Enduro3 - A stupefying Fiasco !!!

I feel that the adventure demon that possessed me has finally let go after what my body and mind went through on 25th and 26th. Thats it no more adventure races like these.. No more going to another state to even attempt any rubbish like this. Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts as you are going to be rocked by the rest of the blog.(no no, not with that bout of excitement but by my rant of the Enduro3 at Pune).

 Initially the plan was to attempt the Brevet 600 along with the tusker, Kiran Kumar. But as usual the overhaul happened just in time when Opendro got us into the Facebook chat about this event called Enduro, which involves 145kms of cycling, river crossing (rope or swim), trekking, mountain bicycling, rappelling, kayaking. Naturally any sane adventure loving nut, would think of attempting such a thing. The website certainly managed to bait hundreds of teams and I with Opendro and Kiran were among the many fish up for the grabs. So we ditched the Brevet and Opendro registered us as a team and booked return tickets from KSRTC club class multi-axle volvo. Yet again this trip saw many firsts and here's a few ::


1. First travel by the multi-axle club class volvo.
2. First travel to another state and especially for a multifaceted adventure race.
3. First time night ride among the mountains on a proper dirt / gravel track. (Pure adrenaline rush).
4. First proper VADA PAV which was yumm...!!!
5. First night ride/downhill trail ride with the super good ultra-fire flashlights. 




And so the journey starts with a training the earlier weekend with Suma rao with a dose of rappelling. Rappelling = check. 
Next to ensure the bikes are fit, I take the bike to Opendro's house where with his help, restored the shine. Bike = Check. 
Swimming, kayaking, trekking - Will see as we go along = check. 
The website had a list of mandatory equipment per participant and a separate checklist as a team. Left our bikes at wheelsports Chamrajpet who helped us box the bikes to get it ready for transport. With the bags packed we met at KBS/Majestic and boarded the Bus to Pune. Mind loaded with thoughts I managed to get some sound sleep. But the happiest of the bunch was Opendro as he gets ~ 8 hrs of uninterrupted bliss..!! We checked in to hotel Shri Ganga near Wadgaon bridge and unpacked the boxes and assembled the bikes. We left hotel to explore Pune and headed towards Swargate and then stopped at Hotel Fountain in Shivajinagar carb load session. Nice hotel with great food with a place to park bikes. After spending about two hours we had to look for the briefing point at a place called Parvati. We were asked to assemble at police grounds the next day between 6-9am to register and collect the kit. On the way back to hotel we stopped to have pani puri Open skipped but Kiran and I feasted. A slowish ride to the hotel and we carried the bikes to the 2nd floor for final checks for tomorrow's race. Kiran and Opendro caught up some sleep while I was busy battling mosquitoes and managed to get probably a half hour sleep. We were ready by 5:30 and reached the venue and teams were trickling in. Thats when we met Sarva who was last time winner (I think runner up) in the Open mix category and this time secured 3rd place. There was transport option available about 4 - 5 kms from the flag off point to the base of singhagad. The participants have to climb till the start point which was about 1-2 kms from base. The road was treacherous trail was taxing and we could hear plenty wheelspins. The whole sight resembled a cyclocross section. Most of them stopping and pushing bikes. But us three mashed it till the first control point after which we lost steam and pushed the bikes or rode at 1x1 gear ratio. The gradient was quite tough. Towards the end of teh climb was the fort. Next challenge, carry your bikes and trek to the fort and reach teh viewpoint which was the rappelling point. Topped up water supplies and had some lime juice which was very refreshing. There was a wait period of about 1 hour after which Opendro managed to finish it in about 15 mins.

Once we exited the fort we saw no path to ride down, instead it was a treacherous trek route and we had to take our bikes along. Trust me, words do absolutely no justice to the toughness of carrying the bikes and hopping off the rocks without proper foothold. about 200 mts from the base Opendro had a flat and we got busy fixing the same. Thats when two organizers reached out to us enquiring if all is well. Took some pics flat fixing was done in about 10 mins. opendro fixing the flat tube and I installed the new tube with kiran filling air. All hands at work..!! We could see the next control and we left Got the card stamped. Next was about a 10-15 km ride on a broken tarmac. Then yet another passage control. Stam again and we turned off the main road to take the village road to climb a few hills to reach the next control point. Yet another stamp and we got to know we were 3rd and we ripped during the down hill (dirt/gravel road)at speeds over 30-35. The Trek 4300 truly proved its legacy. Get off the saddle, keep the hands in an angle with elbows streching outwards to absorb any shocks due to the terrain and you have a pure bliss of riding an MTB .. ever..!!! Being a roadie it is hard to comprehend that a whole new world of cycling can be so much fun. Its another story that the bike is an "unrideable" condition now but more on that later. A huge surprise was how the tusker (Kiran) was being helped by Opendro who was pushing his own bike and Tusker's on the uphills when we got off the saddle. With teh dusk we could feel some cool air finally, after braving the hot sun. The next task was to trek with the bikes for about 5-6 kms. Better said than done. The next control was hidden in the bushes atop a mountain and as we crossed the same I bonked and couldn't carry on more. So Opendro and Kiran stopped as I had a quick nap. By then we lost the team that was in front of us whom we kept as a guide. Then as we were trekking dowhill about 200mts we were lost and decided that we'll wait for daybreak (about 2.5hrs). We were near a village so asked for directions to Shirkoli and started riding the trail to reach the river crossing. Once there opendro swam the of about 100mts to complete the river crossing. He also did ask the organizer pointing to the safety vest "Is this mandatory?" to which we had a hearty laugh. Once done we had a 20km of trek which took almost 4 hours. We got to know it is on road after passing through the PC (passage  control) we went off road got down the mountain to climb another. By now you must be lost and thinking " up and down and up and down and repeat. Our state there was pretty much the same but the rolling terrain had us. Heat played the spoilsport and the terrain. As you feel excited going downhill you loose the steam as  soon as the uphill is in sight..!!  More depressing news await as we reached the kayaking point. It was cancelled and they took us via boat to the other side of the river. :-( Thats it we've had enough The last control we figured that we were 4th and saw no point in going forward as the last stage is 8kms of trekking with the bikes again. Returned to Pune via a tempo hired by Ravi Ranjan and team so we could also catch the night bus. Booked the room for 4 hours. Refreshed and ready for dinner we went back to the same hotel in shivajinagar. My condition was such that my shorts were hanging dearly and would've dropped if I jumped. We finished a sumptuous dinner by 10 and reached hotel to vacate. One last task remains, Boxing the bikes. This probably was done quickest about 20-25 mins for all three bikes. Gladly the bus waited for more passengers to board but we were the only 3. Slept peacefully to be woken only at Hotel Kamat in morning for breakfast. Idly vada puri kesari bath. Yeah that's not the menu but what I had for breakfast.
Back in bangalore as I write this blog i've taken a decision not to quit any race in future but be better prepared. In the open mix catergory i've seen guys on bicycles towing the lady member of their team. Hats off to their courage and strength in doing so..!! Though I can blame the organizers for a shabby work there's little that can be done at this point. But quite  a lot of learning from this adventure..!! 

Rappelling and Trail ride -Mumbo-Jumbo-Combo!!!

Today marks one of new venture in my life that is unforgettable. Overcoming ones fear takes courage and determination. With the help of fellow cleated Warrior Suma, Opendro, Kiran and I planned to meet at the Turahalli base for tad bit of trail ride and finish it off with a bout of rappelling. All starts with a message early morning to kiran to check if he has started and looked like he starts only at 6.35. The anxiety factor was high and eagerly awaited getting to the base of Turahalli. I didn't know the route and relied on Kiran and we ended up hitting a trail which was on the other side of hill than the place where the rappelling was decided. We soon traced our way back to the kanakpura road to take the right turn after Yellamma Dasappa college.  We yet again took the wrong trail into the forest to try and catch up with Suma and Opendro who were present already and setting up the equipment. The decibel test worked as Kiran shouted out Opendro's name to which he responded from summit. Nice broadcasting. Traced our route back to the base of the hill which was a steady descent. The excitement for me was flying down this trail at 20-25kph and ride the crests and troughs in the trail. Once could experience the thrills of a WRC (World Rally Championship) car. How ? Ride over the mound/crest with the equilibrium, angle of attack and the lift of the bike which ensures that you land both wheels exactly at the same time. Did that twice and my mind went WOOOHOOO!!!  About , 3/4th the way to the summit there is a huge boulder which seemed apt for rappelling. First Opendro then Kiran and finally I climbed the rock. The view of the turahalli's green cover is beautiful however there lurks a dismal punch. Its portrays a teardrop of the ecosystem's desperate cry's for help. One can see almost all the greenery gone except a thin line of canopy about half a km in length covered with tall trees. Beyond this point, just over the horizon one could see the plots marked for villas, apartments and complexes. Land encroachment clearly spells a disaster to this green zone. But the expansion of the cities make it inevitable to conserve the forest cover.


Once on the rock the sight of the ledge on the rock was enticing. First our instructor Suma was glad to give us a few basic lessons. Slack, Brake, belay, the figure of 8. As my head glowed Rappelling aura, I now was ready to go for the drop over the ledge. Kiran (A former bodybuilder) who finished before me was skeptical on how much weight tolerance of the rope. All of us had a hearty laugh when he asked if (Suma who is lean) will be able to take his full weight with just the single support rope tied to suma's billet . Kiran stepped close to the edge and had last minute doubts. So for double safety Opendro was holding on to the loose end of the support rope extending from Suma's billet. Only then did Kiran confidently stepped over the edge.

Ooh..have I mentioned that fear of heights is one of my phobia's :-). Stage is set ropes are ready, harness check, fear factor.. hmm... check. With trembling feet I slowly crept over the edge. This is a rock surface below the drop is concave so one doesn't get a foothold and its more of a controlled freefall. The first time when our instructor went she was down in less than 10 seconds. We took a cheesy 10 mins to land enjoying every bit of the drop. Once down, there was a great sense of achievement. Been there done that !!!  Nope and thats not the end. There's a brutal downhill and a bike with improper brake setup could break, both the rider's confidence and itself. Here are some pics from my phone ::

 

Day8 - Merci Isle'd Abeau, Lyon!!!

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The whole of last week has been an inexplicable twist. Too many changes, away from home and family for a long time. With all the tensions going on in the world, a human just doesn't feel safe anymore even though we are amongst our own kind. However, amidst all the quiet and calm of the bone chilling, windy town of Isle'd Abeau there lurks an eerie feeling when you step out for a walk or a ride on the bicycle as you you hardly find any. Very few cyclists in this part of France compared to the picture on my mind !!! The moment I the heard the news of the cap on the mileage on the use of the hotel's bicycle, I was truly dejected. My mind started to battle considering the possible options. Here were some I had on mind ::

1. Pre-pone the return to Bangalore so I could leave on Saturday morning. ( All my team members had left on Friday evening ;-) ).

2. A Ski resort in Grenoble. Fabulous!!! But it was 100 kms away and would easily take about 3 hours by bus due to terrain as told to me by the trainer who stays in Grenoble. About 6 hours of travel by bus would've been a new experience but not worth the time considering "prepaid" nature of the number of hours I have at my disposal...!! No suitable attire for skiing, unsure about the Ski resort's working hours and their terms and conditions, going solo for skiing for the first time and there would be hassles if something went wrong and no backup. So this option went out the window due to the factors which I just poured out. I'm sorry you had to hear the rant in my head but thats the way it happened... !!

3. Take a TGV to Paris and visit Eiffel Tower and travel back the same evening. However this was the expensive affair as the ticket one way costs about 5k INR and just under 3 hrs to cover about 500 kms. Again the travel factor and the precious hours counted. More so, I didn't want to keep my schedule tight to take the bus/train or any other mode in the nick of time when I don't know to complete a sentence in French. Rummaging for help is the last thing I want to do in the cold weather in the dark.

4. Visit Lyon by train (TER) and explore. Simple and short.

I'm happy in a way that the hotel denied permission to cycle beyond 10 kms because of many reasons. Firstly I got to travel in a train in Europe and experience how the reservation system works. Secondly I got to experience the whole new world of the underground Metro. Even the metro underground trains reach   good speeds of i think about 80kph though the stations are just a few kms apart. So here goes the account of today's voyage.

As per the time table provided to me by the trainer I was supposed to take any train between 7-8am and I missed all of them. What a great start !! I then went to the ticket machine and navigated my way but it simply wouldn't accept the world money card offered by my company. So I went to the ticketing counter and I could see a train (8:57am) pull in to the station and he asked me to take this train to go to Gare De Lyon Perrache. I tried to cross the over-bridge to reach the other side of the platform but the train left even before I could reach the top of the bridge. So I got back and took the ticket for the next train which was scheduled for 9:42am. An hour's wait and what was I to do with just a couple of other folks on this station? I walked about the platform for a few times and that killed about 20 mins and I soon heard the level crossing's familiar alarm ( all automated here) and I saw a train approaching and no sound only lights. My camera skills kicked in and VOILA it turned out to be a TGV. One of my dreams to travel on one. But I think I'm happy having just looked at one. There's a yellow line on platform and you should stay behind it if you don't want to get blown away off the platform. Thought this TGV wasn't on full speed it still was cruising a little over 150kph. A fashion parade of the trains and TGV would be one of the strong contenders :-). As a child I remember seeing this train in Childcraft (Similar to encyclopedia) and was just amazed by the very looks of it on paper.

A TGV parked at Gare de Lyon Perrache

Soon I saw another ter train heading to grenoble and a few more followed which I managed to capture on my All-in-one box, ( Nokia X6). Great phone with which I've managed to use the front 3G camera as a webcam to talk to my family, capture the pics with stunning clarity/color definition, used GPS when I got lost once and being a music phone it does its task fantabulously. I boarded my train which arrived exactly on time and I was at Lyon De Perrache station in half hour. I soon found my way out through a maze of escalators and levels and soon the first thing on sight was the bicycle stand. I wanted to stroll for a while before I took one so I set out exploring Lyon on Foot. How do I know which way to go? If you look a the map of the Station where I got off the train it would resemble a tiny peninsula. So I headed out to the river and it was a beautiful sight. I kept walking for about 2 hours and soon was confused as to how to get to the only place I had on mind "Saint Basillica de Notre-Dame Fourvier. A gentleman who was out for the morning walk was kind enough to help me get my bearings right and also mentioned that I could use the Metro which would be faster..!! It turned out that I was at the other end of the peninsula and had to trace back. But this time I went underground where I met a couple who were laughing at the ticketing machine just because it rejected the coins when they tried to obtain a ticket. With their help I managed to get a daily pass and also learnt how to use it. At the gate into a metro station there is a machine where you'll have to insert the ticket on the front like a credit card and it pops out from the top of the block and the gate opens. Phew..!! I'm very glad that I was able to get the metro plan of Lyon using which I could find my way without hassles. The only trouble I had was when I had to switch to the last metro station at Fourviere to reach the summit of Notre-Dame. Another gentleman on the metro helped me get to the correct path. I reached the summit by noon and captured some pics and here are some ::

With the intent of taking the bicycle, I tried to pick one at a few stations but it simply would accept the debit card so I dropped the idea of using the bicycle as I couldn't ask anyone else to pay because ::

1. There is a 150Euro security deposit which will be credited back to the bank once the bicycle is returned (minus the usage charges). 

2. There is no way to pay by cash !! (Probably due to point 1). 

There are shopping avenues on either side of the river on roads that run parallel to the river. I ended up buying some assorted chocolates and took some more photographs before disappearing underground for the Metro station which is right behind the Giant Wheel, at Bellecour.  I'm happy that I didn't end up wasting any precious time by taking any Metro in the wrong direction :-). I find myself putting smileys at the end of every statement as I suffer with ESUS (Excessive smiley usage syndrome. I did certainly see a lot of lovebirds in Lyon (if you know what I mean ;-). 

I decided to head back by 3 as I had to walk about 2.5kms from the Railway station La Verpelliere to my hotel. I could take a cab but you "See" the world by either foot or a bicycle and you'd notice that this gets reciprocated most of the times. Took the return train at 15:49 and reached the Verpelliere station by 16:19 and soon walked back to my hotel. There weren't any winds but the temperature drop at some places due to trees and I could feel the sting on my nose and the top of my ears. So I pulled up the Buff that I had over my neck to cover my face. 

The routine followed, logon to facebook/gtalk/gmail/skype so anyone could 'like' and 'comment' on my adventure. Spoke to my brother who, like a Radio jockey played the song "Phir se ud chala" from the bollywood movie Rockstar(2011). It was so refreshing to hear that just as I opened the windows of my hotel room. Sublime..!!! MTR masala rice, a pack of Lays chips n Coke.. !!! Life of a food conscious, vegan, Indian tourist in Europe!!  There were a lot of ready to eat stuff in the supermarket that I had visited earlier this week but I would have lost my senses by the time I could figure out which one I could eat. FOOD :: This has to be the one topic where I could rant forever. But, I've been happy with the change in the cuisine and with just cheese, pancakes and boiled vegetables (Legumes) I feel lighter and the tummy does have to do overtime. Checked out of the Hotel at 3AM and had a quick chat with Rafeeq/Rafiq (receptionist) about the people and culture. Took the cab " A 2010 Honda Accord and the speeds on the expressway 140kph. 20 kms covered in 15 mins. He talked about how he felt good while staying at London for about 6 months and I spoke about my experience with this Euro tour  and how I felt exploring LyonGot to experience a lot of firsts on this trip. I update this blog at the St.Exupery airport - Lyon, as I await my flight Air France 7651 to Paris and a connecting flight to Bangalore on AF192 (an airbus 340). A travel to future and a total of  ~12hrs of flight travel. I didn't feel any jet lag going back in time but I think I might experience jet lag with this return journey. ~5000 miles of flight lay ahead and I listen to the song  "Phir se ud chala" over and over again. What a beautiful feeling !!!

As the sun sets on this tour, I bid adieu to Villefontaine, Isle'd Abeau. A wonderful, superb, fantabulous memorable one !!!