to keep rolling. With average speeds dropping lower and lower, the knowledge that you don't have the luxury of taking long breaks, while it seems impossible to keep the eyes open, is a very hard thing. The cool temperatures are a double-edged sword; it is very conducive to pushing flat out, as you won't burn up or get exhausted very quickly, but if unfamiliar with it, it can make one feel very sleepy. Even if they have the energy to push on, and the will to do it, not being able to keep one's eyes open is very, very, hard, and there's no simple solution. Splashing water on the face, drinking an elusive redbull/coffee or something else are all temporary fixes, and the drowsiness comes right back. On my long brevet rides, I'd force myself to try and stay in the moment instead of drifting off, and it wasn't easy. 

Here's an update on some of our Bengaluru boys and girls.

1. Grishina Karthik, Rohit Chandrashekhar, Siddalinga Swami, Prasad Sadashiva, Udaya Napa have all crossed the Fougeres control point on their way back from Brest. Rohit and Udaya Napa have average speeds slightly lower than 15, while the rest are at 15 or just above.  I hope the riders can recover some more time by riding hard, to ensure that they don't get too close to the cutoff times.
2. Satish Addanki is doing everything possible to stay in the hunt, and has crossed Tintiniac, and is expected to pull into Fougeres in another 5-6 hours. His average speed at the moment is 13.8, which makes it very hard to complete the ride on time, as he'll have next to no time for stops which unfortunately wouldn't be avoidable. What he has going for him is his mental fortitude and never say die attitude. He'll finish the ride, even if he can't beat the clock is what I feel.
3. Mohan Subramanyam, Chakravarthy Birur, Sundar Rajan: the trackers don't show any update from them for well over half a day now, and their last control points were before Brest. It's unknown whether they are still on the road or stopped. I'm a bit gutted that Mohan's tracker update doesn't show him soldiering across the checkpoints with his trusty MTB. Considering that he rides a tank, it would be extraordinarily cruel if the cause is a mechanical breakdown, but the weather conditions and lack of rest are the more likely suspects. I hope he can at least finish the ride. 

Regards

Prashanth

[Aravind M S]

Thanks Prashanth for the update. 

Mohan updated a while back that he quit.

Best Regards,

Aravind.

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[Prashanth Chengi]

Sad to hear about Mohan's scratch. On the good news front, the man on the move seems to be Rohit Chandrashekhar, who seems to have taken a sleep break after reaching the Tinteniac control point. The sleep must have done its trick, as he's ridden the next 90 km averaging 19.5 km/h.  He seems to be the first from the Bengaluru gang to make it to the second last stop. Two more stops and he's done it! The others should reach this stop (Villaines-la-juhel) soon enough, I'm guessing.

Regards

Prashanth

[Prashanth Chengi]

Having never ridden PBP myself, I have no idea what the control points are like, but I've heard descriptions from others who say that it is very busy and chaotic, with people coming in, getting stamped, napping, eating, and so on. It's a very hard choice whether to rest or not, and for how long, particularly with the clock ticking all the time. The risk of falling asleep while riding is a scary proposition, but so too is oversleeping and losing critical time.

Satish Addanki has made it to Fougeres, but Udaya Napa and Grinshina Karthik are now overdue at Villaines-La-Juhel. It's unclear if they are on the road but slowed down a lot or chose to get some extended rest before pushing through the evening and night, the latter seems much more likely than the former, given their steady pace thus far. I hope they can both pick up the pace and fly like Rohit, after his sleep break. 

Regards 

Prashanth 

[Prashanth Chengi]

Rohit Chandrashekhar has made it to pre-final checkpoint three hours ago (this was the first checkpoint on his way to Brest), but he'll make an extra stop at Dreux before making it to the finish. Since he made it to Mortagne-Au-Perche some three hours ago, I'm guessing he's chewed through some 45 km at least already, leaving him some 75 km to the finish by my estimate.

Next up are  Siddalinga Swami and Prasad S who've ridden a terrific ride too, and are just some 10 minutes apart, and on track for a strong finish. Both have passed the Mortagne-Au-Perche checkpoint, like Rohit. 

Grinshina seems to be about an hour ahead of Udaya Napa, both having passed Villaines-La-Juhel. The levels of rest they've had and the energy stores they have, not to mention their willpower, will decide if they can push on without losing too much time. Udaya will have to push a bit harder than Grinshina, to make it to the finish in time.

Satish is hopefully still pushing on towards the end, but I'm not sure if the tracker even reflects the times if they are over the cutoff. Satish is dedicating his ride to the memory of Nitin Jagtap, so I'm  keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that he manages to stay on the bike all the way to the finish.

Regards 

Prashanth 

[Prashanth Chengi]

Hearty congratulations to Rajkumar Khot who I think is the first to finish from the Bengaluru contingent, and also likely one of the top finishers from the country. I read about a Sanjiv Sharma who is said to have finished in an astounding finish time of some 56 hours, which likely means he never slept during the entire ride.

Regards 

Prashanth 

[Prashanth Chengi]

I just realized that the riders have 90 hours and not 84 hours, as I'd mistakenly believed, so this means that Satish actually has a real chance of finishing within the limit!
Satish has about 14.5 hrs to do 200 km, which calls for an average of 13.79 km, including stops. This is firmly in the realm of possibility! Go Satish Go!!!!

Regards
Prashanth

[Prashanth Chengi]

And Rohit has finished in style! This is seriously inspirational stuff! 

Damn, I need to ride some brevets again!

Regards 

Prashanth 

[Prashanth Chengi]

More finishers!

Siddalinga Swami, Prasad S, Dhananjaya Gowda, Grinshina Karthik, Udaya Napa, have all finished!

Satish now has two hours on the clock but hasn't yet arrived in Dreux, after which he'll have a 40 km ride to the finish. No matter what, he'll cross the finish line for sure, and he'll have every reason to be proud of his outstanding achievement. 

Regards 

Prashanth 

[Prashanth Chengi]

Satish is not taking this easy; he's probably aware of some adjustment that is allowed, and is therefore pushing like the blazes. He's ridden the last 80 km section at 17.13 km/h, the fastest segment he's managed since he was under 10 hours into the ride, and that's something. When we just see numbers dispassionately, it appears so doable! When you see that he's averaged 13.29 so far, and he needs 13.54, that doesn't seem like much, but it is not so close at all, when you realize that you only have 40 kilometers to bring up the average. And only the one doing the riding knows the conditions that are prevailing exactly at that moment. I remember riding a 200 BRM against extreme winds. The winds were between 24-28 km/h with gusts at around 40 km/h. Though my power output was at the peak, I was barely clearing 10 km/h, and my heart rate was all over the place.  I'm just hoping Satish gets some tail wind now, as he surely can use it. As per the math, he needs to do at least 28 km/h over the 86 minutes that started when he reached Dreux. The 90 hour window fills up in like 26 minutes from now, but if there is any extra time given, that'll certainly help too!

Regards
Prashanth

[Prashanth Chengi]

And Sathish Addanki crosses the finish line in 91 hrs and 41 minutes. I hope there are some adjustments that mean it's accepted for a homologated finish, but even otherwise, kudos to him, and everybody else who trained so hard, traveled all the way, and rode so hard, in what must have been rather unfamiliar weather conditions. This pretty much signals the end of PBP 2023 for the Bangalore contingent, and also for me. It was a rather fun experience being a dot-watcher, or rather update watcher, in this case, and getting to pull out my calculator for some math also! It brought me loads of memories of how it used to be when I was out riding right through the night, on more than one occasion when the temperatures were well below freezing.  I have a picture somewhere of my water bottle with the water in it completely frozen! Those were the times!

Regards
Prashanth

[Parag Patankar]

Prashanth,

Thanks a lot for your updates, I really enjoyed reading them. 

Congratulations to all the riders, the achievement is being at the start line after all the SR qualifying, training and travel. After that finishes happen , or do not, but we enjoy the ride !

Whats the next cycling event we can armchair enjoy ?

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[Prashanth Chengi]

Hi Parag, It was my pleasure! Need to ask Chiddu if he's working on another edition of BITH. That for sure is fantastic fodder for armchair enjoyment and calculations :D
Fun fact: I met the woman who is now my wife, for the first time ever, when I'd come to India to ride BITH. Not somebody I met on the ride, but our meeting would not have happened had I not come to India then, for the ride :)

Regards

Prashanth

[Parag Patankar]

Wow, that is a great story for the next BITH poster !  Hope she rides too ?

Cafe Coffee Day is now defunct, but we can paraphrase their motto to "a lot can happen because of a ride".

Keep riding and writing.

We are also missing our prolific writer and rider Lord Venky, no exotic tours happening ?

[Prashanth Chengi]

She wasn't into cycling before she met me, but she's certainly joined the fold now! Cafe Coffee Day was indeed the place where we met die the first time, so it's sad to hear that it's now defunct. She even used to ride a bicycle and shoot videos and pictures when I switched to unicycling. 

Regards 

Prashanth 

[Aravind M S]

Thoroughly enjoyed your commentary Prashanth. Thanks. Remembered the first couple of editions of BITH, where people took turns even in the night to provide the updates. 

It would be fantastic if BITH revives. 

Best Regards, 

Aravind. 

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