After that 300 ride in chennai, got to know of the Master Brevet series happening in Bangalore from Vijay. So took a last minute decision on a thursday to participate in a bangalore brevet 300. To my luck, the registrations were closed 
. Called up Chiddu and he said its fine and opened up the registrations for me 
! quickly booked the bus tickets and reached bangalore by Saturday afternoon. And with this Brevet, started my Super Randonneur story:
1. Brevet 300 - June 22 Bangalore-Hiriyur-Bangalore
The moment I got off the bus, bangalore was too cold. I took the cycle out of the Volvo and I was almost shivering while cycling at 2 in the afternoon. Finally got the hang of it by evening and got acclimatized!
So the brevet 300 was scheduled to start at 11pm and met only a handful of riders (just 11) who were attempting. Got to know from a fellow rider that till the U turn point, it was rolling downhill with headwinds and uphill on the way back. What better could we ask for!
Started off a bit fast as I wanted to get out of Bangalore city (read shitty) traffic and roads as soon as possible. tagged along with 3 bangalore riders Yogesh, Manoj and Arvind, who were my navigators all along. We maintained a nice 4 man paceline, the four of us till we reached the U turn point by 6 am. On the return it was good tail-wind push and really enjoyed the mountain-views along the roads. Finished this brevet by 3 pm and the only thing that was troubling was the sleep. Had a good sound sleep on the bus journey back.
manoj, me and yogesh after the ride. Arvind missing from the pic!
2. Brevet 200 - June 29 Chennai-Marakanam-Chennai
This route was in the back of my palms. We used to do relaxed recovery rides till marakanam. So as soon as the brevet kicked off, we paced ourselves quite nicely and there was a big turnout. Faced the usual chennai heat and headwinds till the U turn point. The winds changed direction on the return and the sun had no mercy. so decided on taking a refreshment break at CCD in mahabs which turned out to be a 1 hour break! There I learned that I was ahead of everyone when Neville caught up with me. Rode with Neville till the finish and as he had a similar pace and we finished by 3pm.
Me and Neville on the last control
3. Brevet 400 - July 20 Chennai-Ulundurpet-Chennai
Even this route was quite familiar to me as Ive done a couple of rides to Tindivanam before. But what was not familiar was the heavy headwinds that existed that day. Almost lost every gram of salt in my body till we reached the U turn point. Neville and I were going together as we were in sync with the pace. The first time, I felt the need of electral and salts in a ride as my jersey and shorts were full of salts now. Even though we reached the U turn point first, we stopped at a big restaurant and had a big lunch for almost 2.5 hours. We started the return journey when almost all the riders reached the halway and then I experienced the rain! Rain has this mischevious effect of regaining your spirits and energy levels no matter what condition you are in. From then on, it was a bliss ride back to chennai with good tailwinds and a bunch of riders for company.
The handful of riders at the Uturn point in Ullundurpet. Met them after we completed our mammoth break!
4. Brevet 600 - August 3 - Bangalore Tristate
Ive heard a lot about this brevet, about its climbs, elephant corridor, heat, headwinds, terrain etc. Immediately registered for it as 600 was the only one remaining for my Super randonneur. Went to Bangalore with Karthik Padmanaban in his car and decided to do a reccee of the route. there was some Telangana problem going on which resulted in lot of jam in the andhra stretch of the brevet. Hence we made our plans accordingly. When I reached bangalore, my throat was totally gone as I caught up with a flu and I was blowing air instead of talk. At the start point saw quite a few familliar faces as 10 out of the 17 riders were from Chennai. The initial parts of the brevet was more like a tour. Till the sathanur control, totally enjoyed myself like a kid watching all the surrounding hills. Had thatta Idly which are huge idlys in harohalli which were the fuel for the Jigani climb. I was a bit skeptical about climbing as I have never climbed before. But when I reached that diversion to Jigani, saw the roads going straight up. and surprisingly, it was very easy on my sportif. I was thanking gods that I had a 32t cassette! Never had to get out of the saddle even once. The tamilnadu part of the ride was pretty much boring and even had time to sleep for 3 HOURS!! in the Pallikonda CCD. Then it was the second Palamner climb, and to my surprise again, all the tiredness and sleepiness went away as soon as the climb started. I was riding with Karthik, and both of us felt really fresh after finishing the climb. We quickly finished our breakfast at Palamner and synced up with bangalore guys Karthikeyan, Kalpesh and Sandeep who were very strong riders. From then on, it was hot and head winds till Chikballpur with a rolling climb which was more of climb than rolling at times. The only thing that kept me going was the amazing views all around. Karnataka is truly blessed with scenic places. After chikballapur, caught up with the Bangalore guys again who helped us navigate and reach IISC in time. Finished this one by 10pm and felt much better than all other brevets I have done. So yes became Super randonneur after 42 days
At Sathanur Control
My thoughts after the Super Randonneur series:
1. The first 300 brevet was a bit hard and the last 600 brevet was better. It is a sign that my body is getting used to it.
2. SR is not a title or achievement. It more of adjective or attitude.
3. Brevets are best enjoyed with minimal highways and lots of climbs
4. More the people in group - more time spent for breaks.
5. Strictly stay away from over-packed people and the ones who don't know how to fix a flat!
6. Even thought lots of things will tempt you, we have to settle for curd rice and control our hunger.
7. SR doesnt stop at 600, there is always the 1000 and 1200 to be finished.
Some Images:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10519588 ... Irj086djgE
. Called up Chiddu and he said its fine and opened up the registrations for me ! quickly booked the bus tickets and reached bangalore by Saturday afternoon. And with this Brevet, started my Super Randonneur story:1. Brevet 300 - June 22 Bangalore-Hiriyur-Bangalore
The moment I got off the bus, bangalore was too cold. I took the cycle out of the Volvo and I was almost shivering while cycling at 2 in the afternoon. Finally got the hang of it by evening and got acclimatized!
So the brevet 300 was scheduled to start at 11pm and met only a handful of riders (just 11) who were attempting. Got to know from a fellow rider that till the U turn point, it was rolling downhill with headwinds and uphill on the way back. What better could we ask for!
Started off a bit fast as I wanted to get out of Bangalore city (read shitty) traffic and roads as soon as possible. tagged along with 3 bangalore riders Yogesh, Manoj and Arvind, who were my navigators all along. We maintained a nice 4 man paceline, the four of us till we reached the U turn point by 6 am. On the return it was good tail-wind push and really enjoyed the mountain-views along the roads. Finished this brevet by 3 pm and the only thing that was troubling was the sleep. Had a good sound sleep on the bus journey back.
manoj, me and yogesh after the ride. Arvind missing from the pic!
2. Brevet 200 - June 29 Chennai-Marakanam-Chennai
This route was in the back of my palms. We used to do relaxed recovery rides till marakanam. So as soon as the brevet kicked off, we paced ourselves quite nicely and there was a big turnout. Faced the usual chennai heat and headwinds till the U turn point. The winds changed direction on the return and the sun had no mercy. so decided on taking a refreshment break at CCD in mahabs which turned out to be a 1 hour break! There I learned that I was ahead of everyone when Neville caught up with me. Rode with Neville till the finish and as he had a similar pace and we finished by 3pm.
Me and Neville on the last control
3. Brevet 400 - July 20 Chennai-Ulundurpet-Chennai
Even this route was quite familiar to me as Ive done a couple of rides to Tindivanam before. But what was not familiar was the heavy headwinds that existed that day. Almost lost every gram of salt in my body till we reached the U turn point. Neville and I were going together as we were in sync with the pace. The first time, I felt the need of electral and salts in a ride as my jersey and shorts were full of salts now. Even though we reached the U turn point first, we stopped at a big restaurant and had a big lunch for almost 2.5 hours. We started the return journey when almost all the riders reached the halway and then I experienced the rain! Rain has this mischevious effect of regaining your spirits and energy levels no matter what condition you are in. From then on, it was a bliss ride back to chennai with good tailwinds and a bunch of riders for company.
The handful of riders at the Uturn point in Ullundurpet. Met them after we completed our mammoth break!
4. Brevet 600 - August 3 - Bangalore Tristate
Ive heard a lot about this brevet, about its climbs, elephant corridor, heat, headwinds, terrain etc. Immediately registered for it as 600 was the only one remaining for my Super randonneur. Went to Bangalore with Karthik Padmanaban in his car and decided to do a reccee of the route. there was some Telangana problem going on which resulted in lot of jam in the andhra stretch of the brevet. Hence we made our plans accordingly. When I reached bangalore, my throat was totally gone as I caught up with a flu and I was blowing air instead of talk. At the start point saw quite a few familliar faces as 10 out of the 17 riders were from Chennai. The initial parts of the brevet was more like a tour. Till the sathanur control, totally enjoyed myself like a kid watching all the surrounding hills. Had thatta Idly which are huge idlys in harohalli which were the fuel for the Jigani climb. I was a bit skeptical about climbing as I have never climbed before. But when I reached that diversion to Jigani, saw the roads going straight up. and surprisingly, it was very easy on my sportif. I was thanking gods that I had a 32t cassette! Never had to get out of the saddle even once. The tamilnadu part of the ride was pretty much boring and even had time to sleep for 3 HOURS!! in the Pallikonda CCD. Then it was the second Palamner climb, and to my surprise again, all the tiredness and sleepiness went away as soon as the climb started. I was riding with Karthik, and both of us felt really fresh after finishing the climb. We quickly finished our breakfast at Palamner and synced up with bangalore guys Karthikeyan, Kalpesh and Sandeep who were very strong riders. From then on, it was hot and head winds till Chikballpur with a rolling climb which was more of climb than rolling at times. The only thing that kept me going was the amazing views all around. Karnataka is truly blessed with scenic places. After chikballapur, caught up with the Bangalore guys again who helped us navigate and reach IISC in time. Finished this one by 10pm and felt much better than all other brevets I have done. So yes became Super randonneur after 42 days
At Sathanur Control
My thoughts after the Super Randonneur series:
1. The first 300 brevet was a bit hard and the last 600 brevet was better. It is a sign that my body is getting used to it.
2. SR is not a title or achievement. It more of adjective or attitude.
3. Brevets are best enjoyed with minimal highways and lots of climbs
4. More the people in group - more time spent for breaks.
5. Strictly stay away from over-packed people and the ones who don't know how to fix a flat!
6. Even thought lots of things will tempt you, we have to settle for curd rice and control our hunger.
7. SR doesnt stop at 600, there is always the 1000 and 1200 to be finished.
Some Images:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10519588 ... Irj086djgE
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