After spamming friends with enough social media posts on Instagram and Twitter, I am still obliged to write about it here, cos no significant life events leave without going into my blog. If you could remember, my Jan post was all about how I restarted cycling and the lessons from the same. You shall consider this post just as a continuation to it and simply yet another cycling chronicle.
There are 100 years in a century, so as the 100 runs when it comes to cricket. 100 is the basis of percentages and the max score one could secure in almost all exams I wrote in my life. So, you see, 100 is one psychological number perceived as high in value as well as a state of accomplishment. Well, I could hear your mind voice scream impatiently scream “Ennatha dhan solla vara (what do you intending to communicate)” at me, loud and clear. I understand that I should be giving all this useless Gyan, Just cos I completed a 100 km ride on the cycle. But, how else would I annoy my dear readers?
So, before narrating the ride experience, let me tell you about my cycling group and how I met them. Roughly three weeks ago, I decided to ride to one of my favorite spots in Chennai, the N4 Beach, as I missed the place a lot since I moved to my current residence that’s ~40kms away. It’s a most favorite that I even wrote a blog post on it way back in 2009. After starting quite early in the morning, following a couple of hours of tiring ride, I finally reached the place. The view was scintillating with the sun rising over the horizon. But, what surprised me was a group of cyclists, all geared up and taking selfies. When I inquired out of curiosity, they introduced themselves as Idhu Namma Cycling Group and pointed me to Mr. Vimal. After hearing my enthusiasm about cycling, he mentioned that there is also a Chapter in Tambaram and connect me with them. To my surprise, he invited me to join the birthday celebrations of their fellow riders and shared a piece of cake too. A few hours later, he added me to the Tambaram Chapter’s Whatsapp group, and the rest is history.
After getting connected, a couple of days later, I got a call from Vishnu from the group to join us for the ride the next day. Despite being an early riser, their ride time quite surprised me. The next day, we started around 4 am and comfortably completed a 50km ride on the Outer Ring Road (ORR), and it’s the most fav route for the group. It’s a super fun group consisting of wonderful and supportive people, coincidentally hardcore foodies just like me. So, when the team planned to go on a 100 km ride the following weekend, and with the confidence of already completing 80 km, I immediately decided to join without any second thought.
As planned, I started around 3.30 am and joined the group (Myself, Vishnu, Anand, and Sreekanth) by 4.00 am at Tambaram Hindu Mission Hospital (our usual rendezvous point). Then we were joined by the rest (Pravin, Abhinesh, Raja Sir, Bala Sir, and Sowmi Sir) at Vandalur and reached Kovalam via the Vandalur Kelambakkam Road. We had to halt for a few minutes at Kovalam due to unfortunate punctures.
There wasn’t any need to stop except the captivating view of sunrise from the Mutmuttukadu bridge, and our group wouldn’t miss such a photo opportunity. Thus, after a quick photo shoot, we resumed our ride.
From there, we went non-stop to Namba Chennai Selfie Point at Marina Beach. By that time, we have already completed almost 70km and a little tired and dehydrated. So we all unanimously decided to have our breakfast at the most popular Rathna Cafe of Triplicane. I was super excited as this place has been on my list for a very long time, and I finally get to eat there.
From there, it was a non-stop ride to Tambaram via The Mount Road. As expected, the challenging factor was the Chennai heat all over the ride. The app displayed 100km when I was nearing the Tambaram Sanitorium and was shamelessly shouting out of joy and cheering myself while the public on the road threw an odd, strange look at me. Finally, it was precisely 102 km when I reached back at our starting point. I badly want to click a selfie to cherish the moment, but unfortunately, my mobile got switched off due to overheating. It was almost 11.30 am when I reached home thoroughly tired but with a feeling of accomplishment. I also feared losing the complete ride data as the mobile switched off. However, I was super glad to see Strava automatically restore my ride.
I am someone who is never shy of celebrating my small successes. So, I ended the day by treating myself with my favorite Jamaican Passion Breezer, which I saved for the last four months, along with some yummy grilled chicken.
I must really thank the group for their motivation and support all along the ride. I am looking forward to many more such awesome rides with them. Cheers.
Gokoulane Ravi 