Day 3 - BREAKING BAD-RAA

Padhu (Padhmanaban) fellow rider met us at breakfast & shared his last years’ experience. He was the last rider to reach Kalsa last year, riding the last 10 KMs in dark supported by the crew vehicle’s headlight. Only difference being that they came to the hotel from a different route, and oh! by now you can imagine my state of mind. I think SV was also convinced that we could have attempted & was with me. So, when we saw Santosh I poured my heart out & SV suggested that we will complete the missed section today as anyways it is going to be a short day. Internally I was thinking the same, I knew we will take more than 12.30 but even if we complete by 2, I believed we had time to complete the missed section. Santosh remarked then you will have to go & then come back, so it will be 22kms. 22kms was not so much I thought, all I wanted was to complete it. I really don’t know how Santosh perceived us but looking back he did an awesome job of neither de-motivating/scaring, nor motivating u; even though he knew how amateur & in-experienced we were. He must have perceived us as riders, struggling to complete with less stamina but full of josh & determination. He knew the terrain, the challenge, the toughness & also knew our pace, our strength, our skillset – still he never gave us a “can you do“ kind of look or word. In fact, this was also superbly done by SV too. He replied to us that we have enough challenges on all days & there is nothing to regret, but we can also do it, if needed. He added when you have lost a match or anything, after a tough fight then you shouldn’t regret, be happy that you gave your best.

We had a short briefing by Santosh that today’s ride will be for 53 KMs in an off-road trail and so we should be back to hotel for lunch. After flag-off we started the ride with our raincoats as it was quite foggy. 

Third day continuously on the saddle but our bums were ok, thanks to the aloevera gel from fresh leaves and coconut oil that we applied from day 1 proactively (before we had any rashes or soreness). We meticulously continued this process all days.

The first 2 kms itself was a steep ascend & here I was struggling to pedal just few mins after my catch-up conversations with Santosh oh! what a flip, of course everybody were pushing, but it was too hard for me. Reality hit me hard, ok let us complete today’s target first, forget about catching up.  It is very interesting what life has to offer & especially in GMC how your emotions play a role. The first 15 kms was with ascends & descends and in no time, we removed our rain jackets and reached the race section of 7.5kms race section (steep ascend of approximately 300m). Jabeen had changed to her shoes and this helped to get rid of her toe numbness. Until now it was paved roads off-roads will start at the end of the racing section. Jabeen & Tabu were ahead going good, SV couldn’t eat any breakfast as she had little stomach upset issue. She was surviving on cucumber, bread & jam etc. and started little late for the race section, but in no time was moving past us.

The route was a nice scenic beautiful route, different trees, I was riding, “My pace, My Ride, My Joy” enjoying and stopping for few clicks.

I felt that my bike was not moving/co-operating for the effort put in. Just a few meters before race end, there was a descend in off-road. Because it was a descend SV stopped and Tabu finished first, followed by SV, Jabeen & me last.

At break point we relaxed, refreshed, refueled & started off. Now started the pure off-road section, my first time in an off-road trail, in fact for all of us. It was complete descend in off-road, I was scared but I managed.
The road, ok there was no road at all but a path full of all sizes of stones & gravel in which even walking was difficult. Off-road descend is scarier because if you error out then your fall is bad on rocks & stones. I realized if you just go on at a decent pace without reducing the speed, you’re much better off. Because if you are too slow then the chances of losing your balance and tripping over the stones are higher, when you are moving down in the speed the acceleration will help you move past it, so it should be controlled pace. 

My palms were aching because of hard braking for a stretched period. Since it is a bumpy ride I was off the saddle most of the time & my legs were tired too, even without pedaling. I felt slight pain in my back, post the first off-road descend, remembered my bike didn’t have suspension too. After the descend there was again an ascend, all off-road, now off-road ascend is better than descend because more than worrying on the slope up your focus is on which path to take, which stone to avoid, anyway you can pedal only slow. 

In subsequent ascends, others easily caught up with me & all 4 of us were pushing ourselves under the hot sun. Multiple thoughts were running through my mind, why was I torturing myself, who cares, if I am good at ascend, thought how my husband had packed me for this expedition etc. I reflected that my daughter will be the only person who doesn’t care if I complete or not, she is just waiting for her amma and just wanted me to be with her. We stopped at one place for a sip of water.  The expressive me and my face reflecting my mind, started off on this self-torture feeling & was quickly joined by Tabu & Jabeen.

I looked at SV who was chit-chatting casually, oh what a mis judgement here I am on this challenge because SV had done it!. She can manage ascends easily, she was relaxing emotionless. That is when I named here AP aka Amanushya piravi (super natural being), she really is in many ways!! 

Jabeen looked at me & told, “Oh am glad that you too feel the same and talking like a normal person now. I was so scared/worried seeing/hearing you last night & today morning, the way you were trying to catch-up and discussing with Santosh”. SV was not reacting anything in specific, she was also tired, she just mentioned that this off-road section was not in her previous GMC expedition. Good thing is she didn’t defend or try to explain but let us vent out & we three were in give-up mode, negativity at its peak, that’s the beauty of SV and another reason to call her AP. Jabeen and me decided that when we our experiences we should share more details to get a true picture etc.,I told my view on how GMC organizers should plan routes, to encourage amateurs like us. Me and Jabeen had many ideas and we decided to share this to them. Now we saw other riders passing/rolling their cycles ahead of us. During our long vent-out break, the support vehicle crossed, and Praveen gave us juicy apples.  Praveen (support crew member who swept me yesterday) asked me “Madam, when are you doing the extra mile you missed yesterday?”. Few mins back, Tabu too asked me that, perfect timing. Your emotions in GMC are also up and down like a sine wave, like Malnad flats, I gave up all that wish list & accepted reality. Basically, 55kms off road is almost equivalent of 80kms on paved roads. Now finally we got up & rolled up for quite some distance & had another descend.

These descends are not like flying high descends, these descends are “hold on” descends, like save yourself descend. You can neither slow down nor speed up, yes off the saddle but the brake and the off-road ride will transfer the impact all through your body. Rohit suggested to hold out your elbows outwards while braking/downhill, like instead of your hands being stretched straight they are bent outwards. This way the impact is not directly transferred to your back and this technique helped a lot and I felt the difference immediately. My husband called me during the downhill and I shared my mental state with him, he motivated “Of course, it is a challenge so will not be easy but don’t give up. Not completing 10-12KM stretch shouldn’t de-motivate you or make you feel incomplete.” I managed the downhill followed by Tabu. Sunil who came down with me pedaled up to get SV and Jabeen. Mentor cyclists have the stamina and will power to do the stretches twice, no matter uphill or downhill they are amazing.

We finally reached a break station where in Santosh was available. Jabeen suggested to share the feedback now, I was skeptical as it will delay us, was keen on not repeating my yesterday’s mistake. Nevertheless, I knew early feedback is always effective, anyways today is a short day. Santosh was also open and all ears for it with a remark “I am open to feedback but cannot promise that I will implement it as I have to hear from everybody, but it is your duty to give a feedback”. Fair enough, we vented out our thoughts, criticism and suggestions etc. we didn’t spare anything, very open and shared all that we discussed as a group.

We shared how we trusted SV and landed up here, but it was way above than our preparation etc., on how pepped we were and had shared with friends before leaving etc., We suggested to have differences in challenge levels, like alternate routes for amateur vs professional, to encourage amateur participation. We also added the positive side that mentor cyclists/support crew were very supportive. Luckily Ram was also there, and he also fully agreed with our view/suggestions, so it was not all women feedback 😊. Santosh and crew listened fully, laughed in between and was happy that SV was also there to take the brunt. Santosh added finally “Wait until the last day and then we will talk again. Even now you have two choices, you can either take an easy route on paved road to hotel (shorter distance) or continue the off track which has beautiful tea estates en-route”. Even though I was in a venting out mood, I didn’t want to take the easy route, also once you vent out the negative feeling is out. Let me pedal or roll, but we will continue in the planned route.
Our mind was relaxed but the road wasn’t, we somehow pushed ourselves, with Santosh motivating us about the beautiful tea estate view and drive amongst tea estate 500mtrs ahead. Finally, we reached the tea estate view, it indeed was beautiful, but I was in no mood to relax, which was a pity.

The off-road ride was amidst the tea estate, narrow road amongst the plantations. We had taken two long breaks and I knew we are delayed. Sunil asked us if we were not hungry, it was 2 pm already but the eatables at break stations were sufficient. I was in no mood to enjoy, I was concerned that at this pace, we will not even reach the hotel before dusk, which I wanted to. So, I didn’t stop much for pics, mind you the path was still off-road!  We pedaled up, all I wanted was to join the main road & compete our day. After tea it was coffee plantations & then off-road came to an end, what a relief. Me and SV were ahead, Jabeen and Tabu with Sunil. Later came to know that Jabeen had a fall & luckily uphill fall & so it was ok. Her palm guard had saved her from bruises. Finally, me & SV joined the main road & pedaled all the way to reach hotel at 4pm for lunch.  Santosh welcomed us saying he had expected us to finish by 2.30pm at least. Jabeen & Tabu also reached in few mins & we were all through for the day. Oh! What a day it was, what a start and end.  Both terrain wise & psychologically too!

Once we reached hotel and had our late lunch (in the evening), we saw Jabeen was in bad shape. She told us “Today I realized how much I love my family and miss them, nothing matters now and I just want to be with them”. All the physical strain had worsened her further. We consulted our fellow rider Dr. Prabhu from Virajpet, unfortunately he didn’t have the required medicines but gave her generic vitamin/B-complex pills. Jabeen has been postponing the update to Sameer (her husband) on her condition/emotions, fearing he might ask her to return. Finally, today she called, and Sameer’s words soothed her. He motivated saying “You have never done this in your whole lifetime, having gone through most of the pain now don’t lose hope. Your health will improve”. 
Meanwhile Santosh suggested me to try the spare MTB bike they had, the BETTA. I think this is because they see me struggling to pedal up. I have a hybrid one and Opendro already had changed the crank to a shorter one, seeing my pedaling during Nandi ascend. He didn’t have a spare one that fits exactly to my gears, so with the new one front gear 3 (left hand) cannot be engaged. But Opendro said I will not need the third gear much anyways and it is important for me to able to ride up than go fast. He had also told that except for the climbing gear my cycle is good for GMC. Probably Santosh wanted to avoid future vent-outs and was trying to support in all means to ensure I ascend 😊. I tried the BETTA & felt good, and so for the next day it will be Betta (it will have the climbing gear 😊 that my Helicon didn’t have, whatever it means).
Jabeen took some rest while we three went to Annapoorneshwari Temple nearby in a rick. Temple was less crowded, and I felt a serene feeling looking at the devi’s idol. We had our dinner at the temple and returned to hotel. En-route I shared my observation, that when we had our first stop/vent-out break many riders moved/rolled past us, so it implies if it is tough we shouldn’t give up, just keep moving either pedal or roll. Just formed my new tagline “Keep pedaling or Keep rolling but Keep moving”.