The year 2013 started off with a single intention of riding the magical
number of 10,000 kms on the saddle. As many would know I have been riding a bicycle for over 5 years now. The two-wheeled
mechanical object which is often referred to as BSO in the cycling community
here in India (no, mine is not an BSO) has been truly inspiring and soothing to the mind but the magical mileage have always eluded me. The year, so far, has
been good. As I seek the words to draft this prose I figure I am just 750
kms away from that ambition and I have got 15 days to achieve it.
It was a big move on my part to not ride the TfN 2012 for the 5th time
in a row. I would call it a big move as I would have been the only cyclist to
have ridden all 5 editions and that too in a row. The tour has gone on from
being a very amateurish event to a cycling tour that includes some serious
gradients, great people and some hard competitive sections. My mind was
prepared to finish 2012 on a high with my first 10,000 kms but it was not to
be. I finished it with 9111 kms. Yet so close, yet so far once again.
2013 it is and another year with targets and achievements. Mind was
fresh from the fact that I had a new job at the Bombay Stock Exchange. Life
felt a little more secured with the new job sending my bank balance in blue and
of course the thought of seeing my beloved 1200 with new armory. 'How and what
do I do to get to 10,000 kms ?' - the question kept cropping up in my mind and
then there it is - the ANSWER. The answer came from the MAMILs. I figure
as I look back into my biking days I have done 8 biking tours across South of
India, Pune and Sri Lanka. All of these tours have been a learning curve from
every biking perspective. The tour took me to Sri Lanka on 3 occasions - twice to
mountains of Hatton and the fabled Nuwera Eliya. It is fabled because the
mountains of Nuwera Eliya talks of the monkey god who went about burning the
golden abode of the demon king Ravana. It felt fabled because it felt like
those crazy boulder rock mountains of Avatar.
Sometime during the middle days of January 2013, I get a message from my
brother on facebook asking about my interests to participate in UWCT Sri Lanka
Asian Bicycle Championship. The heart was feeling the excitement of starting the year 2013 with a bang. 10,000 kms will be achieved this around. However, the first reaction to his suggestion was certainly
not that of shock nor did it send a shiver down my spine. I just felt nothing because
to feel anything, you got to have a sense of reality and at that point in time,
the sense of reality did not make any appearance in my head, in my thoughts. I
readily agreed not fully realizing what I have agreed to do. Next thing I know
it I have a 3 month training program that required from some deep painful
time on the saddle. I decided to give it my 100%. It would have been 3 days
stage race with 125 odd kms road race followed by 25 odd kms Time Trial and
then 50 odd kms Crit in Colombo.
Nights were spent thinking about what lies ahead of me in the morning
the next day. Studiously, all the workouts were followed and in no time I could
sense my intensity, heart and of course the speed, increasing. The initial training was on those fat 32C tyres
that came with my ADDICT CX bike. I took the wild decision to continue training
on it for full 2 months as I felt the rolling resistance coming off the road coupled with the headwind and determination would get me closer and closer to the magical 40 kmph.
Then came the big move – I shifted to 23C amidst fear that whether I would
succeed in reaching that 40 kmph benchmark. The legs did not disappoint. 11 kms TT
was ridden at 41 kmph. 11 kms may be too short but any distance longer than
that would have sent me straight in KEM hospital’s ICU ward. I ride in Mumbai, another fabled city. I felt satisfied
and ready for the tour.
Then came the biggest shocker of all. The UCWT race stands postponed
indefinitely and eventually canceled. Disappointed ? Oh hell yeah but sad ? Certainly a big NO. MAMIL tour of Jaffna was in store and it did happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment