b1b200 Brevet

b1b200 Brevet: BasVanBetta aka Bas Kar Bet(t)a

I was at the base of the hill, the 11 % starting gradient staring me in the face. 

With 450 mtr elevation gain in just 5 km , this was going to be very tough. The Phone rang:

Wife " Hi , where are you"

Me " About to attempt the Betta, it looks difficult"

Wife "I can make it easier"

Me(snarkily) " You will remote coach me to Round pedal, maintain advanced Pranayamic breathing and conquer the Betta with a serene smile ? "

Wife " You are not evolved enough as a rider and a yogi to do that, for you simple shock therapy will do"

Me (starting to gasp due to the steep start of the climb) " Whatever"

Wife " You forgot, it is our anniversary today "

She was right, suddenly the Betta looked like a very small problem to tackle !

Each brevet ride turns out to be different, but this one was even more so. I have been volunteering on Brevet efforts, but this was the first ride I was organizing. This meant a lot of prep went into the route planning, multiple reccees and finetuning the route, so I rode bits of the route 3 times, and once completely on the Organizers ride.

The organizers ride consisted of Me, Sunil and Abhijit. We started off at 5:30 am from Silkboard and quickly made our way to the scenic Harohalli-Jigani stretch. The sunrise over the low hills was mesmerizing, and the crisp morning breeze was invigorating. We got to Sathnur and had a nice breakfast of Thatte idli/ Lemon rice and refilled our bottles. We got to the base of the climb and that is when the phone rang..

The sounds of silence on the climb are wonderful, birds twittering, the faint sounds of tires squealing on the gravel at corners, and later on the hammering of my heart beat, and labored breathing. Of course I knew this was nothing compared to the silent treatment I would get back home !

The sun was out in its full glory, and there is no tree cover on the climb. As I started climbing slowly, a grasshopper jumped onto my handle bar and stayed there till almost the top, when the sweat raining down from my forehead made it jump away. The climb has signposts that are in Bike precision at 3.875 mtr , 2.875 km etc, telling you how agonizingly slowly you are climbing, and the speedometer refuses to get into double digits. At points, I felt walking might be faster than riding. To motivate myself, I conjured up a vision of how Cycle Baba aka Anil Kadsur would do, and Mudit Sethi created a brilliant sketch of it which we used as the promo poster for the ride. 

The bikers bravado prevailed and I rode without stopping, 40 min later I was at the top, savoring the tranquil surroundings waiting for the fellow riders to come up. The downhill was more painful that the uphill, with me hanging on to dear life on the steep descent, brakes jammed hard on many of the sections, but it got over in just a few min.

The ride back to Kanakapura was under hot and humid conditions, we stopped for full meals at Gokul, and then quick stops for the ATM controls and water/Lassi in Harohalli, Jigani and reached the end control.

Now to get back to where it all started. The anniversary call. Well it did not end right there. 

Wife: "Dont worry I forgot the anniversary too, and when my parents called up and wished me, I asked them what for?" 

Me "Thank god".

Being Married for 14 years, and having known each other for 28 makes it easier to focus on making each day count, rather than waiting for a "special occasion." It takes two to forget as they say.