03.02.2011 - 04.02.2011
How many emotions can you count in one day?
I think a day seems fulfilling if they go beyond the fingers on your hands..
Nothing could've prepared me for my enduro experience & I wish to capture as much of it as I can remember before i sadly forget the downsides & remember only the ebullient stages. (this is a detailed account)
It started with our arrival, where we met Crazy Gautam & his lamborghini (a beautiful 27 year old maruti 800) that swerved through the streets of Pune with a mean "fuck off the road..*beep beep*".... I thought I was a bitch on the roads but this little machine took the trophy. I had just landed & not even started the race & I could anticipate a crash any minute.. but i soon joined in the abuses & enjoyed the gush of moist heavy wind that I missed so much living in dry delhi! After dropping off our huge bike boxes we headed towards "The Place" for a sizzling meal that would be the last proper meal we'd have for the next 2 days.
Friday morning started with a groan & a very angry "what" to Guy on the other end of the knocks on the door. I'd slept for only 4 hours! After all the planning I didn't think i'd get this little sleep before what I knew to be a grueling event! We packed up our gear & food & hit the road to S.P. College for the start of the race at 7:30. Shockingly, the chief guest arrived 30 minutes late in his 4WD Fortuner & a squad of men running along the car that encircled the premise before reaching the spot. Talk about spotlight. We had a 9:30 flag off after much drumroll & "enduro enduro" chants.
The policemen stopped the traffic to let us cross through the busy intersections on Pune streets to reach Khadakwasla; what we thought was the first checkpoint but was actually the flag off point. 'So about 14 kms of riding were unaccounted for????' I protested with curses. The flag off was on a uphill. No anticipatory gear change, no "run-ups", just start your ride by releasing the brakes and pedalling a steep climb..Woot! Now did it end there? No! There were about 15 curves of climbs! I was about to give up before even properly starting the race! Guy & Jeremy tugged my bike & then pushed me forth to the last curve at which point I had only my reserve of Ipod (Rome by Phoenix) that had helped to keep moving my pedals forward. With the last ounce of force I pedalled my last climb to witness what I can claim to be the most spectacular downhill..through chilly breeze & a glorious green hill with the bluest sky & the brightest sun that bounced its shine off the grey-black tarmac. I quickly regained all my energy with shrill cries of laughter that cracked the serenity of the place with one arm guiding the swerves of the downhill & the other fingering the wind that swooshed between my fingers softer than silk....
Oh it was lovely. Its beyond the pleasure you feel at winning an award or getting through an admission in college or getting good grades. This is different. This is like the pleasure you feel when you're missing two legs & the art of prosthetics has given you an ability to fly.. This feeling is indescribable.
But there lay a road.. that I knew now wouldn't get any easier & I had only just crossed point 1 off the stipulated 9 checkpoints.
Was it a good feeling? Im not sure.. I just knew I'd had an incredible experience
& I just wanted water.
The marshall at the checkpoint guided us down "that hill" for another 2 beautifully scenic swerves where in the middle of it somewhere we found a little hut that was a surprising host to chilled thumbsup & lots of water! We guzzled up all we could & played with the little puppy that was trying to entangle itself in our bag straps before gearing up for another promised strenuous period of mechanical leg-movement. Riding in full intensity through flat plains we came across a pretty little spot that looked promising for a lunch. We dropped our bikes & set out a picnic that was complete with A plate & A spoon but not a tablecloth. 2 cheese triangles & 3 bread muffs for each with one spoon Gajar halwa. Yum.
Set forth we did after the delicious meal to reach a checkpoint where the marshals pointed "this section is to be completed in 30 minutes.." It was about 2 pm that time & we were only to happy to finish it in half an hour to retire for the day. At this point I had already reconciled myself to the fact that I've had the most glorious 5 hours of riding i've experienced in my life & if faced with an adversity i'd quit.. but that thought was pushed behind in the fraction of a milisecond as it came. The tortuous 3 hours that lay ahead! Oh my my... 30 mins? That bloody arse! Did he know what he was talking about????? It has to be the most difficult path i've come across. Riding with every ounce on loose stone on a road that was not really a road with no clear sand patch you could swerve towards to ride on.. It was horrible. Stones! We're riding on stones!!! & we're riding uphill on stones!!!! Who the hell thought this would be a good idea!? Completely ignoring the scenic beauty of an undulating lake around me, my fingers were paining with the strain to keep my handlebar straight & hitting the brakes.. I couldn't let the bike roll on downhills as the end of it is a steep curve that you're guaranteed to lose control & fall off! I had to hit the brake on downhills full of loose stone. Not gravel, STONE.
I had at this point dropped my bike atleast 3 times to tender to the sharp muscle spasms that hit both my calves & all my fingers simultaneously & were gruelling to make you cry as at this point there was no electrol to cure the pain & no bed to rest for a bit to proceed forward. Drop the bike, shake it off, somehow. Grab the bike & move on. I willingly handed my bike later to guy & jeremy who took turns to walk it up the steep sections coz i couldn't pedal 'that thing' further!.... Is this going to end?
Finally the checkpoint. Please tell me its a campsite.. It looks like it, its got a car, its got people lying around squirming in pain & grief...ok.. Whats happening?
We reach out to the marshall. "Hello there. I wish to pay my condolence to the idiot who told me I could finish the last section in 30 minutes. I will kill him. On another note, please tell me this is the end for today."
a polite smile... "you see that hill top there? You have to climb over that hill...." & then he said something i didn't hear well enough. I really think at this point i'd started hallucinating. Was he kidding? Its nearing 7 pm. He wants me to trek WITH MY BIKE, Over THAT HILL!? WTF.
Jeremy confirmed this... I'd zonked out. What hill? That bloody hill?
What????
Still in the haze I plonked for 10 minutes on the grass & snapped at the marshall who mercilessly told me that my time is running & that I need to keep moving.. while Guy fetched us some water from the village. I didn't look up. I just took out my lights from the backpack to gear up for the "up that hill" .."trek"...
& it wasn't pretty.
With only 3 lights on our helmets to guide us we were trying to head up a hill with our bikes through sections im sure I'd have enough trouble walking through in the bright sunlight of the morning as well. Theres a gorge on one side & a path that has enough space for only two feet to pass by. Im not sure why i kept slipping.. I couldn't get a grip on the soil!.. which wasn't the nicest thing to say when you have a bike in your hand as well! We called out to 3 beeping lights we saw little over us "Is there a path??" & awaited a "We don't know" call-back. Ok time to re-evaluate.. Is that red light up on to the right a beacon? Is that where we have to go? Lets climb this straight forward & wait for a path to break towards the right.
In the midst of the chaos & right before what we would soon realize was indeed a break, we reached a landing. I think at this point we were sufficiently under-enthused about the beacon & of finding respite at its end.. so we did momentarily discuss this landing to be a campsite for the night.. I had my back to the mother of a hill that I wanted to climb to reach a flat path that would break to the beacon red light that I thought must be the point to reach & my eyes hovered over to the sky...
Imagine being plonked on a stone right in the middle of a hill, with silhouettes of hills all around & a pitch dark sky with no moon to disturb the twinkling stars, with no real reason to reach a top which wasn't even that clear to reach & with absolutely NO sense of a proper direction except the thought that you had to move "Top" & with one yellowish-orange fire blazing through a distant hill in a snake-like manner... We decided to egg on & marked the spot if we wanted to come back to it.
But it wasnt necessary, we soon found the break in the path we were hoping for & a marshall with a torchlight.. but we were pretty sure at this point that this was not the end.
The marshalls equipped us with the last bottle of water they had left & we took a 10 minute respite before "climb a bit further & then take the path to your left".. Ohkay.. "Walk for about 30 minutes & you'll see a downhill of 10 kms that you'll ride to the campsite.. It shouldn't take more than 2 hours more here.."
& these were the marshalls who previously told us to complete a section in 30 minutes that we took more than 3 hours to finish.
Alright then, its time to push someone off the cliff.
(Anger? Why was I feeling that?)
Atleast this was a flat plain.. Guy was high on spirits, Jeremy was too. Their cheerful banter & my little muster of a laugh & pointless conversation which skipped topics every 2 seconds as noone really concentrated on what they were saying led us through the flat plains of tugging the bike. I did get Guy & Jeremy to push my bike then too, I did protest but not too much as I was more than happy not carrying that burden.. My arms would ache as I would lift them half up to grab the handle-bar to make it move forward.. who knew steering the bike would be an effort.
We passed downhills & uphills & had a few scary slips but we made it through.. We were with about 5-6 other teams at this point & all of us were eager to get this over with. Sipping through the last ounce of water & struggling with directions given by the villagers we made it to the next checkpoint. Now its riding time... In the dark.
While everyone was busy fixing up their flat tires (we managed miraculously with none: Slime Tubes. I Love You) we rode in the dark through gravel enhanced, stony path that was termed as "road" by the marshalls. At this point my fingers were numb with pain & I really didn't give a shit. Just rode. Didn't think about it, just rode to the campsite.
Now this is the end right? Come on! Nothing more... Nope. Sorry the challenge for today hasn't ended yet. There's still river crossing to finish.. "You're the team leader?" he pointed towards me.. "please proceed towards the river & the volunteers will guide you through river crossing" Its 10 pm. Im tired. "I don't know how to swim" I managed with the excuse & asked Guy if he would do this instead of me & I think he was only too happy to jump in the water for a swim that we were eagerly awaiting an instance of during our 3 hour ride but not right now.. not when swimming requires energy that you don't have.. But he did it anyway & boy was he fast.
So with this our Day 1 FINALLY came to an end at 10:30. We found a spot & set base for the night. We got out our pan & hunted for wood for a fire.. You can't light a fire! The marshall's exclaimed! & we retorted with "just watch us" :P
The marshall's protest gave up soon.. & we cooked a lovely methi chicken readymade meal & finished in flat 5 minutes with the bread we had left. My mouth still waters thinking of it.. Had I been home at that time & in the state i'd been in, I would've probably emptied the fridge but for now this was good. This was enough.
