Sane Bike Loony Rider Ep 9 : Pedal For The Planet 2016
On my way to watch War Dogs last week, I saw a giant hoarding with a cycle on it, and the only bit of text I could read in that brief moment was the name of the event (I guess an inappropriately large logo size in a layout does work in this case), Pedal for the Planet.
I looked it up and went to their website to find that there will be a cycle race on 28th August, and there were plenty of categories to choose from. I hadn't gone cycling for over a month, nor had I been going for long walks to keep my leg muscles in a fit condition. So, I went for the one I knew I could finish in a relatively decent time, ie, the Men's Amateur 25 K event.
There was a registration fee, which added to the proceeds which are all together supposed to go to a charity called 'Colours of Life' (aimed at helping the impoverished children in government schools) and they probably do. There was another extremely lucrative factor, which was a pick and drop service for participants, which was for once a thoughtful gesture as the venue was on the outskirts of Bengaluru. It came for a fee of course, but that made my participation logistically valid as well. It's the end of the month, I've been on a 10 day trip, suffice it to say that I was stretched thin on a budget, but I don't often get to for such events and I don't know when the next time will be, so I signed up for it.
The reporting time was 5:30 AM, and my event was to start first, ie, at 6:30 AM. So the pickup was to happen at 4:30 AM from a pre-determined location where a shuttle service would ferry riders and their bikes to and from the venue. I didn't sleep much the night before to avoid missing the pick up and so I had been up since 3, prepping myself and my gear. I reached on the dot and saw the bus that would carry the people but no vehicle to transport the cycles.
As I waited, all 11 of the people who had opted this pick up point began to reach as well. Not too long after, one tiny tempo traveler pulled up beside us. It was there to carry our cycles. Just ONE problem. We had 11 cycles, that lil thing could only fit 6. As it happened, some incompetent dickhead in logistics messed up the numbers and provided for the pickup of only 3 cycles, while having 11 names on the list for the bus. After a few phone calls that got progressively heated, the organizer on the other end, in a panic, washed his hands off the issue by asking us to get to the venue by any means accessible and that they'd reimburse for the extra cost. That still left us trying to figure out how to get all our bikes to the venue, and in time.
We'd need a great amount of luck, and we got it! A car pulled up right by us, and it happened to have an empty cycle rack mounted on the back! And these nice people who stopped, were heading towards the same event to cheer on their friends, so they quite happily offered to help us ferry our bikes to the venue, the ones that wouldn't fit in the tiny tempo. I'm not even kidding.
So, with 6 cycles stacked up inside the tempo, and a 7th without a wheel, 3 on the car of the good Samaritans, and one in the back of the bus, we were on our way. But we were very, very late. Odds were they would start the race without us, which was an upsetting thought for most of us. There were more idiotic fuck-ups as the bus driver gunned it down the morning roads, determined to get us there close enough to our deadline. He did, we reached the venue at 6:20 AM, but the lil tempo that couldn't have kept up, hadn't. Nevertheless, we rushed off to the organizers, to tell them that they better delay the start to let us join, only to find that we were not the only ones with the logistical fuck-up. In a less of a frenzy now, we finished all the remaining formalities of the registration process, during which time our cycles arrived.It was 6:45 AM now, we were lined up, ready to go, especially after the anxious start to the morning, but thanks to some lazy fucking tards who weren't lining up for whatever they were supposed to in the given time, we finally started off the race at 7:10.
Having arrived late, I was quite far back in the start group. I had to make my way through the crowd quick and find some space to into a rhythm of my own. The course was actually 26.4 km long, which would be an easy task with minor inclines. But this route had plenty of them, some as steep as the HAL Airport Road climb, and as long. I've never been fast going up a hill, and being out of practice wasn't helping my pace. But I stuck to my rhythm, catching up wherever possible on the downhill bits. There were at least a couple of hundred riders for this one, so it was a lot more crowded than the Decathlon event, which meant there was always someone in sight. The course was nice, mostly smooth tarmac; the organizers had cordoned off the traffic where possible and were monitoring the flow in the other parts, ensuring an uninterrupted safe riding experience.
I had a slow finish up the incline straight ( never a fun idea), but the official timings say I finished it in 1 hour 8 minutes. Here's a snap of the rest of my stats:
So, we finished around 8:30. By the time we collected the finisher's medals and had breakfast, it was 9:30. Our drop ride was timed to leave at 11, basically when the event ended. But since everything had been delayed so far, we knew we were looking at 3 hours of almost nothing to do. The people from the morning's transport incident had become a sort of group, and in bunches we pretty much spent the rest of the time together at the venue.
Finally all the event categories ended, and then there was the award ceremony for all the winners, and then we were finally on our way back. Again, the people whose cycle couldn't fit in the tempo found alternatives, but everyone seemed pleased with how their day went. I'd been up for almost 9 hours, so I was quite happy to take a nap on the bus ride home. It's a short ride back from the drop off point after a quick farewell and exchange of numbers with the fellow riders, and I can sum it up by saying that I'm super glad I did the event.
Hope you liked reading my experience, as always feel free to comment, share and subscribe to get the latest from the loon. Thanks!
I looked it up and went to their website to find that there will be a cycle race on 28th August, and there were plenty of categories to choose from. I hadn't gone cycling for over a month, nor had I been going for long walks to keep my leg muscles in a fit condition. So, I went for the one I knew I could finish in a relatively decent time, ie, the Men's Amateur 25 K event.
There was a registration fee, which added to the proceeds which are all together supposed to go to a charity called 'Colours of Life' (aimed at helping the impoverished children in government schools) and they probably do. There was another extremely lucrative factor, which was a pick and drop service for participants, which was for once a thoughtful gesture as the venue was on the outskirts of Bengaluru. It came for a fee of course, but that made my participation logistically valid as well. It's the end of the month, I've been on a 10 day trip, suffice it to say that I was stretched thin on a budget, but I don't often get to for such events and I don't know when the next time will be, so I signed up for it.
The reporting time was 5:30 AM, and my event was to start first, ie, at 6:30 AM. So the pickup was to happen at 4:30 AM from a pre-determined location where a shuttle service would ferry riders and their bikes to and from the venue. I didn't sleep much the night before to avoid missing the pick up and so I had been up since 3, prepping myself and my gear. I reached on the dot and saw the bus that would carry the people but no vehicle to transport the cycles.
As I waited, all 11 of the people who had opted this pick up point began to reach as well. Not too long after, one tiny tempo traveler pulled up beside us. It was there to carry our cycles. Just ONE problem. We had 11 cycles, that lil thing could only fit 6. As it happened, some incompetent dickhead in logistics messed up the numbers and provided for the pickup of only 3 cycles, while having 11 names on the list for the bus. After a few phone calls that got progressively heated, the organizer on the other end, in a panic, washed his hands off the issue by asking us to get to the venue by any means accessible and that they'd reimburse for the extra cost. That still left us trying to figure out how to get all our bikes to the venue, and in time.
We'd need a great amount of luck, and we got it! A car pulled up right by us, and it happened to have an empty cycle rack mounted on the back! And these nice people who stopped, were heading towards the same event to cheer on their friends, so they quite happily offered to help us ferry our bikes to the venue, the ones that wouldn't fit in the tiny tempo. I'm not even kidding.
So, with 6 cycles stacked up inside the tempo, and a 7th without a wheel, 3 on the car of the good Samaritans, and one in the back of the bus, we were on our way. But we were very, very late. Odds were they would start the race without us, which was an upsetting thought for most of us. There were more idiotic fuck-ups as the bus driver gunned it down the morning roads, determined to get us there close enough to our deadline. He did, we reached the venue at 6:20 AM, but the lil tempo that couldn't have kept up, hadn't. Nevertheless, we rushed off to the organizers, to tell them that they better delay the start to let us join, only to find that we were not the only ones with the logistical fuck-up. In a less of a frenzy now, we finished all the remaining formalities of the registration process, during which time our cycles arrived.It was 6:45 AM now, we were lined up, ready to go, especially after the anxious start to the morning, but thanks to some lazy fucking tards who weren't lining up for whatever they were supposed to in the given time, we finally started off the race at 7:10.
Having arrived late, I was quite far back in the start group. I had to make my way through the crowd quick and find some space to into a rhythm of my own. The course was actually 26.4 km long, which would be an easy task with minor inclines. But this route had plenty of them, some as steep as the HAL Airport Road climb, and as long. I've never been fast going up a hill, and being out of practice wasn't helping my pace. But I stuck to my rhythm, catching up wherever possible on the downhill bits. There were at least a couple of hundred riders for this one, so it was a lot more crowded than the Decathlon event, which meant there was always someone in sight. The course was nice, mostly smooth tarmac; the organizers had cordoned off the traffic where possible and were monitoring the flow in the other parts, ensuring an uninterrupted safe riding experience.
I had a slow finish up the incline straight ( never a fun idea), but the official timings say I finished it in 1 hour 8 minutes. Here's a snap of the rest of my stats:
So, we finished around 8:30. By the time we collected the finisher's medals and had breakfast, it was 9:30. Our drop ride was timed to leave at 11, basically when the event ended. But since everything had been delayed so far, we knew we were looking at 3 hours of almost nothing to do. The people from the morning's transport incident had become a sort of group, and in bunches we pretty much spent the rest of the time together at the venue.
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| Oh, did I mention that they had an Audi TT as the lead car? No? Well, they did. |
Finally all the event categories ended, and then there was the award ceremony for all the winners, and then we were finally on our way back. Again, the people whose cycle couldn't fit in the tempo found alternatives, but everyone seemed pleased with how their day went. I'd been up for almost 9 hours, so I was quite happy to take a nap on the bus ride home. It's a short ride back from the drop off point after a quick farewell and exchange of numbers with the fellow riders, and I can sum it up by saying that I'm super glad I did the event.
Hope you liked reading my experience, as always feel free to comment, share and subscribe to get the latest from the loon. Thanks!
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