Its all about Conquering our mind Barriers!

Friends,

This post is about a worthy moment of my life, the day I cycled to Kabirvad and back (almost!), travelling around 160+ Km on the road and that too on a Fixie (Non-Geared) Cycle.

Dec 22nd 2013: The day it began!
A few members of BCC (Baroda Cyclist Club), decide to go Kabirvad, over the next weekend. Luckily, I get to know about it. There are two car racks available, so in total, there is a capacity of 5 people to come by car. I start pondering can I do it? Can I go? Because, I have been out from majority of BCC rides since August (The Timbi lake ride). So first, I need to get prepared for it.

Dec 24th 2013: Confirming the Participation for the Kabirvad Ride!
There were 4 (Aakash Gupta, Manish Lakhani, Tripti Kathuria & Dr. Kinnari Patel) who had confirmed the participation for full ride, which they said was around 165+ Km. Two others (Milin Desai and Chandrakant Golani) had decided to come by car till Hotel Nyay Mandir and then ride till Kabirvad, which would be approximately 18-20 Km, one side. So there were 3 vacant places in the car rack. But, I had decided I am gonna do it -- Full 165 Km. Aakash said it would be difficult to do it on a Fixie (Non-geared) Bike -- as the avg speed needs to be around 22-25 km/h. (Poore week bed pe rahega!) A couple of well wishers said it will be impossible for me to do so. (Thanks, that was a challenge that motivated me!)

Dec 25th 2013: Merry Christmas.. The preparation Starts!
 Correct me if I am wrong, but we can't just dream and sit back silently and watch our dreams come true. There has to be a plan and then an action.
And as Bo Bennett has rightly said: "A Dream becomes a Goal, when Action is taken towards its achievement."
In that week, I tried doing 2 city circuits, (17 Km each) in as much less time as possible. And once, did around 45 Km at the avg. speed of 22 km/h.

Dec 28th 2013: The rest day!
A well wisher said, don't ride the previous day if you are planning a full ride till Kabirwad. So didn't ride that day. I was pretty sure I could do the full ride. As such, I had no other option because the 3 vacant positions in the car rack were full. So if I wanted to go, I had to ride. I serviced my bicycle at home and got a new gel seat cover to improve the cusion.
Sad news! Manish Lakhani is not accompanying, as he has something urgent on 29th Dec. Damn!
Aakash told me and Tripti "Make sure you arrange for lights tomorrow, to be safe on road". A dear friend, Milin Desai lended me his light (Oops, I still haven't returned it, Will do it soon Milin.. ;) ) and everything was set.

Dec 29th 2013: The day of the Adventurous Ride!
We were to meet from McDonald's OP Road at 4:45 AM. We all got up at around 3-3:30 AM and did some warm-up exercises. We had enough water, Electral sachets, dry fruits, some chocolates, glucose biscuits and 1.5 kg bananas as eatables along with puncture and maintenance kits.
The ride started with the four of us in alphabetical order -- Aakash Gupta,  Dr. Kinnari Patel, Tripti Kathuria and Varun Shringarpure.
The route for the ride is as follows:

Mcd OP Road -> Manjalpur -> Panasonic Makarpura -> Jambua Service Road -> BIT Edu Campus -> Varnama -> Karjan -> Hotel Darshan -> Hotel Nyay Mandir -> Kabirwad -> Hotel Nyay Mandir -> Hotel Sahyog -> BIT Edu Campus -> Makarpura-Jambua Service Road to Vadodara


View Larger Map

After around 32 Km, we took our first break, at Hotel Darshan for 10 mins, to grab a nice hot Tea and a Good Day. It was the onset of morning and a nice Orange sun was seen in the mist above the open fields. (The beauty and ambience can't be explained in words, so to experience it, join us the next time we go!)

Around 55 Km into the ride, Aakash started feeling a little exhausted, as he didn't have anything in the early morning. A strong person by heart, he grabbed a few dry fruits and some water and started riding with all his might. The next we stopped was only at our first destination -- Hotel Nyay Mandir on Bharuch Service road. We reached at an average speed of 22 Km/h and took around 3 hours 30 mins to reach. We got fresh, sprinkling cold water on our face, which felt hot as compared to our hands and faces. After having light breakfast and a couple of cutting chai, we waited for our friends coming by car.
Milin Desai, Chandrakant Golani, Deven Parekh, Mira Vora and Hitesh Divyeshwar reached and unloaded their cycles from the car racks, and we were set to leave for our destination - Kabirvad.

It was a dumpy-bumpy road with more potholes then flatter roads. The best part about travelling through the road were the farms on either side of it. Multi-talented CG started clicking pics with his DSLR wherever he could find a nice scene thorough the fields. We reached the destination, but Milin's cycle had some issue on the way. So he, Aakash and Chandrakant had to go back from midway and come to Kabirvad in Car. The total one side distance we travelled was 87.8 ~ 88 Km. There, we got a bad news that Tripti will not be coming back on cycle. Aakash, too was not in the best of his condition to ride back, so ideally there were just two riders returning back on cycle -- Dr Kinnari Patel and myself.

After a much needed break at Kabirvad (a way to longer one rather!), we started off, in the afternoon to ride back, first the bumpy ride and then the good highway roads. Coming back was difficult, due to the heat of afternoon along with the fatigue of the 88 KM done while going. The result was, we took too many breaks while returning back. Infact, my coming back on cycle was mainly due to Dr. Kinnari, who constantly motivated me on the way -- "Well done Varun, credit goes to you for even thinking of doing it on a fixie; I know you will complete the ride; You have the guts to do it.." We had an ice cream on the way around 75 Km from Vadodara, and a chai at around 30 Km from Vadodara.

At 24 Km from Vadodara, I started feeling pertubed and had to stop. A pain in stomach made me very uneasy. I thought I won't be able to ride anymore and need some vehicle to take me thereon. I requested Dr. Kinnari to continue as she had to attend a function at around 6 and it was already 4:30. 15 mins later, I puked -- I am sure having chai in hot afternoon was a bad decision -- nevermind. After taking electral mixed water and resting for 20 mins on the road, I was sure now to continue my journey on cycle. I was out of water now and had no wish to stop anywhere even for a bottle of water. I started the ride by reciting Bajrangbali's name and regained strength to move on. The sun was setting now, so it was cooler. phew.. Felt good! At Makarpura-Jambua Service road, I took a left to enter Vadodara and felt uneasy in left leg. Yes, it was a cramp. Again, decision of not to get down for a bottle of water had paid off!

It was foolish to travel by cycle now, as I had one fly-over minimum. So finally I decided to give up my ride there. Best option was to take and auto return back and hence exercised it. Though happy to have covered a good amount of distance, I felt bad for two things: Leaving Kinnari ma'am alone on a highway to travel and second unable to complete the ride till home!

Sincere thanks Tripti and Aakash on the way towards Kabirvad you guys were superb inspiration Aakash, it was a priviledge travelling a long distance with a pro-rider like you!
And Kinnari Ma'am thank you so much for being a great motivator throughout the ride coming back -- else I am sure I would have given up at Kabirvad.

Conclusion:  
Two things specifically:

1. I am definitely sure now, that its not about the bike. Yes, I do believe that if I had a geared cycle, then the ride would have been smoother than what it had. Also, I might have completed my ride till home. 
2. Barriers are in our mind, once we conquer them, we can do it. I remember during the Tour-de-Pavagadh ride I was morally down even while going and hence coming back was quite difficult. But for this one, we all had decided we gonna do it, we all had prepared for it, and in fact, we did it!
3. Seeing the spirit with which Kinnari Ma'am was riding and completed the whole ride, I am sure even Age is not the barrier either in doing something, that you wish to do!

Brevet 200, you are on the list to be conquered Next!