BBCh12-2: Off Road Race at Turahalli Forest

My first attempt at a bicycling race. It was the 2nd race of the 2012 edition of Bangalore Bicycling Championship. I must say it was a brilliant experience and one which I would remember for a long time.

It is a 3km off road trail in Turahalli forest, which is ~25km from my home.
Race Format: All riders race for one hour. The rider completing most laps within that time takes the coveted golden jersey!
We were a group of 6 Cyclists from Cypress.
The Team: Aditya (ADIY), Ajay (AJAI), Nachiket (NBS), Kannan (QVS), Soma (STHA) and Nayan (NYBP)

Background:

We all started from home at ~5:20 am as we wanted to reach early and get familiar with the conditions at the race trail. Five of us (all except Soma) had planned to meet up at Domalur flyover and then ride together from there. Unfortunately, before I could reach there, I found that I had a flat in my rear tire :(. Met up with Ajay, Aditya and Kannan on 100Ft Road and decided it was too dark to fix the puncture. So we just pumped in some air and started riding again.Crossed the Domalur flyover where we waited for Nachiket to join us. It was suddenly bright enough and me and Ajay thought we could fix the tire. So, we opened everything up to find that there were two punctures! Adtiya, who has gained considerable experience on fixing punctures, was at work straight away with little help from Ajay, Kannan and me. Unfortunately fixing them took up quite a bit of time and by the time we started from there it was already 7:10 am!. Because of all these delays we reached the venue at 8:05 am instead of the planned 7:00 am :(. To our horror we found that the race had just started 5 mins back! and in 5 mins we even found the race leaders completing the 1st lap. Aditya quickly talked to the organizers and to ask if we could join the race midway to which they replied with a NO. We still decided to ride considering that we had come all the way and it was better to ride than just stand and watch!.

About the Trail and the Ride:

A view from one of the pits on the Turahalli Trail. This was one of the scary portions of the trail where I was going downhill at a fast pace passing next to a large pit with a very thin piece of trail. 

The first km is very challenging in terms of elevation and loose gravel. I had to get down and pull the bike for ~20 meters right at the beginning. There were a few more climbs later but they were on more firmer soil and was able to manage them w/o getting off. Just when you start feeling tired at the end of the uphill section (~1.5 kms), begins the downhill ride through the forest. I was so thrilled by the downhill return section during the 1st lap that I just had to do this round again!! (I managed to do 3 laps in 45 mins before finally giving up)

While going downhill, I was going at 25kmph on a gravel trail, flying (literally) over small rocks and little hills, making sharp turns to avoid colliding with trees, bending down to avoid hitting a low lying branch..skidding due to dry leaves and/or soft gravel on the trail  (wohoooo!!).... I could totally feel the adrenaline rush

A brilliant capture by Shakir - one of the best photographers I know - using his 7D!

In spite of all the issues we faced in reaching the venue and the disappointment of not being able to join the race, I really enjoyed the actual race. The place (Turahalli) is just awesome and I am sure I will come back again for many more trail rides here in the weekends. And of course, looking forward to the next BBCh race! :-)