Where: NICE Corridor, Bangalore

When: 11th October 2009

How Many: 7K+ participants!

It was heartening to see thousands of cycling enthusiasts in Bangalore at India’s fist Cyclothon! The sheer number and the diversity of the participants that spanned between Ages 8 – 80 years, along with families and friends who had come to cheer their loved ones set the excitement of the massive event.

Raghu Dixit and his crew rock started the event with  ‘Mysore se aayi woh’ – Pumped me up further as I am a native Mysorean My husband and I had a nice time swaying to his tunes before we set off on our respective rides.

I did a satisfied 25Km in an hour and 5 minutes, with an average pace of 22.5 km/hr. The NICE corridor resembled any freeway in a western country – spotless, toned and smooth. Little children cheering on the pathways, green lawns next to the road, great weather and people riding great bikes were all accompaniments.  The journey was eventful as I met some interesting people during the ride and was fun taking to them. Since it wasn’t a race, the environment was relaxed and people were riding just for the spirit of cycling.

Please click here to view the snapshots of the entire event.

My take home from the ride : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15853059

One of the most efficient ways to relax my mind is to set off on a cycling ride with Vikram to an unknown destination. Today was one of those days ….

We just head out of home and decided to take off on our respective bikes for a while. The best I enjoy is biking through the country side, along the endless narrow roads, looking at the houses around and greeting the villagers and little children as we pass by them. After a long day, hearing to the birds chirp, viewing the sunset by a hill or watching a goat crank its neck to eat a tiny little leaf is just too soothing.

And whats best? These little pieces of heaven is so close to home! All it takes is a few miles of tolerating roaring traffic and the noise around.

It is also reassuring that you donot have to remember the route back home as it is almost impossible to get lost with the GPS around your wrist. The Garmin forerunner 205 is not only a life saver, it also gives you fancy statistics about the distance, time, speed and calories burnt! Voila!! Throw the gym membership away and invest in a Garmin today! Sounds like a nice tagline for publicizing Garmin, doest it? But its totally worth it …

Below are the statistics from today’s eventful cycling ride :

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15389542

One Event, Two Sports and an experience of a lifetime!

Run,Cycle,Fly was the slogan of the event. Indeed, I was flying high after completing 5th in the women’s 5K category in India’s first Duathlon that was held in Bangalore on the 14th of June, 2009.

Having been the first sports event I participated after school, I was apprehensive about completing the race, let alone the timing to complete it. The excitement set in when I bought my mountain bike – the ‘trek 4300′ a week before the race. As the days grew closer, the more apprehensive I got about the race. With the adrenaline rush and the anxiety setting in, I could hardly catch a wink of sleep the night before the race.

Vikram and I piled both our bikes in my Maruthi 800 and took off at 5AM to the venue. The car is awesome for the amount of space it provides when compared to the size of the car.

We arrived at the venue at 6AM, an hour before the race commenced. It was wonderful to see the high energy levels of all the participants ranging from the age of 7 to 78 with their colourful sports bikes.

The Duathlon consisted of the following race categories:

• 10k run + 20k cycling (split as 5k run + 20k cycle + 5k run)

• 5k run + 10k cycling (split as 2.5k run + 10k cycle + 2.5k run)

I had enrolled for the 5K run + 10K cycling and I completed the race in 1:07:06. It was heartening to see a lot of passersby cheer while running. Its interesting how long every minute felt during the 3rd leg of the race! It was then that a funny thought occurred to me – Time as a relative tool. ’An extra minute of run can seem so long when exhausted, while one extra minute of sleep feels absolutely insignificant’!

For pictures from the duathlon, please Click here

Congratulations to Vikram, Swaroop and Varun on completing the 10K category… You guys rock!