Media Release

Mangaluru, May 22: Twelve of the members of Mangalore Bicycle Club (MBC) joined an elite 200 km league by venturing on a full night ride on May 19 and 20. The 200 km league is one of MbC many initiatives to encourage and inspire regular cyclists to try the terrains of endurance cycling. This event has been part of MBC’s rewards programme for past couple of years and has helped them achieve the objective they had set for this programme.

This year they wanted to make it a unique, memorable, exciting and enjoyable experience for our riders along with the endurance part of it. The time when 12 of the riders and couple of members came forward to be part of the support crew, they swung into planning. As a club, which believes in safe and enjoyable riding for their members, they wanted to ensure everything was planned right from the beginning.

Planning

Support vehicle with bicycle rack in case of emergency and breakdown, first aid kit, snacks, fruits, water and crew were an indispensable part of their plan and ride, considering 6 new riders part of the group and also from the overall safety and comfort factor of all the riders. For the club this midnight ride in such a large group was first of its kind.

Starting point was fixed as Ladyhill circle and the plan was to ride till Trasi and return to Mangaluru via Kundapur. They had 12 riders and 2 members as crew with support vehicle.

Every minute detail like assembly time, starting time, mapping of stop over points every 20 km for hydration and refueling riders, route map and responsibilities of support vehicle were all jotted down. Hydration break points for onward journey were Mulki, Uchila, Udupi, Saligrama and Kundapura. Next stop for their u-turn was fixed as Cafe Coffee day at trading around 3 am on May 20. This stopover was also for the riders to relax and rejuvenate for 90 minutes and return journey was planned to commence at 4:30 am from there. On their return leg, breakfast was planned at Mitra Samaj, Udupi and reach back home around 10:30 am on May 20.

Over the last one week, all the riders have been taking time out from their family to train themselves for this very exciting event.

The Ride

The riders all geared up met on May 19 at 9 pm at Ladyhill circle. Post clicking a group picture, they all set out on the ride.

They followed lead and sweep method ensuring no rider is left behind at any point in time and no one rider is ahead of the group. It was made clear to all riders to ride together in a group. The group was a mix of 6 experienced and 6 amateur cyclists and the spread was accordingly planned.

Despite having 6 amateur riders, the ride was smooth without any hassle until they covered 85 km post that they were forced to take shelter due to heavy rains, thundering and lightning. The support vehicle was waiting for the troop at Kundapur as per the plan, which was the next stopover point. They were all drenched, sleepy, bit tired and anxious waiting for the rains to subside but there were no such signs. They were in a dilemma whether to continue as per the plan and ride upto Trasi or not, until they heard from the support crew who updated them on the condition ahead. Road from Kundapur towards Trasi was under construction and completely waterlogged due to heavy rain. Hence they decided not to take the risk and decided to take a u-turn towards Mangaluru.

The one and half hours they spent together taking shelter from the rain was memorable. The entire stretch experienced power failure and it was pitch dark all over. With a 16-year old lad and 2 ladies in the group, none of them felt uncomfortable or displayed any signs of fear at any given point in time. In fact most of them were having an enjoyable time chit chatting, clicking pictures and video of what they were going through while few of the riders were enjoying their power nap.

Waiting for long was not a wise choice as their muscles would not want to get back to the grind and hence decided to head back at around 4 am. The first 15 minutes of the return journey, they were all shivering post that they felt very comfortable, as their body had warmed up by then. At that moment, the motivation for them to pedal was the breakfast at Mitra Samaj near Udupi Sri Krishna Math, which is well known for serving delicious idli sambar and coffee. The smile on their faces was back as they reached the restaurant for scrumptious breakfast and they were reenergized. Ride from Udupi to Mangaluru was no big deal as everything was in place for them, weather was pleasant, tummies were filled and the fact that they were approaching their ‘home sweet home’ made it easier with couple of hydration stops at Uchila and Suratkal. They finished the league in style.

The Riders

Youngest in the group was Shawn Mendoza, a 16-year-old who made his first long distance attempt previous week during their 100 km League. To everyone's surprise, he rode extremely well and joined the 200 league as well. He did face discomfort in his knees for a short stretch and took some rest but was back on saddle for the return leg. His performance was highly commendable considering his brief experience in cycling.

Two super ladies Madhura Jain and Dr Sunitha Mendes were very confident and at their best and proved that nothing is impossible. They are an inspiration to many cyclists in cycling community.

Akash Agnihotri, Gururaj Patil , Suraj Sharma and Wilfred were also doing this long distance for the first time. Their riding motivated even the experienced riders Srikanthraja, Hariprasad B, Sunil Mendes, Ganesh Nayak and Chinmaya Delampady.

All this could not have been possible without Dr Preetham and Madhukar who volunteered as the support crew. They were extremely helpful throughout the ride and ensured all 12 riders completed the task with ease. They very well knew what exactly was required to make the riders’ attempt successful as they are experienced riders themselves and kept motivating all the riders throughout the journey.

At the start of the ride, they faced humid weather, some stretch with heavy rain and the last part was very pleasant. All riders stood true to their ‘No Giving up’ attitude and each rider drove others to completion.