100 day cycling challenge
My life everyday starts with a normal 9 to 5ssh routine and then I realised there ought to be more to life!!!!
Getting on the Bike in 2017 changed it all. Till 2020, I had done cross-country rides to Amritsar, Sri Anandpur Sahib, Agra, KMPE, and the longest being to and fro ride to Sri Anandpur Sahib in Feb 2020 of 700 kms which I completed in 3.5 days.
I somehow got tempted to join the second season of Bergamont Tour De100 2020 which was a 100 DAY CHALLENGE and so far have been the most demanding and gruelling event of my life. This was a 5 stage challenge of 20 days each from 19th Oct 2020 to 26th Jan 2021 and each consisting of 6 different challenges which we were expected to complete. Each challenge was designed to earn points and move up the leaderboard. So this was that EASYYYY. But the reality was waiting for us on the other side.
Four of the NECC (Noida Extension Cycling Club) riders started this challenge with utmost sincerity and integrity and with one goal in mind, be an EVENT FINISHER and EARN MEDAL. For that we needed minimum 1500 points.
We started our 100 day cycling madness and things got serious, competitive and demanding along the way. The first stage seemed to be a breeze and the endurance ride of 100 km saw couple of my co-riders achieving this feet for the first time. The second had 125 kms and we saw one of the female rider achieving her maiden feet of 145 kms in this ride alongside her family supporting her throughout the trip. I call here the Betty Skelton of our group (Betty Skelton as per Wikipedia was known as “The First Lady of Firsts”, and helped create opportunities for women in aviation, auto racing, astronautics, and advertising. Another feet was achieved by two riders on their single speed BTWIN cycle, Rahul (who was not part of this challenge but showed tremendous dedication and I always wished he was part of the challenge) and second was Gaurav who booked his Trek Marlin for this challenge but got delayed in the current scenario but this didn’t demotivated his will and kept pedaling. When you ride together as a team nothing is impossible.
By now the winter was at its peak, foggy and chilly wind were playing the spoil spot and took the challenge to the next level. The next on the throat was 150 kms and we decided Garh Mukteshwar as the destination for this achievement. But due to fog we 4 of us Vijay, Rahul, Gaurav and myself decided to have a broom wagon along for safety reasons. So we had our dear friend and one of the NECC rider Abhinav volunteering to take the wheel of our limo and joined us for this crazy leg. By now Gaurav’s Marlin had also arrived to take the India roads.
This is was one hell of a ride with dense fog, rain interrupting it again and again but we made use of the time with tea and paranthas during one of the breaks.
Rahul encountered a puncture but yet we made it to Garh Ganga and took a breather. Clicked some awesome pics with Ganges in the background and we returned back in the light drizzle. The return journey was much quicker and one of the awesome memories of this ride was Abhinav shooting amazing videos or us riding in fog with some awesome music. And we did it.
So we were in the 4th leg of the challenge the due was 175 kms before 6th Jan. So Gaurav, Vijay and I decided to this on 1st Jan 2021 and start the year with a bang. We left at 5 am and our ride was greeted with one of the densest fog of the season and which meant our ride came to an end within 30 mins. But we were also not going down so easily and again left on 2nd Jan to get this one. It was freezing cold and we were wearing 2 pairs of socks and extra layer of clothes and fully dedicated to do this one. One of the craziest ride where we again saw rain in Delhi and brought our ride to a halt. The ride started at 5am, co-rider fixing his puncture half way and myself completing the last 30 kms with a flat tire but adamant to keep going by pumping air 3 times. And we did it.
The finally Stage 5 was one of the most difficult 20 days with extreme weather. Highlight of this challenge was to ride every day, second to do 150 kms on each of the 3 weekends and one 200 kms ride. So I did the other way round and finished 400 kms in 7 days and followed by 150 kms on weekends and believe me I nearly cashed out after riding for 90 days. Still 200 kms was out of reach due to intense fog and unpredictable weather. Still I collected myself and got my guts together on 17th Jan to attempt my BIG ONE. First woke up at 5 am and as usual the FOG was mounting and not a ray of hope. But after having BF I thought of giving it a shot SOLO and left home at 8:30 am thinking that I will be nearby and keep repeating loops to complete 200. But once you are your SADDLE you never know what comes to your mind. So the pedaling took me to GIP and then to Pari chowk via Expressway for 40 kms and than followed 5 loops of Expressway between DND and Pari Chowk with one stop at Rampari Tea Stall (THE FAVOURITE STOP OF NECC introduced to me by one of our NECC rider and TourDe100 participant Varun). At multiple times I thought of giving up due to headwind but this was like a last gasp of what was left in me. After 9 hours, I crossed 200 and felt a sign of relief.
Not to mention but our families have been extremely supportive towards all of us for this MADNESS and lot of other NECC riders who joined us at various intervals…naming any particular one will be not be justice towards the entire NECC team. All your motivational messages helped us to excel in this challenge and KILL IT. Some good freezing rides, crazy tiring days.
This challenge on my Scott Hybrid changed me as a rider and I became more consistent and serious about my passion.
SOME STATISTICS ON #ME
- Total challenges completed – 30 out of 30
- Total points – 12037
- Total distance – 4349 kms
- Endurance rides – 200, 175, 150, 125 and multiple 100
- Overall rank worldwide – 264
- Greater Noida – No 2 (☺ which was even more than the topper in Noida) from 27 riders
- Medal – PLATINUM
Rest of my co-riders –
- Varun on No 3 with 4274 kms and a PLATINUM MEDAL
- Vijay on No 10 with 2257 kms and a SILVER MEDAL
- Gaurav Mishra on No 13 with 1607 kms and a BRONZE MEDAL
Till date I have rode 38,000 kms including a Golden triangle dream ride (Delhi-Alwar-Jaipur-Agra-Delhi) in 2022 and along the cycling journey have seen a lot of my friends achieveing great feats and some being SR as well.
The next on the TO DO list is to pedal from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and hoping to accomplish this one day.
#noshortcuts #sportsintergrity #cyclingpassion