Intro

This blog as might be apparent from the title has to do with running, biking and basically other outdoor individualistic sports, sometimes extreme, such as rock climbing . But don't be surprised if you find articles on work, personal life, music and even philosophy, this blog is an exception in this aspect in the blogosphere of running blogs and I am trying to revamp the blog to make it more runner friendly. You might want to look at the sidebar titled 'categorised', which as is obvious, categorizes my posts into different areas of interest.
The other thing that might interest many people is a section on 'running videos' and 'general videos' on the side bar, which I keep updating now and then.
I plan to bring in more posts on running and biking, with some added colour, so as to make them 'complete'. That's about it for now.
As a post-note, I have run a half-marathon, but I am yet to attempt a marathon, which through some concerted effort and time should happen in the future, but that ofcourse is not the culmination of this blog, it would on the contrary be something to jumpstart this blog onto new vistas.




Wednesday, April 27, 2005

A nightout to remember

I had no intention of putting a night out. I was mugging the whole of afternoon and evening yesterday(actually copying notes to be mugged next week). I came back to my room from the lib. at around 11:30 pm. Then I did some browsing on the net(usual running sites and ofcourse some blog reading), before I knew it it was 1 am.
Now, a wild idea occured to me, what if I go cycling out say in another 3 hrs???
Well this idea was not entirely random as I had planned to do it the day before, but couldn't get up at 5am. So I thought, what if I can't get up at that time, I will stay awake and do it anyway...and that's what I did..
Come 4'o clock and I thought, maybe I should catch some sleep...I got an endsem exam tomorrow!! But then I could hear the birds starting to chirp outside and I decided to start now, thinking of how good it would be once I got onto the ecr road.
So there I was on the road at 4:30 am, pitch dark slipping out silently out of iit....My destination???????? - Muttukadu Lake , a beautiful place 21 kms from tiruvanmiyur. I started my stopwatch around 5 minutes after passing tiruvanmiyur and I mentally noted the times at the following landmarks..You see it is for the sheer thrill of cruising on my racing cycle BSA Mach, that I am here.
- I hit Prarthana drive-in at 11 minutes..I am cycling at a steady 30kmph
- Next up, is VGP golden baeach at around 13 minutes.
- Now, my thighs have started aching but that's normal! I reach a point which says:
Mahabalipuram - 32 kms, Pondicherry - 129 ms. Hmm...20 minutes past.
- Next I see two places named punayur and uthandi. Somewhere here a highway patrol passes me and one of the guys gives me a stare..I smile back.
- Now comes the toll road...and ofcourse cyclists are let free...It's 28 mins on my watch.
- I am still going at a steady pace of 30, how do I know? well, I saw the time between to milestones..28 km and 27 km to mahabs...2 mins right on dot
- Next comes MGM Dizee world..I have covered 19 kms so farand have taken 40 minutes..not bad!
- Now here, I notice that a tvs has just overtaken me and that it is just a little bit faster, so I decide to overtake it...it took me 1 minute to catch up, but the guy had slowed down by then...I wanted to know my speed then..could have been 38/40..
- Atlast Muttukadu lake in sight..
What's so unique about this place you ask. Well, there is a bridge here and to the left of it, you can see the backwaters meeting the sea and a small stretch of land separating them... That's what struck me as really scenic when I first saw it( this is my third trip here). To the right of the bridge is the boating club with a few boats docked around the pier.
Hmm..it's 5:30 now and the sky is getting lit up by the twilight...I see two fishermen down...I take in the moment. It's amazing how when a bus or a lorry passes whizzes by you, when you are sitting on the guard rail of the bridge, the road seems to shake as in an earthquake!
I see that I have already spent 1o minutes here.. I am having a slight headache not having slept so far. After giving a last long glance, I depart back to my room..another 21kms..but this time it takes me only 45 minutes. I am damn hungry as I reach the taramani gate.It's 6:15 am..I see a few students cramming there over tea and smokes .. They give me a strange look. One of them asks me if I am coming from the beach...I give him a grin..That's true ain't it!

2 comments:

Deepa said...

Hi karthik,

It's really amazing how u cud be so cool before your exams... not in my wildest of wildest dreams in the night before the exam can I think of cycling at 4.30 a.m. and that too 42 kms. to and fro!!!

Now I understand how much u love cycling ... :)

Arbit said...

Thanks for the appreciation deepa, Yeah I do love cycling but there wasn't an exam the next day...it was 2 days later, but anyway it was an exam prep. week and quite a few guys got psyched by my adventure.

Kennenisa Bekele with the WR

Robbie Mcewen and steve o'grady - The 'Nudge'