It was April
10th 2016, Jure Robic would have been 50 year old. In his memory, to
celebrate the spirit of a great champion, I have decided to ride for 24 hours of the
day. In history,
there have been myriad heroes whose life stories are inspirational and amazing.
One need not kiss a blarney stone to praise such men’s efforts.
Jure Robic,
was one of those heroes of cycling - the only man who won RAAM (Race Across
America) for 5 times. In such ultra events, one has to inevitably cheat sleep deprivation
and ward off any hallucinations.
Riding across America for about 4800 kms, this
man has to tether the charley horses in his legs, with his will and spirit. It
is not the skill that is mighty in this event; it is the will and the grit that
is tested.
9th
April 2016, I woke up around 9am and was around doing my chores and other
errands for the day. As the day passed into evening, I was left with less time
to find some sleep. I had thought to sleep for 4 to 5 hours but could not
manage it. I was prepared with the paraphernalia for the night ride – food,
clothes, mechanical equipment and medicines. My plan was to do a 500 kms ride
for the 24 hours.
At exactly
12am April 10th, I rode out
of my house as my pup looked from the stairs to say me bye, with its mild
barks. My headphones were playing the classic violin - Conversations by
L.Subramaniam and Stephane Grappelli. I kept it in repeat mode. As I rode past
a speed-breaker around 7th kilometer, the only water bottle I kept,
flew out of the cage and rolled over on the road. The lid was broken and I had
to discard the bottle. I continued riding and picked a water bottle after 12th
Km from a medical shop. I rode at an average speed of 26 kmph until I had a
flat on my front wheel at 84th km. It was pitch dark, around 03:20
am. My newly serviced bike had tight tyres which made it difficult to pull the
tube out. After 45 mins, I was all set to ride again. During the break, I had
some dates and sesame bars that I carried in a small backpack. The air-pump I had
was a small one and would only fill around 65% of pressure needed. I had to
wait until morning to find a place for filling the air back to 100%. I rode
with caution with minimal exertion on the front wheel until I reached 182 km
mark around 7:30 am, where I could fill back the air to normal level. It was a
11 year old kid who did it for me. I gave him 20 Rupees, though he was not
willing to take any money. It was quite interesting to find someone like
that, at that age.
I enjoyed
the gamut of scenes, with the crimson shaded sun rising up and the vibrant smearing
of the clouds around it, on a perfect morning of April 10th. It was a
humdinger ! I took some pictures en route as I was tempted by looking at the
sceneries. Around 8:25 am, I crossed Armoor and rode a good 20 km without
water. My throat was getting dried up and the heat started to rise. As I reached
the 204 Km mark, I found a place where I could find some water and drinks. I
removed my helmet, sleeves and cap and poured full jugs of water on my head. It
dried up in couple of minutes. It was like a frying pan by 9am and I decided to
turn back. I guzzled up 2 litres of water and followed it up with three 200ml
quick soft drinks with salt. My electral stock was consumed overnight, so had
to eat some cooking salt at the dhaba I stopped by. I ordered 2 parathas and
spinach-paneer curry, could manage to stash only one through my mouth. Two more
water bottles onto the cycle and Off I went.
It was now a
furnace with temperature of 43+ Celsius. No sleepy jerks of the head or
hallucinations yet. By 12 pm, I had reached 234 Kms. I found a mango tree and a
good rock to rest beneath the lonely tree in the entire scene. I pulled off the
armory and relaxed. It is going to be all uphill that is in-waiting for the
most of the next 6 hours. I was strong enough for it, a matter of patience
without any mechanical upsets and I surmounted my energy levels with some
buttermilk. By 4pm I managed to reach 275 Kms with a lunch break of near 1 hour
where I had to charge my cellphone. And there were multiple hydration breaks
with water bottles just getting finished one after other, a dozen in 3 hours. I
braved through the heat and reached the 300 km mark by 5:30 pm. The blazing
part of the ride was done. I wanted a hot coffee break and stopped by a
restaurant. I washed my face again, poured bottles of water over my head which
removed all the heat out in a jiffy. I was all fresh to pedal again. It was a
matter of single digit number of hours to be ridden now. I pedalled hard and
fast, coming out of the saddle. I pushed as hard as I could. It was 9pm and I
covered 350 kms . My next stop was at a bakery, where I had 2 bottles of almond
milk and a big chocolate bar !
I visualized
various faces of different grimaces that show up during the endurance events - the pain, the joy, the belief and a multitude
of emotions that crossover an athlete’s face. I had 50 kms left in around 2 hr :45
mins. It was matter of spending time on the saddle and pedaling, and I was
ready for more.
I had 3 kms
left to reach 400 km mark and left with 7 mins as I entered city. I was all out
of saddle and around 23:59:40 April 10th. I stopped my ride with 401 kms done. Preetham,
Baldev and Nivedhitha were at the Tirumalgherry X Roads to my surprise,
congratulating my solo crazy ride and for the tribute I wanted to pay to the
Slovenian legend “Jure Robic”. After some ice cream munching, rode back home by
2am. I was also excited to let my Slovenian penpal about the ride. I sent her a
message over Facebook about the details. She felt happy about it.
It was a memorable ride where I wanted to just
ride the entire day of April 10 in remembrance of Jure Robic and felt very
happy having accomplished it. Legends are for inspiration and to be talked
about often!
