With the hands farthest on the Bulldog’s horns and body lowered to get more power out of the legs, I kept going. Legs felt good, the breathing was normal and the heart rate felt to be under control. As approached my nemesis, curve 33, and went past it, I was more comfortable and was confident of a sub 35 min climb. Curve after curve I kept going and I was feeling good. As I took the final turn at curve 40, reached the arch, hit the lap button and saw 32:49 on the screen. Felt elated.
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| We rode in a paceline this morning on our way to Nandi. Deepak doing his turn at the front followed by Arvind, Hari, Ameet and Vicki. Start of a super ride this morning! |
Looking at who all turned up for the ride, I was sure that it was going to be a fast ride. I was not proved wrong. We started out on a paceline right away with Arvind doing the work at the front. Then the rest of us, apart from Vicki, took turns at the front and the train kept rolling smoothly. Vicki apparently was learning to ride in a paceline and rode very well tucked in the middle. We were averaging around 31.1kmph for 36km before we decided to take it a little easy for about 5km before the climb started.
Almost all of us started climbing at the same time and I was hoping we’d continue to paceline and they would somehow pull me up the climb. Alas, that was not going to be. Vickie and Hari rode on followed by Ameet and Arvind while I was riding along side Deepak.
My legs began to open up 1km into the climb and I slowly went past Deepak. I could see Ameet and Arvind ahead and kept going just keeping them in sight. The HR seemed to be in control and the legs were surprisingly fresh after a hard ride to the base. The carrots in front were having a good effect on me and I kept going at a comfortable pace. As I approached 4km, I went past Ameet and then approached Arvind. Arvind pulled over and stopped having decided to quit the climb due to a bit of pain in his quads. Vicki and Hari were in front and were no where in sight.
With the hands farthest on the Bulldog’s horns and body lowered to get more power out of the legs, I kept going. Legs felt good, the breathing was normal and the heart rate felt to be under control. As approached my nemesis curve 33 and went past it, I was more comfortable and was confident of a sub 35 min climb. Curve after curve I kept going and I was feeling good. As I took the final turn at curve 40, reached the arch, hit the lap button and saw 32:49 on the screen. Felt elated.
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| Top of Nandi with Vicki. Both of us had our PB for Nandi climb today. Vicki’s is at 30:30 while the Bulldog’s is at 32:49. Very happy as you can see. 🙂 |
Hari and Vicki who were relaxing there came to me and gave me a congratulatory hug when I told them that it was my PB. Hari had a great climb with a 29:40 and Vicki had a PB with an amazing 30:30 timing.
Ameet came in next with a climb time of 34:27 followed by Deepak with a wide smile at 37 mins. We all posed for some snaps together before heading back to the base where we joined Arvind for the ride back.
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| Hari, Vicki, Ameet and Deepak after the climb. Arvind did only half of the climb as he turned back with a niggle. |
Hari was apparently channeling his nervous energy of a deadline at work to lead the ride back. But that energy was a bit too much to keep up for a few of us after a hard climb and gaps began to appear in the paceline. Vicki and Deepak managed to keep up with him and I was trying desperately to bridge the gap. Arvind and Ameet were somewhere behind taking it a bit easy.
I managed to bridge the gap just as they crossed the highway to get into Devanahalli. I rode with them till the end of Siva’s road where we decided to have some fresh coconut water while we wait for Arvind and Ameet to join us. They rolled in just a few seconds later and we started riding back after all of us had some fresh and natural electrolytes.
We all rode together for a while and just as we approached Budigere Vicki came to the front and started to ride strong. Deepak, Ameet and I rode behind her for a while. But after Budigere village, Vicki and Deepak managed to drop me and Ameet. Hari apparently took our request to stay at the back of the pack a little too seriously and was riding behind along with Arvind.
I started another chase to bridge the break away pack of Vicki and Deepak. May be I would have had a better chance of catching them if I had worked with Ameet instead of losing him to go and chase on my own. I managed to keep them in sight for a long time but the gap began to increase with 5km to the end and I lost sight of them after that.
It was an amazing ride from Vicki who managed to drop everyone of us but for Deepak. He glued himself to her wheel and stayed there till the end. Amazing how Deepak manages to stay with the lead rider/pack in almost every group ride and still says he is slow and pathetic etc. Kudos to both of them to have whipped up a ride like that at the end. I rolled in around a minute behind followed by Ameet and Hari. Arvind came in a little later having slowed down with a brake rub which he found only after getting home.
Thank you guys for an amazing ride that I would cherish for a long time.
Stats here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/129739540