The Auto Driver at Hubballi Railway station informed us that there were a dozen cyclists who had got down there earlier from Nizamuddin Train that comes to Hubballi from Delhi...
That "Enthusiasm and awareness about THE BIG event that was happening in town" was seen through out the day with literally every 'Hubblliga' I met .......
Every road I traveled on my Brother's two-wheeler, I saw young and old in the jersey meant for Cyclotsava on a bicycle, neither of which I had yet...
At the venue, I was literally surprised to see a sea of cyclists and cycling enthusiasts a (little less than the sea)... the ground was so well prepared and organized, I was just amazed.... at the time and effort these Hubballi Bicycle Club members had put in.... Hat's Off!!
That was just the beginning of the day of AMAZEMENTs...
At one of the several counters that were set-up, my ticket's QR code was scanned from my phone.. (A First experience for me...) before handing me my kit.. that contained a beautiful tri coloured t-shirt, a wrist band saying #RespectCyclists, A bib for the cycle.. a sticker for the helmet and a card with a chip....
My rented bicycle was waiting right across the road in a college campus... These cycles were procured from a vendor in Hyderabad!!
While heading there, met a Lorry Driver with his lorry, which had carried 23 cyclists and their cycles from Davanagere!! (150 kilometers from Hubbali)... This was just one of extra efforts cyclists had made to be a part of this Cyclotsava...
Met a few, who had cycled from
Bagalakote - 120+ kilometers
Kolhapur - 200+ kilometers
Bengaluru - 450 kilometers (didn't get a chance to meet, came to know through Strava)
A 7 year old, who was doing a Kolhapur to Pune 230 kilometers cycle ride the next day..
Few who appeared 70+ by their appearance.. however, younger than many of us in their spirits...
One IIT-Dharwad student doing his PhD...
Several Engineering students....
Two more Pramod's (First ever in my 42 years :)) who shared bib numbers next to mine... one was 708, mine 709 and the other 710... too big a coincidence huh....
More surprises were waiting for me on the stage....
Amit Samarth - one of the few in the world to have completed
Trans Siberian Extreme distance 9,100 kilometers and elevation 770,000 meters (10 mount everersts!!)...
A man whose left hand is hit by polio who did the treacherous terrains of Himalayas... with a cycle with altered back brakes to suit him...
A couple from Maharashtra, who have cycled all across together and had penned a beautiful Marathi poem unto that...
Many more such Ultra achievers... who made me feel... my rides and kilometers are just a drop in this ocean of cycling....
FIRST ATTEMPT
We were scheduled to start at 2 and it appeared like, we 1550 cyclists had lined up in our groups of 100 in the order of the bib numbers much before the start time... which would have given us a 10-15 minutes head start...
Volunteers for each group making sure, each one of us are following each rule to the DOT, I had to run back to the venue to put my sling bag with my hand phone in the cloak room... ;) That was a nice way to warm-up....
They had also ensured that we were well hydrated (water) and nourished (bananas)..
At 2:02, with tonnes of butterflies in our tummies... we started..... It was an amazing track rather road with not much of elevation...
Throughout the 4 kilometer ride.. there were volunteers shouting 'slow down'... 'cover up'... to ensure we keep 2-3 bicycle distance between our bikes...
FAIL
It took almost an hour post finishing the ride to hear that we did not make it.... Some cyclists overtook breaking the line causing the fault... along with a few who couldn't cover up the distance....
RE-STRATEGISE
We were asked to pull out if any of us felt he/she can't bicycle the reverse ride with the head wind... no one pulled out..
A list of offenders retrieved from the Guinness guys based on their BIBs and cards on bicycles were pulled out...
Bicycles of a certain size... pulled out..
All kids... pushed back..
All no-gear bicycles (mine too).... pushed back..
Bicycles with speedometers... Moved up the line...
Cycling groups.. moved up the line...
Our wrist bands collected... and returned...to be dropped back in the collection box to double check the count of cyclists...
Instructions to keep shouting "cover-up", "slow-down/half-peddle" informing rider in the back of the situation in the front....given to all...
All this took almost 2-2.5 hours post completion of the ride...
SUN was happily showering his light and heat and all of us :)
SECOND ATTEMPT
Even though the organisers made every attempt to keep our spirits high.... we were highly skeptical still...
The rider just in-front of me found it difficult... happily pulled out...
Amid shouts of "cover-up", "slow-down/half-peddle" ... we managed to bridge the gap...
One of the aged cyclist 3 bicycles in-front of me.. felt the same... repeated requests to pull-out, seemed to fall on deaf ears...
Some impatient cyclists did overtake... even after getting reminders from us...
Our skepticism had two solid reasons now....
ACHIEVE
With bated breath we waited in the dust and setting sun.... there came the announcement.. though not official... we cheered the loudest...
The tougher part now was to line-up in the queue to collect our handphones back from the cloak room...then one more queue to collect certificates and goody bags....
While the organisers were asking us to occupy the seats to hear the official announcement.. it was our turn to turn deaf .. :( It was 7 PM and my train back to Bengaluru was in three hours.. My priority was not to miss my train..
While waiting in the slow moving queue the official announcement too came 1235 was the new longest single line of bicycles... and we had made it to the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS....
"BHARAT MATA KI JAI"... resounded the venue.. on the REPUBLIC DAY OF BHARAT...
A well spent, well achieved, well learnt day....!!
#RespectCyclists
Ciao!!
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