ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆ/React (Harsh FB Post) Vs ಸ್ಪಂದನೆ/Respond (This Blog)

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ಪ್ರತಿಕ್ರಿಯೆ/React (Harsh FB Post) Vs ಸ್ಪಂದನೆ/Respond (This Blog)
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ನನಗೆ ಬಂದ ಸಿಟ್ಟಿಗೂ facebook ಅಥವಾ instagramಗೂ connection ಇದ್ದಿದ್ದರೆ ಅತ್ಯುಗ್ರವಾದ post ಅಲ್ಲಿರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಆದರೆ ತಾಳ್ಮೆ ಗೆದ್ದಿತ್ತು ಮತ್ತು ಈ blogಗೆ ಕಾರಣವಾಯ್ತು.

ಮೂವತ್ತು ನಿಮಿಷಗಳ ಸೈಕಲ್ ತುಳಿತ, ಮನಸ್ಸಿನ ಆವೇಗಗಳ ಗುದ್ದಾಟಗಳ ನಡುವೆ ಮೂಡಿತು ಈ ಕಾಲ್ಪನಿಕ ಕಥೆ.

ಒಬ್ಬ ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತರ ತರುಣ ತನ್ನನ್ನು ತಾನು ಹಿಂದೆಂದೂ ಕಾಣದ ಜಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಡು ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯಚಕಿತನಾದ. ಅವನೆದುರಿರುವ ಗೇಟ್ ತೆಗೆದು ಒಳಗೆ ಪ್ರವೇಶಿಸಿದಾಗ ಕಂಡ ಮೊದಲ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯ ಕೇಳಿದ 'ಇದು ಯಾವ ಜಾಗ?'

ಚಿತ್ರಗುಪ್ತ ಉತ್ತರಿಸಿದ 'ಇದು ದೇವಲೋಕ'

ಕೋಪದಿಂದ ಕುದಿಯುತ್ತಾ 'ಇಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹೇಗೆ ಬಂದೆ? ಅಪ್ಪ ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆಗೆ ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುವಾಗ 'ಧೈರ್ಯದಿಂದಿರು ನೀನಗೇನೂ ಆಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ' ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ನಾನು ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ?'

'ಮಗು, ನೀನು ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆ ತಲುಪಿದೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ಡಾಕ್ಟರುಗಳು ಅವರ ಎಲ್ಲ ಶಕ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿದರು. ಆದರೂ ಸಫಲರಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ನಿನ್ನ ಅಪ್ಪನಿಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದರು 'ಅರ್ಧ ಘಂಟೆ ಮುಂಚೆ ತಲುಪಿದ್ದರೆ ಬದುಕುತ್ತಿದ್ದ'

'ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆ ಮನೆಯಿಂದ ಬಹಳ ದೂರವಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆಂಬುಲೆನ್ಸ್ ಕೂಡ ತಕ್ಷಣ ಬಂದಿತ್ತು. ಆದರೂ ಹೀಗೇಕೆ?'

'ನಿನಗೆ ನೆನಪಿಲ್ಲವೇ ಮಗು. ಆಗ ಬೆಳಗಿನ peak hour ಟ್ರಾಫಿಕ್. ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವಾಹನ ಸವಾರರಿಗೂ ಮೊದಲು ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ ತಲುಪುವ ಆಲೋಚನೆ. ಕೆಲವು ಲಗೇಜ್ ಆಟೋಗಳಿಗೂ, ನೀರಿನ ಟ್ಯಾಂಕರ್ ಗಳಿಗೂ ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸ ಬೇಗ ಮುಗಿಸುವ ಕಾತರ. ಹೀಗೆ ರಸ್ತೆ ತುಂಬಾ ತಾವು ಸರಿ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ತಲುಪುವುದು ಆಂಬುಲೆನ್ಸ್ ಗೆ ದಾರಿ ಕೊಡುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಮುಖ್ಯ ಎಂದು ತಿಳಿದವರೇ . ಅವರಿಗೆ ಒಳಗಿರುವ ನಿನ್ನ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ತಿಳಿದಿದ್ದರೆ ಹಾಗೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರಲಿಲ್ಲವೋ ಏನೋ .

'ಇಲ್ಲಾ.... ಅದು ಬಹಳ basic civic sense (ನಾಗರೀಕ ಪ್ರಜ್ಞೆ) . ನನ್ನ ತಂದೆ ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ನನಗೆ ಹೇಳಿಕೊಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ನಾನು ಯಾವಾಗಲೂ ಪಾಲಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ ಮತ್ತು ಉಳಿದವರಿಗೂ ಪಾಲಿಸಲು ಆಗ್ರಹಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. ನಾನಿಲ್ಲಿರುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಅವರೇ ಕಾರಣ. ನನಗೆ ಅವರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಬೇಕು. ಸಿಗಬಹುದೇ?'

ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನದ ನಂತರ ಚಿತ್ರಗುಪ್ತ ಅವನಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಪಟ್ಟಿ ಇತ್ತ . ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರತಿ ವಿವರ ವಿಡಿಯೋ ಕ್ಲಿಪ್ ಸಮೇತ ಇತ್ತು. 'ಇದರಿಂದ ನೀನೇನು ಮಾಡುವೆ?'

'Ditto' ಎಂದ ಆ ಹುಡುಗ

ನಮಗೆ ತಿಳಿದಿರುವಂತೆ ಮರಣ ನಂತರ ಪಡೆದ ಹೇರಳವಾದ ಶಕ್ತಿ, ಚಿತ್ರಗುಪ್ತ ಮತ್ತು ಯಮರ ಸಹಕಾರದಿಂದ ಕೆಳಗಿನದು ಬಹಳ ಬೇಗ ನಡೆಯಿತು.

ಆ ನಗರದ ಸ್ಮಶಾನಗಳು ಬಿಡುವಿಲ್ಲದೆ ದಿನಪೂರ್ತಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಿದರೂ ಮರುದಿನಕ್ಕೆ ಮಿಗುವಂತೆ ಕೆಲಸವಿರುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಎಲ್ಲ ರಸ್ತೆಗಳಲ್ಲೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ವಾಹನ ಮತ್ತು ಜನರಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಎಲ್ಲರ ಪ್ರಯಾಣ ಸರಾಗವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ನಾಗರಿಕರಿಗೆ ಇದರಿಂದ ಉಳಿದ ಸಮಯವನ್ನು ಹೇಗೆ ಕಳೆಯಬೇಕೆಂದು ತಿಳಿಯದೆ ಬೇಜಾರಿನಲ್ಲಿದ್ದರು.

ಅದೇ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ದೇವಲೋಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಆ ಹುಡುಗನಿಗೆ ಇನ್ನಿಲ್ಲದ ಆದರ ಮತ್ತು ಅಭಿಮಾನ ದೊರೆಯಿತು. 'Ditto' ಜನರು ತಮ್ಮ ತಪ್ಪಿಗಾಗಿ ಪರಿತಪಿಸಿದರು. ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಮುಂದಿನ ಜನುಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೀಗಾಗದಿರುವಂತೆ ನೋಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತೇವೆಂದು ಪ್ರಮಾಣಿಸಿದರು.

--ಶುಭಾರಂಭ ---

We-I-Are-Us and not VIRUS

My assumption that I would have been one of the very few who would have turned up to be a volunteer was shattered on my first visit to The Department of Information and Public Relation (DIPR) office in March. I was one of 5000 at that point in time. 4,999 of whom were up and running almost 4 weeks before I went there.

This Crisis has shown the world that when I becomes V by stretching your arms to unite as US, the journey towards post COVID becomes blissfully fulfilling.

My journey started with filling up a google form for Corona Warriors, a call from DIPR and meeting with key stakeholders to plan distribution of physical ID cards for volunteers. Each one in that room was a volunteer. However, when I had to choose between this and cycling as a Relief Rider, I had to let go former.

Relief Riders was a movement started by BicycleMayor of Bengaluru, to help senior and immobile citizens with essentials on a bicycle. We recorded a whopping 250+ sorties right across Bengaluru in just a couple of months. Mention of a couple of rides is essential here. 

- A kid on hearing aid for both ears, was using just one to aptly use available batteries (lack of availability). Our network of cyclists found these batteries in one part of Bengaluru and a relay of 5 cyclists delivered it to a smiling child.

- A person in Electronic City needs Oral Chemo medicine for his ailing Mother, it was available only at one hospital in Bengaluru. We pulled it off by doing a relay of 4 cyclists. 

- An old age home needed groceries for 12 dwellers, a group of four cyclists, completed this in one go.

We have in excess of 250 such stories in ReliefRiders.

Each such ride resulted in a few sighs of relief and smiles at the recipient's home. Also, it showed us the watery eyes that wanted to greet us the way they could have greeted us PRE COVID.

The gesture by the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru to invite us over on our bicycles and extending their gratitude was an icing on the cake.

With Unlock in progress, and reduced relief calls, focus shifted to Home Quarantine Neighbourhood Watch and Care task. The task of calling, consoling, convincing and re-assuring the citizens under home quarantine is being run by only volunteers. Each call to a new person is to spread awareness and hope.

One of the doctors in a WhatsApp video was mentioning about roles and responsibilities of each citizen in helping severely stressed administration in this first of its kind crisis. At this point in time, these wouldn't be called giving it back, it would working together as US.

Just look around and get going. We-I-Are-US.

Ciao!

Oh My God! What did I sign-up for....

The title precisely tells about the day 1....

It all started with keeping things ready for the next morning, taking out what to wear, filling water bottles, Energy Bars, Shoes, Socks... the list went on and on... I was just aping my roommate while he was setting his stuff up... While doing that did I realise, I was a kid in front of this PRO-Cyclist..
We planned our bathroom timings, and said our good nights..

I realised, I didn't talk about the bike I was going to ride... I was very keen on having a look before I hit bed... Upon insisting, I was taken to basement room where all bikes were kept... This was really the closest I could have gotten to the Scott Addict Carbon Frame Bike I had purchased before the trip in India... Similar colours... Wilier was the make.. I was hearing the name for the first time, however, all my fellow cyclists were like 'That's one of the best bikes to be on'... That was a HUGE assurance I could take back and sleep on that night..

Next Morning,
I was expecting myself to be one of the firsts at the breakfast area... I was super surprised to see host of them already there... I wasn't quite sure of a few dishes being vegetarian, where my fellow cyclists helped out.. One thing that was standing out was I saw most of them eating heavy breakfasts... I again got back to my aping without realising the repercussions...

Many of them felt I was overly dressed rather wearing one too many for this ride... I did inform them the reason for sleeves on hands and legs to cover my Psoriasis* spots... (*that's the next topic I would cover in a detailed write-up, for a starter, I have been living with this chronic disease for about 9 years now)... and the gamosa was for wiping the sweat off.... My rubber shoes were where most of eyeballs around on... each and everyone there were super surprised and many voiced their concern too...

Post the briefing and photo shoot, we were OFF....
We were under a kilometer off and I realised one of us had made a stop... I felt, I should wait and I did... He was one of the nicest guys I had met and with whom I was tagged with through the trip. "The Tourists" was what we were referred to as...
As soon as he caught up, there was my first uphill, where I struggled... and obviously, got on to the last spot on the pack... I kept my spirits high and rode on for a few more kilometers, once in a while meeting one of our own fellow cyclists or other cyclists.... A nod, A hello or a smile.... and ride on...
All of a sudden I felt a severe pain in my right abdomen... It was like a catch, cramp or whatever one would call it.. however, the pain was deep... I tried to ignore and riding on... I couldn't.. I got off the bicycle, stretched myself, drank some water.. No, the pain didn't subside...Walk was the only possible option with which I barely managed to reach the support vehicle..
'Are you alright mate' was the first question 'No' my answer... 'Do you want to throw the bike in and hop on'... 'Yes'.. that was what I wanted to hear all through the pain... I took off the sleeves on my legs since they were causing a lot of annoyance before I hopped in between the two of them on the front seat... I checked and stopped my Strava, that got my morale to a super duper low... just under 12 kilometers...
I was dejected for the fact that I was not able to live up to the hopes my family, friends and a lot of people had in me which had got me here.. The support crew kind of read what was running between those ears... and told.. It is tough, the heat wave is not helping either... I told them, I really want to get back there on the saddle... 'We would drive you up to the middle of one of the groups and drop you there once you are OK.. riding in a group is definitely going to help you, the first timer' and that did the trick... I got two more as a company, one from Europe and one from UK who were taking it slow is what I thought, since they appeared to be pro cyclists...
We did pretty well for about 87 Kilometers, post which I was advised to hang in a support vehicle while the other two carried on for a little more....
It was a little more since the peak they were climbing had insane elevation, not so good a road and NOT A SINGLE SHADE of tree, neither were there any clouds... The SUN was in his full blaze, causing super dehydration...
I was astonished by the resilience of quite a few cyclists, who didn't give a damn and did reach the hotel on their saddle.. There were a couple who missed the hotel and went another 40 odd kilometers more..
The temperature that day was whopping 34 degree Celsius... All cyclists felt and inquired, 'Wasn't it more like in India?'... I was like 'NO' this is much more than anything we have in Bengaluru :)'. That gave all of them a relief and they were like 'Indian guy is saying it was HOT, which means it was REALLY REALLY HOT :)'
Some of them hit the swimming pool...
Some got appointments from the massage therapist and got their pains relieved..
Almost all went for a beer...
I was just watching and hearing most of their conversations... and was realising how far behind I stand in terms of knowing cycling and being a cyclist in front of these 30 GURUS of CYCLING...
See you on the other side with Day 2!
Ciao!!

Murkiness before clarity....

I hadn't imagined that UK VISA would take three weeks, cricket world cup happening had increased the number of applicants causing this delay. Relatively easy Schengen VISA was the next, by our schedule we had to go to a European country's consulate which could take another three weeks to process the VISA. Which meant, I would have the VISA post my supposed cycle tour end date. This did make all of us hit the panic button hard. One of my good friends who had been doing these for about 2 decades suggested an easier way out and Voila! the VISA arrived in within 24 hours from the application submission.
Then was the international driver's permit (IDP) to be able to drive a car in Europe. The connections of one to the other and in theory none of it could be done in parallel was giving me signs that I should have started some of these plans much before. IDP when it arrived appeared like a bigger passport :). It is another thing that I realised in Spain and in Norway that you do not need one to rent/hire a car, you would need it when police stop your car LOL!!
With some quick shopping for cycling gear for Europe's supposed cold and rain and to fill the missing items from the comprehensive check list provided by the tour organisers, I was ready to rock and roll. A birthday party marked a family get together at home on the eve of departure, all near and dear had dropped by to wish luck. Couple of friends dropped in to surprise.
The early morning flight from Bengaluru to Dubai was the first international flight after 8 years. There was a little sigh of relief with fewer steps of customs, stamping of the passports. All through I was making notes to help my wife and daughter on their travel a week later. This was a kind of first ever journey for them on their own minus me.
For a change the flight's in-flight entertainment had a host of Kannada movies alongside a big bouquet of good movies from across the world and representation from all Indian movie industries (identified by their languages) which would take you ages to watch!
I had to spend good 12 hours and more in Paris's Charles De Gaulle before my next flight, I was under the impression that it would be a little uncomfortable stay at the airport and wouldn't cause much hassle. I was wrong!. I regretted not booking my accommodation at Paris that night. However, these bitter experiences were eventually learnings for my girls on their travel. A map of different terminals of the airport. Where would they come out, what to expect when they come out. Where to wait, which terminal would my flight arrive at. These were few of the queries,  for which I noted down the answers with the map of the terminals.
Flight from Paris to Bilbao was a short and uneventful one.
My expectation of meeting a few of my fellow cyclists at the Airport and to travel along to the hotel wasn't to be. With my earlier experience of looking for 'i' for information, I managed to find and boarded a bus, which would take me to San Sebastian, the starting point of our tour. It was good distance from the bus station to the hotel and had to take a taxi. Where I met the taxi driver, who wasn't familiar with English at all :) my first such experience in sometime. However, that didn't stop me from conversing and getting to know a few things about him and the city. An elephant's idol was in the dashboard which was bringing good luck to him. Similar to our dashboards here. He was quite helpful and also was telling about how they the taxi drivers in some cities of Spain are keeping Uber away.
At the hotel, I had arrived good 4 hours before the normal check-in time! The receptionist had to do a lot of work checking out the fully booked hotel to get rooms for all of us who were flying in for the tour. About an hour later, I got a room, rather a small 3 roomed studio apartment. The surprises didn't stop. The shower pipe broke as soon as I opened it to take a much needed shower. I finished the shower from the water oozing out of the broken pipe and called for help. A lady plumber, again non-english speaking helped fix the shower pipe and cleaned all soaked bathroom floor too. A few words of Spanish, that I had picked from classes in the flight were of help to convey my gratitude to her.
I quickly realised, my international power socket adapter was of no use, found TV's USB socket to charge my phone and laptop :) Innovation Delivered or Jugaad.
Post that, I thought I could catch some sleep before our 7:30 PM dinner meeting with my fellow travellers' on the tour and dozed off.

An unfamiliar voice calling out my name loud woke me up. It was 7:15 and it was one of the riders whom I was sharing my room with. He told me I was so deep in sleep that he had to try for sometime before I opened my eyes.
I was warmly welcomed to the dinnner table, where I realised most of the riders there knew each other pretty well. Either through earlier tours or they worked together. I did find a bunch of vegetarians/vegans at the table which was surprising and at the same time reassuring :)
My request to gift each of the participants and support crew with Gamosa was warmly welcomed. I had to do a bit of introduction of the fabric too. I recalled Achinta Uncle who had got these arranged from Distant Guwahati, Assam wanted me to make a video of handing over of Gamosa. He had shot and sent out a video on the traditional way of handing it over too. One of my tour mates did help me there with taking video. All in all, this bit of interaction took me a little step closer to all participants. As I needed a bit of coaching from each one there, it was very important that I could connect well and from the word go.
On the other side is the grueling at the same time enchanting ride across Pyrenees...
Hoping to be able to take you there quickly with Christmas and New year break around...
Ciao!

Is the training right? Is that all you need?.... Preface 2

As I had started my last blog.. this was a perfectly unplanned-planned trip/tour/training and whatever that was needed for this dream tour....
Mid June, I hire a rented road bike for a day and realise my training needs to shift to a bike of this kind!! Its just 4 weeks to go for my Pyrenees Ride...
An unplanned spend for the new scott addict carbon bike extended the already stretched budget of this once in a lifetime trip... 'Passions don't come cheap' is what a friend told... which made perfect sense...
My training took a huge 4 minute jump in my first attempt with this new road bike.... and boosted the confidence many fold...
The roller coaster rides take huge ups and downs towards the very end.... So it was with me....
Had a super fall off my hybrid bike and got a Hanuman face :) for a couple of days...
A tooth extract leading to viral fever to a fall in bathroom (unconscious) getting hurt just above the right eye.... all these just 2 weeks before the journey... Which meant my training got hit....!!
I could manage just two NandiBetta rides with my new road bike and just one 100+ towards Magadi, which I did to seek blessings from Sri Nirmalji whom I admire since childhood... He was all admiration for me to be doing it at an age, where most prefer to look up to Vaanaprastha and stop self from venturing into such activities which are physically demanding...

While training to be physically ready for the tour, THE reason for the tour, to raise money for the charity of our choice was on. Our CSR team did help immensely to zero in on the charity, Cochlea-Pune. Cochlea identifies children needing support with hearing and speaking at an early age. Plan for a permanent cochlear implant while helping them to be ready for normal school curriculum by providing education. The target was to raise £750. Since it was the very first time for me to be raising funds, I was almost clueless on how to plan the communication. However, did manage to raise close to double the target amount with again no planned approach!. In this exercise found some super donors. All those messages along with those donations and the amount acted as the fuel for my tour.

Travel was another topic, that was happening in parallel. My plan to sandwich tour between two short trips across Europe with family. While seeing to it that they could get a glimpse of my tour was rightly shot down by a good friend. Sandhya did even send out a separate thank you note to him :). New plan was to start our trip of Europe after my tour. We needed two separate VISAs for the places we had planned to visit. Paris to visit DisneyLand and Eiffel and to show my girls beautiful (in every aspect) Norway needed Schengen VISA. To spend some time with a very good friend and his family in London needed UK VISA. Sounds simple right?, hell broke lose just two weeks before the travel... :) How could this go wrong is what you may think....
Preface 2 flowing in to Preface 3 (hopefully the last Preface) would have an answer....
Ciao!!

A Dream whose pieces kept falling in place.... Preface....

I would be dishonest if I say it was all planned well.... It just went happening and it was like a jigsaw puzzle which shows a picture only after the last piece falls in its rightful place.... The only thing was that this last piece fell in place on the very last day of this once in a lifetime journey of several dreams of three of us..... Sihi, Sandhya and Me-Pammi....
A series of blogs which I had envisioned are seeing the light of the day today... almost a couple of months or more after the dream journey ended.... Sometimes, a kick in the butt is much needed even for the must do things that gets reprioritised and postponed.... 'How is your blog coming along?' did that trick yesterday....

Cycling did become a passion this year, participating in the Guinness World Record attempt in the beginning of the year....
Umpteen requests through emails to the organisers of Tour De Credit-Suisse (TdCS) helped me to get enrolled into the US version of the same in 2018. With unfortunate demise of my favourite Mhaavu (Eldest Paternal Aunt), this had to be shelved. With the announcement of TdCS-2019-Europe, my enthusiasm soared to new heights. The track was across Pyrenees, a mountain range I hadn't heard of and explored post the announcement. Starting from Atlantic and ending in Mediterranean spanning three countries, Spain, France and the country I came to know of on the tour Andorra..

Sitting happy and gay post enrolment, one of my good friends, who is my Guru and provider of the bicycles I ride had to give a real hard kick for me to start thinking on training. Being a guy who had pedalled about 20000 kms, I immediately looked down upon the training. As we did plan on that call, I started to my maiden ride uphill Nandi Betta (Hills), the nearest to Bengaluru a couple of days later.

Did I do all that cycling!! was the first thing that came across my mind before even the first kilo meter uphill. The betta starts like a steady easy climb for four kilo meters. I had to stop about twice to get my breath. The next four kilo meters are hairpin climbs that quickly climb up about 300 meters. That section was a killer, I had to take about 3 long breaks. At one point in time, I had almost given up. However, as they say it ain't done until its done. I just kept on, with slow and steady 'I'll not give up' so easy' attitude with Lans Armstrong's 'Just till the next bend', was playing in the background all through. Reaching the top, did sow a lot of big seeds of self doubt in my mind on my ability to climb hills. It also opened my eyes wide open on the importance of training. These thoughts were weaving a plan in my mind on the downhill, this plan was very much driven by that friend. It was simple, do this uphill at least 35 times!!. A couple of back to back on consecutive days!!! That's all..
It was March 23rd Shaheed Diwas (Martyrs' day) Training Ride 1/35... Dedicating to the three brave hearts Sukhdev, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru

Second attempt on, I had started counting the breaks... Checking on my timing started I reckon after my 5th attempt....The confidence had started growing with these rides...
Both my girls used to kick me out of bed, when they used to hear the alarm at 3:30 AM.. strangely, I used to take about an hour or a little more to get ready for my drive to Nandi Betta Base with my bike resting on the back seats of my car... At about 6 AM I used to start my ride... and did manage towards the end to reach back home in time to drop my daughter to school... That is 5 AM to 6 AM drive... 6 to 7 ride up followed by down hill.... 7 to 8 drive back home...

Looks like time for PTO.. PrefaceTwoOvertonextblog... :)

Ciao!!

Pyrenees and Cochlea - Need your Help :)

Many or all of you would have been wondering where the hell is this GUY :) {Your wishes to my 'change in number' day have been seen, responses are on their way....... Below is what I am up to... Which is evidently keeping me away from EffBee.... Could I imagine myself not having two of the senses that help me communicate.. Probably not..

Cochlea - Pune For Hearing and Speech, Is an organisation that blesses our children with speech and hearing difficulties with hearing aid, speech and hearing therapy and quintessential targeted education. Our help, would help Cochlea to reach out to more such needy children. Your unending and unconditional support to my effort to stay and promote green has motivated me to dream of this ride of Pyrenees, Spain-France this July. This is a 750KM ride over five days. Cochlea has been chosen as the charity that I would raise funds for for this tour of mine. Your wishes and blessings would give my legs more strength and my lungs enough oxygen to complete this DREAM RIDE.... So would your contributions to Cochlea here.... Copied from my FB Post