Brevet - 200 - A trainer for the next season of Brevets!!!

Tidi..didididididi titin... Tidi..didididididi titin....... tin tin tin ..ti-tin tin tiaon..!!!!! Wonder whats this.. wake up call on my nokia on 26th June. Same enthu and restlessness as earlier rides kept me awake till 1am and got a 3 hour sleep. After basic inspection took my rubie out. First stop CCD @ MG road. Quite a few cyclists had gathered. The brevet form filling session complete in 20 mins and then flag off....1... 2... 3... Go..!!! Here's something strange, although i was 'aware' of the route, I couldn't figure it out when i first went through the cue sheet. Then i just just realised this was the same way i took whenever i have ever been to mekhri circle on the way back home. So now fully confident i led the pack for some time and then Opendro's bottle fell just after Kendriya Vidyalaya. This was not good. Tried to stick the bottle holder frame to the plastic piece which held for about another km before the bottle fell down again but this time emptying itself. 50% of the battery juice now destroyed, I offered to provide backup as I was carrying ~4-5 packs of Gatorade refill packs. ~10 mins lost in trying to correct this Most of the riders had sped ahead now. But what the heck we were on our streamline beauties and could easily catch up with them. Full speed ahead captain...!!! The construction and waterlogging slowed us down greatly. After about 5 kms the roads opened up wide and traffic started reducing ever so gradually. We were clocking about an avg of 33kph and over took most of the riders. Best part we just stopped once on the way for a cake break. Thats when we met Vivek Kubaji for the first time. Two more riders passed us one on BMC and other on Flite 500. They were maintaining good speed. Overtook them a couple of times and finally reached Karadevanahalli toll booth for a long break ~30mins. Then Kiran Cleated Warrior joined us and we agreed to try a paceline on the return journey. This worked for about 10 kms after which Opendro and I maintained a steady average and then stopped for another short break. We had to as we skipped breakfast. Soon Vivek and Kiran joined us and we were off for the next stop at Kamat. A meals and a fried rice to recharge the batteries and then it was a non-stop ride to finish line. ( or was it ?) A funny incident. About 100 mts from kamat, Opendro realizes that he must've left his cell on the table and wanted to go back. He crossed the road with this bike only to return with a cheeky smile. It was with him but a different pocket than the usual. We maintained good speeds on climbs ~40kph and relaxed downhill only to take the next climb at a same speed. Reached the hessarghatta crossing and took left. It started drizzling and we reached a junction where it started raining "Heavily". Opendro took out his secret weapon. A rain jacket and he was safe. I didn't look up the weather report that day so no rain jacket in the backpack. Not worrying about the attire getting wet/dirty the hankey covering my face made the last half a km in a flooded road and heard the welcome cheer..!!! What a way to finish..!!! I did get to test the tight pants (lycra) from decathlon. I was very against buying these just because of the image portrayed to the onlookers. Now I don't care anymore as its my comfort and fitness that takes front seat rather than be consicous and end up with a saddlesore.. :-P All in all a good ride excellent weather to top up the fun. Eagerly await the next season's Brevet to become a super randonneur.

Fuel - Gatorade 4 packs, Britannia cakes (thanks to Opendro for stocking them), Fried Rice.
Time taken to complete the ride :: 9:30 hrs.

Galleria ::
https://picasaweb.google.com/110912564228631849317/Brevet200June262011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P0_M2dcDdM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAekXNfhkT4