Tour of Nilgris 2013 !! - DAY 1

Day 1 - Bangalore To Mysore (160 kms)

The day for which I was long awaiting and I was all excited to start with the first organized bike ride in India for myself.. That too at a bigger scale of 8 day tour, with not so expected levels of training, though just relying on the fitness gained from the training for Mumbai marathon. I was all skeptical as to how I would fare through the tour.

Start

Movenpick hotel at BEL circle Bangalore was the start point of the tour, 16 kms away from my cousin's place, so had to start early from home at 4:50 AM, biked to the hotel, reached at 5:30 AM. After a super good breakfast and brief talking by organizers along with the chief guest, we were flagged off to an awesome start. We were piloted by volunteers on the motor bikes, sneaking through NICE Road, ORR towards Mysore.

We Were stopped at the entry at Outer Ring Road, to group and sent in as a bunch, had a quick stop and set on to the day's route.

Support Station 1(SS1)

Since it was a long day with close to 160k to cover, the first support station was set up at 70k mark, which was by far the longest ride between stations. First chance to try out Sathelli(honey dipped dry banana) and quick a few drinks, was definitely a wanted on, since it was a long ride of 70k with no stop. Now the fear about my first ever time trial in biking started to kick in, since the next stop is the start of first ever Competitive section of the tour and my first ever biking time trial

Support Station 2(SS2) Competitive Section Start(CS1)

With the conscious thought about the upcoming CS segment, was riding a relaxed pace from ss1 to ss2(cs start) and I could already see people starting with their time trials, I was too skeptical of what to expect, was trying to do all sorts of stretching :) , hydration packed and what not. it was a 15km stretch for the Competitive section, the time taken here constitutes to the Ranking for the day, and also towards the General Classification(Overall ranking based on time taken in CS on each day across all categories) ranking for the whole tour.

Gathering some courage, was all set to start my first TT/CS, the way the volunteers were counting down to the start, added to my nervous state at that juncture. Yet I was all set and went for it, over few kms I realized that sitting upright in the relaxed pose is not going to help, hence held on to the cross bar all time and kept going as fast as I could push, except for the bumps. Since it was almost flat or rolling, ,managed to complete it by covering 15 kms in 26:57. pretty satisfied with the result being it my first time, had no time to compare with.

Had lunch at the CS end and proceeded to the next station

Support Station 3(SS3)

With the flat course ahead and with the pressure relief off from the CS segment, was easing on route towards the next support station. Crossing a bridge with a nice river flowing underneath was the beginning of the scenic portion of the tour.

Day End at Mysore

Hearing about the pace at which the Danes and Brits were riding, realized that its important to keep going without wasting much time, hence kept spinning, went past AFSB mysore(Air Force Selection Board), where I remember coming twice during my post-graduation days for air force selection. Few more kilometers into the city, passing through the Palace and entry to the main city, with few turns ended up the in the hotel reaching at 3:45 PM.

Statistics for the Day

Start at home	4:50 AM
Reached MovenPick	5:30 AM
Start of Ride	7:20 AM
Reach SS1(kanakapura)	10:00 AM
SS2(CS Start)	11:25 AM
CC Complete	12:05 PM
CS Time	26:57
CS Distance	15 Kms
SS3	2:45 PM
End of Day(Mysore)	3:45 PM
Moving Time	5:52
Moving Average	27.52 KMPH
Distance	160 Kms
Pre Tour Distance	16 Kms