The idea of making a misal of cycling and running was borne in 2011 when Umesh and I were travelling from Bangalore to Mysore for the Kaveri Trail Marathon. There was a cyclist that we passed on the highway and he was soon out of our minds as we enjoyed the drive and small talk. Later in the evening while we relaxed in the hotel balcony in comes Mr Cyclist and checks into the hotel with the Kaveri Trail Bib bag. Next day after the run he loaded the cycle on car bike rack and checked out.
Soon after Satara Hill Marathon announced its first edition in 2012. I recalled the above and thought this was the ideal event for the Misal as the place is around 130 km from Pune for a half baked randonneour like me to indulge in. It took two more years for the actual attempt, read on ....
Short of Long distance cycling practice I had to take out my Masi for some rides and ended up doing Chandani Chowk and Pirangut. The running training wasn't going good either with the house renovation taking its toll on me physically and mentally. I planned to space out my reserves and not go all out for each of the stage (cycling to satara , Running the half, Cycling back - 130 - 21 - 130 )
Short of Long distance cycling practice I had to take out my Masi for some rides and ended up doing Chandani Chowk and Pirangut. The running training wasn't going good either with the house renovation taking its toll on me physically and mentally. I planned to space out my reserves and not go all out for each of the stage (cycling to satara , Running the half, Cycling back - 130 - 21 - 130 )
Umesh was all geared up with numerous trips to the just opened Decathlon store at Wagholi. He had also bought the Merida Crossway and invested in the right accessories. His training during the last week before the D-day was also way above his usual preparations for any event.
The two of us made a long list and shared notes. I was skeptical about the return and ordered a Bike Car rack for a hatchback / Sedan from BikerZ which arrived just a day before leaving me no time to try it out.
Bharadwaj (Bhari) was going to drive down to Satara in his car with 4 others. I gave our bags (with the running clothes) and rack to him on Friday.
One of the runners in the above group, Vijay, changed his mind and decided to join us on the bike ride. We were a little apprehensive but one never knows the other person's capacity to stretch his limits. It was a risk that each participant needed to evaluate for himself.
Kiran Revankar, a long distance rider decided to accompany us in the morning and turn around at the 40 km mark. We had good company when we met at Rajaram bridge at 6:15 AM
The start of the ride is always great with the body fresh and dawn breaking out with less traffic. We reached the Bombay- Bangalore bypass and hit the false flat road approaching Katraj tunnel at steady pace. Umesh and I were leading the pack and I was trying to introduce Umesh to paceline riding :-) while Kiran and Vijay followed. We took a break at the start of the tunnel for a fuel break and to attach the headlights. We saw a runner approaching us and he was a veteran looking very strong on the uphill.
We resumed the ride with me taking up the rear this time and Vijay in front of the group into the tunnel which was still uphill. Exiting the tunnel was an exhilarating downhill till the Toll and we could cover the lost time as we hit top speed with a nice tail wind to assist us
Our next planned stop was the MacDonald at 36 km. We gorged on some Egg Muffins and I packed another one, advising the others to do the same. I needed the second after the Khambatki climb.
Kiran parted ways soon after and took a U-turn back home while we rode ahead. Vijay was faltering behind and we stopped after some distance to let him catch up with us. The weather was partly cloudy and it showered slightly and I prayed this to continue till Khambatki top. Umesh led the way now with Vijay in the middle and me bringing up the tail. the distance between Umesh and us was increasing and Vijay was at a slower pace than mine. The clouds had cleared and we needed to cover 30 kms more to reach Khambtki base before the sun hit us. I passed Vijay and caught up with Umesh as we approached Shirwal and Khandala.
The ghat was approaching and I mulled over the thought of suggesting Vijay to go to the other side and walk across through the tunnel from the wrong side and save the climb. Would have been dangerous. Umesh was doing strong as he pulled ahead of me and overtook a groaning truck. I kept a high cadence and kept it easy, watching my breath. Soon Umesh had powered his way to the top and started capturing my ascent on his camera. This would soon be his routine for the rest of the journey as well :-)
We decided to wait on the top as I refuelled with the egg muffin. I had also carried a couple of bread sandwiches. Umesh took one of them and I kept the other for Vijay. Both of us made calls and selfies and enjoyed the scenery around for a long time with no sign of Vijay.
I got worried and tried flagging motor bikes passing us to see if they had noticed another cyclists. Finally one guy said he saw a cyclist at the base walking up which meant a another 30 mins. Umesh called up Vijay who told us to go ahead. We got ready for the descent and zoomed down encashing our climb effort till we reached Wai phata and stopped for buying some water. The road surface was getting bad as the six laning work is in progress with lot of diversions and bad surface patches. The sun was hotter without any clouds or breeze and we were around 35 kms away from our destination - the Marathon Expo Hotel. Traffic had become denser as we reached the NH4 crossing to enter the city and stopped to ask for directions. Reached the expo at around 12:30 pm and started the formalities of collecting the Bib. Met Divya Tate and Veloscope photographer Brijesh Nair who spotted the Team PTC - PMC bike jersey. Venkat P from youtoocanrun was in one of the booths for the Bib verification and we bade him bye as we needed to check into our Hotel Lakeview as soon as possible.
The bikes parked outside the Expo had some locals interested. They had the usual queries for long distance cyclists :-). After satisfying their curiosity we found our way to the hotel. After some usual lethargic moments from the hotel management (or lack of it) got a Room which was adjacent to a Reception hall and called the "Bride's room".
This is the changing room and temporary resting room given to the Bride's family for any Marriage function hosted Well, the room was big to accommodate three of us but the toilet was an Indian one. I dreaded the thought of crapping and cramping together, not to mention the getting up after the job was done. But that is for another post ... :-)
We had packed a spare change of shorts in the handle bar bag, as the Car with our bags was to reach in the evening. We removed the Satara marathon t-shirts and put that on much to the bemused look of all the others in the hotel wondering why these guys were wearing the next day's event T-shirt.
Vijay followed us soon after by 1:30 pm in the Hotel restaurant for a well deserved Curd rice, more rice and some more rice and we remembered our Rice eater Bhari who was to drive down and reach by 5:00 PM.
Stage -2 running the half marathon follows ...
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| Checklist |
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| BikerZ bike car rack |
One of the runners in the above group, Vijay, changed his mind and decided to join us on the bike ride. We were a little apprehensive but one never knows the other person's capacity to stretch his limits. It was a risk that each participant needed to evaluate for himself.
Kiran Revankar, a long distance rider decided to accompany us in the morning and turn around at the 40 km mark. We had good company when we met at Rajaram bridge at 6:15 AM
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| At Rajaram bridge 6:00 am |
The start of the ride is always great with the body fresh and dawn breaking out with less traffic. We reached the Bombay- Bangalore bypass and hit the false flat road approaching Katraj tunnel at steady pace. Umesh and I were leading the pack and I was trying to introduce Umesh to paceline riding :-) while Kiran and Vijay followed. We took a break at the start of the tunnel for a fuel break and to attach the headlights. We saw a runner approaching us and he was a veteran looking very strong on the uphill.
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| Paceline :-) Photo credit - Venkat P@youttocanrun |
We resumed the ride with me taking up the rear this time and Vijay in front of the group into the tunnel which was still uphill. Exiting the tunnel was an exhilarating downhill till the Toll and we could cover the lost time as we hit top speed with a nice tail wind to assist us
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| Kiran at Katraj |
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| 3 idiots at Katraj |
Kiran parted ways soon after and took a U-turn back home while we rode ahead. Vijay was faltering behind and we stopped after some distance to let him catch up with us. The weather was partly cloudy and it showered slightly and I prayed this to continue till Khambatki top. Umesh led the way now with Vijay in the middle and me bringing up the tail. the distance between Umesh and us was increasing and Vijay was at a slower pace than mine. The clouds had cleared and we needed to cover 30 kms more to reach Khambtki base before the sun hit us. I passed Vijay and caught up with Umesh as we approached Shirwal and Khandala.
The ghat was approaching and I mulled over the thought of suggesting Vijay to go to the other side and walk across through the tunnel from the wrong side and save the climb. Would have been dangerous. Umesh was doing strong as he pulled ahead of me and overtook a groaning truck. I kept a high cadence and kept it easy, watching my breath. Soon Umesh had powered his way to the top and started capturing my ascent on his camera. This would soon be his routine for the rest of the journey as well :-)
We decided to wait on the top as I refuelled with the egg muffin. I had also carried a couple of bread sandwiches. Umesh took one of them and I kept the other for Vijay. Both of us made calls and selfies and enjoyed the scenery around for a long time with no sign of Vijay.
 |
| Khambatki Top |
The bikes parked outside the Expo had some locals interested. They had the usual queries for long distance cyclists :-). After satisfying their curiosity we found our way to the hotel. After some usual lethargic moments from the hotel management (or lack of it) got a Room which was adjacent to a Reception hall and called the "Bride's room".
 |
| "Vadhu" is bride in Marathi :-) |
We had packed a spare change of shorts in the handle bar bag, as the Car with our bags was to reach in the evening. We removed the Satara marathon t-shirts and put that on much to the bemused look of all the others in the hotel wondering why these guys were wearing the next day's event T-shirt.
Vijay followed us soon after by 1:30 pm in the Hotel restaurant for a well deserved Curd rice, more rice and some more rice and we remembered our Rice eater Bhari who was to drive down and reach by 5:00 PM.
Stage -2 running the half marathon follows ...
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