Confounding Challakere 400BRM

[Nagaraj mr]

Hola Brevet rider/B'lore bikers,

Quick write up on "Confounding Challakere 400BRM"-Clocking in 23:50hrs

Firstly, I can name this BRM as Confounding challakere 400BRM. No wonder The route was super scenic, tougher, rough, tricky turn, route required navigation skills. Obviously  it has to be  challenging because this is a route which is designed by IISc guys and We call it Bangalore Brevet and and and we can probably say tougher brevets in India are being held in bangalore. Thats why I proud to be a part of Bangalore biker club

This Ride and Write up is dedicated to Our 1000kms Finisher Deepak Mhasavade and Super Randonneur Mohammed Rafi(This 400 kms was his SR attempt ride). Kudos to this champs.

A day before 400 BRM

Infact it was Friday!!! Now a days fridays are scaring me a lot and it did too a day before 400 BRM because I had already done wit Back to bak  300 BRM (Bangalore -Hiriyur-Bangalore), 200 BRM(Bangalore-Huliyurduga-Bangalore), 300 BRM (Kolar Gold Feild 300k) and 400 Kms would be another non-stop weekend brevet attempt. Yeah I have no other option than riding back to back Brevet in order to earn Super Randonneur title and I am one step away from it. 

I cleaned my bike 8 hrs before the start of 400 BRM and slept at 12.30 am. First mistake that I did!!.. Barely slept for 3:30hrs and had to wake up at 4 am. The rides which starts from IISc is bit scary too. Bcoz reaching IISc is tough early in the morning.Not bcoz of distace, but getting up at 4 am is tough.

All my Brevet rides are time oriented rides(I know its not a race).So, I tought of finishing this brevet as quickly as possible. Lack of sleep made me think  it may be impossible to complete as quickly as possible. 

6:00 AM - 400 BRM starts

Started from home at 5 am think that I will be able to reach IISc New BEML gate by 5.45. On the way to Start point I met Shreeju who was finding his way to IISc gate. We managed to reach till IISc Gymkhana gate. Later on missed our route due to misguided by Morning walkers. We had tough time in finding the start point. Some how,  Nirmal Iyer saw us and shouted "this is the start point". It was 6:00 by the time we reached the start point. Finished formalities and started our ride at 6.15 am.

We were 4 while starting. Myself, Deepak, Rafi and Tusker. We had no idea about route. We just followed other guys. We passed through IIHR. Very scenic route infact. Never knew this route exist in city limit. By this time Tusker was facing problem wit IBTS(Hamstring Stiffness). I did not want to push him to continue the ride. I strongly discourage anyone who is riding with injury as I feel its not advisable to ride with injury. Neither I discourage nor I asked him to continue. He decided to quit. I was like, Well done!! Good Decision!!. Later we were 3. We were enjoying the route. We encountered bad stretch near IIHR as its mentioned in the cue sheet. This time I passed through Nayan who was on MTB. He asked me ,How was the road? I replied- Very smooth wit weird smile on my face. By the time we reached first secret control it was 7.20 am and we hardly covered 18 kms in this 1.20 mins. I was like What the Hell!!!

I decided to increase the pace. Deepak and Rafi silently followed me. We stopped for breakfast somewhr near Dobbaspet. Had quicky breakfast-Lemon rice and tea and we moved out of that place quickly as we were surrounded by villagers and we had no interest to answer their questions. We decided to do non-stop ride till first control station which was at 108kms point. Terrain was easy  but we were hit by Insane Head Wind. We were not able reach beyond 25kmph tough it was decent downhill but managed face the head winds. Reached first control station around 12.00 AM , quickly swipped out ATM slip and left the place. We rode easily towards Madugiri fort and by this time we had covered 124 kms. Ride was easiest so far. 

40kms-no road- 3 falls in less than 20 kms

We had to pass 40 kms to hit Sira -NH4. Initially road where patchy. I was thinking this is better than 200 BRM (Bangalore-Huliyurduga-Bangalore). But I was wrong. Bad road started within 2kms after passing Madhugiri fort. I saw bus right infront of me. I was on my road bike cleats. Tried to uncleat, lost my control and I had fall. It was funny fall. Moved ahead. We were told by villagers that all the road till SIRA is bad. They call it as road.But, I call it as off road. We were struggling on this bad stretch. This off-road is not meant for road bike wit 23c tire. Tire skidded, I lost my control and had fall again. Got up and went ahead. We encounted group of donkeys on this bad road. I tried shouting at them and getting our way to ride. But I lost control again and had a fall while chasing those donkeys away. 3 funny falls over & I was like no more falls. Realized road bike cleats is not suitable for those bad stretch. We walked on that road for some time. 

Clock was 1.30PM and we were hungry. We had 10 more kms of bad road to cover inorder to reach Sira. We decided to take lunch break. Here we go- that was the best lunch for ever I had. Home made curd, egg , rice and sambar was the menu. It was homely fud too and really it wasnt hotel. We ordered for 3 meals and finished it quickly. She asked for Rs.90 for 3 meals. That was Damn cheap for so delicious food!!!.. Somehow managed to cover that painful 10kms righ after our lunch. Reached NH4. And we were *sigh!!*.

Life on National Highway!!
 I knew road after Sira is roadie scum.We were hit by bad rain right after reaching Sira-NH4. I can say, much awaiting and deserving shower we had. We drenched non-stop for about 40 kms from Sira to Hiriyur and enjoyed completely. This time childhood memories were playing game wit my mind and reminded me of riding Re.1 rented cycling and getting drenched in rain. That 40kms ride was sweet ride I can say. Soon we reached Hiriyur Deepak encountered flat on his front wheel. He fixed that flat in 7 mins. After fixing flat we manged to reach First photo control station before it gets dark. Clicked our photo infront of Eraballi sign board and stopped for tea break in tht evening. Later we moved to 2nd Photo control which is about 14 kms away. That 14 kms road was like climbing and climbing. Reached 2nd photo control at Aimangala about 7 pm. clicked photo again in front of Aimangala Sign Board and started our march towards Hiriyur. Road from Aimangala to Hiriyur was amazing. No climb, more of down hill. We had to cover 14 kms to reach Hiriyur. We covered this distance in 20 mins:D Decided to hav dinner at Hiriyur. 

Delicious Dinner at Hiriyur

We decided to have Non-veg. Found some decent restaurant at Hiriyur. Ordered for 3 plates Biryani and 3 cokes. Finished that my plate of biryani in 5 mins. Deepak to finished his plate of Biryani and ordered for 1 more. 2 Biriyanis in one go? I never tried it. Ordered for Ice cream wit fruit salad. It was yummy. This time I was remembering our Ice cream Shankar Shastry. Over all it was yummy dinner. Killed almost 1:15hrs in this restaurant. This break boosted me. And it was 10PM...

Life on National Highway!!! (Continues)

After dinner we decided to do non-stop 100 kms ride. I was pulling Rafi and Deepak at 30-35KMPH. Hiriyur to Sira in less than 1 hour. Sira to Tumkur it was all climb and climb and climb. But I dint stop. Rode harder. Rafi dropped before reaching Sira. And we were only 2 and we had to cover 120 kms to finish. I dint want Deepak to stop. I was shouting at him. Keep right , keep left , watchout, just to keep him awake.He is brilliant on saddle and he is strong riders . Infact he is 1K finisher. We reached covered 100kms after leaving hiriyur in 3:40hrs. I was surprised with this. I was surprised wit my legs. We were capable enough of covering this 100 kms in 3:40 mins even after riding 260 kms and despite of many climbs from Sira to Tumkur. After I was sleep deprived. I badly wanted Coke and Tea to kill my sleep . Couldnt find any tea shop. Later we found tea shop.This tea break costed my aim of finishing 400 BRM in 22hrs or 22:30hrs.  Had tea and requested Deepak to wake me up after 5 mins. But he did not. He knew I was playing wit my sleep and he wanted me to hav some sleep. He let me to sleep for 30 mins. I didnt realize we killed almost 1 hour over here. Later I dediced to do non stop ride till finish line. Averaging 30KMPH, talking to each other, sharing our cycling experience, running experience(I got to knw Deepak has done 25 Full marathon and endless half marathons wit personal best of 1hr 48 mins for HM and 3:40 Hrs for FM.. Inspiring man!!!), passing Nelamangala, passing Jalahalli, yashwanthpur and reached finish point. And we completed 400BRM in 23:50. I was happy wit covering 410 kms in 23:50hrs with lots of long breaks(Though I used quick break in the write up:P).  We were nicely greeted by Nirmal at finish line. 

Later, Deepak dropped me to home in his car. This was big relief. Thanks to him. Thanks for riding wit me and inspiring each other. 
This will be my memorable ride.

Finally, Kudos to IISc guys for coming up with Such a Scenic , challenging, tougher route. I know we are Bangalore bikers and we ride IISc Randonneurs Brevet and No wonder its tough!!

Kind request to IISc Randonneurs~ Plz say no to off road. Show some mercy to Road bikers. Come up wit Nandi like climb route or chamundi like climb route , even Kalahatti climb also fine but not off road guys. Patch road Ok , aadre Off-road Yaake? 

--
Nagaraj MR

[vivek]

Congratulations Nagaraj. Nice writeup also.

The 20 kms ride on the bad road in your writeup seemed like a cyclocross ride. Great you overcame it with your road bike. Hope your bike took the thrashing without any damage.

Regards,

Vivek

[Shankar Shastry]

Nice report. Don't worry about road bikes on gravel - all you have to do is stay loose and power through :)

--
biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
 
are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
Visit www.bangalorebicyclechampionships.com for more details
 
 

[Vasu]

I remember riding that route and do not remember the surface being so bas as you describe.

 

Nevertheless, congrats on completing the ride and hope you had shaven legs. If not then you might want to re-think calling yourself a roadie.

 

V

[Rajanikanth Puttabuddi]

LOL, yes Vasu is right. And Vasu you forgot to mention Rule#7 ( about tan lines ) to him.

rk

[Nayan Patel]

This section of the road was being completely re-laid. That probably wasn't the case when you rode. I was riding an MTB and that section was the only part of the route when I really felt lucky to be riding it :)

Nayan

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 3:24 PM, Vasu <mr.b....@gmail.com> wrote:

--
Nayan B. Patel

[Nagaraj mr]

I was waiting for MTB'ers to answer for Vasu's and Chiddu's question. Nw I can say , Yes that section was worse than last time. 
Thnks nayan for clarifying :)

hash

[Vasu]

In my opinion the one and only bad part of this route is that flyover at <forgetting the name of the place>.

 

When you reach the fly over you gotta take a right and go some distance and then get back to the highway somewhere and then climb the same flyover (see above). When you reach the end of the flyover climb you see the road where you came from earlier on your left and then you realise that though the distance travelled might be x km the displacement is only 30 or 40 ft vertically up and thats when you begin cursing the sufferfest organisers whole heartedly.

 

If you need absolutely good roads in this country then make sure the rides are organised just before or right after the elections. It is the only time when roads are decent.

 

Or buy a Trek Domane ;P

 

V

[Sandeep]

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 7:13 PM, Vasu <mr.b....@gmail.com> wrote:

In my opinion the one and only bad part of this route is that flyover at <forgetting the name of the place>.

 

When you reach the fly over you gotta take a right and go some distance and then get back to the highway somewhere and then climb the same flyover (see above). When you reach the end of the flyover climb you see the road where you came from earlier on your left and then you realise that though the distance travelled might be x km the displacement is only 30 or 40 ft vertically up and thats when you begin cursing the sufferfest organisers whole heartedly.

That would be Dobbspet :-) 

[Chidambaran Subramanian]

Yes sir, it was , is and will be. And Monsieur Vasu's anger is not
from the actual brevet ride but from the recce we did a week before.
From Koratagere we decided to take the way to Tumkur instead of going
back via Devarayana Durga route to Dobbspet. After about a km on the
route I was extremely cagey with the bad road and wanted to go back
despite the extra distance. But majority prevailed and we rode in
extremely bad roads in the dark towards Tumkur. Its only when we hit
the Dobbspet flyover that Vasu realized we were retracing the route.
And , if I remember, his reaction was something like " We came through
those roads to get back here! "

[Mohammad Rafi Shaik]

Dear all, 

Good day!

Here is small photo story of the Brevet :)

A beautiful stretch. Specially from the Hesaraghatta region :), could not able to control myslef from capturing the pics all along the ride.

Stopped for breakfast 20kms before Dobbaspet, had tasty Chitranna.  People are curious about the bikes and they are trying to find out where the aliens came from :P

The road till madhugiri fort is awesome, enjoyed the down hill stretch from Dobbapet to madhugiri. After the madhugiri 

the road condition were worest. A stretch of 40km is relaying in between Madhugiri and Sira.. A hell for road bikerz with clits.. Nagraj had 3 time falled in a stretch of 20km :(. A lot dust with the big lorries carries the construction materials. Adding to the pain, rain joined. luckily Me, deepak and Nagraj finished the stretch before it starts down pouring like hell.

 But others got stucked :(. This stretch is killer for the knees and shoulders :( . 

Some rest to the warriors..MIB- Men in blue.. Bianchi(Nagraj), Trek (Rafi) and Gaint(Deepak)

A tasty sambhar rice at the village.. Desi boiled eggs and hard rock curd :). An awesome hot meal for the tired body. Some one advised the hotel owner that this guys are from city, so charge more in Kannada. But she objected for that :). A good tasty food for dam cheap price :)

Bicyle road show at villages :P. Lot of questions.. Where r u from? How much the bike cost? does they have tube less tires? Is that water bottle is petrol tank? Do you need to pedal? Why are you riding cycles when the youth ride Motor bikes(Nagraj Answer- No money to buy petrol :P)? What speeed you travel? and lot of questions... 

40km off roading on road bikes, survived with out flats, Thanks Meera Velankar for offering me Victoria Rubino tires. 

Ride.. ride.. ride and kill the roads. The 1000man Deepak and Ironman Nagraj. After we hit the Sira rain started and down pouring like hell, We continued the ride. My cyclo computer gone mad due to rain, showing 0km/hr speed, looks like problem with the sensor input. 

Finding the Photo control points little tricky, some villagers showed a route to Aiymangala, which is a short cut. But after referring Garmin we went another 4km further and find the first control point. Had a tea break and then head to the next photo control point.. By the time we reached the second photo control point it was dark, luckily one villager came on bike and projected his bike head light on us to take the photos :).

We reached Hiriyur and had a super tasty chicken biryani with ice cream... Rested for almost a hour and set for the final stretch. After reaching Sira, i stopped at a dhaba to quickly pick a water bottle and missed the Nagraj and deepak. I started sprinting to catch them and ended up with a fall

It was around 1:30Am... I was riding in lane2 which is supposed to be at best condition, but there is a rectangular 2X4 feet size road was digged for relaying. No signs :(. Ended up in a fall and luckily no vehicle is coming behind. The impact makes the front tire to flat and reinjured on the Turahalli down hill injury. The fresh skin from the wound peeled off and started bleeding with pain :(. Quickly fixed the flat, reached a dhaba and slept till 3am and started ride back to Bangalore. The doctor warned me, if it happens again i may have to go for skin grafting :(. Will be off from bicycle racings and brevets for 45 days. 

After the finish posing for the pic, the tired faces speaks about the ride  

With this 400km, i had completed the series of 200km, 300km, 400km, 600km rides. I started my cycling in April 2011 with a Trek3700, after inspiring from my frineds Rajesh p, Ironman Deepankar, Shudhanu. After joining the BBCH group, I become more passinate about cycling. 90% of my travel is on bicycle(Office, general commute and long distance tours). Through this group i had learned many things:). Thanks to all the BBCH members, organisers, moderators for sharing a great knowledge. 

Special thanks to Deepak, Nagraj, Meera velankar, Srinath gupta(Hyd), Karthik(Hyd), Rajesh P, Sohan, Bikey venky, Navuuk(Chennai), Mustafa(IIsc), BOTS team, Jayanth cycles, and all my friends.

Last but not the least, thanks to IIsc Randonneur's and Madras Randonneur's for organizing the Brevets and giving us an opportunity to participate.

Here are complete set of pics https://picasaweb.google.com/112162041935581875424/400kmBrevetRideChalakereJuly2012

with regards

Mohammad Rafi

[Satya Balakrishnan]

Mohammed,

As usual great pics. I ve thoroughly enjoyed all your pics .... They tell a great story! Congrats on ur achievement!!!! Truely inspiring ....

Regards

Satya

[Arvind Ganesh]

Great reports, thanks guys. Congratulations to the finishers and better luck next time to other riders. Every attempt makes you stronger for the next one. 

Rafi, congratulations on your SR achievement. 

-Arvind

[Mohammad Rafi Shaik]

Thank you Satya and Arvind.