::ThoughtFarm::

Enduro, India’s one and only adventure race, was conducted on 8^th and 9^th Feb across the spectacular theatre of the National Defence Academy Campus, the Sahyadri Mountains and the Panshet Backwaters. Ever since I heard about the Enduro race from a friend Gurdeepak last year, I wanted to participate in it.

The picturesque countryside, the surrounding water bodies, the beautiful landscapes and one of the most difficult terrains create a stark geographical contrast.

I met Aditya on Orkut, who was also looking for a partner. Me, Aditya and Tanu, his friend together formed a team which we named as “Against All Odds” and participated in the Amateur Mix category which had about 29 teams.

The race consisted of 4 events – Cycling, trekking, rifle-shooting and river-crossing.

The flag-off was from Bharti Vidyapeeth grounds, Kothrud. The energy of the participants was amazing. There were around 230 teams ( 690 people) in total competing across 20 categories ranging from all women to Juniors to IT to Open category. The ground had become a virtual bike fair with bikes ranging from Imported Treks, Firefoxes to Hero, Hamilton and even Atlas GoldLine “Bhaiya” cycles.

We had a unfortunate start to the race since both Tanu and Aditya had a nasty fall from their bikes very early in the race. Tanu got a bruised wrist while Aditya took a hit on his left leg. Thankfully Aditya had got a first-aid box with him and after the dressing, we got back on our cycles.

The cycling route was from Kothrud- NDA – Peacock Bay – NDA Air Strip – Panshet Water Sports Club.

The route was punctuated with TCs(Time check) where we supposed to submit the time-sheet which marked our timings as a team and PCs(Passage Check) which ensured that we followed the route marked and not any short-cuts !

Cycling inside the NDA campus was an awesome experience. I had cycled quite regularly on the NDA road from Chandni Chowk, but was always stopped at the NDA main gate where outsiders are not allowed. This was my first time inside NDA and the hugeness of that place sinks you in.

The road from NDA campus to Panshet Water Sports Complex was quite scenic and interspersed with dirt trails & tar-road . We reached the Water complex at around 5:30 pm. Immediately after depositing our cycles we started the trek.

The trek route was along the ridge-line with the beautiful Panshet river flowing below. We must have climbed some 4-5 mountains up and down before reaching the base camp – TC(5).

The trek was route was however not without its casualties. The organizers had planted Enduro flags throughout the route at regular intervals so that teams can know they are in the right direction. However many a times, we would reach a crossroads and the flag would be missing. 50% teams would take a direction and the other teams would take alternate route. This meant that a lot of teams got lost in the trek. Also it dint help that it started to become dark there as early as 6:30pm and by 7pm the torches were out.

Finally we reached the camp at around 10pm in the night. This was followed by River-crossing , which was a stretch of 250mts and one had to run around back to the starting point. After that was dead time which meant that the teams were not timed till the flag-off which was at 2am in the night.

We managed to get some rest in the night, ate some parathas that Aditya’s mom had made for us. Even though we were tired as hell, the sight of 300-400 people lining up to start the race in the cold at 2am in the night was encouraging. Though we dint sprint like some others, we again started the trek back to the Panshat Water Sports Complex. The organizers had changed the route which involved an additional 10-15kms.

At around 3:30 – 4 am, we took a wrong turn and were lost for around 1-1.5 hours. My legs were aching with pain. We were running short on water too and there were few water bodies on the way. A lot of teams actually decided to rest for some hours before embarking again. Though we dint stop, we continued at a slow pace. Finally at around 3:30pm in the afternoon we reached the finish point. The last 1-1.5 kms from the last TC(Time Check) to the finish point was the most difficult and we were glad that we completed the race.

On 10^th evening there was a ceremony held by the organizers of NDA where we are awarded certificates, followed by dinner. There we learnt that out of the 230 teams which participated, only around 120 teams were able to complete the race. In our category (AMX), we finished around 5-6^th.

The Enduro was a an experience which teaches you a lot of things. As the organizers had mentioned, its more about mental toughness than physical. I saw a lot of bikers on their TREKS, Firefoxes, etc. imported bikes who abandoned the race while those on HERO & ATLAS cycles finished on the podium. I guess its not about what bike you ride, but always about how you ride.

Photo Courtesy - Bangalore Pedals

 

Tags: Cycling, Enduro, NDA, panshet water sports complex, river-crossing